Larock Family WDW Trip

Disney Trip 2003

November 29th thru December 7th

Day 2 – A Journey around the Monorail

Cast of characters – Mommy, Daddy, Nina (6), Julia (5) and Aunt Mimi

Mickey woke us up with a call at 7:45am. Sounds a bit late under normal circumstances but it sure did seem to come early after our late arrival the night before! Julia picked it right up, however. We got ready to go and drove to the Polynesian Resort. This was our first visit to this hotel and we were definitely impressed. Our breakfast reservation was for 9:00am at the Kona Café and so we waited for Aunt Mimi to arrive by walking around the hotel lobby admiring the decorations. I snuck into Trader Jack’s and purchased two pressed penny books for the girls and as luck would have it when I found them again, they were asking Daddy if they could make a pressed penny! Aunt Mimi arrived and we were escorted to our table. I had wanted to try and play a little joke on the girls and had asked one of the hostesses if they could inform the girls that only those with the name Kona/Cona could be served in that café. With a maiden name of Cona, I thought it would work on the girls. Sadly, though when we got back to be seated another host took us to our table and I was unable to play it out.

Having heard of Tonga Toast so many times before, of course, I ordered it and couldn’t wait to try it. The girls instantly went for the Mickey pancakes and when I saw the size of the platters that arrived, I realized that they could have easily shared one. I enjoyed the Tonga Toast but should have tasted it before I added syrup. It was definitely sweet enough on its own. That didn’t stop me from eating most of it though!

Once the girls had finished eating, I gave them their pressed penny books and the little bag of change that their Brabby Larock had sent along and they were thrilled. They quickly asked Daddy to take them back outside the café to make a few. I mentioned to John that there were a few machines in the hotel and not just the one outside the café and dove into my Passporter to pull out the list I had printed. That set off my sister and John. They just laughed at how extensive my information was and made sure to get a picture of me with the huge Passporter binder. All in good fun though!

From breakfast, we proceeded out to the monorail to start out hotel tour. We stopped next at the Grand Floridian and the decorations were beautiful! The tree in the center lobby just blows you away and then you look down and there is an exquisite gingerbread house. The girls and I took the elevator down to see it since they enjoy riding in it and we quickly realized that the gingerbread house was real! There was a list of all of the ingredients they had used to make it and the list is quite impressive. I loved the fact, there was a cast member actually inside the house with small bags of gingerbread cookies to sell. Can you imagine working with that wonderful smell all around you? The girls found more pressed penny machines and had a field day choosing which ones to get next.

From the Grand Floridian, we traveled by monorail to the Contemporary but not before we passed the Magic Kingdom and got our first look at the 75 Mickey’s that were out front in honor of Mickey’s 75th anniversary. They were really cool and I couldn’t wait to get a closer look on our day at the Magic Kingdom.

The girls found the penny machines right off of the monorail escalator so I left them there with their Dad and headed downstairs to the lobby to look around. I never realized that there were floors below the monorail level! Eventually, my sister and Nina found me just as I had found the Food & Fun. My sister said she’d be right back so Nina and I wandered around the arcade to see what was there. Nina and Julia both love to try the games even if they aren’t really playing so imagine our surprised when two of the games she tried actually had credits in them already! She was thrilled. With the tickets she won, she picked out two Chinese finger puzzles so that she could give one to her sister. We went back upstairs and the girls used some of their spending money to purchase autograph books and pens.

Back out at the monorail, I inquired if the front car had been spoken for and the cast member told us to step right up! Since there were five of us, I rode in the car behind and let everyone else ride up front as we went back to the Polynesian. We then drove back to the Coronado Springs.

This was everyone else’s first glimpse of our hotel so we went into the lobby so that they could look around while I took care of some business at the desk. The Cast Member that assisted me with my Hoop de Doo tickets and our park tickets couldn’t have been nicer. Once I was finished, I found Julia playing in the lobby fountain and Nina playing with a Cinderella’s castle playset in the gift shop. We walked back toward our room stopping at the quiet pool to test the water and found it wonderfully warm! That of course, meant we had to go swimming! The girls and their Dad got changed and headed down to the quiet pool for a bit before moving to the Dig Site. I was really impressed with that pool. The girls tried the Jaguar slide and while Julia didn’t want to go down again, we couldn’t stop Nina. She went over and over and over especially when she found another little girl to go with her! My sister and I sat pool side and enjoyed a margarita while we watched. I highly recommend the melon. Yummy!

Back in the room, we spent some time helping the girls get some of their homework done and spoke with my cousin, Irene who we hoped to see sometime during the next two days.

We dropped my sister off at the Disney Marketplace since she was staying at the Courtyard – smart lady using her credit card points to stay for free – and headed to the Hoop de Doo Review at Pioneer Hall in Fort Wilderness. On the way, the girls fell asleep but Nina woke up once we reached the bus stop at the parking lot. Julia somehow managed to sleep throughout the bus ride and then all the way to a rocking chair outside of Pioneer Hall. Daddy took Nina to press a few pennies while I waited with Julia. I love those rocking chairs and didn’t mind sitting a bit.

We were finally inside Pioneer Hall and were escorted to our table - #24. I don’t know whether I booked really early or we got really lucky but this table was outstanding! We were the second table back from the stage right in the center! When the show started, the girls were initially taken back by the characters coming off of the stage and I actually thought we might have to leave because they seemed so disconcerted but fortunately, there was a break while the food was served and the girls had time to adjust to the idea. By the end of the evening, Nina was laughing and clapping along with Six-Bits and Julia was enamored with Flora. Julia insisted on taking a picture of the little girl at the table next to us and after getting permission from her parents, we let her take it. She also took several other pictures inside and no one knows yet, how they’ll turn out!

Outside, she continued her picture taking frenzy and took one of the Christmas tree. Somehow, Nina got a shot of my back-end and thought it hysterical – I think she’s a little bit like Six-Bits: maybe Two-Bits? Julia wanted to make a few pressed pennies and I wanted to inquire about going on the hayride so we walked down to the store. We had about two minutes to get to the hayride and I hurried back outside to gather everyone and found out that Julia hadn’t taken any opportunities to use the bathroom and was completely soaked and very upset. We knew that was the end of our evening since we hadn’t brought a change of clothes but we weren’t quite sure how we were going to maneuver back onto the bus and back to the hotel from our car. We got to the bus stop and saw a long line and had just about reconciled ourselves to a rather gloomy wait and uncomfortable ride back for Julia when John inquired of the bus driver when we could expect a bus back to the parking lot. Here’s where a bit of pixie dust begins. The bus driver couldn’t figure out how to change the sign on her bus and while all of these people were waiting, she was actually going back to the parking lot and so we were the first ones on! It gets better. As John is walking down the aisle, he spots two clean, dry pool towels lying on a seat! At this point, we knew there was magic in the air! We let Julia sit on one of the towels during the ride back to the parking lot and then stripped her down, cleaned her up with baby wipes I had in the car and wrapped her in the second towel for the trip back to the hotel. Along the way, we called the girls’ grandparents so they could share some of their day with them.

Back at the hotel, the girls drew pictures and listened to Sleeping Beauty as their bedtime story and then we all drifted off to sleep ready for another exciting day.

Day: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9