Looking to start this Disney World review at the beginning? You can find Days 1-4
HERE,
HERE,
HERE, and
HERE
DAY 5:
Today, my sister and her co-worker had to go to a work conference so I had the whole day to myself.
We were up at 7:00AM, showered and dressed, and eating at the Pepper Market breakfast buffet at our hotel by 8:15.
After breakfast, Lisa and Beth left for their meeting and I went back to our hotel room to get ready for my day.
Around 10:00AM, I set out to explore Disney World on my own.
My agenda for today was to try to explore a few of the hotels. The first hotel I wanted to see was the Boardwalk. I walked to Bus Stop # 2 and I got on the first bus that came along. It was going to Epcot. It's fairly easy to get around Disney World, and I knew that I could get to any hotel from any of the parks. They all have busses going to each hotel.
I got to Epcot and asked one of the Cast Mates what was the best way to get to the Boardwalk Hotel. He told me I could take a bus, I could walk, or I could take a boat. A BOAT!!! Sure, I'd like to take a boat!
He gave me directions to the boat, which involved entering Epcot park, walking back toward Britain (where we had eaten dinner the night before) and finding the boat dock by the lake.
I entered the park, and walked back toward Brittain. I noticed the Fairy Garden, Lisa and I didn't have time to see this yet. I was a little excited since I had all day long, and plenty of time to walk through the garden!
Pics from my stroll through the Fairy garden:
It was a foresty-garden area with adorable displays of Fairies all around. It was really cute:
And way in the back was a really cute little children's play area.
And a kid-sized gazebo with a tree & stump table and chairs. It was adorable!!
They made a butterfly with flowers!!!
After my walk through the Fairy Garden, I continued on through Epcot to find Britain.
Epcot is beautiful! SO much to look at.
See the little teacup on the right?
Oh my gosh! I want a little teacup with flowers planted inside!
Soon I found Britain and the path to the right that would take me to the boat dock.
When I got there I saw this boat ready to leave for the Boardwalk.
I actually took this pic of the boat the night before while Lisa and I were walking around. I had no idea I would be riding on it to the Boardwalk today!
A closer pic of my boat to the boardwalk:
And a look inside the boat. There weren't many people trying to get to the Boardwalk at 10:45 AM. I think there was one other couple on the boat with me.
We arrived at the Boardwalk, and I did a little looking around. It's a very nice hotel, with a peaceful feeling.
The lobby area was smaller than I thought it would be. Pictures make this space look very large.
After I spent some time at the Boardwalk, I went out to their bus stop to catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom.
I would find a boat from the MK to the Polynesian Hotel, my next stop for the day.
I was SO EXCITED to visit the Polynesian. I had never been there, and it is a hotel I have had my eye on for a long time. I wanted to check it out in person to see if it is a good place for Tim and I to stay when we come back.
I said goodbye to the Boardwalk, and rode the bus to the Magic Kingdom Park. When I got there, I didn't have to enter the park. Instead, I walked down to the lake in front of the park.
Too many years of reading other people's Disney World reviews, and too much time spent on the DISBOARDS has taught me a bit about getting around Disney World. After reading about it so often, I was happy to finally get to ride a boat from the Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian.
When I got to the dock area, I was even more excited that my boat was a really cute little boat!
It was adorable!!!
It didn't take long to get across the lake to the Polynesian. I think we stopped at the Grand Floridian first to let a few people off.
I was instantly in love with the Polynesian as soon as I got there!
It was everything I hoped it would be!!
I could see the Contemporary Hotel across the lake.
And the Poly has a zero-enrty pool right on the beach!
The pool area had a very cool waterfall.
And little tiny boats to rent:
Cute little bicycle things:
I thought the buildings were interesting. This was a walkway along the outside of the lobby.
Inside the lobby area.......WOW!!! It was sooooo nice!!!
In this pic you can see a bit of the ceiling, and the rugs. very cool
And the waterfall!!!
I really loved the Coronado Springs Resort, but the Poly is AMAZING!!!
These drum tables had marble tops. (there is one in the background too)
Look at the rug!!!
The sound of the water rushing from the waterfalls, the flowers and plants EVERYWHERE........mixed with the tribal decor.................I fell in love with the Polynesian.
While I was in the lobby area, I looked in the gift shop for a few minutes. I wanted to find something that said "Polynesian" on it, but I didn't end up buying anything.
Next I walked around the grounds of the hotel. It was just gorgeous!!
I spent about an hour walking around. It was a really nice property. I got a lot of photos and video to be able to show Tim.
I went back to the lobby area (I think it's called Jambo House) and went upstairs to find the Monorail.
I took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom Park, and went back to the busses that would take me to my hotel. It was about 1:30 and I was getting hungry and tired.
Back at my hotel, I walked to Cafe Rix and refilled my cup and then ordered a club sandwich to take back to my room. The sandwich was HUGE. I couldn't eat much more than half of it.
After I was refueled with food, drink and a bit of rest (and Disney TV!!) I decided to explore my own Hotel a little more. I still had a few hours before Lisa and Beth would be back from their meeting.
I grabbed my camera, and set out to explore the hotel and walk around Lago Dorado, the lake in the middle of Coronado Springs resort. The walk is just under a mile all the way around the lake.
I have to say, the Coronado Springs is also beautiful!
Here are some pics from my afternoon walk:
I was standing near the lake, looking back at our building.
Map of the Coronado Springs property:
Standing at my favorite smoking spot near our building, looking at the lobby building. The property was huge! It took 3-5 minutes to walk from our hotel room to the lobby area, depending on how fast we were walking.
zooming in on the lobby area. It really was pretty:
Some fountains in the courtyards near our building in the Casitas area:
I loved the old pots in this fountain.
I walked into the exercise room to take a few pics. Lisa and I had talked about working out here while we were on this trip, but we never did.
Back out to get started on my walk around the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon:
I spotted this hammock:
It looked very inviting, and I wasn't really very busy........so........
yeah, I took a little rest.
Actually, I almost fell asleep there. I was so comfortable, and the sunshine felt good:
My view from my comfortable hammock.
Now I want a hammock!
(and a drum coffee table and a teacup with flowers!)
Ok, I was supposed to be walking around the lake.
I made myself get out of the hammock, and I continued my walk.
The path around the lake was nice for a stroll:
Lillypads:
And more lillypads!
There are two other areas of the hotel, I think this part was called Ranchos:
And this part was called Cabanas:
I was ALL THE WAY on the other side of the lake from where I started:
Pretty flowers I saw along the way:
And now I was back near the lobby area:
The Laguna Bar, the outdoor bar at the lake:
The boat house:
The doors to get back into the lobby area:
Walking toward Cafe Rix, where we could get food and get our cups re-filled. I stopped in here after my walk to buy a bottle of water:
A quick stop to peek inside the Maya Grill. I wished we hadn't cancelled our reservations here, it looks like a fun place to eat. Maybe next time!
Inside the Maya Grill:
Walking back to my room, there are comfortable places to sit everywhere:
One of the walkways back to my room from the lobby:
And finally back to my "area" after a nice walk.
Casitas 3
It was around 4 when I got back to the room.
Any guesses what I did next?
I turned out all of the lights, turned on some Disney TV and I took a nice two hour nap!!!
I really needed that! The late nights, all of the walking, and ALL THE FOOD was finally catching up with me. I needed one more burst of energy to spend one last evening at Hollywood Studios.
My nap did the trick and I was feeling refreshed by 6:30 when Lisa and Beth got back from their work meeting.
We all freshened up and went out to catch the next bus to Hollywood Studios.
We made it to the park around 7 and went straight to MaMa Melrose's, the restaurant we had our dinner reservation at for that night. We hadn't originally planned on eating here, but after some switching of plans, I was glad we got the last minute reservation here.
I generally don't like Italian Restaurants, but this place was very good. (I don't think we had a bad meal the entire time we were at Disney)
I ordered steak, of course. I think this was the 3rd time this week I had steak for dinner.
After dinner, I wanted to go out to have a cigarette, but for some reason my sister didn't want me to leave the table. She kept asking me to wait for her. Odd, she didn't care any other night if I walked out ahead of them to have my smoke.
okayfine. I waited for her.
And I soon found out why she wanted me to wait.
The waitress came along with this huge birthday cupcake with a candle on top. And a birthday hat.
ALL FOR ME!!!!
Ok, my birthday wasn't really for a few hours yet, but I WAS AT DISNEY WORLD and it was my last night there, so you bet'cha I was gonna celebrate!!! WOOHOO!!!
Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me, and Sam blew out my candle!
Me and Sam at my "birthday party" at MaMa Melrose's at the Hollywood Studios park!!!
Oh yum!!!
And I did wear the hat all around the park for the rest of the night!! (It's DISNEY....... 3/4ths of the people there are wearing stupid hats and different variations of mouse ears......I fit right in!!)
So after we finished dinner, and dessert (Thanks Lisa!!! That was fun, and I was definitely surprised!), we all walked out into the park for our last evening of Disney.
We rode Star Tours, and Lisa did ride with me this time. She liked it.
Lisa and I watched Sam and Baby Abby while Bill and Beth took their turn.
Then we headed over to the TOWER OF TERROR!!!
I really wasn't planning to ride this ride at all, but Bill talked me into it. Lisa and Beth decided to sit with the kids while we rode.
I was terrified to ride this..........and they put us in the front row seats, so I was getting really worked up before the ride started.
I had no idea what to expect, but I was plenty scared.......I knew it involved sudden drops.
I absolutely LOVED IT!!!
It was so much fun, Bill and I rode it again!!!
I just loved the Tower Of Terror! It was fantastic!!!
After Tower of Terror, we all went to ride Toy Story. The wait was about 40 minutes, but we really wanted to ride it. We were glad we waited, and of course, Disney entertains you the entire time you wait.
The Toy Story ride was really good! Lisa and I both really liked it. We didn't get to see who got the high score (although it probably would have been me!!) because we rode with Sam in our car and he was shooting things with both of our guns.
We did have a good time though!
After Toy Story, we were all pretty tired. Lisa and I spent some more time in the gift shops, and we walked out to the bus area.
We got back to the hotel around 1:00AM
WE HAD SO MUCH FUN AT DISNEY WORLD!!!!
So sad it was coming to an end.
Day 6 coming up..........
