Trip Report Makin' Memories....One More Time! *COMPLETED*

Makin' memories
Makin' memories
Takin' pictures is makin' memories
Catchin' little pieces of time
Makin' them yours and makin' them mine
Great vacations and celebrations we love to hold near and dear
And when we're makin' memories
Happy days can reappear!

@amjt660 it seemed a little presumptuous of me to include Three Peat in the title of this trip report. A more accurate term might be Repeat, considering this is my third TR in three months. I am fearful that my WDWMagic friends may be weary of me.

But for @Big Hair and anyone else who wants to follow along, Welcome! I truly love reliving our great (and not-so-great) vacation memories through writing these reports. As always, your comments and observations are much appreciated!

So c'mon everybody, here we go........

Cast: Tuvalu, Woody and Em
Dates: June 17-25, 2017
Resorts: Port Orleans Riverside and Polynesian Village ('cause let's be honest......you can take the girl out of the Poly, but you can't take the Poly out of the girl!)

(Does this picture make you woozy? It is an appropriate representation of my Pandora experience.)

Stick around to discover what memories we made!

 

[Tiggerish]

Sunday, June 25

Ever wonder what the Poly lobby looks like in the middle of the night?

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Em took these pictures on her way to her 3:20 am Tragical Express ~ and she wasn't the only one who boarded at the Poly.

What surprised her more were the guests getting dropped off at that ungodly hour.
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But at least they were beginning their vacation!

Buh-Bye, Em!

Guests from overseas, perhaps?

International travelers perhaps? I wonder if they had their room ready? Not like they could drop off their bags and go to the parks....

When I stay at a hotel, I always leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door so housekeeping doesn't have to come. Only if I'm by myself. I'm a good little environmentalist like that.

Bazinga! on the incoming guests guess!

When I'm staying solo, I do the same thing. I can look after myself, thank you very much.

 

[Tuvalu]

International travelers perhaps? I wonder if they had their room ready? Not like they could drop off their bags and go to the parks....

Guests from overseas, perhaps?

Perhaps West Coasters as well?
I wonder about the "room ready" issue too ~ do guests arriving between midnight and 6 am have to book a room for the previous day in order to guarantee a room will be ready for them? Or do the resorts accommodate those guests by "holding" a vacant room the day prior so the guests need only pay for the check in day?

Anyone know?

 

[Tuvalu]

I can see and hear Woody calmly bringing the other guest back down from the tree that she had worked herself up with a calm and reassuring voice.
(I've never met him but I can picture it clearly in my mind)

Helping others - especially at Disney - is a wonderful feeling

Happy Random Act of Kindness day to Woody!!

(and yes this is a real thing but the day was actually Feb 17th this year- Woody is just getting ready for next year)

Max

Spot on, Max!

For the record, Woody believes that every day should be Intentional Acts of Kindness day.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Hello @riverside, I'm Tuvalu ~ and now we are acquainted.

I completely get your reluctance to approach us in fear of what your boyfriend or niece might think. "Online Disney friends" sounds crazy to most people. When I saw @Tony the Tigger at DHS and called out to him, I was with my dad and struggled to explain "how" I knew Tony. Same when I met @samantha788 and I was with my mom.

Obviously I have no fear of approaching perfect strangers in WDW (the now-infamous cotton candy incident ) but understand that others might. I am always happy to meet fellow wdwmagic-ers and I hope if our paths cross again you will say hi.....after all we're friends now!

This is funny to me, because we meet internet friends all the time so it seems so... normal to me. Between chat rooms, forums, and online dating, it all seems run of the mill to explain that I met this person on an MMA forum, and that person on a Disney forum, and these three friends off a Facebook parenting group, etc.

 

[DisneyJeff]

Perhaps West Coasters as well?
I wonder about the "room ready" issue too ~ do guests arriving between midnight and 6 am have to book a room for the previous day in order to guarantee a room will be ready for them? Or do the resorts accommodate those guests by "holding" a vacant room the day prior so the guests need only pay for the check in day?

Anyone know?

I'm curious about this as well. My guess is that since the official check-in time is 3:00 pm, they would have to pay for the day before to have a room ready when they arrive. If they choose not to pay for the room for that first day, they wouldn't be able to check-in until 3 pm the day they arrive.

 

[Courtney6682]

Hello @riverside, I'm Tuvalu ~ and now we are acquainted.

I completely get your reluctance to approach us in fear of what your boyfriend or niece might think. "Online Disney friends" sounds crazy to most people. When I saw @Tony the Tigger at DHS and called out to him, I was with my dad and struggled to explain "how" I knew Tony. Same when I met @samantha788 and I was with my mom.

Obviously I have no fear of approaching perfect strangers in WDW (the now-infamous cotton candy incident ) but understand that others might. I am always happy to meet fellow wdwmagic-ers and I hope if our paths cross again you will say hi.....after all we're friends now!

I always wonder if I see a Disney friend from here how strangely they will look at me when I yell out their screen name?? LOL

 

[riverside]

I always wonder if I see a Disney friend from here how strangely they will look at me when I yell out their screen name?? LOL

Good point!! Or how about the random person walking by that hears you say it.....what are their thoughts

 

[Courtney6682]

Good point!! Or how about the random person walking by that hears you say it.....what are their thoughts

Right lol...there are only a few people here that I actually know their real names lol...

 

[LadyBelle]

we meet internet friends all the time

The world is really one big Six Degrees of Separation kind of world

 

[Figaro Family]

Perhaps West Coasters as well?
I wonder about the "room ready" issue too ~ do guests arriving between midnight and 6 am have to book a room for the previous day in order to guarantee a room will be ready for them? Or do the resorts accommodate those guests by "holding" a vacant room the day prior so the guests need only pay for the check in day?

Anyone know?

We've never flown in that early (late?) but we did a red eye flight once from the west coast to Florida that got us in about 7am. I almost cried with happiness when we were able to get into our room right away when we checked with the hotel. I'd foolishly imagined that we'd just hang out at Downtown Disney for the morning but I could barely keep my eyes open!

 

[newhorizons1]

I really wish Woody had told that poor woman that she was on the direct monorail to Epcot and that she needed to get off at the next stop and wait for monorail red (or whatever color you weren’t on) to get to the MK.


Ugh, I couldn’t imagine getting dropped off at 3:20 AM though. I mean, yes, you are beginning your vacation, but what do you do?

 

[Tuvalu]

I always wonder if I see a Disney friend from here how strangely they will look at me when I yell out their screen name?? LOL

I might look at you strangely......but not because you called out "Tuvalu!"

 

[Songbird76]

Yes, the storm was bad. By the way I own a pair of those monorail socks as well. I like to wear them to work, I tell hubby it helps speed up the week. Yeah, I'm a dork, I know.

I love your dork side. I'm the same way!!

 

[Songbird76]

This is funny to me, because we meet internet friends all the time so it seems so... normal to me. Between chat rooms, forums, and online dating, it all seems run of the mill to explain that I met this person on an MMA forum, and that person on a Disney forum, and these three friends off a Facebook parenting group, etc.

I met my husband on a MUD, so I don't have to do any explaining to him, either. He gets it! And I have so many forums and and such...and he met some people in Germany one year from some game he used to play. It was only about an hour and a half away, so it was easy for him to hop over the border for the weekend. Nice that he doesn't think I'm crazy for wanting to meet people from the internet. We met @figmentfan423 on our trip last year briefly before our dinner at 'Ohana.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Spot on, Max!

For the record, Woody believes that every day should be Intentional Acts of Kindness day.

The man's only item on his Christmas wishlist is World Peace.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

Sunday, June 25

Ever wonder what the Poly lobby looks like in the middle of the night?

View attachment 221572

View attachment 221573

Em took these pictures on her way to her 3:20 am Tragical Express ~ and she wasn't the only one who boarded at the Poly.

What surprised her more were the guests getting dropped off at that ungodly hour.
View attachment 221574
But at least they were beginning their vacation!

Buh-Bye, Em!

Even reliving it is painful

 

[Tuvalu]

Woody and I slept a few more hours after Em's departure. Showers and packing followed (including Em's large suitcase that we were bringing back for her.) We then schlepped the whole shebang to the resort airline check in area, as we were tight on time and didn't want to wait for a Bell Services pick up.

Then we jumped on the monorail for our last day of vacation fun.

Most of the people ahead of us in line were NOT passholders.

How did I know? The CM at the tapstile raised his hand twice for help because Mickey's head turned blue; guests didn't know which finger to use; and the line didn't move any faster than a regular line. It was maddening!

Woody had to remind me we were here to have fun.

Finally on Main Street!

The scrims on the Emporium were on their way down.

Our first stop was the restroom by Casey's. There were no flowers inside.
Lots of color outside though!

 

[Tuvalu]

Breakfast time!

I was sorry Em had to leave us because I had booked this ADR to make up for the one we cancelled during Spring Break.

We were barely seated when our character friends appeared. Our server warned us not to go to the buffet yet, as Piglet, Pooh and Eeyore would arrive in rapid succession.

She wasn't kidding.

As Pooh approached me, he motioned that my red dress matched his red shirt. Then he grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug.

"Hey now, Pooh!" Woody scolded. "She's mine. It's our anniversary!"
Pooh loosened his grip and backed away a little.
Pooh asked how many years and congratulated us. Then he asked if it was okay to have my picture taken with him.
Woody obliged.

Woody has a soft spot for Eeyore.

We'd just sat down again as Tigger bounced by.

It was the fastest character greeting we'd ever had at a meal ~ Piglet, Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger in only 10 minutes! We were able to make a couple trips to the buffet without interruption. The food was very good and I even made myself a dessert plate ~

Pooh's puffed toast (every bit as yum as Cali Grill fritters) and a Mickey waffle a la mode!

Em, we missed ya ~ but think of the money you saved by not joining us. Breakfast for 2 at Crystal Palace cost the same as our dinner for 3 at Sanaa!

 

[coachwnh]

What surprised her more were the guests getting dropped off at that ungodly hour.

On our last Christmas trip, were were the only ones on the ME to the YC. We had a very late flight from Philly, and we had several delays. It wasnt after 3 am when we arrived, but we were close!

When my wife and I did a last minute trip for the 24 hour event at MK over Memorial Day weekend a few years back, we were delayed and didn't get to the GF until well after 3 am!!!! Went to bed after 330, and were at MK by 545 for the opening show and 6 am start to a very long MK day!

 

[coachwnh]

I wonder about the "room ready" issue too ~ do guests arriving between midnight and 6 am have to book a room for the previous day in order to guarantee a room will be ready for them? Or do the resorts accommodate those guests by "holding" a vacant room the day prior so the guests need only pay for the check in day?

On our very late arrivals, we just booked for the night we flew out. For example, over Memorial Day, we knew without delays we would arrive well after midnight Friday night - Saturday morning. We booked from Friday - Monday.