Trip Report A Full Moon March Disney Trip

Hi Everyone!!

If you can read this, thank the Phoenicians. We just returned from our Disney trip and I'm really feeling the Blues now. It was an amazing and very different trip than we've had in the past. Here we go!!

The Cast:
Mom
Alex
And me! (Donna)
Epcot trio.jpg


When: February 28-March 7
Where: The POLYNESIAN Villas (!!!!)

This trip starts with Alex and I getting to the airport around 2pm for our 5pm flight. Since we had so much time to kill, we decided to go get some food! I didn't take food photos, but I got this great shot of Alex with our beers (Bud Light for me, Sam Adams for Alex)

Airport beer.jpg


We actually took a long time eating (that plus the place was PACKED slowed us down). We finally get over to our gate at 4:30 and they're already almost done boarding! By the time we get on board and take off, we've left a good 15 minutes early. Woohoo! I'll take an extra 15 minutes in Florida :D. We had a nice and uneventful flight to Orlando, we landed around 7:15pm (almost 30 minutes early!) and then we just sat on the tarmac...:oops:. There went my extra 15 minutes :in pain:.

Next we went and grabbed our luggage (which took FOREVER) then went outside to try to find our ride.
Magical- not yet.jpg


Nope, not yet! But SOON!

After trekking around outside with our luggage for about 20 minutes, we finally found our shuttle. Glorious air-conditioned shuttle! Then we headed to our first hotel of the trip: Comfort Suites Orlando Airport. We did this since Mom isn't flying in until the next day and I found an amazing deal on flights for this night. Airport hotel with free shuttle it was! And even with the additional hotel expense, it was STILL cheaper than if we flew in the next day.

A 10 minute shuttle ride later, we arrived (photo borrowed from Google Images):
Comfort suites ext.jpg


We checked in quickly and went up to our room.
Comfort Suite couch.jpg


Obviously, there was more to the room, but I was tired from traveling and we were on a mission!

Once we dropped off our luggage and gave the room a once-over (it was nice, not anything fancy, but just fine for 1 night) we went back downstairs and called an Uber. Where did we go?! Walmart! We needed supplies and since we weren't going directly to Disney we opted out of the Garden Grocer option and went to Walmart instead. There we got beer, wine, snacks, and these babies (also another Google photo).
Entemanns.png


So apparently, the Walmart we chose to shop (was closest to our hotel) is kind of in a bad area. As mentioned in the title to this report, there was a full moon (or mostly full) for the entire length of our trip. Let's just say there were a lot of interesting people at this Walmart after dark. Our Uber driver back to the hotel helped us forget by being super bubbly and extremely chatty. Her name was Jessica and she was great, but never took a breath! :joyfull::hilarious:

We returned to our room where we ate a Walmart Deli dinner, had a beer (Bud Light), and went to bed. We're going to DISNEY tomorrow!
 

DonnaOnTheRocks

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, March 1- Disney Day!!!

We got up early this morning (early in vacation terms) and were downstairs in time for the 8:30am shuttle back to the airport. Mom's flight was landing at 8:30, so this was perfect! We got dropped off on the B side and took an elevator down to find the Magical Express! Does a Disney trip really ever start until you get to DME?? Mom was already there waiting for us. Another flight must have just got in because the line to check into DME was so LONG. We just stayed where we were and caught up for a bit until the line went down. We checked in quickly and within a few minutes we were being loaded on a bus!

DME bus.jpg


Time for the first selfies of the trip ;)

DME both.jpg

DME me.jpg


Soon we were on our way! While on the bus, I received the "Your room is not ready just yet" email. I assumed it wouldn't be ready by 9:30am, so we were prepared for this. First stop was Wilderness Lodge.. I really want to stay here some day! We then made our way to our destination.. The Polynesian!!!!
Poly entrance water.jpg


Is there anything more gorgeous than the front entrance of the Poly??

Since I got that email that our room wasn't ready, we got our park bags ready and gave the rest of our luggage to bell services to hold. We got into the lobby and Alex says, "why don't we check and see if your room is ready? Just in case". It was worth a shot! We were waiting in line at the front desk, with 1 person being helped in front of us, for about 10 minutes when my phone buzzed with an email. Our room was ready!!!!! We asked the nice concierge for a map of the resort (I'd been there many times, but never stayed there so really had no idea where any of the buildings were) and we were heading to our room!

This was my first time renting DVC points (it was SO much cheaper!) so I didn't know what to expect. I knew what the rooms looked like from photos, but I was a little nervous about the 3 of us sharing a room.

Following our new map, we made our way to...

moorea-longhouse-dvc.jpg


Poly room number.jpg


Moorea building, room 3015, right next to the outside staircase. Perfect location!
Poly room location.jpg


The hallways here are so bright, it was a great way to start the day every morning :happy:

Up next, inside the room!
 

Attachments

  • Poly hallway.jpg
    Poly hallway.jpg
    100.7 KB · Views: 167

DonnaOnTheRocks

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, March 1 Continued...

Here is the video I took of our room, so amazing!!!



And the best part of all, the VIEW
Poly view thurs reg.jpg
Poly view thurs zoom.jpg
Poly view thurs.jpg
Poly view.jpg


SERIOUSLY?! I get to SLEEP here?! It was the most unreal feeling I have ever experienced. From the video you can hear the birds chirping, the wind was blowing calmly, it was complete paradise. It truly did not feel like we were in Disney, it felt like a tropical paradise. If you ever get the chance to stay here, take it!

After gawking around our room for a bit, we decided it was time for FOOD. Our first Fastpass was not until 11:40 and it was only about 10am. So we headed over to the main building. Our building was not very convenient to the Great Ceremonial House, but it was a Gorgeous walk. Alex took this photo on the way.

Poly love.jpg


It was a Beautiful day in Orlando! It was about 80+ this day, the perfect weather for our first Disney day!

We made it over to Captain Cooks and by this point we were all Starving! Mom went with a Caesar Salad and Alex and I shared the pulled pork nachos.
Poly capt cooks thurs.jpg
Poly capt cooks thurs nachos.jpg


These NACHOS WERE SOOOO GOOD!!! :hungry::hungry::hungry::hungry::hungry::hungry::hungry: Spoiler alert, this was 100% my favorite meal of the trip!

After Alex and I inhaled our nachos and helped my mom finish her salad, we were off to our first park! It was such a nice day and we were already outside at Captain Cooks, so we decided to take a boat over to... the Magic Kingdom!
 

DonnaOnTheRocks

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, March 1 Continued...

We had a beautiful, breezy ride over to the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully our bags were searched prior to boarding so we were able to walk right up to scan our Magic Bands. The first one of the trip! Honestly, is there anything more amazing than your first walk down Main Street USA?! You ignore everything else, the people around you and the chaos that comes with it, everything else falls away until it seems like it's just you and the castle. The beauty of it all is so overwhelming!

I didn't get the Memory Maker this trip, only because I knew we wouldn't want to stop much for photos. So we took our own :)

MK thurs trio.jpg


We were still about 40 minutes away from our first Fastpass so I checked the MDE app and Splash Mountain had a 40 minute wait! Perfect timing! Alex and I hopped in line (Mom doesn't do most rides) and we were onboard in about 45 minutes. We needed it, it was HOT in the park! Unfortunately (or fortunately) I got splashed right in the face... and nowhere else :hilarious::hilarious:. Alex's shirt was soaked in certain spots but we ended up drying off fairly quickly.

We found Mom and proceeded to our first Fastpass of the trip... Haunted Mansion! I'm glad we had a FP as this had about a 35 minute wait when we arrived... and that outside line is NOT fun in the heat. We ended up waiting about 10 minutes before going into the stretching room. I LOVE this ride! But am I the only one who hates the cluster.... they let you out into before you board the doom buggys?? Everyone pushing for NO reason, relax people!

Anyway, we enjoyed our ride through the mansion. My favorite part is the ballroom scene :inlove:.

After our ride, we then backtracked back over to Frontierland for our 2nd FP of the day and on the way we saw this guy
MK thurs bird.jpg


Where was our 2nd FP? Big Thunder Mountain! This was under refurb the last time Alex and I went, so I made this one a priority. We left Mom again, but we wouldn't be excluding her the rest of the day. We scanned our bands and got into a decently short line. We thoroughly enjoyed our (new and improved) wild ride! You can Definitely tell it's faster than before. Alex even mentioned that he couldn't keep his hands up the whole time, which he never had an issue with in the past.

After the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness, we had some time to kill before our next Fastpass. By this time it was getting super hot in the Florida sun and we wanted a quick break. Since we were already in Frontierland, we hopped on the train. After going a full loop and getting off in Frontierland, we then headed to one of my favorites.. The Country Bears!
MK thurs country bears.jpg


We enjoyed the show (and the air-conditioning)! But the older I get, the more things in this show that I notice are not really child appropriate.. some of the songs are just plain dark :joyfull:.

After our Jamboree, we started to slowly make our way towards our next FP. We still had a decent amount of time to kill and I was craving a snack. What else do you get in Adventureland?!
MK Thurs dole whip.jpg

Sorry, I ate some before I remembered to take a photo :joyfull:. This was actually my first dole whip EVER :jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop:. I HAD to have one this trip as I LOVE all things pineapple. I never tried one because the line is always so long. This time was no different. We got in the Huge line and as we're standing there, I look over and see a sign for "Mobile Order Pickup". Hmmmm, I go on the app, find how to order it and before we even got out of line I got a text that my order was ready! Score!!! I definitely love the new mobile ordering, don't forget about it like I did :)

After our snack (I shared) we were ready for our final FP of the day, Jungle Cruise! Alex has only been on this once when it was the Jingle Cruise, so I wanted to make sure he got the full experience. After a very short wait, we were on our boat! Our skipper (sorry, I cannot remember her name) was great but she didn't have any new jokes/puns for us. It was still a fun ride and Alex rolled his eyes the whole time, I call that a win! :)
 

Attachments

  • MK thurs Alex.jpg
    MK thurs Alex.jpg
    66.7 KB · Views: 159

DonnaOnTheRocks

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I loove the Polynesian I would love to stay there or the AKL. Never heard of renting points, how does this work if you dont mind me asking?
Not at all! I used David's Vacation Club Rentals. You put in the dates you want, your preferred resort (you can put in multiple backups), and it tells you how much it will cost. When you request the dates you put down a deposit (I think it was $200?) and that money is put towards your balance if it's approved. The downfall of it is when you get approved, you have to pay the full amount of your stay in full. That's a big chunk I had to put on my credit card at one time, but it's still much cheaper than the same room would have been if I booked directly with Disney. Once it's paid they send you an agreement with a Disney confirmation number so you can begin planning in the MDE app. I loved it and may try it again sometime!
 

SDisney90

Well-Known Member
Not at all! I used David's Vacation Club Rentals. You put in the dates you want, your preferred resort (you can put in multiple backups), and it tells you how much it will cost. When you request the dates you put down a deposit (I think it was $200?) and that money is put towards your balance if it's approved. The downfall of it is when you get approved, you have to pay the full amount of your stay in full. That's a big chunk I had to put on my credit card at one time, but it's still much cheaper than the same room would have been if I booked directly with Disney. Once it's paid they send you an agreement with a Disney confirmation number so you can begin planning in the MDE app. I loved it and may try it again sometime!
Wow thats awesome! thank you so much I just checked on the website and AKL would be around 2,300 compared to the 5-6k we were looking at..thats amazing!
 

DonnaOnTheRocks

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow thats awesome! thank you so much I just checked on the website and AKL would be around 2,300 compared to the 5-6k we were looking at..thats amazing!
That is amazing! As a travel agent, I can't recommend this route, but for me personally it worked out great!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom