Trip Report The Adventures of Sass and Frass

Hi everyone! I figure it’s finally time to get to work on this trip report!

Who: Myself, husband Nick, daughters Sage and Aria, ages 12 and 7 (they are the Sass and Frass 😂 )
When: March 5-11th 2023
Where: Polynesian

The trip is the first time back for my husband and kids post-Covid. Our last family trip was in January 2020, right before the world went crazy. That trip was unsuccessful to say the least. The kids whined about everything and fought constantly. We’ve taken many family trips over the years and during Covid, I got the idea to plan a solo trip for myself. My love for Disney started long before I had kids and I was always disappointed after our family trips. I felt like we spent so much money, dealt with constant bickering and behavior issues and I didn’t even get to do all the things I wanted to do. So as a reward for making it through all the quarantines and remote learning, I did my first solo trip in January 2022. It was AMAZING. I had the best time and I’d love to do it again someday.

This family trip was actually Nick’s idea. He stayed at the Polynesian once when he was young and really wanted to stay there again. I was hesitant only because it’s so expensive and I would rather spend that money elsewhere. We rented DVC for this trip and even with the savings compared to the rack rate, still paid over $600/night. Because of that, the trip was a bit shorter than usual and we only had 5 park days. Maybe it’s just me, but I would have preferred to stay somewhere cheaper and stay for a longer amount of time. But the DVC rental was successful and we were off!

Sunday 3/5

Our flight was at 6:30am. Aria couldn’t sleep the night before (typical for her) so we ended up leaving for the airport much earlier than planned. We actually arrived before security was even open. We had plenty of time to grab a quick bite and just hang out.

And we were finally on our way! Fly us to Disney!
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The flight was smooth, as was navigating MCO and getting our luggage. We opted for Sunshine Flyer on this trip. First time using it and no complaints. Very quick and efficient. Unfortunately the Poly was one of the last stops (and the first to be picked up the following weekend) but I realize that is just luck of the draw.
At exactly 10:26am, we saw this!

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And at 11am, we arrived at the Poly! I had been here once before, I ate at Ohana on my solo trip, but the kids had never been. Our room was not ready (understandable). I asked at the front desk if they could give us an estimated time it would be ready but unfortunately, they could not. So we began by exploring the lobby area.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back when we first told the kids about the trip (we surprised them on Christmas) Sage asked if when we first got to the Poly, if we could get Dole Whips and eat them on the beach. So….

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After relaxing with our Dole Whips, I was really hungry for actual food so we mobile ordered from Captain Cook’s.
We split the pulled pork nachos and the aloha pork sandwich. Both delish!
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here are some pics from the interior of the room 😍

I’ll give my overall opinions now.

The pros: my kids had separate places to sleep, (almost) 2 bathrooms was great for getting ready in the morning and at night, plenty of storage (I was worried since there is no dresser but there are lots of hidden compartments and shelves), watching the fireworks from our balcony, SUPER quick walk to the TTC made getting to and from MK and Epcot an absolute breeze, excellent food, my older daughter loved the big pool & slide, my younger daughter loved the splash area and little slide, excellent cast members, specifically those at bell services.
The cons: DVC buildings are far from everything, the walk to the pool & main area was long, pool and main area was always VERY crowded, minor housekeeping issues (no conditioner for days even when I called for a refill, hand towels were randomly removed one day and not replaced).

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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Bell services brought up our bags and delivery from Garden Grocer, Nick took the kids down to the pool to swim and I unpacked and organized the room. Then I met them down there.
Aria loved the splash area!
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Sage loved the big pool and slide but I don’t have any pictures from over there. It was packed so I just took a few videos of her going down the slide. Here’s a screenshot from one of her slides. She was so proud of herself. 😊
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We didn’t stay up to watch the fireworks that night. Me, Nick and Aria had been awake since about 12:20am (not by choice, all thanks to Aria the insomniac 🥴 ) and Sage was up soon after that. So I snapped one quick pic from the balcony and we all went to bed early!
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great start to the TR
Looking forward to more!


I think getting a room ready text at 1:30 is getting rare so not sure if this line really needed the "Finally"

I would say "I finally got my room key to the Dolphin at 5pm" would be more appropriate

Following along


Max
Oh I definitely agree! We’d been awake for like, 13 hours at that point so I was just ready to get settled 😂
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday 3/6

I mentioned earlier we had 5 park days. We planned for 2 at MK and one at each of the other parks. No park hoppers. This was our first MK day.
We walked over to the TTC and then took the boat over to MK. There were maybe 10 people on the boat. It was such a quiet, serene way to start our day. I had never taken the ferry to rope drop before so it was something new and different for me. It’s one of the moments from the trip that I’ll always remember. We were all happy and anxious to start our day.
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That’s Moorea behind us!


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At about 7:10, we made it to a very foggy Main Street! Early entry was at 7:30 that day.
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I went to get in the crowd of people waiting to enter Fantasyland. Nick and the kids made a quick stop in the Emporium. Kind of a long story but Sage forgot her magicband at home. So she was looking for a new one. I told her I would buy her a regular MB2, not a MB+. I didn’t want the kids to have MB+ yet because I didn’t want more devices to charge at night. I did purchase one for myself prior to arriving, I actually got the blue 50th one on sale for $25, and I wanted to test it out before committing to upgrading theirs. We looked in every monorail gift shop on our arrival day and sadly, we barely found any MB2. We thought for sure the Emporium would have a bunch but they only had 2 or 3. The cast member told Nick they were phasing them out. So that was disappointing. I got Sage a key to the world card at the Poly front desk the night before just so she would have a way to tap into the park. She used the card all that day and I ended up buying her a MB2 in the Poly gift shop that night. She wasn’t crazy about the design but she really didn’t want to use the card all week.
And for the record, I offered to pack her magic band with the rest of ours but she insisted on packing it (or not packing it) herself.

While I was waiting, I asked someone to snap a quick pic for me.
A little explanation of my shirt- in case you’re wondering what a Disney adult is… It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me 😂
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Our first stop was Mine Train. Our kids are not super adventurous when it comes to rides, at least not yet. On our last trip they were 9 & 4. Sage did ok on Mine Train, Big Thunder and the Barnstormer. Aria hated Barnstormer and wouldn’t even try the others. They both did Slinky Dog last time and cried hysterically the whole time. But Aria was talking a big talk prior to this trip, telling us she wanted to ride everything. We purchased Genie for this day but didn’t want to purchase the ILL as well so, Mine Train was up first!
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We ended up waiting about 20 minutes which wasn’t bad at all. Sage loved it, Aria hated it. Which was pretty much what I was expecting.
We then went over to Small World and walked right on.
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Love this new addition!


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Sage pointed out that the 5 & 0 were painted gold for the 50th 😍

We then went over to Haunted Mansion and again, walked right on.
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This was funny, a squirrel was just hanging out in the pet cemetery 😂

We then backtracked a bit, over to the Little Mermaid ride because it too had a 5 minute wait.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
At this point, it was a little before 9am. Our first LL was for Peter Pan’s Flight at 9:30. I was so excited that morning when I snagged that return time. It was exactly what I was hoping for! We decided to take a little break at Gaston’s. The kids split a cinnamon roll and a LeFou’s Brew (which the CM very nicely spilt into 2 cups for us!) and Nick and I just got some coffees.
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Oh side note, Aria forgot her sunglasses this day. So she’s squinting in every single picture. I made sure she had them every day the rest of the week. Moral of the story, my kids are not responsible enough to remember their own things.

And then, time for Pan!
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After tapping into Pan, I made our next LL for Big Thunder. We then went over to the carousel, maybe waiting 5 or 10 minutes.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I don’t have any pictures from over at Big Thunder. Weird for me! We had LLs for all 4 us. We all tapped in, walked through the queue, and literally right before getting on, Aria starts freaking out, refusing to ride. I asked a CM where we could exit and she told us to walk back through the lightning lane. After getting back to the bottom, I explained the situation to a CM and asked if he would be able to restore my LL so I could ride when Nick and Sage were done. He very nicely restored both mine and Aria’s and told me Sage could take Aria’s band and ride twice. So bonus for Sage!
Took this pic on our way over to Storybook Circus~
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Our next LL was for the Barnstormer but first, the kids needed a quick splash.
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In the Barnstormer queue- first aid and second aid 😂
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So yeah, Aria hated the Barnstormer. So much for her going on every ride. Between this and Mine Train, she would go into instant panic mode the rest of the week anytime we were in line for a ride she was unfamiliar with. It was constant rapid fire questions- does it go fast? Is it dark? Is it long or short? Are there any hills? Does it go backwards? We promised her no more “big” rides for the rest of the week.
Our next LL (for Nick and I) was for Space Mountain but we had some time to kill so first we went to Dumbo. My kids are OBSESSED with that play area.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then had lunch at Cosmic Rays and were serenaded by Sonny Eclipse.
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Back outside, we saw Stitch. My kids love this movie but it’s one of my least favs.
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Still squinting!

So the plan for Space was that I was going to ride first, then Nick. Aria was definitely not riding, Sage was mulling it over. I tapped in, got all the way to the load area and the ride stopped and all the lights came on. About 5 minutes later, we were instructed to exit. So that was a bummer. Our LL was converted to a multiple experience pass. I suggested we use it on Princess Fairytale Hall. My kids love meeting characters and so far, the Stitch sighting was our only one that day. For whatever reason though, they both wanted to ride Haunted Mansion again. So back over we went!
The ride stopped briefly at this part so I was able to get a quick pic-
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So by this point, it was about 2:30. The kids were hot and wanted to go back and swim. We still had a whole other day for MK and we had actually accomplished quite a bit. One thing I’m just now realizing, we also did Philharmagic at some point that morning. I don’t remember when and I don’t have any pictures. So in total between 7:30 and 2:30, we did 12 attractions, had a snack and had lunch. That’s actually super impressive for my kids 😂 We decided not to push our luck and go back to swim.
Took a castle pic from my favorite spot-
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And tried to get a family pic but my kids are professional squinters apparently.
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When we got back to Poly, I tried to convince my kids to rest for a bit but they wanted to go to the pool, stat. So off we went!
You’ll never guess what our first stop was…
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Dole whips, obviously.
Then pool time!
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Kids a weirdo 😂

We again mobile ordered Captain Cook’s for dinner and brought it back to the room to eat it. We ate here several times and everything was always excellent!
After showering and getting into PJs, we watched the fireworks from our balcony 😍
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I had told the kids about the Electrical Water Pageant but we chose not to watch that night. We had another early morning the next day and I wanted to get them to bed. Sadly, because of some unexpected scheduling throughout the week, we never actually saw it. So sad. Sage asked to watch both the fireworks and water pageant from the beach one night. I really thought we’d be able to squeeze it in but we just ran out of time ☹️

All in all, this was an amazing first day for my kids. It was by far the most successful family day we ever had a Disney. Whining and fighting was minimal which is rare for them. I went to bed very happy and relieved that night!
 

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