The first week of May 2007 I went on an all guys golf trip to Disney World. The group was made up of 3 Disney Imagineers, friends of theirs and me. I met one of the imagineers at the Polynesian in 2004 after he contacted me through my site for his first trip to the Polynesian with his family. We happened to be staying there the same time and met while there.
Mancation is something they started doing last year and I was invited to attend this annual gathering this year.
This trip report is not as long as most of my reports, or as detailed and has less photos than usual but we were quite busy and I hardly had my camera with me this trip.
I arrived a day early and decided to stay at Pop Century for one night. I figures try something not too expensive since I would not be there for long. I got in late and I rented a car. I was coming in too late and leaving too early to use Magical Express. My wife got a great rate on a rental car with the help of Mouse Savers.
I drove to Pop Century, checking in about 11:45P. The place was extremely large and the lobby was huge. It was all clean and was a very fun looking place. This was my first time at a value resort so no valet or bellmen was a surprise. I parked my car in the designated check in lot to check in. They gave me a map with directions to the building I was in but not much indication as to what part of the building my room was located at. I was in the 80’s building and it basically looks like a Disney version of a motel. I don’t mean it looked cheap or rundown, it is just the way it is laid out. The doors are on the exterior of the buildings. I can see how kids and families would enjoy this resort very much. You are immersed in Disney fun.
I got to my room after hauling my bags a little bit of a distance and I opened the door to find that the room was so small that the door almost hits the first bed as you open it. With that said it does have everything you need but might be a little cramped for a family of 4 if the kids are bigger. The room was clean. I took a few photos of the room and than headed off to the only place open that late, Pleasure Island. I asked if the busses were still running and they said they were but after about 30 minutes and no sign of life anywhere outside the resort I decided to drive myself.
After walking around there a bit and checking out Raglan Road I headed back to Pop Century. I was going to eat at Pleasure Island but I figured I would grab something and take it to the room. I am use to my late night snacks from Captain Cook’s at the Polynesian so I figured with the huge food court they must have, there must be something. Well I was right the food court was huge but it was closed. I went to the front desk and after waiting in line for 20 minutes at 2:30 in the morning, I asked if there was any 24 hour food there. There was nothing. So I took the long walk back to my room and on the way passed a vending machine. I put a dollar in and than I tried to put my change in. It would not take it. I than saw it only takes $1 and $5 dollar bills. So I hit the return since I had no more $1 and it would not give me my money back. Well I guess I am going to have to wait for breakfast. After walking the resort a little to see what it was like I must say I was much more impressed with Pop Century than the one time I saw All Star. In my opinion they offer about the same thing but Pop Century is much nicer and laid out a little better. It would be my first pick for a Value resort.
Well I made reservations for Kona the next morning and the rest of the group was flying in (well already in the air when I was going to bed) so I got up at 6:00 AM after going to sleep about 2:45 AM. I loaded up and drove over to the Polynesian (could not keep me away). I walked around and took some photos. There was quite a bit of smoke blocking the sunrise but not much smell or problems breathing. It got better as the days went by. The Polynesian had been trimming back plants and bushes, especially those on the lagoon side of rooms. There were a few views that use to be a little blocked that are no longer. The resort still looked great like when I was there in December and commented that it looked the best it had since I had been going there. It was quiet and not a lot of people around.
I have never seen the Polynesian as crowded and I have been there in every season. There was some smoke from the fires but I could not smell it, I just noticed it when I looked at the sun rising and it was very dim.
After walking the resort I was going to eat but the guys were on their way over to the Boardwalk on Magical Express. I drove over to the Boardwalk and the bus they were on followed me in.
I have been to the Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin but this is my first stay at the Boardwalk. I like the area since I love Epcot but I still find it easier to get to Epcot from the Polynesian than the Epcot resorts. It is a convenient walk but not as short as you might think and not fun in the rain or very hot sun.
We did all the introductions and than off to the rooms we went. The lobby was smaller than I expected but we were checking into the Villas. We had 3 standard villas.
I was a little surprised how small the rooms were. I figured the Villas were larger than any of the Deluxe resort rooms but this was about the size of our Yacht Club room that was much smaller than any room at the Polynesian. I guess I am just use to the large rooms at the Polynesian. It reminded me of the smaller Deluxe rooms we had in the AKL and Grand Californian but with a small sink area added on.
It was one bed and a fold out couch. There was a bench that I don’t think they would consider a day bed since you would have to be less than 4 feet tall to sleep on it. It was a little bit of a squeeze for 4 adults. The balcony was nice but strange that it was not a slider but a door so if someone was out there they had to move to open the door that swung out. We unfortunately had a view of the pool if there was not a big tree before it. We were not far from the elevator so that was nice. The decore was sort of a mix of GF and Yacht Club.
We headed to the pool and I have never been a fan of the “Scary Clown” but the pool was nice. Nothing special but good size. Not really a view of anything from the pool other than the rooms.
There was a huge hole in the bottom of the pool that the guys kept stepping on but the next day they put some sort of bath mat over the hole.
We headed into Animal Kingdom. The bus ride reminded me of a reason I did not like the Epcot resorts. The busses take forever and share with the Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club and Beach Club. Luckily some nights that they would skip the other resorts if no one was going there.
Later in the evening we went over to Epcot to have a beer over in England on the way to the monorail to the Polyensian. That night our kick off dinner was at ‘Ohana. It was busy but we took up most of the Tambu Lounge and started out with some Lapu Lapus. You should see 12 pineapples lined up on the bar!!!! After that we had a Back Scratcher but we won’t talk about what happened with the back scratcher. The bartender remembered Sean from a previous trip. I guess he was the celebrity of the group. I only saw a few CMs I knew. One of the ‘Ohana CMs saw my Maui Built shirt and said something in Hawaiian (like I know the whole language) and got upset when I could not respond. He made a comment saying “They wear the shirt but don’t know the language.” Well I guess I better get some lessons from my friends in Maui so I can continue to wear my Maui Built shirts.
I think that ‘Ohana was the favorite dinner of the trip for most of the guys. The food was great, the meat was no where near dry and it was just a fun time.
We got on the bus over to Pleasure Island after that and went to Raglan Road. A few guys got sucked back on the bus when we got there and went back to the room. The rest of us had a great evening watching the entertainment and drinking some black and tans. Well we got back late and were hungry so since the Boardwalk also does not have anything open 24 hours to eat and in fact does not have any counter service at all, we had to order a few pizzas. After eating pizza until 3:00 AM and all of us running on about 3 hours sleep over the past 48 hours we went to bed only to get up at 6:00 to be ready to start off the 3 days of golf.
The weather was great and the courses were in good shape. We played Magnolia the first day so we went to Shades of Green and had breakfast before golf. It was my first time seeing SOG and I think the same designer for the Polynesian made the buildings. They look like the Polynesian rooms from the outside and are also 3 stories tall. It was a nice resort but a little confusing to get around. They did a good job with how it looks but I believe it was redone not too long ago. It was not easy for me to play golf all day with the Polynesian in the background.
I shot a 173 (yes you read right) but I am new to golf and the water liked my ball or a case and a half of my balls. It did not matter to me because I was with a great group of guys and it was a lot of fun. I did get a silver cup for my score.
We headed back to go in the pool and later into Epcot. The trip almost did not feel like we were in WDW. We hardly went into the parks. That was ok because we had plenty to do and we were all having a great time. This sort of showed me that people that don’t like Disney could go here and do many things that are hardly Disney. All you husbands that don’t want to go to Disney but the wives and kids do, go and do what you want and let them go off to the parks. There are many things to do outside the parks. We had dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse that night. I had been using my Dinning Experience Card for our meals and drinks and this night was the biggest savings. It was just over $110 off our meal using the card. The food was some of the best I have had and for me was much better than our last dinner at Le Cellier. After that dinner we went into Epcot and did drinking around the world. Another late night and another early morning.
We Played Osprey Ridge the second day of golf. I lost less balls this day and improved my score by 23 from the day before. I was with a new group of guys this time but everyone in the group was easy to get along with so who ever I would have been with would have made it a great day. That was one reason my game was getting better. No pressure, lots of good advice and a few bloody marys.
We also turned in two of our 3 rooms to get a 2 bedroom villa. This room gave us more space and reminded me of our condo in Maui. The layout was similar with the kitchen, living area, master bedroom with a large bathroom and even had the jetted tub that opened to the room and a washer and dryer like our condo but it was about 200 sqft smaller. There was a standard room attached to it to make it a 2 bedroom. The main problem with us changing rooms was not we were way down the hall from the elevator. I could have walked through 3 longhouses in the distance it took us to walk from the elevator to our room. It was easy to find though. Just look for the rooms with the empty beer boxes outside them. It was a much better layout for us.
After relaxing in the pool we got ready and went into Epcot to eat at Mexico for Cinco De Mayo. From there we went to Raglan Road and closed the place down. Yeah another bed time of after 2:30 AM and get up early.
Our last day of golf was at Lake Buena Vista. To go there you go into Saratoga Springs. This place was like a vacation compound. It was large and I thought it was the best looking DVC property in WDW. We ate at the good size food court and everything at the resort still looks new. I would never buy a DVC (for many reasons) but if I did this would be one I would consider. As we played golf we also got to see Old Key West and the Tree Houses. It was nice to see these resorts close up. It was a whole different feel back inside those areas. Very relaxed. Nothing like the DVC’s that are located with other Hotels. Not that it is a bad thing, just they each have a different feel. This trip was definitely a way to get a good feel for DVC. I also improved my score another 28 strokes but still got the silver cup. I did par a par 5 and had all the guys sign my ball for that hole.
After going back to the Boardwalk and going in the pool it started to rain, than hail. A storm cam in very quickly (typical Florida) and most of the guys made it from the pool to ESPN before the lightning hit. Two of us were trapped for a while at the pool bar and than tried to work our way over to ESPN. It is not easy to get to places to eat at the Boardwalk in the rain since all the entrances are out on the boardwalk and not covered.
Well this was our last night and our final dinner was at Le Cellier. I had eaten here in 1983 and had the best prime rib ever. This night was a little different. Quite a few of us had our meats overcooked (nothing I hate more) but service was great. A few went off to Raglan Road but my flight was a 7:10 in the morning so I was not making it a late night again. I went back and packed before I went to bed.
It was interesting going to WDW and not doing all the parks and it was good to see the Flower and Garden show (not a real exciting event like some of the others) but it was still a great trip and I got to see some of the few resorts I have not see up close. I also got to spend time with the best group of guys anyone could go on a trip with. I heard some interesting conversations about future things from some of the Imagineers but I won’t be posting that.
Well that concludes my Mancation 2007 trip report. Back to the Polynesian in July.
Aloha,
Steve
