Trip Report Using Our Golden Ticket: A Poly, MK, and Universal Trip Report (October 2018) [completed]

DRD · Aug 16, 2018

StarBurst said:
wow thats so cool..why cant i have hot chocolate spilt on on me?

Ha! The Disney Customer Service guy discussed that but spent probably 80% of the call talking about the Wilderness Lodge check-in issue. I think that was the main reason we got the special deal and certainly was the thing he was most concerned about.

He stated that my experience would go all the way to the resort department head (and also assured me that no one CM individually would be singled out) so that they could try and make sure it didn't happen again. Same for the hot chocolate incident...her department head would be notified of the job well done and she'd be recognized for her effort.

AKemily · Aug 16, 2018

DRD said:
Instead, he went the extra step to offer us 2 FREE nights at a deluxe resort along with 2 FREE days of parkhopper passes! Jaw. Dropped. I felt like this was too much and initially declined, but nevertheless he persisted. And persisted. And I’d be a fool to not accept. He mailed a letter with a special code to reference and said it had no expiration date.

DRD said:
2 nights at the Polynesian. Park view room. Hey, it’s free!

Oh my goodness, this is amazing! :inlove:

I think I would have gone with Animal Kingdom Lodge Savannah view myself, but the Polynesian will be fantastic! And so nice and close to MK. :happy:

Your Harry Potter-lover will LOVE the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It is so immersive. I usually try to make it there every other trip or so, but it didn't work out form my upcoming trip :cry:

Harry Potter World is a whole other kind of magic from Disney World and is just so much fun! I hope you have a blast!

DRD · Aug 16, 2018

AKemily said:
Oh my goodness, this is amazing! I think I would have gone with Animal Kingdom Lodge Savannah view myself, but the Polynesian will be fantastic! And so nice and close to MK.

I know...I still can't believe the outcome some 3 years after the fact.

We thought long and hard about AKL but ultimately it was a combination of a monorail resort, proximity to MK, and being able to see the fireworks from our balcony (the youngest has some sensory issues that make her very scared of nearby fireworks) that tipped us towards Poly. And a huge shout out to a couple of forum members here who helped me decide...they know who they are.

Your Harry Potter-lover will LOVE the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It is so immersive. I usually try to make it there every other trip or so, but it didn't work out form my upcoming trip Harry Potter World is a whole other kind of magic from Disney World and is just so much fun! I hope you have a blast!

Very cool...and thanks! I think my girls are at the perfect age for it...just old enough to appreciate it and not yet too old to be "too cool" for geeking out over WWHP.

I expected my youngest to be more excited about Disney and my oldest to be more excited about WWHP. So far, I think both are more excited for WWHP, surprisingly.

DRD · Aug 16, 2018

Here's the basic plan along with FPs that have already been secured. I welcome any advice, critique, or general thoughts!

Here's my general philosophy for this trip (we'll see how it goes): balance park visits with relaxing in the resorts.

Since we are just doing 2 days at Disney, we felt like it made more sense to just focus on Magic Kingdom. We've decided to not go to the Halloween Party (partly because of cost, partly because of the desire to relax at the resort and not overdo it).

There’s a big temptation to go to Hollywood Studios to experience Toy Story Land one evening (and we might end up there), or cram in an evening at another park since we have parkhoppers. HOWEVER, my biggest lesson learned from the first trip was don’t overdo it. Take time to rest with our kids. I learned last time we're just not wired as a family to be on the run from rope drop to late night. Plus, we’ll likely never stay at Poly again…why not take our time to explore the resort, swim at the pool, gorge on Dole Whips, and drink some crazy drinks at Trader Sam’s?

We fly down on Sunday the 7th and will stay at Holiday Inn at Disney Springs. I hope we'll have time to wander around DS for a little while, though our flight lands around 5 so it's iffy.

Monday 10/8: early morning precheck into Poly and drop off the bags in the lobby. Head over to MK as close to rope drop as possible. We'll let the kids pick what they want to do in the morning (no matter if it makes sense to do at rope drop or not) without being a slave to a schedule until our FPs kick in around 11. Basically, just bask in the joy of being there. No ADRs planned either…we’re fine with quick service. Since the park closes early for the Halloween Party, we’ll head back to Poly as soon as our last Fast Pass is done (4:00) to spend the rest of the afternoon swimming, exploring Poly, and eating O’Hana room service.

Day 1 FPs:
Space Mtn, Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales w/Belle (youngest + wife), Splash Mtn (oldest + me)

Tuesday 10/9: early breakfast at Capt. Cook’s. Get to MK as close to rope drop as possible. Since we weren’t able to get a FP for 7DMT and assuming we don’t ride it day 1, we’ll try to beeline it to 7DMT at rope drop and hope for the best. No ADRs and again: totally content with counter service. Will probably do Cosmic Ray’s later this afternoon since our FPs are both in Futureland. Halloween Party again this night.

If, and it’s a big if, we decide to check out Toy Story Land, it’ll be this night. But since we couldn’t land a FP for Slinky Dog, and we felt like experienced Hollywood Studios enough the last trip, I think it’s a 95% chance we’ll just spend the rest of the evening at the Poly after the park closes. Plus, lesson #1 from the last trip: don’t overdo it.

Day 2 FPs:
Big Thunder Mtn (my personal favorite), Space Mtn (again, my oldest loves it), and Buzz.

Wednesday 10/9: checkout day at Poly. The free ride ends. 10:15 ADR at Kona Café for the true Tonga Toast experience though I'm more intrigued by the French press Kona coffee personally. Uber over to Royal Pacific at Universal. We’ll pack a day bag with swim stuff and begin enjoying the pool there before we check in that afternoon. And the pool does look pretty amazing, though maybe not quite as good as Poly. We shall report back and let you all know. Probably walk over to Universal City Walk or just eat at the resort that night. Truly a day to just relax as much as possible since we have no park tickets.

Royal Pacific guests get both early admission to Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal Express included with the stay so we're not too concerned about wait times in the regular Universal Parks.

Thursday 10/10: quick breakfast and get to Universal at 8 for early admission into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas. Definitely trying to go to Ollivander’s wand shop early and probably riding Gringotts early after we’ve soaked enough ambiance in. Will probably spend all morning there, then move into the other areas around lunch. My thrillseeking oldest daughter and wife have a bunch on their list here. Rip Rocket, Hulk, Spiderman, etc, etc. After WWHP areas, I just want to drink my way through Moe’s Tavern and Duff Brewery. I used to be a big Simpsons fan back in college so paying my respects to Duffman is a must. Head back to the resort during early afternoon to relax. Dinner. Then back into the WWHP areas at night.

Friday 10/11: same as above, hitting more rides we missed on day 1 after spending the morning in WWHP. Will leave around 4 or 5 or so to head to the airport. Then catch our late flight home. I’m sure this last day of travel will suck and we’ll be very tired (probably cranky too) but I’d rather do that than spend more money on a hotel room for that night.

I’ll open it up to you guys, the respected and esteemed experts on WDW…any glaring issues or suggestions?

Any tips/tricks to Universal? There just aren't very many great resources for Universal as there are for WDW.

Has anyone used delivery services, specifically Drizly, Ubereats, or GrubHub in the area? I forsee us using Drizly for wine and beer delivery the first night for in-room/pool drinks. I could also see us using Ubereats the first night if we get in later than expected and punt on going to Disney Springs.

winstongator · Aug 25, 2018

Does Royal pacific come with the express pass?

DRD · Aug 25, 2018

winstongator said:
Does Royal pacific come with the express pass?

It does. I think there are 3 properties that include express pass and RP is the least expensive of the 3. I did the math and for a family of 4 it was about the same price to move up to RP than it was to add express pass to our tickets at Cabana Bay (which was the other resort we looked at). I think express pass is included at RP, Hard Rock, and Portofino.

winstongator · Aug 25, 2018

DRD said:
It does. I think there are 3 properties that include express pass and RP is the least expensive of the 3. I did the math and for a family of 4 it was about the same price to move up to RP than it was to add express pass to our tickets at Cabana Bay (which was the other resort we looked at). I think express pass is included at RP, Hard Rock, and Portofino.

That is an awesome perk. We stayed at hard rock for my daughters birthday and the express pass made it so easy. The express pass was like $90 per person and our room was around $450 so well worth it. We loved universal especially WWoHP.

myhappyplace · Aug 26, 2018

I didn't know you started a pre-trip! Yay! Getting closer

SOMEDAY I WILL STAY AT THE POLY!!! No, I'm not jealous, why do you ask?

Though, dude...have I taught you *nothing*? FUTURELAND??
.
.
.
.
.
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it's Tomorrowland
:hilarious:

All kidding aside, I can't wait to hear how your trip goes! I'm excited for your girls!

DRD · Aug 26, 2018

myhappyplace said:
I didn't know you started a pre-trip! Yay! Getting closer

SOMEDAY I WILL STAY AT THE POLY!!! No, I'm not jealous, why do you ask?

Though, dude...have I taught you *nothing*? FUTURELAND??
.
.
.
.
.
.
it's Tomorrowland

All kidding aside, I can't wait to hear how your trip goes! I'm excited for your girls!

And I’m one of the few that actually enjoyed the movie Tomorrowland and I messed up the name!

Thanks—I always owe you and MrHappyPlace a debt of Disney gratitude for your advice and experience.

DRD · Sep 14, 2018

Look what arrived today!!!

myhappyplace · Sep 15, 2018

DRD said:
Look what arrived today!!!

So cute!

DRD · Oct 1, 2018

T minus one week from Magic Kingdom! T minus 6 days until we actually arrive in Orlando.

I'll repost this question, just to see if anyone has an answer: Has anyone used delivery services, specifically Drizly, Ubereats, or GrubHub in the area? I forsee us using Drizly for wine and beer delivery the first night (Holiday Inn: Disney Springs) for in-room/pool drinks. I could also see us using Ubereats the first night if we get in later than expected and punt on going to Disney Springs.

Definitely excited...it's a little weird being excited in 2 different ways:
- excited for Magic Kingdom and Polynesian...especially for my youngest (7) who was a little too little to remember the last trip 3 years ago.
- and excited for Universal because we've never been, we've been rewatching HP movies all week, and my wife and oldest are especially looking forward to the more exciting coasters.

DRD · Oct 15, 2018

Alright folks...we are back from MK, Polynesian, and Universal! Here comes the Trip Report!

Day 0: After driving down last time (and vowing to never do it again if I could catch a break on airfare) we flew into MCO Sunday afternoon and checked into the Holiday Inn: Disney Springs for one night.

HI: DS is a great choice for an off-property hotel, in my opinion. I stayed here 3 years ago for one night and had great customer service both times, the pool is maybe not Disney-level great but it is pretty exceptional for a HI, and its easy walking distance to Disney Springs.

First, let me step back and comment on what a mess MCO’s rideshare pickup area is. It’s semi-organized chaos. Cars pulling in and out, cutting one another off, people loading luggage into vehicles in the middle of the second lane. Nevertheless, we found our driver pretty easily (somehow), so maybe the chaos is more organized than it seemed after all. I know ridesharing is relatively new to the airport and I guess that’s the reason it’s so disorganized, but hopefully they are able to carve out a more organized way to pickup in the future. I know my kids were very unsure about the whole thing.

Kids: We're riding...with a stranger?
Me: Um...yeah, I know it totally flies in the face of everything we've ever taught you, but yeah we are. Now, run out there in the middle of traffic and hand the stranger your bags.

We debated on going over to Disney Springs. I've never been and wanted to experience it, but we were kinda tired from traveling and the kids were ready to get in the hotel pool. Since we checked in around dinner time and didn’t want to risk waiting for dinner at DS, we opted for Uber Eats from Macaroni Grill. While the food itself was nothing special, we found Uber Eats to be very convenient and quick. Likewise, I also placed an order using Drizly which is an app for wine/spirits delivery, thinking this would save some money instead of buying nightcap drinks at the resorts. Though the stated delivery time was 60 minutes, it ended up being well over an hour and nearly 90 minutes. Still, I think that’s a great option for those who want to save some money on drinks and don’t have access to a vehicle. Plus, Drizly gave me a voucher for $5 off my next order since it took so long.

We hit the pool after dinner to burn off some energy before going to bed around 9 for an early morning wake up to pre-check in to the Poly and get to MK as close to rope drop as possible. The fun part of the trip had begun!

But first...day 0 beer reviews:

Beer Review: I'm an IPA fan and prefer drinking locally as much as possible. Since I thought I might enjoy a beer or two by the pool, I also had to have cans rather than glass bottles. So I spotted the 3 Daughters Bimini Twist IPA in stock on Drizly, I thought it was worth a shot. It's out of St. Petersburg FL. 7% ABV so it packs a little more punch than usual. Citrusy, floral. I probably wouldn't order it again, but it was fine and refreshing.

Pulp Friction Grapefruit IPA was on tap at the lobby bar at the HI: DS. This was solely a purchase based upon the name...I mean, how could a guy who spent most of his college years quoting Pulp Fiction not order it? This one is from Motorworks Brewery in Bradenton (not Canaveral as the bartender told me). I'm not a huge fan of lots of fruit flavor in beer, but this one was very refreshing. 6.9% ABV. Lots of fruit, but not overpowering. A really great and refreshing beer for summer...or just any normal day in muggy Orlando. Wish I had a six of it instead of the Bimini Twist.

The Pulp Friction:

Up next...would Disney redeem itself from the check in issues on our last trip? Would my 11 year old enjoy MK even though she said she was "too old" for it?

DRD · Oct 16, 2018

Day 1: Magic Kingdom. My goal was to be at the Polynesian by 7:30 so we could be at Magic Kingdom by 8:30 before rope drop at 9. Though I got up on time, everyone else had a rough morning. We were already behind before getting breakfast at the HI buffet. Nevertheless, I repeated my mantras for this trip “hakuna matata” and “let it go” when it came to flexibility with scheduling. We had an easy Lyft ride over to Polynesian for check in. The driver even played Moana for the kids in the back of the van, which was a nice touch.

On the way, I realized I hadn’t done online check in to the resort. Just as a refresher, the whole reason we had 2 free nights at the Poly to begin with was due to a check in issue at the Wilderness Lodge last time. I debated on whether or not to use online check in or see someone at the desk…but decided to give the online check in a try while in the Lyft over to the resort since we were a little behind schedule. As soon as we got out at the Poly, the porter offered to check our bags in, asked if we’d done online check in, and agreed it was the best way to go. Within 5 minutes, we were on our way up to the monorail! What a breeze!

But first, a brief moment to soak in the Ceremonial House lobby:

We’d never ridden the monorail before, so it was neat to experience that for the first time. My youngest (who, before the trip, was very afraid of rides) had some mild anxiety, but thankfully big Sis helped ease that a little bit:

We arrived well before rope drop:

I commend Disney for changing the rope drop festivities from the front of the park to Cinderella’s Castle. I know they did it partly for safety reasons, but it is so neat to be able to walk around Main Street and take your time to soak in being in the park before rushing off to ride rides.

Her first view of Cinderella’s Castle this trip:

I wanted the first couple of hours in the park to be my youngest daughters’ call on what we did. First, MK is really more her speed than my 11 y/o at this point. Second, I’d hoped to work her up to riding coasters and thought by hitting some of the smaller rides first she might have her coaster confidence built up. So, just like last time, the first ride she chose was the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Then Dumbo, which my 11 y/o tolerated.

Then I talked my youngest into riding Goofy’s Barnstormer. After some initial trepidation, she agreed. I thought it was a fun little coaster and while it won’t win any thrill awards, was a good introduction to the coaster experience. My youngest did not like it. At. All. At least we tried it, I guess.

We headed over to Ariel’s Grotto as I’d hoped to recreate the wonderful experience the girls had with her 3 years ago. For whatever reason, my youngest absolutely objected. That was a little disappointing, but I figured she’d change her mind about it later on. Pretty sure my 11 y/o was happy she wouldn’t have to meet the mermaid.

Though it was only 45 minutes past rope drop, we were already hot. The temps all week stayed above 90 with high humidity. So, since we were in Fantasyland and in need of a refreshing beverage, we figured we’d give LeFou’s Brew a try.

We enjoyed it quite a bit, but definitely were thankful we only ordered one to split between us. I have read some debate on Lefou’s Brew versus Butterbeer and I was glad to experience LeFou’s to measure Butterbeer by. More on that discussion later…

I asked about Gaston’s schedule and was told that they weren’t sure what is schedule would be that day, which I chalked up to a CM just not having the answer. No big deal, but we wanted to see him as not meeting him on the last trip was a regret I wanted to fix this time around. More on that later.

We gave Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh a look, but the wait was already 40 minutes. We watched Christopher Robin a month or so ago and the girls both were interested in Pooh now…but that would have to wait until later too.

I insisted that we ride It’s A Small World because, honestly, it’s the only positive memory of MK that I have as a child. The other memory: freaking out at the Haunted Mansion. So everyone begrudgingly boarded the Small World boat and it turns out that my youngest really loved the ride! So much so that she counted it as one of her favorites of the day and wanted to ride it again tomorrow.

We rode the Carrousel next, then ventured over to Liberty Square. Ironically, a high school marching band from the Nashville area was marching through, which was kind of neat to see. I tried to interest the group into checking out Tom Sawyer’s Island, but received no takers. By this time, breakfast was a distant memory and we were ready for lunch.

I was interested in trying the mobile ordering platform as I’d read how it really cuts down on wait times and makes it less stressful. We spent about 15 minutes looking through the menus and since our first Fastpass of the day was Peter Pan just after lunch, we settled for Pinocchio’s Village Haus.

In what would be a recurring theme of the trip, we felt like Disney’s App was very spotty. It would often restart the app, kick us off wifi (or maybe wifi dropped us?), and seemed very slow overall. Much different than our experience before.

So, it took us nearly 15 minutes and at least 2 app restarts before we were able to successfully place our Village Haus order. As it turned out, we apparently all ordered off the kids’ menu (I think that was because of the app restart). This actually worked out okay as it saved us a little money…I have to say I wasn’t terribly excited about PVH. It was definitely more of a convenience factor. The food wasn't anything special (cheese flatbread, nuggets, and mac & cheese), but we did enjoy being in the a/c for a little while.

The mobile ordering pickup itself was pretty smooth. While I felt like it took too long for our order to be prepared (we waited 25-30 minutes) at least it was all ready when we were finally notified. More about mobile ordering experience in my next day TR.

Finally, it was time for our first FP of the trip: Peter Pan’s Flight. Maybe it was my 11 y/o’s preteen angst rubbing off on me, but I was kinda disappointed in the ride. We rode it last time and everyone really enjoyed it. But this time around, I’m not sure. I guess it is a classic and I think the forced perspective is really creative, but all 4 of us were glad we only had one FP for it on the trip. I don't quite understand why there's such a high FP demand for it over other similar rides like Pooh and Ariel.

We headed over to Tomorrowland next. I’d never ridden the Tomorrowland People Mover and knew it was one of @Mrhappyplace ‘s favorites. I concur…what a great way to cool off and rest. My wife informed me that she’d read online that it is a popular ride for mothers with babies to breastfeed on. I was skeptical and a little bit surprised, but then after riding it agreed…if you absolutely must breastfeed while riding a ride…this is probably your best bet.

Unfortunately, my wife spotted the Carousel of Progress which is something she wanted to do the last trip but didn’t. So, we wandered over there and walked right in/on. I will say this, I was thankful for 2 things on the Carousel of Progress: air conditioning, and the moment it was over. I do appreciate the history of the experience and actually am glad I experienced it. But…I’m also glad we checked it off the list so we didn’t have to worry about doing it again. (Fun fact that I’m sure you die-hards already know, but Jean Shepherd did the voice of John. Shepherd wrote and did the narration of A Christmas Story.)

Our next FP was for Space Mountain, my oldest’s favorite ride of all. I think she rode it a half dozen times on the last trip and she has been looking forward to it since we told her we were going back. Obviously, since my youngest barely made it through Barnstormer, we figured we’d let her sit this one out. So I and my oldest rode Space first and did a rider swap so she could ride it again with my wife.

Then I and my youngest walked over to Tomorrowland Speedway. She’d spotted it earlier in the day and had been bugging me to ride it. It was posted as a 45 minute wait, but only ended up being about 25. While there should be nothing interesting in the queue for the ride itself, we were treated with watching the kids in front of us licking the handrails throughout our wait. Dad was oblivious. Use hand sanitizer, folks!

About this time I got the text that our room at the Polynesian was ready! I was even more surprised to learn we were in the Tuvalu longhouse! Sweet!

It was now getting somewhat close to our next Fastpass at Splash Mountain for me and my oldest, while my wife and the youngest headed over to Enchanted Times with Belle. We still had some time to kill, though, and the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain was around 30 minutes. We all decided we wanted to ride it and rider swap for my youngest who didn’t. But as me and my oldest were walking up the hill, I got a text that my youngest had changed her mind and wanted to ride it after all! She told my wife that she didn’t want “to be a baby” and took a leap of faith! I simultaneously was very proud of her and prayed it didn’t scar her for life. BTMRR is my favorite ride in all of the Disney parks, so I was thrilled to be back on it again. I’d forgotten just how intense the corkscrews are and how much fun it really is. My youngest made it through successfully but she was pretty scared. Hours later she said she was proud that she rode it, but didn’t want to ride it again tomorrow even though we had Fastpasses for it. I’ll take what I can get!

We split up for the next Fastpasses. Because dark clouds were coming in and we’d heard a “we might close the rides down due to weather” announcement, we decided to go ahead and do the standby line for Splash Mountain at 3:00 and if we wanted to, we could use our Fastpasses already scheduled at 3:50 if the ride hadn’t closed due to weather. We managed to make it through the queue before the rain started and just as we got to the exterior portion of the ride, it began to pour! A few moments later after accepting the fact we were getting drenched, I realized that I had all 4 of our ponchos in my backpack. Which was with me. On Splash Mountain. While my wife and daughter were across the park with Belle. Oh well. Guess all 4 of us were getting wet. We enjoyed Splash but the ride attendants must have been focused on getting as many folks through as possible and we experienced several bottlenecks on the ride with other boats. No big deal I guess, but there seemed to be a lot of stop and start. The drop was much more than I expected and was quite a thrill. We managed to not get too soaked and actually I think got wetter from the downpour (which had already stopped by the time we got off the ride) than the ride itself.

Since mom and little sis got soaked in the downpour and we all were pretty worn out, we decided to go ahead and catch the monorail to Poly. I don’t have to tell you what a relief it is to get on the monorail after a long day of sun, fun, sweat, and sore feet.

My oldest confirmed what I’d suspected: even though she thought she was “too old” for Magic Kingdom, she had a blast and couldn’t wait to go back tomorrow.

Beer reviews: No real beer reviews on this post. LeFou needs to add a refreshing pilsner to the tavern menu.

Next up: Checking into the Polynesian, the Polynesian Feast, an awesome pool, and an amazing view that The Golden Ticket provided us.

KatieLVT · Oct 17, 2018

Great report so far! Can't wait to read more

DRD · Oct 17, 2018

Day 1, continued, Polynesian Resort:

We hopped on the monorail and a few moments later a bit of panic hit me: we’re going the wrong direction! Crap, we were headed towards the Contemporary instead of the Poly. How long would this take?

As you experts already know, the resort loop is exactly that: a loop. 2 stops later we were breezing through the Great Ceremonial House lobby to find where Tuvalu Long House was. I wanted to stop by the front desk to make sure our Magic Bands were set to open the room, but my wife insisted we go to the room first, try the mobile app to unlock the doors, then go back if we had to.

As usual, she was right. The room opened right up with the app.

The room was fantastic. We had a 2 queen park view room on the 3rd floor. And man, what a view:

I went ahead and called for our luggage to be delivered. The porter from that morning stated there was a scanner near the phone that we could just use to scan our luggage tag and it would automatically be delivered. Not in our room. No big deal though, the luggage was “a little behind schedule” according to the bellman but seemed to be delivered rather quickly.

I was surprised, but everyone said they were hungry and didn’t want to go to the pool. It was about 45 mins before room service started but I went ahead and called in an order for the Polynesian Feast. This is essentially the same meal they serve at O’Hana I’m told. We waaaaay over-ordered the portion size though. My youngest is a very picky eater and we knew up front she’d only eat the noodles. So that left me, my wife, and my oldest to eat the rest. Since there was a “per person” charge and portion size, the room service cast member I spoke to seemed pretty sure that we should order for 3 even though one of those 3 was not an adult. So we did. And as you can see below, we should have just ordered for 2. Heck, maybe 1 would have been enough.

The portion sizes were HUGE and I will say that we got our money’s worth as far as that goes; however, with no way to reheat the food in the room, we ended up wasting more of it than I care to admit. I really hated that. Still, we all agreed the chicken was fantastic. It reminded me of Peruvian style roast chicken. The pork and beef skewers were pretty good too. I was the only one to enjoy the shrimp. The veggies were fine…nothing too spectacular. Noodles were great, even though my youngest barely touched hers. We also enjoyed the pot stickers. The sunset punch was really delicious and the only thing I was happy we had too much of as it did not go to waste at all. Finally, the bread pudding…my wife is a bit of a bread pudding expert and she thought theirs was good, but not the best she’s had. My oldest pronounced it “delicious” and enjoyed it in the fridge the next day too. I thought it was fine, but I’m not a big dessert fan in general.

So if you do the Polynesian Feast, my advice is to order less than you think you need unless you are in training for an eating contest of some type.

Knowing how fickle Orlando weather can be, I suggested we go to the pool next as there’s no guarantee the weather will cooperate tomorrow. My youngest and I suited up and headed down to the pool. Wow. What a fantastic pool!

I wasn’t sure, since she’s not a coaster fan, if she’d enjoy the slide or not. But I convinced her to try it once and after watching a guy bigger than me successfully go down I figured I’d join her to the top of the volcano for her first ride. She loved it! I, on the other hand, felt a little claustrophobic as it was a rather dark ride and longer than I expected. Still, it was fun. She rode it at least 8 more times that night.

While she was waiting in line, I checked out the Barefoot Pool Bar. $13 for a rather small margarita. Yikes. But hey, I’m on vacation. And while I was waiting for my drink, another guy came up (he’d had a few too many I suspect) and told the bartender that he wanted his wife to try a Torpedo IPA, that she hated IPAs but “kinda liked” the Sweetwater 420 he just ordered for her, and wanted her to take the next step. The bartender tried to change his mind, but he wasn’t having it and was starting to act just slightly belligerent. She looked at me, and I offered up “my wife also hates IPAs, but if she liked Sweetwater 420, I’d be happy with that.” I guess that was enough for him, so he ordered his wife another 420. After he left, the bartender told me thanks for the help with that guy (apparently he’d been bugging her) and handed me a free 420 along with my $13 margarita! Beer pixie dust!

My wife and oldest daughter apparently came down at some point but couldn’t find us, and after a couple hours at the pool we decided to head back to the room after a long, but amazing day. After all, it was a couple hours before the Halloween fireworks show at MK!

Loud noises exacerbate my youngest daughter’s anxiety, so she has a real fear of fireworks. This is why we’ve never gone to any of the Disney fireworks shows in the past. But one of the main reasons I chose the Poly Park View room for our Golden Ticket is that I hoped it was far enough away that we could still experience the fireworks without the noise. That, plus earplugs, we hoped would make it an enjoyable experience.

Well, she absolutely passed out around 9. She missed the Electric Water Parade (which I and my oldest both found to be much more enjoyable from the Poly than the Wilderness Lodge last time) and there was no rousing her at 10:15 when the show began. What a great view from the Poly…

After that, it was time to hit the sack. Since my youngest claimed the turn-down twin bed/couch, my oldest got to enjoy the queen bed all to herself.

The plan was to wake up early-ish and try to eat breakfast at Captain Cook’s then get to Magic Kingdom somewhat close after rope drop.

Beer review: Sweetwater 420 is probably available in every major American city. I’ll give it to the probably-drunk guy at the bar: it is a good gateway IPA. Very mild, just a bit of bite to let you experience the hops. Pretty refreshing and a reliable/respectable somewhat macro-craft beer out of Atlanta.

Next up: Magic Kingdom day 2, our family weighs in on the Citrus/Dole Whip debate, and would I exact revenge from the Carousel of Progress by forcing my family to see the Hall of Presidents?

Disneydreamer23 · Oct 18, 2018

Following!

DRD · Oct 18, 2018

Disneydreamer23 said:
Following!

Thanks! Hoping to have the next one up later today...and also hoping to be a little less wordy!

KellBelle · Oct 18, 2018

Following along.. looks like a great time so far!

Trip Report Using Our Golden Ticket: A Poly, MK, and Universal Trip Report (October 2018) [completed]

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