Looks Like the POLY is Our Laughin' Place! - An Aug 2017 PTR - COMPELTE, TR LINK POSTED

[Newsies]

I literally read that gif in Bianca's voice. #dragracetrash And I literally sass everyone out. I sassed out a fellow Pan stan when she cashed me out at the DisneyStore and didn't realize it. Soooo... VHS notebook with a cherry on top, PWEASE?!?!

IDK, I've been a fan since they first made the channel (when Keith was the fifth Thingamavlog then all that drama over why he left), but I really only watch it in spurts nowadays. Patrick is the reason I got the Peter Pan beanies. He's BAAEEE (his Spiderman photoshoot still has me SHOOOOOQQQQQ). Sarah's my favorite tho because I relate to her the most and her and Leo are my life goals.

I just let out THE UGLIEST SNORT laughing about all of the drama with Keith. CRYYYYYING. Twitter was AMAZING that whole week. When he put a deadlock on their channel and took his sweet time giving them the account back... #iconic.

I think Patrick and Sarah are tied for my favorites. Patrick is bae but Sarah has that natural coolness to her that I aspire to achieve.

 

[Newsies]

Our Travel Plans
53 Days Out
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My family has always driven down to Florida. Always. My mom just will not get on a plane! In some ways, that stinks. I would love to wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in NJ, hop on a plane with my family, and be on the Magical Express en route to our hotel about 5 hours after we woke up! But in some ways, it rocks. Because at the end of the day, I do love road tripping. I think the drive down is so exciting and fun.

My last day of camp is July 28. Once I get off of work, our furbaby Roxie will go off to Best Friends.

And as I was typing that sentence, I realized that I didn't introduce Roxie to this PTR yet. Oops. This is she! A 4-year-old Chow Chow who gets into too much trouble and barks too much.

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After Roxie goes to Best Friends, Mom, Grace, and I have a nail/eyebrow appointment that afternoon. We'll get dinner that evening and pack up the car before my parents (and probably Grace) go to sleep for a little bit.
I'll be up partying tho.

At 1:00 AM on July 29th, we leave our house! Our first order of business is a stop at the 24/7 Dunkin' close to us, and then we're on the road in my dad's roomy new truck!

We travel to Disney via the I-95 like many, many others. We live about an hour away from the I-95 and have to take the back roads to get to the right exits, but once we're there, it's a straight shot down.

It'll be breakfast time by the time we reach Virginia, so we'll stop somewhere before continuing our drive. With several stops for gas and bathroom breaks scattered along the way, we'll drive for about 12 more hours.

By 7:00, we should be reaching Kingsland, Georgia. Mom made a reservation for us to stop at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Kingsland, which is just off of Exit 3. That's where we stop for the evening! We stayed here during our 2014 trip and we really, really enjoyed it. It was clean and the continental breakfast was great!

At 6:00 AM on July 30, our travels continue! The Fairfield Inn is juuuuust 5-10 minutes from the Florida state line. We'll stop at the Florida Welcome Center, as per usual, and then continue the final 3-hour-long leg of the trip. With only one or two bathroom breaks in between us and the Poly...

We'll arrive at Walt Disney World hopefully by noon on July 30!

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-Kaitlyn

 

[PlutosRHM55]

"The name on everyone's lips is gonna be... ROXIE!"

Sorry, had to, but OMG SHE'S PRECIOUS AND SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!!!!

And honestly, I'm jealous your family has no affinity to road-tripping to Florida. Yeah, plane rides are quicker but hella expensive and they limit how much luggage you can bring to-and-fro.

 

[Newsies]

"The name on everyone's lips is gonna be... ROXIE!"

Sorry, had to, but OMG SHE'S PRECIOUS AND SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!!!!

And honestly, I'm jealous your family has no affinity to road-tripping to Florida. Yeah, plane rides are quicker but hella expensive and they limit how much luggage you can bring to-and-fro.

THAT'S WHY I SUGGESTED THE NAME! I wanted a musical theatre related name but they weren't going for "Elphaba" or "Matilda". Whomp-whomp.

You + me = Disney road trip next year?

 

[PlutosRHM55]

You + me = Disney road trip next year?

uhhhh, HECK YEAH!!!

Well...

If Disneyland falls through. No way are we road-tripping to Disneyland.

 

[missangelalexis]

Your travel plans sounds great! I don't know if I could ever do the drive from NJ to Florida haha but I'm sure it is exciting!

 

[Newsies]

uhhhh, HECK YEAH!!!

Well...

If Disneyland falls through. No way are we road-tripping to Disneyland.

Okay, TRUE all of this!

Your travel plans sounds great! I don't know if I could ever do the drive from NJ to Florida haha but I'm sure it is exciting!

It's a bit much for some people, and the drive back is a LOT worse, lol, but we have fun!

 

[Newsies]

Full Arrival Day Plans
50 Days Out
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50 days from today, we'll be arriving at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Which makes today a perfect time to pick up on posting my full day plans for the trip!

*Also, let me know if any of you watch The Middle? I watch it with my mom every night, I know I'm coming to this party so late but I've been relating SO HARD to Sue in this episode lately. That MSEP music in the car... #bigmood
​

So where I left off, we were juuuuust arriving at the Polynesian at noon on July 30.

... Of course, you're not supposed to check-in before 3, which gives us some time!

We're going to drop off our luggage, park the car, and immediately head to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. We'll get our park bags ready that morning before we leave Georgia so that we can just pop up to the Monorail and head to Magic.

First things first, we'll need some lunch! Grace really wants us to head over to Be Our Guest for lunch, but if we can't get in, I wouldn't be opposed to trying the new online ordering system at Cosmic Rays.

I'll try to make 2 or 3 FP+ choices in the car that morning. I don't want to do any serious planning too far in advance! That noon arrival date is obviously still tenative because you never know when you're driving down. Between traffic, bad weather, unexpected sickness, and just unplanned factors in general, you can never bee to sure! Nobody knows that better than our family. Obviously, with same day FP+ selections, we won't get the full scale of choices, buuuuut it is the end of July/beginning of August, so we'll probably have some standards to choose from. I'll be looking out for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Pirates of the Caribbean, and maybe something in Fantasyland like Winnie the Pooh or Dumbo.

One thing I know FOR SURE is that I need to meet Tinker Bell! The family's not going to be into that, because it'll obviously be well into 3 pm by then and let's be real, Maybe once my family has used up all of our FP+ or doesn't want to go on the last one or something, I'll make SDFP or modify one of mine so I can meet her. I'm going to be wearing my Tinker Bell sorority letters, so I need to see her. And take a bunch of pics with me throwing my sorority hand sign in front of the castle.

Obviously by the time all of that is done, we're going to be well into 3 pm. That's when we'll check in!

After we unpack super quick, it's time for a dip in the pool. I don't anticipate having a lot of pool time this year, so we're gonna soak up the sun for a few hours while we can.

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We'll be there for a while... like, a LONG while. Long enough to grab the refillable mug we get on the DP and a Mickey Rice Krispie treat from Captain Cooks.

By 6:00, we'll probably want to start drying off so that we can get ready for our dinner reservation. We'll all want to take a shower and look somewhat decent for our first table service meal of the trip, after all!

That TS meal is, of course, 'Ohana. Our reservation is at 8:15. Happily Ever After is scheduled to begin at 9, so we should be able to view it while we're dining!

After that, we're most likely all going to head back to the hotel and call it a night. There's no Extra Magic Hours in the evening (at least not posted yet), so I might go to Disney Springs and party for a little bit if mom or Grace want to go with me. If not, we're all gonna go to sleep and get ready for our fabulous Magic Kingdom day in the morning!

***​

Those are our first day plans, and now that they're complete I just have to brag about a purchase I made today...

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IT'S SO CUTE!!!

It's a little impractical, but the Kate Spade store at the Jersey Premium Outlets was having a major, major sale. 20% on top of 60%... on top of clearance items!! This bag was $300 when I saw it in the store a while back, but it came to the outlet at $219 already and I bought it for $70. Kate Spade has some really fun bags and clutches and I've been lusting after one for the longest time. I finally own one!!! I think I'll take this to Epcot with me, since there aren't going to be a lot of thrill rides that day...

- Kaitlyn

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[Newsies]

Magic Kingdom Day Plans
48 Days Out
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Our first day in the parks is, obviously Magic Kingdom!

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Even though we'll have been at Magic Kingdom the day before, there's always something exciting about your first morning at Magic Kingdom. The rope dropping, the sunny MK morning, the walking onto your favorite ride and watching your favorite character make their first appearance of the morning... I love it and miss it so much.

So the park opens at 9 and our breakfast reservation isn't until 9:45. I definitely want to catch the new opening show! Any maybe pop into the Main Street USA stores and see what's been added to the shops since January...

I'm excited to be back in the Crystal Palace for breakfast. I have seriously missed this place! I wasn't able to go during my DCP and we weren't able to snag a breakfast reservation back in January, so it's been 2 full years since we last had a "first-morning-at-Disney-breakfast-at-Crystal-Palace"! You can catch me running between the Pooh's Puffed French Toast and Pooh's Breakfast Lasagna.

So once we're finished with CP, we've got a few stops: Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and then Peter Pan's Flight for our 11:20-12:20 FP+. After PPF, we'll probably want to go on Small World. Then I'll try to get them to do Philharmagic. Then, it'll be time to use our 12:20-1:20 FP+ for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Aaaand since we'll be in the area, we'll look at the wait times for Winnie the Pooh.

We're going to want to head to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after that for our 1:45-2:45 FP+. After that, my family is probably going to want to head back to the Poly and come back later on in the evening. It's just what they do! And that will leave me on my own to... CHARACTER HUNT!

So my first strategy is to make a SDFP for Splash Mountain and go on that right after BTMR. Then, head over to Fantasyland to meet some princesses! Namely Ariel, Rapunzel, and Tiana. Then, a SDFP for Space. Or, if I can't get a FP for Space, I'll go for a spin on the PeopleMover and then head back to the resort.

I'll probably grab dinner at Captain Cooks and play it by ear after that. If I get back around 5 and I'm finished eating by 6, there's most likely going to be an hour long nap somewhere in that mix. Then it's back off to Magic Kingdom to finish off the evening!

Things really start to slow down during the evening, especially during the summer time and after the firework show, so I might make another SDFP but I also might just play it by ear. After I'm finished watching Happily Ever After, I'll grab a sweet treat AKA a DOLE WHIP from Adventureland and head that way. I definitely want to go through Splash Mountain again, because it is my favorite and it is better at night. And I'll probably hit up some Fantasyland classics- Dumbo, Under the Sea, and maybe Small World for a second time.

We'll end this ambitious day that I can almost promise you all is going to look nothing like this touring plan with a quick romp through the Main Street USA shops to pick up a souvenir, then head back to the resort for a shower/sleep.

-Kaitlyn

 

[Shanti]

ALOOOOOOOOOOHA!

And welcome, welcome, welcome to-

MY FOURTH PTR HERE ON THE DISBOARDS!

As I maaaay have hinted at (or flat out told everyone) in my last TR, the clan is going back to the Polynesian this August, and we got a lot to prepare for!

Come ye all and bear witness to an action-packed four months full of:

-PLANNING!
-REPLANNING!
-CELEBRATIONS!
-ICED COFFEE!
-A SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN!
-REPLANNING A THIRD TIME!
-MAYHEM!
-MAKEUP!
-MISCHEIF!
-FP+/ADR DRAMA!
-REPLANNING A FOURTH TIME!
-DISNEY MOVIES!
-MAYBE REPLANNING A 5TH TIME?
-LOTS OF PIZZA!

...AND MORE!

My name is Kaitlyn and I'll be your PTR director.

College sophomore, studying Childhood Education in NYC, and hailing from the great Garden state of NJ. Proud sister of the grΣΔΤest sorority on earth, writer, theatre lover, and Disney fan. Even prouder alumn of the Fall 2016 Walt Disney World College Program (try to guess my location!) Huuuuge ice coffee drinker and makeup collector. Tends to wander over to Universal Studios for a butterbeer and a donut from the Kwik-E-Mart and a chat with Scooby Doo. Pin-and-pressed-penny collector extraordinaire and connoisseur of Dole Whips. Big fan of spending my days in the France pavilion or chatting with Tinker Bell.

Favorite movie: Cinderella
Favorite character: Tinker Bell
Favorite resort: The Polynesian
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite restaurant: 1900 Park Fare
Favorite ride: ... Let's just say I'm partial to two in particular


And no, of course I'm not going on this crazy journey back to my favorite place on earth alone! Well, not this time, at least. Let's meet my wonderful, beautiful family again!

Here's my mom, Susie.

She's the woman who makes all of this possible and my rock. She has supported me endlessly throughout my college and DCP endeavors. She's also the biggest Disney fan I know! Everything I learned, I learned from her. You can find her at Magic Kingdom for breakfast, the resort pool for lunch, and back at Magic Kingdom for dinner, 'cause that's how she rolls . She's a big fan of a good Mickey Rice Krispie treat and a trip on Soarin'! She always takes away something different from each trip- let's see what she enjoys about our fourth Disney Vacation!

Favorite movie: Dumbo
Favorite character: Winnie the Pooh
Favorite resort: The Grand Floridian
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite restaurant: Crystal Palace
Favorite ride: Soarin'

Up next we have my dad, Tom, and my sister Grace!

Even the man who can recite Jungle Book quotes in his sleep never imagined we'd be going to Disney World as much as we do today! My dad is a volunteer fireman and I love him endlessly. He's the humor and charm of our family unit, and he's always running into friends no matter where we are. We could be inside the Magic Kingdom and he'd still run into one of his fireman buddies from 1,000 miles up north! He's the logistics when it comes to vacationing, and tells us when exactly we should leave and when exactly we'll arrive. When something goes wrong, he's the man who solves the problem. With every trip to Disney World, he gets closer and closer to buying into DVC... maybe this'll be the trip that makes us cave?

Favorite movie: Jungle Book
Favorite character: Grumpy
Favorite resort: The Grand Floridian
Favorite park: Epcot
Favorite restaurant: 'Ohana
Favorite ride: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

And then we have my sister and best friend for life, Grace. She's the ultimate Lost Boy: You'll never see her without some Peter Pan merchandise! She's a sophomore in high school and a devoted member of the Yearbook committee... even though I'm trying to get her to break into theatre like I did! When we're in Disney, she's a very "go-with-the-flow" kind of gal. She'll do whatever mom and dad are doing unless I convince her to break out of her shell and go to Hollywood Studios with me for a few hours! But that's starting to change as she's getting older. We're going to be celebrating her SWEET SIXTEEN this year (well, her birthday is in July but we're celebrating in August!), and who knows what her birthday trip has in store for her? Maybe she'll finally go to Epcot by herself... or maybe she'll just text me memes from the hotel room as she gets ready for dinner.

Favorite movie: Peter Pan
Favorite character: Peter Pan
Favorite resort: The Grand Floridian
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite restaurant: Be Our Guest
Favorite ride: Peter Pan's Flight

WHEW! That was a mouthful, but we're STILL not done yet! Every good PTR needs...

THE FIVE W'S OF A PTR!

WHO: The fam, again!
WHAT: Our FIFTH Walt Disney World Resort vacation!
WHEN: July 30-Aug 5, 2017
WHERE: Disney's Polynesian Village Resort
WHY: To celebrate a Sweet 16!

And awaaaaaay we go!

You'll be arriving at the Poly the day after we'll be leaving the Poly. Have fun!

 

[Newsies]

You'll be arriving at the Poly the same day we'll be leaving the Poly. Have fun!

Oh, awesome!! Be sure to let me know if anything cool is going on at the Poly while you're down there!

 

[Shanti]

Oh, awesome!! Be sure to let me know if anything cool is going on at the Poly while you're down there!

I just realized I should have said the day after.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

That character hunt better include our favorite lost boy (who, I just realized, WE NEVER MET TOGETHER ***). And you know if you don't, I will tell one of his friends... or a few... there will be a riot at the Neverland map if I have anything to say about it.

 

[Newsies]

That character hunt better include our favorite lost boy (who, I just realized, WE NEVER MET TOGETHER ***). And you know if you don't, I will tell one of his friends... or a few... there will be a riot at the Neverland map if I have anything to say about it.

OH TRUE I NEED TO SEE PETER! I'll catch him on my way over to Fanland from BTMRR/Splash!

 

[missangelalexis]

Your arrival day plans sound great! MK, Pool, Ohana and fireworks- what a perfect day!

Love that bag you bought!!

Your full day at MK also sounds great, especially with a CP reservation!

 

[Newsies]

Your arrival day plans sound great! MK, Pool, Ohana and fireworks- what a perfect day!

Love that bag you bought!!

Your full day at MK also sounds great, especially with a CP reservation!

Thanks so much!!

 

[Disney_traveler]

Soooo since you're doing a character hunt.....and are in college.....I have an idea for you.....
Every time I go I like to do something with signatures. I've been stuck on frame mats. Have several with just characters and one with a greetings from each country in world showcase. Anyways, wanted something different for this trip....I had a boring brown low-profile clipboard and some spray paint and an array of sharpies, so I spray painted my clipboard gold on both sides (after covering the clip part with painter tape) and I'm going to have them sign the clipboard and when I get home put a coat of spray clear on it.

 

[Newsies]

Soooo since you're doing a character hunt.....and are in college.....I have an idea for you.....
Every time I go I like to do something with signatures. I've been stuck on frame mats. Have several with just characters and one with a greetings from each country in world showcase. Anyways, wanted something different for this trip....I had a boring brown low-profile clipboard and some spray paint and an array of sharpies, so I spray painted my clipboard gold on both sides (after covering the clip part with painter tape) and I'm going to have them sign the clipboard and when I get home put a coat of spray clear on it.

WOAH!! That's an amazing idea!! I've been feeling crafty and thinking of clever ways to get autographs this summer, and I think I might just have to give that one a go!! Thank you so much!!

 

[Newsies]

Universal Resort Plans
44 Days Out
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Okay! First things first:

I did better this semester than I thought I was going to! My GPA is now at a solid 3.5, and I'm not disappointed in the grades I made this semester. Especially since I thought I was on the verge of failing a class.

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... But then Pace sent me my bill for next semester and forgot to include my financial aid, so I need to get that sorted out with them soon.

You win some, you lose some. Back to the PTR!

We're starting the day with an ADR we added a few weeks ago that I haven't told you guys about yet! We're having breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe at 10:15 in the morning. I'm so excited to eat here, it's so relaxing at the GF Cafe and I'm excited for that giant Mickey waffle!

After that, either my father is going to drive me or I'm going to catch an Uber to Universal Resort for a fun day all by myself! I wanted to go to Universal Resort solo really badly when I was on my program. This'll be a fun last hurrah for my Annual Passholder status!

Once I get through security/CityWalk, the first thing I'm going to do is see what the deal is at Toothsome. How early I can put our family's name in, if I can put my family's name in, etc. and report back to mom with the details.

My first stop is going to be Islands of Adventure. I'm going to step in and immediately buy my express pass for the day. I've never bought an express pass before, but I want to experience as much of the two parks as I can in the little time I have there this trip!

First, I'm going to Super Hero Island. I've never been on the Hulk or Spiderman because the wait times were really long or I've been with non-coaster people, so that seems like the perfect place to start this time around. Then I'll make my way around to Skull Island, Jurassic Park, and finally to Harry Potter's Wizarding World!

I've already explored HP's Wizarding World plenty, and I know the wait times are going to be ridiculous, so I'm not going to spend a long time there. I think the Express Pass is eligible for Dragon Challenge, so I'll do that, grab some pumpkin juice, maybe look at some shops, and ultimately catch the Hogwarts Express to Diagon Alley!

I'll definitely want to take some pictures of Diagon Alley, and maybe step into the standby line for Gringotts if the wait time isn't more than 40 or 50 minutes. Afterwards, I'll grab some ice cream from Florean Fortescue! I've been dreaming about their granny smith ice cream since I had it last time.

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Our next stop is going to be Springfield. I can't wait to spend time here! As I may have mentioned earlier, I've got a lot of feelings for Marge so I'll buy some merchandise and try to track her down. She and Homer are typically over in Hollywood, but sometimes they make an appearance with other characters in Springfield.

I'll spend the rest of my time walking around Universal Resort and trying to catch the rides I haven't been on yet. I NEED to go on Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York, and thankfully, I can do that with an express pass! I also want to go on Revenge of the Mummy, since that was my favorite the last time I was at Universal. I also haven't been on Transformers or Men in Black, which is something to check out. And of course I need to go character hunting on Hollywood! I love meeting Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang, Lucy and Marilyn, and the other friends roaming around.

After all of this is done, it'll be time for dinner with the family at Toothsome! Hopefully! Or another Citywalk restaurant, if our Toothsome plans don't come to fruition.

When we're done with Toothsome, my family will most likely say it's time to call it quits and we'll go back to the Poly.

I actually want to catch Illuminations at Epcot that night. I figure if I watch Illuminations that night, I can use our actual Epcot day (the next day) to experience EMH at Magic Kingdom the next night after our dinner at Hacienda.

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Then, after a LONG, LONG DAY, I catch some shut eye and sleep in the next morning.

-Kaitlyn

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Wow, you going to do THAT?

Bless you on getting all that done in one day. I've been to Universal three times now and still haven't done Jurassic Park River Adventure, The Mummy (every time I'm with people, they want to skip it) & Skull Island (the line was even more ridiculous than Gringotts and Forbidden Journey during Christmas week). Also, SpiderMan is UNREAL and honestly it's not much of a roller coaster. The 3D is just incredible and what makes it thrilling. My family was shooketh by that one.

Also, we need to go to Universal together and character hunt. (The only character I've met there was face Grinch and it made my life, but I WANT TO MEET LUCY, MARILYN, THE MARVEL CHARACTERS AND DOC!!!!)