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Trip Report The No Rain, Red Card, Vanna White, July JOURNEY! *COMPLETED*

So my most recent trip report was 44 years in the making ~ this one has taken only a month :). And for any of you keeping score, this is my 5th trip report. This year. I have been to WDW five times in 2016 and have plans to return in September. And October. And December. (Please don't hate me.)

Those of you who are tired of reading about my Disney escapades can exit now, no hard feelings. Those of you who have read any of my other reports know what you're in for and I hope I can keep your interest. I really appreciate your kind comments.

To that end I will start by playing tag ~ @TrolleyFollower91 @Doc Disney @TheMouseFan @MinnieM123 @Tiggerish @BWK05 @Gabe1 @samantha788 @coachwnh @Figment Forever @figmentfan423 @epcotisbest @Zipitidoda @MerMom1981 @LisaBelle @Matty30 @Courtney6682 @bee @lostpro9het @cgersic @sheriffwoody @blgauger @meganwdw @fractal @MississippiBelle @jrogue @ScarletBegonias @LadyBelle @disneypearl @Tony the Tigger @tcool123 @prfctlyximprct @Longers @gwhb75 @Beckett @Ciara @ajrwdwgirl @FlaggNL @mishel635 @myhappyplace

If I have omitted anyone, please forgive me and know it was not intentional! A great big thank you in advance to everyone who follows along :happy:.

"Now give me a little intro there, Gomer" (I clearly have seen the Country Bear Jamboree way too many times...)

Cast: Tuvalu and Em, a girls' summer getaway!
Date: July 23-27
Resort: Polynesian Village (surprised? Didn't think so...)

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Did all our wishes come true? You'll have to wait and see.
 
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Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Em was awakening from her nap when I arrived back at the room to shower. A little while later we got to cross off one of the items on our bucket list ~

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This was our 3rd stay at the Poly in 4 months and we still hadn't been inside Trader Sam's Grog Grotto! Shame on us!

We opened the magical door.....
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(Why are there children in here? :rolleyes:)

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The only remaining table had a great view of the bar and we promptly sat down. Then we saw 3 20-somethings enter, looking for a place to sit. We invited them to join us, as our table had 3 extra chairs.

Neither Em nor I ordered any of the drinks that trigger the special effects, but others did. We got to witness the Uh-Oa (twice), the Nautilus (octopus), and the Polynesian Pearl. One of our tablemates ordered the Dark & Tropical Stormy, which was especially funny because the umbrella in the drink was flipped backwards!

What did we have?

Rosita's Margarita for Em:
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and a Mosquito Mojito for me:
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Since we do not have iron stomachs like @BuddyThomas, we found the alcohol content enough to make us a wee bit giddy. (Yes, we are lightweights. And cheap dates!)

See this woman at the bar? She was drinking alone and found absolutely no humor in the joke when her barstool suddenly lowered about a foot and a half. Em and I, on the other hand, found it hilarious. (I told you we were lightweights!)

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Zipadeelady

Zipadeelady

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
Goadie, this is for you.......:cat:

Em and I had one last FP to use so we walked off our yummy lunch around the lagoon. Did I mention it was HOT? Yes, I realize it was a July afternoon in central Florida and it is supposed to be hot. But my pal @Zipitidoda can vouch for me ~ it was hotter than blaze.
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If you and Em were anything like us at Epcot then you went to every country and shopped around. That was the only way we survived. :happy:
 
prfctlyximprct

prfctlyximprct

Well-Known Member
Is Trader Sams still crazily packed all the time? Would love to stop here!! And man, you are seriously killing me. Debating booking an ADR at Via Napoli... ugh live so close to NYC and amazing pizza, but you're pictures are swaying me otherwise. Via Napoli vs Food and Wine booths... why you do this to me @Tuvalu

:p
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
prfctlyximprct said:
Is Trader Sams still crazily packed all the time? Would love to stop here!! And man, you are seriously killing me. Debating booking an ADR at Via Napoli... ugh live so close to NYC and amazing pizza, but you're pictures are swaying me otherwise. Via Napoli vs Food and Wine booths... why you do this to me @Tuvalu

:p
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I have read that Trader Sam's isn't as crazy crowded as it was when it was newly opened. We were there early, around 6 p.m., and although we got the last table other folks got up and left before we did, opening spots for new arrivals. Also, I think there were a couple of available seats at the bar. But you will have to contend with children if you are there before 8 p.m.

The real difference in the pizza at Via Napoli is the use of spring water from Italy in the dough, which gives it a nice chewiness. Also, the fresh sauce and fresh mozzarella make it a lighter-tasting pizza, so you never get that full "wow, I ate too much pizza" feeling. And I am a fan of the brick oven baking.

You and Joe could share a small pizza and still have plenty of room for F&W snacks later in the day. ;):joyfull:
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Our Trader Sam's fun ended when we got "rumblies in our tummies." We wanted to spend our last night in the MK and decided to grab dinner someplace in the park. In hindsight, we should have taken the monorail over ~ but our luck with the monorail hadn't been so great so we chose the boat.

One plus for taking the boat was I got to have my picture taken with Tuvalu in the background. :D

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Too bad the clouds in the next pic didn't give us any shade as we waited on the dock. Because we waited a loooong time!! I had to stop myself from counting the monorails headed toward the MK from the Poly because it was frustrating me! :bored:

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When the boat finally arrived, we noticed the captain took his sweet time docking, securing the boat, unhooking the rope, etc. (Whatever the opposite of warp-speed is, this guy had it!) Em and I were drenched in sweat by the time we climbed aboard.

Goodbye, Poly!
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Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Hello, MK!

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Making your way down Main Street in the evening can be a challenge, as people are leaving and others are beginning to stake out their MSEP viewing spot, as early as 2 hours in advance. (Why??) We cut through the Emporium, which wasn't a time-saver but at least it had a/c. Then we took the first left towards Adventureland and trekked through the shortcut to Frontierland.

Our destination:
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Rosita's Margarita had made Em hungry for Mexican. And I rarely say no to Mexican food. (Of course I also rarely say no to Em! :rolleyes:)

We both had nachos. I had beef, Em had chicken. We could have easily shared one order!

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At dinner I checked the app to see what FPs were available. Pirates? Sure, we're practically there already!

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Hmmmm, what's available for FP #5?

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Let's do one more FP and call it a night.

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But we couldn't leave MK without having dessert.

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One All American Sundae for Em, and a Mickey Mouse Kid's Cone for me.....where else can you get a pair of chocolate mouse ears on an ice cream cone? :hungry:

Remember the parade spot-stakers we saw on our way in? Yeah, they were still there. MSEP was due to start in 15 minutes. Em and I could have easily stood behind any of them and had a decent view. We didn't because we aren't big MSEP fans.

But the point is we had dinner, rode three attractions and sat down for ice cream while they remained bored on a curb.

I think we got the better deal.

Of course, being able to see this from our balcony an hour later didn't hurt either. ;)

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Coming up....our last day! :cry:
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, July 27

MK opened at 8 a.m. so we were up early ~ we had to go to the Resort Airline Check In desk and stow our carry-ones with Bell Services before boarding the monorail. We were eager to see the Welcome Show again.

I won't tell you what we had for breakfast since you already know. ;)

As we walked along the path from Rarotonga to the front of the Great Ceremonial House, the quiet sounds of a relaxing tropical paradise were shattered by an obnoxiously loud leaf blower. Leaf blower??!! Was it suddenly Autumn in New England??

The closer we got the louder the noise became.

I am sorry I did not take a picture as evidence, so you will just have to believe me. A worker was using a leaf blower for blowing away WATER!!! :eek: That's right, folks, he was getting rid of those small pesky puddles from sprinkler run-off. It would have been comical had our eardrums not been ready to rupture. That thing was on the entire time we were checking in/dropping off luggage.

We made it upstairs just as a monorail was arriving.

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Do I even need to tell you what happened next?

We climbed aboard at 7:20 a.m. And waited.
And waited.
And waited.

Finally the driver apologized for the delay, explaining that another monorail train was being added to the line for our "transportation ease" later in the day.

We didn't care about later, we wanted "transportation ease" NOW!!!

Twenty minutes later our monorail left the Poly. Our opportunity to watch the Welcome Show ~ KAPUT! :arghh:
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
But it was another gorgeous sunny morning (day #5 of no rain ~ hence the first part of this TR title) and we were going to enjoy it, despite the glitches we'd already encountered. Missing the Welcome Show meant we weren't part of the "sea of humanity" that floods Main Street at rope drop, so we had a nice stroll over to Tomorrowland.

The wait for Space Mountain was only 10 minutes.

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(Aren't you proud of me, @lostpro9het? I am not staring off into a black abyss!)

Next we took a tour of Tomorrowland via the MPB 2.0.

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And then we went to defeat Zurg. Well, at least Em did.

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My gun was broken!! :( :arghh: :cry:

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Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
Em and I cut across the hub and entered Frontierland via the same Adventureland path we took last night. Time to ride one of our favorites!

@Longers, these pics are for you!

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We walked the entire queue without having to stop. The CM tried to put us in row 1, but we asked to sit in the back.

Last car, whoo hoo!!!
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Going up...
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Whee!!!!
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Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
We'd only been inside the MK for an hour and we'd already ridden 4 attractions ~ without using a FP! We decided we had time to stop for the BTM photographer.

BTW, our tees are the ones we got at Uniqlo. Perfect, huh @MinnieM123!

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Hey Howdy Hey.....methinks we've seen this Woody and Jessie border before.

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(This is actually an animated Magic shot. I won't spoil the surprise.)
 
epcotisbest

epcotisbest

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
We'd only been inside the MK for an hour and we'd already ridden 4 attractions ~ without using a FP! We decided we had time to stop for the BTM photographer.

BTW, our tees are the ones we got at Uniqlo. Perfect, huh @MinnieM123!

View attachment 162736

Hey Howdy Hey.....methinks we've seen this Woody and Jessie border before.

View attachment 162737
(This is actually an animated Magic shot. I won't spoil the surprise.)
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We went in that store at DS last week. It is a nice store, bright, modern and the merchandise seemed of high quality, especially the tees, which, for Disney seemed fairly priced too. Now, at Lily Pulitzer, I was shocked by the prices, but it is a colorful store, in stark contrast to the White House/Black Market my wife likes so much over at the Premium Outlets.
 
Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
Original Poster
On to Haunted Mansion. There wasn't much of a wait here either. Not sure Em was happy to have her picture taken. (Or maybe she was just missing Good Old Fred.)

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(@epcotisbest, Em's sunglasses strap was purchased at the DS Lily P store. It was all she could afford!)

We were bummed the interactive ending wasn't working. :(

A quick hop, skip and a jump and we were here:
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It must have been the first Philharmagic show of the day, as we literally walked into the theater ~ and they held the doors open for several minutes after we'd sat down.
 

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