Trip Report Frozen No More: a live birthday TR *Completed*

What: A mother/daughter long weekend to celebrate a Valentine birthday
Who: Myself (Tuvalu) and Emily (@TrolleyFollower91)
Where: POP! (70s building, yeah!)
When: Feb. 13-17, 2014
Why: I have never posted a trip report but was inspired by @coachwnh and @disneysince71 to go live!

Until about six hours ago, when our plane actually departed, I wasn't sure this trip was actually gonna happen. We live in Atlanta, a place that is not equipped to handle winter storms. You may have seen photos from "Snowjam/Snowmaggedon" (as the locals called it) from a couple weeks ago, where thousands of commuters were trapped in their vehicles from 8-12 hours and schoolchildren had to spend the night in their schools since the buses were unable to transport them home. Emily's usual 15 minute ride home from the elementary school where she student teaches took her over 3 hours, including having to abandon her car and walk the remaining two miles home.

After that storm blew over (so to speak!) I remarked to Emily how fortunate we were that the storm didn't happen the day we were scheduled to fly to Orlando. She replied, "Don't worry, that won't happen again."

Until this week.

Monday the forecasters began predicting a "catastrophic" snow and ice storm (I hear all you northerners laughing!) The governor of GA declared a state of emergency through the weekend. Schools and businesses
were closed beginning Tuesday. We began to see our long-awaited trip drift away...

Our Wednesday flight was cancelled at lunchtime on Tuesday. Sleet and freezing rain began that night and everything was frozen Wednesday morning.

Wednesday was a mix of sleet and snow. I was able to rebook our flight for late Thursday afternoon, doubtful we'd get to leave. And this is what we woke up to this morning:

 

[Tuvalu]

We still had some time before our lunch reservation so we decided to do Small World. And we were so excited to see our favorite Cast Member, Richard!



Richard has worked at It's a Small World and Peter Pan since my grown children were little. We make it a point to look for him every visit.

When we rode this attraction in December, there were three large video screens at the exit. The screens are still there, but covered up by these big signs:



Guess they haven't quite worked out the kinks on the MyMagic+ feature!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

I'm back to continue with our adventures on Sunday, Feb. 16.

After clobbering Emily on Buzz, we left Tomorrowland and crossed the hub to enter here:

I think "clobbering" is a tad bit of an exaggeration.

 

[Tuvalu]

It's lunchtime!!



We re-discovered this gem last year. Love the different historic dining rooms. We have sampled just about every entree on the lunch menu (dinner is a family-style feast) and have enjoyed them all. This was the first time we received rolls after placing our order.



These beauties were warm, soft yeast rolls. If you have ever been to O'Charley's, these rolls tasted similar.

Emily chose the Freedom Pasta with chicken:



To quote "A Christmas Story", I am known in my family as a turkey junkie. I am addicted to thick slices of white meat and gravy. (No one makes gravy as tasty as my mother. Her gravy is phenomenal.) So it was a given that I would order this:



The Pilgrim's Feast!

(Discerning eyes will notice that we sampled some of our lunch before I remembered to take the food pictures!)

 

[Tuvalu]

And now...the real reason we wanted to dine at Liberty Tree Tavern...

TA-DA!



Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. Served only at lunch. We were good and shared it.
We were amused at the table adjacent to ours; they, too, ordered the Ooey Gooey. However they must abide by the "Life is Short" philosophy, as they ate their dessert FIRST. Their entrees arrived after the Ooey plate was licked clean!

 

[Tuvalu]

We exited the restaurant into a sea of people ~ MK had gotten very crowded in a short period of time. The standby line for Haunted Mansion stretched to the Columbia Harbor House! And even though we had FP+ for Peter Pan, we had to wait in a very long FP+ line.

Once we returned from Neverland, we sat in a full-house showing of Mickey's Philharmagic.



The crowds were making us a bit claustrophobic, and since we had already experienced 10 attractions, we decided to leave MK for a while. (We had two remaining FP+ for the evening.) We hopped on the express monorail to the TTC. It was time to check out the construction at the Poly.

The Poly is hands-down our favorite resort (WL is a close second.) We have stayed at the Poly almost every summer since 1997. It is a place dear to our hearts. When we heard about the DVC construction and the coming changes to the Great Ceremonial House and volcano pool, we were saddened. However, we were determined to make the best of it and still booked our summer 2014 vacation at the Poly.

 

[Tuvalu]

The following pictures were taken Sunday, 2/16/14. @mebucko, @WDWJenn09, @PartOfYourWorld, @s&k'smom, @R W B, @Adam H, @piazza and @DisneyDebNJ, these are for you:




Walking from the TTC to the Polynesian grounds. Tahiti is behind the fence.




The Rapa Nui parking lot is inaccessible and is torn up. Rapa Nui is behind this fence.






The walkway between Tahiti and Rapa Nui that leads to the TTC is still open, but the lovely foliage area is behind the Tahiti fence.

 

[Tuvalu]

I took the next pictures standing on the 3rd story of the outdoor stairwell of Tokelau. You can see the docks which will lead to the bungalows. According to @tikiman, the concrete building in picture 3 is likely a utility structure. All of this construction is in front of Tahiti and the end of Tokelau.

 

[Tuvalu]

In celebration of a milestone anniversary last spring, hubby and I splurged on a club level theme park view room. The view from our room and the two-story lounge was spectacular. All that remains now is the memory and photos that we took. Because this is what the view looks like in front of the Hawaii building now:









This is also the only available beach area.

 

[Tuvalu]

We headed inside the Great Ceremonial House. Took a final waterfall picture, as that feature is going to be removed in the near future.





Browsed in Boutiki. There was one of these:



The screen on top changed periodically to reveal different images.

We took a quick tour of Captain Cooks, as it is also set to close in a week or so. Did not get a Dole Whip; we decided to drown our sorrows with a couple of Island Sunsets.



Having seen the construction for ourselves (and knowing that even more is coming), we decided to switch our summer stay to the Grand Floridian. And with the AP discount, we saved $600 over what the Poly was going to cost us.

 

[mebucko]

We will be there in 3 days - looks like it will be OK for now, and we're sure no matter what, we will always love the Poly! But boy, we are going to miss that lobby!!
Optimistic - new memories await!
Ch-Ears!!
Bill


Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr

Browsed in Boutiki. There was one of these:


Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr

The screen on top changed periodically to reveal different images.

We took a quick tour of Captain Cooks, as it is also set to close in a week or so. Did not get a Dole Whip; we decided to drown our sorrows with a couple of Island Sunsets.


Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr

Having seen the construction for ourselves (and knowing that even more is coming), we decided to switch our summer stay to the Grand Floridian. And with the AP discount, we saved $600 over what the Poly was going to cost us.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Catching up again! Thanks for all the pics of the Poly! I'm just happy I have gotten the chance to finally stay there before everything changes. Not sure I'll ever get back there due to insane prices. I was lucky to get the discount I got for this time around. Can't believe the GF was cheaper than the Poly??

And saddens me to see that beach area small..still want to watch the fireworks from there though one night! When I did online check in I requested Fiji since it was furthest from the construction and looked in a good central location. Hoping to get that building!

Can't wait to read the rest of your report! And you just made me 1000X more excited to check into the Poly on Friday!!!

 

[s&k'smom]

First thank you so much for the pictures, I have to admit my husband would be so sad to see the construction, the other night he was saying on our next trip no GF as he is disappointed in the timeshare there. However I will admit if I can steal my I mean earn my bosses job we are so going DVC. If I can possibly get a quick trip in this fall with my daughter I think I will still take her to the Poly as she is dying to stay there.

 

[Tuvalu]

I love your optimism @mebucko, @PartOfYourWorld and @s&k'smom! Honestly, even with the construction, the Poly is a wonderful resort. You can't beat the convenient location. Even though the monorail is closed during the day M-F now, they are running bigger boats to Poly/GF and there is also a bus option. The interior of the newly refurbished rooms is lovely, and the new double sinks in the bathroom is a nice improvement.

When Cook's closes, the temporary quick serve will be in the Tangaroa Terrace building (near the bus stop). We have been at the Poly when Cook's was closed in the past and the TT worked fine. Since we were in Tokelau, TT was actually more convenient since it was closer.

Most of the resort is unaffected by the construction, especially the area past the marina (Figi, Tuvalu and Aeotearoa.) If you use the quiet pool, you will see no construction at all.

We spend a lot of time on vacation sitting on our balcony overlooking the Seven Seas lagoon. It would not be as pleasurable for us this summer in the current state of things. So when I discovered we could have a pristine lagoon view at GF for much less and Emily was willing to try it (she barely remembers our stay in 2000), we made the switch.

 

[mebucko]

I love your optimism @mebucko, @PartOfYourWorld and @s&k'smom! Honestly, even with the construction, the Poly is a wonderful resort. You can't beat the convenient location. Even though the monorail is closed during the day M-F now, they are running bigger boats to Poly/GF and there is also a bus option. The interior of the newly refurbished rooms is lovely, and the new double sinks in the bathroom is a nice improvement.

When Cook's closes, the temporary quick serve will be in the Tangaroa Terrace building (near the bus stop). We have been at the Poly when Cook's was closed in the past and the TT worked fine. Since we were in Tokelau, TT was actually more convenient since it was closer.

Most of the resort is unaffected by the construction, especially the area past the marina (Figi, Tuvalu and Aeotearoa.) If you use the quiet pool, you will see no construction at all.

We spend a lot of time on vacation sitting on our balcony overlooking the Seven Seas lagoon. It would not be as pleasurable for us this summer in the current state of things. So when I discovered we could have a pristine lagoon view at GF for much less and Emily was willing to try it (she barely remembers our stay in 2000), we made the switch.

Thanks, Tuvalu!
Hope you and yours have a wonderful time at the GF this summer!
Remember when Tangaroa Terrace was a full-time, full service restaurant? We used to love eating breakfast there. I even "borrowed" (temporary souvenier)a small, smooth stone from in front of the entrance, by the tiki. It became known as the "scene of the crime" in our family! SOMEDAY, I will remove it from our Disney cabinet, and gently return it.
Memories past - Memories to come!
Ch-Ears,
Bill

 

[Tuvalu]

After slurping down our Island Sunsets, we rode the monorail back to MK to catch the bus to POP. The POP bus stop is located in the new depot addition, not quite at the end (that honor goes to AoA) but still a hefty walk. However we get to ride on the nifty bendy buses

When we arrived back at POP, it occurred to us that we had not seen the resort in bright daylight yet. Here is the front of our 70s building.



And this is the other 70s building.



There may have been napping when we returned to our room. Guess who (hint: not me.) And upon awakening, the hunger reflex usually kicks in. We decided to give the food court a try. The Parmesan crusted chicken with Alfredo pasta would have been even tastier if it had been hot. Emily got a kick out of the "Earning my Ears" CM who WEIGHED her French fries on a scale before giving them to her

The soundtrack of POP is, of course, pop music played around the resort and on the bus. There seems to be a pattern of playing a 50s song, then a 60s song, then 70s etc. In the middle of our dinner, the music suddenly stopped. Then I recognized the first notes of "The Hustle". An announcement was made to come and join the CMs dance. I didn't dance, but did take pictures.

 

[coachwnh]

My favorite was the Poly until our stay there in in Nov 2012.

Catching up again! Thanks for all the pics of the Poly! I'm just happy I have gotten the chance to finally stay there before everything changes. Not sure I'll ever get back there due to insane prices. I was lucky to get the discount I got for this time around. Can't believe the GF was cheaper than the Poly??

And saddens me to see that beach area small..still want to watch the fireworks from there though one night! When I did online check in I requested Fiji since it was furthest from the construction and looked in a good central location. Hoping to get that building!

Can't wait to read the rest of your report! And you just made me 1000X more excited to check into the Poly on Friday!!!

Have a great trip!

 

[Tuvalu]

My favorite was the Poly until our stay there in in Nov 2012.

Have a great trip!

Curious as to what happened in 2012? Unless you don't want to share...

 

[coachwnh]

Curious as to what happened in 2012? Unless you don't want to share...

Nothing. We just stayed at the GF in Feb 2013! That is now my favorite!!

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

In celebration of a milestone anniversary last spring, hubby and I splurged on a club level theme park view room. The view from our room and the two-story lounge was spectacular. All that remains now is the memory and photos that we took. Because this is what the view looks like in front of the Hawaii building now:


Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr



Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr



Untitled by tuvalu14, on Flickr

This is also the only available beach area.

This absolutely breaks my heart! BUT .... having said that, it still is the Poly! Still trying to decide on dates for this Fall. I called Disney about a month ago, to see what info I could get about construction, and the CM said the entire resort would be closed Sept 1 - Oct 4. IF that's true, I dunno (we all know how the time frames change) Sigh..... why couldn't they just leave well enough alone Thanks for the pics @Tuvalu (I can't even comment on the lobby ... its upsetting to say the least)

 

[Tuvalu]

We made a restroom stop before going out to the bus stop. I loved this shadow box of shoes (sorry for the reflection).



A bendy bus was waiting for us when stepped outside. We had two more FP+ to use at MK, Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion. Both attractions are so much better at night! Especially Big Thunder ~ we'd both forgotten how much we enjoy riding it in the dark.

MK was still packed with people. While I wanted to hang around until Wishes at 10 pm, I was so tired and the thought of a 20 minute bus ride back to POP after Wishes concluded was not appealing in the least. (If our resort had been only a quick monorail ride away we would have stayed.)

And the next morning would begin early...