My Stay at the Contemporary and Polynesian Resorts

Hey everyone. Today I'm going to talk about my stay at resorts during the recent trip I took to WDW. We stayed at The Contemporary Resort (Bay Lake Tower) for the first part of the trip, and the Polynesian-Village Resort for the rest. This will just be some of the highlights of the trip.

The lobby was still decorated for Christmas when we were there. There was garland, wreaths, a Christmas tree, and a menorah.

View from Bay Lake Tower Skybridge

Over on the Grand Canyon Concourse was a gingerbread "Frozen" display.

Nemo cameo as a sand bucket

Christmas Tree at Bay Lake Tower

The room we had was nice. It was on the sixth floor by the elevator, so we just had to go down one floor to access the sky-bridge to the main resort. I didn't take any pictures of the rooms during my trip. We ate at Top of The World for dinner our first night. It's on the 16th floor of Bay Lake Tower and basically serves appetizers and drinks. It was usually very quiet since it was only open to guests staying at Bay Lake Tower. Now any member of Disney's Vacation Club can go up there, so it was pretty crowded. The lounge isn't very big so we were lucky to get a table.We had a few small plates; a cheese plate, steak flatbread, and  pulled pork sliders. Everything was very good. Of course the main draw is the huge observation deck overlooking the Magic Kingdom during Wishes.

After the fireworks we took the monorail to visit the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. I wanted to see their gingerbread house display and Christmas decorations.

The display was really nice, but a little smaller than I expected. We walk around the resort for a little while, it really is a beautiful resort. Later in the week we were able to go back to see some friends of ours who were staying at the DVC units

The fountain in the lobby of the DVC units. I'm sure P.R. Travers would hate this. If you don't get my reference you probably haven't seen "Saving Mr. Banks".

Lobby fountain from above

Our friends view of the Polynesian-Village Resort.

Inside the units are beautiful. I didn't take any room pics again, especially since it wasn't our room. I would love to stay there sometime but it's very pricey. Plus I really like Bay Lake Tower. The first day stood out as far as the resorts go because we didn't have park tickets the first day.  

They were also right by the monorail. Lucky!

 Another resort highlight was eating at The California Grill on top of The Contemporary Resort, which is one of my favorites. I got my usual pork two ways with pork belly and pork loin and a side of polenta.

Here's a picture I took when we ate at The California Grill. It was so clear out that we could see Spaceship Earth at Epcot in the distance. Unfortunately my pics of it were pretty blurry.

Spaceship Earth in the center of the photo

Now on to the other resort. I was excited to stay at The Polynesian-Village Resort. It was our first time staying there since 2005. The Hawaiian touch is there from the moment you arrive and receive leis.

The water fountain outside the lobby, similar to the huge fountain that used to be in the middle of the lobby.

We stayed in the Tuvalu building on the third floor. The nice thing about the third floor is that the rooms have a balcony. We were also right next to the outdoor staircase so we could enter our room very easily. The rooms were redone recently and were really nice. We ate in the food court the first day. I had Thai coconut meatballs which were very good.

Map of the resort in the lobby

The Christmas decorations were still up

I love the feel of the resort. The torches everywhere, the white sandy beaches. Our room was near Luau Cove which we could see a little of from the stairs outside of our floor. Transportation to the parks was quick and easy. We would walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center to take the monorail over to Epcot rather than taking the resort monorail around a full loop. The walk was made a bit more difficult because the quiet pool is closed for renovation which blocked off the middle of the walkway paths.

Fountain at the entrance from the monorail platform

WDW Trip Report Part Three

Day 7

Wednesday, January 7th was our day to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom. We typically only go there once per trip. Not because there isn't enough to do there, but because it's the only park that isn't really connected to the others. MK and EC are connected by monorail, while EC and DHS are connected by boat.

Construction on Avatarland from the bus.

AK's Christmas tree

Tree of life

Construction at Discovery Island of the new Starbucks, I believe.

Construction on the new River of Light night time show

Going on DINOSAUR

 For lunch we headed to Flametree BBQ. We knew it was closed for renovations and a temporary kiosk, was in place nearby. So we went to one of two kiosks serving ribs and chicken, they were both right across from each other. Unfortunately we chose the wrong kiosk. Remember, we're on the dining plan, so we get a dessert with our meal. The Beastly Kiosk we ordered from only had these small individually wrapped cookies for dessert. Across the way at the other kiosk they had the cookies, plus large brownies with caramel sauce. Too bad we didn't know that before we ordered, we even asked if there were any other desserts, but they said they could only substitute fruit.

Our main meal came in a take-out type box. I had the half rack of ribs and chicken. It came with the usual baked beans, but they also brought back an old favorite...cornbread! We sat in the normal seating area, that was still opened. I think it's supposed to be closed now though.

Normal Ordering area closed

My order

The cookie. It was actually good, just small. The brownies were three times as big.

Construction on River of Light from my table

Next we saw the bird show, Flights of Wonder. The birds do fly over the audience so it's not recommended if you're afraid of birds.

An owl flying back to the stage from the audience

Better owl picture

An eagle!

Next we took a ride on Kilimanjaro Safari

See the cheetahs?

After the safari we saw this guy near the Tree of Life

Heading underneath the Tree of Life to see It's Tough to Be a Bug

We ended our visit to The Animal Kingdom at the new Festival of The Lion King area

Leaving The park

We had reservations at Trattoria Al Forno that night. We went there for breakfast on day three. We got an antipasto appetizer. I believe it had capicola, salami, and prosciutto. For dinner I had the bolognese. It was pretty good, but I thought it was missing something. I added more cheese to it, and it seemed to do the trick!

Illuminations began between our dinner and dessert, so I headed over to the bridge between the Boardwalk and Beach Club to watch a bit of them.

For dessert I got what are essentially donuts. They aren't filled with anything, just dough.

Day 8

We had lunch in Japan, I got a chicken and beef combo with rice and veggies and green tea cheesecake for dessert. All of it was delicious.

Heading to The USA pavilion to watch The American Adventure

We took another ride on Test Track

Spaceship Earth

Heading into The Seas with Nemo & Friends

I got some pictures of Sea Base.

Manatee

Some divers in the tank

Dolphin

Then we headed over to The Land

I got some pictures in The Living Laboratories at Living with the Land

Picture of the Imagination pavilion

We had dinner at the Biergarten in Germany. The buffet was great. Good selection of food. The only thing that I was disappointed with was the fact that they no longer had the cheddar cheese soup. Instead they had a potato leek soup. It was very good, but I was looking forward to the cheddar soup. Canada still has the cheddar soup, though.

Performers on stage in the restaurant.

We watched Illuminations from The American Adventure

Ooooh!

Ahhhh

Day 9

We went to Magic Kingdom on January 9th. This was how the hub looked then, now it's almost done!

We ate lunch at The Columbia Harbour House. We sat right between Fantasyland and Liberty Square. I got the fried shrimp!

Liberty Square view

Fantasyland view

Blueberry cobbler for dessert

We headed to Astro Orbiter next. This was my first ride on it since they completely renovated it.

View on the platform outside the elevator

View from flying high in the rocket

Enchanted Tiki Room

I got even more shots of the new hub

I got the high score on Buzz Lightyear!

Monorail to Epcot

The fountain in France

We had Chefs de France for dinner. This is the duck with pureed sweet potato, zucchini, and dried cherries. It was delicious! I also got a cheese plate and the profiterole for dessert (Two light pastries with vanilla ice cream in the middle and hot fudge on top). Everything was superb.

We watched Illuminations from The UK this time!

It was an extra magic hours night! We headed to Test Track where we waited Stand by. This is only the second time I've seen the new stand by queue since the refurbishment.

Vehicles displayed in the queue

Another design

A few pics of the cars in the post show area.

Day 10

We had lunch at Les halles boulangerie & pâtisserie again

Ham & cheese croissant. I really love these.

I saw something on the Disney Food Blog that I really wanted to try. It's called the Coppa Delizia, available at the gelato stand in the Italy pavilion. It has cookies and cream, strawberry, and something called Fior de Latte gelato. It's covered in strawberry sauce, topped with whipped cream, a strawberry, and a wafer cookie.

After lunch we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. I got some more pictures of the hub.

We decided to head over to The Haunted Mansion first. On our way over we were blocked in Liberty Square by the Festival of Fantasy parade. So we watched the parade before heading to the Haunted Mansion,

We headed to The Haunted Mansion after the parade. There was a bit of a crowd, as you may expect.

We headed to The Seven Dwarves Mine Train after, where we had a fastpass

I took this after riding it

Next we took a ride on the Tomorrowland Speedway. I know it's outdated, but I've always enjoyed this ride since I was a kid. I managed to get this picture when there was a huge gap between myself and the other drivers on the track. See the Peoplemover above the Speedway.

Speaking of the Peoplemover!

This is the same spot where I took my picture from the Speedway

A picture of Buzz Lightyear from the peoplemover

I wanted to check out the new lobby at The Polynesian Resort, so we took the water launch from The Magic Kingdom over. Here's a picture of The Grand Floridian from the boat.

Concept art outside Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

The new fountain. Definitely nothing like the original waterfalls.

New lights

Here's a nice area outside the lobby next to the new Pineapple Lanai

I'm not sure if this is new. It's a screen with different information that changes every so often.

Kona Cafe in the background upstairs

From the second floor

New artwork in the second floor elevator area

Pay phones outside the elevators

So the new lobby is definitely different. I understand the change, but I definitely miss the waterfalls. I wasn't too attached to them so I can get used to the new lobby. I do like the brighter, openness of the lobby and that there are more places to sit. It does feel more like a lobby than before. We had dinner reservations at The Whispering Canyon at The Wilderness Lodge. So we hopped on the monorail at The Polynesian and got off at The Contemporary, where we caught the water launch to The Wilderness Lodge. I like exploring the resorts, so I didn't mind all the transferring.

Leaving The Contemporary monorail platform

A few pictures of The Grand Canyon Concourse

Some pictures of the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower from the boat dock

So we ate dinner at The Whispering Canyon where we got the family BBQ skillet. It's served family style, so they bring you the food and you ask for more. We got cornbread, and salad first. Then the skillet of ribs, sausage, pulled pork, chicken, brisket, baked beans, corn, vegetables, and mashed potatoes.

I got the warm chocolate cake for dessert. It has a liquid center.

A few pictures in The Wilderness lodge

We took the boat back to The Magic Kingdom after dinner, for the final time of our trip. It was opened until 1 a.m. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, Under the Sea, Dumbo, and Winnie the Pooh

Here's a few pics of the Main Street U.S.A. Christmas decorations at night

Goodbye Magic Kingdom!

Day 11

Sadly, our final day. We had finished packing and checked our luggage at the Magical Express Check-In desk. Then we walked over to EPCOT.

It was the day of the Marathon. We saw the runners as we entered through International Gateway.

They run in backstage and go through the UK pavilion.

Spaceship Earth

One last ride on Test Track

I stopped by Club Cool for soda

For lunch my party got food from Mexico and China

I had Chinese food

Orange chicken, pork dumplings, and ginger ice cream. All was very good!

We took one last stroll around World Showcase before going back to our resort through International Gateway

Heading out of EPCOT.

Well that's it! We went back to our resort and got The Magical Express to the airport and headed home. I had a great trip, I hope you enjoyed reading about it! Please make sure to follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/Grndcnyncncrse