J'aime Paris
Living happily ever after
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
We spent Wednesday-Monday in WDW for DD's 20th birthday celebration.
Stayed at the Polynesian Resort (arrival night at Pop Century because Poly was booked full)
Went to MNSSHP on Fri. Oct. 19th
Resort: Pop Century refurbished room was really nice! Fold down bed was comfortable. It was perfectly acceptable for 4 people for one night. Would have been too tight for an entire vacation, in my opinion.
Polynesian---we were on the first floor in the Niue building. Wonderful location for us! Steps away from GCH to refill our mugs. Super close to the bus stops. And quite close to both pools.
Our room was very clean, no complaints!
Dining: Our best dining experience was at Biergarten Restaurant in Epcot. We thoroughly enjoyed the buffet, beer and entertainment! We were seated with a very nice family from Orlando, and had a nice chat with them.
Food & Wine festival at Epcot was a ZOO on Saturday, so we left early. Way too hot and crowded...not enjoyable for us. (Clearly others didn't mind, since they stayed, lol!)
Less crowds on Sunday, but still busy. The Pomegranate beer was our favorite beverage we sampled!
BOG, Rose&Crown, Columbia Harbour House, and Captain Cook's were a few of the other places we ate meals. Decent, average food for high prices. Not terrible, no standouts.
MNSSHP: We had a blast! We were dressed as the Teal Monorail, and got literally hundreds of comments/compliments!! DD had made our costumes. She did a great job!
It was busy, but very manageable! We went for photos with the 7 Dwarves almost right away. The posted time was 40 minutes, but more like 20 min for us.
The rides also had less wait times than during the day. Some more popular than others, naturally.
We were able to get a good parade spot about 20 min before it began.
We stayed put and had a snack while waiting for the fireworks. Worked out perfectly!
Transportation: Using the boat that goes from Poly to MK to GF and back to Poly was a lifesaver!!!!! After MNSSHP, we were able to board the first boat! The lines for monorails, the ferry (and other boats) and the buses were loooong!
The walking path to the TTC also provided a nonstop monorail ride to Epcot.
And the buses for the other parks only shared with GF.
We were very happy with the transportation, and experience low wait times consistently.
Parks: FOP was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rest of our park experiences was just meh, if I'm being honest.
We've been coming to WDW yearly, or several times a year since 2001 when my DD was almost 3, and this trip was her 20th bday celebration.
I feel we are seasoned WDW vets. We've visited almost every month of the year. Stayed at most of the resorts, at all levels.
The combination of crowds and FP+ has diminished our park experience.
We felt at times that we literally couldn't breathe, couldn't move amongst the crowds.
And I've never gotten used to the FP+ system. I don't like planning my days so far ahead to ride the headliners. I suppose I'm stuck in my ways of the old FP system.
And the refresh/modify strategy on MDE did NOT work at all during this busy time. I read about the strategies extensively, and had zero success. Was never willing to wait in the long lines for SDD, so we never rode it. Looks cute though!
Cast Members: All of our cast member interactions were positive. They were all upbeat, and DD heard Happy Birthday many, many times!!
Conclusion: We spent more time at the pool than any previous vacation, mostly due to the crowds in the parks. We also did more shopping at other resorts and the boardwalk area to also avoid the parks.
Maybe next time we will consider a resort only stay???
We absolutely had a fantastic vacation!!!!
1. We spent time together as a family.
2. DD got to have a well deserved rest/recharge after her college midterms.
3. The weather was hot and gorgeous, we got sun kissed while lounging at the pool.
And it snowed while we were gone back home in Wisconsin!
Stayed at the Polynesian Resort (arrival night at Pop Century because Poly was booked full)
Went to MNSSHP on Fri. Oct. 19th
Resort: Pop Century refurbished room was really nice! Fold down bed was comfortable. It was perfectly acceptable for 4 people for one night. Would have been too tight for an entire vacation, in my opinion.
Polynesian---we were on the first floor in the Niue building. Wonderful location for us! Steps away from GCH to refill our mugs. Super close to the bus stops. And quite close to both pools.
Our room was very clean, no complaints!
Dining: Our best dining experience was at Biergarten Restaurant in Epcot. We thoroughly enjoyed the buffet, beer and entertainment! We were seated with a very nice family from Orlando, and had a nice chat with them.
Food & Wine festival at Epcot was a ZOO on Saturday, so we left early. Way too hot and crowded...not enjoyable for us. (Clearly others didn't mind, since they stayed, lol!)
Less crowds on Sunday, but still busy. The Pomegranate beer was our favorite beverage we sampled!
BOG, Rose&Crown, Columbia Harbour House, and Captain Cook's were a few of the other places we ate meals. Decent, average food for high prices. Not terrible, no standouts.
MNSSHP: We had a blast! We were dressed as the Teal Monorail, and got literally hundreds of comments/compliments!! DD had made our costumes. She did a great job!
It was busy, but very manageable! We went for photos with the 7 Dwarves almost right away. The posted time was 40 minutes, but more like 20 min for us.
The rides also had less wait times than during the day. Some more popular than others, naturally.
We were able to get a good parade spot about 20 min before it began.
We stayed put and had a snack while waiting for the fireworks. Worked out perfectly!
Transportation: Using the boat that goes from Poly to MK to GF and back to Poly was a lifesaver!!!!! After MNSSHP, we were able to board the first boat! The lines for monorails, the ferry (and other boats) and the buses were loooong!
The walking path to the TTC also provided a nonstop monorail ride to Epcot.
And the buses for the other parks only shared with GF.
We were very happy with the transportation, and experience low wait times consistently.
Parks: FOP was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!
The rest of our park experiences was just meh, if I'm being honest.
We've been coming to WDW yearly, or several times a year since 2001 when my DD was almost 3, and this trip was her 20th bday celebration.
I feel we are seasoned WDW vets. We've visited almost every month of the year. Stayed at most of the resorts, at all levels.
The combination of crowds and FP+ has diminished our park experience.
We felt at times that we literally couldn't breathe, couldn't move amongst the crowds.
And I've never gotten used to the FP+ system. I don't like planning my days so far ahead to ride the headliners. I suppose I'm stuck in my ways of the old FP system.
And the refresh/modify strategy on MDE did NOT work at all during this busy time. I read about the strategies extensively, and had zero success. Was never willing to wait in the long lines for SDD, so we never rode it. Looks cute though!
Cast Members: All of our cast member interactions were positive. They were all upbeat, and DD heard Happy Birthday many, many times!!
Conclusion: We spent more time at the pool than any previous vacation, mostly due to the crowds in the parks. We also did more shopping at other resorts and the boardwalk area to also avoid the parks.
Maybe next time we will consider a resort only stay???
We absolutely had a fantastic vacation!!!!
1. We spent time together as a family.
2. DD got to have a well deserved rest/recharge after her college midterms.
3. The weather was hot and gorgeous, we got sun kissed while lounging at the pool.
And it snowed while we were gone back home in Wisconsin!
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