10 Days at the Polynesian 🌴 Trip Report Sep 2024

DAY 4 – Epcot & First LL Multi Experience – Sep 4, 2024

We got up again later, slept in. Love that part of vacation. No rush to get up. We ate a casual breakfast in the room and worked for an hour, then had to go, since we had our first try of the LL Multi experience. Our schedule is Spaceship Earth first, so we can try for another Tier 1 quickly after entering the park, then Figment and then Remy early afternoon.

We took the monorail to Epcot and got in around 11am. Our first LLM was for 11:10 at SSE, which was perfect timing. And good thing, the line was 30 min wait. We walked right on. After tapping in, I checked and was able to get a Soarin right away that would fit in perfectly. So, after SSE, we strolled that direction. Frozen showed already totally booked.

Soarin only had a 20 min wait when we got there, but we had the LLM, so walked right in and on the ride. I checked again after tapping in to see if we could snag Frozen, no luck. Said no more left. So I grabbed a Living With the Land, as it had a 20 min wait too (weird). After Soarin, DW was not feeling so hot, so we skipped LLWL and Figment and just sat for a bit, then walked around.

We skipped any further rides, which was fine, as we enjoy F&W and just walking, shopping and going to shows. DW just was not feeling great. Remy will have to wait for another day. The LL Multi seemed to be a nice idea, glad we tried it but unless it is stupid busy in a park, we will skip it I bet. We like to just do what we feel like doing, not be tied to a phone and app. Plus, the crowds are pretty light and we have been getting on most things quickly anyway.

We decided to start at Mexico and walk around a bit. We just walked and when we were in Japan, I was hungry, so we went to the restaurant on the hill to the left. Name escapes me now. I got the Terryaki Chicken, which is always good. DW just had some white rice to get to feeling better. After that, we decided to call it and head back to make it a lazy day.

On our way back, buckets of rain came down and we got a bit wet, even with the ponchos. Disney in September! Afternoon showers are almost guaranteed. We made our way to the shops and looked a bit in the shops, then headed to the monorail. The rain held off and we were able to get back to the room without further rain.

I worked for about 30 min, then took a light nap. The weather was ominous, so we did not want to go to the pool. A couple hours later, we did go to the adult pool and grab a wrap and a drink. While we ate, the rain came down again. After we ate, we decided to head to the main house and look in the shops again. DW saw a sweatshirt she liked, but size was out. CM checked and we should be able to find it tomorrow at AK.

We then strolled around the resort and bit and stopped at the beach for a little while. Then on back to the room. We are in for the night. I plan on early to bed as I am reading a good book I want to get back to. I may put in an hour of work, we shall see. As I write this, it is not looking good!! LOL

Was not the best day but still, any day at Disney and with my DW is a great day. Sometimes doing nothing or less than you plan is still ok! Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom. I have a FoP LL at 11:45, so looking forward to that. It is my fav ride!

DAY 5 – Animal Kingdom – Sep 5, 2024

Another late morning sleeping in and just relaxing in the AM. Ate a light breakfast in the room, worked only for around 30 min, then headed out to catch the bus to AK. We had ILL to FoP at 11:45, so needed to get moving. As we rounded the corner at the bus stop, the AK bus was waiting for us, so we walked right on.
It was a cloudy morning but no rain. We were the ONLY 2 people on the bus. I think that has never happened before. When we stopped at the Floridian, no one got on there either. Had the bus all to ourselves. We arrived but the spot was taken by another Poly bus that was dropping off and picking up. Guess that explains the empty bus, they were stacked on each other.

We headed into the park around 11:25. We walked up around and into Pandora, as we did not have time to do much else. Our ILL was for 11:45. DW was still a little under the weather, so passed on going on FoP. I rode twice, since we paid for both. I took it for the team. It was not hard, since it is my favorite ride. And it did not disappoint. I simply love that ride. The standby line was only 45 min, not bad, but glad I had the ILL’s.

When we got out, we walked out and decided to catch the Lion King show which started at 1:00. We had some time to kill, so dropped into a shop to browse, but did not get anything. We went to the Lion King show and they had already sent the line in and were “filling in spots.” We actually got a good spot and the show was great, as always.
Once we got out, we decided to go on a Safari. It was still overcast and hot, so we did not expect to see too many animals. The wait was only 10 min and basically a walk-on. Our driver went a little fast and did not stop much, but there was not much activity. The animals were resting from the heat and humidity. We did see the baby zebras, they are just too cute. Plus, some giraffes and elephants. The male lion was snoozing on the rock. Otherwise, uneventful.

After we got out of the safari, we strolled over to the bird show. I ate the rest of some popcorn I had in my bucket to tide me over, as we had not gotten lunch yet. We’ll likely skip it and get an early dinner at this point. The bird show had a few new things in it, which was nice. Mostly the same and always enjoyable. When we got out it was raining lightly. We wanted the passholder magnets that were giving out in Dinoland, so we walked over there, and it had stopped by the time we got there.
From there, we headed over to the shops to look for a sweatshirt DW liked at Poly, but they were out of her size. They had it in one of the shops, but there were some weird marks on it, so she passed. We’ll look at Disney Springs later this week. I saw a shirt I may go back and get if I don’t find anything else. DW wants me to find something for my birthday on the 10th (we leave that day).

It was about 4pm and the weather was starting to come in, so we decided to head back to the Polynesian. We had about a 15 min wait for the bus, then we were off. When we got back to the room, we checked menus and decided Kona Café was the ticket and they had a 5:10 reservation, so we grabbed it. The main building has been downright cold, so we changed into jeans and brought jackets with us.

We walked out and there were a few sprinkles. No sooner did we get in the main building and the sky opened. It poured with thunder and lightning to boot. That lasted most of the time we were there. Great timing for us to get there when we did. And it was freezing! So glad we grabbed pants and light jackets. When we got to the restaurant, we did not have to wait. They asked if we were celebrating anything. Since my BD is 5 days away, we said no. Maybe should have said yes to get the cupcake. LOL

Dinner was good. We both had the Salmon with a side of mashed potatoes. The rolls were tasty. I usually don’t like bread, but I liked their rolls. I ordered a Maui Brewing Pineapple Wheat beer. It was different and I can’t say I did not like it, but I did not love it. I finished it, so I would order it again. Better than many beers I have had. Weird but worth another try. DW got a Kona Big Wave. Nothing caught our eye for desert and since we needed some stuff from Instacart/Publix, we decided to order desert from there.
When we were done, we headed back to the room, as DW wanted to get ready for the season opening game (Chiefs/Ravens). She ordered a few things for the rest of the week from Instacart/Publics and then we took showers and waited for delivery. The guy struggled to find the drop-off. Bell services dropped it off quickly thankfully, as DW ordered slices of cake and some ice cream for my BD. That was sweet.

Another slow day. Just what we need right now. So, a good day. DW felt much better, and we were able to do a lot of things we love, so a good day all in all. In January we will have a 16 year-old, so it will not be relaxing like this one! We are going to keep the lazy going the rest of the trip! We watched the game, ate cake and ice cream and just relaxed. I worked a little bit but could not get motivated and instead wrote this report.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to be at Hollywood Studios. We’ll likely start there and end up at Epcot for F&W dinner. No LL’s so we can sleep until we get up and take our time. The afternoon showers are a bit of a bummer, but it is September. We’ll make it work. Still in my happiest place on earth and loving every minute. Right now marks our halfway point in the vacation. 10 days is the perfect trip IMHO.

I will post some pics of the baby zebras and some of the other animals today.

Sounds like you had so much fun! I think we tour much like you do. It's so easy to just slip in things when it's only the two of you. It's a great time to be there right now since kids have just started school so crowds are probably the lowest you'll ever see them... and that shows from your short waits for things like MMRR and ROTR. When you eat breakfast in the room are you getting food from Captain Cooks? We like to sit at the tables just outside the restaurant.

We also realized there are bathrooms up there as well - I have been up there a few times and never noticed! LOL So, secret rest area as well.

I just added some photos to the previous posts. I like to keep them together!

Today is HS plus likely Epcot. Hoping we have a nice day and less rain, but if not, we'll deal with it. Have a magical day everyone!

Katsura Grill has that outdoor seating spot on the left as you go up the steps; it's in the shade, great place to chill with some kakigori and get out of the sun. Shh. Don't tell anyone.