Trip Report Food and Rain Festival, Polynesian, 5th Anniversary!

Thanks to fall break, I got my photos edited and uploaded already. Yay!

Cast: Me and my husband, R
Where: Polynesian DVC villa (rental)
When: Oct 4-10
Why: 5th wedding anniversary

When we were planning this trip, I was unable to find any decent rates for our flight down on the 5th. I ended up finding a late Delta flight on the 4th that would get us there after midnight. It was around $70 as opposed to the ~$250 Southwest flights I was finding. I figured I wouldn't be able to add a night at the Poly, and frankly, I wouldn't want to pay that much for a room we didn't need until the wee hours of the morning. So I booked a room at All-Star Sports with some Disney rewards points. Score!

Ok now on to the trip. I left work a couple of hours early, took Chipper to his sitter's house and got home to get all the bags ready. R got home a little earlier than planned, and we were able to leave the house a little before 4pm.

We got to the Memphis airport in great time. I don't have TSA pre-check, and they sent me through a line where they were training someone. It. took. forever. I already get super anxious during the security check, and additional waiting makes it worse. Once I'm through and I KNOW I'm at my gate, I'm fine. But enough about my issues...

We had a plane change in Atlanta. Not a long layover. They were already starting to board when we got there. Atlanta had this cool art installation that reminded me of Pandora.



We got to Orlando before 12:30 and headed to claim our bag. It was weird seeing MCO completely empty.




Our bag came out almost immediately, so we grabbed it and made our way to the busses. We were headed to All-Star Sports at about ten till 1. Me = sleepy and cranky. Slanky? (not creepy...:joyfull:). Unfortunately it hit me that we never got a room text, which meant we'd have to stop at the desk. ARGH.

We were the 3rd drop off and got off the bus at 1:40. There was only one person at the desk, and the two people in front of us seemed to be taking forever. It was about 15 minutes before a second person finally came out and we got our room number in less than a minute. Would have been nice to have just GOTTEN A TEXT. I guess maybe when I did online checkin I put that we'd be there late? I don't understand why that would make them not text us though.

Whatever. We got to sleep about 2:15am and I was OUT.

Sorry this is so text heavy. One more story, then I promise I'll do more pictures.

At 6am the freaking in-room alarm goes off. :arghh: I turned it off (I thought)
At 6:10am the freaking in-room alarm goes off :arghh:. I unplugged it
At 6:20am the freaking in-room alarm goes off :arghh::devilish:. I briefly considered throwing it off the balcony, but R took it from me and started trying to figure it out. You needed a screwdriver to get to the batteries, but he figured out how to actually turn it off. Thankfully that worked.

We fell back asleep and didn't get up until 9. After we were up and moving, I took some pictures. Apologies for the slept-in beds (we sleep in a king bed at home, so in these doubles, we split up...no shame)



Donald :inlove: I liked the room instantly because of this.



I thought the headboards were cool.






Honestly, I liked this room better than our Pop room last spring! I would totally stay here again. I think I'd request being closer to the main building. We were about as far as you could get in the baseball section. It didn't matter for us, but for a longer stay it would.

I headed out to get coffee and look for a rain jacket for R (we forgot to get one for him before). Sorry all iphone pictures...I forgot my camera. *Edited to add - after reviewing this post, I realize I took the room pictures AFTER getting coffee. Oops. Bad note taking.





It was raining steadily. It was a light rain, but heavy enough that I needed my jacket on with the hood up.

No luck with the jacket. I headed back to the room with only my $3 coffee. :cautious::hilarious:

We finished getting ready, packed back up and called at Lyft at 10. Jose took us over to the Poly. We had a great conversation! Unfortunately, this was the most expensive Lyft I've had, and it wasn't even that long. Ugh. No idea why there was surge pricing at 10am on a Friday. Whatever.

We walked into the Poly at about 10:30 and our room text came in! I couldn't believe it!




I love this lobby so much and it smells soooooooo good :inlove::inlove::inlove: What I wouldn't give to smell it right now.

We were in Moorea, so we headed there. I knew it would be on the far end, so we headed that way and when we ran across a map, we charted our course.
 
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sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was an awesome feeling walking into that beautiful room! It has an orange glow because of the curtains :D





These lamps are so weird to me. They look like little sea creatures stuck to the wall :joyfull:



Now this lamp, I was tempted to steal :cautious:. I didn't!



Fold out bed instead of a dresser. Only con of this room for us. But seriously, not even a deal. I just spread all my stuff out on top, and used the drawer that's under the bed.




Love this charming art!


36970373134_8d01fa34db_b.jpg


Some wide shots. Sorry, already junking the place up.



This shower :inlove::inlove::inlove:



Wish there were two toilets instead of two showers. Or two of both! Two showers is probably better for families. Also, I miss the grapefruit bergamot stuff :oops:. I can buy it, but it was nice having that in the room. I don't like the Sea Marine as much.

We didn't waste much time in the room. We had a vacation to start!
 
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sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One more thing about the room. I was bummed at first that it was on the first floor, but the view made up for it. We could see the castle! It was annoying having the bungalows in the way, but I still enjoyed the view.

Ok, so we headed toward the monorail and got on at about 11.





The flags were still half-staff after the shooting in Las Vegas. I always feel guilty enjoying a vacation when so many are hurting. One of our alums died in that shooting, and I had a cousin (and her unborn child) who survived in spite of being right in the line of fire, so it's been on my mind a lot.



Our first stop was Mouse Gear for a jacket. There was only one light jacket there, and they didn't have any larges. I convinced R to just try on the XL, and it wasn't terribly big so he bought it. It was $51 I think with our discount. It's a lot, but I do think it's something he'll use at home. He didn't have a lightweight rain jacket. It's a little boring, but oh well! (there's a picture later)

We headed to F&W next!



I love the cartoon quality of the theme this year! I am a fan of this style of art anyway, so it was right up my alley.



We never actually saw The Chew filming, but the stage was up the whole time.

We went to the Greece booth first. It was raining pretty hard, and I was feeling like this wasn't going to be very fun.
  • Taste of Greece: Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lemon Dill Sauce, Grilled Octopus and Feta Cheese Dip with Warm Pita $8.00
  • Bougatsa: Warm Phyllo Dough Strudel with Sweet Vanilla Custard, Lemon Honey Syrup and Cinnamon (vegetarian) $4.00



Both of these were good! The Taste of Greece was one of my favorite things at the festival. I absolutely love Greek food, so it's no surprise. I could eat Greek food all day every day, y'all! R really loved the strudel. I thought it was quite tasty too, but I wasn't as ready for sweets yet. I just had a couple bites.

We ate this huddled next to the Joffrey's cart because it was so rainy :hilarious:. So we decided to head out since it was kind of miserable trying to eat in the pouring rain. As we were leaving though, it slacked off, so we veered over to Hawaii.
  • Teriyaki-glazed SPAM® Hash with Potatoes, Peppers, Onions, and Spicy Mayonnaise $4.00


This was just ok. I would have liked this more without the SPAM. haha! I'm not a fan of super salty "meat"

Next we got an old fav from the Islands of the Caribbean
  • Jamaican Beef Patty with Mango Salsa $5.00



We continued down that path toward the exit. Next stop was The Chocolate Studio for something we've also had before.


  • Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey-Caramel (gluten friendly) $4.75


I like the taste of this, but it is so hard to eat for me. The ice cream part is too cold and too hard to bite into. I would be fine passing on this.



Welp. The rain was hindering our enjoyment of the food, so out we go at about 12:15.

Where to? Gotta use our FPs!
 
sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We hopped on the monorail and headed to MK!

I had been debating about changing our halloween party night, which was supposed to be this night. It was calling for rain the rest of the day, and I didn't feel like risking it. I texted with @Doc Disney about it, and that convinced me to try switching. Thankfully, they were able to switch us to Monday night with no issues!

After that, we headed into the park.

It was so great seeing it all decorated for fall!




Our first FP was for Big Thunder and we got back row! Best start to our park day!




Got a picture in my shirt from It's a Magical Adventure! Complete with my lovely rain jacket and the line on my forehead from my hood...

Good news though, it wasn't raining that much anymore. Our next FP was for Pirates, but we had a little time before our window opened. We ran into some bears in Frontierland!



We hopped over to Adventureland to grab a Dole whip swirl



We decided we'd get a regular Dole whip next time instead of a swirl. We didn't this trip, but next time!



After we rode Pirates, we headed to Haunted Mansion, which was a walk on. Either we got a really good first day, or the rain had driven everyone away. It was super light crowds, which we loved!




The hearse is back!

Our last FP was for 7 Dwarfs, but first I wanted something sweet. A lemonade slushy from The Friar's Nook hit the spot! And I've been using the heck out of that Mickey straw at home.






I feel so bad that I blocked that little girl :facepalm: Sorry kiddo!

Up next: more MK in the rain!
 
sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok looking back at my notes, we actually did something else before 7 Dwarfs. We had time before our FP apparently.

Space Mountain was posted 25 minutes, but it was a walk-on!!! It was 2pm. Can you believe that?!!!! I am still in shock.


Looking the wrong direction...oops. Not the last time I would do this, but this one wasn't as bad as the next one :hilarious: I feel bad for laughing at @Tuvalu now. It's hard to remember which side it's on!

Ok so after Space was when we got the lemonade then did 7 Dwarfs. Confused? I am. Next we decided to check out Barnstormer, but the line looked too long for me. Not terrible, but I honestly wouldn't wait more than 5 minutes for it. haha



R stopped in the bathroom, and I just took some random pictures.



We headed to Main Street and got this taken




We're really here! Take me back please :cry:

Since we'd changed the party date, we figured we'd try to do some more Food & Wine for the evening and retire early.

Headed out






That's right you will!

We stopped for a short survey on the way out (those people were out in full force this trip...we had to avoid them a few times).

I don't remember what time we got back to Epcot, but as you can see, the weather was still not great.




Stopped in the craft beer area in The Odyssey. The girl who did our survey highly recommended the handwich (which I'd read a lot about), so we wanted to get that first. I loved the exhibit in there for the 35th. I wished I'd looked around more!
  • Zesty Cheeseburger and Cheddar Cheese Macaroni Handwich – $5.50
  • Western Florida Flight – $9.00
    • JDub’s Passion Wheat, Sarasota, FL
    • Central 28 Trekkerbier Farmhouse Ale, DeBary, FL
    • Cigar City Guayabera Citra Pale Ale, Tampa, FL



The handwich was good! I mean, I thought so. R thought the macaroni was too mushy, but the flavors were good. I think the draw of this is the novelty. The beers were fine, but nothing special. I think the passion wheat was my favorite, and the only one I would buy again.

We skipped a few booths and stopped at Thailand.
  • Red Hot Spicy Thai Curry Beef with Steamed Rice – $5.50
  • Singha Lager – $4.00


I LOVED the flavors in this dish, but the beef was "meh." It was not great beef, which was a shame because I love a good curry dish. YUM. The lager was nice and refreshing. I would get it again!

We saw China, and thought that would be a nice stop. Stick with the Asian theme for a bit.
  • Chicken Potstickers – $4.00, DDP Snack Eligible


R is a major potsticker fan, so he LOVED this. I thought it was quite good too.

More Asian food? Sure why not...let's go to India next.

  • Korma Chicken with Cucumber Tomato Salad, Almonds, Cashews and Warm Naan Bread – $5.25



This was SOOOO good! Another dish with great flavors. The sauce was fantastic. I could have eaten so much more of this.

Next we stopped at the Brewer's Collection for a flight.
  • Radeberger Zwickel Pilsner (Unfiltered)
  • Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse Naturtrüb
  • Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Pomegranate Beer


The first two were ok, but R really liked the pomegranate one. I just wasn't easily impressed this day for some reason.

We were coming up on Germany, so OF COURSE I stopped for some of my beloved caramel popcorn.




Up next, more Epcot
 
sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I didn't really want anything from Spain, but R wanted something.
  • Traditional Spanish Paella with Shrimp, Mussels, Chicken and Crispy Chorizo (GF) – $5.25


I tasted the rice, and BLEAH. Too fishy. I wouldn't touch any of the rest of it. R didn't end up liking it much either.




It was fun checking out Italy after just getting back from there. I took a picture of the street sign because that was one of my favorite parts about Rome. Even the street signs are lovely!



There was a random photographer in France outside the restaurant, so we had one taken. Weird spot, but whatever! We finished walking around World Showcase and headed out.





I think it was around 7pm when we got back.



The walkway from the TTC was SOOOO convenient. I loved it.







Oh hey, pretty view.




Next stop: hanging out at Trader Sam's! Finally!
 
sheriffwoody

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tony the Tigger said:
Nemo’s starfish!
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Oh gosh I feel like I should know that. I will have to watch the movie again :joyfull:

Also, I've been thinking about you today with the announcement of Disney allowing dogs in the rooms. I have been blinking at my computer in disbelief all day at some of the arguments against it that people have had :rolleyes::facepalm: I keep arguing with people in one of the facebook groups...I need to stop.
 
MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Tuvalu said:
Em told me the secret to the Space Mountain camera location but I am embarrassed to admit I still forget it!

The "handwich" (in several different varieties) was a regular menu item at one of the Sunshine Seasons booths back in the 90s. It's funny how everything old is new again!
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I remember the Hamwich location very well -- long before Soarin was added to that floor. (Back when it was peaceful down there . . . ;) ) I enjoy the food selections now and all, but back in those days, the signage and designs for the food areas was quaint and welcoming. I miss the pre-Soarin days.
 

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