Trip Review 3/26-4/2

[meganew]

We’re on the long car ride back so I figured I’d write up my trip review to combat my post-vacation blues. We stayed at the Polynesian again, and once again it was just fabulous. The pool, the food, the ambiance- I love all of it. It wound up being super hot and since my H hurt his foot he couldn’t walk as much as usual, so we used the pool way more this trip than ever before. The kids swam every day for at least 2-3 hours and I had a pina colada every single day. Lol. It was fabulous. Also fabulous are the pineapple smoothies which the kids and H had every day- it really is going to be a hard crash back to reality tomorrow. Haha. We did use Genie+ and I bought two individual LLs, so I have some tips for that if you’re interested.

We left Philly at 1:30am on Saturday, stopped in to visit my grandmother and have lunch (she’s about an hour outside Orlando), and pulled into the Poly around 5:30pm. I thought the kids (10 and 7) would be exhausted, but they immediately jumped in the pool and swam until about 8. The Poly just updated their rooms and they feel so much more spacious- tons of room for luggage, big windows (we overlooked the monorail which was cool), and very clean. We ordered food from Captain Cooks and ate it on the lawn while a movie played.

Full first day- Hollywood Studios
I bought Genie+ at 6:45am every morning because I wanted to test it out first before committing to a full week- at $15 per person, per day it reeeeeally added up. This morning I was still figuring it all out so I didn’t get the individual LL for ROTR like I wanted (they were gone by 7:01) so we just made it our Toy Story day instead. We rope dropped Slinky, but it was down so I waited in line and the kids and H rode Toy Story Mania, then Slinky started running and we only waited maybe 20 minutes to get on. By that time though the early hours were over and the park was super crowded. Luckily I made a fast pass for Mickeys Runaway Railroad at 10:20, so we rode that and then I made another one right away for Star Tours. We met Olaf, had lunch at 50s Prime Time, went to the Indians Jones show, made another fast pass for Alien Saucers, and then just walked around Star Wars. The wait times for everything were nuts and the kids were beat from traveling the day before so we went back to the hotel and swam the rest of the day. We had dinner reservations at Kona Cafe at the Poly, which my kids love because they love sushi. We grabbed a dole whip and watched the fireworks from the lawn.

Day 2- Magic Kingdom
We rope dropped for resort guests and tried running to Pirates of the Caribbean since that was my son’s “must do” ride, but we didn’t know that Frontierland was closed until regular hours so we just hopped on Its a Small World first. Walked on Pirates, walked on carpets, first fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain, immediately made another fast pass for splash mountain later in the day, walked over to Barnstormer, had lunch, watched the parade, and by then it was time for our splash mountain fast pass but the ride was down so we used it on Big Thunder Mountain again. We left and went back to the pool, ordered dinner poolside, and then went back for the fireworks. I had made another fastpass for right after the fireworks for Peter Pan, then went to Dumbo, then made another fastpass for Buzz. It was a loooong day. Lol.

[meganew]

Day 3- Animal Kingdom
This is the only day where Genie+ was a waste. I bought an individual LL for FOP, which was worth it, but the kids were way more interested in seeing the animals and collecting badges for the Wilderness Explorer guide than going on rides. After FOP we did the safari, but those were the only rides. We didn’t even go in the dinosaur area. It was also the hottest day, so we left earlier than expected and spent the rest of the day by the pool. Ordered dinner there again, kids played pool games and had a dance party on the lawn before watching Mulan and the fireworks in their bathing suits.

Day 4- Epcot
The first fastpass I could get for Frozen Ever After was for 7:30, so that’s what I grabbed. We rope dropped and went right on Mission Space(?), then walked over to Ratatouille and waited about an hour in line. The we just ate at all the little stands, and saw Snow White, Donald, and Minnie around the park. The kids had some slushees (the lavender one was amazing) and played at the playground for a bit. We headed back to the pool and then came back with a fastpass to Soaring, walked over to Finding Nemo, hung out in the aquarium, then walked around and ate and ate. I got an orange bird smoothie cup (it’s adorable!) and we went on Frozen Ever After right before fireworks started.

Day 5- Hollywood Studios again
This was my H’s birthday, so it was our Star Wars day. I managed to grab individual LL for ROTR, and a regular fastpass for Smugglers Run. We got to the park a little later and just did those two things right away, then had reservations and Oga’s Cantina. Back to the hotel for pool and drinks, then back to the park for dinner at Sci Fi Drive In, another fast pass for Star Tours, and another one for Mickey’s RR. While we were walking out one of the cast members handed Vivienne a little Daisy Duck stuffed animal for free(!) which she was so excited about. We left as the fireworks were going off. We had cupcakes for H and sang to him on the walk back to our hotel room and people around us heard and joined in, he hated it but it was cute! Haha

Day 6- Magic Kingdom
This day was suppose to be rainy and stormy all day- mmmmno. Hot and sunny all day and we totally didn’t bring the sunscreen we needed. We started with breakfast at O’Hana’s and I got a fastpass for Space Mountain (which H rode twice because I don’t do bigger coasters), and I took the kids to drive the cars. We walked on Dumbo and Barnstormer, then I got another fastpass for splash mountain. We stopped at the castle to watch the friendship faire (super cute) then did splash mountain. By then everyone was hot ans exhausted and starting to burn, so we went back for swimming and drinks. H’s foot still hurts, so we didn’t go back over for fireworks. We wound up doing dinner again at Kona Cafe and watch the fireworks from the beach with one last dole whip.

Day 7- leaving
We grabbed breakfast at the Grand Floridian, swung by the contemporary to buy something for my MIL for watching the dog and then did our goodbye to the hotel walk. Viv was in tears saying goodbye to everything.

All in all it was a very good trip, I wound up using genie+ way more than I thought I was going to. But that’s because it was so crowded the wait times for everyone were insane:

[huskymom]

Thank you! This is super helpful for us next week! I might come back with some questions

[eddy]

Not to sound obsessive but I have been waiting for your trip report lolol.

It sounds like it was amazing. Thanks for sharing!

How were the busses at Poly?

[sent]

I'm still reading this but my cursory research this morning led me to conclude that I don't need Genie + for Animal Kingdom and that I don't need to do an early rope drop there either. I switched the morning I had scheduled for AK to MK. Seems like the only unique things my kids will appreciate are the safari, the various walks to see the Gorillas etc. and maybe some of the themed shows. DS would probably love the Triceratops Spin and the sand box area but I don't have to let him know it exists since that kind of stuff he can experience at cheaper places back home LOL. DD has said she does not want to ride Expedition Everest again. We have never done Kali River Rapids but I can live without riding that either for now, maybe a future trip when DS isn't 4 and impatient.

I'll be back to read more.

[huskymom]

Apr 3, 2022 10:28:02 GMT -5 sent said:

I'm still reading this but my cursory research this morning led me to conclude that I don't need Genie + for Animal Kingdom and that I don't need to do an early rope drop there either. I switched the morning I had scheduled for AK to MK. Seems like the only unique things my kids will appreciate are the safari, the various walks to see the Gorillas etc. and maybe some of the themed shows. DS would probably love the Triceratops Spin and the sand box area but I don't have to let him know it exists since that kind of stuff he can experience at cheaper places back home LOL. DD has said she does not want to ride Expedition Everest again. We have never done Kali River Rapids but I can live without riding that either for now, maybe a future trip when DS isn't 4 and impatient.

I'll be back to read more.

Everest is my kids favorite ride and we are so bummed it’s still closed! I heard maybe May 1 reopening? Not sure when you are going. I think we will still do a morning there but not rush for rope drop (especially as it opens for resort guests at SEVEN AM next week) but make a genie + for Safari, buy the ILL for FOP and head over depending on the timing of those? I added Genie to all our days when I bought the tix so we already have it.

[meganew]

Apr 3, 2022 7:52:35 GMT -5 eddy said:

Not to sound obsessive but I have been waiting for your trip report lolol.

It sounds like it was amazing. Thanks for sharing!

How were the busses at Poly?

Haha I feel the same way when I read other people’s summaries!

It really was an amazing time- it was the closest to normal I’ve felt in 2 years. Even with the crowds and the heat and the new fast pass system, it still felt magical.

As for the busses, we wound up driving to HS and AK- H wanted to be able to leave right away if his foot started getting really painful, but it never looked like the bus line was insane at the Poly.

[nicolewi]

Sounds so great! Thanks for sharing.

[mrsann]

Thank you for sharing! We are staying at Polynesian end of July (first trip as an adult, traveling with 2, 4 turning 5 while there, and 7 year old) so happy to hear you enjoyed resort. We have a villa with Murphy bed so also recently renovated. Our drive is 6.5 hours so planning to do most of the drive the day before so we are ready for Magic Kingdom our first full day. This was so helpful!

[hw77]

Going to Poly next week. Happy to read your summary of heading back to hotel for swim and dinner and then back to parks. I currently dont have ohana reservations as I keep hearing mixed reviews (although have nothing to compare to as I've never been) but I'm guessing my kids will just want to swim and not do a sit down dinner. With earlier park hours next week I'm not even sure I'll invest the time for a sit down breakfast either....

[sent]

I finally finished reading your report. That was a good use of the Genie plus and the LLs! I haven't purchased either so far and will likely not. I slightly even regret purchasing park hoppers for my husband and DS (age 4) because DS is a bear to push out of the hotel and over to a park. He's living his best vacation life in the pool. I guess the hoppers do give us flexibility since we've been changing our dining plans around by the day and it helps we can hop to whatever park after 2.