ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[logpey]

DH and I have 12 days until we will be sitting at the Poly. I can hardly wait. We don't get much alone time so I am really looking forwardto our trip.

Then just relax & enjoy eachother! Have a nice trip...

 

[FanO'TheMouse]

Well... we are only about 2 and a half hours from being there. Drove yesterday from Philly and will be checking in first to AKL for a week and then finally, the dream comes true... the POLY next Saturday. I can not believe I am so close. If anyone has anything they want me to find out let me know. Everyone was so fantastic about answering my questions.

We are staying CL for the first time (and Poly first timers too!) so I am sure it will be awesome.

YAHOO!

 

[guitarob]

Well... we are only about 2 and a half hours from being there. Drove yesterday from Philly and will be checking in first to AKL for a week and then finally, the dream comes true... the POLY next Saturday. I can not believe I am so close. If anyone has anything they want me to find out let me know. Everyone was so fantastic about answering my questions.

We are staying CL for the first time (and Poly first timers too!) so I am sure it will be awesome.

YAHOO!

Have a safe and magical trip! (and don't waste too much time here .)

 

[1971DBday]

Hmmmmm...for all of you packers feeling over obsessive about packing to early - don't worry. We are 95 days to go and I was planning on re-organizing my Disney Trip box to check on everything we have from last trip. I even started my DD4's carry-on bag because I found a Disney coloring book and a Disney Princess Go Fish card game....

Don't worry - you are very sane compared to my patheticness!

 

[DISNEY1975]

I have 50 something more days and I know my packing will begin soon. Summer is ending and its almost time to put away our summer clothes, I will have to pack before things go into totes and/or put out for charity.

As for saundries Ive been collecting throughout the summer, Ive been throwing those into a bin in the hall closet! They are going to have to come out soon or it will get buried under backpacks/jackets/school shoes/sneakers etc..

 

[diskris]

Yes you can just run water thru the Coffee maker. For Coffee we bring down 4 cup filters, a coffee measure scoop (optional), and of course coffee.

Side note: other than the Nescafe junk at Capt. Cooks you can get real coffee at the Poly upstairs at the GCH and at the TTC just at the top of Ferry Boat Ramp.

Thank you so much!

 

[Ellielovesdisney]

Hi all,
I am so happy to join you!!!
Our first poly trip is in 15 days and we can't wait. This thread has made me even more excited. A couple of quick questions...
Is there a height requirement on the volcano pool slide?
Do you need to bring towels to the outdoor movies?
Thanks everyone!
Holly

 

[MMrules]

Subscribing....
I just booked a trip for July 2011...I was going to wait to see if any discounts come out, but this way here I have my room booked and then will fix it if there is a general public one (if I got a pin code, it would be like winning the lottery, but I don't get them). I am SO excited because this is going to be my first Poly stay...I am already thinking "once I go Poly I will never go back".
I am definitely finding out great information from this site and am loving the photos ....now I just have to wait 11 more months.....(sigh)

 

[Nicole786]

We are here now!! OMG first stay at the POLY and this is incredible!! We are on cloud 9!

 

[diskris]

Another question!

Does Captain Cooks have the ice cream novelties?


For example: Mickey Mouse ice cream bar, Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwhich, etc.

 

[SugarSpice]

Hi everybody! I have quietly been following this thread (and the past version) since January! Since this is the first year we are going to be taking our second son with us, I was trying to decide which monorail resort to stay at. You all have convinced me that the Poly is it!

Last September, me, DH and our DS8 stayed at ASMo and had a wonderful time. We let DS8 pick out the resort, and then the Toy Story Story theme. We really used it to just sleep and swim and didn't really have any problems except for the LONG bus waits and rides. However, this year our DS2 will be joining us for his first trip to the world. He is autistic and OCD so we knew that our resort choice would take a lot of consideration. We knew that he would never be able to stand those crowded bus rides! Plus being so far out doesn't really lend itself well to midday naps for him. So I started looking at monorail resorts. The Poly seems just perfect.

We figure this trip will be a much more laid back trip than our commando trips of the past. Relaxing atmosphere, zeroentry pool (great for a toddler), lots of children's activities, playing on the beach, monorail access, the list goes on. I even splurged for a theme park room so that we can watch the fireworks from our room and watch the castle lights change all night! I am so excited! I booked our room in January (praying that a 40% off code would come out) for labor day week. It did, yay joy! Booked all of our ADR's 180 days out, got everything we wanted, when we wanted them. And then with the release of these new deals, we ended up having to move back our vacation this week to the last week in October. Seems to be a little bit cooler, less crowded, and we'll be able to enjoy MNSSHP for the first time.

However, I can't get my ADR's! I booked an Ohana on our arrival day for 9:30 pm - it was the only time available! With our 2 year old, it's just not gonna happen though. Do you think the concierge will be able to move up our time? Or should I just walk up to the restaurant and ask them to move up our time? Especially since we are onsite guests. Anybody had any luck with this? I'm also in the same boat for Chef Mickey's later in the week.

Thanks to everyone who has added great info to this thread

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

Just got our confirmation from Disney Destinations and it lists "Garden View" then next to it in parens is "PB". Does anyone know what PB stands for or means?

Just curious.

 

[paxsarah]

... I was planning on re-organizing my Disney Trip box...

I don't know why it never occurred to me before to have a dedicated Disney Trip box, but I am totally stealing this idea! Otherwise, I'll just lose my spare rain ponchos among other random household stuff.

 

[Penelope2000]

Are you staying Club Level? If you are, the CL concierge may be able to help you get reservations for a time you want. We asked and were able to get a prime time for California Grill within a month of our reservation.

I recommend the Club Level to you for a number of reasons, and for similar reasons want to caution you about Ohana's. We would love to convince friends of ours to come to Disney with us - their son has Aspergers and OCD, and have thought that the Poly CL would meet their son's needs, so wanted to answer your post.

Ohanas: If your child can become overstimulated with noise, Ohana's tends to be on the loud side, and my only experience has been from walking by the restaurant, and experiencing it as very loud from outside the room. If your son would prefer something less stimulating, I would instead recommend Kona Cafe. It is lovely, the food is excellent, and it is quieter. It is now probably our favorite restaurant on Disney Property (except perhaps the California Grill.) There was also not much wait at all when we dined there (4 minutes as most, and neither time did we have a prior reservation, though I would recommend one.) The chairs outside Ohana's were filled with people waiting for their tables.

I recommend the club level because the lounge will become familiar to your son, it is MUCH quieter than the resort counter service where I would assume you would have breakfast every day - breakfast is served every day in the lounge (oatmeal, cold cereals, fruit, coffee, juice, sometimes cinnamon rolls, sometimes croissants) and the lounge is much quieter and calmer than Captain Cooks during breakfast time. While we did very much like being able to order late night flat breads for our teens, my dh and I walked through Captain Cooks one morning, after an early morning relaxing stroll around the resort, walked into a wall of noise. I turned to him after leaving and stated how grateful I was for the CL lounge. He laughed and said he had just been thinking the same thing. Captain Cooks was packed, children were crying, it was just tension inducing just walking through it. Maybe it was an off morning.

You can also watch the fireworks from inside the CL lounge, which may be less overwhelming than in the park. The lounge also has two televisions, one upstairs and one downstairs. The CL includes milk, soda, beer, wine, coffee, water, breakfast, afternoon snacks, appetizers and dessert. For us with the 40% off it cost only an additional $84 a night. Very much worth it. We paid OOP for four sit down meals and perhaps three counter service meals, and a few snacks, but the breakfast/appetizers/desserts/snacks and liquids were more than enough food otherwise.

If you will be spending more time at the resort than usual, it may be nice to have the appetizers at dinnertime at times, and if you wish, you could take meals back from Captain Cooks and eat them in the quieter lounge, though I would recommend a table outside Captain Cooks. It is very pleasant.

The transportation will be excellent for you from the Poly. Just as a "heads up" if you ever decide to take the boat back to the resort (lots of fun) that your two year old will not be able to sit in the stroller - if I remember correctly, strollers need to be folded on the boat (please correct me, everyone, if I am wrong!) You could, however, walk over to the TTC and use the stroller on the large ferry. The monorail would probably be easiest, though we really enjoyed the boats.

I know that you will enjoy the Poly. Just wanted to say that my friend's son would find that it would meet many of his needs - a quieter, familiar place with dependable food, and an area to call home (besides the room.)

 

[Penelope2000]

Thanks for all the replies about CC's! I can't wait to try the tonga toast and I know we will love the Dole whips



I'm not sure exactly, it just seemed like whenever I read about the place (especially from reviews at TripAdvisor, which I know isn't the best place to read reviews since there seems to be a lot of negativity LOL) people seemed to not like CC's very much. I think they mentioned it was crowded and the food was not good. Some people said they thought it was dirty and the ordering system was confusing.

I figured I'd get a good response from the peeps here on the Poly thread, and I did

We liked the food at Captain Cooks, and LOVED being able to get Dole Whips - the one time we walked through at breakfast time it was, however, PACKED, VERY loud, poor little kids screaming (at least three) and it was chaotic. Late nights, no problem. Afternoon snacks, a little crowded, but fine. We preferred to eat outside. We also very much enjoyed the CL lounge.

Ordering is not so chaotic - pick what you want, get anything else you need from the cooler, pay for it, get a buzzer (and a plastic dish if you ordered a Dole Whip) and pick up your food. Late at night you order in a slightly different area, at the dessert counter.

 

[Penelope2000]

I just wanted to echo everyone's thanks for you taking the time to post such a detailed review. I really appreciate the time everyone puts into sharing their experiences. These boards have been very helpful to me in making the choices for my first trip ... OK, well, "helpful," might not be the correct word; neurotic is probably more accurate, but that's my fault, not all the posters.

Reading your report makes me want to change back to the Polynesian club level. I just keep telling myself, "we're saving $1,000, we're saving $1,000." But I'm definitely still checking every day to see if something opens up for my dates on the monorail using the 40% off offer (long shot I know).

Thanks, Coopersmom,

The Poly is on the Monorail - and also has boat to MK if you would rather, and is walking distance (easy walk) to the TTC to get the monorail to Epcot. I think that is the best resort for transportation.

If you are doing the "free dining" it may not be worth it to do club level $ wise, (and at the Poly, you would probably be better off using the 40% code rather than taking the "free" dining) but with the 40% off code, CL was VERY worth it for us. That being said, we have two teenagers. They eat a lot, and did enjoy being able to go down to the lounge to have breakfast or a soda/snack while we finished getting ready in the room. We usually do not drink a lot, but my dh and I really enjoyed being able to have two beers a night each. That would add up quickly in a restaurant on Disney property.

What helped me a lot was doing some number crunching in Excel, using actual costs of meals my family would most likely order (menus are posted here on the site: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm
I hadn't even considered CL, thinking it was "out of our league" but we actually ended up saving money over staying in a standard Poly room. Go figure!

 

[witchesbrew]

Is pool hopping a big problem at the Poly? The reason I'm asking is there is another thread about a family that switched from the YC to the Poly and there have been a few posts about pool hopping at the Poly. I'm hoping that since we are going in mid-October the volcano pool won't be *too* crowded

TIA

 

[rcsilverspring]

My DH thinks I'm a little nutty for packing way in advance but I pack for the kiddos too and the 'family' items. So he's off for 3 weeks at the family farm and ranch (harvest time - summer wheat). I'm occupying me and the kiddos with lots of stuff to do INCLUDING packing!!! We don't put things in a suitcase yet but we make sure we have our food (dry goods), toiletries, pool items, glow stuff, park stuff (ponchos!), and we try on our outfits and make a list of exactly what we should bring. Then I go through the items to make sure we have enough (but not too much) clothes so we are comfortable day and night. I'd do this if he were here but at least he won't roll his eyes at me since we don't leave for another 28 days.

So in my opinion, it is not too early to start

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I started buying clothes last year for the trip THIS year that was postponed due to DD's (29) surgery. I refuse to wear them until we go NEXT year! (I better not gain weight! lol.) I also just bought new tennis shoes that I won't wear until next spring to break them in before the next trip!
So, no, I don't think it's EVER too early to start preparing for the next Disney World trip!
I also took pictures of outfits and made a chart of what I was wearing to each park on each day. And yes, I had a spreadsheet for the whole trip, which park on which days, park hours, ADR's w/confirmation numbers, where we would eat on days without ADR's. A little crazy, but DH is an engineer and wants EVERYthing planned ahead of time. It adds to the magic IMHO
So enjoy all the anticipation, it's all part of the experience. Sending pixie dust for a wonder*** time!

 

[jdd]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I started buying clothes last year for the trip THIS year that was postponed due to DD's (29) surgery. I refuse to wear them until we go NEXT year! (I better not gain weight! lol.) I also just bought new tennis shoes that I won't wear until next spring to break them in before the next trip!
So, no, I don't think it's EVER too early to start preparing for the next Disney World trip!
I also took pictures of outfits and made a chart of what I was wearing to each park on each day. And yes, I had a spreadsheet for the whole trip, which park on which days, park hours, ADR's w/confirmation numbers, where we would eat on days without ADR's. A little crazy, but DH is an engineer and wants EVERYthing planned ahead of time. It adds to the magic IMHO
So enjoy all the anticipation, it's all part of the experience. Sending pixie dust for a wonder*** time!

Hey neighbor! How far south are you? We're just off the Bridgeville exit of I-79.

I made the mistake of waiting until last week to buy some shorts for this year's trip - nobody is selling shorts anymore!! The stores are full of sweaters and jeans I mean, I know we're in the north, but we'll be wearing shorts into October.... Moral of the story, buy stuff when you can!

 

[Chelley00]

nobody is selling shorts anymore!!

I've had good luck finding shorts online, and on sale!