These pics are great! I put in a request for Tahiti for our stay... but it seems like I'll love wherever we end up!
Seaspray-- quick question-- do you find the concierge cost is "worth" it based on the services, food, etc? We are trying to decide whether concierge might be a good call for us-- since DD will only be 3 for our trip, and currently is a particular (sounds so much better than picky!) eater, the fruits, veggies, snacks might make sense we *think*...
I think this is the Million Dollar Question.
It's kind of difficult to answer, because the term "worth it" can have many meanings, depending on who's opinion is it. And what's worth it to one person, may not be worth it, to the next.
But I'll tell you why we choose to stay concierge, and maybe that'll help.
Accessability of the lounge: I like the fact that from the moment you arrive at the resort, even if it's in the morning, you have someplace to go to, if your room isn't ready yet. Same thing at the end of the trip; no matter what time your flight is that day, once you vacate your room, you still have access to the lounge until midnight that night. This includes having access to breakfast, snacks and drinks all day, and the hot & cold food offerings that evening, plus cordials and desserts that evening. Also, the lounge itself is a wonderful place to relax on your first and/or last day. There are tables and comfortable, cushioned chairs, couches, games and game tables on the third floor (top floor of the lounge), and a very large bathroom where you can change into and out of bathing suits on the first/last day of your trip. We ALWAYS end our WDW trips by relaxing in the lounge at the Polynesian, taking our last peeks out across Seven Seas Lagoon, taking in the entire expanse of the view, from the Grand Floridian to your left, to the Contemporary Resort, to your right. The lounge offers an excellent view of the entire Lagoon.
Location of the building: I like the fact that I KNOW which building I'll be in, and even what kind of view I'll have, when I book concierge. I have a couple of different health problems which cause me to be unable to walk long distances, so the great location of the Hawaii building is worth it to us, as is the overall excellent location of the resort itself.
Breakfast: We love the convenience of having to walk only a few feet for coffee and a bite of food, first thing in the morning. The funny thing is, DH LOVES the Kona Cafe for breakfast, and even though we stay concierge and there are a lot of nice breakfast offerings there, we usually have breakfast at the Kona Cafe almost every morning of our trip. We treat the food offerings in the lounge as a sort of "quick wake-up", we'll have coffee, maybe a bite of the pineapple bread, maybe share a banana, then we head off to the parks OR the Kona Cafe. LOL You can definitely make a full breakfast out of the lounge offerings though.
View: We always book a lagoon view, and while this is 100% PURE LUXURY, we feel the extra charge over the cost of a garden view concierge room, is worth it. We love to sit outside first thing in the morning and just take in the view; you can see and hear the entire Seven Seas Lagoon wake up and come to life. The TTC ferries start to run, you can see the monorail coming and going to the Magic Kingdom, you see the boat launch right there at the Polynesian marina, you see the castle, etc... And at night, you see all of that, all lit up (which is beautiful!!), PLUS you get to watch Wishes from your own room if you want, and you can see the castle change color all night long.
Ok, I think I've just sold MYSELF on this.
I don't know if any of this helped you or not, but I just wanted to share why we choose concierge. I think that your DD would probably enjoy the food offerings in the lounge, as would you and your DH. We use the evening food offerings as an appetizer, then go out to dinner, but I can see where those with small appetites could make a meal out of what's there. The only time of day where you couldn't make a meal would be lunch because at the most, there are cookies, gummy sharks, and sometimes chips & salsa, and cheese popcorn (Like Smartfood popcorn). They make a great midday snack though
The concierge staff: I almost forgot to mention the wonderful concierge team. The pre-trip planning is invaluable to me, since I leave for work at 7:30am each morning and just don't have the time to call WDW and book all of our ADRs and tours. It's simple for me to sit at my desk at a convenient time and email off my list of ADR requests, as well as any other requests I might have. A CM named Allison has been helping me on this trip (she also helped me on the last trip), and she is absolutely wonderful.
Also, once we're on site, the concierge staff AT the Polynesian are very helpful!
They've been extremely helpful to us on many occassions where we had to make a last-minute change in ADRs, and they were able to call and make the changes for us. When it rains, they have a certain number of umbrellas that they lend out to concierge guests for the duration of the trip.
As one last comment, I want to add that you do NOT have to stay concierge in order to enjoy all that the Polynesian has to offer; I mean, ANY guest can sit on the white sand beach at night and enjoy the fireworks; swim in the volcano pool, and an early morning walk along the beach will offer you the same great scenes that I described above.
The boat launch to the MK is right at the marina but because of how the Tuvalu longhouse is situated it's about the same distance to the boat launch as it is to the monorail platform.
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