ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: June 2013

[Tikiman]

Well yesterday was a comedy of errors. Got to airport on time and found out that our plane would be arriving 1/2 hour late. No big deal. Then we get on the plane and are told there is a minor mechanical problem. That took another 1/2 hour to resolve. We were then cleared for takeoff...yay! We moved up to the runway and were next to take off...and air traffic control closes our route. Ugh!! Took another full hour of sitting on the runway until we finally took off. So now we are a full two hours late. We were supposed to land 6:15 at MCO and now it's looking like it will be 8:25.

We finally land at MCO and board the ME. And yup you guessed it...we are the last stop. We get dropped off at the poly at 10:05.

We were checking into club level. No one meets us off the bus so we head into the GCH. Wait in line at the check-in desk and finally get the attention of a rather unmagical cm. I tell her we are checking in CL and she looks at us and says, "name?". So I tell her and she just starts typing. No aloha, no smile, no nothin. So I say "I'm assuming we can't check in at the Hawaii building since it's a few minutes after 10:00". And she tells me they have all gone home. I ask if there is any way we can have them put a couple crackers or desserts in our room since the kids haven't eaten since lunch. She tells me "nope too late". Then she just hands us our key. No mention of club hours, no 'enjoy your stay', no nothin. Doesn't even tell us what room we are in. So I ask her what room we are in and how to get to Hawaii.

She tells me we are on the 2nd floor. UGH. My one and only request was 3rd floor. What I found interesting is that when she checked us in she didn't even say "I see you requested 3rd floor, I'm sorry it is not available". No acknowledgment at all. And no leis either. She tells us there are no 3rd floor rooms available tonight but that we can check back in the morning.

So we head over to our 2nd floor room. The windows are all fogged up so we can't see out. I say "let's open these sliders and see this TPV we paid for". Open the slider and massive cobwebs cover the whole opening. Cant lean on rail or anything. Looks like it hasn't been opened and cleaned for months.

So my DH goes down to talk to manager. Manager says we definitely didn't get the CL experience. Offers to move us to a standard non-CL room for tonight and check us into a 3rd floor CL room in morning. My DH asks if we can just pay the reduced rate but keep our current room for the night. Our carry-ons are already there, kids are starving and tired. Manager says no but assigns us to a room in Raratonga. Also tells us to go to bell services and inform them of our room change so ME knows where to deliver our bags. So we do that and then we go back to room, gather all our stuff, and head to our new room in Raratonga...only to discover a king bed. Ugh! So back we go to front desk.

Guess what...manager is now unavailable. Need to re-explain issue to new CM. He agrees to put us back in our original room at a reduced rate. But first we need to go to bell services again to inform them of the room change.

It is now just before midnight. Bell services says our bags will be in our room by 12:00. So we go to captain cooks for a bite to eat. Get back to room at 12:30 and still no luggage. So we call down to luggage and valet on our room phone. My DH explains issue and it takes a good few minutes for him to realize they have transferred him to GF luggage and valet by mistake. They transfer him to poly and he re-explains issue. We end up getting our luggage a bit before 1 am.

Now, I am not usually a negative Nellie but this was seriously the worst CL check-in we've ever had at Disney. I guess the magic goes home at 10 pm.

Honestly, we were all laughing by the end of the night it was all so chaotic.

Kids and dh are still sleeping now. They are all exhausted from our late night. Here's hoping they still have that 3rd floor room for us today...

Unfortunately I hear the front desk staff has a high turnover rate. Even when I checked in last year they were uninformed and not real friendly. She even seemed annoyed that I knew more about the room categories than her but I try and give people the benefit of the doubt that it was just a bad day for her.
Checking in late is something I try and avoid (along with Magical Express) and often the good rooms are gone by that time because often earlier people are asking for better rooms if they are available.
Concierge in Hawaii does go home at 10:00 and I would not expect them to stay later since most of the time they have nothing to do that late. They have no ability to provide you with food in your room and even if someone wanted to go out of their way to put something in there, the lounge is locked up and nothing is available.
Im sorry your trip started off so rough but checking in that late can be a less than magical experience because most of the staff is gone.

 

[Disneyfun67]

On Disney bus I feel good

 

[Disneyfun67]

I hope we get a awesome room

 

[mickeynut1]

On Disney bus I feel good

Have a great time .

 

[mariamouse]

Oops sorry didn't see the post before me but wanted to make sure person who asked about hot tub knew it was allowed! Just can't use the one by the pool..

Since Poly doesn't have a health club, sauna or hot tub we are allowed to use GF freely

Sept 2013 Poly, 2012 Disney Fantasy, BC CL, GF CL, POR, 2011 Poly CL, CR, Poly CL, AKL, 2010 Poly CL, ASMu 2009, SSR 2008, Pop 2006, POR , Asmo 2005, Asmo 2003, offsite 2000, 1999,1989, Poly 1980, offsite 1979

Yikes... I'm off my Disney game lately. Never even knew there was a freely accessible hot tub at the spa. Was just referring to the hot tub near the pool, but glad to hear that I am wrong on this one!

 

[mirage0306]

Well yesterday was a comedy of errors. Got to airport on time and found out that our plane would be arriving 1/2 hour late. No big deal. Then we get on the plane and are told there is a minor mechanical problem. That took another 1/2 hour to resolve. We were then cleared for takeoff...yay! We moved up to the runway and were next to take off...and air traffic control closes our route. Ugh!! Took another full hour of sitting on the runway until we finally took off. So now we are a full two hours late. We were supposed to land 6:15 at MCO and now it's looking like it will be 8:25.

We finally land at MCO and board the ME. And yup you guessed it...we are the last stop. We get dropped off at the poly at 10:05.

We were checking into club level. No one meets us off the bus so we head into the GCH. Wait in line at the check-in desk and finally get the attention of a rather unmagical cm. I tell her we are checking in CL and she looks at us and says, "name?". So I tell her and she just starts typing. No aloha, no smile, no nothin. So I say "I'm assuming we can't check in at the Hawaii building since it's a few minutes after 10:00". And she tells me they have all gone home. I ask if there is any way we can have them put a couple crackers or desserts in our room since the kids haven't eaten since lunch. She tells me "nope too late". Then she just hands us our key. No mention of club hours, no 'enjoy your stay', no nothin. Doesn't even tell us what room we are in. So I ask her what room we are in and how to get to Hawaii.

She tells me we are on the 2nd floor. UGH. My one and only request was 3rd floor. What I found interesting is that when she checked us in she didn't even say "I see you requested 3rd floor, I'm sorry it is not available". No acknowledgment at all. And no leis either. She tells us there are no 3rd floor rooms available tonight but that we can check back in the morning.

So we head over to our 2nd floor room. The windows are all fogged up so we can't see out. I say "let's open these sliders and see this TPV we paid for". Open the slider and massive cobwebs cover the whole opening. Cant lean on rail or anything. Looks like it hasn't been opened and cleaned for months.

So my DH goes down to talk to manager. Manager says we definitely didn't get the CL experience. Offers to move us to a standard non-CL room for tonight and check us into a 3rd floor CL room in morning. My DH asks if we can just pay the reduced rate but keep our current room for the night. Our carry-ons are already there, kids are starving and tired. Manager says no but assigns us to a room in Raratonga. Also tells us to go to bell services and inform them of our room change so ME knows where to deliver our bags. So we do that and then we go back to room, gather all our stuff, and head to our new room in Raratonga...only to discover a king bed. Ugh! So back we go to front desk.

Guess what...manager is now unavailable. Need to re-explain issue to new CM. He agrees to put us back in our original room at a reduced rate. But first we need to go to bell services again to inform them of the room change.

It is now just before midnight. Bell services says our bags will be in our room by 12:00. So we go to captain cooks for a bite to eat. Get back to room at 12:30 and still no luggage. So we call down to luggage and valet on our room phone. My DH explains issue and it takes a good few minutes for him to realize they have transferred him to GF luggage and valet by mistake. They transfer him to poly and he re-explains issue. We end up getting our luggage a bit before 1 am.

Now, I am not usually a negative Nellie but this was seriously the worst CL check-in we've ever had at Disney. I guess the magic goes home at 10 pm.

Honestly, we were all laughing by the end of the night it was all so chaotic.

Kids and dh are still sleeping now. They are all exhausted from our late night. Here's hoping they still have that 3rd floor room for us today...

Oh my goodness That is really a terrible start to your vacation. I hope they make everything right for you today.

I am getting nervous about all these bad CL experiences. We check in on Sunday. This is such a trip of a lifetime for us I just so don't want anything to go wrong. I was hoping for pixie dust but now I am just hoping everything goes smoothly.

We got the T-shirts I had made up for dh and myself and the kids yesterday. They came out really nice. I can't wait to wear them. The company wants us to take pictures of ourselves wearing them and we could be chosen for 100.00 in free t-shirts. That would be cool for our Christmas trip.

We are really getting down to the wire and I still have so much to do. Yikes! LOL. My lists have lists.

Maybe I can set your mind at ease a little...We had a great check in experience when we got there. We got off the ME, were met immediately by a CM who got our name and took us right over to Hawaii. Lots of "Aloha!s." We were checked in by a very nice CM, asked if we wanted anything to drink and she got the kids sodas. We got our leis and after she finished checking us in she said our third floor request had been granted. She took us on a tour over to the lounge and up to the third floor, where our room was, and where it turned out we'd been upgraded to a Theme Park View (I booked garden view).

Try not to be nervous--chances are it will go just fine. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get some pixie dust, too!

 

[fla4fun]

I am getting nervous about all these bad CL experiences. We check in on Sunday. This is such a trip of a lifetime for us I just so don't want anything to go wrong. I was hoping for pixie dust but now I am just hoping everything goes smoothly.

We are really getting down to the wire and I still have so much to do. Yikes! LOL. My lists have lists.

Take a deep breath and relax! Don't put yourself in the position of waiting for the other shoe to drop! I have never had a Disney trip where something didn't go wrong - but typically it's minor stuff that doesn't really impact the trip. If you stress over every little thing, you may miss out on the best parts of the trip. Sometimes those little bumps in the road make for some awesome vacation memories.

However, to the poster with the less than awesome check in experience, I am so sorry you had to go through that. I would definitely be talking to someone before I checked out. I could almost understand if you were checking in at 2 or 3 am, but 10 pm is not so late that they shouldn't have been able to prevent a lot of your frustration. I hope the rest of your trip is truely magical!

Just booked my next Poly stay for December. Looking forward to some of those pineapple macadamia pancakes!

 

[ocalla]

karriealex:

Don't worry about this!! It happens at all the resorts at one time or another.

If I recall, Erica who is at the Poly now, had issues at BC/YC CL this past June?? In the end it all worked out!!



We didn't think the CM's at Poly could be as nice and friendly as the one's we deal with at BC, but they really came through and made our stay so enjoyable!!!

 

[pixarmom]

Maybe I can set your mind at ease a little...We had a great check in experience when we got there. We got off the ME, were met immediately by a CM who got our name and took us right over to Hawaii. Lots of "Aloha!s." We were checked in by a very nice CM, asked if we wanted anything to drink and she got the kids sodas. We got our leis and after she finished checking us in she said our third floor request had been granted. She took us on a tour over to the lounge and up to the third floor, where our room was, and where it turned out we'd been upgraded to a Theme Park View (I booked garden view).

Thanks for sharing your Poly CL experience - this would be the perfect check-in scenario!

We've always had good luck with CMs at Poly over many non-CL stays since 1983. For our most recent stays, we've checked in on-line, and the CM at the counter to the far right checks us in. They have been fantastic in recent years - very friendly, very chatty, able to do a little quick digging to match our requests. CT Disney, really hope things start looking up from here!

Our only negative check-in experience was once at BC CL, but BC went so above and beyond to fix it that we were more than happy in the end - hope Poly does the same.

 

[bluejasmine]

Wow that is a good CL check in!! We had one like that at GF it was such a magical trip!!!

Sept 2013 Poly, 2012 Disney Fantasy, BC CL, GF CL, POR, 2011 Poly CL, CR, Poly CL, AKL, 2010 Poly CL, ASMu 2009, SSR 2008, Pop 2006, POR , Asmo 2005, Asmo 2003, offsite 2000, 1999,1989, Poly 1980, offsite 1979

 

[Disneyfun67]

Ok we are in kids in pool and everything looks awesome

 

[tjay]

Well check in today at the poly was no better! They had our reservation but there was a "glitch" in the system that deleted it so they had to rebook us. It literally took about an hour I requested Niue patio since mil has a scooter and it would be close. They gave us Tokelau. We finally got to out room and I checked for a fridge which we had great then I opened up the fridge to find the last guests food and half opened juice water and soda bottles. So far no magic here either

 

[bluejasmine]

Wow what is going on???

 

[DznyCrzy11]

Well check in today at the poly was no better! They had our reservation but there was a "glitch" in the system that deleted it so they had to rebook us. It literally took about an hour I requested Niue patio since mil has a scooter and it would be close. They gave us Tokelau. We finally got to out room and I checked for a fridge which we had great then I opened up the fridge to find the last guests food and half opened juice water and soda bottles. So far no magic here either

Ugh, what's going on at the Poly???? I hope they have everything right when my DH and I arrive. So far, the past 3 times we have stayed there we have had nothing but great service, hopefully this year is the same!! There's just no excuse for all their confusion!!! Some people, like DH and I, only get one chance/year to visit and that's our vacation for the year. For the amount of money people pay to stay here, their service should be top notch!!!

Sent from my Galaxy SII

 

[ribeza]

Eek! Just realized volcano pool renovations are 9-20 Sep - we have CL room 25 Sep-1 Oct. Think the pool will be ready for guests in time?

 

[DznyCrzy11]

Eek! Just realized volcano pool renovations are 9-20 Sep - we have CL room 25 Sep-1 Oct. Think the pool will be ready for guests in time?

Tikiman reported that those renovations have been postponed until January.

Sent from my Galaxy SII

 

[tjay]

Update since most of the day went by and my Water isn't cold because the fridge still has the dirty food dh went to speak to management. He apologized gave us one night credit and fast passes that really helped! Now I can start my vacation I understand things happen and it's awesome when people make up for it that's great customer service!

 

[momtobrynncess]

Well yesterday was a comedy of errors. Got to airport on time and found out that our plane would be arriving 1/2 hour late. No big deal. Then we get on the plane and are told there is a minor mechanical problem. That took another 1/2 hour to resolve. We were then cleared for takeoff...yay! We moved up to the runway and were next to take off...and air traffic control closes our route. Ugh!! Took another full hour of sitting on the runway until we finally took off. So now we are a full two hours late. We were supposed to land 6:15 at MCO and now it's looking like it will be 8:25.

We finally land at MCO and board the ME. And yup you guessed it...we are the last stop. We get dropped off at the poly at 10:05.

We were checking into club level. No one meets us off the bus so we head into the GCH. Wait in line at the check-in desk and finally get the attention of a rather unmagical cm. I tell her we are checking in CL and she looks at us and says, "name?". So I tell her and she just starts typing. No aloha, no smile, no nothin. So I say "I'm assuming we can't check in at the Hawaii building since it's a few minutes after 10:00". And she tells me they have all gone home. I ask if there is any way we can have them put a couple crackers or desserts in our room since the kids haven't eaten since lunch. She tells me "nope too late". Then she just hands us our key. No mention of club hours, no 'enjoy your stay', no nothin. Doesn't even tell us what room we are in. So I ask her what room we are in and how to get to Hawaii.

She tells me we are on the 2nd floor. UGH. My one and only request was 3rd floor. What I found interesting is that when she checked us in she didn't even say "I see you requested 3rd floor, I'm sorry it is not available". No acknowledgment at all. And no leis either. She tells us there are no 3rd floor rooms available tonight but that we can check back in the morning.

So we head over to our 2nd floor room. The windows are all fogged up so we can't see out. I say "let's open these sliders and see this TPV we paid for". Open the slider and massive cobwebs cover the whole opening. Cant lean on rail or anything. Looks like it hasn't been opened and cleaned for months.

So my DH goes down to talk to manager. Manager says we definitely didn't get the CL experience. Offers to move us to a standard non-CL room for tonight and check us into a 3rd floor CL room in morning. My DH asks if we can just pay the reduced rate but keep our current room for the night. Our carry-ons are already there, kids are starving and tired. Manager says no but assigns us to a room in Raratonga. Also tells us to go to bell services and inform them of our room change so ME knows where to deliver our bags. So we do that and then we go back to room, gather all our stuff, and head to our new room in Raratonga...only to discover a king bed. Ugh! So back we go to front desk.

Guess what...manager is now unavailable. Need to re-explain issue to new CM. He agrees to put us back in our original room at a reduced rate. But first we need to go to bell services again to inform them of the room change.

It is now just before midnight. Bell services says our bags will be in our room by 12:00. So we go to captain cooks for a bite to eat. Get back to room at 12:30 and still no luggage. So we call down to luggage and valet on our room phone. My DH explains issue and it takes a good few minutes for him to realize they have transferred him to GF luggage and valet by mistake. They transfer him to poly and he re-explains issue. We end up getting our luggage a bit before 1 am.

Now, I am not usually a negative Nellie but this was seriously the worst CL check-in we've ever had at Disney. I guess the magic goes home at 10 pm.

Honestly, we were all laughing by the end of the night it was all so chaotic.

Kids and dh are still sleeping now. They are all exhausted from our late night. Here's hoping they still have that 3rd floor room for us today...

Wondering if things got better for you and your family? Did they have a third floor room for you to move to?

I think that is really appalling. Telling you as the guest that you have to be the one to notify bell services that your location has changed? Shouldn't that be done by a staff member? The lack of enthusiasm is very disappointing. I hope your trip has become more magical.

 

[ocalla]

Update since most of the day went by and my Water isn't cold because the fridge still has the dirty food dh went to speak to management. He apologized gave us one night credit and fast passes that really helped! Now I can start my vacation I understand things happen and it's awesome when people make up for it that's great customer service!

Now that's better!!! Enjoy your day!!!

 

[karriealex]

Thanks everyone for trying to allay my fears. This is just such an important and big trip for us I would hate for it to start out badly. I am going to put the bad experiences posted in the back of my mind and think positive. I so want this trip to be magical.

I am sorry about those that had rough starts to their vacations. I see some were made up for and I hope they do the same with the others.