Just changed my reservation so back to square 1 - Polynesian?

[olive]

I was booked for 10 nights at the Contemporary in January and after much reading of books and reviewing websites and reading threads on this board, I decided on a tower room with a Bay Lake view. Now, with the new 4/3 deal in January, I have a split stay with just the first two nights in the Contemporary and the rest at the Polynesian in a garden view room. I was very excited about the Contemporary, especially considering the walkway to MK, but now trying to switch gears and get excited for a different resort.

I stayed at the Polynesian about 2 and a half years ago, in Hawaii on the third floor. We had a nice view of the volcano pool at the time. We enjoyed the resort - torches at night were fabulous, the little ducklings swimming in the pool were adorable, my husband liked the coffee at Kona and we were conveniently located to two of the parks. Our room was also nicely sized and the bathroom even seemed big. Mousekeeping was inconsistent and dishes piled up in the hallway frequently, but that didn't really detract from our trip. The only real downside was that the room seemed very dark, even in the middle of the day.

This time we are headed to Disney with our son. It will be his first trip to Disney. Although we know the weather can be pretty variable in January, the pool was pretty to look at so we would be happy with another volcano pool view even if it is too cold to use it. We would also like to lower our chances of a parking lot view. Which longhouses are best to request? I understand that these are requests only, of course. Samoa looks well-located, maybe followed by Tokelau. Has anyone ever made these kinds of requests ("I would like to request a room in Samoa OR Tokelau")? Also, do any of the longhouses have less dark rooms?

Also, other than the character breakfast and dinner at Ohana, anything else not to miss with a toddler? Are there movies on the beach, for example, or can we walk to the Grand Floridian for the movies and smores thing (assuming that it isn't too cold in January to do this).

I'll have to start playing around with the ADR schedule I had plotted out. This should make dinner at Ohana easier!

[olive]

Also - any thoughts on the very small longhouse between Samoa and the GCH? Is that very old? I don't think I have read as much about that one... Any advantage to booking in the newer ones, anyway, other than the rooms being larger? Our room last time at Polynesian seemed plenty large, so I'm not worried about that.