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Trip Log:
Started my last morning packing up and getting ready to go home. After my suitcase was in good shape I caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom around 8am. Then hopped on the resort Monorail and took it around to the Polynesian. Strolled through the lobby then out to the new Isand Tower. Today was opening day and I wanted to take a look around. Passed by the pool and entered the lobby from the Seven Seas Lagoon side. There were a number of excited guests checking in and a lot of cast members on hand. I walked around the lobby and restaurant area talking to some cast members who were pointing out details. After taking my share of pictures continued on along the Seven Seas Lagoon to the Grand Floridian. Passed through the lobby and hopped on the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Strolled up Main Street USA and into Tomorrowland. Went for a ride on the PeopleMover then caught the Dapper Dans on Main Street USA. The plan was to take the Express Monorail to the TTC but they were not allowing boarding so had to take the resort line. At the TTC transferred to the EPCOT line. At EPCOT walked through the park to reach the Beach Club Villas and get my bags out of the room at the 11am check out time. Waited in the lobby area for a bit then went out to wait for the Mears Connect bus. Our bus showed up only a few minutes late and we were on our way to the airport. No delays dropping the bags so decided to grab something to eat before security. Found a spot near the gate and waited. We boarded more or less on time and left on time. Due to favorable winds arrived into Los Angeles 30 minutes early. Picked up our bags, found our car and headed for home to wrap up this trip.
Thoughts & Observations:
- The last day of vacation always seems to come quickly, no matter how long you stay. This morning was the normal routine of getting up and packing up quickly to try and squeeze a few more park hours into the trip before heading home.
- This trip our airport pickup was at noon, we tried for an extended checkout to 11:30am instead of 11:00 to save the time of checking all the bags and picking them back up. The front desk referred us to house keeping and we were told they may text us with an extension, none came. I thought this was rather disappointing. The room was not ready on time when we arrived and we were asking for only 30 minutes on departure.
- I really do miss the airline checkin at the resorts. I thought that part of Magical Express was a huge timesaver and made travel much smoother.
- I set off just after 8am for the Magic Kingdom area. I just missed a bus, it passed me as I walked up, the app said it left 10 minutes before so I did not make a big push to run to the stop and the next one was due in 15 min so I was right in the middle. Turns out the app was wrong and the screen was flickering black and not loading.
- When the bus did show up only a handful of groups boarded and we were off to the Magic Kingdom with no delays. Security was quick this morning. The Resort Monorail was arriving as I walked up. The trip to the Polynesian was relatively slow given how few people were boarding/disembarking at each stop. We seemed to sit for several minutes at each with no activity.
- The Polynesian’s lobby Christmas decorations looked on par with previous years. Nothing too different jumped out at me as I walked through the lobby.
- The reason for my visit this morning is today is opening day for the Island Tower at Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. This newest Disney Vacation Club property consists of a bar & grill, pool area, and gym in addition to the rooms on the upper floors. There are also a couple terraces looking out of the tower.
- The new Island Tower feels out of place to me. It does not blend with the existing Polynesian Village Resort like the Bungalows do. It looks and feels like a separate hotel even though it is not. The look of the building is not similar to the rest of the resort and being a tall tower vs long house design makes it stand out even more. Details and immersion are missing and it comes off feeling like a hotel vs a resort or Disney destination. One small example. The walkways of the Polynesian have torches along them. The new area does not.
- The pool area seemed average with a fun little Moana area. But it is located on the main walkway and had almost no shade which seemed less than ideal in both instances.
- I walked into the lobby from the Seven Seas Lagoon side and there were a lot of cast members on hand to greet guests. Assuming this was an opening day phenomenon and on regular days there will only be one or two cast members around to assist with checkin. Everyone was friendly and eager to talk about the new hotel.
- The lobby itself was new and had a modern feel to it. It did not have a very Disney feel. It seemed like any run of the mill hotel you’d find in Hawaii. A couple random island touches and that was about it. I was hoping for more of an Aulani feel and this was more a Hilton or Sheraton impression. A nice hotel but not a Disney Resort feel. To be fair if you dug into the details you could find a little Disney such as character references or the concept art on the 2nd floor.
- The Wailulu Bar & Grill is off to one side of the lobby space featuring views out toward the pool and Seven Seas Lagoon. The layout of the dining space being long and narrow felt odd to me. Again it looked nice and had some touches but the focus was on sustainable art. I was there early and did not eat anything. A cast member did walk me through and point out some details which was nice.
- I did not go on any tours of the rooms or upper floors. They did not seem overly eager to provide them and I was short on time so did not press/ask either.
- Stepping out the back of the hotel and seeing the Seven Seas Lagoon and Magic Kingdom are great views and having more options for them I am all for. My biggest complaint is the size and scale of the building and lack of integration to the rest of the resort. I know they went tall to offer more views but it just looks out of place to me.
- One other note the tower is located right next to the Wedding Pavilion so it is a decent hike to the bus and even Monorail. The boat dock is a moderate walk. The walkway to the Grand Floridian has reopened now that construction is complete so I went that way to catch the Monorail at the Grand Floridian to save a stop. It did not seem too much further than going back to the Poly lobby.
- I made a quick stop at the Magic Kingdom where I only had time for one trip on the PeopleMover and to catch the Dapper Dans go by on a street car. The park seemed quiet as you would expect on a party morning, but the crowd was building as I left.
- There was no express Monorail option when I left. You had the ferry boat or resort line. I opted for the resort line which was slow but not busy. At the TTC the Express Monorail was backed up down the ramp and into a switch back. I transferred to the EPCOT line which had no line, just a wait between monorails since one was pulling out as I exited the Monorail.
- Arrived at EPCOT and walked at a good pace through the park to the International Gateway. I needed to get back to my room and meet the rest of my group and get our bags out before 11am. I made it with over 10 minutes to spare.
- Went out a little early to catch the bus to see if there was space on an earlier bus. No 11:30 bus stopped today of course so had to wait till noon. There are no benches at the airport bus stop which is rather annoying. You have to sit way back by the lobby, on the ground or stand.
- Around noon a bus showed up to drop guests off. The couple parties waiting with us joked that it would leave, turn around and come back and get us for our 12:05pm pickup. Turns out he did! The bus showed up a few minutes late and the driver was scrambling. Seems after his drop off instead of a break they assigned him this route so he came back and picked us up. He app had not updated though so he had no ones reservation. We all boarded and by the time he was ready to pull out the app had updated and he checked us all in.
- The ride to the airport was uneventful. We had one stop at the Swan then made a stop at Terminal C at the airport even though no one was traveling out of there.
- Delta checkin was not crazy with only a few groups in line so we waited and checked in. For lunch we stopped by the food court. The Chick-Fil-A has to be one of the slowest. There were maybe a handful of people in front of me and the rest of my group had time to get food elsewhere and eat by the time I got to the table. It is annoying they do not support mobile order there. Also FYI the McDonald’s does not allow mobile deals or rewards. They also said you would not earn points on the order, but we did.
- The TSA wait was posted at 12-20 minutes. We had pre-check which took just as long thanks to a less than efficient merge point with Clear. They had Clear jumping in front of three precheck queues for two different TSA stations. I do not understand why Clear does not have their own dedicated line. Why hold up the regular lines and not do it efficiently.
- The gates really are showing some wear and tear. The first set of gates was freezing yet out by ours it was hot. Things were worn and busy. Also the way the gates are at the end is crazy with not nearly enough space for people to queue up or wait. Also Delta had two flights at the same time and one 15 minutes difference all leaving from adjacent gates at the end. So it was a mob of people.
- The inbound flight from Los Angeles was a tad late but we still managed to board and depart more or less on time. It is interesting as this is the same flight.. meaning the inbound and return to Los Angeles are the same flight number and has the same crew. Today the winds were favorable and we arrived into LAX 30 minutes early with a sub 5 hour flight time.
- To my amazement the gate at LAX was ready and we were off the plane with no delays. Baggage was a tad slow with one truck unloading quickly then a good pause before the second round came.
- The bus ride to the parking lot was uneventful, but still slow going having to stop at the other 5 terminals on the way. I really hope the new train system makes this process better. It is due to open in a year.
- The drive home was average traffic and uneventful.
Pedometer Information for the day:
| Steps |
8,279 |
| Miles |
3.79 |
| Walking Time |
1:15 |
| Total Time |
3:57 |
Full picture and video sets coming soon...
Addition Blog Picture Posts from today:
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