Trip Report Minnie2000's trip report August 2013

We had a fantastic trip to WDW in August, and I am very late starting the trip report.

We stayed at the Polynesian for the first two weeks of August and had a fantastic time. There were four of us, DH, me, and our two DDs who are 16 and 12. I will sort out my photos and then write the report properly.

 

[minnie2000]

Ok, I am finally starting my trip report!

We travelled on July 31st, and flew from Bristol UK to Sanford. It took a long time to get through immigration, but we finally made it, and then walked over to Alamo to queue for our rental car. Here is our photo as we drove onto Disney property.

We're here!!!

We arrived at the Polynesian in the afternoon. It was great to get there. We used to go quite regularly, but due to the increase in flight prices we haven't been since 2009.

We were given a room in Tokelau. We liked the new colours in there.

We had a counter service meal in Captain Cook's, hooray for the DDP for the next two weeks! I had the pulled pork, which I love, DH had a cheeseburger, his favourite, and the girls had flatbreads. We always start our holiday in Captain Cook's and then book breakfast in 'Ohanas for the first morning.

We were all exhausted and went to bed at 8pm (still on UK time of 1am!)

 

[minnie2000]

Thursday 1st August

We woke up really early, UK time again, unpacked and showered, and headed to our breakfast reservation at 'Ohana at 7.30.

The food was amazing, especially the special juice that they gave us. I think they called it pog juice, passion fruit, orange and guava. We have tried to make it ourselves at home, it's pretty good, but not quite the same as the one there! We all enjoyed our breakfast, and had fun with the characters, although the girls felt they were too old to join in with the parade.

We took the monorail to Epcot and the girls and I went on Spaceship Earth while DH went to get fastpasses for Soarin'. We met up and headed over to Test Track. We had never used the single rider line before as a family, because the girls wouldn't go on without us. For this trip they were 12 and 16, and it was great. We got in the single rider line and walked straight through and got on the ride! We did that twice. Younger DD was a little nervous of riding without us, but we told her that we would have to wait much longer otherwise, so she tried it and was fine. We loved the new Test Track.

We went over to the land, and rode Living on the Land. Then it was time for our Soarin' fast passes! Soarin' is one of our favourite rides and we all enjoyed it. While we were there we picked up more fast passes, hoping that we would be able to use them later.

We walked over to the World Showcase and went on the rides in Mexico and Norway, which only had short wait times.

We then went back to Soarin' and managed to use our fastpasses.

When we've stayed at the Polynesian before, we always used to want to spend time at the pool but got back too late, and would have dining reservations. This time, we decided that we were going to the parks early in the mornings, and then spend the afternoons by the pool, before having dinner in the evening. Because of this, we decided it was a good time to leave Epcot and go back to the room for a little rest.

We went to a supermarket near the AKL to buy some fruit and snacks to take back to the room. We were surprised at how much the prices had increased in the last few years.

On the way back we decided to go to the AK to have an early counter service dinner. We were able to park close to the entrance and had a great meal in the Flame Tree Barbecue. As we left the AK, the sky went black and we ran to the car as it started to pour with rain.

Who cares if it's raining? We're in Disney!

We wanted to swim but the rain and thunder didn't stop, so we went to bed, ready to get up early the next morning.

 

[minnie2000]

I forgot all about this trip report! I will carry on if anyone is interested in reading it!

 

[minnie2000]

Friday 2nd August:

As we were still on UK time, we were up bright and early. We had reservations at the Crystal Palace in the MK. Unfortunately the monorail wasn't running, so we ran to catch the bus to the MK instead. We had a lovely breakfast, and then walked to Liberty Square and met Chip and Dale nearby.

We went on the Haunted Mansion and walked through the new Fantasyland. We went on the Little Mermaid ride and Dumbo, and then on the Indy Speedway.

We decided to try Space Mountain. DH and I hadn't been on it for about 16 years, and couldn't remember much about it. The girls had never been on it, but wanted to give it a try. The wait time was 30 minutes, so we though we'd give it a go. We waited for a long time but there were games to play while we were in the line. We thought that we could see the end of the line, and it wasn't far to go. When we got there, it wasn't the front of the line, there was a whole other room full of people queueing! I wanted to leave but DH wanted to stay. We must have waited and hour and a half in total, but finally got on the ride, and…..

we all hated it! It was too bumpy, and we all said we would never go on it again!

We went on the people mover, got some ice cream and headed back to the pool for the rest of the day.

 

[Allym146]

2 weeks at Poly, sounds like a dream! Glad you're continuing with the trip report.

 

[FlaggNL]

Hey off course we are reading it!! Please go on with your TR! Can't wait for the rest

 

[minnie2000]

Hi Allym and Flagg, glad you're enjoying it, I will carry on then.

 

[minnie2000]

Saturday, 3rd August:

We got up very early and drove to Islands of Adventure. A non-Disney Day! Usually we only go to Disney parks. The last time we went to Universal was in 2002, but both girls are huge Harry Potter fans, and were desperate to visit the HP part of the park.

We walked through IOA and through Hogsmeade. Elder DD was so overexcited that she was squealing! It was like taking a toddler to the Magic Kingdom!

We queued to go on the HP ride, and it was a looooong and very hot wait. It gave us time to take lots of photos. Here are some of them:

We really really enjoyed the ride. The DDs and I don't like too extreme rides, but this was perfect for us. We went on the Hippogriff ride too, and thought that it was just ok. We went back to the HP ride and rode twice more using the single rider line, which was much much quicker. After three times of being thrown around on the ride, I was starting to feel a little queasy, so we left the ride and walked around Hogsmeade, looking at the shops.

We went to Seuss Landings and rode the trolley ride, the carosuessel (or whatever it is called!) and had a nice lunch in Circus McGirkus. We then went on the Cat in the Hat, and walked to the Hulk for DH to go on. He enjoys the fast rides, and he loved the Hulk.

It was very hot by this time, so we headed back to the Polynesian and spent a few hours relaxing by the pool.

We had a fantastic meal in 'Ohana, one of our favourite restaurants, especially the pudding , and watched the Electric Water Pageant from the beach.

 

[minnie2000]

Sunday August 4th

Today was our anniversary, 18 years, and we were spending the day at Epcot. I had booked all our ADRs 6 months before, but we thought, as a treat, the two of us would have lunch at Le Cellier (not on the DDP) and the girls could go around Epcot together. I made the reservation for two before we left the UK.

So we took the monorail to Epcot, and the girls kept asking if they could come to Le Cellier with us. We went to guest services and asked if we could change our reservation to 4 people instead of two, and they said yes! We went on Test Track once, and then went for an early lunch in Le Cellier. The food was fantastic, but I didn't take any pictures . We all had the filet mignon and loved it. Elder DD is very fussy about food, and only eats very plain things. She promised to try steak on this holiday, and liked it, as long as it wasn't at all pink inside! The other three of us like our steak rare. It was great to see her eating something other than chicken nuggets!

After this we walked around the UK and then went on Figment (got to be done) and Captain EO. We had never done this before, and it was quite fun, but we wouldn't do it again. After that we went on Soarin' and the Nemo ride, and spent some time in the Living Seas. We watched the manatees having their food - they are so beautiful!

It was time to leave Epcot and go to the pool in the Polynesian. On the way out, we bought DD a strawberry lolly, and it was delicious, just like puréed strawberries! We spent some time at the pool, and then went for our reservation at the Kona Café (it was a very good food day!).

I had the teriyaki steak in the Kona Café which was delicious, my favourite of all the steaks we had I think. DDs loved the puddings, fruit with melted chocolate, and the ice cream.

 

[SarahBella82]

Thanks for sharing your trip report. I am enjoying it!

 

[minnie2000]

On Monday morning we had a break from the parks to go shopping. The girls, being typical teenage girls, love shopping but we hate it. We went to the Florida Mall, and they had a lovely time looking around the shops and spending their money on clothes!

We went back to the pool for a while to recover from the shopping .

In the evening we went to Epcot and had a meal in the Coral Reef. We enjoyed it very much and loved the atmosphere, watching the fish and turtles in the water.

I had booked priority viewing for Illuminations so we made our way over to Morocco. Actually there was plenty of room to watch the show, but it was nice to have a good view at the front. The weather was not good. The sky went from this,

to this,

and then this,

and then the rain and thunder started.

We ran into the French pavilion and decided to watch the film about France, which we had never seen before. We really enjoyed it, and we decided that we wanted to drive to France one summer and spend a few weeks there. I speak French, and the girls are learning it in school, so it would be good fun.

After the film, we came out and luckily the rain had more or less stopped.

We watched Illuminations, which was fantastic as usual, and took the monorail back to the Polynesian.

 

[minnie2000]

Tuesday 6th August:

We got up early and drove to Universal Studios Florida. We were hoping to go on the minion's ride, but there was already a very long queue so we decided to do it another day. We went on The Simpsons' ride, which we enjoyed. We had been looking forward to trying it. Then we went on Men in Black. I loved this ride. I thought the theming was excellent, and found the whole experience a lot of fun. We walked around to Disaster after this, which had a long wait and was just ok. We went to Mel's Diner for lunch which was great but very busy!

We watched Shrek 4D, which we had seen before, but we really love this show. DH wanted to go on Rip Ride Rocket, and we weren't brave enough, so he went on it alone. It was a long wait, but he said it was fantastic. While we were waiting, we went into the minion shop and the DDs met a minion!

We went back to the pool for a break, and then went for a meal at the Captain's Grill in the Yacht Club. The meal was just ok, and the service wasn't great, so a bit of a disappointment by Disney standards.

 

[FlaggNL]

love the report and the Universal pics Sacha will be jealous about the minion....

 

[Disney Shib]

Great trip report so far! Love your pictures at the Poly. It's my absolutely favorite.

 

[mrdrift]

Love the trip report, so glad you decided to complete the report. I wish i could get my family to be laid back like you guys are. I tried to take breaks in the middle of the day but they told me that we are at Disney and I can relax when we get back home.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

Sigh, the Poly... my home away from home!! We love all the restaurants there too! (Captain Cook's pork nachos are a HUGE fav!) Sounds like you had a wonderful time so far!! (MINUS the rain ... Boo Rain!!) Loving your TR

 

[minnie2000]

I am so bad at finishing these trip reports! We are going back to WDW in less than two weeks, so I am going to finish this report very quickly, as I don't like leaving things unfinished! Hopefully someone will read it!

 

[FlaggNL]

I am so bad at finishing these trip reports! We are going back to WDW in less than two weeks, so I am going to finish this report very quickly, as I don't like leaving things unfinished! Hopefully someone will read it!

Hej It's like I said earlier we will read it and love the report so far! Again thanks for sharing! And hopefully your next WDW trip also gets a TR

 

[minnie2000]

Wednesday 7th August: We spent the morning at the MK and went on the train, big thunder mountain, POTC, jungle cruise, Aladdin's carpets and Splash Mountain. Had a great lunch in the Columbia Harbour House, and would definitely go back! The shrimp was excellent! We visited the new Tangled restrooms and went on Splash and Philharmagic. Headed back to the Polynesian on the resort launch and spent the rest of the day by the pool.