ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: September 2012

[maiapapaya]

Hi, I'm still very new to DIS and I have a quick question that I hope someone can answer. My family is headed to WDW for our first trip June 24-July 5. We are doing a split stay, half at the BC and half at the Poly CL theme park view. I was just wondering if anyone knows if all CL theme park views have a balcony? I looked around and it sounds like just the third floor rooms have a balcony? Is that true? Should I make a request for a 3rd floor room? And has anyone stayed in one of these rooms? I'm so excited for our first upcoming trip!!

No, not all of the TPV rooms have balconies. There are some on the first floor (according to Tikiman's site there are 7) which would mean you have a patio and some on the second floor (around 8) which means just a slider, with no balcony. The majority of the rooms on the third floor (on the lagoon side) are TPV. If you want a balcony definitely request third floor. We have stayed third floor, TPV in Hawaii twice. We loved it!

This was our view looking towards the GF


view straight on (zoomed)


view of the CR/ferry at night

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Hi, I'm still very new to DIS and I have a quick question that I hope someone can answer. My family is headed to WDW for our first trip June 24-July 5. We are doing a split stay, half at the BC and half at the Poly CL theme park view. I was just wondering if anyone knows if all CL theme park views have a balcony? I looked around and it sounds like just the third floor rooms have a balcony? Is that true? Should I make a request for a 3rd floor room? And has anyone stayed in one of these rooms? I'm so excited for our first upcoming trip!!

This will give you a better understanding of which categories of rooms are on what floor. Only the third floor rooms have balconies in the Hawaii building, so if you have a TPV room booked, you could ultimately end up on any one of the three floors

 

[Mommy to Kayla]

Thank you all for your help! I will definitely ask for a third floor room. It does look like the majority of the CL theme park rooms are up there anyway. We are so excited for our trip! I have an ADR for both Ohana and Kona while we are there! Less than two months to go, woohoo!

 

[robinbutterfly]

This will give you a better understanding of which categories of rooms are on what floor. Only the third floor rooms have balconies in the Hawaii building, so if you have a TPV room booked, you could ultimately end up on any one of the three floors

So which is the standard view...garden or lagoon?

 

[rcraw45425]

So which is the standard view...garden or lagoon?

Usually garden

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Hi here now everything is great. But heads up One of the regular cabanas is gone. I walked by and noticed because we had both booked for Wednesday (we have a large party). The club staff didn't even know had to walk out to confirm. so they are workin with me now.

Update... I love the club staff. They really helped me out. We are now booked for the premium cabana. Not exactly what I wanted but because it is farther from the pool. But at least we have something where we will all fit.

Do you know if the "missing" cabana is just a temporary thing? Or will they now only have 1 regular and 1 premium? I just booked a "regular" one for a half-day on our October trip...

Wait, WHAT???????????????????

A Cabana disappeared and the staff didn't know about it?

This is one of the weirdest things I've heard and Disney comes up with some doozies.

Is it Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa that disappeared (the one on the left or the right respectively)? Did they say anything about whether this was temporary or permenant?

I've got a regular cabana booked and I certainly hope they don't double book then find out I don't have one. It's the 'big' surprise for my daughter's birthday celebration in a few weeks. I don't even think it is worth calling and confirming though because the folks on the phone have such little information unless it is written down in the system. Since the folks AT THE POLY didn't notice a missing cabana, I have no faith that central reservations would know.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

So which is the standard view...garden or lagoon?

There is no "standard view" for club level rooms - it's either Garden, Lagoon or Theme Park view. Standard view refers to non-club level rooms in all building except Hawaii

 

[chasgoose]

There is no "standard view" for club level rooms - it's either Garden, Lagoon or Theme Park view. Standard view refers to non-club level rooms in all building except Hawaii

Basically at the Poly there are three general categories of rooms. Rooms facing Seven Seas Lagoon that have a clear view of the castle/other distinctive MK things, rooms facing the Seven Seas Lagoon that have something (typically trees) blocking the MK attractions visible from the Poly, and standard view which is pretty much everything that doesn't face the Seven Seas Lagoon. The standard views range from the marina/pool to the Poly grounds to other longhouses, to parking lots to the monorail. The reason they specify CL standard view rooms as "Garden View" is that due to the Hawaii building's location, your view is of the Poly grounds which is considered a Garden View.

 

[PixieMama]

It is weird. The club staff didn't really know what is going on either so I don't know if it is a temporary thing or permanent. I hope that they don't put a hot tub there. I liked that the spot for the cabanas was kind of secluded. A hot tub there will really take away from the privacy and peacefulness of the cabana. I will try and find it more details as the week goes by.

I noticed on Tikiman's FB page you were able to find out the cabana was removed due to "weather damage"... any idea if it will be returned once it has been fixed?

 

[scarlett24]

We are arriving at The Poly on Friday morning. Requested a room in Samoa. I know they are renovating the buildings. Anybody know which buildings have been done and which one is currently closed? Just wondering Thanks

 

[PixieMama]

We are arriving at The Poly on Friday morning. Requested a room in Samoa. I know they are renovating the buildings. Anybody know which buildings have been done and which one is currently closed? Just wondering Thanks

Here's the info from Tikiman's site:


Hawaii Completed

Samoa Completed

Tokelau March 31- May 25

Niue March 3 - May 3

Rarotonga March 3 - May 3

Aotearoa April 21 – June 14

Fiji May 19 – July 5

Tonga May 5 – May 31

Tuvalu June 16 – August 2

Tahiti July 14 – September 13

Rapa Nui August 11 – October 4

 

[Our3ps]

We are doing our first Poly trip in July/Aug and I was wondering how good they have been for those have made room requests in the past?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Basically at the Poly there are three general categories of rooms. Rooms facing Seven Seas Lagoon that have a clear view of the castle/other distinctive MK things, rooms facing the Seven Seas Lagoon that have something (typically trees) blocking the MK attractions visible from the Poly, and standard view which is pretty much everything that doesn't face the Seven Seas Lagoon. The standard views range from the marina/pool to the Poly grounds to other longhouses, to parking lots to the monorail. The reason they specify CL standard view rooms as "Garden View" is that due to the Hawaii building's location, your view is of the Poly grounds which is considered a Garden View.

Thanks, I'm well aware of the room categories, I was clarifying what is available in the Hawaii CL building

 

[jw50]

We are doing our first Poly trip in July/Aug and I was wondering how good they have been for those have made room requests in the past?

In four August trips to the Poly we have gotten what we requested three times. The one time we didn't was when they upgraded us to CL, which I guess was better than giving us what we requested.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

In four August trips to the Poly we have gotten what we requested three times. The one time we didn't was when they upgraded us to CL, which I guess was better than giving us what we requested.

We are thinking of going to WDW next August. We have previously been in April and October and frankly, we are a little worried about the weather in August. So I read you have been at least four times in August and stayed at Poly.

-How are the lines at the parks? Is it crazy busy or just mildly busy? Like 45 minute waits or over an hour?
-How crowded was the Poly pool in August? Could you find at least one chair?
-Is the weather so hot that you start getting heated by the time you reach your first ride at rope drop?
-Did you find that a lot of your park time was rained out?
-Any other August issues that we should be prepared for?

Sorry to ask you so may questions but we have never been to WDW during the summer months and I like to be prepared

 

[PolyAddict]

Booked the Poly for 2014 marathon weekend. Stayed there this year and loved it so much. Hopefully I will get Tahiti again or the Rapa Nui longhouse to be close to the monorail. Can't wait!

Can you tell me what the rate was for 2014?

Thanks

 

[Ferrentinos]

Good morning!

Two questions quickly - has the poly switched to joffery's coffee yet? And are the coffee makers different in the renovated rooms?

Obviously I need my coffee in the morning! Thanks!

 

[Alli76]

Wait, WHAT???????????????????

A Cabana disappeared and the staff didn't know about it?

This is one of the weirdest things I've heard and Disney comes up with some doozies.

Is it Mauna Kea or Mauna Loa that disappeared (the one on the left or the right respectively)? Did they say anything about whether this was temporary or permenant?

I've got a regular cabana booked and I certainly hope they don't double book then find out I don't have one. It's the 'big' surprise for my daughter's birthday celebration in a few weeks. I don't even think it is worth calling and confirming though because the folks on the phone have such little information unless it is written down in the system. Since the folks AT THE POLY didn't notice a missing cabana, I have no faith that central reservations would know.

Cit is the one on the left as you are looking at the front of them and I finally found out someone who had some information!!

I guess a weather system cam through and damaged one of them. They have taken it completely offsite to do repairs. There is no information as to when it may be back.

 

[jw50]

We are thinking of going to WDW next August. We have previously been in April and October and frankly, we are a little worried about the weather in August. So I read you have been at least four times in August and stayed at Poly.

-How are the lines at the parks? Is it crazy busy or just mildly busy? Like 45 minute waits or over an hour?
-How crowded was the Poly pool in August? Could you find at least one chair?
-Is the weather so hot that you start getting heated by the time you reach your first ride at rope drop?
-Did you find that a lot of your park time was rained out?
-Any other August issues that we should be prepared for?

Sorry to ask you so may questions but we have never been to WDW during the summer months and I like to be prepared

Well we go mid to late August, and the later you go in the month the better the lines are. There is a noticeable difference once the local schools start back (this year is August 19th). Some of the lines for the major attractions can get pretty long in the afternoons but usually are not bad in the mornings and evenings. We usually just used FPs for the major attractions and I don't think we ever were in a line that was more than 20-25 mins. If they were longer than that we just bypassed that one. But during the middle of the afternoon the major attractions sometimes did have standby times of an hour or more posted.

We don't spend much time around the pool so hopefully someone else can tell you how busy it gets.

How hot it gets depends on how well you handle heat and humidity. We are used to heat and humidity during the summer so it doesn't bother us at Disney. We also only do TS restaurants so we aren't really out in the sun for long periods of time. If you slow down, stay hydrated, dress appropriately, make liberal use of the air conditioned places it isn't that hard to deal with the heat and humidity.

Park time should never be rained out. In four trips we have only used ponchos on one of them, and that trip it rained every day. Florida in August has normal afternoon and evening thunderstorms, sometimes they dump on you, sometimes they only dump across the street from you. On our other three trips it did rain occasionally, but usually only when we were inside or in a different park. Its just the luck of the draw. Take ponchos and wear appropriate shoes and the rain shouldn't be a significant problem. Rain tends to reduce the crowd level in the parks so it can be a good thing if you are prepared.

Actually I don't think there are any issues with going in August, I think it is one of the better times to go, especially once most of the schools have started. We don't go with kids so I don't know if there might be any specific issues related to kids.

I am sure there are others who would disagree with everything that I have posted but it is best to just find out for yourself if that time of year works for you and your family.

 

[Polyonmymind]

Hey hey...so my wife calls me, says "surprise! I just booked us 6 nights at the Poly Club level for the week of Memorial Day". Woo hoo!

I have stayed at Poly before, only place I will stay, but never at Club Level. We have a garden room. Would any one have any suggestions, comments or any insider tips I may need to know about? Are the rooms any larger than the regular non-club level rooms?

TIA!