WL/Polynesian Trip Report days 5,6,7&8

Dates: WL 6/28-26
Polynesian 7/3-7/6

Who: Me (40!!), my sister (40-something), and my son (16)

Day 5 - Sunday, June 26

We leave WL (first time we have seen our car since Wednesday!) and head
to downtown Disney. We ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich (I love this
place!) and bought 2 karate Mickey's for my niece & nephew who are
taking karate, and the Disney coaster game for my son. We then head to
St. Augustine for a week long, condo on the ocean, trip. It was
great...and this is where it rained almost every day for a few hours.
This is the first time I wasn't sad leaving Disney, I knew we'd be
back again in a week!

Fast forward to Sunday, July 3 - Day "6" of our Disney vacation
We leave St. Augustine around 1 pm and head to Disney once again.
There was a race at Daytona the night before, so there was a lot of
traffic heading north on 95. Luckily, we were heading south, so it
wasn't too bad. I fell asleep from Daytona to Orlando, so I have no
idea how the traffic was, but was very happy to feel like it took only
minutes to get to Orlando! Got the same feeling passing under the
purple Disney sign! Turn the corner into the Polynsian..and, we're
home. The Polynesian is our favorite, no resort or hotel has ever come
close to it. We're willing to pay the extra money here! We know
this resort like the back of our hands, and just parked the car and
left our luggage in it and checked in. We got exactly what I had faxed
in, non-smoking, bottom floor in Tokelau, closest to the lagoon; room
1910. It's the room either my parents or brother had a few years
ago, with a great view of the beach, lagoon, monorail, GF and castle
(if you step outside).

We got our bags and only unpacked a bit since we were only here for 3
days. We head over to Captain Cook's for supper (another tradition)
and did not get the refillable cups here (we have 3 sets of these!).
We then hop on the monorail for our ride over to the TTC, then over to
Epcot. Innovations, of course, was closed, and everything else had
too long of a wait, so we headed to the World Showcase since we
didn't have time to do it on our first round. For some reason, we
always begin at Canada. We got there just in time to see Off Kilter
for the first time. It was a great show! My son now wants to get
their CD (which we didn't go and get when we could of). It was very
hot this evening, just standing there you had sweat rolling off of you.
So, we continued on, stopping at each country to take a peek at their
stores, which my son wanted to do. We got to America, and there was a
show going on, so we stopped and sat down to watch. Then American Vybe
came on, and we left...I just don't care for their music that much.
We had missed the last American Adventure show, but we had seen it last
year, so it was ok. We continued on as they were getting ready for
Illuminations. Something we have seen before, and don't mind
missing. The torches were all lit, and people were getting to their
spots. We just kept plugging along. We figured if we could hurry, we
could get on the monorail before the rest of the world did! And we
made it, luckily, and could see the MK's Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks
on the ride. I now wish we had watched them on the beach at the
Polynesian since it was the same show they had for the 4th. We got off
at the TTC and walked back to the Polynesian. If I remember correctly,
we ran over to the Cermonial house and got a late night
snack...cupcakes and cookies :) Took them back to our room and ate
them, then went to bed. (Nope, we don't do this at home! This IS
vacation!)

Day "7" - Monday, July 4
We were here last year on this day, and know how crowded it is at the
MK on this day! But, as luck would have it, this was the only time we
could make it. So, we planned ahead. We made lunch reservations at
Tony's for 2:45 pm, a place we had never been to before. We ate
breakfast at the Kona Café (VERY good!) and spent the morning swimming
in the quiet pool. One thing I hate is when people go and claim a
chair, then leave. There were no chairs available for most of our 2
hours there, and we know that the people who put their towel on the
chair were no longer there. We finally got some chairs to sit on, and
enjoyed our time there. We headed back to our room to get ready for
Tony's and arrived on the monorail in plenty of time...only to stay
stopped at the Polynesian for 15-20 minutes. I really don't know
what happened, but the woman at the podium had run inside...the driver
of had gotten out and was standing in our car, trying to figure out
what was happening...the woman came out, went back in, the old driver
got on the radio at the podium, came back into our car. Time is
ticking away...we wouldn't have minded too much if we didn't have
the reservations, but this was getting to be a bit much! Then, a cm
came out and got in the drivers car and we took off. Obviously,
someone was late for work, and instead of just working late and keep
the monorail moving, they held up the entire system 15-20 minutes.

We finally arrive at the MK and head to Tony's. Some interesting
people here....which I won't go into detail! We wait around 20-30
minutes, and are seated. My son gets the salmon, and my sister and I
had to get the spaghetti and meatballs :) And we even got dessert, no
matter how stuffed we were! It was a nice restaurant, and there were
only a few people left when we finished. We headed out, and yes, it
was hot, but not as hot as last year on this same day. We head over to
the Main Street Fire Dept., never really looked at this store before!
My son is a fire explorer, and was excited to see all the fire dept.
merchandise. He even found our city's patch on the wall, an old one,
but it's there!

We then walked up through the stores along Main Street just taking our
time. Rode the transit authority, had another dole whip :), rode
Pirates again, where the line was a little longer, but still not that
bad. Just basically walked around that afternoon and stopped in the
arcade for a bit, and watched Cinderellabration. In the evening, we
headed back to the Polynesian, and rested. Ate supper at Captain
Cook's, then headed out to watch the fireworks from the beach...along
with everyone else in the world! I taped them on my digital camera,
and it was a wonderful show, even without the music. Last year we were
right behind the castle with the ashes falling on us, this year we got
the whole view. Both times were great!

Day 8 - Tuesday, July 5
Today we decided to head over to Typhoon Lagoon, we haven't been
there in about 8 years. Heat index to be around 110...thunderstorms in
the afternoon. We get a late start, and arrive around 11. We
immediately hop in the lazy river, which was wall to wall people.
Head to the wave pool, and again, wall to wall people. On one wave, I
was lifted over a small child, which scared the heck out of me, so I
moved in closer to "shore". We did 2 of the slides, then headed
over to Slush n' Gusher. Just in case, I didn't want to eat
before... The wait was only 15- 20 minutes...and when I got the tube,
I asked the CM if one of the slides were "tamer" than the others (I
couldn't remember what this list had said!). The CM had no clue, he
had just started working there the day before. So, we chose the
Pineapple Plunger. Awesome ride! The only thing is that I kept
forgetting to lift my *** up and kept hitting the rollers! We then
opted to get something to eat (I think it was called Tilly's), my
sister was close to having heat exhaustion. The counter service, which
I would have assumed be fast, was extremely slow!!! It took 30-40
minutes after ordering to get the food! I had my sister find a table
in the shade to try to cool off..she was just about ready to pass out.
After lunch, we just went back to the wave pool for a bit, then decided
to head back to the room. She wasn't feeling better, and it was just
too crowded. I would have gone in the afternoon if they hadn't
predicted the thunderstorms, but of course, it never rained that
evening.

Day 9 - Wed., July 6
Our going home day :( This was the sad day...we packed up and loaded
up the car. We sat around the lobby for a bit, soaking in all we
could, then headed out. I tossed in the pennies for
everyone...MickeyC, Denise, Sandi...and of course, ME! So hopefully
we'll all be able to return there soon! We headed back to downtown
Disney, ate at Earl of Sandwich again. Just walked around for a bit,
then headed to the airport. This was the first time we had to return
the rental car at the airport. Last year we had returned it at the
Dolphin and took Tiffany's at the end of our stay. So, needless to
say, we were all set at 2:30 for a 6:30 flight! Oh, well, we were
taking Southwest, so we definitely got the A section!

Uneventful flight home...home, 60 degrees and drizzling. Yuck. My
sister ended up getting bronchitis, and my son tonsillitis. Did they
get it from the biometric scanner? I don't think so. My son was
exposed to strep throat before he left, and my sister always gets
bronchitis. But, I guess they *could* have caught it at Disney!

I also got a bunch of polls sent to me...one from the WL, one from the
Polynesian, one I got when I entered the MK (they asked if they could
email me one), and then another one after I had filled all those out :)
I didn't mind doing them at all! They were all about my trip and the
resorts..tickets, extra hours, etc.

Now, re-reading my trip report, I want to go back! What is this hold
they have on us?? :)

Sue in NH (which I forgot to "sign" in my last 3 posts, duh!)

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