ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[TheNewMrsB]

As for the Poly, we absolutely loved it. We stayed in Hawaii, room 3528, with a beautiful garden view (I'll post pictures as soon as I get them together.) The room was very clean, and the service was excellent. We had more towels than we knew what to do with (after continually only getting four at POR), and the turndown service was a nice little treat. Everyone enjoyed the balcony. But what was really special were the Poly grounds. It's just so relaxing and beautiful! It truly was like being on two vacations at once.

We watched Wishes from the beach two nights, and once from the lounge - you can't beat the view, and it's so nice not fighting crowds!! Bottom line is, I don't think we'll ever be able to stay anywhere else at Disney and be happy. Total Poly convert now!!

So glad you had a good time!

You hit the nail on the head - it really IS like two vacations at once.

I agree - it's difficult for me to think about watching Wishes anywhere else now.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Hi everyone! We're back from our wonderful first stay at the Poly! The first few days we spent at POR, which was nice, but we are now spoiled for the Poly forever. The entire family voted, and it's now the favorite resort

We had beautiful weather - very hot, but not brutal, and NO rain. The only crowded park was DHS (don't flame me, but I really don't get that park - so poorly designed ). The rest of our time, we walked on all the rides - of course we hit rope drop each day, and used fastpasses, but honestly, I don't think the wait for any ride exceeded 20 minutes (except TSM - see above....)

We spent one morning at Blizzard Beach, and a couple of hours at Disney Quest. Again, no flames please, but I don't think we'll do the water park option again. We had a great time at BB, but as we were only there about 4 hours, it didn't really justify the price. We never went back, as the kids really enjoyed the Poly pool and didn't want to do a water park again. DisneyQuest was okay - the older boys liked it, but there was really nothing for my 5-year old to do. He preferred the Lego store (OT - I heard they're building a LegoLand in Orlando - if that happens, he'll be in heaven!!)

As for the Poly, we absolutely loved it. We stayed in Hawaii, room 3528, with a beautiful garden view (I'll post pictures as soon as I get them together.) The room was very clean, and the service was excellent. We had more towels than we knew what to do with (after continually only getting four at POR), and the turndown service was a nice little treat. Everyone enjoyed the balcony. But what was really special were the Poly grounds. It's just so relaxing and beautiful! It truly was like being on two vacations at once.

The CL lounge was great. The view alone is worth the price IMO, but the food offerings were awesome also. We had breakfast there each morning (same menu as many have posted - cereal, bagels, muffins, croissants, oatmeal, fruit and breakfast drinks) and appetizers on three evenings. Also, DH picked up afternoon snacks a couple of times, and we did the dessert offerings three nights as well. Again, the same menu as has been reported before - Wednesday evening was pork potstickers, sticky wings and a Polynesian style salad (all very tasty) along with the ever-present veggies and dip, pineapple with caramel sauce (to die for!), three cheese/cracker/fruit plates and pita and hummus. Also, uncrustables for the kids. Thursday night was meatballs, spring rolls and canapes (again, all great!) and Friday was bacon wrapped chicken, crab rangoons and kim chee (wasn't brave enough to try that!). There was also wine available in the evenings, along with a wonderful hawaiian punch drink (alcoholic). Anyway, nothing new there, but just wanted to confirm the offerings. Evening desserts were great as well - brownies, cookies, different types of mousse, this cute Mickey "gob", carrot cake, can't remember what else.

We watched Wishes from the beach two nights, and once from the lounge - you can't beat the view, and it's so nice not fighting crowds!! Bottom line is, I don't think we'll ever be able to stay anywhere else at Disney and be happy. Total Poly convert now!!

Hoping to post some pics over the next few days. Everyone with a vacation coming up, have a great time!! I'm so jealous....

Welcome back! Thanks for the review. And no flames - everyone has their own opinion

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi everyone! We're back from our wonderful first stay at the Poly! The first few days we spent at POR, which was nice, but we are now spoiled for the Poly forever. The entire family voted, and it's now the favorite resort

We watched Wishes from the beach two nights, and once from the lounge - you can't beat the view, and it's so nice not fighting crowds!! Bottom line is, I don't think we'll ever be able to stay anywhere else at Disney and be happy. Total Poly convert now!!

Hoping to post some pics over the next few days. Everyone with a vacation coming up, have a great time!! I'm so jealous....

Welcome back! I'm so glad that you and your family had such a great time. Can't wait to see your pics!

 

[DebbyLof428]

Welcome back. Looking forward to seeing your pics. Isn't it amazing how the Poly casts a magic spell on you lol

 

[mulley16]

We just returned yesterday from our first trip to the Poly! We loved Poly so much that I just had to come out of lurkerdom to post a mini-review of our stay. Reading this thread over the past few months helped me out so much in planning our trip. Thanks so much to all you Poly Pros for the helpful advice and tips. Hope you don't mind if I share a few of our experiences with you!

DH and I debated a while before requesting Tokelau GV. I don't think you could really go wrong with any of the longhouses, but we finally decided that what was important to us was to be centrally located, in a relatively quiet area and close enough to the TTC to easily walk there (we have three kids DD 9, DD7 & DS 4). Our request was granted - we got Tokelau room 2937 which we loved! It was the second room from the end (towards Neverland Club) and we had a lovely, peaceful garden view. Perhaps it was the week we went but we found Tokelau very quiet. We stayed seven nights and I never heard noise from our neighbors and only twice did I hear footsteps and creaking for several minutes from our upstairs neighbors. Loved the location of our longhouse - about a five minute walk to the TTC, 2 minutes to the GCH & volcano pool. Mousekeeping was excellent - the room was very clean, smelled fresh, plenty of light, lots of towels. I was worried about our fridge the first day as it didn't seem cold, but the next morning our drinks were nicely chilled and towards the end of the week several of the kids juice packs were half frozen.

The volcano pool was of course lovely! We couldn't keep the kids off the slide or the waterfall. We arrived on a Friday and the pool was fairly busy but we were able to secure a table near the zero entry end of the pool by the beach bar. We had to wait until 3:15 for our room to be ready but we had planned on hanging by the pool all afternoon so it really was no problem. They had kid games (hula hoops, hot potato, etc), dances, etc. by the pool during the afternoon that my DD7 really enjoyed. The girls also got hair wraps at the booth by the pool. Cost is by the inch - I think I paid $25 for DD7 and $15 for DD9 (she only wanted a clip-on version). The quiet pool was also nice - very few people the times we went. I know there is some question on the boards as to the closure/rehab of the quiet pool. On August 31 we were surprised to see a sign that the quiet pool was closed for "maintenance". I happened to walk by the pool at several times that day - never saw anyone doing any maintenance. I thought maybe it was the start of the rehab, but the next day it was open and remained that way. Not sure what was going on there??

We absolutely LOVED Ohana and were pleasantly surprised by Kona Cafe! DH and I had our date night at Kona and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. Our server was excellent. We ordered sushi from the sushi bar as an appetizer - excellent! DH had teriyaki steak and I had ginger crusted steak - both yummy! We took our strawberry cheesecake to go and ate it while watching Wishes on the beach. Our kids went to the Neverland Club that evening and LOVED it - they actually were upset when we came to pick them up and wanted to stay longer! They begged us to go again. I think it was $11 an hour per child - minimum of two hours, but it was worth every penny. If you are thinking of using Neverland, they do give the kids dinner straight from Captain Cook's (which is included in the price). We made the mistake of feeding them dinner (from Captain Cooks!) and basically wasting 3 counter services before dropping them off. Oh well, lesson learned for next time! And speaking of CC's, we only ate there two times for a quick dinner and had no problems finding a table. We did have to wait a bit for our food (they give you buzzers) but we were happy to discover that Dole Whips counted as an adult dessert! There was also a small bakery counter that had brownies, cupcakes and such - it all looked good, but didn't try any of it.

I'm sure it was mentioned previously on the boards, but I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the Poly smells! I can't put a finger on the smell - coconuts? Plumeria? Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home with me! I also loved how the CMs almost always said Aloha when passing you by. We came home with 9 flowered leis which our girls loved collecting. We visited the GF, Contemporary and AKL on this trip and while they are all very nice and I'm sure we'd have great vacations at each of them, we decided that the Poly was the best themed and the place that we felt the most "home" at. We are total Poly converts now and we can't wait to begin planning for our next trip!! Hopefully same time next year!!

 

[sandym718]

Great reviews jdd and mulley16!!! Tokelau GV is our favorite location, too, Mulley!!!

 

[guitarob]

Thank you for the great reviews mulley16 and jdd!

I can't wait to see your photos if you have any to post!

 

[vinotinto]

Thanks for the new reviews! We're down to less than 2 weeks to go...

Has anyone here gotten the refillable mugs? Can you refill them with coffee at the Kona Coffee bar or just at Captain Cook's? I'm afraid of the Nescrape that I've been reading about.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We just returned yesterday from our first trip to the Poly! We loved Poly so much that I just had to come out of lurkerdom to post a mini-review of our stay. Reading this thread over the past few months helped me out so much in planning our trip. Thanks so much to all you Poly Pros for the helpful advice and tips. Hope you don't mind if I share a few of our experiences with you!

DH and I debated a while before requesting Tokelau GV. I don't think you could really go wrong with any of the longhouses, but we finally decided that what was important to us was to be centrally located, in a relatively quiet area and close enough to the TTC to easily walk there (we have three kids DD 9, DD7 & DS 4). Our request was granted - we got Tokelau room 2937 which we loved! It was the second room from the end (towards Neverland Club) and we had a lovely, peaceful garden view. Perhaps it was the week we went but we found Tokelau very quiet. We stayed seven nights and I never heard noise from our neighbors and only twice did I hear footsteps and creaking for several minutes from our upstairs neighbors. Loved the location of our longhouse - about a five minute walk to the TTC, 2 minutes to the GCH & volcano pool. Mousekeeping was excellent - the room was very clean, smelled fresh, plenty of light, lots of towels. I was worried about our fridge the first day as it didn't seem cold, but the next morning our drinks were nicely chilled and towards the end of the week several of the kids juice packs were half frozen.

The volcano pool was of course lovely! We couldn't keep the kids off the slide or the waterfall. We arrived on a Friday and the pool was fairly busy but we were able to secure a table near the zero entry end of the pool by the beach bar. We had to wait until 3:15 for our room to be ready but we had planned on hanging by the pool all afternoon so it really was no problem. They had kid games (hula hoops, hot potato, etc), dances, etc. by the pool during the afternoon that my DD7 really enjoyed. The girls also got hair wraps at the booth by the pool. Cost is by the inch - I think I paid $25 for DD7 and $15 for DD9 (she only wanted a clip-on version). The quiet pool was also nice - very few people the times we went. I know there is some question on the boards as to the closure/rehab of the quiet pool. On August 31 we were surprised to see a sign that the quiet pool was closed for "maintenance". I happened to walk by the pool at several times that day - never saw anyone doing any maintenance. I thought maybe it was the start of the rehab, but the next day it was open and remained that way. Not sure what was going on there??

We absolutely LOVED Ohana and were pleasantly surprised by Kona Cafe! DH and I had our date night at Kona and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. Our server was excellent. We ordered sushi from the sushi bar as an appetizer - excellent! DH had teriyaki steak and I had ginger crusted steak - both yummy! We took our strawberry cheesecake to go and ate it while watching Wishes on the beach. Our kids went to the Neverland Club that evening and LOVED it - they actually were upset when we came to pick them up and wanted to stay longer! They begged us to go again. I think it was $11 an hour per child - minimum of two hours, but it was worth every penny. If you are thinking of using Neverland, they do give the kids dinner straight from Captain Cook's (which is included in the price). We made the mistake of feeding them dinner (from Captain Cooks!) and basically wasting 3 counter services before dropping them off. Oh well, lesson learned for next time! And speaking of CC's, we only ate there two times for a quick dinner and had no problems finding a table. We did have to wait a bit for our food (they give you buzzers) but we were happy to discover that Dole Whips counted as an adult dessert! There was also a small bakery counter that had brownies, cupcakes and such - it all looked good, but didn't try any of it.

I'm sure it was mentioned previously on the boards, but I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the Poly smells! I can't put a finger on the smell - coconuts? Plumeria? Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home with me! I also loved how the CMs almost always said Aloha when passing you by. We came home with 9 flowered leis which our girls loved collecting. We visited the GF, Contemporary and AKL on this trip and while they are all very nice and I'm sure we'd have great vacations at each of them, we decided that the Poly was the best themed and the place that we felt the most "home" at. We are total Poly converts now and we can't wait to begin planning for our next trip!! Hopefully same time next year!!

Thanks for posting your review.

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm so happy to read the good reviews of Poly! My parents are coming with us for marathon weekend (I'm running my 1st half!) and my mom has always wanted to stay at the Poly. With the discounts we're able to stay CL so it's nice to read good things about Hawaii!!!!

Amanda

 

[kdunkle904]

Well the Disney "sick" curse has struck my home. My husband woke this morning with inflamed lymphnodes and a fever of 102. We are leaving for WDW Wednesday!! I am freaking out at this point. Have banished the DD3 to Gammas for fear that she may get it. She is loving the sleepover but all this is stressing me out! He couldnt have gotten sick a week ago?. Send good Poly wishes my way that its just a 24 hour bug and he'll be good to go bright and early Wednesday morning.

 

[tpholland]

Thanks for the information! Do you know if there is a limit as to how many pictures your can upload and there still be no cost? I'm not sure why the whole 5 pictures thing sticks out in my mind. Maybe I'm just getting vacation brain and everything non-Disney and non-Poly is slowly shutting itself down till post-trip.

3 days! 3 days! 3 days!

I just checked my account, & it's 500 MB of free space.

 

[tpholland]

Well the Disney "sick" curse has struck my home. My husband woke this morning with inflamed lymphnodes and a fever of 102. We are leaving for WDW Wednesday!! I am freaking out at this point. Have banished the DD3 to Gammas for fear that she may get it. She is loving the sleepover but all this is stressing me out! He couldnt have gotten sick a week ago?. Send good Poly wishes my way that its just a 24 hour bug and he'll be good to go bright and early Wednesday morning.

Praying for your entire family to be well for the trip. Get yourself & DH a good probiotic drink or vitamin asap!!!

 

[guitarob]

Well the Disney "sick" curse has struck my home. My husband woke this morning with inflamed lymphnodes and a fever of 102. We are leaving for WDW Wednesday!! I am freaking out at this point. Have banished the DD3 to Gammas for fear that she may get it. She is loving the sleepover but all this is stressing me out! He couldnt have gotten sick a week ago?. Send good Poly wishes my way that its just a 24 hour bug and he'll be good to go bright and early Wednesday morning.

Here's some pixie dust for you. I hope he gets better soon!

 

[disneydreamin_ri]

For anyone that has returned recently, did you happen to notice the prices for a beer or a bottle of rum in the 2nd floor gift shop?

I can't remember from our last trip. I've decided I'm not going to do a grocery delivery but we still want some libations to take back to the room and hopefully pay a little less than the bar prices

Thanks!

My brother-in-law took a cab to the Hess ($5 cab ride) from Poly while we were there and bought a case of beer & water. I forget what he paid exactly but it was a big cost saving and a very easy trip.

 

[SeaSpray]

Well the Disney "sick" curse has struck my home. My husband woke this morning with inflamed lymphnodes and a fever of 102. We are leaving for WDW Wednesday!! I am freaking out at this point. Have banished the DD3 to Gammas for fear that she may get it. She is loving the sleepover but all this is stressing me out! He couldnt have gotten sick a week ago?. Send good Poly wishes my way that its just a 24 hour bug and he'll be good to go bright and early Wednesday morning.

This happens to us all the time! I think I start every single vacation while still on an antibiotic. If your DH still has a fever tomorrow, see if you can get him to the doctor, he might need an antibiotic. Also, we've used Airborne, extra vitamin C, etc. Try not to stress too much, stress lowers your body's resistance to fight off germs, and you don't want to catch what DH has. Hang in there, everything will be fine in the end!

We just returned yesterday from our first trip to the Poly! We loved Poly so much that I just had to come out of lurkerdom to post a mini-review of our stay. Reading this thread over the past few months helped me out so much in planning our trip. Thanks so much to all you Poly Pros for the helpful advice and tips. Hope you don't mind if I share a few of our experiences with you!


I'm sure it was mentioned previously on the boards, but I wasn't prepared for how beautiful the Poly smells! I can't put a finger on the smell - coconuts? Plumeria? Whatever it is, I wish I could bottle it up and bring it home with me! I also loved how the CMs almost always said Aloha when passing you by. We came home with 9 flowered leis which our girls loved collecting. We visited the GF, Contemporary and AKL on this trip and while they are all very nice and I'm sure we'd have great vacations at each of them, we decided that the Poly was the best themed and the place that we felt the most "home" at. We are total Poly converts now and we can't wait to begin planning for our next trip!! Hopefully same time next year!!

Welcome back! And I agree, I wish they could bottle up the beautiful scent of the Polynesian so I could take it home. I'm glad that you had such a great trip!

 

[disneymumma]

I just checked my account, & it's 500 MB of free space.

Thanks so much for checking that for me.

 

[tpholland]

Thanks so much for checking that for me.

no problem. Enjoy your vacation!!!!!!

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

We just returned from the Polynesian not to long ago, we had a wonderful time! It was a magical vacation. Our flight landed around 11AM and we walked right on to the Magical Express bus. Actually, I think they may have been waiting on us, because as soon as we were seated the bus took off.

We originally booked a Garden View Club level, I checked in online 10 days prior to our arrival date, I also made requests for a balcony or patio room when I booked the reservation. Check in was a breeze, it just took a matter of minutes. I asked what floor we on and the hotel clerk informed us that we would be on the second floor. We inquired as to whether or not they got our request, she said yes, and told us we would be on the second floor for just one night, and bell services would move us in the morning. I thought that was very kind of them, I know requests are just that -- requests. I was very pleased with the smooth check in process. We left our carry on bags at the luggage desk and hopped on the monorail to MK!

So after after a nice dinner at CRT and riding a few rides. On a side note, I just love Disney's Philharmagic. Our room was ready, so we headed back. I open the window and saw this.

And this.

Space Mountain to my right.

Boat dock to my left.

And this.

And this.

Sorry for the large pictures, I don't how to make them smaller. The pictures give the view no justice. It was so beautiful. DH went down and thanked the front desk and asked not to be moved. They laughed said no problem, they expected that response.

At night, the lagoon was lit up. We could see the castle turning different colors and Space Mountain. The Contemporary and Grand Floridian looked beautiful from across the lagoon. And of course, all of the beautifully lit torches and lights along the paths and the music made it so special.

We did not miss the balcony or patio at all. There are great perks to being on the second floor, as we were just steps away from the lounge. DH devoured the Kona coffee. He said it was SO good. Every morning, he was the first one in the lounge to get coffee.

The lounge offerings were wonderful. DH loved getting a cold beer in the evening. They always had cold chocolate milk on hand for the children. Everything was clean and fully stocked.

Mousekeeping was wonderful and we received turn down service each night, the children loved the chocolates that were left on their pillows.

We loved the wonderful scents and sounds. I may be in the minority here, but I love hearing the boat horns in the morning. And I loved listening to the soothing Polynesian music they piped throughout the resort.

The pool was amazing and never overly crowded. It was never empty for the most part either. We had Ohana's for dinner and it was wonderful. Those Pina Colada's are so good.

Our room is categorized as a lagoon view, but as you can see, if you peek through the gorgeous palm trees you can see the castle clearly, but it is not a true theme park view. I think I will book a lagoon view room in Hawaii for our next visit. I really didn't think we would enjoy it that much.

Needless to say, no one was ready to leave. We had an amazing time. On a side note, it was brought to our attention more than a few times that we had "gold keys". I didn't know CL guest had different color keys. Just about every time we used them, someone would say something like, "Oh that's cool, you guys have gold keys." I thought they were just yellow.

We took a tour of the resort, the entire place is gorgeous. I saw so many beautiful butterflies and they were HUGE. I don't think there is a bad view on the property. I don't know how they do it, but the garden views are just as beautiful and very tranquil. We cant wait to return to the Polynesian.

 

[mommylovespoly]

We haven't been to the Poly in FAR too long-- our last trip was June 2008.

So... Questions...

do they do the movie thing on the beach in late September? Is it worth scheduling into our trip?


we have previously stayed in Fiji, room 1310 and 1308. both have views of Luau cove and the cove beach at garden view prices-- has that changed to anyone's knowledge?

how is the character breakfast? (we are going with a 2.5 year old and I want to do sit down AYCE or buffets as much as possible) any feedback on that meal?

just how bad does free dining make thing re: ADRs? We have in past stays canceled meals and just eaten at Kona as a walk in (November and June trips.) will that still be a feasible back up plan?

can any of you bend time and space and make Sept 29, 2011 arrive in about 14 days?

thanks!!