Trip Report The Stalker Surfaces - A First Report for a Long Time Creeper Feb 2019!

Hello everyone!

My name is Annie and I am your friendly undercover WDW Magic Trip Report Stalker. I feel as though I know so many of you personally, as I have read SO MANY trip reports over the years. I travel for work, and often on these travels I find myself passing the time on the boards.

In my childhood, my family was of the "yearly vacation at Disney" sort until I went away for college:
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(some things never change!)

I spent a lot of time during my college years and early professional life dreaming of my return to the World. In 2015, I finally became an annual passholder when I started a new job at a medical school here in Maine and began to travel the country (and Central Florida) quit a bit for conferences, events, etc. I have had MANY Disney World trips paid for by the University over the past few years, as well as fun ones with my friends and family!

I was prompted to write this report by my fiance, who suggested that I repay the favor of all you fine folks sharing your Disney adventures. So.. here we go!

When: February 1, 2019 - February 9, 2019

Who: Me (Annie) and my fiance (Ian)
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Where: Polynesian Village Resort (renting DVC)

Why: Celebrating our ENGAGEMENT! Ian proposed one month prior to our trip after 6.5 years! We survived long distance, civilian service for the Navy separating us, and much more that made us feel deserving of a treat!
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I went to get my nails done with my future sister-in-law this night directly after work. I waited until the very last minute because I wanted my nails looking as fresh as possible the following Tuesday for our engagement photo session on the grounds of the Poly-Grand :inlove: Fun fact: Ian has a twin brother and his wife is who I went with. People like to joke about how I know what my future children will look like based on his and his wife's (she favors me and I her).

This brings us to our next stop. Before I headed home post nail appointment, I had an important question to ask my nephew:
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(he said YES! lol.. the dollar helped :hilarious:)

Once I had solidified my ring security for the big day, I headed home to my future hubby who had only just started packing UGH. I had been packed for nearly two weeks, but that is beside the point. My annoyance with his lack of packing motivation quickly turned to thoughts of "I can't believe I get to marry this man" when he handed me these upon my arrival:
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Day 1: Friday, February 1, 2019
We live on the southern seacoast of Maine, so we are fortunate to live near a decent sized airport in Portland BUT I wanted a flight that would get us to Orlando ASAP. So naturally, I got us up on our first day of vacation at 2 AM to get to the bus station for our ride into Boston for our 6 AM flight. WORTH IT. Or.. not? We ended up delayed nearly two hours. How will we deal with the disappointment?

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BREAKFAST PIZZA! And not pizza that has eggs and sausage.. actual pizza just eaten in the morning :hilarious:

Ian is NOT hugely a morning person, mostly because most days at home he either wakes up for work at 3 AM or works overnights. I told him I found the perfect snack for him:
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Luckily, after almost 7 years he knows to expect this kind of behavior from me! As a side note: during this delay we were dealing with some drama back home. My older sister is getting married in the same year as me which is THIS ONE 2019 (her in June in Colorado and me in October in Maine). Isn't it interesting how some fun aspects of our loved ones personalities shine through during wedding planning? Ian had to keep reminding that we were on vacation and to deal with the drama upon our return but not a minute sooner!

We finally boarded around 8:30 AM and no sooner had we sat down, then Ian had already fallen asleep
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That's right fella, rest up for the mouse!!

We had a very uneventful ride down, and soon we were taking a fonorail ride to our next destination and hopping on the DME!
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(my sister made me the Future Mrs ears for the trip and I got so many compliments on them!)

To be continued...
 

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annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued...

You have all seen MUCH better HEA pictures than mine, so I will share just a few!

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I cry EVERY TIME. And you know who joined me with a couple of stray tears this time? IAN! He was absolutely blown away and could not stop talking about it and his favorite parts. This made my heart so so so happy to share something I love so much with him and have him respond in kind. We chatted while folks started their trek toward the park exit.

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As we were recovering, we realized that it was about 8:40 and the park was closing at 9. Ian looks at me and says "Wildest ride in the wilderness?!" HECK YES. We walked at our quickest pace without being obnoxious and made it as the last allowed in line for the night. I have no photo proof because we were just having so much fun and felt like little kids racing for one more ride! After we exited our wild ride, we slowly made our way to Main Street. We spotted a PP CM and decided to document our awesome night!

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BEST DAY EVER!

We eventually made our way to the monorail and back to the Poly for the night. We crashed almost immediately. The next day was a total rest day to enjoy the Poly and all it had to offer.. MOSTLY.


Day 5: Tuesday, February 5, 2019


I thought that about halfway through our vacation was an ideal time to plan for no alarms, pool time, etc. And I will preface this update by saying we DID do those things.

I woke up sometime around 7 AM and forced myself to go back to sleep and get some more rest as I knew my body really needed it. Around 9, I got up and ready for the day. We were going to meet our photographer around 3:30 at the Poly, so I wanted to make the most of the day and the sunshine. Ian was content to stay asleep for awhile longer :hilarious:

I grabbed a seat in the sun at the Lava Pool and read my book for a good hour or so. Eventually I was looking up to see Ian had joined me. What a sleepyhead! We took a quick dip in the hot tub ease our sore tootsies.

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This did not last long as it was HOT in the sun.

(sidebar: This reminds me of a story from our first night at the Poly when we went in the hot tub prior to watching HEA on the beach. The hot tub was relatively empty, which we were excited about. Ian and I had no sooner sat down in two empty spots when a <drunk> woman started yelling at us that she was saving those seats for her family. Ian, ever the gentleman, apologized and said he did not know. We huddled over in a corner away from the woman..... whose family never joined her. When we got out, I told Ian that I felt he didn't need to apologize to that woman he didn't do anything wrong. He told me "don't fight with drunk people" LOL)

We then tried out the slide at the pool, how fun! We swam around and enjoyed each other's company. We also had fun watching the kids play games for awhile. We would pick a kid at the beginning of each game and see if one of us would "win" 😂

Ian put feelers out for an idea he was having. He inherited his grandfather's boat a couple of years ago and really enjoys boating. He asked if I would think it was fun to rent a pontoon boat to go explore the lake. Um.. YES. We would also get an AP discount, score!

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My captain!

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It was really fun sharing my Disney knowledge with Ian as we went along. He was REALLY hoping to see an alligator, but not today!

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This was such a fun new experience for me. We spent about an hour out on the water cruising around. I would definitely recommend this as a new way to see WDW from a different perspective.

To be continued...
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 continued..

We returned back to dock, ready to grab some lunch before our ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS. I was SO excited to do this at my favorite place on earth. Plus, while it was a hot day the humidity was very low which I was hoping would bode well for my hair and makeup LOL

We grabbed some quick items from Captain Cook's

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My pulled pork nachos were UNREAL as always

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Ian enjoyed the pork fried rice

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We both had the purple potion cupcakes, which were just okay to me. Ian liked them quite a bit better than me.

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DUCK! No really... a duck.

I will do a separate post with some of our favorite engagement shoot photos, but I will keep them out of this update in case sappiness is too much for you LOL

Our photographer was local to Orlando and an AP. I felt very lucky to find her, as I only had 3 weeks to do so after Ian proposed!! We shot on the grounds of both the Poly and the Grand.

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She was very professional, chatty without being too much. She made us feel very comfortable (which is a feat because Ian does NOT do PDA. The PP kissing shots in the parks made him so uncomfortable sometimes). She worked really hard to get unique shots. We were with her until sunset AND she finished on time to get us to our ADR .. time for dinner at 'Ohana!

We were SO READY for this meal after a couple hours of picture taking. Bring on the food!!

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Ian was very unsure whether or not he would like the bread as he does not like coconut - but loved it!

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The food was all good. Ian had lots of the meat and chicken. I think I was little overheated from so much time in the sun and pumped on adrenaline from the photoshoot as well, so I did not eat as much as I hoped. I DID however save room for this

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YUM!

I have the same feedback many of you have expressed in your reviews. It was very rushed. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I was hungrier as well haha

After dinner we stopped back in the room to change into our bathing suits. We were ready for some relaxing. We swam around at the Oasis pool and soaked in the hot tub for quite some time. We had a lot of fun swimming and talking about our highs and lows of the trip so far. With more to come!

Engagement photos in next post!
 

Nunu

Wanderluster
Premium Member
Day 4 continued...

You have all seen MUCH better HEA pictures than mine, so I will share just a few!

View attachment 379108

View attachment 379109

View attachment 379110

I cry EVERY TIME. And you know who joined me with a couple of stray tears this time? IAN! He was absolutely blown away and could not stop talking about it and his favorite parts. This made my heart so so so happy to share something I love so much with him and have him respond in kind. We chatted while folks started their trek toward the park exit.

View attachment 379111

As we were recovering, we realized that it was about 8:40 and the park was closing at 9. Ian looks at me and says "Wildest ride in the wilderness?!" HECK YES. We walked at our quickest pace without being obnoxious and made it as the last allowed in line for the night. I have no photo proof because we were just having so much fun and felt like little kids racing for one more ride! After we exited our wild ride, we slowly made our way to Main Street. We spotted a PP CM and decided to document our awesome night!

View attachment 379123

BEST DAY EVER!

We eventually made our way to the monorail and back to the Poly for the night. We crashed almost immediately. The next day was a total rest day to enjoy the Poly and all it had to offer.. MOSTLY.


Day 5: Tuesday, February 5, 2019

I thought that about halfway through our vacation was an ideal time to plan for no alarms, pool time, etc. And I will preface this update by saying we DID do those things.

I woke up sometime around 7 AM and forced myself to go back to sleep and get some more rest as I knew my body really needed it. Around 9, I got up and ready for the day. We were going to meet our photographer around 3:30 at the Poly, so I wanted to make the most of the day and the sunshine. Ian was content to stay asleep for awhile longer :hilarious:

I grabbed a seat in the sun at the Lava Pool and read my book for a good hour or so. Eventually I was looking up to see Ian had joined me. What a sleepyhead! We took a quick dip in the hot tub ease our sore tootsies.

View attachment 379136

This did not last long as it was HOT in the sun.

(sidebar: This reminds me of a story from our first night at the Poly when we went in the hot tub prior to watching HEA on the beach. The hot tub was relatively empty, which we were excited about. Ian and I had no sooner sat down in two empty spots when a <drunk> woman started yelling at us that she was saving those seats for her family. Ian, ever the gentleman, apologized and said he did not know. We huddled over in a corner away from the woman..... whose family never joined her. When we got out, I told Ian that I felt he didn't need to apologize to that woman he didn't do anything wrong. He told me "don't fight with drunk people" LOL)

We then tried out the slide at the pool, how fun! We swam around and enjoyed each other's company. We also had fun watching the kids play games for awhile. We would pick a kid at the beginning of each game and see if one of us would "win" 😂

Ian put feelers out for an idea he was having. He inherited his grandfather's boat a couple of years ago and really enjoys boating. He asked if I would think it was fun to rent a pontoon boat to go explore the lake. Um.. YES. We would also get an AP discount, score!

View attachment 379158

My captain!

View attachment 379162

It was really fun sharing my Disney knowledge with Ian as we went along. He was REALLY hoping to see an alligator, but not today!

View attachment 379160

View attachment 379161

This was such a fun new experience for me. We spent about an hour out on the water cruising around. I would definitely recommend this as a new way to see WDW from a different perspective.

To be continued...
Good to know that I'm not alone in the "Crying Dept." I cry when we approach the gates of WDW every single time! I get emotional with shows, fireworks, rides, etc. 😭 It's ridiculous really! 😆
 

BrerWayne

Well-Known Member

Oh bother!

Well-Known Member
Day three continued...

After our filling lunch, it was time for our mid day rest! It was a bit overcast, so I snuggled up on the balcony while Ian took his siesta on the murphy bed. Ideal location for people watching..

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I had the distinct pleasure of catching sight of an older man sitting on his garden level patio AU NATURALE. I did not WANT to look, but I did a double take because I couldn't believe my eyes! As I focused elsewhere my mind was reeling. He was right out in the open! I had thoughts of maybe a diminished mental capacity and started feeling badly, until his (I assume) wife came out and started yelling at him to come inside and put clothes on and he said "I paid my money I can do whatever I please!" There were far more expletives, but folks this is a FAMILY site. I tried to tell Ian this when he woke up and he flat out did not believe me.

With my corneas still recovering, we prepared for our return to DHS for our evening adventures. First order of business? Head to TSL - we had a SDD FP to cash in on!

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Our thoughts? We loved it! We were laughing the whole time and had a blast. I was tempted to commemorate the experience, but decided to move on.

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Alien Swirling Saucers only had a 20 minute wait, so we decided why not!? As many of you have pointed out, this queue is poorly planned, but luckily we caught it with a decent wait so did not suffer in the heat for too long.

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By the time we waved goodbye to our alien friends, the sun had set and it was time for one more ride before Fantasmic! I will apologize right now.. particularly today with Galaxy's Edge opening day at DLR - Neither of us have seen a single Star Wars movie. I am SO SORRY. I don't know why. We have seen every animated feature sometimes on opening night! (Frozen, Moana, Coco, etc.). We still made way for Star Tours like the fake fans we are

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Though it might have been appropriate, neither of us were the Rebel Spy and we made it out alive! On to the show! .... as the rain started slowly but surely falling.

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(I always feel like somebody's watching me...)

The time waiting in the theater was Ian's first experience with tour groups. Not bad to only notice them on day 3!! He just kept saying to me "where are their parents?!" There was a group near us of the young girls and their leaders were young men. This particularly rubbed Ian the wrong way prompting him to tell me we would not send our future daughters on trips like that. I told him I was sure there was more oversight than these young leaders but he was ruffled 🤷‍♀️

Eventually after a few delays the show began! I had not seen Fantasmic in a few trips, and I was happy to be here again. Ian was impressed with the story and waterworks especially. I tried to just enjoy it and took few photos.


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After a great show, we fought the crowds out to the bus. A stop that felt so very very far away at the end of the day. Once returning the the Poly, we stopped by Captain Cook's for a late dinner of flatbreads. I got a chocolate croissant for dessert and it was delicious even at that late hour!

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When we returned to the room Ian caught the very end of the Super Bowl, which he was excited about. Patriots won!! I was excited, as I am Massachusetts born and bred transplant to Maine. He was happy just to see some of the game. I will out him now as a Dallas Cowboys fan. The man has never even been to Texas LOL. The story goes when he was little, his friends were all picking their favorite teams and he settled on the Cowboys stating they were "America's team" and the fandom has stuck around for decades!

After the football festivities were complete, we were off to bed. FINALLY hitting the Magic Kingdom the next day. How would we fair with the Super Bowl parade crowds? Stay tuned.

To be continued..
Fellow lurker here!
I almost worry I’ll look at people oddly on our next trip as I’ll recognise them, but they won’t hsve a clue why or who I am 😂

But I couldn’t ignore this......
was the balcony screened from those walking in front? Was it just your bad luck to get a “birds eye view”?!
 

StitchSNK

Well-Known Member
Joining in! I L.O.V.E. your trip report! Captain Cooks Nachos....mmmm...drooling just thinking about them! Your engagement photos are beautiful! You are glowing! Gorgeous engagement ring too - great job Ian!
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
But I couldn’t ignore this......
was the balcony screened from those walking in front? Was it just your bad luck to get a “birds eye view”?!
I can answer this. No Disney resort balconies have screens. And since this gentleman had a first floor room, it was merely a concrete patio. Some of the patios have foliage around them, but I am guessing it was not enough to prevent @akneeconnors from getting an eyeful! :jawdrop:
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Beautiful engagement pictures, very original and well taken, you look very happy and in love ☺
Thanks for sharing such a special time in your lives!
GORGEOUS engagement photos!! I especially luuuuurve the monorail one!
I really like the one of the two of yall in front of the Grand Flo. It looks as though he is kissing you on the cheek or whispering in your ear. Your smile radiates happiness. Congrats on your engagement!
Beautiful pictures! Sunset on the Poly beach and the monorail shot are my favorites!
Your photos are stunning!!
Thank you all so much!! Writing the update and going through the photos was so much fun. We actually used a couple of these on our Save the Dates! Appreciate all the kind words about the photos :inlove:
 

annienevells

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Good to know that I'm not alone in the "Crying Dept." I cry when we approach the gates of WDW every single time! I get emotional with shows, fireworks, rides, etc. 😭 It's ridiculous really! 😆
ME TOO! I think I cry more on my WDW trips than I do in a total year at home 😂
 

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