Hakuna Matata Family Trip Day 1-2
Dad, Mom, 3 Boys ages 15, 13, 11
Split stay- BLT for 1st night, Poly studio for 1 week and Grand Floridian Studio for week 2
We left home at 3am and drove straight through to Bay Lake Tower for a one night stay stopping only for breakfast, lunch, and gas. There was no traffic until we hit Florida. After 16 hours we arrived. We grabbed dinner at Contempo Cafe and watched Happily Ever After from our balcony. A magical start to our trip.
We woke up after a great night’s sleep. We drove to the Poly to check in. We were helped by David who was great! Our room was not ready but he assured us that it was a great room. We went upstairs to Kona for our ADR at 9am. We checked in at 8:40 and were seated right away. Pressed pot coffee, Tonga toast for some, omelets for others. After breakfast, we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I loved the security at the hotel before boarding the monorail. When we got to the Magic Kingdom we tapped our bands and started the fun.
We headed to Haunted Mansion. It was listed at 25 minutes but the wait was really under 10 minutes. After a picture in front of the mansion (the hearst was missing - cast member said being repaired), we caught the start of Great Moments in History. It was the Declaration of Independence version which I loved. We went over to Pirates next. It was practically walk on even though it was listed at 15 minutes. Next we waited for Jungle Cruise (about a 30 minute wait). Our skipper, Courtney, was very interactive and had some jokes we had not heard - the baby elephants were bathing under a full moon. Unfortunately, our party was the only one laughing and I laughed harder because I felt bad for our skipper. Next we waited for Tiki’s. The show is growing on me. I still miss Yago.
We were not having dinner until late (Luau 8:15 show), so we split two burgers and nachos at Peco’s Bill. After refueling, we headed into Country Bears which was starting as we got there. There was some delay in starting and the cast member Jules told great jokes and generally was entertaining. The show started and we had a great time. When it was over, people were slow to exit and we realized that it was raining hard outside. We hung back because they weren’t making us leave. We stayed for the next show and Jules told more jokes as the new guests got settled. While we were in Country Bears, we got notification that our room was ready. We were given 3015 which was the first room we had stayed in for one night and the reason we bought Poly DVC points. It was raining a little when we finally left so we headed down to Splash to use our fast pass before it closed due to the approaching storm. It was too late - Splash was closed. We got a general fast pass that could be used for almost any attraction. We headed to the Frontier Shooting Gallery and had a lot of fun. After a quick discussion, we headed to Space Mountain to use our modified Splash fast pass. We went to the right and there was little wait. When we were finished, we decided to use our 2pm Big Thunder Mountain fast pass to ride Space Mountain a second time because that was still closed too. After that, we rode Space with our original fastpass at about 3:05.
As we were walking out to grab the boat back to the Poly, we watched the Festival of Fantasy parade which memorized all of us. We just missed the boat but that gave us the opportunity to speak with one of the security cast members working on the dock. They screen guests as they get off the boats. She was quite friendly and the time passed quickly. Our boat arrived and we headed home. We unpacked the car and got our groceries and electronics that we had checked from bell services. We went for a quick swim and then got ready for the Luau.
After checking in in the lobby, we had our picture taken in front of the lobby statue. We headed to the Luau. The meal was delicious and the show was entertaining. Our server didn’t mind bringing my middle son lots of pizza and corn dogs (he is really picky and didn’t care for any of the food offered to adults). The fire dancer was the highlight and we left smiling and happy. A short walk back to our room. We called for a 6am wake up call to be ready for Extra Magic Hours at DHS in the morning. All in all, a day that didn’t go as planned but magical and memorable!
