Oh Lord, what's Eddie gonna do? He went to Disney and Universal too! Updated! 1/19/10

[disneyfan67]

We rode just about every ride including IASW, which my kids hesitated going on and I can bet it was probably our last time doing it as a family. You should have seen the looks on their faces and it was worth it just for that alone. MK was open until 1am. but we had our fill by 11:30 and was headed back to our resort. Here was our final shot of MK as we left.

We got back to our room and crashed because we had a busy day ahead of us. We slept in a little, must have dosed off after the wake up call and realized we we're running late. I got up showered quick and told my wife not to worry. I got the kids up and out to the swimming pool so she could shower and pack up our things in peace. Our limo wasn't comming until 1:30 pm and as long as we got out of the room by 11am, I knew we would be fine. I got the kids some breakfast items and they ate by the pool. They enjoyed their time and my wife came down to relieve me and I did a double check of the room. I put all of our dirty laundry in a duffel bag, called bell services to get our luggage and completed our check out. While the kids were swimming and my wife just relaxing by the pool, I washed our clothes and sat by the pool during the wash and dry cycles. My wife had did all the laundry on our last trip, so I returned the favor and did it this time. I got everything dry and folded and took the boys in the shower area that's in the changing room inside the volcano.

One of the bathroom stall walls that provided privacy for the toilet was loose and looked like it was going to fall off. I saw a little boy wiggle the locked door to try and enter and the damn thing almost fell down on top of him. You could see the broken section and where the screws fell out. I pointed it out to the little boy's father near by and he couldn't believe it either. FYI, I did say something to the front desk manger and warned him that someone could get hurt. They said they would look into it.

The locker room/shower area is behind the water fall.

I got the kids showered and dressed and we walked around the front area while waiting for Bob or Roger to pick us up.

I was amazed that everything went as smooth as it did with no waiting in the laundry room and got it all done. Like clock work, Bob showed up and packed us up and showed me the items he had got us from the store. What great service! Finally we were headed off to 5 days of more fun and I was looking forward to this leg of the trip. Normally I would be a little sad to leave the Polynesian, but with all that we had saw that was wrong with the resort and how much we had paid for it, I was glad to leave. That's really sad to me and it just isn't right that a original classic from Disney history would be in this shape.

 

[jewell]

More, more, more!!!!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I love, love, love the photos, and I'm so glad to read the CP report -- we've never made it there and ds11 refuses to go because he thinks he's too old for Pooh characters -- I was afraid I was really missing out, but it sounds like not so much.

Maria

 

[Candy30]

I am loving your "directness" with your report. It's great! I hope they were not too lax about that door! I can't wait to hear about Universal!

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Loving the trip report so far. The Poly is probably the Disney resort I'd most like to stay in if money was no object... but it is.. and I could afford 2-3 trips at RPR for the price of 1 at the Poly. Sorry to hear your experience this time was below average at a premium price. But can't wait to see how they treated you at my home away from home, the RPR. haha

 

[ChristiF]

This is a GREAT report...please keep it coming!

 

[jewell]

Still waiting!!! I'm dying to find out what you thought about RPR and universal! Since I'll be at both in less than a month!

We ate at the Crystal Palace back in 2004 and we really enjoyed it, but it was the middle of May, the crowds were low, we had our 9 yr old son and my two nieces ages 5 and 7, so they really enjoyed the Pooh characters, as did myself, my 74 year old mother and my sister, but then again we do love Pooh!

I remember the food being good, not my favorite, but still pretty good. I don't know if the CP has changed or else women just have a different take on Pooh!

Can't wait for the rest of your report!!!!

 

[disneyfan67]

We got settled in the SUV that was there to pick us up and we all were a little excited to start the next leg of journey. I have to say it's great to do a split stay and see the best of both companies have to offer. As we were leaving the WDW property, Bob (our driver) and I were talking about the experience my family had the last two days. He was telling me a story about a family he just dropped off at Pop and how unfriendly Disney is to the limo drivers and where they park. He said it was almost impossible to get around the M.E buses and how no bellmen where there to help this family with their luggage or cooler and groceries. I could understand his frustration and could see Disney only wanting the Magical Express only because they would then have their guests trapped on property.

We were just starting to pull up to the RPR property and I saw this sign.

We were getting excited and I was liking what I was seeing so far. Even though you can see this resort from the highway, I was liking the architecture of it from the distance. Very pretty and nicely designed from what I saw.

This was sign I saw as we got out in the unloading area.

This is the beautiful walkway to the lobby and I loved the styling so far.

As you walk toward the lobby and look to your left, this is what it looks from the walk way.

This from the right side.

Very unique and I didn't realise that entering the hotel from the entrance, that your actually a floor up from the restaurants, bar, pool, and boat launch. Very smart way to use the space you have efficiently. If I'm remembering correctly, the lobby is considered the 3rd floor?? Am I correct? Anyway the bellman who told me to call him Mr. Fred, was very helpful and was telling me about everything from the shuttles to Sea World, to parking, etc, etc. He was a big help and guided me and our luggage to the lobby. Mr. Fred reminded of the bellman in the Tom Hanks movie "That thing you do".

Upon entering the lobby I was very much impressed with the look and feel to the place. This is what I saw staright ahead upon entering the lobby.

This is to my left.

This is to my right as you enter and the check in desk.

 

[Bluer101]

Just seeing the pictures of RPR make me feel right at home. My family always has a big smile on our faces with a warm feeling every time we return there.

 

[disneyfan67]

I made my way to the check in desk and the line moved pretty quick. The young man checking me was far more professional than the doofus at the Polynesian and more helpful as well. It was 2pm and standard room was ready. It was located in tower 2, room 2632 and had a view of I4, which didn't bother me because the trees and landscaping were nice. Plus the rate was great! The guy behind the desk told me the resort was pretty full due to an Auditing firm's convention, so there was no upgrades to a pool view available. Because I was a Loews First member I did get free Internet access which was a great perk to me. Here's a map of the resort and towers.

Here's view of what you see from the 6th floor, Tower Two, as you get off the elevator into the hallway. It's not the greatest. but for $151 a night and the quality that I had seen so far, it was no problem to me.

Here's the hallway leading to our room and the carpet and walls were clean and in good shape. No room service trays of half eaten food sitting out either, which is a pet peeve of mine

The bellman who took to me to my room was helpful, courteous, and quick, which is how I how I like it. When I tipped him it reminded me that in the space of a few hours that I seemed to have tipped everyone in the greater Orlando area. I tipped the bellman who picked up our luggage from the room at the Poly, then there was another guy at the bellman desk who put the luggage in the SUV who held his hand out. Then I tipped our driver Bob at the RPR drop off and Mr. Fred got a taste of the action. Now the bellman who brought us and our luggage to the room was getting the final tip of the day and my wallet was going through shakes and withdrawals from being opened so much.

As we closed the door to our room and kicked back for a second, I was beginning to relax. The room was small and so was the bathroom, but was clean, up to date, and no problems could be found. I knew this going in and was OK with it because the room was nice and didn't have a cheap feel to it. Like the value resort rooms at WDW. FYI, I'm not trying to make it seem like I'm crapping on Disney's resorts, but just stating the obvious and what I see and feel about some of them.

Everything seemed top notch and well done. We unpacked our clothes and heard a knock at the door. It was the staff who checked our minibar because at check in I declined the key to it and charging privileges on the room key as well. The way I figure it, I had my mini bar already with my cooler of beer and soda and a ton of snacks. After we got settled and everything put away, it was time to go to the parks and get our tickets. On our last trip we went to US first, this time I decide to go to IOA first. We went down to the boat launch and saw how nice the pool was and I had to bribe my kids that we would swim when we got back. Now mind you while I was doing laundry earlier in the day at the Poly, they had almost 4 hours of pool time, but apparently that's not enough.



Up next our half day at IOA and our first night at RPR.

 

[disneyfan67]

I am loving your "directness" with your report. It's great! I hope they were not too lax about that door! I can't wait to hear about Universal!

Thank you and it just wasn't the door to the bathroom stall, but a huge chunk of the partition wall as well. It was a danger no doubt about it and I wonder if the manager actually did something.

 

[tlinus]

Loving it.......I agree when you pay so much money, whether it be restaurants or rooms, you SHOULD hold high expectations. Broken lav door?? Come on, were they paying so much attention to Bay Lake Towers that they couldnt throw a handyman at that??

Cant wait for more.

 

[re121258]

Enjoying your report. The Poly is our favorite Disney resort. Sorry to hear things are quite up to snuff now.

 

[wannabeinfl]

I need more Eddie..

 

[disneyfan67]

I need more Eddie..

More is comming, I promise. Life has gotten a little more hectic and crazy for me than normal. I will finish a huge chunk of it later, probably late Friday night.

 

[macraven]

More is comming, I promise. Life has gotten a little more hectic and crazy for me than normal. I will finish a huge chunk of it later, probably late Friday night.

i'm gonna hold you to that promise.............

 

[Candy30]

i'm gonna hold you to that promise.............

ME 2!!!!!

 

[disneyfan67]

We had just gotten settled, unpacked, and had the paper work we needed to get our passes for the week. It was around 3:30 or so and I knew we would only have a few hours until park closing, but I wasn't too concerned since would be here for another 4 full days. We made our way to the boat dock and probably waited 10 minutes and a boat arrived. On a side note here. Through out our entire trip we used the boats for transportation to the parks and City walk and with the exception of one young captain, the service was top notch.

Memo to any of the young skippers who were our captains for that trip who may stumble across this report. You don't have to gun the boat full speed and try to impress me and yourself with how you can swing the ship into the dock at a high rate of speed. I know being young you want to see how far you can push it, but comming into the dock and whipping it around like Starsky and Hutch is a little much. I got to know a couple of the older Captains as the trip went on and they knew what I was talking about and laughed. They told me they had their share of accidents over the years from the young ones and Universal is pretty strict about when an accident happens and the punishment is severe. There's not too many second chances from what I was told. Truthfully, I would enjoy being a boat Captain on Universal property and could see myself working there. Doesn't Captain Eddie have a ring to it?

All right enough about that and sorry for getting off track.

I chose IOA because the last time I was at Universal I went to US first and secondly, my son Sam was talking about riding the Hulk non stop. Him being autistic, he can get fixated on one subject for a very long period of time. We disembarked at City Walk and made our way over to IOA. I got in the customer service line to redeem my free ticket and only had to wait about 10 minutes or so. You should have seen my kids as I looked over at them while in line. Talk about impatience. I got my free ticket and the 3 7 day passes I bought online and we finally were inside. I do really like the theming of the entrance to IOA and there's just something about it. We stopped and got my two boys each a cool looking hat as I had promised earlier and the best thing about it is. You get an AAA discount on your purchase inside just about anywhere. I saved 5 bucks on two expensive hats and it may not mean much to some, but it's nice to feel like you're not getting screwed completely out of every dime you have. I wish WDW would accept AAA in their parks and inside their gift shops. IMHO. it would be helpful to families on a tighter budget.


We made our way over to the Hulk and my wife quickly and without any uncertainty, said there was no way she would ever ride this in her lifetime.

As much as I don't care for huge, exposed outside roller coasters like this one. Standing on the bridge and seeing the Hulk burst through underneath you, is an awesome sight. Sounds great too. Very impressive!

Very cool and startles you the first time you hear and see this up close and in person.



On another side note
One of my goals is when I drop 60 pounds, that this is one of the things I will ride first. I couldn't fit comfortably in the test seat and I wasn't going to be put through the embarrassment of having two TM's pushing down to lock it into place. I could have did it, but I saw them having to do this to another heavy set person and it just reinforced my desire to drop some weight. Trust me, I will meet this goal. Ok, enough with that

As I made our way into the ride building wouldn't you know it, one son didn't want to do it and the other did. I was going to just put Sam on by himself and didn't like that idea, but fate intervened and made the decision for me. An announcement came over the speakers and the ride was going down for 30 minutes or longer. No way Sam was going to sit there, so it was time to switch gears again and go with the flow. No worries though, both my boys later went on that ride a couple of times during the week and loved it!

As I took a very disappointed young boy out of the Hulk building, I finally got to do something we missed on out last trip and really regretted it. We got to go on Spiderman!

It was one of the best theme park rides I have ever been on and the theme inside the build waiting in line was well done. I probably rode it at least 5 times this trip and it got better with each time. To me this sets the standard for dark rides and defines what an E ticket attraction is supposed to be about.

As we got off the ride it was about 5 and we decided to turn back and see about getting a decent sit down dinner. We headed back to the entrance and before we left, I convinced the family to ride Cat in the Hat, which is one of my personal favorites. We did it, but I knew I was pushing my luck so I didn't go on anything else further. We all had hit the wall and even I was getting tired. We walked out front and headed toward the boat dock and Margaritaville caught my eye.

I heard a few complaints from boys who wanted to swim, but I knew we needed to eat first. Turns out I made a good choice and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meal there. Sitting inside and getting away from the sun was beyond nice and much needed. The theming inside is great and both my boys enjoyed seeing the volcano blow. The plane outside is a nice touch as well. From what I was told inside, it was an actual working plane at one time. Very cool.

After a great dinner, apparaently it's the custom getting our pictures taken with some parrots like a bunch a tourists who had never seen parrots before.

Here was one of the birds I held during the photo.


Oh well it's vacation and even though it's kind of cheesy, it was kind of cool at the same time. I knew nothing about this at first because I was sitting at our table waiting for the waitress to bring back by debit card. My wife and kids went exploring and came running up to the table about how cool this was. I really wasn't interested in doing it, but in the spirit of family and the vacation, we all took our pictures with about 5 parrots on us. I opened the wallet and told the clerk with a smile, well it looks like I have been out voted on this so "lets do it to it" and tell me what you need. So now I'm the proud owner of two photo keychains and a nice 8 by 10 showing my family with parrots all over them.


Next up: We make it back to the RPR for a swim and our first night there.

 

[jcc0621]

What a great first day!!!

Um, parrots? REAL parrots

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Margaritaville is my favorite! My dh and ds just accept they will be eating there.

It sounds like you were off to a great start at Universal.

Maria