Trip Report **COMPLETED** The Tale of Two Trips (finally moving on from the PTR)

Hello everyone!!! I'm sorry for the long delay, but I am finally starting my TR I apologize in advance for the insane amount of pictures I got a new camera and took over 3000 pictures and videos! If you did not read my PTR I went on two trips in the span of a few weeks...hence the title I will split them in two but keep it all in the same thread. Also, I have a lot of last minute residency requirements to navigate through the next few weeks or so so I'm sorry if this takes me forever! Anyway, enough of me rambling - let's begin!

First trip!
Who?
From left to right: Me (Megan), my Mom (Mary), and my sister (Jill)

When?
March 11, 2017 - March 18, 2017

Where?
First time staying an entire trip here...the Polynesian!

Why?
I had to take an exam in Kissimmee on the 14th and I got the whole week off from work to go My Mom and sister came along for the ride.

 

[blreinsel]

The Poly... *sigh* Off to a great start!

 

[LisaBelle]

So excited you are back. Happy that you were able to upload your photos so we can all see how much fun you were having! Glad to hear that you ended up liking the new version of the MagicBand.

 

[Doc Disney]

I have that same North Face coat as you. The picture of your MB, I was like man that coat looks familiar

Haha I genuinely hate the way that coat fits me actually, I just gave it to my sister

Yay! So happy you've started your report(s)! And staying at the Poly!
Following along .

Thank you Hopefully it doesn't take me forever

 

[Doc Disney]

Following along! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Thank you for following!!!

Poly is one of my dream resorts to get to stay at one day. So much so that I actually looked into DVC. Not at that point. *yet*

Your mom has an awesome name, BTW.

If I ever went into DVC (which will not happen for at least like 100 years) I would love to do Poly. Sadly, by the time I can actually afford DVC theres no way the Poly will be available

 

[Doc Disney]

Following along, and now I kind of want there to be a dwarf named "sassy dwarf"

Right?! haha Maybe they should make a whole new set of dwarfs that are girls

Staying at the Poly is on my Disney bucket list. Looking forward to your pictures of the lights

I loved staying at the Polynesian...I think it has creeped ahead as my favorite resort!

 

[Doc Disney]

Following along i love a @Doc Disney report

Ah thank you!!!

I'm in!!

Thank you for following along

 

[Doc Disney]

The Poly... *sigh* Off to a great start!

Thank you!! It was amazing to stay there

So excited you are back. Happy that you were able to upload your photos so we can all see how much fun you were having! Glad to hear that you ended up liking the new version of the MagicBand.

In the end it was actually easier to tap the Magic Band and it felt a little bit more flexible despite how big the disc was!

 

[rshell68]

What?! Doc Disney and Tuvalu trip reports at the same time. Yeah, not much work will be getting done

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1 continued
I know not everyone goes to Disney very often, but honestly how do people STILL not know how to work Fast Passes? There were approximately three different parties in front of me who did not have a FP for 7DMT, had the wrong time, or were holding onto a paper FP that clearly said it excludes 7DMT...oh well! Less people in front of us

I love that turtle on the stairs...he's one of my favorite parts of the movie

Next up was Space Mountain!

Trying to channel our best @Tuvalu

Since it was so crowded we decided to head out of the MK after this! We actually had some plans anyway and it was getting close to the time we needed to be there
Our room was ready so after hopping off the monorail we headed there to drop off our carryons that we grabbed and saw that our luggage was there...woohoo! After our short room trip (short enough to not fully appreciate it yet) we raced over to Trader Sam's since there was already a line when we walked past! We ended up getting a pager and had no idea at the time that that was a big deal until people racing down the hall were like "THEY GOT A PAGER...THEY ARE SO LUCKY!!!" The women who checked us in said there were 7 parties in front of us so we won't be guaranteed a seat..whatever thats fine!

While we waited for our page we headed to Cap't Cooks to grab our mugs for the week.

Next up: Trader Sam's

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1 continued
While we waited Jill decided to take these ridiculous pictures of us. I won't bore you with them all....but they all look something like this

I got her back

Around 4 pm we heard a loud noise down the hall so I assumed Trader Sam's was officially open...we got paged like a minute later and ran down the hall excitedly ! Everyone was cheering us on and again saying how lucky we were to have a pager
We were very lucky that there were plenty of seats available and after changing seats like 3 times we finally settled close to the bar

So before this trip Jill and I found a Touring Plans article "6 Must Try Drinks at Disney World" and we took it on as a challenge to spend the week finding these drinks. We had a little strategy, but not much...but we did know we wanted to start at Trader Sam's knowing it would be the hardest. So, the first drink we ordered on the list was the Nautilus

This was super yummy and we all really enjoyed it. We felt bad only ordering one drink so we also ordered the Uh-Oa!

We all felt a little meh about this one, but it may have been because I got a little overzealous with the fire aspect of the drink and threw a lot of cinnamon into it (not knowing it was cinnamon at the time haha)

Next up: Trader Sam's continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1
I dont have a ton of pictures because my battery was dying and we rushed out of the room so quickly that I didn't grab my camera bag...
Also the CM taking care of us said we were using too much flash and that Mardi Gras was over
Speaking of CMs the one taking care of us was AWESOME! I am so bad with names so I have literally no idea what his name was..I feel like it was Jeff or something which should be easy to remember since thats my Dad's name haha
Here he is in the background!

We had a blast at Trader Sam's but decided to leave after about an hour to give others the chance to get in. I'll be honest I wasn't super into Trader Sam's in Disneyland so I wasn't excited about trying it, but I knew Jill really wanted to go there so I planned some time to go before we even found the drink article. Boy was I surprised at the difference between the two Trader Sam's! The CMs here were MUCH more into the drinks and the performances that came along with the drinks. The atmosphere was incredible and all the fellow guests were having a blast too so it was hard not to have a great time!
Anyway, we headed back to the room and finally noticed our awesome view and our cool porch!

We really didn't think the drinks were all that strong at Trader Sam's but like @lostpro9het has mentioned they do sneak up a bit on you How do I know? Because it was at this point Jill and I decided to have a suitcase fight and shove our spin top suitcases at each other At one point she pushed me out onto the porch and my Mom finally noticed what we were doing and told us we were idiots and we were going to break something. Haha yep...my Mom had to yell at my sister and I like we were still small children
Anyway, we got dressed and ready to head over to the Contemporary for dinner

Fiji was our home for the week and we loved it

When we got to the Contemporary we wandered around a bit...we headed down to take our usual picture with the Mickey ears and someone kindly offered to take our picture..it just didn't turn out super well

After this we checked out the gift shop briefly and then just decided to check in early. They asked if we wanted to be seated early and we said yes so our table was ready as soon as we headed upstairs

Our table view!

Next up: California Grill continued

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1 continued
I had ordered a cake for Jill to celebrate her engagement and I tried to keep it a secret and just hoped she didn't notice the confetti or if she did thought it was because we were repeat guests

The plan went great since she didn't even notice...until a card was presented to her

I actually have no idea how they knew it was an engagement since I never said that on the phone, but whatever !

Bread to start

I love this butter

Jill started off with some wine while my Mom and I had pop

We started off with the Roasted Tomato Flatbread...and even though we all hate tomatoes we all really liked it! I don't actually know what possessed us to even order it knowing we hate tomatoes

While we waited for our entrees I went outside to test out my new camera since my old one always struggled with nighttime shots
I was super pleased with how well it did!

Next up: California Grill continued

 

[LadyBelle]

Yep - @Doc Disney is *definitely* from up north - Pop

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1 continued

For dinner Jill and I (unsurprisingly) ordered the Oak Fired Filet of Beef
The risotto was back and the whole dinner was so good!!!!

My Mom was pleased to see that the chicken was back on the menu so she ordered it (the Bell and Evans chicken)

She said this was the best chicken she ever had at the California Grill
So, remember when I said that the surprise was ruined by the card for Jill? Well apparently she did not connect the dots and was still surprised when the cake came out
We explained to the waiter that it was a girls trip which was why Nick wasn't actually present

Yum! That cake was so good!!
Our waiter kindly took our picture for us

We were very tired since we got up so early so we decided to get some pictures outside and head back before Wishes

When we got back to the hotel I walked into our room and noticed something on the bed. Turns out Jill and I exchanged surprises and she surprised me with this awesome balloons and bag good luck (for my boards) surprise!

Next up: Fireworks

 

[Doc Disney]

Day 1 continued
Jill didn't care if she saw Wishes or not (the horror, I know) so just my Mom and I wandered around the Polynesian to head to the beach to see Wishes

From the beach we watched the Electrical Water Pageant and anxiously awaited Wishes

I realize I am a Wishes snob...but when Wishes started and no one was paying attention to the music (which you could barely hear) I told my Mom I couldn't sit there and watch with all this noise and we decided to head back to the room. Along the way we realized the music from 'Ohana was much louder and you can actually see Wishes from the bridge we had to cross to get to our room so we stood there and watched it in peace without everyone else around This would become my go to spot for the rest of the week
After this we went off to bed early ready to enjoy another day

Next up: day 2

 

[DisneyJeff]

I love the pics from the new camera. They look great!!!

 

[Doc Disney]

What?! Doc Disney and Tuvalu trip reports at the same time. Yeah, not much work will be getting done

hahah hopefully its not TOO much of a distraction

Yep - @Doc Disney is *definitely* from up north - Pop

Every time I go to write it I think about how everyone will notice that...haha but I can not bring myself to say soda...

 

[Doc Disney]

I love the pics from the new camera. They look great!!!

Thank you so much! It took me a few days (read weeks) to figure it out so I think you will see less blurry pictures as we go on

 

[danyoung56]

Another follower. The California Grill is my favorite restaurant on the planet! And I always get the beef filet, although I start out with the Spicy Kazan Roll - yummm!

And I have to ask - what's up with the overhead light pics?

 

[gdisneyfans]

It's so great how close your family is and how well you vacation together Really enjoying your report so far!!!