ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[luvthemouse71]

Fireworks question ... I've read your can watch Magic Kingdom fireworks at the Polynesian from the beach or club lounge, if you're staying club level, and the music is piped in at both places. Is this correct?

If you can see fireworks from your room/balcony is there any way to hear the music there? Like, on one of the Disney TV stations?

Just curious.

And I thought of two more questions about food ...

First, is the IPO said that the club lounge coffee is instant, which, for my hubby (I hate coffee) is a no go. (And, seriously, instant in the club lounge? That's just sad.) Can you get anywhere on property and is it a nightmare to

get the brewed Kona coffee (no breakfast) to bring back to the room? And or, if there is a coffee maker in the room, is it a "pod" style unit (where it takes K-cups) or is it the little one-use drip brews that you could actually put a regular filter and coffee in and make it in-room?

Second is the Kona Sushi bar. Can you get take-out? As in take it back to your room to eat? And, if so, would you not need a Kona reservation for that?

Lastly, does the dining plan cover either the Kona sushi and/or can you useany of the credits to get a pot or cup of coffee at the coffee bar

Thanks in advance for all those who know!

I can answer some of this. We stayed in a lagoon view-club level room last year and spent many a night on our balcony, watching Wishes and the EWP. I think the speaker was right by our room! So we could hear the music perfectly. They pipe it into the lounge too. That's where we'll be this year..just did a garden view club level this year. had to be more frugal.

Regarding the coffee, the makers in the room are the regular style. The machine in the lounge is one that makes cappuccinos, lattes and mochas as well as regular coffee.. To tide me over, I'd make a cappuccino and would stop at the Kona stand in the lobby. I don't know about any of the other things.



I hope you have a great trip. We love the Poly. It will be my third time and my sister's second time.

 

[bluejasmine]

You dont need a ADR for Kona Sushi Bar but its a very small eating area and yes you can take it to go.

Kona Sushi in the morning is Kona Coffee but we always bring some coffee with us, from what I understand you can also buy coffee beans whole or ground at Kona Coffee Bar

Kona Sushi is 1TS credit meaning 1 roll non alcoholic drink and dessert per person per credit. I know you can get a pot of coffee on DDP maybe a cup as SC but not sure..

 

[leane]

Actually,

The "Ferry" goes between the TTC and the MK.

The "Launch" goes Poly -> MK -> GF

It takes about 15 minutes MK -> POLY 10 minutes POLY -> MK. Depending on load/unload times, number of passengers, etc...

Your monorail times look about right, although I've never timed it, again this is dependent on the amount of passengers, etc...

I hope you have a great trip!

Thanks for your help. I am hoping we have no rain and comfortable temps that will make a prefect trip ... I can dream right LOL

 

[ajh88]

Aloha all! I am subscribing as I am officially on countdown to our first-ever stay at the Poly!

I have been planning this trip for about 3 years (crazy, I know) - ever since I started pharmacy school (a 2nd career for me). Not to be too long-winded (yeah, right!), DH and I have been married since 2000 and have taken 7 trips to the World in that time (the last 3 being gifted to us by my parents as pretty short trips during my school breaks). We've stayed at Dixie Landings (POR) twice, Caribbean Beach twice, and All-Star Sports three times and we have had fabulous trips each and every time. We've traveled in August (twice), December (twice), May, June, and October (loved it!).

So, we don't really have a set pattern anymore and we are looking forward to a nice, long, relaxing vacation at the Poly. We're planning on doing all of the Parks (of course), plus Discovery Cove, Sea World, WWoHP, and La Nouba.

We are planning on booking a TPV room (not CL) for the first 2 weeks of August next year. I've seen the photos and I'm not sure if there is a room I *wouldn't* want! The only thing I'd really like, if we aren't on the ground floor, is a balcony, but even that doesn't seem like it will be a problem.

I only have one question right now - I am currently considering doing room service our first night there. I don't know what time we'll be arriving and I'd love to start our vacation by watching the fireworks and EWP from our room (or the beach), so I'd like a low maintenance dinner with flexible timing. Does anyone have experience with the room service menu (appears to be Kona Cafe based, right?), good or bad? My alternative is grabbing something at Captain Cooks, but I thought the room service menu sounded pretty appetizing.

I'm enjoying the thread and will be lurking for the coming year!

 

[bluejasmine]

Aloha and Good Morning Poly Peeps! Bumping to put us back on 1st page where this thread belongs..

Ajh88- havent ordered from Room Service yet will be doing so in Sept for anniversary breakfast but we have heard good things about it! Enjoy your planning..

 

[coopersmom]

Thanks for all the quick and complete answers. You guys really are experts!

The machine in the lounge is one that makes cappuccinos, lattes and mochas as well as regular coffee.

OK, I'm not a coffee person, but I'm confused. How can a machine that makes cappuccinos and lattes be instant? Is it just a hot water machine and you mix in a packet?

My very easy-going husband was not pleased with this coffee info, by the way. How can they charge you that much extra and give you instant coffee was his response and it was the first thing I've told him that made him even blink about club level.

I know you can get a pot of coffee on DDP maybe a cup as SC but not sure.

What does the pot of coffee take on the dining plan? Or would it have to be a part of table service breakfast credit? And is it true that room service (any meal) takes two table service credits AND you have to pay the delivery surcharge out-of-pocket?

 

[bluejasmine]

Im sorry I mean you CANT get a pot of coffee on DDP.. I apologize for that typo..
As far as the cappacino machines being instant I would think it would be like the ones you see at gas stations.. The mix is put into the machine so you dont mix it yourself.. I dont think they are too bad..A little sweet sometimes..

Just about all coffee in WDW is instant except for the coffee stands and coffee in TS restaurants, the CL perks are the building, the turndown service, views, cordials, wines, beer and food. If coffee is going to be an issue I highly recommend bringing your own for your in room coffee pot (and filters) or buying some coffee grounds from Kona Island Coffee. I am not picky about my coffee but my DH is and I plan on bringing coffee with us for him.

Not sure about room serice this is one meal we will be paying out of pocket for

 

[nala1128]

Im sorry I mean you CANT get a pot of coffee on DDP.. I apologize for that typo..
As far as the cappacino machines being instant I would think it would be like the ones you see at gas stations.. The mix is put into the machine so you dont mix it yourself.. I dont think they are too bad..A little sweet sometimes..

Just about all coffee in WDW is instant except for the coffee stands and coffee in TS restaurants, the CL perks are the building, the turndown service, views, cordials, wines, beer and food. If coffee is going to be an issue I highly recommend bringing your own for your in room coffee pot (and filters) or buying some coffee grounds from Kona Island Coffee. I am not picky about my coffee but my DH is and I plan on bringing coffee with us for him.

Not sure about room serice this is one meal we will be paying out of pocket for

If it helps, there is a picture of the machine in the CL photo thread, on the first page. There are also different flavored syrups that you can add to the coffee...I remember there was vanilla, hazelnut and one or two others

 

[kimgof]

So excited!!! Just booked our 2011 trip for August at the Poly!!!
Now I just have to be patient till next summer ...wow that is gonna be realllly difficult, but I have a whole year to plan...I should get started

 

[coopersmom]

Second is the Kona Sushi bar. Can you get take-out? As in take it back to your room to eat? And, if so, would you not need a Kona reservation for that?
yes you can get it to go without a reservation

Hmmm, I had also asked the club IPO this question, though it was answered much more quickly here. Unfortunately, I got a different answer. The club IPO said that Kona sushi MUST be eaten in the restaurant and that reservations are strongly encouraged.

Does anyone know which answer is accurate? (I'm guessing the IPO would know, but just curious.)

I was hoping to have sushi in our room, which we all like, as a back-up dinner plan most nights, in case our little one balks at a restaurant. Don't want to have to have (and likely can't get anyway) daily back-up Kona reservations, at a set time, just to have that option. Back to the drawing board?

 

[chamonix]

I dont believe the coffee machine in the CL is "instant coffee" in the traditional sense that we usually refer to it. Instant coffee is a soluble powder that dissolves in hot water to make coffee. The machine is "instant" in the sense that you can push a button and it "instantly" makes you a cup of your preferred type. What is instant about it is the instant heating of the hot water to make each cup. Hubby and i are both pretty serious about our coffee and have no complaints about the CL coffee (10+ trips staying there). Because i love really strong dark coffee we do sometimes add an espresso shot from the machine to a regular cup of coffee though to make it darker. I think if your hubby had not been told it was "instant" he would not have noticed anything.

I was recently at a hotel in Europe that had a similar machine and it actually ground the beans for each cup (visibly). I do not think the CL machine does that, unfortunately!

 

[guitarob]

Hmmm, I had also asked the club IPO this question, though it was answered much more quickly here. Unfortunately, I got a different answer. The club IPO said that Kona sushi MUST be eaten in the restaurant and that reservations are strongly encouraged.

Does anyone know which answer is accurate? (I'm guessing the IPO would know, but just curious.)

I was hoping to have sushi in our room, which we all like, as a back-up dinner plan most nights, in case our little one balks at a restaurant. Don't want to have to have (and likely can't get anyway) daily back-up Kona reservations, at a set time, just to have that option. Back to the drawing board?

These are just my observations and personal experience, YMMV:

We've eaten at the Sushi Bar twice, both times in mid-September, at around 3:00 PM. Both times we walked right up and sat down. The second time we were there, there was a woman sitting next to us who placed an order to take away, and received it (this was last year).

 

[bluejasmine]

Hmmm, I had also asked the club IPO this question, though it was answered much more quickly here. Unfortunately, I got a different answer. The club IPO said that Kona sushi MUST be eaten in the restaurant and that reservations are strongly encouraged.

Does anyone know which answer is accurate? (I'm guessing the IPO would know, but just curious.)

I was hoping to have sushi in our room, which we all like, as a back-up dinner plan most nights, in case our little one balks at a restaurant. Don't want to have to have (and likely can't get anyway) daily back-up Kona reservations, at a set time, just to have that option. Back to the drawing board?

Thats ridiculous, you can get just about anything in WDW to go! Also you cannot make ADR for the Kona Island Sushi its just a small bar area for goodness sake, IPO must be confused with KONA CAFE and even with that Im sure if you came in and ordered you could get it to go as long as they arent real busy (with no ADR)

You will have no problem with a member of your party walking over to Kona Island Sushi placing an order to go and bringing it back to the room!

 

[coopersmom]

Thats ridiculous, you can get just about anything in WDW to go! Also you cannot make ADR for the Kona Island Sushi its just a small bar area for goodness sake, IPO must be confused with KONA CAFE and even with that Im sure if you came in and ordered you could get it to go as long as they arent real busy (with no ADR)

You will have no problem with a member of your party walking over to Kona Island Sushi placing an order to go and bringing it back to the room!

That makes sense to me too, and I hope that's how it works when I get there. (I feel encouraged that others have seen it done.) I did say "Kona Sushi" in my question, but she could have missed that and just thought Kona Cafe. Here's the (email) response I got from the IPO (relevant snippet) ...

"If you were to order sushi from Kona you would have to eat it there at the restaurant. Yes, you can use your dining plan for room service, but it will cost you 2 table service coupons per person. If you would like to get food to take back to your room you can get food from Captain Cooks quick service and take it to your room. Captain Cooks is open 24hrs a day."

Unless I'm misreading it, definitely makes it sound like the only in-room food options are quick service (get it yourself) or room service. I wonder if that's due to dining plan credits. They want 2, instead of 1?

EDITED TO NOTE: It does say on the official Disney Parks Blog (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/07/kona-island-sushi-bar-at-disney’s-polynesian-resort/) that Disney Dining Plan is accepted at the Kona Sushi Bar ...

"Table service. 2 sushi rolls count as 1 meal."

 

[kdunkle904]

I dont think that they can really "force" you to eat anywhere. If I sit down at Kona or any table service resturant and order my food and then want to leave, I can take it with me to go.What is Disney going to say no? I think not.

 

[bluejasmine]

Well thats great thanks for clearing that up cooper! We knew that DDP was accepted for Kona Sushi but thought it included 1 roll dessert and drink, at which I thought wasnt a whole lot and seemed a waste of a credit but two rolls is much more realistic in my point of view! We wont have any TS credits left so if we get Kona Island Sushi it will be OOP but I may just order sushi (since it can be two rolls) at Kona Cafe when we go to our ADR the first night.

Went yesterday with DH and bought a new weekender bag (free at Ulta with purchase of $30) for our toilitries and then bought all of our toilitries (travel size) from Target and a cute little basked from Indonesia in World Market to keep everything in on the bathroom counter for our 8 days in WDW next month. Ive already started packing some of the things i wont need until then! LOL I cant wait!

 

[Nicole786]

So excited!! We are 11 days away, and officially all paid off!! I called to have my room only switched to a package, paid it all off and now we are just counting down the MINUTES!!! One thing that was odd, was the nice CRO CM and I were chatting about how we're celebrating my brothers graduation and his future plans in Culinary and the CM said he went to school for Culinary and we were just chatting away...When it was all done, he goes "....ok and I left a surprise at check in for David for all of his accomplishments!" AWESOME!!! If its true, what do you guys think it could be?

 

[MCDomzal]

So we got home Friday night from our first ever stay at the Poly. (8th trip to WDW). We had to go to a wedding on Saturday so this is the first chance I had to post anything.

We had a great time and really loved the Poly. Our previous trips we had stayed at All Star Sports and POR.

Our room was in Tokelau which is what we requested, so that was great! After seeing the resort, we would definitely request this building again. We loved the central location.

The grounds are beautiful and I loved sitting in the lobby with my paper and coffee in the morning when it was quiet and soaking in the atmosphere. I would have liked to sit on the beach, but it was soooooo hot that I wanted to be in the AC even in the AM so I wasn't already too hot before we got to the parks.

Our favorite thing was being able to wander down to the beach at 9:58 and catch the fireworks. We just stood, because, of course, there were no chairs at that time. But we found the bugs to be so annoying that we didn't want to be out there any longer than that. We watched them 3 times. It was sooo nice to be able to just wander back to the room without fighting any crowds and be there by 10:15.

Taking the monorail was fabulous!! I loved walking into the lobby at night and taking a deep breath, smelling the wonder smell, and sighing, "We're home." Just so relaxing and peaceful. Not the atmosphere you find at the other resorts we stayed at.

There were 2 things we didn't like about the Poly. First, the bathroom setup didn't work too well for us. With 2 teenagers, having the sinks inside the bathroom meant someone had to get up 2 hours before we wanted to leave (me of course!) so we could all be ready in time. It just didn't work too well with basically 4 adults.

We also didn't like the food court. It was chaotic unless you were there at a really off time. We had breakfast there on our day off (the Tonga toast was out of this world!) but never got to eat there again because it was just too crazy. We don't do a lot of ADRs and so we usually hit the food court once or twice for lunch or dinner on our trips. Also, there are only 2 coffee stations and 1 was out of order for 2-3 days. That caused some big lines for coffee in the AM.

The rest of the trip was great, too! We hit all the parks at rope drop and had a plan. I think that was really necessary with the extreme heat and crowds. By 1 or 2 we just couldn't take it any more and had to go back "home." We went back to the parks most nights. It was still hot, but at least the sun wasn't beating on you. We didn't wait any longer that maybe 20 minutes for anything, but again, we are very experienced at park touring.

Highlight of the trip was getting to be Epcot family of the day on Monday!!! It was awesome! We opened the park, and then got to be the first to ride Test Track. Then they walked us over to Mission Space where we got to see the control room and go to the front of the line to ride that. We also got 2 passes that were basically fastpasses for all 4 of us for any rides we wanted. Throughout the day several CMs said to us, "Hey, aren't you the family of the day?" So fun!! It was a magical day!!

Since this is the Poly thread afterall, I will end with saying that we would definitely stay at the Poly again if the price was right. Can't say that I think it's worth paying full price...but like everything at Disney, it's a very magical place!






















The

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Our favorite thing was being able to wander down to the beach at 9:58 and catch the fireworks. We just stood, because, of course, there were no chairs at that time. But we found the bugs to be so annoying that we didn't want to be out there any longer than that. We watched them 3 times. It was sooo nice to be able to just wander back to the room without fighting any crowds and be there by 10:15.

Taking the monorail was fabulous!! I loved walking into the lobby at night and taking a deep breath, smelling the wonder smell, and sighing, "We're home." Just so relaxing and peaceful. Not the atmosphere you find at the other resorts we stayed at.

It's definitely nice to not have to fight the crowds after the fireworks, isn't it? Definitely a big draw for me! And yes, that peaceful "aaaahhhhh" feeling is amazing. I can't wait to feel it again...

The rest of the trip was great, too! We hit all the parks at rope drop and had a plan. I think that was really necessary with the extreme heat and crowds. By 1 or 2 we just couldn't take it any more and had to go back "home." We went back to the parks most nights. It was still hot, but at least the sun wasn't beating on you. We didn't wait any longer that maybe 20 minutes for anything, but again, we are very experienced at park touring.

That's exactly what we do, although I don't think we always make it til 1:00! Sometimes there really is only so much you can take, even in September when the parks aren't quite as crowded. After a while, with the heat, you just need to freshen up or it's not as enjoyable anymore. I can only take so much of feeling icky without getting cranky about it. And no amount of Disney magic can take that crankiness away, unless it involves a volcano pool and a pina colava...

Highlight of the trip was getting to be Epcot family of the day on Monday!!! It was awesome! We opened the park, and then got to be the first to ride Test Track. Then they walked us over to Mission Space where we got to see the control room and go to the front of the line to ride that. We also got 2 passes that were basically fastpasses for all 4 of us for any rides we wanted. Throughout the day several CMs said to us, "Hey, aren't you the family of the day?" So fun!! It was a magical day!!

LUCKY! That sounds so great! Very cool!

Since this is the Poly thread afterall, I will end with saying that we would definitely stay at the Poly again if the price was right. Can't say that I think it's worth paying full price...but like everything at Disney, it's a very magical place!

Yeah, the 40% off doesn't hurt, for sure. It's definitely been a contributing factor for us in our return visits!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it despite the drawbacks - I guess no place is perfect, but it sounds like you made it a point to appreciate the good things, too!

 

[Missus Toad]

Well, two weeks from now, we'll be in our WDW paradise. I'm especially stoked this year because for the first time, everyone's as excited as I am to be going. My kids are always psyched, but yesterday, my DM, DDad and DSis all came up to me and told me how they're counting down the days til the Poly. My sister even added a day to her trip. Not being too involved with the planning process, she thought we were staying at BLT, which was the original plan, but when she found out it was the Poly "had to" change her flight to get one more day! The power of the Poly in effect...