[packerbeth]

The idea for this trip began last Christmas, when my siblings and I received money from my Nana's estate. She passed away in February 2007, and on Christmas Eve, my dad gave each of us money that was to be used for something special, not the mortgage or the car payment! My DH immediately said, "Disney World!" Who am I to argue? We were booked right after New Year's Day. My DH chose POR, since it would be the cheapest for our family of 5 plus one under 3. About 6 weeks later, I came to my senses and decided that we should celebrate our 15th anniversary while we were there and upgraded to the Polynesian. Of course, I wouldn't tell the family until we got there. The cast includes me (Beth), DH (Rick), DS12 (Christian), DDs 8, 6 and 2 (Rose, Grace and Kate).

Monday, April 28 - Travel/arrival day

Our flight was due to leave at 7 a.m. from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. When I'd booked the flight, it was supposed to depart at 6:40 a.m. so we had about 20 extra minutes of sleep that morning. Rick had given me an iPod as an early Mother's Day gift, so I'd been up late filling it up with all of my CDs and several TV shows (Eli Stone and Lost), and then when I'd gone to bed, I wasn't able to get to sleep. I mean, who sleeps the night before a Disney trip, anyway? Maybe I got to sleep by 1 a.m. and then at about 2:30, Kate called to me, asking for me to get her out of her bed. Apparently, she couldn't sleep either! I snuggled her back to sleep and then was able to sleep for another hour myself before it was time to get up.

FIL was driving us to the airport and taking our van back with him so we didn't have to pay for parking; what a great guy! He picked us up promptly at 4:15, and I let him in on the resort switch and enlisted his help in keeping the secret from Rick. He said to me, "You sure are full of surprises!" I had put the yellow DME tags on the suitcases after DH had put them in the van the night before, so I told FIL that Rick could not see the suitcases when we arrived at the airport!

We were backing out of the driveway at 4:30, right on schedule. It usually takes us about an hour to get to the airport, but with my lead foot, I think we made it in 45 minutes! FIL and I unloaded the bags while DH got the kids out of the van. I scooted off with the bags to curbside check-in and the bags were gone before DH could see them! Phew! The secret was safe so far!

I had checked us in online the morning before, so now all we had to do was get the six of us through security! Not an easy task, but the kids did well and it didn't take long at all. We didn't have much time to wait before we were boarding! Rick took Christian and Rose, while Kate and Grace sat with me. We passed the time by snacking, reading and watching "Enchanted" on the DVD player (the first and last time it was used during the trip; it stopped working sometime during the week. Looks like Christian is getting a new one for his birthday!)

The kids were very excited about their first "monorail" ride of the trip, and we found the DME counter easily. While it wasn't as empty as it had been last September, there were only a couple of people in line ahead of me. After checking in with a great CM named Terry, I walked to where I had left my family with an anniversary card in my hand.


I handed the card to Rick and asked him to read it out loud. I had written that we were not able to spend our honeymoon at Disney World, but I thought we should celebrate our 15th anniversary there. He has always wanted to take me to Hawaii, so I told him Disney would bring Hawaii to us during our stay at the Polynesian. He seemed very happy about the surprise, and the kids were, too, even though they didn't really understand what it meant. They would soon find out how it was going to be!

We were directed to a waiting area, since they had to call for a bus equipped with a wheelchair lift. I called my brother right away, and we chatted for a few minutes while we waited for our bus to arrive. Our driver was George, and he had a bit of trouble getting the lift to work. He had to call in another CM, and my DH helped them figure it out, as well. The fact that this was one of the only buses we'd be taking all week was looking pretty good to Rick already!

Christian is ready to roll!

The kids loved the video; I think it really helps them to get ready for what they're about to experience. At one point, Kate said, "We're almost there, Walt!"


Of course, my older girls remembered our last trip, but to Kate, this was her first time at Disney World. She was only about 18 months last time, so it was all new to her. You can just see the excitement in her face.



I think you can see the excitement in Rick's face, as well!

We arrived at the Polynesian at 11:36, which was a little later than I'd hoped. We gave our bus driver a tip, and a little thank you card that I had printed out at home. There were several different ones to choose from, and I always gave the girls the job of picking the right one out and handing it to the cast member. They enjoyed doing this, and most of the CMs were really appreciative, once they figured out exactly what it was that they were given! I had really been hoping that our room would be ready, because it would have been great to have a chance to rest and relax a bit before heading to Epcot for our 1:30 ADR at Le Cellier. I was reminded for the first of many times that everything takes longer than you expect it to!







When I checked in, they told me our room would be in Niue, which is close to the lobby, otherwise known at the Great Ceremonial House. I had requested (via my TA) Tokelau, Tahiti or Rapa Nui. These buildings were "newer," they had recently been renovated, their rooms were a bit bigger, and they were closer to the Ticket and Transportation Center, where it is easy to catch the monorail to Epcot. I asked if it were possible to get a room in one of the other buildings, and the CM gladly checked for me. She was able to switch us to a room in Tokelau, but on the third floor instead of the first, which was my other request so we didn't have to deal with elevators. We ended up enjoying the balcony, so it worked out really well.

Since the room wasn't ready, we camped out in the beautiful lobby for a bit. Grace immediately found a hidden Mickey; she loves finding these!


We got Christian out of his chair, and he and Rick relaxed on one of the couches while the girls and I explored for a bit. The pool is right behind the lobby, so I took the girls out for a quick look.

You can watch Wishes from this pool!


There is a slide inside this volcano!

Rick got a refillable mug from the quick service place, I packed a park bag and we all changed into our matching shirts (the first of many!) before heading out for our first real monorail ride of the trip.

Up next, Epcot!

[smee57]

Oh goody! A TR with photos! Don't stop now . . .

[MickeyEars]

Yay! It's finally posted, can't wait to read everything.

[KarenWDWCP]

Ooh, I am loving your TR so far! Your kids are all so adorable! I love the girls totally mesmerized faces on the Magical Express!

[packerbeth]

The first park of our vacation would be Epcot, and we had an ADR for lunch at Le Cellier at 1:30. This is exactly how we began our 2007 family trip: Epcot and Le Cellier! It's beginning to look like a tradition!

We were a little late leaving the Poly, and we took a couple of wrong turns along the pathway to the TTC, but we were on a monorail and heading to Epcot before too long. The girls loved that the monorails came in different colors, and we would always guess which color monorail we would be taking to our destination. Kate fell asleep in her stroller as soon as we got on the monorail. This is what she did almost every afternoon, even on the days when we took a break in the room. She would not sleep during our break; she'd wait until we were headed for a park and sleep for about two hours!


I asked Grace to take a picture of me, and was so pleased and surprised to see that while doing so, she also got a picture of the Magic Kingdom sign!


I had tried to get a photo of the Magic Kingdom sign and ended up with this:


We got to Epcot, went through the bag check, and were off for our long walk to Canada! I had originally planned to grab Soarin' fastpasses, but since we were running late, we headed for the restaurant instead. We would be at Epcot on two other occasions, so we would have plenty of time for Soarin'!

We arrived at Le Cellier about 30 minutes after our ADR, but we only had to wait for a few moments before we were seated. I heard the CM at the door tell someone that they could try to get them into another restaurant, so they must not have been taking any walk-ups at this point. Of course, we had to wake Kate up from her nap, and she was grumpy for most of the meal, unfortunately.

Our server was Stephanie, and we were seated in Saskatchewan. Interestingly enough, the last time our family ate here, our server's name was Stephanie, as well, but it was a different young lady. They were both fabulous and got an extra tip, especially since this one didn't automatically charge us the 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more, since Christian didn't eat and Kate doesn't really "count" in the eyes of Disney. Of course, she got a bigger tip for doing that. We even had her sign the girls' World Showcase passports in the Canada section. She said it made her feel famous!

I love that you can get non-alcoholic frozen drinks at Le Cellier as part of the DDP. Grace and I ordered chocolate shakes, although Kate drank most of mine ; Rick got the mango slushie and Rose got the strawberry slushie. Rick and I both ordered the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - with wild mushroom risotto and white truffle and herb butter sauce, but Rick requested no mushrooms (silly boy!) It was so delicious; I’d never had risotto before, and I really liked it! Grace got the kids’ pasta, which she didn’t like because it had chunky tomatoes, and Rose got the kids’ steak. The kids both got ice cream sundaes for dessert, although Grace’s kids pick meal should have come with fruit instead. (Thanks, Stephanie!) Rick had enjoyed the chocolate whiskey cake on our last trip, so he ordered that, while I went with the maple crème brulee. Apparently it had been taken off the menu, but the outcry was so great that they put it back on! I had actually been hoping for the warm spiced apple crumble, but perhaps this is a seasonal dessert, because it wasn’t on the menu. It was absolutely a delightful way to start our vacation and I think we’ll try to make Le Cellier our very first meal of every trip!


Apparently Kate also enjoyed Daddy's mango slushie!


This was not the only make your own sundae that the girls enjoyed on this trip!

We wandered around Canada for a little while after lunch, waiting for the O Canada movie to start.




The girls could relate to Martin Short only as the guy who played Jack Frost in the third Santa Clause movie. We ran into a Photopass photographer back by the waterfall, and he took photos of all of us, as well as Tinkerbell and Stitch. The girls had their World Showcase passports signed and stamped in the Canadian kidcot pavilion after the movie, and we were on our way!

Next, we headed towards the United Kingdom. We had three things on our mind: Pooh, Alice and Poppins. Well, we hit the jackpot because we were able to visit with all three! On our way to the toy shoppe, the girls started playing around in the UK phone booths. Along came Dan, another PP photographer. He took several pictures of the girls in the booths, and then sitting down by some flowers. Then he asked us where we were going next, and offered to go with us! He took some more photos as we walked along the pathway, and then all of a sudden, we saw Alice! She had quite a line, but before we could even decide whether or not we'd stop, Kate calls out, "Alice! Hi Alice!" Alice turned and waved, and said she'd be right over. Not two minutes later, she left the line of people behind and rushed over to visit with us! Dan was right there, so I didn't take any pictures of the encounter, but it was priceless and precious. She got right down to Christian’s level and talked with him, then left a big lipstick kiss on his forehead! The girls loved meeting her, and it was one of the highlights of our day!

I asked Dan about getting a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background, so we walked toward the bridge. He got a couple of nice family shots, and then suddenly a woman came running up to us, saying that Chip and Dale were right down by the International Gateway! Dan said he couldn’t come with us, so we said goodbye and gave him one of our thank you cards. It was so cool of him to walk along with us and capture some of those magical moments, especially the ones with Alice!

Chip and Dale must have just arrived, because there really wasn't anyone down there waiting to see them. They were fun, as usual, and my fears that Kate would have gotten over her love for big furry characters were unfounded.


She loved to run up, hug them, and then lift up her feet. I have several pictures of her doing that; it was hysterical!


Look closely, and you can see Alice's kiss on Christian's forehead!




Kate really loved the characters' noses, just like last year!

Up next: Poppins and Pooh!

[unamadreditre]

Love the pictures. Christian and the girls are adorable. Your shirts are amazing. I bet you got a lot of comments about them.

[packerbeth]

After our fun with Chip and Dale, we headed back towards the Toy Shoppe, because Dan had said that Pooh & his pals would be there shortly. On the way, we heard the sounds of the British Invasion, which my Beatles fan DH had been looking forward to. As we started heading in that direction, I saw that Mary Poppins was out for a meet & greet, and I about freaked out! I have always loved that movie. I shrieked to DH, “You go find a spot to listen to British Invasion; we’ll meet you there after we meet Poppins!” Well, our character luck continued, because MP’s handler was right there and he saw how excited I was, so he showed us where we should wait for Poppins, essentially putting us at the front of her line! However, as we stood there waiting, a man came up and said, “Excuse me, guys, but you just cut in front of a whole bunch of people!” I told him that MP's handler had told us to stand here, at which point he started arguing with the handler! I left them to it so we could concentrate on Poppins!


I'm not sure what Grace said to Poppins, but apparently she thought it was funny!

As excited as I had been to see Poppins, the interaction with her paled in comparison with the one we had with Alice. She had definitely spoiled us! We checked in with DH and Christian briefly before heading into the Toy Shoppe. They had set themselves up on the curb and were really enjoying the show.


We left them there and went to find Pooh and pals. They arrived shortly after we did, so we didn’t have very long to wait, but it was too long for my littlest Pooh fan! They had a rope across the entrance, and every time they CM opened it up to let the next group through, Kate would try to sneak in! She was not very patient, but hey, she had yet to wait for a character, so I guess I can’t blame her! I do remember a young woman standing right behind me, and I mean right behind me, invading my personal space. I was probably just as glad as Kate was when it was our turn to visit with Pooh! We were very excited to see that Eeyore and Tigger were with him; we’d never met Eeyore before and Tigger is a lot of fun! Dan was right there, again, so I only took a few photos.



Rose liked the characters a lot more this year; last year she was very shy with them. I never would have gotten this picture last year; I'm not sure what changed!



Grace tried to get Tigger to bounce with her.

After saying good-bye to our friends from the 100 Acre Wood, the girls had Disney dollars burning holes in their pockets, so they spent a few minutes looking around. Kate charmed the CM who was working there, so he showed her around a little bit. He would open a door for her to show her what was behind it, and then she would go to the next little door and wait for him to open that one.


I think his name was PJ, but I'm afraid I called him JP when we left.


Up next: "Mine! Mine!"

[packerbeth]

My plan was to only stay in World Showcase long enough to visit Canada and the UK, and then hit Future World. Our next stop would be the tip board to check out the wait time and FP situation for the Big 3 . It had been a while since our Le Cellier lunch, and we were all pretty thirsty, so we stopped to get some frozen lemonades. While it wasn’t terribly hot out, it was warmer than we were used to, so a Frozen Beverage was definitely in order! I wasn’t sure where the tip board was located, so after we stopped to get some Photopass pictures taken, the photographers sent us in the right direction.


What happened next was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. As we were checking out the tip board, I noticed the name of the CM manning the board: Hugh. Well, my dad’s name is Hugh, and my brother’s name is Hugh! Since we very rarely run into anyone else named Hugh, I struck up a conversation with him. He was probably around my dad’s age, and from the East Coast, like my dad. I told him about my brother, and how we were so excited to see him again, since he’d just gotten back from Iraq and we hadn’t seen him for a year. He asked if we were going to take my brother out for dinner, and I told him about our plans to treat them to breakfast on Wednesday morning.

At this point, the girls got involved in the conversation and asked Mr. Hugh if they could trade pins with him. When they were done with their transaction, Mr. Hugh took a pin off of his shirt. It was an American flag pin, shaped like a Mickey head. (They have these for all of the WS countries, and I’ve always loved them!) He handed it to me and said, “Give this to your brother, and tell him thanks for me.” I was so touched, and gave him a big hug and one of our CM thank you cards. What an awesome thing to do! The girls still have their “Mr. Hugh” pins on their lanyards because they refused to trade them. I really wish I’d gotten a picture, but I will remember that moment always!

Because it was so late in the afternoon, there were no Soarin’ FPs left, and the Test Track return time was later than I’d wanted to stay on our first day. The only option was Mission:Space, which Rose had said she wanted to go on with her dad. We picked up FPs with a return time of 6:25, and headed to the Seas with Nemo & Friends. The Nemo ride is one of the only things in Epcot that is wheelchair accessible, so Rick took Christian on, while Rose and Grace rode together and Kate went with me. It always takes a while to get on this ride, because apparently there is only one accessible clam-mobile, so we have to wait for it to come around before Christian can board. Our favorite part is at the end, when they sing the song from "Finding Nemo: the Musical." In the biiiiiiiiiig blue world....Afterwards, the girls wanted to get their picture taken in Bruce's mouth. It wasn't very crowded in this area, so we were in and out fairly quickly.


Rose is acting like she's actually being eaten by a shark. Reminds me of Val's daughter.

Kate wanted to get in on the act, too, so after waiting for a big group of kids whose parents wanted them each to be in their own photo, we had her picture taken, too. Of course, she wasn't tall enough to stand by herself, so I had to hold her up, which meant I was in the picture, as well!


Kate loves the seagulls outside of this attraction. We always have to spend a few moments there so she can hear them say, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” Although, for some reason, I didn't take her picture in front of her favorite seagulls!


I had picked up 5 FPs for Mission:Space, because we had 5 tickets, but only Rose had talked about riding it. Imagine my surprise when Grace decided that she wanted to go on it, as well! Christian, Kate and I waited while the girls and their dad went off to ride it. I'd gone on it in September, and once was enough for me, thank you very much, so I was happy to have Rick be the one to take them on it. The girls loved Mission:Space, and wanted to try the orange side next time! Since it was getting close to 7 p.m., the time I had wanted to leave the park, we headed for the exit, promising that the girls could return to Mars another day. We gave away our two remaining FPs and headed for the monorail to the TTC.

Up next: the Polynesian!

[packerbeth]

We took the monorail from Epcot to the Ticket & Transportation Center at about 7 p.m. We could have transferred to the resort monorail to go to the Polynesian, but I knew we’d be using the path to the TTC quite a bit, so I wanted to see where it was. We didn’t have any trouble finding our building, since I’d practically memorized the layout of the resort before we arrived! As promised, Tokelau was just a short walk from the TTC and we were cramming ourselves into a very small elevator just a few minutes after leaving the TTC. Our room number was 3935; I had warned the kids ahead of time that I wanted to take photos of the room. Here’s what it looked like:


One of the best features of the Poly for our family of 6 (besides easy access to the MK via monorail!) is the fact that it has a daybed. We opened this bed up on the very first night and left it open all week since we had very little use for the couch. It was an easy one-handed mechanism; pull on the strap and the bed opens right up. I don't think I got a photo of it when it was open, but here it is as a regular couch:



One chair...


And the other chair, plus a little drum table.

Here's a closeup of the girls' bed.


And for those of you who go to WDW to watch tv, here was ours:


We did use it while we were sleeping in/starting late/taking breaks. My kids got to see some of the old Disney cartoons for the first time; they pretty much showed them round the clock.

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the bathroom! It really was quite lovely, as bathrooms go. I did take a photo of the toiletries that we took home, in case you're interested:


I left a $6 tip every day (in cute little Polynesian-themed envelopes, no less) so the mousekeeper left us two sets of toiletries every day. We used one or two sets all week, so we were able to bring the rest home! The smell of the soap will always remind me of our time at Disney World.

[alilmagical32]

What a great TR so far! The Poly is my dream resort!

[DisneyTeacher]

What wonderful first day, I can't imagine it being more perfect.

[packerbeth]

When I talked to my brother earlier in the day, I told him I would call him when we got to the Poly. After taking pictures of our room, I gave him a call; they were on their way back from Downtown Disney. Since they were staying at Shades of Green, which is practically right next door to the Poly, we agreed to meet in the Great Ceremonial House. The last time I saw him was at our baby brother's wedding, back in May 2007. He had returned from Iraq at the end of March 2008, and he been in Georgia with his wife and daughters since that time. I was really looking forward to seeing him again! His wife and girls (2 & almost 5) had spent a lot of time here in Michigan while he had been gone, so we'd seen them quite a bit; not that we weren't happy to see them, too, but we mostly made the trip to Florida during this particular week just to see my brother!

The walk from Tokelau to the GCH didn’t take very long, and we walked into the lobby from the back door while my brother was walking in the main entrance. I was so excited to see him, it didn’t even cross my mind to get our picture taken together! He looked terrific, really happy and rested and relaxed. He brought me a box of chocolates from Ghiradelli, as well as the caffeine-free Pepsi I had requested. What a brother! We spent quite a bit of time hanging out in the lobby while the girls colored and watched TV in the kids’ area. I did manage to get a picture of them:


Kate really enjoyed the coloring activities, although I think she finished up someone else's picture for them.


None of us had had dinner yet, so we said good-bye, promising to meet tomorrow morning at the Magic Kingdom. We went to Captain Cook's to use our first counter service credits. They have touch-screen menus there, which I'd heard were a little tricky, but we didn't have any trouble with them. We took our food back to the room, where we ate it quickly and then settled in for bed. It had been a very long day, but we were so happy to be at Disney World! Of course, I stayed up longer than everyone else so I could get things unpacked a little. A mom's job is never done...

Memories of our journey:

The weather was drizzly and dreary when we left and beautiful when we arrived.
The best thing about our journey was curbside check-in and printing boarding passes ahead of time equals no waiting at the airport!
The worst thing about our journey was the trouble with the lift on the DME bus.
The funniest thing about our journey was when Kate said, "We're almost there, Walt!" while watching the DME video.

Memories of our room:

The first impression of our room was that it was big!
The amenities were a safe, toiletries, coffee maker, room service, queen beds, day bed, flat-screen TV, three chairs, two desks and a table.
We tried a garden view room and the result was the view was lovely; the landscaping was beautiful.
The most magical moment was seeing a room in person after seeing them online before the trip.

Memories of our first day:

The weather today was beautiful and warm.
The best thing today was our time in the UK & Canada in the World Showcase.
The worst thing today was having to miss Soarin' and Test Track.
The funniest thing today was Alice kissing Christian on the forehead.
Today we tried Mission:Space and the result was the girls loved the green side and wanted to try the orange.
The most magical moment today was meeting Mr. Hugh, having our own photopass photographer and when Alice left her queue to spend time with our family!

Up next: breakfast with royalty!

[dixie]

Fantastic TR and superb photos- oh your little one with the characters- reminded me so much of DD at that age- priceless and magical- thanks for the memories I really enjoyed the read.

[lovemysons]

Oh what a wonderful start Beth. As usual, I just love the photos of the children with the characters. They always bring a smile to my face.

[disneyholic1969]

Wow! Thank you for the report so far! Brought tears to my eyes. Your family is just beautiful, cant wait to read more.
Michelle