POLY, BLT & THE DREAM, WITH A TEEN AND A TWEEN…APRIL 2016***COMPLETED 8/15****
- Thread starter buzzrelly
- Start date
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
THE PEOPLE MOVER??!!! What the?? What am I, a newb??
I have never been on the people mover. It looks like a good ride to pass time on. We will try to when we go again in the summer to get away from the heat and the crowd.
It's actually very relaxing, DM loves it. It's also really cool to go inside through Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Spaceranger Spin
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
APRIL 7, 2016: SPACE AND SPLASH
After the thrill of The People Mover, we were ready to move on to our first FastPass of the day. I learned from someone on these boards to always take a screen shot of your reservations for the day and set it as your wallpaper. I think this is just a stroke of genius! I LOVE LOVE LOVE not having to open the app every time I need to check our reservation! I'm sorry I can't give credit to the person because I totally forgot who said it, but it's truly one of the best tips I've ever gotten on these boards!
Here's my screen shot for this day.
DM rode on Space Mountain with us one time in 2010, and won't do it again. She is happy to sit outside on the bench or poke around in the shop and wait for us though.
Here's me, NEVER knowing which way the camera will be. Obviously, DD knew!
It was such a gorgeous day…like, seriously postcard perfect. We decided to take the little walking path in back of Space Mountain to take the train to our next FastPass in Frontierland, Splash (My favorite!!
)
Kids were Wayyyy ahead of us…I walked a little slower so poor DM wouldn't feel like she had to run. She gets around pretty good for an old lady
, but the kids get impatient at times.
Aaaahhhh…nice and relaxing.
We got off at Frontierland and walked to Splash. Hey, B'rer Rabbit
How do you do?
I hadn't quite figured out my Go Pro yet. I never even thought of taking it to the park with me. Maybe next time…
After we rode, we were all pretty hungry and we were glad it was time to head over to our lunch ADR...
After the thrill of The People Mover, we were ready to move on to our first FastPass of the day. I learned from someone on these boards to always take a screen shot of your reservations for the day and set it as your wallpaper. I think this is just a stroke of genius! I LOVE LOVE LOVE not having to open the app every time I need to check our reservation! I'm sorry I can't give credit to the person because I totally forgot who said it, but it's truly one of the best tips I've ever gotten on these boards!
Here's my screen shot for this day.
DM rode on Space Mountain with us one time in 2010, and won't do it again. She is happy to sit outside on the bench or poke around in the shop and wait for us though.
Here's me, NEVER knowing which way the camera will be. Obviously, DD knew!
It was such a gorgeous day…like, seriously postcard perfect. We decided to take the little walking path in back of Space Mountain to take the train to our next FastPass in Frontierland, Splash (My favorite!!
) Kids were Wayyyy ahead of us…I walked a little slower so poor DM wouldn't feel like she had to run. She gets around pretty good for an old lady
, but the kids get impatient at times. Aaaahhhh…nice and relaxing.
We got off at Frontierland and walked to Splash. Hey, B'rer Rabbit
How do you do?
I hadn't quite figured out my Go Pro yet. I never even thought of taking it to the park with me. Maybe next time…
After we rode, we were all pretty hungry and we were glad it was time to head over to our lunch ADR...
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
APRIL 7, 2016: TONY'S
I think I'm going to sound like a broken record when I say this, but one of our favorite places to eat lunch is Tony's. We like to schedule at 2:30pm ADR so we are pretty much done eating by the time to parade goes by and we can watch it from our seats or the porch. Many, many people will complain about Tony's on these boards, but we haven't had a bad meal yet. I also really like to Lady and the Tramp theme…
DM and I split a salad and a pizza. Both were delicious, and I actually remembered to take some pics. Both of the kids got their own pizzas and everyone was full and satisfied.
After lunch we went over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I couldn't figure out how to upload that video but here are a couple of screen shots. Fun ride, for sure, but I would NEVER wait in line for and hour or more to ride it since it's about a minute long
By this time we had gotten the text that our room was ready at The Poly. We were all excited to go check it out and maybe relax by the pool. We headed out of the MK and the monorail was running again so we didn't have to wait for the boat.
We stopped for a couple pics on the way out of MK since we didn't stop earlier…
OFF to The POLY!!!
I think I'm going to sound like a broken record when I say this, but one of our favorite places to eat lunch is Tony's. We like to schedule at 2:30pm ADR so we are pretty much done eating by the time to parade goes by and we can watch it from our seats or the porch. Many, many people will complain about Tony's on these boards, but we haven't had a bad meal yet. I also really like to Lady and the Tramp theme…
DM and I split a salad and a pizza. Both were delicious, and I actually remembered to take some pics. Both of the kids got their own pizzas and everyone was full and satisfied.
After lunch we went over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I couldn't figure out how to upload that video but here are a couple of screen shots. Fun ride, for sure, but I would NEVER wait in line for and hour or more to ride it since it's about a minute long
By this time we had gotten the text that our room was ready at The Poly. We were all excited to go check it out and maybe relax by the pool. We headed out of the MK and the monorail was running again so we didn't have to wait for the boat.
We stopped for a couple pics on the way out of MK since we didn't stop earlier…
OFF to The POLY!!!
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
Joining! I followed your last TR & enjoyed it so am looking forward to this one
Ah, teenagersMy DS14 refuses to smile in pictures too, he tries to make this "tough guy" look lol. He wouldn't even smile for DH & I when he got his braces off!
Oh, THANK YOU!! Both for following along AND (mostly) for understanding what it's like to have a teenage son! It's killing me that he looks miserable in every pic when know he wasn't!
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
APRIL 7, 2016: THE POLY!!
We had gotten a text with our room number, so when we got off the monorail we went straight there. We were in a Lake View room and I requested an upper floor. When I saw our room number, I was so happy that request had been met
It was a great room in Moorea, but it was waaayyyy at the end of the building, closest to the ferry and TTC. Not that i'm complaining as we totally expect to walk when we're at Disney, but in a perfect world and if I could choose, I would choose to be on the third floor at the other end. No biggie. Still great room and an AMAZING view!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these lamps…I wish I could take one home!
We had gotten a text with our room number, so when we got off the monorail we went straight there. We were in a Lake View room and I requested an upper floor. When I saw our room number, I was so happy that request had been met
It was a great room in Moorea, but it was waaayyyy at the end of the building, closest to the ferry and TTC. Not that i'm complaining as we totally expect to walk when we're at Disney, but in a perfect world and if I could choose, I would choose to be on the third floor at the other end. No biggie. Still great room and an AMAZING view!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these lamps…I wish I could take one home!
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
THOUGHTS ON THE POLY
Staying here has ALWAYS been on my bucket list. I've only been a DVC member for a couple of years and our only other DVC stay was last year, and we stayed at BLT which is my home resort and we absolutely love. The studio room at The Poly didn't disappoint, it was quite large and even with 4 adult sized people, we were just fine. DS slept on the pull down Murphy bed, DM slept in the sleeper sofa and DD and I shared the Queen, and nobody complained to me that they were uncomfortable so I'll assume they weren't. I really like the hidden Murphy beds as it gives everyone their own sleeping space without having to bring an air mattress. On a side note, we are looking to go back to Universal next year and stay at The Hard Rock and I SOOOOO wish they had a Murphy Bed like this in their rooms. It would make life much easier and there's definitely the space for it.
Anyway. another nice feature of the Poly was the split bathroom, however, I think they kind of missed the mark with this one and I REALLY wish there were two toilets, even if it meant sacrificing the second shower. Having just one bathroom with a toilet was a real problem and a constant struggle…I won't say anymore, but I think you get it
Our view was AMAZING (definitely worth repeating!). The grounds are so beautifully landscaped and you really do feel like you've been transported to a Pacific Island when you're walking around.
The Ferry horns could definitely be a problem for some people, especially at the end of the building we were in. We are early risers and tend to go to bed early because of that, and for us, the horns were more likely to keep us up at night than wake us in the morning. There were a couple nights they kept blowing them and I couldn't fall asleep because of that which was aggravating. They also start fairly early in the morning, but like said, this wasn't a problem for us since we were up early anyway. But if you like to sleep past, say 7am, I wouldn't stay here.
The CMs were all VERY friendly…I didn't have a bad experience with any of them. The girl at check-in was super sweet, the luggage guys were awesome, just everyone was outstanding.
The food…well…we didn't love Captain Cooks. We went for dinner one night and none of us were really pleased with our food. In their defense, it really isn't our favorite type of food anyway, so that's what we get for trying to be adventurous. However, being on the monorail, we were a short ride away from The GF and we loved their CS Gasparilla Grill, when we went there for dinner one night. And we did love having the Pineapple Lanai as we LOVE our Dole Whips
The pool was beautiful the couple of times we went. I loved it and wished we had spent more time there.
The monorail was super sketchy and there were more than a couple times that it wasn't running for some reason or another. One night it wasn't running as we were trying to leave MK and we didn't know it wasn't going to be running so we were waiting and waiting and the monorail CMs weren't even sure what was going on. After waiting a ridiculous amount of time, we gave up and decided to go to the ferry. Well, EVERYONE else had the same idea and the ferry line was CRAZY long by the time we got in it. At this point, we were all wishing we were back at BLT because you NEVER have this problem while staying there. You just take a nice short walk and you're HOME.
Overall, it's a great resort and I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. I guess it will depend on how many points I have when I book our next trip. Nothing beats having the space of a 1-bedroom at BLT where you can totally spread out…but you'll have to wait for that part...
Staying here has ALWAYS been on my bucket list. I've only been a DVC member for a couple of years and our only other DVC stay was last year, and we stayed at BLT which is my home resort and we absolutely love. The studio room at The Poly didn't disappoint, it was quite large and even with 4 adult sized people, we were just fine. DS slept on the pull down Murphy bed, DM slept in the sleeper sofa and DD and I shared the Queen, and nobody complained to me that they were uncomfortable so I'll assume they weren't. I really like the hidden Murphy beds as it gives everyone their own sleeping space without having to bring an air mattress. On a side note, we are looking to go back to Universal next year and stay at The Hard Rock and I SOOOOO wish they had a Murphy Bed like this in their rooms. It would make life much easier and there's definitely the space for it.
Anyway. another nice feature of the Poly was the split bathroom, however, I think they kind of missed the mark with this one and I REALLY wish there were two toilets, even if it meant sacrificing the second shower. Having just one bathroom with a toilet was a real problem and a constant struggle…I won't say anymore, but I think you get it
Our view was AMAZING (definitely worth repeating!). The grounds are so beautifully landscaped and you really do feel like you've been transported to a Pacific Island when you're walking around.
The Ferry horns could definitely be a problem for some people, especially at the end of the building we were in. We are early risers and tend to go to bed early because of that, and for us, the horns were more likely to keep us up at night than wake us in the morning. There were a couple nights they kept blowing them and I couldn't fall asleep because of that which was aggravating. They also start fairly early in the morning, but like said, this wasn't a problem for us since we were up early anyway. But if you like to sleep past, say 7am, I wouldn't stay here.
The CMs were all VERY friendly…I didn't have a bad experience with any of them. The girl at check-in was super sweet, the luggage guys were awesome, just everyone was outstanding.
The food…well…we didn't love Captain Cooks. We went for dinner one night and none of us were really pleased with our food. In their defense, it really isn't our favorite type of food anyway, so that's what we get for trying to be adventurous. However, being on the monorail, we were a short ride away from The GF and we loved their CS Gasparilla Grill, when we went there for dinner one night. And we did love having the Pineapple Lanai as we LOVE our Dole Whips
The pool was beautiful the couple of times we went. I loved it and wished we had spent more time there.
The monorail was super sketchy and there were more than a couple times that it wasn't running for some reason or another. One night it wasn't running as we were trying to leave MK and we didn't know it wasn't going to be running so we were waiting and waiting and the monorail CMs weren't even sure what was going on. After waiting a ridiculous amount of time, we gave up and decided to go to the ferry. Well, EVERYONE else had the same idea and the ferry line was CRAZY long by the time we got in it. At this point, we were all wishing we were back at BLT because you NEVER have this problem while staying there. You just take a nice short walk and you're HOME.
Overall, it's a great resort and I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. I guess it will depend on how many points I have when I book our next trip. Nothing beats having the space of a 1-bedroom at BLT where you can totally spread out…but you'll have to wait for that part...
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nenglim
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
APRIL 7, 2016: SPACE AND SPLASH
After the thrill of The People Mover, we were ready to move on to our first FastPass of the day. I learned from someone on these boards to always take a screen shot of your reservations for the day and set it as your wallpaper. I think this is just a stroke of genius! I LOVE LOVE LOVE not having to open the app every time I need to check our reservation! I'm sorry I can't give credit to the person because I totally forgot who said it, but it's truly one of the best tips I've ever gotten on these boards!
Here's my screen shot for this day.
View attachment 173992
This is a wonderful idea! I am definitely copying this for our trip in July.
nenglim
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
APRIL 7, 2016: SPACE AND SPLASH
We got off at Frontierland and walked to Splash. Hey, B'rer Rabbit
View attachment 173997
How do you do?
View attachment 174003
Our family loves this ride. We rode it for the first time when my daughter was 4. she loved the ride as much as getting a good pose for the camera. that year we must have gone back and forth on the ride 3x to get the perfect shot of her. If you go during the night parade it is a walk on... this is the shot she settled on...
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buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
APRIL 7, 2016: POLY POOL AND CAPTAIN COOKS
After settling into our room, we decided to go to the pool for a bit…
It was every bit as lovely and relaxing as it looks
The kids had a great time playing under the waterfall and they went down the slide a couple times. After we had had our fill of sun and swimming, we walked back to the room to change, snapping some kooky pictures on the way…
DD definitely had something in mind and DM just wasn't getting it, I don't think…but kudos to her for trying
After changing out of our wet suits, we headed back and were walking t go get dinner at Captain Cooks when we saw this going on…
How FUN is that?! There was a CM handing out sticks and marshmallows and explaining the rules to everyone. Such a cute little treat, even cuter because it was totally unexpected!
So I've already mentioned that we didn't really care much for our food at CC. I didn't even take a picture and can't remember what I even ordered. I think I got some sort of salad with chicken in it, DD got a hotdog, I can't remember at all what DS got, but DM chose something that she thought was going to be something altogether different than what came out. She thought she was ordering Beef and Broccoli, assuming it was going to be kind of like with Lo Mein noodles. What they ended up bringing her was some weird soup that she took one sip of and really didn't like. She brought it back in and explained that she had made a mistake and they were nice enough to exchange it for her for something else. Well, you might've guessed…she didn't like the replacement dinner either. But she ate a little and called it a day. Totally our fault. We just don't like that kind of food, but live and learn. On the plus side, it was a lovely evening and we sat at a table outside and there were lots of kids running and playing which is so nice to see.
So overall, not a bad night, just a bad dinner, if you know what I mean Definitely a nice place to sit and relax though.
After settling into our room, we decided to go to the pool for a bit…
It was every bit as lovely and relaxing as it looks
The kids had a great time playing under the waterfall and they went down the slide a couple times. After we had had our fill of sun and swimming, we walked back to the room to change, snapping some kooky pictures on the way…
DD definitely had something in mind and DM just wasn't getting it, I don't think…but kudos to her for trying
After changing out of our wet suits, we headed back and were walking t go get dinner at Captain Cooks when we saw this going on…
How FUN is that?! There was a CM handing out sticks and marshmallows and explaining the rules to everyone. Such a cute little treat, even cuter because it was totally unexpected!
So I've already mentioned that we didn't really care much for our food at CC. I didn't even take a picture and can't remember what I even ordered. I think I got some sort of salad with chicken in it, DD got a hotdog, I can't remember at all what DS got, but DM chose something that she thought was going to be something altogether different than what came out. She thought she was ordering Beef and Broccoli, assuming it was going to be kind of like with Lo Mein noodles. What they ended up bringing her was some weird soup that she took one sip of and really didn't like. She brought it back in and explained that she had made a mistake and they were nice enough to exchange it for her for something else. Well, you might've guessed…she didn't like the replacement dinner either. But she ate a little and called it a day. Totally our fault. We just don't like that kind of food, but live and learn. On the plus side, it was a lovely evening and we sat at a table outside and there were lots of kids running and playing which is so nice to see.
So overall, not a bad night, just a bad dinner, if you know what I mean
Definitely a nice place to sit and relax though.
disneydaydreamer33
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
Joining in! Looks like a super fun trip! That is a great idea to do a cruise in the middle. After a few days at Disney, you ready to relax which is what you get on a cruise (more so than park touring at least!), but then you are probably so sad to leave your Disney cruise that it feels good to know you are no leaving Disney for good! I can't wait to read more
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
APRIL 7, 2016: WISHES FROM OUR ROOM
After dinner we went inside to walk around some of the shops…DD and DM's FAVORITE thing to do. We also had to pick up our leis that we hadn't gotten in the morning when we checked in. The CM at check-in had told us we can get them later since we our room wasn't ready and we were heading to the park. I had the kids sit and take a picture with the tiki guy…
It had been a long day and we were beat so we walked back to the room to relax. A short while later, the Electric Water Parade was going by…
So cute! I took a video but I can't figure how to post it here. I love the little music that plays
And THEN…THIS!
I cannot stress enough how TRULY SPECTACULAR it is to sit on your balcony in your pajamas and watch Wishes
An AMAZING ending to an AMAZING day!
After dinner we went inside to walk around some of the shops…DD and DM's FAVORITE thing to do. We also had to pick up our leis that we hadn't gotten in the morning when we checked in. The CM at check-in had told us we can get them later since we our room wasn't ready and we were heading to the park. I had the kids sit and take a picture with the tiki guy…
It had been a long day and we were beat so we walked back to the room to relax. A short while later, the Electric Water Parade was going by…
So cute! I took a video but I can't figure how to post it here. I love the little music that plays
And THEN…THIS!
I cannot stress enough how TRULY SPECTACULAR it is to sit on your balcony in your pajamas and watch Wishes
An AMAZING ending to an AMAZING day!
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buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
Joining in! Looks like a super fun trip! That is a great idea to do a cruise in the middle. After a few days at Disney, you ready to relax which is what you get on a cruise (more so than park touring at least!), but then you are probably so sad to leave your Disney cruise that it feels good to know you are no leaving Disney for good! I can't wait to read more
Thanks for joining in! That was the idea when I booked the cruise, however, what I didn't count on was how EXHAUSTING the cruise would be for the teens/tweens…more to come on that later!
mkla2015
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2015
Joining in!! Looks like you had an awesome trip! We recently purchased DVC with our home resort being Poly- we haven't stayed there yet but I can't wait to try it out!! We love being able to watch Wishes from our balcony at BLT... looks like the Poly will be just as great!
I'm excited to read more!!
I'm excited to read more!!
buzzrelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2005
Thanks for joining in!!Congratulations!! You're going to LOVE LOVE LOVE your DVC! The fireworks view from BLT is much closer, but the view from the Poly is more how they are meant to be seen…I love both!
ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
DH and I stayed in Moorea on our adults-only trip in January; we did a spit stay, 3 nights AKL and 2 nights Poly on rented points. It was our first time at both resorts and while we preferred AKL, we did enjoy the Poly 
We were at the opposite end of Moorea than you were so we didn't have any problems with the Ferry horns, but we also didn't have lake view so no fireworks from our balcony. However, we've been able to watch high Illuminations from our balcony at BWV on a couple stays and I totally agree with you, it's AWESOME to be on our balcony in jammies watching any Disney fireworks!
I also agree on the Murphy bed, love it. Again we didn't have the kids with us at the Poly so we didn't need it, but younger DS slept on it last Nov. after it was added to the BW studios and he'll be on it again this Nov. at the BC. It gives older DS the pullout to himself
We were at the opposite end of Moorea than you were so we didn't have any problems with the Ferry horns, but we also didn't have lake view so no fireworks from our balcony. However, we've been able to watch high Illuminations from our balcony at BWV on a couple stays and I totally agree with you, it's AWESOME to be on our balcony in jammies watching any Disney fireworks!I also agree on the Murphy bed, love it. Again we didn't have the kids with us at the Poly so we didn't need it, but younger DS slept on it last Nov. after it was added to the BW studios and he'll be on it again this Nov. at the BC. It gives older DS the pullout to himself
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