3 Longhouses... which one to choose??

[Deborah_Mary]

Dh and I are trying to decide which longhouse to request for our trip in May. We have 3 on our list that we are trying to decide between, but could use your input as well. We have 2 dd's 6 & will be 16 months at the time of our trip.

Rarotonga: This was the longhouse I stayed in when I was a teenager with my parents and I especially enjoyed it's close proximity to the arcade. Looking at the info it seems quite centrally located. The downside to it is there is no balconies on the 2nd floor and I in particular would really like to have one since we'll be spending a fair amount of time in our room for downtime with our little one.

Samoa: Out of all the longhouses, it seems like this is the most requested one on the Dis board. Very close to the pools, but was wondering if it is noisy or get a lot of people traffic compared to the others? And no balconies on the 2nd floor.

Rapi Nui: Dh liked how it's very close to TTC, but it's not as centrally located, but doesn't seem THAT far away. Looked like it would be really quiet there and not much traffic would be going by. It does have balconies on the 2nd and 3rd floors which would be very nice.

Any additional info would be greatly appreciated from the experts.

Thanks in advance!

Deb*

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

As you have probably read on my earlier posts.....I would choose the Samoa. We love the location and views. All will be good locations.

Good Luck!

 

[balletgirl33]

Why does everyone recommend the Samoa longhouse? It is one of the older longhouses with the smaller rooms. There are no balconies on the second floor. Oh and it used to be a smoking building and you can still smell smoke.
Oh and don't forget it is right next to the concierge (sp) building...so you always have to watch all those guests coming and going with trays of wonderful food. Why would anyone want to subject themselves to that? Oh don't forget how loud it is because of the pool which is really open 24 hours a day. There are hundreds of people passing by to get to the pool or the boat launch. Last time we were there people actually put towels on our patio chairs to reserve them! Oh and most importantly if you are looking for towel animals forget it you will never ever get one if you stay in this longhouse...the housekeepers without any towel animal making skills are sent here. Oh one more thing ( if this isn't enough) I spoke with a manager on my last trip and all the other longhouses are getting new flat screens except for you guessed it Samoa. In fact he went so far as to say they may take the remotes out. So please consider this when selecting a longhouse. Stay away from Samoa...a bad longhouse...very bad! Ha! Just Kidding! I love the Samoa Longhouse and always request it.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Why does everyone recommend the Samoa longhouse? It is one of the older longhouses with the smaller rooms. There are no balconies on the second floor. Oh and it used to be a smoking building and you can still smell smoke.
Oh and don't forget it is right next to the concierge (sp) building...so you always have to watch all those guests coming and going with trays of wonderful food. Why would anyone want to subject themselves to that? Oh don't forget how loud it is because of the pool which is really open 24 hours a day. There are hundreds of people passing by to get to the pool or the boat launch. Last time we were there people actually put towels on our patio chairs to reserve them! Oh and most importantly if you are looking for towel animals forget it you will never ever get one if you stay in this longhouse...the housekeepers without any towel animal making skills are sent here. Oh one more thing ( if this isn't enough) I spoke with a manager on my last trip and all the other longhouses are getting new flat screens except for you guessed it Samoa. In fact he went so far as to say they may take the remotes out. So please consider this when selecting a longhouse. Stay away from Samoa...a bad longhouse...very bad!

This, of course is your opinion/experience. We have visited most WDW resorts multiple times and I have been involved in the DIS Boards for a couple of years and I have never seen a post like yours concerning the Samoa Building.

The OP asked for suggestions on 3 longhouses. I gave him/her mine. We have visited the Poly too many times to count. We have also stayed at the Samoa building on several occassions and have not had a bad experience.

As for looking at guests coming from the concierge building and "subjecting ourselves to wonderful food",

Smaller Rooms than other longhouses????

We have never smelled smoke in our room...we have had towel animals in the Samoa building....love the location, atmosphere, and have been lucky getting our request of ground floor - volcano pool view for the last three trips to the Poly. We have had great rooms in other longhouses, however, rooms in the Samoa Building are our favorite GV rooms at the Poly.

As you have said..."Everyone recommends the Samoa longhouse". There may be a reason!

 

[Deborah_Mary]

Thanks for the reply WDW!

Can anyone else give me their opinions? We'd greatly appreciate it.

Deb*

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My vote would be
1. Samoa
2. Rarotonga
3. Rapa Nui

I have stayed in samoa and requested it again next month, we have also been in niue, before it was smoking and aerotoroa

I request samoa, lst floor, volcano view, you might want the other side with the quiet pool view or rarotonga is a close second, a cm told my dh that rarotonga is the longhouse they put most of the foreign visitors in, I really dont know if that is true or not, I know rapa nui is a little of a walk to gch and pool and captain cooks and boat dock if you will be using those places alot and I think that is the handicapped accessible bldg, too. If you want your little one to take a nap, you might want to consider a 3rd floor room at either samoa or rarotonga, good luck deciding.
Also on the samoa 1st floor we never noticed the noise of people going to the beach or pool, we did notice some of our neighbors were quiet happy leaving their shade open for all to see, we kept ours closed most of the time, dh and I were having an ac break and we just kept the door unlocked so the ds could hop into the room after swimming.

 

[Tikiman]

Remember you can not pick what longhouse you want but you can make a request that may or may not be honored due to availability when you get assigned a room.

With that said I would consider Tokleau also. It has balconies on both upper floors, is slightly larger (all rooms are larger than most other resort rooms) and is centrally located as well as some of the rooms have views of the lagoon and castle.

Without starting an argument I want to just add my opinion of some of the statements from balletgirl33. We have not stayed in Samoa but our friends have and I go around to every longhouse when I am there including last August and since Samoa was redone and made non-smoking I have never heard of any smoke smell until now but I will have to take balletgirl33’s word for that. Also we never noticed or had our friends report of any noise from the pool. Also people from the concierge lounge don’t have trays to be bringing food anywhere with and I myself have never seen anyone leaving the building with food (but it may have happened). The housekeepers are not just assigned to one longhouse and they change all the time so you never know what the quality could be for any building from one trip to another. As far as towel animals are concerned I won’t even go there. I also am not sure what manager ever said all longhouse will get the new TVs except Samoa since EVERY longhouse will get the new renovations eventually but for now only Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Tokelau are scheduled to be done this year including the new 27” TVs in all longhouses.

I just wanted to state some facts to help with your decision.

Aloha

Steve

 

[balletgirl33]

Hi Steve,

I am so so sorry for my post...I thought everyone would realize it was a joke..."people actually putting towels on our patio chairs to reserve them"..."housekeepers without any towel animal making skills being sent to Samoa"..."not getting the new Tvs and the remotes being taken away"...I really didn't think anyone would take this seriously. I love the Samoa Longhouse and I have stayed there 12 times in the last three years...I exchange Christmas cards with several of the staff...I love the manager of bell services ( I think the Polynesian has the best Valets) and there is a wonderful front desk manager who always seems to get me into Samoa. She recently said to me the Samoa Longhouse is like the Rose & Crown Outdoor Patio. She said they read the Dis Boards and wish people would not post about it. I stayed in Samoa when it was a smoking building and I never smelled smoke then and of course not since it has been renovated. So I would definately pick the Samoa Longhouse!

 

[Tikiman]

Hey balletgirl33,

I fell for that one

I thought you were serious. I have seen some odd messages here so I never can tell. Samoa is great but people do need to realize there are many other great locations at the Polynesian and to give the CMs at the front desk a break with all the requests for a specific room or building.

I myself have never requested a building when I have gone to the Polynesian and stayed non-concierge.

Aloha

Steve