Another day, another missed rope drop – we just couldn’t muster the energy today. We rose a little before nine, and everyone seemed to be in a somber mood. CP and I start a last load of laundry and begin a concerted effort to pack for our afternoon move to the Polynesian. Quickly, however, we realize that thanks to our souvenir purchases – as well as the fact that things never pack as easily on the way home as they did on the way down – we need to buy a second suitcase to get everything home.  For the third time this week, it’s off to Target for us, with a quick stop at Starbucks on the way for some lattes and breakfast pastry. Frankly, we’re both relieved to be out of the villa and away from my grandparents for a bit; it’s just hard for both of us to believe how poorly this trip went, in many ways.

Once at Target, we locate a Swiss Army suitcase that meets our approval (pro tip: we’ve had Swiss Army luggage for years, and it is GREAT – it can definitely take a beating, and you won’t go broke buying it), we returned to the villa for final packing.  My grandparents have finished their packing, so while CP finishes ours, my grandfather and I haul their luggage downstairs so we can take it to the Hospitality House and check it in for their flight back to Detroit. Once again, the wheels come off – metaphorically speaking.  When we arrive at the airport check-in desk, we’re informed that because my grandparents checked in online the night before (and thus had already printed boarding passes), their luggage could not be checked except for at the airport.

I really thought at this moment my grandfather was going to cry. As it was, he put his head down on the counter, absolutely dejected. I think the stress of my grandmother’s illness had put him in an uncomfortable position of having to be in charge, and this deviation from plan was just something he couldn’t handle.  I jump into crisis mode, reassure him that we’ll work it out, and we drive back to the villa. The mood plummets further.

Once CP and I finish packing our luggage, we haul it downstairs and into the Malibu to take it to the Hospitality House for transfer to the Polynesian. OF COURSE we find out that the guy who does resort-to-resort transfers has already left for the day, so I figure it’s time to enact plan C – do we need to drive luggage to the Polynesian and come back to get my grandparents and their bags? Luckily, however, in a moment of pure Disney hospitality, another Cast Member (Jason, say hi to him, nice guy) volunteers to drive our bags for us. Problem solved.

We kill time snacking and watching tv until I finally prod my grandparents to relinquish the villa around 1:20 – well after normal check-out, and the cleaning people were swarming to get in. It was a somber, somber drive back to MCO. I recall making a comment to my grandmother that I hoped she felt better soon, and she replied gravely that she’d try, if it wasn’t her cancer that was back. Suddenly, it hit me – her bad moods, the tension, the emotionally draining silences – she thought her cancer was back and was scared to death. I suddenly had more sympathy, but wished she could have verbalized some of this during the week, instead of persisting in quiet suffering. We all would have benefited, I think.

In any case, we arrived at MCO, parked, and CP and I hauled in their luggage. The Delta check-in line was mercifully swift, and we said goodbye to them just before security. It was an odd goodbye, short, unemotional…in short, kind of jarring. In retrospect I think it was because she was so terrified of cancer, but it was an odd ending to a shared trip we had spent months looking forward to.

Watch out. He spits!

After watching my grandparents head through security, we headed back to the car, feeling relieved. We decided to go to Downtown Disney for a quick lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express.  We split the curried chicken salad (pretty decent) and the infamous BBQ chicken pizza (soggy, greasy, and gross). For the third and final time, we were underwhelmed by our WPE experience. The only solution we could see to our food-related sorrows was a trip to the Ghirardelli store, where I had the Gold Rush sundae (hello, peanut butter!) and CP the Midnight Reverie (hello, dark chocolate!) Unlike previous Ghirardelli sundaes these didn’t disappoint at ALL, and we left much happier than we had arrived. After a quick stop at the pin store, we were off to the Polynesian for our first ever club-level stay.

On the drive over our shared giddiness almost couldn’t be contained. I have loved the Poly since I stayed there on my first WDW visit in 1983. I last stayed there in 2001 while on the College Program, so other than brief walks through the grounds and the shops, I hadn’t had much Poly experience in over ten years. I was also particularly excited to see what the club level experience would be like. I have to admit: we were underwhelmed.

Granted, in the scheme of things these things don’t really matter. But other than receiving a special gold-colored parking pass, the only thing that set our club level experience apart from a normal deluxe hotel experience was the lounge and the turn-down service. We weren’t escorted to the Hawaii building for private check-in. We weren’t offered leis, nor did we receive gold Keys to the World cards. For the amount of money we paid for the room – even with a 40% discount! – I thought the special attention was a bit lacking.

In any case, once we checked in at the Great Ceremonial House, we walked ourselves to the Hawaii building and headed to our room, 1524. The room was lovely, although little things piqued my interested and left me slightly annoyed – crumbs on the floor in plain sight, mold in the tub that hadn’t been cleaned – things I wouldn’t expect in a deluxe hotel, club level or no. In retrospect I suppose we could have complained, but we’re people who like to go with the flow, so we left good enough alone. Our room was on the first floor and had a lovely view of the quiet pool, and we were lucky to have good neighbors – both pluses.

Mickey and our concierge welcome gift.

Welcome gift close-up.

Love the light-up closets!

After settling our carry-on bags, we walked back to the Great Ceremonial House to request that Bell Services deliver our suitcases, and we had to grab a couple things out of the car. Bell Services arrived back in our room promptly, so promptly we barely beat them back to the room.  It was a little before five, so I killed time by calling my mother, and then we headed to the lounge to check out the offerings.  The lounge itself seemed a bit dated, but it was spacious, light, and offered a great view of the water. CP had a Diet Coke, and I started with a Kona Longboard – a decent beer offering, especially for WDW. The evening’s offerings included cocktail meatballs, crab rangoon, kim chee, sundried tomato hummus and pita. There was also some good cheese – havarti, cheddar, and boursin, with plentiful fresh fruit – and pineapple and caramel sauce. It didn’t blow us over, but it provided more than enough for a good snack. We took a Diet Coke and a POG punch for the road (papaya/orange/guava juice with some kind of alcohol, yum), and then went back to the room to relax until 6pm or so, when we departed for Hollywood Studios. On the agenda: TSM, TSM, TSM.

Just hangin' out in line.

Once at the Studios, we booked it for TSM and were pleased to find a 30 minute (posted) line. Hah, ha. I clocked the wait at 47 minutes, and unlike many previous rides, we weren’t pulled out of line because we were a party of two.  While boarding I had a pleasant conversation with a Cast Member from Michigan about my 50mm lens, and then we were off to the midway. I ended up with a score of 162k, CP 129k, leading us to wonder – have we plateaued?  Figuring the line was too long to brave again, we headed to the Osborne Lights for some final pictures:

FOUND HIM.

So long, fake snow.

We then returned to the Polynesian. We parked, browsed the gift shops, and then headed to the lounge to scope out the evening dessert/liqueur offerings. A few things we saw along the way:

Yes, I take pictures in elevators.

Hey Pluto!

Christmas decor in the GCH. Understated bordering on uninteresting.

More Christmas decor.

Love this.

I had Kahlua and coffee, CP had Amarula and coffee. By the time we arrived the remaining desserts included banana cake with cream cheese frosting (excellent), coconut macaroons (decent), and some supermarket-looking chocolate chip cookies (why bother).  Luckily we had put our coffee drinks in to-go cups, so we headed to the Poly beach to grab some chaise loungers and stake out a spot to watch Wishes.  It was a MVMCP night at the Magic Kingdom, and so we had an excellent vantage point for Holiday Wishes, a wonderful recap to the day.

iPhone pic, but you get the idea.

Exhausted, it was back to the room for showers and sleep. Hello turndown service!