ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[SeaSpray]

The Poly felt like home from the moment we walked through the door. This is a resort RICH in textures - love it! The young woman at check-in was very sweet. She had real flower leis for my husband and I (a very thoughtful touch) for our 15 year anniversary celebration. They also gave us "Happy Anniversary" pins and "We're Celebrating" buttons for the kids.

We arrived near noon and our room was ready. We requested and received Tahiti and were put in a 3rd floor GV room (3012). DH especially enjoys being able to go to the room and escape the theme parks even momentarily, so the view couldn't have been more perfect. From our balcony, we could see the side of Tokelau to the right and the walkway along the longhouse in front of us, but the palm trees totally blocked out any view of Rapa Nui behind us. This is a very quiet longhouse - most of the time we wondered if there was anyone else staying there.

The pools were never crowded and the line for the slide never exceeded 4-5 minutes; it was usually walk-on. The beaches were never crowded for Wishes. Even 5 minutes before the show we were still able to find chairs.

Our mousekeeper kept the room clean and gifted us with the traditional Mickey with leis, an elephant, and a bunny for the kids. With the exception of a neglected shower head, we didn't encounter any other cleanliness issues and no bed bugs. The room was in great shape and HUGE! Plenty of room for the 5 of us. We loved having the 2 sinks. The beds were very comfortable and my 12 year old DS was also very comfortable on the pull-out couch.

We found that not only the cast members were quite friendly, but so were the other guests staying at the resort and we loved staying at a monorail resort. The kids, of course, loved the parks, but we did have a difficult time dragging them from the pool and to the parks more than once. We nearly missed a couple of ADRs.

The grounds were beautiful. Immaculate. One of my most favorite things was getting up before the family and heading out for coffee, quiet, and early morning pictures. We came home with over 700 photos - probably a hundred or so just from the grounds. Our family is completely looking forward to returning. Since most of the views have been covered here already, I thought I might just include a few of my favorites from the resort.

Thank you to everyone on the board who helped make our Poly vacation magical!

Your pictures are amazing, excellent job!!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

disneymumma,
Thanks for posting your review and those pictures look great.

 

[tpholland]

GREAT PICS! Thanks for posting. We will be there in the morning celebrating our 22nd anniversary & our first Poly stay. Soooooooooooo excited

 

[kmrein]

WOW, disneymumma! Thanks so much for the review and pictures-such fun.

Good luck transitioning back into reality-I know that is always so hard and no fun at all.

 

[Tess]

disneymumma, thanks so much for sharing! Lovely photos and now you do know that "pout" is real. . .always so sad to leave the Polynesian.

Are you uploading all 700 of your pictures somewhere? If so, share a link. I know I would love to see more!

 

[princessreilly]

Does anyone know a link to the movies scedule for September. I am having no luck finding it. Thanks

 

[maiapapaya]

So Tess did a great job of preparing our family for the infamous "Poly Pout" - totally a real phenomenon, btw - but what we weren't prepared for was the Poly Plummet back to reality. Ouch! That hurts! OMGoodness, finding the motivation to move beyond the daydreaming is in the same realm of finding a needle in a haystack. We never did experience this at any of the other WDW resorts. The Poly is special.

My DH had this bad. While we were at the Poly last fall he was really psyched to come back this year. Then once we got home he had a complete about face and refused to go back this year. He was quite adamant. Due to some circumstances beyond his control ( ) we are going back in Nov. after all. Once we were booked for this year he admitted that he didn't want to go back because the "Poly Plummet" had felt so bad that he didn't want to go through it again. Fortunately he's totally excited for our return trip now.

Last year we stayed in Samoa, 1st floor on the volcano pool side... We absolutely loved that spot, but I can't remember what the room number was!! Anyone know what those room numbers are on that pool side of Samoa??

If you go to the Tikiman site he has layouts of each of the longhouses with the room numbers on them. If it's for a room request you can just say "marina side". It's probably better to keep your request more general than asking for a specific room.

 

[jdd]

Thanks for the photos and your thoughts!

Here's a touch-up of your sunset I tried to rescue it a little, this is about the best I could do.

Thanks so much! It looks so much better! I was so excited to get sunrise pictures that morning, and I can't believe how badly they turned out. Guess I have to go back next year and try again

 

[TheNewMrsB]

UGH! Last day at work and I can't concentrate to save myself!

Okay...concentrate...concentrate...not on the Poly...not on the fact that you'll be there in, like, a little more than 24 hours....no...concentrate on work....

Yeah. It's not happening.

 

[crostorfer]

disneymumma, thank you so much for posting those beautiful pictures! I hope you don't mind, but I made one my wallpaper on my laptop!

 

[mom2travel]

UGH! Last day at work and I can't concentrate to save myself!

Okay...concentrate...concentrate...not on the Poly...not on the fact that you'll be there in, like, a little more than 24 hours....no...concentrate on work....

Yeah. It's not happening.

I've been telling myself this all morning. It think it is useless!! The we're-really-almost-there bug has hit, and there is no going back

 

[guitarob]

This time tomorrow... I'll be at the Kona Cafe having brunch. That, is an awesome thing!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Disneymumma - Thank you for the review and photos! They are beautiful!

Does anyone else think that the ducks at Disney are TOTALLY spoiled??? They seem to have the run of the place (in a good way!) I love it when the baby ducks are out and about - so cute!!

 

[Tess]

This time tomorrow... I'll be at the Kona Cafe having brunch. That, is an awesome thing!

Have fun Rob. . .in two weeks at this time, we will be checking in at BC and ready to hit F&W for lunch and drinks, of course.

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

Loving all the recent pics!!!! We're hitting Disney on Ice tonight to, hopefully, ease the jonesing for December. Come on, Poly!!!!

 

[BreezysMom]

This time tomorrow... I'll be at the Kona Cafe having brunch. That, is an awesome thing!

Have a magical trip I will be anxiously awaiting for pics and reviews. Will they be live??

Disneymumma - Thank you for the review and photos! They are beautiful!

Does anyone else think that the ducks at Disney are TOTALLY spoiled??? They seem to have the run of the place (in a good way!) I love it when the baby ducks are out and about - so cute!!

Spoiled and quite bold too! One took a half eaten uncrustable right out of dd's hand while we were sitting outside of CC. Little bugger

Have fun Rob. . .in two weeks at this time, we will be checking in at BC and ready to hit F&W for lunch and drinks, of course.

I am so envious. I love F&W. I am sad we are missing it this year I could have spent our entire trip at EPCOT last year just eating and drinking my way through the countries.

 

[princssdisnygina]

AAAHHHH... to all of you that will be there soon have a great time! I am envious as I have 59 more days (but who's counting?) BUT.... I will be there when your vaca has passed! Just sayin.... HAHAHA!
Hope you all have a wonderful time and say hello to Mickey and the gang for me! I will be there soon! And post pics if you can! I haven't stayed at the poly in over 15 years so I am excited!!

 

[SeaSpray]

This time tomorrow... I'll be at the Kona Cafe having brunch. That, is an awesome thing!

That is a beautiful thing! Lunch at the Kona Cafe is an arrival-day tradition for us! Got to start the vacation out right!




Everyone going soon, have a wonderful time!!!!!

 

[BelleRocks]

Has anyone ever had it actually take 3 hours to get your luggage? I just got my DME packet, and realized that is what it says it could take. Our last trip the luggage was there right away.

 

[disneymumma]

Less than 2 days to go

disneymumma - thanks for the awesome pics. I'm about to burst, I'm so excited!

Your pictures are amazing, excellent job!!

disneymumma,
Thanks for posting your review and those pictures look great.

Thank you, vinotinto, CR Resort Fan 4 Life, and SeaSpray! You could spend an entire day just snapping away at the Poly!

GREAT PICS! Thanks for posting. We will be there in the morning celebrating our 22nd anniversary & our first Poly stay. Soooooooooooo excited

Congratulations on 22 years of marriage! WTG!

WOW, disneymumma! Thanks so much for the review and pictures-such fun.

Good luck transitioning back into reality-I know that is always so hard and no fun at all.

Thanks, kmrein! I can use all the luck I can get because, oh, it's harsh for sure! At the same time, totally worth it for the joy of the Poly! Maybe they should send us all home with a care package of coffee, a sun lamp, small potted tropic plant, and that wonderful smell from the GCH. You know, maybe just enough to get you over the hump?

disneymumma, thanks so much for sharing! Lovely photos and now you do know that "pout" is real. . .always so sad to leave the Polynesian.

Are you uploading all 700 of your pictures somewhere? If so, share a link. I know I would love to see more!

Thank you, Tess! I do hope to get them posted; I'll be sure to share the link.

disneymumma, thank you so much for posting those beautiful pictures! I hope you don't mind, but I made one my wallpaper on my laptop!

Cool! I have one as my desktop wallpaper, too!

Disneymumma - Thank you for the review and photos! They are beautiful!

Does anyone else think that the ducks at Disney are TOTALLY spoiled??? They seem to have the run of the place (in a good way!) I love it when the baby ducks are out and about - so cute!!

You're welcome and thank you! Yes, it's nice of the ducks to allow us to come and visit their home don't you think?