We are a family of five -- Myself, DH and three teenage boys (16, 15 & 13). We just returned yesterday from a land/sea package. This trip report outlines our experience at the Polynesian Resort.
This was our first stay at the Poly and just our 2nd trip to WDW. I did not request a specific room/longhouse. We were part of a land/sea package which included two GV rooms. We stayed in Tahiti 1010 and 1009 (connecting).
Here are my opinions:
OVERALL: We enjoyed the plush landscaping - lots of opportunities for nice pictures. We liked the location and size of our rooms but were disappointed with housekeeping and general customer service. I contribute these unmet expectations to two things: Our first stay @ WDW was at the GF concierge so I think our expectations were just too high. Also, we did go to WDW at a very busy time for the resort - spring break.
SPECIFICS:
1) Good room size & location. Our Tahiti rooms were VERY large. The bathrooms were especially nice; loved the double sinks . The location was great - close to the TTC which we used often as it was faster than the monorail @ GHC. Our teens never used the pool but it was just a 2 minute walk to the quiet pool. Hubby & I did take a nice stroll on the beach and watched the fireworks. I do wish that we had an updated room - we didn't care too much for the older decor style (although it was clean and well-kept).
2) Housekeeping was a disappointment. My son became ill around Midnight and we cleaned up the mess ourselves (he missed the toilet - we didn't think it was nice to make them clean up THAT). But, we called housekeeping to get some disinfectant. About 45 minutes later a maintenance man from the GF showed up with new sheets and asked me "which bed." I explained that I didn't need new sheets - I simply needed some disinfectant for the bathroom - He seemed so confused. He did eventually return w/cleaner and cleaned the floor (not sure why - we expl'd it was the toilet). He did apologize for the confusion on the sheet issue - I completely understood - I was a little short on patience since my son was ill, it was late, etc. He expl'd that he was a maintenance man who works only at the GF but he was helping out at the Poly since there was NO ONE on duty. The short-staff in prime season caught me by surprise.
3) Housekeeping disappointment #2 -- As noted, I watched the GF maintenance man clean up the floor of the bathroom even though I mentioned several times it was the toilet that needed the disinfectant. But, given the time and my tiredness and level of patience, I just figured we'd address the toilet cleaning in the morning. Housekeeping knocked on the door before 8:00 am - they asked us if we needed clean linens today. Hubby said, "actually - we'd just like someone to disinfect the toilet." And the housekeeper replied, "So you don't want linens." DH replied, "No - if you could just disinfectant for the toilet." Again - she asked about the linens and DH just said, "no linens today thanks but cleaning the room yes." The housekeeper said she'd be back - I figured she'd gone to get the cleaner from the cart but she never returned. At Noon I called housekeeping - they said they'd send someone over. No one came. At 3:00 pm I went to the front desk - they handed me the phone and dialed housekeeping (which I could have done from the comfort of my room thank you)...I expl'd that this was my third attempt just to get some disinfectant - Finally at 4:00 pm a person showed up to disinfect the toilet. LUCKILY we had two bathrooms.
I've rationalized the housekeeping issues as there must be more than one cleaning crew - one for linens and one for actual cleaning. If both teams were staffed appropriately for the peak season - maybe someone called in sick?
4) Check-In Issue: We were checked in by a 120 yr old man
who made me blink every time he touched his computer keyboard because he pounded on it. I thought it was an endearing quality...but then I started asking questions and he became more and more irritated with me. I asked about a safety deposit box to store a few possessions and he told me to go to "guest services" and pointed towards Concierge (without looking up from his keyboard). I said, "Where?" (because I couldn't see a guest services sign). Turns out he really did mean Concierge which is apparently where EVERYONE goes for guest services. That was a little confusing to me.
Anyway ... The gentleman said, "call this # to see when your room is ready" (we checked in early). I asked "what is our room #?" and he became quite irritated and said, "You're in Tahiti - Just call the # on the card. Also you don't need a safe deposit box - just go check in at the cruise desk right now." So I just followed his orders and then went to guest services/concierge afterwards to store our important docs until we could check into our room.
Again, my expectations were probably too high. I expected him to be more helpful and he probably expected me to know that Concierge was for ALL guest services. I know they were busy and despite all my planning, I was more high maintenance than his tolerance allowed that day.
And, unfortunately, that sums up our stay at what really is a very nice resort!
This was our first stay at the Poly and just our 2nd trip to WDW. I did not request a specific room/longhouse. We were part of a land/sea package which included two GV rooms. We stayed in Tahiti 1010 and 1009 (connecting).
Here are my opinions:
OVERALL: We enjoyed the plush landscaping - lots of opportunities for nice pictures. We liked the location and size of our rooms but were disappointed with housekeeping and general customer service. I contribute these unmet expectations to two things: Our first stay @ WDW was at the GF concierge so I think our expectations were just too high. Also, we did go to WDW at a very busy time for the resort - spring break.
SPECIFICS:
1) Good room size & location. Our Tahiti rooms were VERY large. The bathrooms were especially nice; loved the double sinks . The location was great - close to the TTC which we used often as it was faster than the monorail @ GHC. Our teens never used the pool but it was just a 2 minute walk to the quiet pool. Hubby & I did take a nice stroll on the beach and watched the fireworks. I do wish that we had an updated room - we didn't care too much for the older decor style (although it was clean and well-kept).
2) Housekeeping was a disappointment. My son became ill around Midnight and we cleaned up the mess ourselves (he missed the toilet - we didn't think it was nice to make them clean up THAT). But, we called housekeeping to get some disinfectant. About 45 minutes later a maintenance man from the GF showed up with new sheets and asked me "which bed." I explained that I didn't need new sheets - I simply needed some disinfectant for the bathroom - He seemed so confused. He did eventually return w/cleaner and cleaned the floor (not sure why - we expl'd it was the toilet). He did apologize for the confusion on the sheet issue - I completely understood - I was a little short on patience since my son was ill, it was late, etc. He expl'd that he was a maintenance man who works only at the GF but he was helping out at the Poly since there was NO ONE on duty. The short-staff in prime season caught me by surprise.
3) Housekeeping disappointment #2 -- As noted, I watched the GF maintenance man clean up the floor of the bathroom even though I mentioned several times it was the toilet that needed the disinfectant. But, given the time and my tiredness and level of patience, I just figured we'd address the toilet cleaning in the morning. Housekeeping knocked on the door before 8:00 am - they asked us if we needed clean linens today. Hubby said, "actually - we'd just like someone to disinfect the toilet." And the housekeeper replied, "So you don't want linens." DH replied, "No - if you could just disinfectant for the toilet." Again - she asked about the linens and DH just said, "no linens today thanks but cleaning the room yes." The housekeeper said she'd be back - I figured she'd gone to get the cleaner from the cart but she never returned. At Noon I called housekeeping - they said they'd send someone over. No one came. At 3:00 pm I went to the front desk - they handed me the phone and dialed housekeeping (which I could have done from the comfort of my room thank you)...I expl'd that this was my third attempt just to get some disinfectant - Finally at 4:00 pm a person showed up to disinfect the toilet. LUCKILY we had two bathrooms.
I've rationalized the housekeeping issues as there must be more than one cleaning crew - one for linens and one for actual cleaning. If both teams were staffed appropriately for the peak season - maybe someone called in sick?
4) Check-In Issue: We were checked in by a 120 yr old man
who made me blink every time he touched his computer keyboard because he pounded on it. I thought it was an endearing quality...but then I started asking questions and he became more and more irritated with me. I asked about a safety deposit box to store a few possessions and he told me to go to "guest services" and pointed towards Concierge (without looking up from his keyboard). I said, "Where?" (because I couldn't see a guest services sign). Turns out he really did mean Concierge which is apparently where EVERYONE goes for guest services. That was a little confusing to me. Anyway ... The gentleman said, "call this # to see when your room is ready" (we checked in early). I asked "what is our room #?" and he became quite irritated and said, "You're in Tahiti - Just call the # on the card. Also you don't need a safe deposit box - just go check in at the cruise desk right now." So I just followed his orders and then went to guest services/concierge afterwards to store our important docs until we could check into our room.
Again, my expectations were probably too high. I expected him to be more helpful and he probably expected me to know that Concierge was for ALL guest services. I know they were busy and despite all my planning, I was more high maintenance than his tolerance allowed that day.
And, unfortunately, that sums up our stay at what really is a very nice resort!
