I'll add my "2, somewhat-brief cents" here instead of making a trip report. Everyone's recent trip reports are so great, figured I'd add mine as well albeit sans gorgeous pics!
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Just back yesterday from our first family trip to Disney & The Poly. It was the first ever Disney trip for my hubby ("The Skeptic") and for our 3 year old girlie.
I have to say, when I originally was looking at where to book, I wasn't "sold" on The Poly... but then I found the DISboards and everyone in this thread managed to slowly (okay, quickly) change my mind. I got excited and crossed my fingers that The Skeptic would come around, even if only because our kiddo would surely be enjoying herself. I'll try to keep what's to follow solely about what we experienced at The Poly.
My take on the Poly:
Check-in: courteous and efficient CMs. Only waited a bit past 3pm before we got our text saying the room was ready. Had our request granted, Tokelau top floor.
The Room: We stayed in 3903. (Did a quick bedbug check and no critters found.) Lysandra was our mousekeeper and she did a fine job. Left a cute Minnie towel "animal" for our arrival -- which the kiddo destroyed after I took a few pics -- and left a couple other cute offerings on two other days. Gorgeous, green view. Quiet. Steps away from the quiet pool, which we enjoyed on two afternoons. The grounds are
so relaxing. The room showed some signs of wear-and-tear. Mind you, nothing extraordinary or anything that bothered me in the slightest. A little tip for anyone wanting to create a "din" to keep outside noises out: on the thermostat, set the fan to "fan" (which will keep it running constantly) not "fan auto" (which will let it cut off when the room reaches temp). With that setting, I heard nothing at all throughout the night... except my husband's snoring. >.< No thermostat setting would fix that.
The Grounds:
Gorgeous, lush, relaxing. Even though tropical theming isn't really "our bag", it was simply lovely, really. The beach was phenomenal.
The Restaurants:
Our first experience was at Captain Cooks whilst waiting for our room to be ready. Wasn't horrendous, wasn't wonderful. Just... was. The next experience was drinks from Tambu lounge. Lapu Lapu, Bahama Mama. Yummmmmm. Oh, and the crab sushi was delicious -- shame it wasn't eel! The Lapu Lapu was fab, did I mention that?

Following day, we had a character breakfast at Ohana. The characters were great, the dancing was cute. Our kiddo had a blast. Our neighbors at the next table were hilarious. The food was okay, standard breakfast fare with nothing above par. I do have to say the "potatoes with sugar" was slightly odd.

Had dinner at Kona Cafe. I think they need a bit of work on their menu item descriptions as the pasta dish I ordered wasn't described properly but no biggie. The chocolate torte -- which I forget the name of -- and the drinks more than made up for it. Our final, on-site dining experience was breakfast at Kona Cafe. Had a standard breakfast plate which was just right and the press-pot kona coffee. Although the press-pot was nice in comparison to any other Disney coffee we had, I guess I'm more a "so dark and strong, you can stand a spoon up in it" coffee type o' gal.
Overall Thoughts:
All of the CMs and restaurant staff we dealt with were courteous and efficient, didn't encounter a single person working there that didn't make us feel welcome. The location of The Poly just simply cannot be beat. Period. The walk to the TTC, which we did many times, is so easy I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. We actually never left via the hotel's monorail station because the TTC was so convenient; though we returned via The Poly stop on a couple of occasions. Our one good bus experience (and one very unfortunate) would never convince me of trying anywhere else.
Amazingly enough, The Skeptic has been converted -- not into a Disney Addict -- but someone convinced of the enjoyment and ease in letting yourself be treated well while on vacation. They make it so easy to be care-free, it's impossible not to appreciate all of what The Poly -- and Disney -- have to offer. We had a fabulously wonderful first 4-1/2 days at Poly... looking forward to those next days already, whenever they happen to be.
