Pre-Vacation
Following our fantastic two visits to the Walt Disney World Resort, we were excited to visit the resort at our earliest convenience. During my deployment in early 2018, I decided we would make another visit on my return and this time during the Holiday season. Having visited already during Halloween and in February, the Holidays were the logical choice.
Overseas, I emailed my vacation planner and she was able to secure a Club Level reservation at the Polynesian Village Resort (henceforth referred to as the Poly). We decided to visit November 29 – December 2, 2018. Through research, I learned the week after Thanksgiving is not busy and we decided these dates worked with our schedules. I booked the room in March 2018, allowing us plenty of time to plan our days, gather plane tickets and save money!
For flights, we selected a red eye flight out of LAX on Delta the night before. The plane was due to depart around 9PM and land just before 5:30AM. It’s tough to just go straight in the parks on little sleep, but it allows us a full day upon arrival. Thankfully, there is coffee and our strong mindset to keep grinding. Our return flight left around 8PM on JetBlue with an arrival time before 11PM back in LA. Again, another long day but worth it financially.
Our trip was also eligible for the Club Level Fast Pass+ service. At the time we booked our hotel, the service allowed us to book six Fast Pass+ reservations per day for $50/day per person 90 days in advance (over the usual 60 days). When the program was released, it also allowed for a reservation at a night time show, but this was no longer an option when we booked. I was told multiple times it is a pilot program and it is eligible to change without notice. But, six fast passes per day 90 days in advance was too tempting to pass and we did use it. Having never been to the World of Pandora or Toy Story Land, I decided it would make our trip more convenient and as we hate lines, more enjoyable.
Additionally, we booked a room in the Honeymoon Suite. The suite is located in the Tonga building of the resort. All rooms within the Tonga building are suites and all rooms have access to the Club Level Lounge in the Hawaii building. However, these rooms also have access to free room service (menu to the right). Unlike the lounge which offers more of a continental breakfast, the room service menu included full breakfast options. Plus, for evening apps, the service ran until 10PM, instead of the usual 7PM. I’ll discuss more during the report, but man, was it awesome.
Day One: An EPCOT Spectacular
After battling LA traffic, we arrived at LAX two hours before our red eye flight. We found a restaurant to hang out around our departing gate until it was time to board. Eventually, the plane took off and were on our way to the resort. Stella and I tried to get some sleep, but ended up watching a couple of movies and taking a few naps. Before we knew it, we arrived in Orlando.
We quickly exited the aircraft and made our way to Disney’s Magical Express located outside of the main terminals. We arrived around 5:30AM with the area empty. The castmembers checked our magic bands and assigned us a bus. We walked outside to find it nice and cool before boarding. We informed our driver of our stay at the Poly and sat down with one other passenger, who was on her way to Port Orleans.
The driver gave a quick safety speech to the three of us before departing. The bus ride over was quiet and quick with no traffic at 5:30AM in the morning. The informational video played in the background as Stella and I went in and out of sleep, both of us trying to get a couple more minutes of sleep before our long day ahead. The bus driver drove safely and only spoke again when we officially arrived on Disney property. The driver first stopped at Port Orleans. Through the window, I could see the hotel decked out in Christmas and holiday decorations. It looked beautiful in the morning darkness and made me excited to finally see Walt Disney World during Christmas. About ten minutes later, just after 6:10AM, we arrived at the Poly.
We walked into the Poly, our first time in the hotel lobby, and laid eyes on the lobby Christmas tree. The Grand Ceremonial House was decked with other Christmas decorations and looked beautiful. There was a family at the check in counter, so we sat down by the Christmas tree to wait until they were done. As we would be heading to EPCOT, I grabbed a Christmas brochure from the front desk to read as we waited.
When the family finished, I walked up to the desk to check in. The woman at the desk greeted us with an “Aloha” before asking my name. Once she had my information, she gave each of us a Hawaiian Lei and a resort map. And, since we were Club Level guests, she called a Club Level castmember to meet us in the lobby, who would walk us to our room and show us the Club Level lounge.
Again, as it was early, the castmember had just arrived at work and was getting ready for her shift. We waited a couple of minutes before she greeted us. Unfortunately, I forgot her name but she was a wonderful cast member. She greeted us kindly and respectfully and was a great conversationalist. Once she found out we’ve visited most of the Disney parks, she began asking us a lot of questions.
She first led us to the Tonga Suites building, the location of our room, the Honeymoon Suite. She informed us of the small lounge upstairs which had light refreshments throughout the day, in comparison to the larger lounge (the King Kamehameha Lounge) located in the Hawaii building. She showed us the Tonga Suites room service menu, which we could leave on the concierge desk in the building once we had an order ready. From there, she walked us to our room, which was on the first floor on the opposite end of the building. We used our magic bands to open the door and entered.
The first thing I saw was a Christmas tree in the back of the room by the TV. It was a completely unexpected surprise, but as Christmas trees are my favorite Christmas decoration, it blew me away. Knowing we had that in the room made me feel happy and in the holiday spirit. The rest of the room looked beautiful. We had a large room (not a true suite as it was still only one room), huge bed and a bathroom with a jacuzzi!
We spent some time in the room chatting before she ushered us to head over to the Hawaii building to see the main lounge. As Tonga Suites guests, we had access to both the lounge in the Tonga building and at the Hawaii building. The walk to the Hawaii building was quick, just around the pool and probably took five minutes. This building too had Christmas decorations and the lounge had a couple of Christmas trees. By now, it was just after 6:30AM, and the lounge was preparing for its breakfast offerings, which began at 7AM. She showed us around the lounge and how to use the expresso machine. We chatted for another ten or so minutes (learned she was a retiree who sold her business to work for Disney) before departing.
By this point, we felt comfortable and welcomed at the Poly. We grabbed some food (bagels and deli meats) and sat by the window facing out towards Magic Kingdom. The sun was still rising and it was stunning as it rose above the Seven Seas Lagoon and over Cinderella Castle. EPCOT was set to open at 8AM and we planned to head to the monorail around 8AM, as we had six Fast Passes and didn’t feel a need to rush, as we’ve been to EPCOT a lot during our past two trips. We wanted this vacation, as our third time, to be more relaxing and less like we needed to do everything. Plus, we had one stop to make before heading out.
Around 7:45AM, we left the lounge and headed back to the Great Ceremonial House. We went upstairs, and navigated through the mass of children and parents headed to character buffet Ohana. We stopped at the Tambu Lounge, as we wanted to try the famed Lapu Lapu drink. For those who have never heard of it, it is a rum cocktail inside a carved pineapple. At eight in the morning, we were the only two people at the bar, surprisingly. The lone bartender was busy, and I am assuming he was making drinks for Ohana. Once he completed a heavy drink order, he approached us and we placed an order for a Lapu Lapu. A couple of minutes later, our drink was done. After Snap Chat and Instagram got a view of the drink, it was time for us to try!
Once we finished the drink, we headed to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) to board our monorail to EPCOT. The walk from the Great Ceremonial House to the TTC was brisk, taking about eight minutes. Although we had our tickets already, we needed to stop by the ticket counter to pick up the military discounted memory maker. After verifying my military ID and base, we received memory maker for just under $100. We then headed up to the EPCOT platform and waited for our monorail.
The next train arrived twenty minutes later and we boarded. The ride took about ten minutes and although we went through security at the TTC, EPCOT required us to go through it again before entering the park. At the park entrance, we scanned our magic bands and entered.
By this time, it was 9:30AM, and with Test Track Fast Pass set to end at 10AM, we headed straight towards it. We walked by the Christmas decorations in the front, telling each other we would come back later. We arrived at Test Track a few minutes later, scanned our magic bands and headed in. As my favorite ride at EPCOT, it was awesome, especially the ending as we raced around. Our car came in second place and by 10AM, we left, heading towards Spaceship Earth.
We finished our next couple of Fast Pass reservations and headed to lunch at the Biergarten Restaurant, in the German Pavilion. Although we have eaten here before, we booked a reservation to take advantage of the Candlelight Processional occurring later that night. As we had a lunch reservation, we were guaranteed seating for the 6:45PM showing. The lunch was decent and reminded us of our trip to Oktoberfest back in October. The band played Christmas music and we were seated with a large family.
We had about an hour and a half before our next Fast Pass reservation, so we ate quickly (2 plates!) and headed out after grabbing some warm chocolate chip cookies. Before departing, our waiter handed us our Processional vouchers and I made sure to store them in my bag as they would be needed for the show later that night.
We sped through EPCOT and jumped on the monorail back to the ticket center. Fifteen minutes later we were in our room. We both take a shower and cleaned up before deciding to nap. I also dropped by the concierge desk in our building to drop off our room service menu for the evening appetizers. By this point it was around 3:15PM. With our apps scheduled to arrive at 5PM, we turned off the lights and slept.
Right at 5PM, as my alarm was going off, room service was knocking at our door with our food. As the menu stated to expect room service between 5PM – 5:30PM, I was hoping they would arrive closer to 5:30PM to give us some time to clean up. Anyhow, they arrived at 5PM and promptly dropped off our dishes on our suite table and headed out.
For apps (or really dinner as we saw it), we had the Kona Salad, Sticky Wings, Spicy Tuna Rolls and Pot Stickers. Between the two of us, it was plenty of food and saved us the hassle of grabbing dinner elsewhere.
With our Candlelight Processional show at 6:45PM, we left our room by 5:30PM. Rather than wait for the monorail to EPCOT, we opted to call an Uber to take us to the Yacht Club Resort and then walk to American Showcase from there. As we made that walk plenty of times during our first stay at Walt Disney World, we were pretty familiar with it and knew it would be quicker than other transportation options.
Around 6PM our Uber arrived and we headed towards the Yacht Club. Once we arrived at the resort, we booked it to the International Gateway entrance of EPCOT and then towards American Showcase. At 6:35PM we made it to the theatre and presented our vouchers. The theatre was packed but we found two spots in the middle right section offering a pretty good view of the stage. At 6:45PM the show started without delay.
You can find my full review of the Candlelight Processional soon. We enjoyed the show, presented by Beauty and the Beast voice actor Robbie Benson. The show was over around 7:45PM and we had our last Fast Past for Illuminations later that night. However, after thinking about it, we decided to skip it and head back to the Poly. We’ve seen Illuminations before and we were just too tired to wait until the show and then head back to the Poly.
The Magic Kingdom fireworks, Holiday Wishes, would be playing later and we decided to watch them from the Hawaii building. From there, we could sit down, have dessert and a drink, and once the show was over, be right at our resort hotel. We headed to the main entrance of EPCOT, hopped on the monorail and took it to the transportation center. We made it to the lounge by 9PM, plenty of time for the 10PM show.
In the meantime, we played Super Mario Party on my Nintendo Switch and enjoyed plenty of cookies and some beer. We also had a table right in front, offering a perfect view of Cinderella Castle across the Seven Seas Lagoon. At 10PM, the lights went off and the fireworks began, with the music piped in to the lounge. It was an excellent end to an excellent (and long) day. As we would be viewing the show in front of Cinderella Castle the next night during the Christmas Party, it offered a great preview of what to expect.
Once the show was over, we finished our cookies and headed to our room. I dropped off our breakfast menu for room service on the concierge desk and we got ready for bed. It would be another early morning, so I set a Disney wake up call for 6AM so Stella could put on her makeup. As I don’t wear makeup, I set my phone for 6:45AM, so I could shave before our meal time of 7AM. Tomorrow would be a full day at Magic Kingdom!
Day Two: Finding Magic at the Magic Kingdom
At 6AM, the phone went off with a wake-up call from Baymax. I rolled over to tell Stella so she could get ready. I still had 45 minutes of precious sleep. At 6:45AM, I woke up and got ready and was done within ten minutes. I made a cup of coffee and sat down by our Christmas tree as I waited for breakfast. Just after 7AM, we received a knock on our door.
It was breakfast, and I was starving! This morning we had the following: Aloha Eggs, the world-famous Tonga Toast, fruit plate and a pot of coffee. It was excellent and much better than the bagels and other continental offerings usually offered at Disney Club Level lounges. By 7:25AM, we finished our breakfast and got ready to leave for Magic Kingdom. We stopped by the concierge desk to drop off our menu for the evening apps and headed to the Tonga Suite lounge to grab some juice. By 7:45AM, we were in place at the Monorail to take us to the Magic Kingdom!
We entered the Magic Kingdom after 8AM and had a full day ahead with Fast Pass reservations. When we were not lined up for an attraction, we visited the different sections of the park to view their Christmas decorations. And of course, the castle was the best.
Like EPCOT, we sped through our Fast Pass reservations, enjoying our time fighting pirates, traveling through space, and of course, mining diamonds with the Seven Dwarfs. Just before lunch, we watched the world-famous Muppet show in Liberty Square. By far our favorite show at the Magic Kingdom, we could watch the show on an endless loop. Once the show ended, we walked over to the Columbia Harbor House for lunch! And I had an excellent tuna fish sandwich!
After lunch, we rode a couple more rides and two classics, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover and Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. We wish these two rides were still at our home park, Disneyland. Once we finished, we took the short monorail ride back to the Poly. As we were well rested, it was time to spend the afternoon at the pool!
The Poly has an excellent pool with a waterslide built into a volcano. Although the waterslide and pool complex are no match for the superior Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, the slide and pool area were still lots of fun. We grabbed some snacks and beer from the lounge to enjoy as we spent time swimming in November.
Once we had our swimming fix, we headed to our room to shower and clean up. Right at 5PM, our evening apps arrived and we chowed down, enjoying our view of the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Christmas tree in the back of our room. It was an excellent way to start the evening of our second day at one of Disney World’s original resort hotels.
Once we were full of food, we walked to the monorail to head to Magic Kingdom for the Christmas party. As Disneyland does not have a Christmas party, this would be our first experience with a Disney parks party during Christmas time. We hopped on the monorail, passed the Grand Floridan Resort and Spa and ended up right outside the Magic Kingdom. Our Magic Bands were scanned and before we knew it, it was time to celebrate Christmas Disney style!
I promise I will have an in-depth review of the Christmas party later. We loved it. As this was our first Disney Christmas Party, it was a brand new experience for both of us. Cinderella Castle blew us away with its light display. The park looked beautiful with its Christmas display, especially along Main Street, USA.
Like the Halloween party, we saw and met rare characters, like Abu (in his green Christmas scarf). We also saw the Country Bears roaming around. There were more party exclusives but we didn’t want to spend all night waiting in line like we did for our first Halloween Party back in 2016.
Instead we spent time collecting cookies and watching the Christmas shows. We also watched the party exclusive parade and fireworks show. Nothing is more magical than standing on Main Street, USA as snow is falling and the castle beams in the background. The fireworks show was awesome and just before midnight, we left the Magic Kingdom. I only wish Disneyland would host a Christmas party!
With an early morning wake up call the next day, we headed back to our room to sleep. As we would be spending the day at Animal Kingdom to FINALLY ride Flight of Passage, we planned to leave the Poly at 7AM for the 8AM opening. As such, we would not be ordering room service and would instead eat at Captain Cooks (open 24/7), the Poly’s counter service restaurant. It also meant we only had one more full day at Walt Disney World. Time sure flies by when your’re having fun.
Day Three: Welcome to Pandora
With four hours of sleep, we woke up bright and early. We put our makeup on quickly, ate breakfast (breakfast burrito) and headed to the bus stop by 7AM. At 7:30AM, we were at the park and running to the entrance of Flight of Passage. Fortunately. Castmembers were urgently ushering all guests towards the Flight of Passage queue. At 8:15AM, we were on the ride and ready to mount our banshee for the very first time.
I left smiling ear to ear. What a ride. I have since ridden Smuggler’s Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Flight of Passage is easily superior. Until Rise of the Resistance opens, Flight of Passage is the best ride in the Disney parks empire (although Journey to the Center of the Earth is a close second at Tokyo DisneySea). Nothing compares to mounting your banshee, performing a nose dive, and then flying around the lush moon of Pandora. The worst part? Knowing the ride will end.
Once we exited the ride, the queue was already over two hours. We headed to the other ride at Pandora, Navi River Journey and rode it. With a 45-minute wait, it wasn’t too bad and we enjoyed it. Once we exited, it was time for our Fast Pass for Flight of Passage. With a queue now at over three hours, we enjoyed walking by everyone and riding a banshee once again!
With our second trip around Pandora completed, we headed out and rode the classic Animal Kingdom attractions, like Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris. With a lunch reservation at 50’s Prime Time Café at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we left just before our reservation and took a bus to Hollywood Studios.
Once in Hollywood Studios, I looked at the former Great Movie Ride with sadness and turned the corner to 50’s Prime Time Café. Themed to a traditional 50’s living room, the lobby area included Christmas trees and TVs from the 1950s. If only to be alive, watching TV with Walt Disney himself on screen advocating Disneyland.
We were seated quickly and met our “Uncle” waiter, who proceeded to give us a hard time as we ordered. It was fun and amusing, especially when Stella started to act like a baby and he hand fed her some food. Trust me, it was golden.
Stella had the fried chicken and I enjoyed the Homestyle meatloaf. It was a great dining experience and reminded me of the Sci Fi and Dine restaurant in terms of a unique dining experience and excellent theming. Although Hollywood Studios is Disney World’s weakest park, it does include some great dining locations.
After lunch, we headed to Toy Story Land to ride the Slinky Dog coaster. With a wait time of over two hours, we quickly boarded with our Fast Pass. The attraction is moderate at best, but offered a great view of the upcoming Star Wars land expansion. I spent most of the ride viewing this area and waiting for the day it would open at Disneyland (and thankfully I’ve been able to experience it). From there, we rode the Rock N Roller Coaster and battled at Toy Story Midway Mania!
Once we finished riding attractions at Hollywood Studios, we departed and headed back to the Poly. We had reservations at the Brown Derby, but decided to cancel as we felt tired and didn’t want to wait around at the park for dinner time. Once we arrived back at the Tonga Suites building, we asked our concierge to cancel the reservations, which he did and for no charge. We instead placed an order for evening apps, like the previous two nights. When given the option to eat free room service, we couldn’t resist.
We explored the resort and killed time before our food arrived. Unlike the past two nights, we could take our time eating, as we planned to visit the main Club Level lounge to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks once again. After we ate, we headed to the lounge, drank and snacked before the start of the fireworks.
The Poly offers an excellent view of the fireworks from its lounge. The lounge faces directly towards Cinderella Castle. When it is time for the fireworks, the Club Level staff dim the lights and the music is piped in. We had an excellent table and could easily see the show, without fighting the crowds on Main Street.
Once the fireworks finished, we grab some more desserts and decided to visit the Grand Floridan to check out its Christmas tree and decorations. However, before leaving, we checked in at Trader Sam’s and were given a 20-minute wait. As the Grand is right next to the Poly, we determined we could make it.
We quickly walked over to the Grand. As we entered the lobby, we could immediately smell the gingerbread from the life size gingerbread house. And there were people in it (look at the photo above to the right!) As we approached the massive Christmas tree, we walked right by Full House star John Stamos and is wife, Caitlin. I read later he was a Candlelight Processional narrator and must have been at the hotel a couple days before the start of his celebrity narration.
We explore the Grand, as it was our first time ever visiting Disney World’s flagship resort hotel. After exploring for about twenty minutes, we received an alert our table was ready at Trader Sam’s. With only a ten-minute guarantee, I sprinted back and told Stella to just meet me inside the bar. I arrived right at the ten-minute mark, huffing and puffing but secured our table nonetheless. Stella arrived 15 minutes later.
As we waited for the fireworks earlier in the evening, we played Mario Party and made a bet the loser would take a shot at Trader Sam’s. As I was the loser (for the first time ever), Stella forced me take a shot of 151 Bacardi Rum. Once we finished our Nautilus, our server brought over the shot. With no choice, I took the shot, felt instant pain, and immediately walked out of the bar and back to our room to die. Thankfully, our room was only two hundred feet from the bar and I fell on the bed as soon as I entered.
After suffering for a few minutes, we both laid down and reflected on our trip. We had a great time and ranked it as our favorite visit to the Walt Disney World Resort. As this was our third visit, we felt we knew the resort well and knew what to finally do and how to do it. Disney World is huge, compared to our home resort, Disneyland. But we now felt like pros and dreamed of our next stay (Aug 2019!). The Poly was an excellent hotel and our favorite so far. But then again, how could we go wrong with free apps! With a day spent at the Magic Kingdom for our final day, we dropped off our breakfast menu and set one more wake up call.
Day Four: Concluding the Magic at the Most Magical Park of All
We awoke early the next morning, sadden the final hours of our trip were upon us. Just like the previous two days, room service arrived promptly on time and served us our last breakfast. With our first Fast Pass at the Magic Kingdom scheduled for just before 11AM, we could take our time eating and then ultimately, packing.
As we ate our eggs, spam and coffee, we stared outside our hotel window, taking in the sights and sounds of the Seven Seas Lagoon and the groups of families passing by. All we could think about was the amount of fun we had on our trip. Four days at Walt Disney World flies by fast.
Once we completed our breakfast, we gathered all our belongings and called Bell Services to collect our luggage. Within ten minutes, our room was empty, expect for the Christmas tree, still glowing in the corner of our room, illuminating itself as a symbol of our trip. Our intentions were to experience the holiday season and that we did.
We said farewell to our room and headed to the concierge desk in the Tonga building. We told the castmember on duty we checked out and they sent the bill to my email. We went upstairs, grabbed some last-minute snacks and drinks for the Tonga lounge and headed towards the monorail station. We planned to arrive back around 3PM, to drink at Trader Sam’s one last time before boarding the Magical Express to the airport.
Like our visits to the other parks throughout the trip, Magic Kingdom wasn’t crazy busy and we were able to move around the park with ease. We took pictures and took as much in of the park decked out for Christmas as we could. Once we rode our three Fast Pass attractions, we headed to the Jungle Cruise themed restaurant, Skipper’s Cantina in Adventureland. I will have an in-depth review of the restaurant at a later date, but we enjoyed it. And I do feel it’s worth a repeat visit in the future. After lunch, we departed the Magic Kingdom for the last time. With tears in our eyes, we said farewell, boarded the monorail and took the train back to the Poly.
Once back at the Poly, we checked in at Trader Sam’s and waited for the bar to open. We had an hour before our scheduled pick up on the Magical Express. We got right in and enjoyed one last Nautilus. I only wish they would bring this drink to Trader Sam’s at Disneyland.
Feeling good after our Nautilus, we paid the check and headed to the front of the resort. I contacted Bell Services and they brought out our luggage just at the Magical Express arrived. I showed the driver my letter, he collected my things and with that, we departed the Poly and Walt Disney World on our way to Orlando International. We were at peace with our trip and looked forward to our next visit to Disney’s flagship resort.
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