Disney World >> Polynesian Resort, Typhoon Lagoon, & Downtown Disney

Polynesian Resort
I really wanted to come here to see Lilo & Stitch at the 'Ohana character dining breakfast. You get a family style buffet breakfast as well as an opportunity to meet Mickey, Lilo, Stitch, and Pluto all for just one Table Service meal. The tricky part is getting there.. since we stayed at the Art of Animation Resort.. we had to take a bus to Magic Kingdom, then get on a monorail to the Polynesian Resort, which took about 50-60 minutes.

 I drench my waffles in syrup - no shame.

Typhoon Lagoon
I originally wanted to do two water parks in one day but my family was really exhausted from just one water park, Typhoon Lagoon, that we didn't get to go to the other one, Blizzard Beach.

I think the overall theme is quite unique -- you're essentially in a water park that has been hit by a typhoon, hence all the wreckage everywhere. I wanted to take more pictures but I put my phone away so it wouldn't get wet. I definitely regret not getting a waterproof camera or a GoPro camera..

Due to the rain, all the water rides had to be stopped for about an hour or two so we had to just stand around and wait for them to reopen. Tip - there are many bees here for some reason so just be careful when you're eating/drinking something sugary. And there are free life vests near the lockers (which by the way are so expensive!) which I recommend for little kids who are shorter than 4 feet.

I was really hesitant on going on the water slides because I can't swim that well. But the tubes/rafts were really helpful and easy to get on and off, and the water level was only about 3-4 feet deep. My siblings and I spent about an hour going around the lazy river because going under the waterfalls as so much fun -- you get drenched hard! I totally forgot to go to the Shark Reef, which I regret, because you get an opportunity to swim with sharks and rays at no additional charge!

Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney is huge! It takes a while to get around and cross to the other side to Pleasure Island, where a lot of stores are. Also, we have to take a bus to Magic Kingdom then transfer to another bus to get here so the trip is about 50-60 minutes.

I love the Lego store and all the Lego figures but it is so crowded inside! You can barely get through the entrance! I don't recommend you going inside unless you're absolutely sure you want to buy something, it's like Black Friday crowd in there! Some other stores I love include the Art of Disney, Disney's Days of Christmas, Disney's Candy Cauldron, Disney's Pin Traders, and World of Disney.

If you look closely, Russel is wearing pins on his sash!

Stitch spits out streams of water at you, which I thought was funny. This store is the largest Disney store in the world I believe. I was disappointed that they didn't carry Tsum Tsums (yet) when I was there because I would have loved to purchase them.

They relocated the D Street store and I was not very impressed. There was only one 9 inch figure in the entire store and the trading options weren't that great. The only cool thing is the factory belt in the window display.

I think it's great that there's a bowling alley here but no one has time to do that when there's so many other things to do!

I was looking forward to seeing what this place was all about and I regret not allotting more time for this place. Every time we made a trip to Downtown Disney, it would take about an hour to get there, then about 20 minutes to walk from the front of DD to the back of Pleasure Island. So by the time we got here the first time, it closed. Then the second time we only had about an hour before closing. It's like a huge arcade (I think 5 or 6 floors) with every game imaginable, including indoor coaster rides and multiplayer games. Since all the games don't require any tokens you also don't get any tickets.. But I would definitely do an early dinner next time so we could spend about 3 hours at Disney Quest so that I can play all the games.

Overall, I wish I had more time to do everything I had planned but like I said in my previous post, things come up and timing is everything. Plus, everyone gets really tired after the third day with little sleep and having to walk around all day, so it's important to keep everyone's energy/spirit up. I think I'm going to need about 8 days when I come back next time in order to see/do everything on my list! Anyways, I hope you've found all my Disney World posts helpful and inspiring - let me know if you plan a WDW vacation yourself!