Sorry this is so long but I wanted to be detailed for future trips.
Day 3.
Found out quickly that our new room did not include hot water in the shower. This would continue to be an issue, more to come on this during day 7. Decided to eat breakfast at the Kona Café right here at the Poly. Tried their famous tonga toast and overall a very good breakfast. We had a very busy last two days so it was time to relax at a water park. Only had time for one water park this trip and decided it would be Blizzard Beach. Still have not done Typhoon Lagoon after six trips.
Headed straight to tike’s peak section for 5-year old water fun. We also set up camp in a few lounge chairs with an up-front view of the action. The 9-year old and myself headed over to some of the bigger slides like Toboggan Racers and Snow Stormers. Then we did the entire circle of Cross Country Creek. We met back up with the group and walked up the long stairs to do Teamboat springs. WOW, this was great and we did it again right away. My sister in-law and the 5-year old headed back to the kiddy area, the rest of us went back for more Snow Stormers, and Toboggan Racers. Just lift up on the mat for speed, I was really flying down that slide, yes I won the race. My wife took our 9-year old to Ski Patrol Camp and Thin Ice Training Course. You have to carry the tube to the top of this slide, the mat rides have a retrieval system. I say this because my wife, after carrying her tube to the top and then trying to get in, let the tube go without her in it. She then had to walk back down and get another tube. If I could only have been there to witness this in person. We then gathered everything up and ate at the big building in front of the park. Hot Dogs and chicken strips I think. Did a little shopping in the gift shop then back to the room. I really wanted to do Summit Plummet but lost the nerve. It’s only 120’ high, 500’ long and has a top speed of 60 M.P.H. Maybe next time.
It was time to make our way to the Yacht and Beach club for surprise number 2. I made reservation for Cape May, we had heard good things about this place and we also like to see other Disney hotels during our stay. The trip over was not fun. I thought we could walk to the TTC from the Poly and then take a bus to the Yacht and Beach. Not so. The buses from the TTC only go to other parks. We took a bus to MGM and then waited for the boat that runs from the MGM to the Swan/Dolphin then Yacht and Beach. This all took a lot longer than expected and we missed our reservation. We ate at Beaches & Cream soda shop, which was on my list to try. This is a great little spot that really needs to be expanded. We saw the pool, which is truly the best on Disney property and made our way to the Yacht club marina for the true surprise. I had reserved the Birthday Illuminations fireworks cruise for my wife. This included a birthday banner on the side of the boat, balloons, drinks, chips, and a specially made cake. The boat is a really nice pontoon with a driver and is private for your group. First, they take you over to MGM to see it lit up at night, next over to the Boardwalk, lastly pulls up under a bridge inside of Epcot. We are then served drinks, chips, and cake. We have a front row view of Illuminations and did not have to fight the crowd. Great show and great cruise. Worth every penny, especially if you have a large group. I had the driver run us over to the MGM dock and we barely caught the last bus back to the Poly. Once in our room we see whishes MK fireworks show for the second time of our trip.
Day 4.
Again, no hot water in room 3516. Ate breakfast at the concierge lounge, loaded the cooler with water and we were off to Downtown Disney. The kids and I did some pin trading and the kids each got to spend some of their Disney dollars. Wife and sister in-law continued to shop while me and the kids went to Disney Quest. I had to do the virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. It was me the captain, holding the youngest, trying to steer the boat and shoot the cannons all at the same time. This ride or game can hold about seven people at a time. It’s also in 3D. This was really fun and I would like to do it again with a larger group. We made our way up to the top floor for some pizza and games. They have a section of older games that are all free, the kind I grew up with, Donkey Kong, Pac Man and such. I was having a blast. Not such a trill for the kids but they did have free skeeball. We had to pay for the section that gave out prize tickets for various games such as skeeball. I spent ten bucks for 20 minutes of fun. Girls were getting tired so we headed back to the Poly for some swimming and more volcano pool slide fun.
My wife and sister in-law left Downtown Disney early to enjoy the Grand Floridian SPA. This was my wife’s actual birthday present from me. It would have been a surprise but I wanted to make sure she really wanted this present before I spent that kind of dough. I got her the ultimate relaxation treatment. It included a hot mineral bath and a 50-minute body massage. I guess it worked because they both said they had a great time and looked relaxed. They even got some guy from the spa to drive them back to our room in a golf cart.
MNSSHP trip number two. Kids dressed the same, 5-year old Tinker bell and 9-year old was Mulan. We had reservations at the Concourse Steakhouse over at the Contemporary. We all love steak and this place was great. Only down side is that it is located next to Chef Mickey’s and the monorail is overhead, quite noisy for such a nice place. The kids got a painters palate for desert. It is a plain white sugar cookie with a palate of colored icing they can paint on the cookie. We did yet some more shopping at the Contemporary, we had seen these shops during our last trip and they continue to impress my wife. She just loves these shops. We are now running late for the party so I decided to have us walk instead of taking the monorail with it’s numerous stops. The walk was not that bad but it’s starting to take a toll the more we do.
My sister in-law decided to split from our family, more on this later. We headed over to Tomorrowland and straight for the transit authority (TTA). I wanted the 9-year old and my wife to get a view of the inside of Space Mountain (SM). They had not ridden it before and offers the best view inside of SM plus it’s a good break from walking. Everybody liked the TTA and it really is an overlooked attraction. We then headed to Mickey’s Toontown. It was really crowded so we did a 180 because I knew it would clear out after 10:00. Since we were close the wife and kids rode the tea cups again, no wait, while I took pictures. We then did small world and the haunted mansion. 5-year old was not thrilled about the haunted mansion but I held her close the entire time. We then made our way around to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Splash Mountain was next for me and the 9-year old while my wife and youngest daughter did some shopping on main street. Splash Mountain is our favorite ride at MK hands down. I think this was the first trip for us at night. We all met back up and headed for Mickey’s House.
Toontown was now a lot less crowded. We saw Scarecrow Mickey, Princess Minnie, Pumpkin Donald, and Lindbergh Goofy all with not much of a wait. We also made a couple of flights around the Goofy roller coaster. MNSSHP has a lot of stops for trick-or-treating, they are all marked with a big balloon. We found that it was better to go later in the night for smaller lines and more candy. We also noticed there was always to CM’s handing out candy and the kids could quickly pass between both of them a couple of times for more. We heard that the candy in years past was better, more full size candy bars. Not in 2003, all were the bite or mini size variety.
It was getting late so we headed to the resort monorail where by chance we met up with my sister in-law. She had a chance to try the fortune telling booths. She met a guy that knew all about the fortunetellers through research on the Internet. Weird huh. She also did some shopping and got the special one night only MNSSHP pin. I think they have one for each night. Darn should have gotten both for our trip.
Half way done.
Day 3.
Found out quickly that our new room did not include hot water in the shower. This would continue to be an issue, more to come on this during day 7. Decided to eat breakfast at the Kona Café right here at the Poly. Tried their famous tonga toast and overall a very good breakfast. We had a very busy last two days so it was time to relax at a water park. Only had time for one water park this trip and decided it would be Blizzard Beach. Still have not done Typhoon Lagoon after six trips.
Headed straight to tike’s peak section for 5-year old water fun. We also set up camp in a few lounge chairs with an up-front view of the action. The 9-year old and myself headed over to some of the bigger slides like Toboggan Racers and Snow Stormers. Then we did the entire circle of Cross Country Creek. We met back up with the group and walked up the long stairs to do Teamboat springs. WOW, this was great and we did it again right away. My sister in-law and the 5-year old headed back to the kiddy area, the rest of us went back for more Snow Stormers, and Toboggan Racers. Just lift up on the mat for speed, I was really flying down that slide, yes I won the race. My wife took our 9-year old to Ski Patrol Camp and Thin Ice Training Course. You have to carry the tube to the top of this slide, the mat rides have a retrieval system. I say this because my wife, after carrying her tube to the top and then trying to get in, let the tube go without her in it. She then had to walk back down and get another tube. If I could only have been there to witness this in person. We then gathered everything up and ate at the big building in front of the park. Hot Dogs and chicken strips I think. Did a little shopping in the gift shop then back to the room. I really wanted to do Summit Plummet but lost the nerve. It’s only 120’ high, 500’ long and has a top speed of 60 M.P.H. Maybe next time.
It was time to make our way to the Yacht and Beach club for surprise number 2. I made reservation for Cape May, we had heard good things about this place and we also like to see other Disney hotels during our stay. The trip over was not fun. I thought we could walk to the TTC from the Poly and then take a bus to the Yacht and Beach. Not so. The buses from the TTC only go to other parks. We took a bus to MGM and then waited for the boat that runs from the MGM to the Swan/Dolphin then Yacht and Beach. This all took a lot longer than expected and we missed our reservation. We ate at Beaches & Cream soda shop, which was on my list to try. This is a great little spot that really needs to be expanded. We saw the pool, which is truly the best on Disney property and made our way to the Yacht club marina for the true surprise. I had reserved the Birthday Illuminations fireworks cruise for my wife. This included a birthday banner on the side of the boat, balloons, drinks, chips, and a specially made cake. The boat is a really nice pontoon with a driver and is private for your group. First, they take you over to MGM to see it lit up at night, next over to the Boardwalk, lastly pulls up under a bridge inside of Epcot. We are then served drinks, chips, and cake. We have a front row view of Illuminations and did not have to fight the crowd. Great show and great cruise. Worth every penny, especially if you have a large group. I had the driver run us over to the MGM dock and we barely caught the last bus back to the Poly. Once in our room we see whishes MK fireworks show for the second time of our trip.
Day 4.
Again, no hot water in room 3516. Ate breakfast at the concierge lounge, loaded the cooler with water and we were off to Downtown Disney. The kids and I did some pin trading and the kids each got to spend some of their Disney dollars. Wife and sister in-law continued to shop while me and the kids went to Disney Quest. I had to do the virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. It was me the captain, holding the youngest, trying to steer the boat and shoot the cannons all at the same time. This ride or game can hold about seven people at a time. It’s also in 3D. This was really fun and I would like to do it again with a larger group. We made our way up to the top floor for some pizza and games. They have a section of older games that are all free, the kind I grew up with, Donkey Kong, Pac Man and such. I was having a blast. Not such a trill for the kids but they did have free skeeball. We had to pay for the section that gave out prize tickets for various games such as skeeball. I spent ten bucks for 20 minutes of fun. Girls were getting tired so we headed back to the Poly for some swimming and more volcano pool slide fun.
My wife and sister in-law left Downtown Disney early to enjoy the Grand Floridian SPA. This was my wife’s actual birthday present from me. It would have been a surprise but I wanted to make sure she really wanted this present before I spent that kind of dough. I got her the ultimate relaxation treatment. It included a hot mineral bath and a 50-minute body massage. I guess it worked because they both said they had a great time and looked relaxed. They even got some guy from the spa to drive them back to our room in a golf cart.
MNSSHP trip number two. Kids dressed the same, 5-year old Tinker bell and 9-year old was Mulan. We had reservations at the Concourse Steakhouse over at the Contemporary. We all love steak and this place was great. Only down side is that it is located next to Chef Mickey’s and the monorail is overhead, quite noisy for such a nice place. The kids got a painters palate for desert. It is a plain white sugar cookie with a palate of colored icing they can paint on the cookie. We did yet some more shopping at the Contemporary, we had seen these shops during our last trip and they continue to impress my wife. She just loves these shops. We are now running late for the party so I decided to have us walk instead of taking the monorail with it’s numerous stops. The walk was not that bad but it’s starting to take a toll the more we do.
My sister in-law decided to split from our family, more on this later. We headed over to Tomorrowland and straight for the transit authority (TTA). I wanted the 9-year old and my wife to get a view of the inside of Space Mountain (SM). They had not ridden it before and offers the best view inside of SM plus it’s a good break from walking. Everybody liked the TTA and it really is an overlooked attraction. We then headed to Mickey’s Toontown. It was really crowded so we did a 180 because I knew it would clear out after 10:00. Since we were close the wife and kids rode the tea cups again, no wait, while I took pictures. We then did small world and the haunted mansion. 5-year old was not thrilled about the haunted mansion but I held her close the entire time. We then made our way around to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Splash Mountain was next for me and the 9-year old while my wife and youngest daughter did some shopping on main street. Splash Mountain is our favorite ride at MK hands down. I think this was the first trip for us at night. We all met back up and headed for Mickey’s House.
Toontown was now a lot less crowded. We saw Scarecrow Mickey, Princess Minnie, Pumpkin Donald, and Lindbergh Goofy all with not much of a wait. We also made a couple of flights around the Goofy roller coaster. MNSSHP has a lot of stops for trick-or-treating, they are all marked with a big balloon. We found that it was better to go later in the night for smaller lines and more candy. We also noticed there was always to CM’s handing out candy and the kids could quickly pass between both of them a couple of times for more. We heard that the candy in years past was better, more full size candy bars. Not in 2003, all were the bite or mini size variety.
It was getting late so we headed to the resort monorail where by chance we met up with my sister in-law. She had a chance to try the fortune telling booths. She met a guy that knew all about the fortunetellers through research on the Internet. Weird huh. She also did some shopping and got the special one night only MNSSHP pin. I think they have one for each night. Darn should have gotten both for our trip.
Half way done.