ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[logpey]

Having kind of a horrid week. Glad this thread is here for a bit of a pick-me-up!!

Hope it gets better, it has to, the weekends coming!!!

 

[logpey]

YES! GLORIOUS!! I miss it there!
Looking left:

At night we could actually see the fire pit inside 'Ohana!

Looking straight ahead:

That is Fiji directly across the marina, and the end of Tuvalu to the right of Fiji.

A zoomed-in shot of the boat dock and GF (looking right):

I need a new ticker, too, Sara!

Great pics, If I don't stay concierge next time that is the one I would request...

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

Hi everyone - quick question!!

This is our first stay in the Poly and first time travelling in September...I was just checking out disneyworld.com to see what room categories were still available at the Poly and it's showing sold out!! (for a regular room no discounts at all) Even when looking with free dining and 40% off discounts still all booked up!!

Does this mean it's going to feel super busy around the pool/beach/GCH?? I'm a little worried now...thought Sept was a quiet time to go....

 

[jkstewart1800]

Hi everyone - quick question!!

This is our first stay in the Poly and first time travelling in September...I was just checking out disneyworld.com to see what room categories were still available at the Poly and it's showing sold out!! (for a regular room no discounts at all) Even when looking with free dining and 40% off discounts still all booked up!!

Does this mean it's going to feel super busy around the pool/beach/GCH?? I'm a little worried now...thought Sept was a quiet time to go....

I wouldn't worry too much. The Poly is pretty much always filled because it has (if not the lowest) almost the lowest number of rooms of any WDW hotel... so it always has that nice intimate feel....

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Hi everyone - quick question!!

This is our first stay in the Poly and first time travelling in September...I was just checking out disneyworld.com to see what room categories were still available at the Poly and it's showing sold out!! (for a regular room no discounts at all) Even when looking with free dining and 40% off discounts still all booked up!!

Does this mean it's going to feel super busy around the pool/beach/GCH?? I'm a little worried now...thought Sept was a quiet time to go....

I wouldn't be too worried. In the past 2 years I've never seen it super busy. From what I understand it's a big difference from the summer season in terms of crowds. I wouldn't be too worried!

 

[bluejasmine]

They only sell so many rooms per FD promo and room only promo.. Ive been several times in Sept and crowds are low except for opening wk of F&W

 

[MMrules]

Subscribing to this thread....

Hoping to go to the Poly for the first time in July 2011....I need somc discounts to afford it . It is my dream resort . Just trying to finalize dates with family members!

This will be a great site to get to know the Poly and find out all the info I need about it!!

Thanks!!!

 

[Tess]

Subscribing to this thread....

Hoping to go to the Poly for the first time in July 2011....I need somc discounts to afford it . It is my dream resort . Just trying to finalize dates with family members!

This will be a great site to get to know the Poly and find out all the info I need about it!!

Thanks!!!

Hope you find everything you need and if you don't, just ask!

 

[Sweetiepie905]

I have been reading this thread but haven't contributed yet. I just had to now since I am bursting with excitement! We are leaving a week from tomorrow to stay at a GV room at the Poly, yay! We went summer of 2007, staying at AKL, Savannah view. It was awesome but so far away from everywhere else. Also, our girls had just turned 2 and 4 so we were pretty limited on what we could do. This trip will be a whole new experience being tall enough to ride the rides, no diapers, no naps! Well.....maybe still naps, if we need them

I have a question about room/longhouse requests. Since nothing can be guaranteed and you basically can only get your pick from what is available at the time you arrive, is there any point to putting in a request? I only ask because at the time I made the reservation, I didn't know enough to make a request and now I am a week away. We aren't picky anyway. I just hope we can get a balcony room close to GCH. Hopefully that is broad enough that they can find us something that works.

No matter what the room, will will be at the Poly and that will make the trip AWESOME! Thanks to all of you for the great info, trip reports, pictures!

 

[guitarob]

I have been reading this thread but haven't contributed yet. I just had to now since I am bursting with excitement! We are leaving a week from tomorrow to stay at a GV room at the Poly, yay! We went summer of 2007, staying at AKL, Savannah view. It was awesome but so far away from everywhere else. Also, our girls had just turned 2 and 4 so we were pretty limited on what we could do. This trip will be a whole new experience being tall enough to ride the rides, no diapers, no naps! Well.....maybe still naps, if we need them

I have a question about room/longhouse requests. Since nothing can be guaranteed and you basically can only get your pick from what is available at the time you arrive, is there any point to putting in a request? I only ask because at the time I made the reservation, I didn't know enough to make a request and now I am a week away. We aren't picky anyway. I just hope we can get a balcony room close to GCH. Hopefully that is broad enough that they can find us something that works.

No matter what the room, will will be at the Poly and that will make the trip AWESOME! Thanks to all of you for the great info, trip reports, pictures!

to the DIS and the Poly thread!

I would just call and ask to have your request noted on your reservation. It can't hurt. You're being broad enough that you could very possibly end up with what you're looking for.

Have a safe and magical trip

 

[dtr_angel]

awesome thread, I'm subscribing. My husband and I are staying at the Poly for the first time in January 2012 and we cannot wait! Thanks so much for putting together this thread!

 

[kdunkle904]

This is a bit off topic but can anyone tell me why the dining ressie will give a time of 6:40 PM for a party of 3 but a 5:40 for a party of 4? This makes no sense to me. If we were a larger group I would understand but a smaller one and they are telling me they cant fit us in?

 

[dizneechic]

This is a bit off topic but can anyone tell me why the dining ressie will give a time of 6:40 PM for a party of 3 but a 5:40 for a party of 4? This makes no sense to me. If we were a larger group I would understand but a smaller one and they are telling me they cant fit us in?

Most of the time it has to do with building capacity and fire codes. The restaurants are only allowed to have a certain amount of people in it at any given time and usually have the table space allocated as such with a little give and take but not much. When allocating out the spaces for reservations they have so many of each table size available (again with some play early on) but as they near capacity numbers they may only have seating for certain party sizes left.
We're a party of 5, we've found times where we could book a time we wanted for 4 or for 6, but not for our party of 5, it gets somewhat frustrating because we KNOW we take up the space for a party of 6 (always seated at that size table), but aren't allowed to book it because it throws off the numbers elsewhere. We've also had ressies for 5 (again are given the table for 6) and called and wanted to add one more person to our ADR but weren't allowed to because of capacity issues. They told us to show up with the 6th person and see if they could join us, but be prepared if they couldn't - this could happen because people don't show or are late for ADR's etc, but we never pressed that and just planned alternate times to meet up. It's easier for an odd numbered party to add someone than an even because the odd numbered parties are generally seated at the next number up table size (3 @ a 4 person table, 4 @ a 5, 7 @ a 8, etc) and the even number party trying to add moves up to the next table size which is usually not available (4 to a 5 would require a 6 person table).
gosh I do ramble don't I?
Anyhow we did find a work around for Downtown Disney restaurants, in our case T-rex. We had our ADR booked through Disney for a party of 5, needed to bump it to 6, Disney had nothing available. I happened to call the restaurant direct (how I found out all the info above) and had the best CM ever! Anyhow apparently for DTD Disney reservations are only allocated a certain percentage of the tables to fill with ADRs, the rest are left for direct reservations and walk ins. Our Trex CM booked us a table for 6 for 15 minutes earlier than our Disney ADR with no problems, and then we canceled our Disney ADR. He told us you can also call the restaurants the morning of your Disney ADRs and modify it directly through the restaurant (Disney sends them over each AM) and the restaurants can take from their "walk in seating" numbers and modify your seating requests (again this was for DTD, not in park - not sure if they can or not).
Anyhow, sorry for the tangent there, but figured I would share what we learned through WAY too many conversations re ADRs over the course of the past year.

 

[esmerelda51]

Does any one know why the Poly would be full the week of Nov 8th. I called to make a reservation and the earliest I could get was 11/13 with checkout on Thanksgiving Day?
Also I will have completed chemo and radiation therepy at the end of Sept. I may not be very strong yet. I will be traveling by myself as it looks now. I can probably walk fine just will need to sit on a bench quite often which is just fine. Getting to Mk will be easy Monorail over-boat back. Bus to Studios and Ak. Last year I noticed that even healthy the ramps to the Monorails can be very steep especially at the end of the day. I was wondering if they have any kind of elevator system to take people up to the rail level. If not, is my best route to and from Epcot is to take a cab?

 

[AWilliams]

We head to the Poly in 8 days! I'm very excited and have already started to pack. I was wondering if anyone could give me some details on the space located under the beds. I'm trying to figure out what luggage to bring and where we might store it in the room.

Our last stay was in one of the newer longhouses and I think we put the suitcases under the double sinks in the bathroom. I remember it being in the way, so I don't think it fit under the beds or in the closets?

Thanks!! Amy

 

[mamabright]

There was no room under the beds to store anything when we were there. Its like a platform bed. Have fun!!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Thank you jkstewart1800 for that awesome review and photos!
And thanks to logpey and iloveeyore for your photos and reviews - it brings a smile to my face to see these beloved photos of the Poly

MAJOR props to GuitarRob for taking up the torch for the Poly FAQ threat! It looks awesome! And thanks to BreezysMom for all her hard work.

Sorry I've been MIA. I know I owe my trip report to give my perspective of a Poly Girl who finally stayed at the Grand Floridian but life intervened in a huge way. I got laid off from my job in February (I saw it coming a mile away) but we still went on our trip to the GF and visited the Poly as planned in June. All of the posts in the Poly thread really kept me going when I was bummed out so I wanted to say thanks.

Yes, I'll be posting my trip report sometime this week and I'll try to scramble out photos from our stays at the Poly for the thread. And yes, I did get another job which I start on Monday.

Nice to see you! So what do you think? GF or Poly? Or do each have their own redeeming qualities? Glad to hear about the new job too!

Having kind of a horrid week. Glad this thread is here for a bit of a pick-me-up!!

Hope your week is getting better

DH changed our ressie from CBR to Poly. I have always dreamed of staying here!!! I am hoping for a good code or the 4/3 deal since it's quite pricey compared to the CBR.

I am looking forward to doing all the restaurants in the Poly for both BF and dinner. We've done Ohana dinner but wanted to do BF at Kona and Ohana but travel time is a pain when you aren't on the monorail. Also looking forward to doing a few breakfasts at GF and CR without traveling super far. (Done CM's before)

Now we have to small kids and want to be closer to the monorail and pool and GCH. Which building should I request??

Anything special they do for birthday's??? We will be there for DD's 5th birthday and DS's 11th birthday. Their birthdays are only 5 days apart. They don't know yet though.

Welcome to the thread! I too love the convenience of the Poly with young children. But what room to request depends on what you paid for. I get a Garden View (GV) room and choose Tokelau because it is next to the quiet pool, has great garden views, a tad bit larger rooms, only one sink in the bathrooms, and it is still close enough to walk to TTC without feeling far away. But post again with the type of room you booked and everyone will give you their opinion!

I have to say that while we were there last week, we did hear short periods of loud music that we would not have personally chosen...and then the music stopped and the games did not interfere in our enjoyment of the pool at all. It wasn't constant loud music for all hours of the afternoon.

That's good to hear! I do enjoy the 'down' time at the pool and don't want chaos but when they did this at BC, it didn't really interfere with pool time.

I just changed my resort to the Poly!!!
We've never stayed here before I can't wait! I requested the Tokelau longhouse with a high floor. I read on the Tikiman website this is a good one for first timers

Yes, it's a good longhouse for repeaters too!

Subscribing to this thread....

Hoping to go to the Poly for the first time in July 2011....I need somc discounts to afford it . It is my dream resort . Just trying to finalize dates with family members!

This will be a great site to get to know the Poly and find out all the info I need about it!!

Thanks!!!

Welcome!

I have a question about room/longhouse requests. Since nothing can be guaranteed and you basically can only get your pick from what is available at the time you arrive, is there any point to putting in a request? I only ask because at the time I made the reservation, I didn't know enough to make a request and now I am a week away. We aren't picky anyway. I just hope we can get a balcony room close to GCH. Hopefully that is broad enough that they can find us something that works.

No matter what the room, will will be at the Poly and that will make the trip AWESOME! Thanks to all of you for the great info, trip reports, pictures!

Yes, request a room but just what you really want - balcony/patio/low floor/high floor/longhouse/near GCH/etc. If you have something you want, definitely request it. It's not always easy to switch if they are booked solid when you arrive.

We head to the Poly in 8 days! I'm very excited and have already started to pack. I was wondering if anyone could give me some details on the space located under the beds. I'm trying to figure out what luggage to bring and where we might store it in the room.

Our last stay was in one of the newer longhouses and I think we put the suitcases under the double sinks in the bathroom. I remember it being in the way, so I don't think it fit under the beds or in the closets?

Thanks!! Amy

We stored our luggage next to the closets where the connecting door is (or would be if it is connecting). We had BIG luggage and this worked just fine for us.

 

[Missoutandabout]

Whenever I need a mental break -- which is quite often, mind you -- I love checking in to the Poly FAQ. Oooooooom.

 

[logpey]

We head to the Poly in 8 days! I'm very excited and have already started to pack. I was wondering if anyone could give me some details on the space located under the beds. I'm trying to figure out what luggage to bring and where we might store it in the room.

Our last stay was in one of the newer longhouses and I think we put the suitcases under the double sinks in the bathroom. I remember it being in the way, so I don't think it fit under the beds or in the closets?

Thanks!! Amy

I did the same thing I got luggage rack and put it in front of connecting door and started with the largest luggage and stacked all my other empty luggage into the big one and shut it, also the closet with ironing board I was able to fit one in there and also the other closet on other luggage rack. It stayed out of the way and not in our path. Have fun!

 

[1971DBday]

Does any one know why the Poly would be full the week of Nov 8th. I called to make a reservation and the earliest I could get was 11/13 with checkout on Thanksgiving Day?
Also I will have completed chemo and radiation therepy at the end of Sept. I may not be very strong yet. I will be traveling by myself as it looks now. I can probably walk fine just will need to sit on a bench quite often which is just fine. Getting to Mk will be easy Monorail over-boat back. Bus to Studios and Ak. Last year I noticed that even healthy the ramps to the Monorails can be very steep especially at the end of the day. I was wondering if they have any kind of elevator system to take people up to the rail level. If not, is my best route to and from Epcot is to take a cab?

I have not experienced what you are going through; but I would splurge for the cab! Otherwise, only if you are comfortable with it ask for assitance...this is something Disney is very good at doing. I am not positive on the elevator system - I think the ramps are for the accessibility compliance.