Polynesian Village Resort

We took the monorail over to the Pollynesian Village resort, our second visit this trip. We headed straight to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, a speak easy hidden behind a nondescript door. There was a wait for a Table, so ignoring that the night was already becoming pretty cold, we headed to Pineapple Lanai so Dan could get a Dolewhip (a Pineapple soft-serve known for Disney). We walked along the beach to get a look at the lagoon at night.

When our pager buzzed to summon us back to Trader Sam’s, the remainder of the Dolewhip had to be wolfed down. The bar is dimly lit, looks out through ‘windows’ onto a volcanic mountain at night and is decorated with various artefacts from the adventures of Trader Sam and his friends. We took a seat by the ‘window’, and ordered a Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Rum for Alex and a Polynesian punch for Dan.

Not long after a couple of Canadians (that work in New York) waked in, they were looking for a seat and we invited them to share our table. We had a lovely conversation about their trips to Disney over the years (they were Disney Vacation Club members). Many of the drinks on the Trader Sam’s menu have been cursed by the Tiki gods, so our discussion was punctuated by volcanic eruptions and instructions from the bar staff to swim for our lives as various disasters befell the bar when customers ordered them.

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a bus, with hindsight much earlier than we needed to; the line for the bus back to Art of Animation was long and the night had gotten surprisingly cold but we got ‘home’ in the end.Read more