Happymom's December Trip Report!!

Saturday, November 29

After a horrifying flight (we had to fly through the front that brought the deluge of rain on Sunday), we finally landed safely in Orlando. We checked into the Polynesian around dinner time and were delighted to get exactly what we had faxed in as a room request a few days before…..a 3rd floor room in the Tokelau longhouse on the west side. If we ever stay at the Poly again, we will definitely request the Tokelau longhouse again! We loved its central location.

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Thanks to Tikiman's website, we knew that most of these rooms have a sideways view of the castle…and sure enough, we were able to see the castle from our room. Granted it was partially blocked by trees, but you could still see part of it and the fireworks.

Our view to the left:

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Our view to the right:

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And our view to the far right...look closely and you can see the castle through the trees. It was much easier to see at night:

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It was also a nice surprise that we had an observation deck at our end of the hallway that had a perfect view of the MK.

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We LOVED the Polynesian! We are huge Wilderness Lodge fans, but you just can’t beat the location of the Polynesian. I still like the atmosphere of the WL better than the Poly (Don’t get me wrong….I also loved the atmosphere of the Poly…..just not as much as the WL), but being on the monorail was awesome. We loved having the option of taking the monorail or the boat to the MK, and we really loved being able to walk to the TTC to get on the Epcot monorail line.

The size of the rooms are fantastic, and we loved having the day bed.

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Hidden Mickey on the lamp that I failed to notice all week...my DS discovered it close to the end of our trip:

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It was late and we were tired, so we ordered room service for dinner, watched Wishes from the observation deck at the end of our hallway and then went to sleep.

More to come.....
 

happymom52003

Active Member
Original Poster
Saturday, December 6th

Today was our last day:cry:. Against my better judgment, we decided to go to the MK this morning (Chirstmas parade taping day). We had originally planned to spend the morning at DTD and eat lunch at T-Rex, but due to our little one getting sick we felt like we had not had enough time in the parks. We'll save the T-Rex for next time.

Well….let me just say to those of you who every year insist that “the lines for the rides are short on taping day because everyone is watching the parade!”….You are WRONG!!!! OMG….never again. Granted we did not get there until 11:00.….but still….it was worse than the day we were there during the taping in 2006, and it was pretty bad then.

I’m convinced more than ever now that I could NEVER go to WDW in the summer or any other peak time. We are spoiled by going in the off seasons. We still had a fun day, but I just can’t handle crowds like that! We did get to see a glimpse of the Imagination Movers while we entered the park, which thrilled the kids.

First we rode the Liberty Belle Riverboat, mainly because there was no wait. It was the first time we rode it. It was nice, but I think once is enough!

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We were starving, so went to Cosmic Rays. DH stood in line with the masses while I stalked people who were eating in hopes of grabbing their table the second they ate their last bite.

After lunch, we headed over to the Galaxy Theater to catch the 2:30 showing of Mickey’s Twas the Night Before Christmas since we missed it during MVMCP the other night. We were a bit early, so we stood in line to meet Buzz first. The show was cute…we had really good seats on the third row.

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happymom52003

Active Member
Original Poster
While making our way to Adventure Land to use our Jungle Cruise fast passes, we were able to see Miley Cyrus perform for the parade taping. We rode the Jungle Cruise and had an awesome skipper. We usually do not have much luck getting a funny skipper, but this guy was great…his name was Gui.

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Next we headed over to Liberty Square to ride HM, but we just could not bring ourselves to wait 30 minutes after being able to walk on it all week.

We went to the Christmas store and bought our ornaments…we buy three on every trip. For our family tree, I picked out a picture frame ornament of the castle with the icicle lights.

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DS picked out a Toy Story ornament for the tree in his room:

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And DD picked out one with Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip for hers. I tried to get her to pick out one of just Sleeping Beauty, but she insisted on the one with Phillip!

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We went to Fantasy Land and got Mickey ice cream bars, then saw Philarmagic and rode the carousel. Halfway through the Carousel ride, we noticed that DD was on Cinderella's horse again! Completely unplanned!

DH and DS went to use their fast passes for BTMR while DD and I shopped on Main Street. I picked out a charm for my Disney charm bracelet, and DD picked out a Tinker Bell Minnie:

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I also got a Finding nemo ornament to give to my friend who took care of our fish for us while we were gone:

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We met up with DH and DS in front of the castle for the lighting ceremony. Somehow we had managed to miss it all week…I’m glad we finally got to see it on our last night.

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We went back to the hotel, and went down to the beach at the Poly to watch Wishes one last time.

Even though we missed out on alot of things we had planned, we still had a magical time on this trip and I can't wait to start planning the next one!

I should be getting a cd in the mail today with pics from my Dad, so later I'll post any that are interesting.

Thanks for reading!:wave:
 

H20Babie

Well-Known Member
While making our way to Adventure Land to use our Jungle Cruise fast passes, we were able to see Miley Cyrus perform for the parade taping.

We were there too! We kept the parade taping a secret from the kids (especially Claire) just in case Miley Cyrus wasn't there. The whole trip, she kept asking me if she could see Hannah Montanna. It made her trip!
 

DisneyGigi

Well-Known Member
Great report, loved the pictures. Glad that you had a good time and that your DD's croup got better. That can be so scary! Hope that you are feeling better too.
 

DAKOTADISNEY

Active Member
Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Glad you had a good time even though your daughter was sick. We also go during the non-peak season and are spoiled by the short lines. I can't place where the Galaxy Theater is in MK. Where is it?
 

happymom52003

Active Member
Original Poster
Thank you for sharing your trip and pictures with us!:wave:

You are very welcome!

Looks like you had a good time!

We sure did!

We were there too! We kept the parade taping a secret from the kids (especially Claire) just in case Miley Cyrus wasn't there. The whole trip, she kept asking me if she could see Hannah Montanna. It made her trip!

There were alot of surprised and happy little girls there!

Great report, loved the pictures. Glad that you had a good time and that your DD's croup got better. That can be so scary! Hope that you are feeling better too.

Thanks!

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. Glad you had a good time even though your daughter was sick. We also go during the non-peak season and are spoiled by the short lines. I can't place where the Galaxy Theater is in MK. Where is it?

It is in TommorwLand, back between Cop and Buzz Lightyear.:wave:
 

Theresonly1

Member
great pictures, I watched the Parade on tv and noticed that the swags were not up down main street. Do they not get those up until after the taping?? It seems I remember reading something about the tree not being up either. I was planning on going next year the week after thanksgiving, but am beginning to wonder if I should wait another week? What do all you seasoned holiday veterans think??
 

happymom52003

Active Member
Original Poster
great pictures, I watched the Parade on tv and noticed that the swags were not up down main street. Do they not get those up until after the taping?? It seems I remember reading something about the tree not being up either. I was planning on going next year the week after thanksgiving, but am beginning to wonder if I should wait another week? What do all you seasoned holiday veterans think??

The garlands were up before the parade taping. They were still up on the Wednesday night before the parade taping weekend, but on Thursday morning they were gone. I was really bummed about it because our MVMCP night was Thursday and I would have liked to seen Main Street with the snow and the garlands.

The tree was not put up at all this year until after the parade taping, so we missed that completley since Saturday was our last day.:cry:

The week after Thanksgiving is a great time to go! Just avoid MK on the parade taping days!
 
Great trip report, and beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing--I feel like I was there with you! You make me wish my kids were that young again so I could start all over again.

We are big fans of the Poly, too, but my next favorite is definitely the Wilderness Lodge.

Thanks again, and I hope everyone is well now!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Great report Happymom!! I couldn't stop looking at your pics of the Poly! We haven't stayed there for many years, we need to go back!
 

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