Greetings from the Polynesian Resort!

As I write this I am sitting in Room 3511 of the Hawaii longhouse at Disney's Polynesian Resort, on Day 8 of our 9-day trip to Walt Disney World. As promised, I am sharing a few photographs from our stay. It is currently humid and about 88 degrees (surprise). The morning was warm and clear with full, white Florida clouds in the sky. About an hour and a half ago we had a nice thunderstorm. It was nice for us because we were boarding the Resort Monorail at Magic Kingdom as the storm rolled in. It rained hard but we were comfortably inside the air conditioned Monorail and delivered to the Polynesian. The fountain in the main lobby was bubbling while outside the thunder was booming. Fortunately, thanks to the Monorail and good timing, I'm still dry. Quick story: When we arrived we were informed by our hostess upon check in that we had been "upgraded" to Club (i.e., Concierge) Level by way of some "Disney magic." I don't care what the magic was (Year of a Million Dreams??), but we went from Lagoon View to Magic Kingdom view in Hawaii with Concierge Lounge privileges. This was a pricey upgrade to say the least---especially since we debated going Concierge and had priced it out. We had opted to be "economical" and had resigned ourselves to a "regular" room, albeit "Lagoon View." We were absolutely thrilled with the Concierge upgrade. We've made the most of the Concierge during our trip, too! Pictured above is the entrance to the Hawaii Longhouse and Concierge building---our "Home" for the past week. Here's the door to our room and a quick shot of the interior as it appeared upon our arrival last Wednesday. Things at the Polynesian as as beautiful and as relaxing as ever! If you happen to be heading there in the next few weeks, you will not be disappointed! Aloha! In any event, here's Room 3511:
Room 3511 --- interior shot, June 23, 2008 --- see below.The views from the balcony of Room 3511 (first, a view toward the Magic Kingdom and Contemporary Resort):
Above: looking toward the Grand Floridian. I was up early most days and got some shots of an empty Volcano Pool---a June rarity (except during electrical storms!). These shots were taken on June 24, 2008:Very serene. The Barefoot Bar in the background was where "Steve" the bartender and I discussed life's mysteries over some "custom" Mai Tai's---151 floater on top of the Myers' Rum and Steve's mix as opposed to the standard mass-produced Mai Taim mixer. I tipped him well. But (if I may overuse an overused segue), I digress. So...here's another photo:Did I mention we ate at "Ohana" on our first night here? It was fabulous as always. We generally agreed (my son is the exception) that the new noodle dish they added as an appetizer was not the greatest. Otherwise, the skewers of turkey, pork, steak and shrimp were fabulous! The salad was great. The dessert (bananas foster) was fabulous---for those who had not gorged on all the prior courses!

I'll post more later. For now, I must run downstairs and get with the Concierge folks to check in and get boarding passes for tomorrow's flight home. Don't even make me think about it! Leaving is tough. We have had a great stay. Mahalo, Polynesian! Aloha!