ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: September 2012

[Wanna be Ariel]

Those of you who have stayed CL here in the past few months. Can you tell me if they have bottles of water for you to drink/take with you? I am trying to see if $100 more a day will be worth it for us? Thank you.

Also if anyone as any resent pictures of the CL and the food I would love to see them. It might push me into it

 

[AshleyD1983]

so my dh decided to upgrade our poly room to TPV and it isnt available for our dates. Is it an upgrade worth paying for if I can get it?

I would pay for a TPV room again. We had a TPV room in Tahiti, top floor.... It was truly magical.

 

[guitarob]

Those of you who have stayed CL here in the past few months. Can you tell me if they have bottles of water for you to drink/take with you? I am trying to see if $100 more a day will be worth it for us? Thank you.

Also if anyone as any resent pictures of the CL and the food I would love to see them. It might push me into it

Due to abuse, they no longer have bottles. There is now filtered water in a container that is like the one they have the juices in. They will fill a carafe for you to take back to your room if you request one.

 

[guitarob]

GuitarRob: AWESOME, EXCELLENT THREAD!!

Thank you very much! Glad to see you around!

 

[princessap]

I would pay for a TPV room again. We had a TPV room in Tahiti, top floor.... It was truly magical.

I would love to upgrade, wish it was available
Maybe something will come up before we go.

 

[uagirl]

Those of you who have stayed CL here in the past few months. Can you tell me if they have bottles of water for you to drink/take with you? I am trying to see if $100 more a day will be worth it for us? Thank you.

Also if anyone as any resent pictures of the CL and the food I would love to see them. It might push me into it

No pictures of the food, but we were there in September and loved it! It was great to grab breakfast and let DD watch cartoons for a few minutes before we headed out. We were only there for evening service once, but DH, step-dad and lil bro have made a pact that they will be there more often next trip. They loved the evening options!

On our last day there, we were getting ready to catch the ME bus when DD had a meltdown because she was hungry. It was during snack time, but they didn't have any uncrustables out. (They had previously during the week.) The CL lounge CM told DH to wait just a minute, disappeared to the back and returned with a freshly made PBJ. He said he couldn't let her leave hungry. Things like that make CL worth every penny to me.

 

[Carrie772]

Hello to my fellow Polynesian Resort fans!

(Not sure if anyone remembers me, but this thread has been my favorite place on the DIS in years past).

Well I try to not visit here unless/until I have a WDW trip planned, but tonight, I just couldn't help it.

Welcome Back! I too have been away. How are the boys?

 

[jandkmom]

Those of you who have stayed CL here in the past few months. Can you tell me if they have bottles of water for you to drink/take with you? I am trying to see if $100 more a day will be worth it for us? Thank you.

Also if anyone as any resent pictures of the CL and the food I would love to see them. It might push me into it

Like the PP said, it's in large containers like the juice, lemonade and iced tea. But it's chilled and tastes SO much better than the Fla tap water I had sippy cups for my kids and filled them up for their meals.

I remember seeing a thread with pics of Poly CL food but I don't know the name offhand. The food was yummy, especially the desserts. And the view for the fireworks was totally worth it. I wish the building was open when we are going.

 

[jcjen519]

No pictures of the food, but we were there in September and loved it! It was great to grab breakfast and let DD watch cartoons for a few minutes before we headed out. We were only there for evening service once, but DH, step-dad and lil bro have made a pact that they will be there more often next trip. They loved the evening options!

On our last day there, we were getting ready to catch the ME bus when DD had a meltdown because she was hungry. It was during snack time, but they didn't have any uncrustables out. (They had previously during the week.) The CL lounge CM told DH to wait just a minute, disappeared to the back and returned with a freshly made PBJ. He said he couldn't let her leave hungry. Things like that make CL worth every penny to me.

I agree. it is just small stuff like that that just makes the trip that much better. I agree club level is worth every penny. We were at the polynesian in September too and while I don't have pictures of the food either or specific memory of the water bottles I am almost positive they had them. If you asked for bottled water, I'm pretty sure they'd get it if they didn't have it. Anytime I asked for something it was given x3 or 4. We were never once told that no that was not available. I know some people don't think club level is worth it and I guess it just depends on how you vacation but for us? I'd happily pay for club level every time.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Hello to my fellow Polynesian Resort fans!

(Not sure if anyone remembers me, but this thread has been my favorite place on the DIS in years past).

Well I try to not visit here unless/until I have a WDW trip planned, but tonight, I just couldn't help it.

GuitarRob: AWESOME, EXCELLENT THREAD!!

I was just looking through the first few posts, at the gorgeous pictures, and immediately I felt that old familiar urge to want to go "home" to the Polynesian.

This past year we took a 9-night Disney cruise, but our last WDW trip was in 2010. I am in serious withdrawal here!!

I'm going to go back and continue browsing this terrific thread and see what's new at my favorite place; thanks to all who have contributed.

Edited to add: How could I forget?! We actually were at WDW and had breakfast and dinner at the Polynesian (Kona Cafe and 'Ohana) this past June, while on a port day in Port Canaveral during our DCL cruise (it sailed out of NYC). So really, I *have* been to the Polynesian within the past 6 months, but we didn't STAY there, so I forgot about it. LOL

Hi Seaspray!

You and Tikiman helped me prepare for my first trip to the Poly back in 2007. since then I have been there three times, but have a June trip planned. I am hoping to do a split with the Poly at the end. I wish I could stay there the whole time, but not anymore.

I have thought about you over the past year because I am planning again. Great to hear from you!

 

[guitarob]

The water that is offered in the large container is filtered water, not tap water (thankfully). That's why it's so much better. If you ask they will give you a carafe of the filtered water, we got one every day to have some drinking water in the room.

There are photos of some of the lounge food (and beverages) in the Club Level section (Post #10) on the first page of this thread. Honestly, not much has changed, they just put less out these days. That's why I haven't bothered to take new pictures.

There may be a smaller selection lately, but it's a smaller selection from basically the same menu that it has been for years now.

For example, instead of putting out cinnamon rolls and cheese danish at breakfast, now there's usually just one or the other.

It's not the greatest shot, but you can see the new juice and water containers (water is to the far right, next to the guy in the white shirt) in this photo (click the picture to see the large version):

 

[guitarob]

...I am almost positive they had them. If you asked for bottled water, I'm pretty sure they'd get it if they didn't have it. Anytime I asked for something it was given x3 or 4. We were never once told that no that was not available.

They used to have small plastic bottles that were portable years ago. Then they moved up to the larger glass Evian bottles and would still give you one to take back to your room if you asked. Now they have moved on to the filtered water in a large communal container. I'm sure it's a cost thing. It has to be a lot cheaper to just filter the water as opposed to buying all of those bottles.

Also, I believe that I heard (probably around here somewhere to be honest, ) they had problems with people just hoarding the water bottles in their rooms, and not drinking them. From what I (think I) remember, after guests would check out Mousekeeping would find all of those bottles and had to throw them out whether they were open or not.

 

[KingSpeedy]

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/S.../pdf/D-MailPDF/IntlDmailwdwRefurbishments.pdf

Was recently updated to say that the longhouse refurbs will run until October 4th, and the Volcano Pool will be closed from Feb 18 to Mar 1.

 

[princessap]

Fingers crossed the schedule is on time for the pool!

 

[clanmcculloch]

Any idea if this means the whole pool will be closed or if it's just the slide and if this will be the whole time? I've got a cabana booked during this time and I'll be pretty ticked if they've allowed cabanas to be booked when the pool is closed.

 

[princessap]

When I called she said the whole pool was closed. I would be ticked too if I booked a cabana. I would call the resort directly and ask. We are set to arrive 3 days after it reopens and I am nervous so I can imagine you are too.

 

[baler31]

Just a quick note until I have time to post a review. We stayed CL from 12/27-1/3. We are GF fans and have not been back to Poly in several years after a few bad experiences. However, we were with a group of 10 and the majority wanted the Poly. Rooms were much cleaner than our last visits, even though some items were a bit worn it was obvious they were clean and we had excellent mousekeeping.

Found the CL staff to be friendly and promptly respond to requests. However we did miss some of the relationships we have made with staff at other resorts. Nothing at all wrong just missed the "above and beyond" mentality we have seen from others.

Will mention that for NYE they had a reserved section of about 75 chairs set up on the beach for CL guests. We had to check in with the CL staff to get a seat in the roped off area in front of the castle. Half our group did this and other half walked to GF for the dancing and balloon drop.

Only downside: we usually valet but DH decided that as parking was much closer than GF that it would be faster to be able to get our car. Problems came on the 30th and 31st when we could not find ANY parking even in overflow. When we pulled up after looking for a long time they took the car to valet at n/c.

As we were leaving the decorations were coming down and they were starting to bring in equipment that I assume was for renovations. Will post pictures and more soon.

 

[Debrn]

I had one booked last year during refurb, they cancelled it no problem and we rebooked the day the pool reopened.



QUOTE=clanmcculloch;47067389]Any idea if this means the whole pool will be closed or if it's just the slide and if this will be the whole time? I've got a cabana booked during this time and I'll be pretty ticked if they've allowed cabanas to be booked when the pool is closed.[/QUOTE]

 

[princessap]

Did you rebook on the day the pool was scheduled to reopen or did you wait until it actually reopened? I am hoping they stay on schedule and it is reopened as planned

 

[Debrn]

Did you rebook on the day the pool was scheduled to reopen or did you wait until it actually reopened? I am hoping they stay on schedule and it is reopened as planned

I think it opened later than it was supposed to I honestly don't remember the pool was open the whole time just the slide was closed. We arrive on 2/28 so I hope it's open by the 1st. The year before last we were ar BWV and that pool was closed with no notice.