Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

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bethclayton said:
  • The grounds are much less lush than they used to be. That was probably the biggest mutual disappointment to all of us. Bad enough that the waterfall and ducks are gone but overall, it just seems so much more stark and cold than it used to. What I loved most was how secluded everything seemed and it is all open now. There were so many great areas, and great views to be had (for example from the pool looking towards the castle), and they have all changed. And of course the beach is not the same. My kids have begged to return since 2010, but none of us has any desire to return again after this visit. The ambience is nothing like it used to be.
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Yes as much as I dislike the new lobby and the bungalows this is what bothers me the most. The grounds just used to be so beautiful, especially the area behind the GCH/pool area. The pool area used to feel separate from the GCH because it was blocked by the landscaping. Now you can see the pool area from the GCH and it just feels very different. Where there was once a stream and whole bunch of foliage is now just a patchy grass field :confused3

The pool area used to be so shaded with all the trees too, now it's not. Same with the Captain Cooks outdoor seating area, they took away all those trees for the kids splash pad. I also really do not like those paths in the east side of the resort, so wide. But luckily the lack of landscape is a rather easy fix so hopefully Disney just ends up going crazy with planting. Part of me thinks they will because the resort wont even be done with construction for like another 9 months.

All that being said, I think it is still a decent looking resort. It just doesn't scream "Polynesian" to me like it once did.
 
......so the stream from GCH to the pool area is now gone??? That makes me sad, we used to always have to stop and spend a few minutes there (and watch the ducks). On our stay there in '13 one of the girls actuallystopped and took photos of the baby ducks!
 
rcraw45425 said:
......so the stream from GCH to the pool area is now gone??? That makes me sad, we used to always have to stop and spend a few minutes there (and watch the ducks). On our stay there in '13 one of the girls actuallystopped and took photos of the baby ducks!
Click to expand...

yes, it is gone. it is an ugly worn grass patch of nothing. :sad:
 


bethclayton said:
We returned on thursday from 8 days at the poly! We stayed CL. As usual I have way too much to say, so this time i will just bullet point my random thoughts.
First, the good:
  • Most of the CM's were helpful and professional. Irv is an absolute gem.
  • The CL food was much better than I feared. We enjoyed much of it.
  • Many of the CL staff were personable.
  • One chef did an awesome job of accommodating my husband's gluten intolerance.
  • The room was clean and mostly everything was in good working order or was repaired the same day.
  • Housekeeping mostly did a great job.
  • Trader Sam's was cute. A bit dorky for our taste, but cute. We went once at 4 and once around 8 and it was not crowded either time and we got great seats.
  • Transportation was great, every form of it.
  • The wishes music is piped in on the beach, at least near hawaii.
  • We really had a great time in the lounge every night (we were a large travel party). Staying CL gave us such a great way to stay together. The evenings at the lounge are probably our favorite memory from the trip.
  • The beach at night is lovely.
  • The bungalows do not affect the fireworks view, which is still spectacular.
  • The wine is still self-serve and was also left out from 7-8 between appetizers and dessert, which was great. You could help yourself to wine basically from 5-10 pm! And we did! ;)
  • They were using magic bands to get into the pool gate.
  • We had two good margaritas at the pool bar and the habanero lime margarita at tambu lounge was delicious.
The not-so-good:
  • The construction on and near hawaii was absolutely ridiculously obnoxious. It was obscene. Extremely loud jackhammer type noises (they were not actual jackhammers being used but it was that type of noise) all morning every weekday morning as they worked on the outside of the CL lounge during breakfast. You could barely hold a conversation and every window you tried to look out of had cherry pickers with men working. Literally on both sides of the building. Then after breakfast they were usually gone! There is absolutely no reason why these guys could not have waited until 10:30 to start that work. Breakfast was miserable and an awful start to the day.
  • SO. MUCH. CONSTRUCTION. Did I mention the construction??? We have teens now and with the advent of FP+ we were SO looking forward to sleeping a bit later and being able to stay out at night when it was cooler. Well, forget it. They were right outside our first floor window, in some cases on our actual patio, at 9 am every day, with the reverse beeping going on over and over and over and over.
  • The pool was gross. It was very crowded, no chairs to be had, no shade, and as a pp mentioned, there was hair everywhere. Every move I made resulted in someone else's hair tangled around some part of me. I went once for a few hours and never returned.
  • Captain Cook's was very disorganized with poor customer service, cranky CM's, very long waits and not enough indoor seating.
  • The grounds are much less lush than they used to be. That was probably the biggest mutual disappointment to all of us. Bad enough that the waterfall and ducks are gone but overall, it just seems so much more stark and cold than it used to. What I loved most was how secluded everything seemed and it is all open now. There were so many great areas, and great views to be had (for example from the pool looking towards the castle), and they have all changed. And of course the beach is not the same. My kids have begged to return since 2010, but none of us has any desire to return again after this visit. The ambience is nothing like it used to be.
I will upload the construction pics another day soon.
Click to expand...
:wave:Hi Beth! It was so nice meeting you! Still here :-) and have to report we haven't heard much construction noise. At the end of our hallway near elevator there's a big floor to ceiling window facing the mud pit, lol. And I see workers and diggers, but haven't heard much. Thankfully our room doesn't face East pool or maybe I'd here more.
Crowds this week have been lighter, so no problem now getting lounge chairs at pool, and it's been pretty clean. It would be nice to have more umbrellas around pool. Last night we floated in pool and watched Wishes from pool!
Happy to report ducks still around. And we saw 4 babies! So cute.
 
I checked into the Poly today & I cannot be more pleased!!! The construction has not bothered us (yet?) and everything is so beautiful. We got a room facing the pool in Samoa! Exactly what I requested. I did not ask for balcony nor patio with hopes of increasing my chances of getting Samoa since I really wanted the convenience of this building. We got the 2nd floor and I am fine with that! We are close to the elevator/stairs, overlooking the pool. We saw the fireworks today while swimming in the pool. We also had dinner at Ohana and the food was just ok. I remember it being a lot better but what can you do. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to the MK. Hopefully the morning transportation is smooth. I canceled my pre park opening Crystal Palace due to the monorail not running that early. We are pushing 2 strollers and I hate folding them up and unpacking them to get on the boat or bus. image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg

Here are some pictures of the room/view. And just FYI, I did fax a request through touring plans. This is the first time a request of mine has been met so maybe the fax service is successful!
 
Sue M said:
:wave:Hi Beth! It was so nice meeting you! Still here :-) and have to report we haven't heard much construction noise. At the end of our hallway near elevator there's a big floor to ceiling window facing the mud pit, lol. And I see workers and diggers, but haven't heard much. Thankfully our room doesn't face East pool or maybe I'd here more.
Crowds this week have been lighter, so no problem now getting lounge chairs at pool, and it's been pretty clean. It would be nice to have more umbrellas around pool. Last night we floated in pool and watched Wishes from pool!
Happy to report ducks still around. And we saw 4 babies! So cute.
Click to expand...

We were in the pool during Wishes last night too! :)
 


Ginny Favers said:
The pool at the Poly was so crowded and not only that, not very clean. I couldn't move in it without accidentally hitting someone else, and the water felt slimy and I kept getting strands of long hair that wasn't mine or errant band-aids in my fingers every time I stroked. When I looked at the surface of the water in the sunlight, it was covered in greasy oil slicks. Toward the end of the week I couldn't even bring myself to go in, no matter how hot I got-- I just watched the kids from the side. Sad, because we are big pool people.
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bethclayton said:
The pool was gross. It was very crowded, no chairs to be had, no shade, and as a pp mentioned, there was hair everywhere. Every move I made resulted in someone else's hair tangled around some part of me. I went once for a few hours and never returned.
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Maybe there was something not working and they hadn't realized it somehow. Others are saying it's lovely now and it was lovely on our trip at the first of the month. I spent quite a lot of time in the water, as did DGD and DH and we didn't get hairs wrapped on us.
 
bethclayton said:
We returned on thursday from 8 days at the poly! We stayed CL.

I will upload the construction pics another day soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your review. I'm sorry about the issues you had during your stay, but I hope you had a nice trip overall. Looking forward to seeing your pics :).

DisneyDoc5 said:
Hoping for a positive stay in October, Poly is a magical place for us, if it doesn't go well I will have a hard time returning there. The pool situation seems dire. I can deal with crowded pools, but unclean, yuck, deal breaker. Beach Club is our tie for favorite resort with Poly, so if all else fails we will move our next stay there, it never disappoints.
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I hope you have a great stay in October! :wizard:

Rosebud123 said:
We have been at the Poly since Friday, staying in Fiji. If I didn't read this board, I would even know there's any construction going on at the Poly. The only signs I've seen of it were fences up on the other side of the resort (I'm guessing around the quiet pool?) that we saw when we walked to the laundry room last night. The main building is gorgeous, the pool and hot tub are amazing, and our 3rd floor balcony overlooking the marina is incredible! Can't believe this is considered a standard view. I knew nothing about the Poly before staying here but I love, love, love Fiji! Also, everything in the resort is so much closer than I thought.
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Glad you're having a great time and enjoying the Poly :goodvibes.

916chipndale said:
The pool area used to feel separate from the GCH because it was blocked by the landscaping. Now you can see the pool area from the GCH and it just feels very different. Where there was once a stream and whole bunch of foliage is now just a patchy grass field
Click to expand...

This is one thing that disappoints me the most :(.

bethclayton said:
yes, it is gone. it is an ugly worn grass patch of nothing. :sad:
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:sad2:

Sue M said:
Last night we floated in pool and watched Wishes from pool!
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This is one of the many things I love to do at the Poly :cloud9:.

lilluv117 said:
I checked into the Poly today & I cannot be more pleased!!! The construction has not bothered us (yet?) and everything is so beautiful. We got a room facing the pool in Samoa! Exactly what I requested. I did not ask for balcony nor patio with hopes of increasing my chances of getting Samoa since I really wanted the convenience of this building. We got the 2nd floor and I am fine with that! We are close to the elevator/stairs, overlooking the pool. We saw the fireworks today while swimming in the pool. We also had dinner at Ohana and the food was just ok. I remember it being a lot better but what can you do. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to the MK. Hopefully the morning transportation is smooth. I canceled my pre park opening Crystal Palace due to the monorail not running that early. We are pushing 2 strollers and I hate folding them up and unpacking them to get on the boat or bus. View attachment 120868 View attachment 120869 View attachment 120870

Here are some pictures of the room/view. And just FYI, I did fax a request through touring plans. This is the first time a request of mine has been met so maybe the fax service is successful!
Click to expand...

Glad you got the building/view you wanted. We love Samoa, very convenient to everything! Hope you have a great time and enjoy the Poly. Great pics, thanks for sharing :flower3:.
 
mickeynut1 said:
This is one thing that disappoints me the most :(.
Click to expand...

Yep it's my biggest gripe with the "new" Polynesian. But like I said it is an easy fix so I am holding out hope that Disney plants a couple of trees/bushes/plants in that grassy area.
 
lilluv117 said:
I checked into the Poly today & I cannot be more pleased!!! The construction has not bothered us (yet?) and everything is so beautiful. We got a room facing the pool in Samoa! Exactly what I requested. I did not ask for balcony nor patio with hopes of increasing my chances of getting Samoa since I really wanted the convenience of this building. We got the 2nd floor and I am fine with that! We are close to the elevator/stairs, overlooking the pool. We saw the fireworks today while swimming in the pool. We also had dinner at Ohana and the food was just ok. I remember it being a lot better but what can you do. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to the MK. Hopefully the morning transportation is smooth. I canceled my pre park opening Crystal Palace due to the monorail not running that early. We are pushing 2 strollers and I hate folding them up and unpacking them to get on the boat or bus. View attachment 120868 View attachment 120869 View attachment 120870

Here are some pictures of the room/view. And just FYI, I did fax a request through touring plans. This is the first time a request of mine has been met so maybe the fax service is successful!
Click to expand...
BEAUTIFUL pic of pool! :beach:GREAT to watch WISHES from pool! HAVE a MAGICAL rest of vaca!:wizard:::yes::
 
Hello My family will be staying at the Poly for the first time in a standard room. Would anyone be able to tell me if the second floor sliding doors open up to view the outside. I know that there are no second floor balconies, but if the doors open up I will be just as happy with that if I do not get a balcony room. Thank you for any responses.

Cheryl
 
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This was what our view often consisted of on weekdays between 9 and 5. This was NOT on the construction side of the building. This was the lagoon/ theme park view side.

I am very happy to hear that others staying on the other side of the resort barely noticed construction. But that does not negate that the people staying in Hawaii had no escape from the construction. I just feel it is helpful to people with upcoming CL stays that they be made aware that there was not one single part of Hawaii in which you could avoid it. Some people are paying an extraordinarily high nightly rate to stay there. We had a discount through a TA, which is why it was I suppose a little easier to swallow.

We had a very fun trip and enjoyed every day, absolutely.
 
bethclayton said:
[GALLERY=]View attachment 120932[/GALLERY]

This was what our view often consisted of on weekdays between 9 and 5. This was NOT on the construction side of the building. This was the lagoon/ theme park view side.

I am very happy to hear that others staying on the other side of the resort barely noticed construction. But that does not negate that the people staying in Hawaii had no escape from the construction. I just feel it is helpful to people with upcoming CL stays that they be made aware that there was not one single part of Hawaii in which you could avoid it. Some people are paying an extraordinarily high nightly rate to stay there. We had a discount through a TA, which is why it was I suppose a little easier to swallow.

We had a very fun trip and enjoyed every day, absolutely.
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Wow - I would have been really displeased having that view. It's interesting how subjective the opinions are on the construction. I switched from the Poly to the WL because we were staying CL with a garden view and I didn't want to see the construction zone. We had friends at the Poly the same week we were there (this would have been August 16-23). They were in Tolelau, on the side that didn't face the construction. They found it awfully loud. But I know others here have reported it wasn't that bad. The construction that took place was obviously the same for all, but experienced very differently. If that makes sense.

There was some construction at WL during our stay, but it was unobtrusive to us (some scaffolding here and there). It seems WL is getting the Poly treatment starting in the next few months, so I'm glad I stayed when we did. I'm hoping to take my mom to the Epcot flower and garden festival and stay at the Poly (the BC is the resort that feels most like home to me, but I know she'd love the Poly). Shooting for 2017 and really hope the construction mess is mostly over by then.
 
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the first pic is from our first room, which was garden view and faced the pool construction. the next few pics are the room we moved to the following day. that room was lagoon or theme park view side of hawaii.

there are only two sides to these buildings. so you absolutely could not get away from it. as you can see in the one pic, those cherry pickers stretched the whole length of the building, so the view that i had, was had pretty much everyone's view.

this last pic is looking out the window of the lounge. the cherry pickers were usually up high in front of the window, i just didn't happen to snap a pic during those times.
 
Sue M said:
:wave:Hi Beth! It was so nice meeting you! Still here :-) and have to report we haven't heard much construction noise. At the end of our hallway near elevator there's a big floor to ceiling window facing the mud pit, lol. And I see workers and diggers, but haven't heard much. Thankfully our room doesn't face East pool or maybe I'd here more.
Crowds this week have been lighter, so no problem now getting lounge chairs at pool, and it's been pretty clean. It would be nice to have more umbrellas around pool. Last night we floated in pool and watched Wishes from pool!
Happy to report ducks still around. And we saw 4 babies! So cute.
Click to expand...

sue, i was so lucky to meet you! your daughter is a delight, also! i was so glad i got to run into you that second time, as well, although i wish i had had more time to chat! i am back to reality but so happy for you that you still have time left there to enjoy!!
 
AngiTN said:
Maybe there was something not working and they hadn't realized it somehow. Others are saying it's lovely now and it was lovely on our trip at the first of the month. I spent quite a lot of time in the water, as did DGD and DH and we didn't get hairs wrapped on us.
Click to expand...

Same here from 8/9 to 13....multiple days in the pool and its was perfect!
 
I have booked the Poly for the first time checking in on March 18th. From everything I can find it just says the quiet pool construction should end early 2016. Any insight on if we will be okay. I don't want to be in a construction zone the entire time. This is my last monorail resort that I haven't stayed in and we are really looking forward to it! It's also my daughters 10th birthday and a surprise trip.
 
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