Mama Monday : The Polynesian

Hi Mamas,  Today we continue our tour of Walt Disney World Resorts with my one of my favorite deluxe resorts-The Polynesian. It is one of the three resorts that is on the monorail. I love just about everything there is to offer at this resort.

      1) Convenience-It doesn’t get much more convenient than being on the monorail. There is one stop between the Polynesian and the Magic Kingdom. And what is an added bonus here, is the Ticket and Transportation Center is walking distance from the Polynesian. That means you can walk over and take the monorail to Epcot also.

2) Spacious! These rooms can accommodate a family of five. There are two queen beds and a day bed. There’s a lot of storage space. The bathroom is huge! And there’s a little bit of open space too which our kids loved being able to play with their toys when we were in the room.

3) Peaceful-I was concerned that the monorail would be really loud but when the patio door was shut, we couldn’t hear it at all and we were literally right next to the monorail line going through. When you come back from a busy day at the parks and you step onto the grounds, it is so peaceful. The lushness of the vegetation definitely take you back to the South Pacific. The way the longhouses are laid out, you don’t feel how big the resort really is. It doesn’t seem crowded in the least.

 4) DOLE WHIP! Yes, this is a huge plus. You can get a Dole Whip at Capt Cook’s! It is self serve and no matter how many I served I never did get the hang of making it look as pretty as the cast members do. I guess I just have to keep trying. (Dole Whip picture courtesy of my friends at Disney Food Blog)

      

     

If you want a deluxe resort that allows you a peaceful but convenient location to the parks, the Polynesian needs to be at the top of your list. The rooms needed a brightening update and they have received it. The updates make the rooms feel even bigger and it makes it a bit cheerier. For those of you that stayed here as kids, you might be a bit nostalgic for the rooms before their update but you will still love the resort.

Mama Monday : Ft. Wilderness Cabins

Hi Mamas,  today we visit the Fort Wilderness Cabins. I have never personally stayed here. My husband did as a kid and loved them. On paper, I have never been impressed to be honest. You are basically staying in a single wide trailer. I swore we would never stay in them! Then I went to Disney for an Agent Education Program and had the opportunity to tour them in person. They are still pretty rustic for my preferred taste and do have some concerns about how they would be for our family’s needs. However, there is a definite appeal to them, especially if you have boys. So now, I can definitely see our family trying them out when our boys are a little older.  Here are a few things about them I think you should know-the pros and the cons.

 There is a lot of space inside them. Overall I don’t think the space is utilized well at all. I greatly dislike full sized beds. They are great for kids but not for two adults to share. There is a murphy bed in the living room which I assume most parents end up on. 

In the bedroom there is another full sized bed and a set of bunk beds. They can sleep six because of that. I could see putting four kids in the bedroom if they were young.

 There is a full sized kitchen which is nice if you have young children.

There is only one bathroom. Let’s face it, if you have six people in this cabin, you need more than one bathroom! And the bathroom is not spacious.  

 It is heavily wooded which is what is appealing to boys I am sure. I don’t really want to come across insects though. If you will notice you rarely see an insect at Disney just wandering around. I like that. I am sure that is not the case here.

There is a boat to take you to Magic Kingdom! That is pretty cool.  The main bus stop can be quite a trek from your cabin. There is an internal bus that runs but that can add extra travel time to the other parks.

 There are more recreation opportunities than any other resort. You can even rent a golf cart for your stay which in our family would be a must do for our boys. There’s also horseback riding and other fun things.

  

These were nicer inside than I had ever imagined but still too rustic for these to be one of my favorites. If I want the extra space, I would opt to stay at Art of Animation in a family suite.  I am sure we will be at Ft. Wilderness when our boys hit the preteen years though and they will love every minute. I will probably book a couple of nights at the end of that trip at a deluxe so mama has her time too!

I do have clients who love these and I am happy to make their wishes come true! 

Pizza Planet Review

Today I am taking you to Pizza Planet for lunch! Try to go outside of the peak dining times if possible as it can get crowded. As expected, they serve pizza here. In all reality, the food is not the reason you go to Pizza Planet. The kids are going to love the pizza. For those of you that are pizza snobs-you are not going to think it's anything special. It is on par with any pizza delivery place out there.

Here's a snapshot of the menu:

You go for the theme. If your kids(or even you grownups) are die hard Toy Story fans, you have to dine here. It is like stepping into Pizza Planet from the movie. You will see your favorite Toy Story characters decorating the walls in bright colors. First things first, after you order, head upstairs to eat. That's the only way your kids are actually going to eat anything. You can also grab a table outside but for most days, inside upstairs will be a nice cool spot. (photo courtesy of our friends over at Disney Food Blog)

Then turn them loose in the arcade. There are plenty of games to choose from for everyone in the family. When you go here, allow time in your schedule to play or you are going to have some disappointed kiddos and daddies. There are change machines and even an ATM so no chance you can claim you don't have money to do the games. 

It is loud in here and your ears will probably be buzzing with all of the arcade noises for a bit after you leave. But there's just something special about seeing your kiddo light up because they had lunch at PIZZA PLANET!! And that is the reason I recommend Pizza Planet to my clients.

Mama Monday : Art of Animation Resort

Hi Mamas! Today I am taking you for a visit to my favorite value resort-The Art of Animation! This is Disney's newest value resort.

First up let's talk about the rooms. It offers family suites, themed as the Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo tends to be the most popular because of the location. They are closest to the main building and the feature pool.

Resort Map

Master Bedroom in the Finding Nemo Suites

I do think this murphy bed design in the Lion King rooms is pretty cool.

Even the bathrooms are themed for the rooms!

I personally think that the Cars section is themed the best overall. Of course I have two boys who are obsessed with Cars so I might be a bit biased. Our boys stopped to say good night to every Cars character every night of our stay there.

 The family suites have a master bedroom with a queen bed, a living room with a pull out sofa, and a dining room with a murphy bed. The best part of this besides the door that allows the parents to sleep in peace, is there are two bathrooms! Very nice for families. Overall I loved the space that these offered. We never once ate at the dining room table though so for our family the murphy bed stayed down the entire time. The kids prefer to eat in front of the tv on vacation and I let them because it's vacation.

In addition to the the family suites there are standard rooms that are themed for the Little Mermaid. These are not too girly at all. One thing to note about this resort is the Little Mermaid rooms have been excluded from every discount since they opened. I personally would opt for another value during a time when a discount is released compared to paying more to stay in these rooms without a discount. The family suites have almost always been included! The Little Mermaid rooms have two full sized beds in them like the other values.

Now moving on to the pools. The Finding Nemo pool is by far the nicest feature pool of all the value resorts. There is plenty of play areas for the littlest of Disney fans and there is music piped in under the water. Just what you imagine Nemo hears when he's at home in the ocean. They also have a nice pool bar as well and show movies here like the other pools do. Each themed section has a pool too.

Now there are a few negatives. I've mentioned the biggest negative in regards to the Little Mermaid rooms and the lack of discounts offered for those. The other negative I encountered was the cell phone coverage was awful. It was the worst I have experienced at Disney. There is definitely a design flaw here. I had to go outside of the building to make phone calls and then you get the outside noise of families running around on vacation. I couldn't get emails very successfully on my phone either while in the room which in our business is critical. At the time of our stay the resort did make up by allowing free phone calls from the room if you spoke to them about the situation. I am not sure if they still will do that or not.

There are plenty of other positive features that make this our family's top choice of the value resorts. One of which is the Landscape of Flavors quick service restaurant.(photo courtesy of Disney Food Blog) It's huge and accommodates plenty of people. The menus offer a wide variety of options so even the pickiest of eaters is satiated. It is conveniently located to any of the buildings you are in. I also like that this resort doesn't share a bus with any other resort. It is really nice to have a one stop shop so to speak when it comes to the transportation. I love the theming throughout the resort. I really feel like it brings some of the Disney movies to life.

Sci-Fi Dine In Review

Today I am taking you to Hollywood Studios for one of my favorite table service restaurants. It is one table service credit on the dining plans. Sci-Fi Dine In is located at Hollywood Studios. It is always night time there and you are dining under the stars. You might not notice that part as your eyes will be glued to a huge movie screen playing all kinds of clips.

This is the theatre lit up. You will walk in and it will be dark though.

You are seated in a table that looks like a convertible. I’m sure if my husband was writing this he would tell you the exact make and model of your convertible but I will just show you a picture. They are limited to how many you can seat in one so your party will be split up if you are a large group. They are fairly close to each other and honestly you aren’t doing a lot of talking at this meal. The best aspect of this location (other than the food of course) is it is a place you can go and literally just zone out for a moment. It’s cool inside. For some reason Hollywood Studios always feels hot to me so this is ideal to step inside and cool off. The kids are entertained and you will be too by the different clips playing.  And as you can see from the pictures the convertibles do accommodate highchairs too! They have trays on them for the little ones to eat on. This was the quietest meal in terms of my children asking for things or having to get up, etc. It was quite perfect after a day of hitting every ride and character we could find and this was just lunch time. I thought the wait staff moving about would be distracting but you hardly notice them.

Look at those happy kids! The littlest one is still glued to the movie screen.

They are known for their All American Picnic Burger. It is enormous!  Hamburger patty plus a hot dog plus sauerkraut! I was not brave enough to try it but my husband did. Somehow he managed to finish it.  It tasted exactly like it sounds-heart attack waiting to happen but he loved it. It is not recommended to eat this and then go get on the thrill rides though!

I went for a slightly lighter fare or at least as light as the menu gets here with the Salmon BLT. The portion size on this was huge as well. I am not a big Aioli fan but it was really good on the sandwich. I ordered it in hopes of choosing something slightly healthy. While it did have salmon on it, I wouldn't say this was healthy at all given the size of the bun but it tasted good! It was the best sandwich I tried at Walt Disney World.

Instead of the fries pictured, I opted for the cucumber salad. I could have just ordered a large bowl of this salad and been content! The kids loved it too but I do have slightly unusual kids in that regard and they love all things vinegar. It had a little bit of sweetness to it and just the right amount of onions. It also makes you feel better about yourself after having indulged in the huge entrees!

Kids will be pleased as there is all of their favorites on the menu, mac and cheese, hot dog, etc..  And the adults can enjoy some fun drinks and a decent beer menu. We were way too full to even consider dessert but I have been told the House Made Candy Bar is the Way to go. If I had seen this picture beforehand we would have made room for this and certainly will next time!

My recommendation is if you go for lunch time, you could easily share an entrée as they were so huge. They are also so good you will eat the whole thing whether you intend to or not. I still prefer it for lunch though because it is the perfect place for some AC and some zone out time. Here is a link to the complete menu if you want to check it out. It is not a large menu but everything they do, they do well.

Overall, this is on my list of top picks for clients to dine at. Great menu, unique atmosphere, and relaxing!

Mama Monday : Magic Bands and Your Photopass

Hi Mamas,  Today I am showing you how the Magic Band makes one of my favorite things even more awesome-The Disney Photopass Plus and the Disney Photopass experience!

First you will notice a new Disney Photopass website here.  It is a lot more user friendly. You choose your destination and it takes you to the appropriate screens. We are going to assume you have preordered your Photopass Plus. The retrieval process works the same as before. You will get a voucher in your travel documents.

Then once you are at the parks you will still visit a Photo Pass Store and redeem the voucher for your Photopass Plus card.

The Photopass Plus card is still currently needed to retrieve your digital images at the character meals and your digital images for your ride experience. I would expect the technology to evolve over the next year and the card to become obsolete. But for now these locations are looking at the expiration date of your Photopass Plus card.

Now to the fun Magic Band part. Remember the stack of Photopass cards you would accumulate in a trip?

If you were on a trip with our family, you would typically end up with at least five of these cards to try not to lose. Enter the Magic Band! The Photopass Photographers will now just simply scan your Magic Band. Your pictures will be automatically loaded into your account and you will have the Photopass Plus featured linked to your Magic Band. No more cards to keep up with except your main photopass plus card!

I don't know about you but I am pretty excited about this. It will save time looking for the card while wrangling the kids. It is so much easier to just scan the Magic Band!