The Most Magical Place for a 28th Birthday Celebration, Part 1

Oh, Disney. Where do I begin?

We had been planning this trip by starting the countdown at 220 days. Then we hit the mark when we could make dining reservations. And then it was double digits. By then, it was summer and we were running all over creation for graduations and baptisms. Then school started again, Husband got on the law clinic and there we were, starting to pack because it was less than 10 days away!

And then last Thursday, off we went! I took so many pictures, and I haven’t even received the Photo Pass professional pictures that we took too.

To start off, we arrived at the Polynesian late, around 9:30 pm. We were the only ones to get off at the Poly from our Magical Express coach and there was a cast member waiting there with a clipboard. I told her our last name and she said to wait there, that she would find someone to take us to the concierge building in a golf cart. What service!

We drove around the resort and the cast member driving pointed out the other buildings, how to get to the Transportation and Ticket Center to pick up the monorail for other parks and other neat things. The tiki torches were blazing, but unfortunately, I could never get a good picture of them.

The lovely Hawaii building is reserved for club or concierge level guests. We were treated so incredibly well there – the service is beyond imagination! It was worth the extra cost of our club room, but I am sure glad we got the discount we did. Or else, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford it, even for a special birthday celebration.

The cast member swiped his keycard at the front door to the long house to let us in and told us that we’d have to do the same whenever we came back to our room, because the Hawaii long house is reserved for club level guests. They didn’t want other people wandering in and stealing our food! Good thing, too, I told him.

There were two cast members waiting there in the lobby for us, and offered us a seat at the desk. It was more like a personal banker’s desk rather than a reception desk at other hotels, even in the main part of the Polynesian. They said they had been waiting for us! They had our packet ready to go, with information on food serving times, our room keys, celebration pins and everything! They were even able to upgrade our park hopper tickets for annual passes so we can use them at our next trip for New Year’s. It was so incredibly relaxing, all of it was made so easy. I can see why people pay for the extra level of service!

We made our way up to the room and because our luggage wasn’t there, we didn’t have a lot to do. We dropped our carry on bags and went out the back door and to the beach outside our long house. Lo and behold, it was 10 pm, straight up, and Wishes was starting.

Standing on the Polynesian beach and seeing fireworks over Cinderella castle, hugged by my husband, at my favorite place on earth to celebrate the second birthday since my father’s death, I cried. Like a baby. It was very overwhelming. It wouldn’t be the first time I would cry at the fireworks over the long weekend.

Back in our room, we puttered until our bags were delivered and we could unpack and get ready for bed. The next day was going to be a long one, so we had to get a lot of sleep.

We noticed something on the desk when we got back – a note from the staff thanking us for being there and chocolate! Lots of chocolate! It was painted with an edible picture of some kind and we brought it home with us, because we couldn’t bear to eat it there. The mousekeeping staff had also turned down our bed with an additional mint. They would continue to do that every night and oh how nice it was!

The real celebrations would start up the next morning!