TXDisneyFan1
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
Just arrived home from our 7 day WDW trip! We stayed Poly Club level (no small amount of money for two educators). Our family consists of me (43), DH (44), DD (17), DD (13) and DS (11). We left our 9 month old with grandparents (yes, he was a total surprise baby!).
For us, Disney has never disappointed. It is the place that provides our family with the best memories and a place where it's okay to be excited over meeting a cartoon character or super-pumped when Tinkerbell flies from the castle. Our trips are usually 95% good/great and 5% meh.
Here are a few noteworthy items from our trip:
--I am forever spoiled by the Poly Club level. Was it worth the exorbitant amount of money? No, but we really enjoyed the snacks/treats/appetizers/drinks being available to us at all kinds of hours. Mostly, I enjoyed sitting in the lounge in the mornings and gazing out over the lake at the castle and SM. The concierge CMs were great. One gave my DH a fresh flower lei to give me for our anniversary (it is beautiful!) and also gave my son some batteries when he bought a RC car and was so excited to try it out. So, I guess I could say the intangibles make the extra money worth it to us.
--The room ACs worked just fine. We didn't get hot at night and didn't need to reset the thermostat at any time.
--FOP ride in Pandora is amazing! We rode it our first night there with a FP and loved it so much, we rope dropped it 2 days later without a FP. Only took us 45 min. to get thru the line and we got there right when AK opened.
--Best meal? This time it was the Ziti at Tutto Italia. Oh my goodness...heaven! As I write this, I'm kicking myself for not going back a second time to enjoy this absolutely delicious dish.
Best service we had was Abdel at 'Ohana and the worst was at Hollywood Brown Derby. Honestly, we only had that one average server at HBD; everyone else was good to great.
--We love Ubering at Disney! Being at the Poly, we didn't need transportation to MK or Epcot. Instead of renting a car this year, we decided to try using Uber to get around (since I hate waiting for or riding buses). There was always a car 3 minutes away and they dropped us off right near the gate or front door of wherever we wanted to go. No walking through parking lots, no waiting for the tram...The best part was we spent $100 less on Uber rides than we would have spent renting a car. Every car was very clean and most of the drivers knew where they were going.
--Everyone slams Hollywood Studios, but we spent a full day at this park and had a great time! Epcot was our least favorite park this time (other than our lunch at Tutto Italia). It may have something to do with that being the hottest day of our trip; we were begging for a downpour to offer us some relief.
--Always reserve an umbrella at TL. It's worth the $60.
--HEA is really neat to watch online...it doesn't compare to the experience when you see it in person. I love the song, the lasers, the projections...all of it.
--Best time for the Safari ride? For us, it was 1 pm. Yes, I know it goes against everything we hear, but we saw every animal! Even the cheetahs were visible and the male lion was walking around...and, we've ridden it at every possible time of the day...from morning to sunset.
-- Mousekeeping was very good! They came in when we were at the parks and left us plenty of towels and toilet paper. Worked for me.
--PPO at BOG was totally worth it. We aren't big breakfast people, so I pre-ordered 4 meals off the kids menu for the family and I ate the pastries they provided for free. We were able to ride 7DMT twice before the masses arrived and could have ridden a third, but we went to SM instead.
--Just so you know, be sure to secure your bags when you ride SM. My daughter's slingpack flew out in the middle of the ride. (She put it at her feet where we all store our bags) It had her wallet and worse...her phone. (the horror!) We had to wait until an hour after park closing for them to turn on the lights and search for the pack. It turned out to be a neat experience because we got to be in the park at night with very few people there. As usual, a park CM went above and beyond and found her pack and her phone was still in working order.
While waiting, we learned from one of the coordinators that they have a night crew come in about an hour after park close and clean up, power wash and...PAINT every single night! I've always heard that but thought it might be a rumor. I just think that is the neatest thing!
Just a couple disappointments:
--We were never greeted upon arriving at the Polynesian. We arrived via ME and a regular car multiple times and nobody opened the door for us or welcomed us. We went to AKL and WL for dinner and were greeted at both of these resorts. One of the guys standing at the stand outside was twirling his fidget spinner while on duty. I swear we aren't high maintenance, but that was a little disappointing right off.
--The beds...seriously. A $200 mattress off of Overstock.com is more comfortable than what I slept on in our CL room at the Poly. They were really uncomfortable.
Thank you WDW for providing our family with many more wonderful memories...for us, the magic is alive and well! And, thank you to my fellow DISers! I receive the best tips on here and share in your enthusiasm for all things Disney.
For us, Disney has never disappointed. It is the place that provides our family with the best memories and a place where it's okay to be excited over meeting a cartoon character or super-pumped when Tinkerbell flies from the castle. Our trips are usually 95% good/great and 5% meh.
Here are a few noteworthy items from our trip:
--I am forever spoiled by the Poly Club level. Was it worth the exorbitant amount of money? No, but we really enjoyed the snacks/treats/appetizers/drinks being available to us at all kinds of hours. Mostly, I enjoyed sitting in the lounge in the mornings and gazing out over the lake at the castle and SM. The concierge CMs were great. One gave my DH a fresh flower lei to give me for our anniversary (it is beautiful!) and also gave my son some batteries when he bought a RC car and was so excited to try it out. So, I guess I could say the intangibles make the extra money worth it to us.
--The room ACs worked just fine. We didn't get hot at night and didn't need to reset the thermostat at any time.
--FOP ride in Pandora is amazing! We rode it our first night there with a FP and loved it so much, we rope dropped it 2 days later without a FP. Only took us 45 min. to get thru the line and we got there right when AK opened.
--Best meal? This time it was the Ziti at Tutto Italia. Oh my goodness...heaven! As I write this, I'm kicking myself for not going back a second time to enjoy this absolutely delicious dish.
Best service we had was Abdel at 'Ohana and the worst was at Hollywood Brown Derby. Honestly, we only had that one average server at HBD; everyone else was good to great.
--We love Ubering at Disney! Being at the Poly, we didn't need transportation to MK or Epcot. Instead of renting a car this year, we decided to try using Uber to get around (since I hate waiting for or riding buses). There was always a car 3 minutes away and they dropped us off right near the gate or front door of wherever we wanted to go. No walking through parking lots, no waiting for the tram...The best part was we spent $100 less on Uber rides than we would have spent renting a car. Every car was very clean and most of the drivers knew where they were going.
--Everyone slams Hollywood Studios, but we spent a full day at this park and had a great time! Epcot was our least favorite park this time (other than our lunch at Tutto Italia). It may have something to do with that being the hottest day of our trip; we were begging for a downpour to offer us some relief.
--Always reserve an umbrella at TL. It's worth the $60.
--HEA is really neat to watch online...it doesn't compare to the experience when you see it in person. I love the song, the lasers, the projections...all of it.
--Best time for the Safari ride? For us, it was 1 pm. Yes, I know it goes against everything we hear, but we saw every animal! Even the cheetahs were visible and the male lion was walking around...and, we've ridden it at every possible time of the day...from morning to sunset.
-- Mousekeeping was very good! They came in when we were at the parks and left us plenty of towels and toilet paper. Worked for me.
--PPO at BOG was totally worth it. We aren't big breakfast people, so I pre-ordered 4 meals off the kids menu for the family and I ate the pastries they provided for free. We were able to ride 7DMT twice before the masses arrived and could have ridden a third, but we went to SM instead.
--Just so you know, be sure to secure your bags when you ride SM. My daughter's slingpack flew out in the middle of the ride. (She put it at her feet where we all store our bags) It had her wallet and worse...her phone. (the horror!) We had to wait until an hour after park closing for them to turn on the lights and search for the pack. It turned out to be a neat experience because we got to be in the park at night with very few people there. As usual, a park CM went above and beyond and found her pack and her phone was still in working order.
While waiting, we learned from one of the coordinators that they have a night crew come in about an hour after park close and clean up, power wash and...PAINT every single night! I've always heard that but thought it might be a rumor. I just think that is the neatest thing!
Just a couple disappointments:
--We were never greeted upon arriving at the Polynesian. We arrived via ME and a regular car multiple times and nobody opened the door for us or welcomed us. We went to AKL and WL for dinner and were greeted at both of these resorts. One of the guys standing at the stand outside was twirling his fidget spinner while on duty. I swear we aren't high maintenance, but that was a little disappointing right off.
--The beds...seriously. A $200 mattress off of Overstock.com is more comfortable than what I slept on in our CL room at the Poly. They were really uncomfortable.
Thank you WDW for providing our family with many more wonderful memories...for us, the magic is alive and well! And, thank you to my fellow DISers! I receive the best tips on here and share in your enthusiasm for all things Disney.
