Disney Part 3: Arrival, Polynesian Resort, Monorail, and boat rides!

On our arrival day, we had three different families coming from three different places. Trevor and Linda drove and arrived at Shades of Green first, followed by my family. Thanks to my super awesome sister in law taking care of the check in process, we were able to get into the room before she even arrived.

While my family was getting settled into the room, Trevor went down to the airport to pick Michael, Bethany and Oliver up.

Once we were all there and hugs doled out (we hadn't seen them since Christmas!), it was time to let the fun begin!

And the first thing we did was GO EAT! Everyone was hungry. We decided to try to make it an early turn in night, knowing that we were going to have a big day ahead, and skip down to the Polynesian Resort and have dinner at the quick service restaurant (Captain Cooke's).

I don't remember what everyone else had but I had the "grown up's grilled cheese sandwich" and it was really yummy! It used three different types of "grown up" cheeses. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food although both little boys (Oliver and Max) seemed to enjoy the fries the best!

Some of the kiddos munching on  food at Captain Cooke's:

 







After dinner, we briefly poked around the Polynesian resort looking for the monorail! I needed to get our YES tickets (more on this later) which could be picked up at any "will call" location so we would have them ready for the next morning when we would be trying to get into the parks. So we first road the around to the Ticket and Transportation center. Once there, I found that the "will call" window there had closed and the cast members working there told me I would need to go over to Magic Kingdom to pick up our tickets. So we decided to take a boat launch over. 

Horribly dark picture on the boat ride over to Magic Kingdom

First view of Cinderella's Castle!

As you can tell from these pictures, it was already getting dark! So much for that early turn in, huh?

Once we were over to the will call office at Magic Kingdom, I tried to get our tickets there. However there was some problem and the cast member working there thought that I just wasn't able to pick them up at that location. I knew from my research online that she was wrong and I SHOULD have been able to get them there but just decided that I would take her word and try my luck in the morning. It was late and the babies really needed to be in bed. Besides, I also still needed to go GROCERY shopping!

So after no luck picking up the tickets, we all got on yet another boat and headed back to the Polynesian and made the short walk back to Shades of Green. Once the kiddos were all tucked in bed, Michael, Linda and I ventured out to find a Walmart and do some grocery shopping.

Only they let ME be in charge of the directions to get there. I should NEVER be trusted with this task as I have a HORRIBLE internal compass. Even with written down directions I still managed to bungle it all up. Needless to say I had Michael (who was gracious enough to drive us) completely lost and it took MUCH longer than it should have to get there.

But finally we made it there and the three of us zipped around the store getting items and checking things off our list. We checked out, made our way back to Shades of Green, flagged down a bell hop for some help getting all the groceries to the room, put everything away and hit the hay! Tomorrow was going to be a very big day!