The *NEW* Polynesian Resort FAQ thread - *2008*

[MsStinkerBelle]

Welcome back! And I'm jealous of your next trip back so soon!!

Thanks! And don't be too jealous. Remember the looonnnggg 'withdrawal' I was going through earlier this year. That waiting was painful!

 

[audrey2580]

Hi all. We leave in less than 2 weeks (OMG!! ) and I have a few questions. Thanks in advance

1) what fax number can I fax in my request for my family and my sister's to be in the same longhouse? We are different ressie's and checking in like 12 hours apart.

2) Do I need to request a fridge or do all standard rooms have them?

3) We want to use the internet, do I need to put a Credit Card down at the front desk or do I just put the # in when I connect?

4) Do you have to leave a credit card at the front desk for incidentals? If so do you know how much they hold on it? Our trip is prepaid.

Thanks!!!

 

[spaceace510]

Hi all. We leave in less than 2 weeks (OMG!! ) and I have a few questions. Thanks in advance

2) Do I need to request a fridge or do all standard rooms have them?

Thanks!!!

All rooms do have a fridge. No need to request one!
Have a magical trip!!!

 

[Kira G.]

The cs credits are not lumped together however, they can tell how many adults and children are in your party. If you order say, 3 adult cs meals, they will tell you you can't do that as there is only 2 adults in your party - specifically this happened at the Flame Tree BBQ in AK. As for Capt. Cook's, my husband was purchasing the mickey waffles for my dd's, tried to use the ddp and I see him motioning to me to come over as there was a problem, the cm specifically said that we couldn't use the child's credit for the adult entree - it could only be used on the child's breakfast platter - like I said previously, it could just depend on the cm.

The problem is that you can't buy that number of adult meals at one time. CMs are inconsistent about enforcing this. If you went through the line and bought 2 adult meals, and your husband went through a separate line and also bought 2 adult meals it would go through fine (we found this out by mistake). Just a tip for the future!

Anyway, I'm back from our 6 night trip to the Poly. It was just me and my four kids (16, 13, 10 & 7) for this trip (Dad stayed home) and we had a great time! We were in one of the dreaded Rapa Nui parking lot view rooms - I thought about asking for a room change, but I knew I was the only one who cared (and my kids would have killed me!). Actually, after a few days I became quite fond of the view and spent a lot of time on the balcony watching the monorails go by!

Otherwise, the room was awesome. It was roomy, clean and wonderful. Mousekeeping was great - really, they did a great job! I requested turndown service most nights, and I found I really, really liked coming home to that. We loved the close proximity to the TTC, and used the monorails and buses there almost exclusively. The pools and the GCH were really not that far away.

The pools never seemed overly crowded to me. We were generally there in the late afternoon or early evening. We used both the Volcano pool and the quiet pool. The girls and I liked the Volcano pool better (what a view!!!); my son preferred the quiet pool because he loved the deep end. Didn't see any bees at all - and I did frequent the pool bar a couple of times!

We were disappointed with the food at Captain Cooks - the kids greatly preferred the food court at POR which had a lot more options. It was OK, but not great. We also ordered room service as a treat for our last morning, and the eggs were disgusting! Other than that everything else was OK, and the fruit plate my daughter ordered was beautiful. Unfortunately we did not make it to Kona this time around.

The parks were not too crowded, until we got to DHS on Sunday! Yikes - we missed rope drop by 20 minutes, and by the time we got to Toy Story Mania the line was 80 minutes long, and I would have needed to stand in a 20 minute line just to get a fastpass! So we just skipped it (no ride is worth that kind of wait!). Sunday night MK was open until 3 am for EMH. We only stayed through 11pm (my 7 year old was really getting cranky) but had a great time!

The Poly has always been my dream resort, and despite the less than ideal room view it did not disappoint. The CMs were wonderful, the resort is beautiful and the convenience was amazing. I particularly loved how easy it was to get to Epcot. We are probably now spoiled for life!!

Thanks for all the wonderful info in this thread. I will continue to hang around here 'cause it is such a great place to be! If I get a chance I'll post some pictures. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

 

[SeaSpray]

THANKS SeaSpray!!! That's great. DH and I will celebrate about 6wks early while we're there. I'm guessing Disney isn't particular about it being on the exact day, right? Did you have to request it or did they just see your pins? We never EVER get out here at home....we have nobody to babysit so we always have the kids with us...that's why we figure we'll just celebrate early at Disney!

They just saw our pins. Oh, and don't forget to ask at check-in for the pins. We got them at the valet desk at the entrance to the GCH, but I know they usually have them inside at check-in as well Kona Cafe was the only restaurant to present us with an actual dessert; although we got plenty of "Congratulations!" from CMs all around the parks and other restaurants we went to, and that was really nice to hear.

We've been at WDW/Polynesian on our actual anniversary before, but last year we were there later in the month, but the trip itself was my anniversary present from my DH, so I didn't feel funny about wearing the pins even though it wasn't our actual anniversary date. Have a wonderful anniversary celebration at WDW!

Thanks! And don't be too jealous. Remember the looonnnggg 'withdrawal' I was going through earlier this year. That waiting was painful!

Ok I won't be too jealous; I'm happy knowing we have a trip in the future, even if it is 11 months away. LOL I'll be looking forward to your next review, though!!

Anyway, I'm back from our 6 night trip to the Poly. It was just me and my four kids (16, 13, 10 & 7) for this trip (Dad stayed home) and we had a great time! We were in one of the dreaded Rapa Nui parking lot view rooms - I thought about asking for a room change, but I knew I was the only one who cared (and my kids would have killed me!). Actually, after a few days I became quite fond of the view and spent a lot of time on the balcony watching the monorails go by!

Otherwise, the room was awesome. It was roomy, clean and wonderful. Mousekeeping was great - really, they did a great job! I requested turndown service most nights, and I found I really, really liked coming home to that. We loved the close proximity to the TTC, and used the monorails and buses there almost exclusively. The pools and the GCH were really not that far away.

The pools never seemed overly crowded to me. We were generally there in the late afternoon or early evening. We used both the Volcano pool and the quiet pool. The girls and I liked the Volcano pool better (what a view!!!); my son preferred the quiet pool because he loved the deep end. Didn't see any bees at all - and I did frequent the pool bar a couple of times!

We were disappointed with the food at Captain Cooks - the kids greatly preferred the food court at POR which had a lot more options. It was OK, but not great. We also ordered room service as a treat for our last morning, and the eggs were disgusting! Other than that everything else was OK, and the fruit plate my daughter ordered was beautiful. Unfortunately we did not make it to Kona this time around.

The parks were not too crowded, until we got to DHS on Sunday! Yikes - we missed rope drop by 20 minutes, and by the time we got to Toy Story Mania the line was 80 minutes long, and I would have needed to stand in a 20 minute line just to get a fastpass! So we just skipped it (no ride is worth that kind of wait!). Sunday night MK was open until 3 am for EMH. We only stayed through 11pm (my 7 year old was really getting cranky) but had a great time!

The Poly has always been my dream resort, and despite the less than ideal room view it did not disappoint. The CMs were wonderful, the resort is beautiful and the convenience was amazing. I particularly loved how easy it was to get to Epcot. We are probably now spoiled for life!!

Thanks for all the wonderful info in this thread. I will continue to hang around here 'cause it is such a great place to be! If I get a chance I'll post some pictures. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Thanks for the review, and I'm so glad that you and your family had a great trip! If you don't mind, I'll add a link to your post to Page 1, so people can read how you liked your location/room in Rapa Nui.

Hi all. We leave in less than 2 weeks (OMG!! ) and I have a few questions. Thanks in advance

1) what fax number can I fax in my request for my family and my sister's to be in the same longhouse? We are different ressie's and checking in like 12 hours apart.

I'd suggest calling CRO and having your reservations linked; tell them that you're traveling together with your family. This will GREATLY increase your chances of getting the same longhouse

2) Do I need to request a fridge or do all standard rooms have them?

I believe that every room has a fridge in it.

3) We want to use the internet, do I need to put a Credit Card down at the front desk or do I just put the # in when I connect?

I believe that you'd enter your credit card info when you log in, on your laptop.

4) Do you have to leave a credit card at the front desk for incidentals? If so do you know how much they hold on it? Our trip is prepaid.

They won't force you to put down a credit card; they ask for a card so you can charge purchases to your room. If you don't want to do that, then just tell them, and they won't request a credit card from you, but you wouldn't be able to charge anything at all to the room. Have a great trip!

Thanks!!!

 

[Naisy68]

Hi All! Here I am dealing with the post Disney blues but I will survive, all I have to do is unpack and look at all the fun stuff I bought and then add all my pics to the computer and relive our trip again. Anyway, over the weekend, I will start our trip report. We had 5 wonderful nights at the Poly! It was more than awesome!! I can't wait to share it all with you. We started out in Rapa Nui, with a parking lot view but switched on night 2 to a great room in Tokelau with a view of the quiet pool. The room at Rapa Nui was actually a touch nicer as it had two sinks in the bathroom but both rooms were beautiful. I will tell you all more later - Be patient with me, I came here before unpacking even because I missed you all so much!!

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi All! Here I am dealing with the post Disney blues but I will survive, all I have to do is unpack and look at all the fun stuff I bought and then add all my pics to the computer and relive our trip again. Anyway, over the weekend, I will start our trip report. We had 5 wonderful nights at the Poly! It was more than awesome!! I can't wait to share it all with you. We started out in Rapa Nui, with a parking lot view but switched on night 2 to a great room in Tokelau with a view of the quiet pool. The room at Rapa Nui was actually a touch nicer as it had two sinks in the bathroom but both rooms were beautiful. I will tell you all more later - Be patient with me, I came here before unpacking even because I missed you all so much!!

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to your review(s)!!!

 

[amsafko]

We too just returned from our 10 day trip to WDW. We did a split stay with 8/21-8/24 being at POR and the remainder (8/24-8/31) at the Poly. We LOVED our first stay at Poly, so much so that we booked a bounceback for next year. We were in Rapa Nui and didn't care about the view, with 3 little ones (6, 4, and 2) we loved being so close to the TTC. The size of the room was fantastic with having the kids. The room was very quiet, I hope it was to others because our kids did have their share of melt downs. Mousekeeping was great, anytime we needed something, it was there immediately. We loved the volcano pool and watching the fireworks from the beach. The girls got to do the hula a few afternoons and really enjoyed making lei bracelets in the lobby.

The only problem we encountered was the service at Ohana and the lack of selection at Captain Cooks. Ohana was our last meal the night before we left and it started out fine. After they brought our meats, the servers disappeared forever. We sat for what seemed like a 1/2 hour and couldn't find our server - finally found her and said something and she just apologized. We did get our dessert (no seconds on any food was offered, not sure if it should have been). Captain Cooks just lacked selection, what was there was good (especially the desserts!).

Anyhoo, just wanted to say how much we loved the resort itself and can't wait to go back.

 

[Kira G.]

We too just returned from our 10 day trip to WDW. We did a split stay with 8/21-8/24 being at POR and the remainder (8/24-8/31) at the Poly. We LOVED our first stay at Poly, so much so that we booked a bounceback for next year. We were in Rapa Nui and didn't care about the view, with 3 little ones (6, 4, and 2) we loved being so close to the TTC. The size of the room was fantastic with having the kids. The room was very quiet, I hope it was to others because our kids did have their share of melt downs. Mousekeeping was great, anytime we needed something, it was there immediately. We loved the volcano pool and watching the fireworks from the beach. The girls got to do the hula a few afternoons and really enjoyed making lei bracelets in the lobby.

The only problem we encountered was the service at Ohana and the lack of selection at Captain Cooks. Ohana was our last meal the night before we left and it started out fine. After they brought our meats, the servers disappeared forever. We sat for what seemed like a 1/2 hour and couldn't find our server - finally found her and said something and she just apologized. We did get our dessert (no seconds on any food was offered, not sure if it should have been). Captain Cooks just lacked selection, what was there was good (especially the desserts!).

Anyhoo, just wanted to say how much we loved the resort itself and can't wait to go back.

I wonder if we saw you there! We were at the Poly 8/26-9/1, and our room was Rapa Nui 3110.

I forgot to mention a couple of other things I loved about the room/resort:
- the closets were great. In particular I loved having the "shoe holder" and the big safe!
- the bathroom was huge and really nice. It was really great to have the double sinks.
- I thought the beds were really comfortable (I'm probably easy to please because we really need a new mattress at home!). My son & youngest daughter alternated staying on the daybed - they didn't think that was so great but it felt OK to me.
- All the CMs were SOOO friendly. The guy that checked me in was not particularly outgoing (but very efficient - it only took about 4 minutes), but everyone else from the pool bar, to the Boutiki guy, to the person from bell services who checked us out, to random CMs we met on the paths were wonderful! I always felt welcomed.

I did miss having a privacy curtain and sinks outside the bathroom! Traveling with 3 girls and one boy, with one of the girls and the boy being a teen (and one of the other girls being a pre-teen princess!), we had to get creative with changing! If we come back with Dad we will have to bite the bullet and stay in two rooms (ouch - $$$$$!), which should make everything easier. By the way, the kids were eying that concierge lounge . . . !

I am in the process of uploading a bunch of pictures. I should be able to post some tomorrow.

 

[momatater]

The problem is that you can't buy that number of adult meals at one time. CMs are inconsistent about enforcing this. If you went through the line and bought 2 adult meals, and your husband went through a separate line and also bought 2 adult meals it would go through fine (we found this out by mistake). Just a tip for the future!

Anyway, I'm back from our 6 night trip to the Poly. It was just me and my four kids (16, 13, 10 & 7) for this trip (Dad stayed home) and we had a great time! We were in one of the dreaded Rapa Nui parking lot view rooms - I thought about asking for a room change, but I knew I was the only one who cared (and my kids would have killed me!). Actually, after a few days I became quite fond of the view and spent a lot of time on the balcony watching the monorails go by!

Otherwise, the room was awesome. It was roomy, clean and wonderful. Mousekeeping was great - really, they did a great job! I requested turndown service most nights, and I found I really, really liked coming home to that. We loved the close proximity to the TTC, and used the monorails and buses there almost exclusively. The pools and the GCH were really not that far away.

The pools never seemed overly crowded to me. We were generally there in the late afternoon or early evening. We used both the Volcano pool and the quiet pool. The girls and I liked the Volcano pool better (what a view!!!); my son preferred the quiet pool because he loved the deep end. Didn't see any bees at all - and I did frequent the pool bar a couple of times!

We were disappointed with the food at Captain Cooks - the kids greatly preferred the food court at POR which had a lot more options. It was OK, but not great. We also ordered room service as a treat for our last morning, and the eggs were disgusting! Other than that everything else was OK, and the fruit plate my daughter ordered was beautiful. Unfortunately we did not make it to Kona this time around.

The parks were not too crowded, until we got to DHS on Sunday! Yikes - we missed rope drop by 20 minutes, and by the time we got to Toy Story Mania the line was 80 minutes long, and I would have needed to stand in a 20 minute line just to get a fastpass! So we just skipped it (no ride is worth that kind of wait!). Sunday night MK was open until 3 am for EMH. We only stayed through 11pm (my 7 year old was really getting cranky) but had a great time!

The Poly has always been my dream resort, and despite the less than ideal room view it did not disappoint. The CMs were wonderful, the resort is beautiful and the convenience was amazing. I particularly loved how easy it was to get to Epcot. We are probably now spoiled for life!!

Thanks for all the wonderful info in this thread. I will continue to hang around here 'cause it is such a great place to be! If I get a chance I'll post some pictures. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Hi All! Here I am dealing with the post Disney blues but I will survive, all I have to do is unpack and look at all the fun stuff I bought and then add all my pics to the computer and relive our trip again. Anyway, over the weekend, I will start our trip report. We had 5 wonderful nights at the Poly! It was more than awesome!! I can't wait to share it all with you. We started out in Rapa Nui, with a parking lot view but switched on night 2 to a great room in Tokelau with a view of the quiet pool. The room at Rapa Nui was actually a touch nicer as it had two sinks in the bathroom but both rooms were beautiful. I will tell you all more later - Be patient with me, I came here before unpacking even because I missed you all so much!!

We too just returned from our 10 day trip to WDW. We did a split stay with 8/21-8/24 being at POR and the remainder (8/24-8/31) at the Poly. We LOVED our first stay at Poly, so much so that we booked a bounceback for next year. We were in Rapa Nui and didn't care about the view, with 3 little ones (6, 4, and 2) we loved being so close to the TTC. The size of the room was fantastic with having the kids. The room was very quiet, I hope it was to others because our kids did have their share of melt downs. Mousekeeping was great, anytime we needed something, it was there immediately. We loved the volcano pool and watching the fireworks from the beach. The girls got to do the hula a few afternoons and really enjoyed making lei bracelets in the lobby.

The only problem we encountered was the service at Ohana and the lack of selection at Captain Cooks. Ohana was our last meal the night before we left and it started out fine. After they brought our meats, the servers disappeared forever. We sat for what seemed like a 1/2 hour and couldn't find our server - finally found her and said something and she just apologized. We did get our dessert (no seconds on any food was offered, not sure if it should have been). Captain Cooks just lacked selection, what was there was good (especially the desserts!).

Anyhoo, just wanted to say how much we loved the resort itself and can't wait to go back.

I wonder if we saw you there! We were at the Poly 8/26-9/1, and our room was Rapa Nui 3110.

I forgot to mention a couple of other things I loved about the room/resort:
- the closets were great. In particular I loved having the "shoe holder" and the big safe!
- the bathroom was huge and really nice. It was really great to have the double sinks.
- I thought the beds were really comfortable (I'm probably easy to please because we really need a new mattress at home!). My son & youngest daughter alternated staying on the daybed - they didn't think that was so great but it felt OK to me.
- All the CMs were SOOO friendly. The guy that checked me in was not particularly outgoing (but very efficient - it only took about 4 minutes), but everyone else from the pool bar, to the Boutiki guy, to the person from bell services who checked us out, to random CMs we met on the paths were wonderful! I always felt welcomed.

I did miss having a privacy curtain and sinks outside the bathroom! Traveling with 3 girls and one boy, with one of the girls and the boy being a teen (and one of the other girls being a pre-teen princess!), we had to get creative with changing! If we come back with Dad we will have to bite the bullet and stay in two rooms (ouch - $$$$$!), which should make everything easier. By the way, the kids were eying that concierge lounge . . . !

I am in the process of uploading a bunch of pictures. I should be able to post some tomorrow.

Thanks for posting and welcome back!! I'm glad you had such a wonderful time. Looking forward to seeing pictures!!!!

You all got me even more excited now, I leave in 6 days!!! Can't wait!!!

 

[Kira G.]

As promised, some Poly photos from our trip!

Our Rapa Nui parking lot view:

A closer view of the monorail (can you tell I loved looking at the monorail!):

The balcony from inside the room:

 

[Me&3]

Hi All! Here I am dealing with the post Disney blues but I will survive, all I have to do is unpack and look at all the fun stuff I bought and then add all my pics to the computer and relive our trip again. Anyway, over the weekend, I will start our trip report. We had 5 wonderful nights at the Poly! It was more than awesome!! I can't wait to share it all with you. We started out in Rapa Nui, with a parking lot view but switched on night 2 to a great room in Tokelau with a view of the quiet pool. The room at Rapa Nui was actually a touch nicer as it had two sinks in the bathroom but both rooms were beautiful. I will tell you all more later - Be patient with me, I came here before unpacking even because I missed you all so much!!

Welcome Back I can't wait to see and hear about you trip

 

[Kira G.]

The daybed made up as a bed (we just left it this way):

Beds:

The hallway on the way to the TTC - I didn't think the hallways were dark or dirty at all, but the elevator was a little bit small

Hannah doing her summer homework on the balcony:

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I did miss having a privacy curtain and sinks outside the bathroom! Traveling with 3 girls and one boy, with one of the girls and the boy being a teen (and one of the other girls being a pre-teen princess!), we had to get creative with changing!

When I took the Terror Squad (my DD8, DN9, DN13 and DGodSis14) to the Poly last year, I had to deal with this by bringing a tension rod and a dark shower curtain to put up as a 'privacy curtain' in front of the toilet area. Before I put it up, my DD8 and DN9 started yelling about how they didn't want one to see the other 'nekkid'. They thought I was pretty smart about the whole curtain thing. LOL!


Can't wait to see your pics!

 

[Kira G.]

The quiet pool from one of the little "huts" there. My son loved this pool!

My bathing beauties:

The Volcano pool Sunday afternoon. I don't know why it was so empty - maybe because it was quite windy that day (the edge of Gustav was making it blowey). Anyway, we enjoyed having the pool to ourselves:

The beach from the pool bar area:

Just for good measure (not a Poly picture) - gorgeous clouds over Epcot:

 

[Me&3]

Great Pics I can't wait to see more. Welcome Back to Everyone Who Just Returned.

 

[Kira G.]

Waiting for the boat:

The Poly from the MK launch:

A cool hawk we saw on the path from the TTC to Rapa Nui:

Lobby:

 

[PNO4TE]

Just for good measure (not a Poly picture) - gorgeous clouds over Epcot:

That is absolutely beautiful! I enjoyed all your pictures but this one really gave me goosebumps.

 

[Kira G.]

Waiting for Magical Express Boo-hoo!

 

[Kira G.]

When I took the Terror Squad (my DD8, DN9, DN13 and DGodSis14) to the Poly last year, I had to deal with this by bringing a tension rod and a dark shower curtain to put up as a 'privacy curtain' in front of the toilet area. Before I put it up, my DD8 and DN9 started yelling about how they didn't want one to see the other 'nekkid'. They thought I was pretty smart about the whole curtain thing. LOL!


Can't wait to see your pics!

What a great idea!! I wish I'd thought of it - it would have helped a lot.