From mountains, to islands

Our bus stops first at the Wilderness Lodge. We stayed here on our first family trip, in 2003. Man, I love this place. I find myself wishing I were getting off and staying here. From our previous stay, I know it is a unique resort, both majestic and relaxing. Having been raised in Colorado, I love the mountain theming, which is done to perfection (except for actual mountains, of course).

There are garlands and wreaths adorning the Lodge, our first sign of the Christmas decorations that are still up. Becky and I have only visited WDW once before during the holidays, on our early-December honeymoon back in 1990. I honestly don’t remember much about the decorations. Must’ve had something else on my mind at the time. Maybe I will notice the holiday accents more this time.

As the bus pulls away, I look wistfully back at the Lodge. I’ve never stayed at the Polynesian, but I’ve been there to dine, and I’m having trouble right now remembering whether that resort is quite as immersive an experience as the Wilderness Lodge. I hope so.

In a matter of minutes we are pulling past the (themed) security shack and into the Poly’s front drive. Man, this place is nice – palm trees everywhere, tiki torches, greenery – the resort is themed to the hilt! Okay, forget the Wilderness Lodge.

As we step off the bus, our bags are unloaded and placed on a bell service cart. If things go as they should, we’ll see them in our room later. We walk together past the lush greenery to the lobby.

Okay, I do feel like I’ve been whisked away to the islands already. It helps the illusion that the temperature is in the mid-70’s and climbing.

It’s 10:00 when we are at the Poly’s front desk. A young man named Eder greets us with a (cheerful) “aloha,” checks us in efficiently and then provides the six of us with leis.

I put only one room request on our reservation – that we be placed in the Rarotonga longhouse, which is right next to the Great Ceremonial House, which contains not only the front desk but also all of the restaurants, shops, and the monorail station. Rarotonga is also next to the laundry. We’ll be content enough if we can get there, but we’re also hopeful that we can get on the side of the longhouse that has a view of the monorail.

Eder can’t tell me which rooms yet, but he does confirm that we will be in Rarotonga! Yay!

We’re given our Key to the World cards. It’s always a nice feeling each trip to get these in our hands! These combination theme park passes, room keys, charge cards, ship passes, and stateroom keys with our names displayed on them are another sign that the World is open to us.