'Ohana Means Family

Hi there,

Sunday was the last day of our Disney vacation! It's been fun getting to relax and have fun with my family before the DCP starts. It was my first time staying at the Polynesian Resort and I loved everything about it. I have always wanted to stay here, but never had the chance. We were originally going to be staying at the Boardwalk Inn Resort this vacation due to construction but changed our minds. Although there is construction, we are still having a great time here. A few of my favorite things about this resort:

-The View

• Staying close to Magic Kingdom and being able to see Cinderella's Castle from the resort is great. The resort has a beach on Seven Seas Lagoon and you can watch the Wishes fireworks show from the beach. It's nice not having to deal with the mad rush of people leaving the park once the fireworks end. There's also an Electrical Water Pageant at night in the Seven Seas Lagoon. 

-The Monorail

• I've never stayed at a monorail resort but I'm obsessed now. You can take the monorail to the other monorail resorts (Grand Floridian or Contemporary) as well as Magic Kingdom and the TTC (transfers you to Epcot). It's fun riding the monorail to the parks instead of riding the busses. The worst part about the monorail is the line to after the parks close. We had a character meal at Chef Mickey's and 1900 Park Fare so it was fun riding over to the other monorail resorts and being able to explore. 

-Food

• Holy yum, the food at the Polynesian is so good. I've eaten at 'Ohanas before for the character breakfast as well as the Spirit of Aloha Luau (which is so cool, btw). The sweet bread is to die for. It's a bread with coconut and pineapple and YUM is all I gotta say. We had dinner at 'Ohanas for my brother's birthday and it was delicious. Everything is served family style and I couldn't get enough. The best treat at the Polynesian though is the Dole Whip. This stuff is life changing. There's only a small number of places in the world you can get this stuff. A Dole Whip is soft-serve ice cream with pineapple juice. I guess it's like a pineapple juice float. You can get vanilla or pineapple soft-serve. It's delicious, there's a reason these are so famous. You can't get Dole Whips at the Polynesian right now, but once Captain Cook's is renovated (which is very soon) then they will be back. 

I had to say goodbye to my family on Sunday morning. We had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch at 'Ohanas then they were on their way back to Oklahoma. I hate goodbyes but I can't wait to start my DCP!

Thanks for reading,

Katie

Curiouser and Curiouser

Hi there,

I've been in Florida for a few days now. We got on Disney property Sunday late afternoon and checked in to the Polynesian. All we did that night was Chef Mickey's for dinner. Yesterday we went to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We dined at the Tusker House for lunch and it was incredible. I can't believe we've never been there before. The food was great, especially for a Disney buffet. The characters were fun too- Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy in cute safari costumes.

We had our character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare this morning. This consists of Alice, the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, and Winnie the Pooh. I’m obsessed with Alice so this was the meal I was probably most excited about on our vacation. Not to mention the Grand Floridian is beautiful. The food was good, just your typical breakfast food. The Grand Floridian has this strawberry soup that's supposed to be great so I tried and I'm not the biggest fan. The characters were very fun, they all had quite large personalities. My favorite was definitely the Mad Hatter. He's hilarious. He was cracking all sorts of jokes and we couldn't stop laughing. We couldn't even get a decent photo because we were laughing the entire time. 

Kisses with Pooh (1900 Park Fare)

My brothers and I with Mary Poppins (1900 Park Fare)

My home girl (1900 Park Fare)

Always laughing (1900 Park Fare)

Goofy (Chef's Mickey)

Sassiest Daisy (Tusker House)

Out of the three character meals, Tusker House was my favorite when it came to food but 1900 Park Fare was my favorite in regards to the characters. Chef Mickey's is great because it's the only place you get to meet the fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto) but the dinner food was not that great. Everything depends on the experience you're looking for. All character meals I've been to have been fun and have great character interaction, but the food is not always great. 

Thanks for reading,
Katie

And I'm Almost There...

Sorry for not posting, there's very little going on in my life at the moment. That's about to change though because......

I LEAVE FOR DISNEY IN ONE WEEK. 

I can't wait! Almost everything is ready to go, I've just have a few minor things to take care of. We're leaving late next Friday night and should be in Florida in the early evening on Saturday. The drive from Oklahoma to Orlando is brutal, but well worth it. We're having our family summer vacation for a week, then my program will start. My parents changed the reservation a million times, but we're staying at the Polynesian. We were originally at the Grand Floridian, then the Polynesian, then the Boardwalk, and now the Polynesian. 

My goal is to post once a day during vacation but who knows if I actually will. My brother and I like to make a list of things to accomplish during our Disney vacations but I haven't had any motivation to make a list since I already have my own bucket list for the DCP. But we are doing the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) so hopefully I can post about our dining experiences. We are going to be at the Disney parks for 4 days as well as spending a day at Universal Studios (Harry Potter World-get ready for me). 

I'll post my packing list later for kicks and gigs, if anyone has interest to know how I managed to pack only one suitcase for 5 months. It was not a fun task but I got it done. 

Running update: There's very little happening here as well. Running 3-4 days a week, just 20 minute runs. My runs have been short since it's been over 100 degrees around here lately. 

German update: Yah...the struggle is real on learning a foreign language. I know the alphabet and a few basic phrases. Still practicing my pronunciation, it's improved but I haven't gotten the hang of it yet. I probably won't update about my German unless I start getting better at it. 

I know my blog is currently the definition of lame, but I do nothing but work so there is not much to post about. 

Thanks for reading,
Katie