This was our first trip to WDW during the winter and was our son Kai’s (22 months old) first trip to WDW. He is a good traveler having been to Maui twice, Michigan and Disneyland (at 5 months old). Each trip to WDW we try a different resort at the beginning to experience other resorts. I have stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge twice (standard room and one bedroom suite concierge), The Yacht Club and the Dolphin. I have been inside the Grand Floridian and Wilderness lodge rooms and prefer not to stay at either (just a personal feeling but very nice resorts). I will be trying the Boardwalk in May. On this trip we booked the Swan.
We checked into the Swan and the check in went very smooth with no waiting. There was a huge Major League Baseball conference going on and many of the players and owners were around the lobby but it was still not as crazy as the Dolphin was last time we stayed there. Also the Swan was much easier to navigate. We got lost often at the Dolphin. Our Dolphin room had 4 left turns and 3 right turns. Also when we visited the Dolphin for Mousefest we got to the escalator and it was not easy to find the elevator that was 60 yards away down a few corridors.
The Swan room was about the same size as the Dolphin room we had but laid out a little better. The Bathroom had a sink outside and inside the bathroom which was nice, but the bathroom itself was too small to bring my bag of clothes into with me. I am use to the Polynesian bathroom that I can fit my large bag with plenty of room to spare. The hotel and rooms look newly remodeled but they did a little bit of a sloppy job on the remodel. There was paint on things that should not be painted and overspray on the tile. Still not a bad room. We had a great view of Epcot and the back side of the Boardwalk (much better than the view we got at the Dolphin) but it was strange that all the rooms around ours had a balcony and ours only had a small window that would not even open. With the Polynesian rooms that do not have balconies you still have the sliding glass door that will open to the railing to enjoy the outside.
I am not a fan of the walk from the Swan to Epcot and it is much longer to walk than it is to take the monorail from the Polynesian. Also I just about refuse to take the boat at the Swan. There is always a line and the boats seem to take forever to get there. Once they are there they stop at the Yacht Club, Boardwalk and than the entrance to World Showcase and it can take much longer than walking. Even going to Studios proved to be longer to wait for the boat and than travel at a slow pace to the Studios than to get on the bus at the Polynesian and drive there. I know it sounds like I hated this place but it does have many things to offer and the staff seemed very friendly. It is a nice area with all that the Boardwalk has to offer but it is still second to the Polynesian and its transportation and location.
We went into Epcot after picking up our Annual Passes at the International Gateway. We had to go to guest services at the front of Epcot to get out Dinning Experience card (for AP holders only) and the card paid off on this short trip. We saved just over $90 for the 5 days we used it and the card was $60.
On our way back through Epcot we watched the Tree lighting Ceremony. We headed back to the Swan to get ready for dinner and head over to Fulton’s Crab House at Downtown Disney. This is one of our favorites and it did not disappoint this time. We all ordered lobster and this lobster filled our plate and it was a large plate. It was a whole Maine lobster and it was stuffed with mushrooms, scallops and shrimp. The tail alone was larger than any tail I have ever eaten and there was still the meat in the body and claws.
After a stroll around Downtown Disney we headed back to the room. Many of the Baseball players, owners and guests were in the lobby enjoying a few drinks but it was not as crazy as when the Dolphin had conventions going on. Valet parking at the Swan is about double what the Disney resorts charge ($15 a night).
We had a great breakfast at Boma with Lou Mongello (author of the Walt Disney World Trivia book and web site) and we enjoyed breakfast very much. We always love going there for dinner (best buffet in WDW) and breakfast did not disappoint. In fact the funny part was that we all commented on how good the eggs were. Most buffets just have horrible scrambled eggs but these were great. There was your normal breakfast items and a few more creative options (that Boma is known for). Our visit with Lou was great and it was a pleasure talking with him. I suggest to all that you check out his book and web site. It can be found on my links page. We had the pleasure of meeting his wife at Mousefest and meeting them and a few others was one of the highlights of the trip.
After breakfast we went to the Animal Kingdom for the Annual Passholder’s preview of the Finding Nemo stage show. They were doing some soft openings and the line was all the way into and past Dinoland but for the AP showing it was walk right in and not even half full. You did need to schedule it through the AP site but it was worth it. The show was great and our 22 month old even enjoyed it. This will be a popular show when it is open. They would not let anyone use their cameras during the show to record or take photos of the show since it is not officially open. After going on the KJ Safari we found out our room was ready so we headed over to the Polynesian.
We pulled up to the Polynesian and some CM friends of ours presented us with real flower leis as we got out of the car. Since we were staying concierge we did not have to go into the Great Ceremonial House to check in. Our luggage was loaded onto the cart and we were driven on a small tour of the resort and taken to the Hawaii longhouse.
We sat down with the concierge CMs at the desk and our bags were taken to the room. After talking for a while and getting our keys we headed to the room. This was my first time inside the new rooms other than my August 2005 visit were I saw the rooms while they were being constructed in Rapa Nui longhouse (the first to open with the new rooms). Everything in the Hawaii longhouse was redone. Hallways, desk area, rooms, lounge and even just recently the lounge got all new furniture. I was impressed with the finished rooms and while they are a little darker than before (color wise) they are lit better than before. There was lighting everywhere and the 4 lights above the beds and the one above the day bed had separate dimmers. Also the large lamp in the corner had a foot control on the floor next to the small drum table.
The concierge rooms just had DVD players installed and DVDs could be checked out from the concierge desk for free. I will post a list of the movies on the concierge page. There are different remotes in the concierge rooms so they can control the TV and the DVD players. There was much more counter space in the new rooms. Everything was much more comfortable and with the table and chairs no longer near the slider there was more room in what is already one of the largest standard rooms in WDW. If you needed a table there was a table that rolled out from under the desk and worked well with the day bed or the chair that was in the room. The larger rooms in Tahiti, Tokelau and Rapa Nui have an added chair in the room but those rooms are 4 feet longer and can fit it. I heard complaints about lighting in the bathrooms but the bathrooms were very well lit and actually brighter than the older bathrooms. Maybe they added some lighting in the rooms after complaints. We also had no problems with the refrigerator overheating as some reported but than it was not very hot in the room. We only had minor issues with the thermostat but I just adjusted for the temperature I wanted and it seem to work fine. The closet area is smaller but was planned out well. All the walls had some sort of texture instead of paint as the test rooms had. Even above the curtain was a grass woven material covering it. The dark painted doors and walls in the hall will show wear easily. When ever something bumps into it they get marked up and I see they will be touching that up often.
The new concierge lounge was great and much better than what was there before. The food offerings were as described on my concierge page and there was always plenty out. A few nights when they first put out the food the line could get long but for the most part you could just wait or come back later and there was little or no line. They never ran out of anything while we were there and for the most part people were well behaved other than a few mornings were we had people going to the lounge in nothing but a robe and their kids in PJs (all with no shoes). I suggested that since there is a policy of shoes and appropriate clothes (no robes or bathing suits) that it should be posted since we cannot rely on people using common sense. The new furniture allows the lounge to flow better and even on the 3rd level they changed out the furniture and put back new tables to sit at and play checkers. There were very nice accents all around the lounge and the rest of the resort for Christmas, including a very large tree in the lounge. Looking at the decorations you can tell quite a bit of effort went into transforming the resort for Christmas but it does not WOW you when you go to the resort. The gingerbread longhouse was not done because the pastry chef left to work at the Grand Floridian just before they decorated the resort. Hawaiian Christmas music plays around the resort and the music could be heard around most of the resort. I heard speakers all around the GCH, pool area, between the beach and Hawaii longhouse, on a few different paths throughout the resort and inside some of the longhouses including Hawaii.
I did my walk around the resort and much of the resort is getting a new coat of paint, new roofs and new exterior wood. They were even replacing the wood accents in the roofs and repainting them. The only longhouse I saw that still needed the exterior wood and wood around the stairways redone was Rapa Nui. There was a rumor before I left that the torches were being replaced by smaller lights but they were just replacing all the torches with new torches and an electrical sensor and igniter so if they went out they would relight themselves. I also saw many grounds keepers working hard around all the garden areas. This shows you the effort they go through to keep this resort looking new and I must say that the Polynesian might not have been perfect but it was in the best shape I have seen it on any visit there. There was so many new things to see and photograph that I spend 5 hours one day just checking out everything. I always go through every longhouse and walk all the paths. I took photos for the site and filmed a DVD so people can get a good look at the resort. I plan on working out some way to get this DVD to people that want it as long as I can get a few dollars for the shipping and materials but after watching it I can see I need to work on my filming skills. It shows some cool stuff including inside the suites, but it gets a little bouncy and out of focus a few times. There are even a few parts that make me sick (worse than going on Mission Space) but for the most part turned out ok and shows just about everything. There was also some wind issues at times that don’t allow you to hear what I am saying. It still gives you a feel for the resort and lets you hear what is like unlike viewing photos on a web page.
Some observations I noted were that the test patterns on the hallways and doors were gone from Aotearoa (location for the test rooms). Tahiti still had a few rooms that still needed some of the new items but for the most part it appeared to only be the mirror above the daybed and some lighting. Tahiti’s 2nd floor is half smoking and use to have a door separating the two halves at the elevator in the middle but those were removed. The new seating areas in some of the longhouses that have them looked very nice. The hibiscus bushes outside the lagoon side of Hawaii have grown to about 8 feet tall and block the rooms next to ours (1506-1510) but I mentioned it and they said they are scheduled to be trimmed. Some family was playing in the lagoon water and a patrol boat came over and told them to obey the signs and get out of the water. A few guests I talked to said they had some things damaged in their room or not working. You can’t really blame the resort for damage that guests do and it is sad that people can wreck a new room so quickly. We had a problem with the DVD player and maintenance was over in minutes to fix it. I saw security all over the resort (more than normal). I can see that people are still abusing the parking policy since the lots are full at night but early in the morning before the parks are even open the parking lots are half empty.
The new arcade is a nice size and has a nice variety of games. They use a new system that you pay for a card (load it with money) and than use that to play the games. The only problem is you do not know how much money is left if you do not keep track and if you go to a game where there is not enough left to play it will not work. People are thinking that there is something wrong with the card when it is just that they do not have enough funds left. It can be reloaded but any remaining balance cannot be turned back into cash.
The new Captain Cook’s is great. Much more seating, a great new menu and the touch screens worked very well for me. I tried a few things each day so I could sample the new items and the only thing I had that was just ok was the chicken fingers. I think my favorite was a tie between the flatbread pizzas and the grown-up grilled cheese sandwich.
The touch screens were very easy to use and it took no time to pay for my food. Than you get a pager and wait for it to go off to pick up your food. I also loved the Dole Whip dispenser. It comes with a larger cup than in the Magic Kingdom and is almost a buck cheaper. We tried to see how much we could pile in the cup. I took mine back to the room and used the POG juice (Hawaiians call it POG because it is Passion Orange Guava juice) and I made my own float and called it the TikiFloat). I found that I enjoyed going to Captain Cook’s and this is coming from a person that avoided Captain Cook’s in past visits because of the lousy food and bad attitudes of the CMs. I found the opposite this time.
Boutiki I had been to before but I found many different items this time including many Polynesian logo items. You know people complained about not having these before and now they do. In fact I find that many of the things that people complained about have been resolved. It shows you that someone is listening to complaints but don’t hold your breath about a hot tub. All the new Polynesian logo stuff has a new Polynesian logo.
I was very pleased with what I saw at the resort this trip and the only thing I was not thrilled with was going in the winter. Some days were pleasant and I could wear shorts but the colder weather and a few very cold nights was a little bit of a disappointment for me. I much rather face some heat and have the longer days and the warmer nights. The days went by to quickly for me and got dark too soon. Parks closed too early and if it rained it would have been miserable. When it rains in July you do not freeze. It also took away from the tropical atmosphere of the Polynesian for me. Cold and tropical just don’t work very well. I am still glad I saw WDW with the Christmas stuff up but once might be enough for me. The pools were heated and a rather nice temperature. One day was closed because of the wind but otherwise they were open the rest of our stay but not used very much.
We went to the Christmas party in the MK and it was freezing but it was a nice evening. Not sure it was worth the money but again I was glad I experienced it. Wishes did not seem much different and 4th of July Wishes blows Holiday Wishes away as far as I am concerned. The parade and free hot chocolate and cookies (after the 20 minute line) were not worth the price and the snow on Main Street seemed to last about 3 minutes (I am sure it was longer). They did a good job of getting people out of the park and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. I think the highlight of my trip was the Holiday version of Illuminations. That was something I could watch every night. We also went and saw the Osborne Lights and that was great as well but wall to wall people.
We met up with a few couples that I have chatted with through email at the Tambu Lounge and once we all realized we were all in concierge we went back there where it was not as crowded and the drinks were free. The singer in the Tambut Lounge is great to watch so it is worth it for that. He used to play in ‘Ohana and now plays out in the lounge sitting area. The night we all met up was the night the Space Shuttle launched so we all went out and I video recorded the launch visible from the beach area. Definitely an experience I will not forget. It was great talking with the other guests. It sort of felt like I was talking to friends I have known a long time. That is why I am looking forward to Tikifest in July 2007. After meeting with people at Mousefest and at the resort it will be great to see many of them and more at Tikifest.
Speaking of Mousefest, we did go over the the Mega Mouse meet and got to put a name with a face and talk to some of the people I only knew online or from podcasts. We even won a raffle prize. We also went to Mike Scopa’s Dole Whip meet (that was very well attended) and got to meet quite a few people that we would see again at the Mega Mouse meet. Everyone I met was nicer than I could imagine. They all make you feel like family and they are as excited to meet their fans as you are to meet them. I told Mike to have his Dole Whip meet at the Polynesian next year.
This trip was also my first time eating at ‘Ohana since the new menu. At first I heard reports of it being bad and then when I asked for reviews from readers of the site, a high percentage liked the new menu and most liked it better. I can be added to the list of liking it better. I enjoyed every item except the vegetables (that were not bad but nothing special). We all agreed that it was better than before. A link to the new menu can be found on my food page. There is more of a drink selection now also. Some of the ‘Ohana items are served in the concierge lounge on the ‘Ohana night. The atmosphere in ‘Ohana has always been fun but it was like a big friendly party. All the kids were up and having fun and even adults were dancing. It was like being in Hawaii at a backyard family luau party. I have never seen it so lively before. You sort of did not want to leave. I can honestly say that before I liked ‘Ohana but I could sort of take it or leave it. Now I will make sure that we do it every visit.
So far every experience I had at the resort was better than before. I did not encounter any unfriendly CMs and even out of all WDW the only rude CM we encountered was the monorail driver (when we rode up front) and my wife had an issue with the waitress at Kona.
I will say that the trip was much too short. We have never gone for less than a week and we usually do 10 or 11 days. I do recommend taking kids this early. It makes you see the place in a whole different way and you take it a little slower which allows you to enjoy things you normally might speed past.
We booked this trip using the Tiki Plan (through Magical Vacations) and they made sure all our reservations and Christmas Party tickets were taken care of. They work very well with Central Reservations and even the Polynesian Concierge (thanks to Allison and Marilyn also in concierge). A new face to me was David and he was more than nice to us and allowed me access to the suites to video for my DVD. He also paid attention to the details and took care of things. We had some nice gifts in our rooms from some Disney friends and a basket of Hawaiian goodies was in our room (fresh from Hawaii) that was part of the Tiki Plan booking. The basket we got was the smallest one you can get since we booked a room only package and it was still a nice size with great items in a cool handmade basket.
It was a great trip and the people we experienced only made it better. We are looking forward to our July trip and Tikifest even more now. Hope to see some of you in July.
Hope you enjoyed my trip report.
Aloha,
Steve
