Trip Report- Polynesian and DW Nov 2-7

[eddy]

We just got back from our trip yesterday. It was a perfect trip. It really exceeded my expectations. So while I am riding the high I thought i would share our trip report. I love to plan trips and Disney is a great trip to dig in and do a ton of planning.

Background- H and I and our two boys, age 15 and 10. This is our 2nd time at Disney. We went in 2018 and thought our oldest was the perfect age so we decided to visit again when our youngest was 10. 

Some of you might have saw my previous post on this board. We switched from CBR to Poly by renting DVC points privately. It went really well and Poly was ever bit of the goal resort I imagined. The location and ambiance can't be beat. Each day I just breathed in the fresh smells from all of the tropical plants as we walked to our room. I loved taking the monorail. The pool and amenities were great. Watching fireworks from the beach area was magical. 

Day 1
We got in around 2:30 and used Tiffany Towncar for private transportation. Arrived by 4 pm. Got food from the quick service and swam in the pool. It started to rain so we went and rested in the room with intention of heading over to MK at some point. They had extended hours for deluxe guests and the park was open until midnight. This was our bonus day so I didn't purchase genie +. I did purchase it the rest of the trip. Went into the park around 8 pm as the rain let up. We legit walked onto pirates, big thunder mountain, splash and waited 20 minutes at haunted mansion. Then we did small world and Buzz. We couldn't believe our luck. We decided to head home around 10:30 as we were exhausted and had an early morning. It really set the stage for the trip. We felt like we had hit the jackpot that night.

Day 2
HS
In the exhaustion of the night before we decided to purchase an ILL for Rise as this was our goal ride of the trip instead of feeling like we needed to rush . That took the edge off a big from feeling like we needed to be out of our room at 7 am. I grabbed our first genie for slinky dog. We walked into the park at EE at 8 am and it felt quiet. We slowly walked through the star wars area and had our photo taken. We went over to toy story land and road toy story mania. Then our Rise ILL was at 8:30. I scanned on first. The guys were confused as the night before during extended nights only one person had to scan in so they just followed behind me. We road the ride (amazing) and realized we still had 3 ILLs left. Since Disney got around 8K of our money for this trip and it was an innocent mistake the guys went through and rode again. We didn't feel too guilty for taking advantage of the mistake.  It was a highlight of the trip once again. We rode slinky (so cute) and then just walked around the two lands. We had a reservation for Oga Cantina at 10:25. It was really fun, but spendy of course. I got a genie for Mickey Railway, which was also really great. Grabbed some lunch and headed back to the resort around 11:30. 

We purchased hoppers so went to Epcot to eat around the world that night after pool time. We didn't really eat at food and wine booths because they were so busy. I got another genie for Frozen and we road that on our way home. Really great night. The kids loved trying new food.

[eddy]

Day 3
MK
I got my first genie for splash as we love it so much. I should mention my husband and oldest are prone to motion sickness so there are somethings we just skip. So you will probably see we didn't hit up some popular rides and that is by choice. We were going to rush to Minetrain but were a little slow out of the room. We decided although it is really cute, it wasn't worth rushing over as it always gets busy quickly. It also wasn't worth an ILL purchase. So we skipped. Instead we leisurely walked into MK and took it all in. Road Buzz twice and then headed to the back of the park. Started on Big Thunder again. Saw that Splash had a 5 minute wait and hopped on there even though we had a genie in an hour. Headed over to pirates again. Road Splash again and decided that was enough for the morning. We were really tired with how hard we had hit it the past two days. Also it was food and wine race weekend and parks were more busy. Headed back to Poly to rest, swim and eat lunch.

That evening we headed into Epcot a little later in the evening. I had been watching ride times and knew it was really busy so we didn't rush over there. I got a genie for Soarin, which is one of our absolute favs. Then road the big ball ride (forgot ride) and living on the land. Epcot was a ZOO. It was a Friday night and just miserable to walk around the world. We did some shopping and then had our first sit down dining reservation for the trip, Teppan Edo. LOVED it. Quality of the food was great. Hibachi was fun. Huge hit with our family. We headed home in a much lighter crowd after that as the park had officially closed.

[eddy]

Day 4
AK
EE was at 7:30. I was so bodily exhausted but DS2 really wanted to do Flight of Passage. The other two planned to skip due to motion sickness. So we drug our butts out of bed and headed over. It was a 30 minute wait to get on even though we got there at park start. The food and wine races caused a lot of roads to be shut down so the bus ride over was much slower than anticipated. Road that and enjoyed it per usual. The other two had arrived at the park so we road Mt Everest. Really loved this coaster. Then we headed over to Dinosaur, which only DS2 likes. The rest of us think it is unnecessarily rough without much else to offer. By this time I am mentally done lol. I had a genie for Safari so we went on that and of course loved it. Walked around to look at the other animal trails. By 11 am we left. The park was packed and hot. This was the only time we all had our own little mental breakdown at the same time lol. We went back to the resort and all took an hour long nap after some necessary food. I hadn't been sleeping well so by this point I am really feeling the unrelenting pace we had been keeping up. We were walking 10 miles a day, which even though I am in really good shape it was wearing on me.

That evening the guys had a reservation for Savi workshop to make the lightsabers at HS. I hung back an hour behind them. I drank wine in the room and that just really reset my attitude lol. I joined them in time for our genie to go on Tower of Terror. Then we went to SciFi for dinner, which is always a fave. We headed home after dinner. At this point, we really were starting to slow down as we had accomplished everything on our list for the most park. Now we started to focus on just taking it all in.

[eddy]

Day 5
Last day in parks
The night before we talked about priorities for this day. We really wanted to maximize our time at our resort and have a more relaxed day.
The morning was epcot. We still got there for EE, but didn't rush out the door. Went to Soarin and road right away. Everyone clapped at the end. I love how much people just love this ride. Our genie was for Test Track. It was fine. The boys loved it. Grabbed another genie for Soarin. Went to Club Cool and did some shopping. Had a quick early lunch and out of the park by 11 am. Had an amazing relaxing day at the pool.

Went to MK around 4 pm. DS2 and I genied on Space Mountain. The other two went on Splash again. DS2 and I went to the Monsters Inc show. We did some shopping, but everyone was very clearly done with parks. We had a reservation at Grand Floridian Cafe so walked over there. The food was good but the ambiance sucked. It felt like we were in a cafeteria. It was so loud. Kids were screaming all over the place. I think my annoyance was more with just being at the end of the trip. Went back to the resort to swim and watch the fireworks. THey pipe in the music from MK to Poly and it was really magical.

[eddy]

The next day was our trip back. We ate at Kona Cafe for breakfast and swam before we had to leave.

My general thoughts-
Loved Genie+. With EE and genie we really felt like we gamed the system. We waited in minimal lines. That partially is because we also skipped some popular stuff, but I think it works really well. I hate paying for it though lol.

EE is a must IMO. The first hour of the day was pretty great in each park. You felt like you could take stuff in. Plus easy to walk onto at least 1-2 rides with minimal wait.

I loved going in November. The weather was great. Warm but not unbearable.

Last time we went when DS2 was 5. This was a much more relaxed trip with older kids lol. They both could hang and didn't complain. But the magic was still there.

The Disney bubble is real. Customer Service is so great at Disney. It really felt like an escape. Just little things really added up. It also felt nice to escape from the real world.

Also Disney is so fuckin expensive. I am so happy with this trip, but we don't plan to return for at least a couple years. So many other places we want to visit. This trip really scratched an itch. I don't feel like I have unfinished business. We had a wonderful experience. I was also really ready to leave. ha

I will probably always want to stay at Poly in the future. It was lovely.

[meganew]

I am going to go back and read every post you made- but I needed to take a second first to just exclaim….

Your oldest is what??? 15??? ::faints from old::

[meganew]

Sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip! And I agree on the Poly, it’s my favorite place at Disney- it’s ruined staying anywhere else for me. Lol.

[eddy]

Nov 8, 2022 18:37:37 GMT -5 meganew said:

I am going to go back and read every post you made- but I needed to take a second first to just exclaim….

Your oldest is what??? 15??? ::faints from old::

I know! I didn’t give him permission to get this old.  I mean I am still so young lol. 

[zarapipe]

Thanks for sharing!

[nicolewi]

Loved the report! Sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.

[egishere]

Great report! Sounds like you saw a lot while still getting some relaxation in too! I don't know how some people stay at the parks open to close but my family definitely cannot do that- we need rest.

[midwestmama]

So glad to hear it was a great trip and you loved Poly! Poly really is a wonderful resort, and my favorite of all the ones we stayed at (besides Poly: Coronado, CBR, OKW, and Contemporary).