ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[Tess]

On our way to our first on-site stay at the Poly CL--my son's first trip to Disney World. We'll be the family wearing lots of Oklahoma gear (hubby coaches there).

Based upon the weather reports I have seen on GMA, you are going to need all the Oklahoma gear you have--looks a bit unseasonable right now. Seriously, have a blast!

 

[Daisey Mae]

We had a great time in Disney. We were there from 11/27 to 12/4. We got a FREE yes I said FREE TPV upgrade for our room. We arrived at 9pmish. ME was very quick from the airport. We picked up our bags so we didn't have someone at our door really late or dealing with getting them in the am. We were in Tuvalu room 1414. Was amazing to watch fireworks from our bed. No issues with room, cleaning was done everyday before noon. Everyone we encountered was friends well except for manager of gift shop. We had issues with her last time we went too just not a friendly person but everyone else was great. We went tot he theme park most days and back in afternoon or mid day then back out again. Family of ducks were right outside most days and if you weren't careful they would have come in the room if the door was left open. We were on the deluxe dining plan and loved it however had 2 complaints the refillable mugs should have something for young children to drink that isn't soda or lemonade, there used to be juice on the fountain beverages and some places wouldn't give a child under 3 a drink even though she was required to eat from our plate. They did eventually but had to talk with manager. Yak and Yeti was the major issue and had a great experience last time we went however this time just left a bad taste in my mouth. I just feel all dining selections on plan should be the same across the board. ie.If some rest, give juice for choices with kids then all should and if some give child under 3 a drink then all should. Like I said we have never had this problem over the past 3 years so not sure why the change or if I just lucked out. The crowds were minimal except the last 2 days which they were taping the parade however still didn't wait long in lines etc. Poly was great like I said staff was friendly, room was great and can't wait to go back.

 

[Tess]

We had a great time in Disney. We were there from 11/27 to 12/4. We got a FREE yes I said FREE TPV upgrade for our room. We arrived at 9pmish. ME was very quick from the airport. We picked up our bags so we didn't have someone at our door really late or dealing with getting them in the am. We were in Tuvalu room 1414. Was amazing to watch fireworks from our bed. No issues with room, cleaning was done everyday before noon. Everyone we encountered was friends well except for manager of gift shop. We had issues with her last time we went too just not a friendly person but everyone else was great. We went tot he theme park most days and back in afternoon or mid day then back out again. Family of ducks were right outside most days and if you weren't careful they would have come in the room if the door was left open. We were on the deluxe dining plan and loved it however had 2 complaints the refillable mugs should have something for young children to drink that isn't soda or lemonade, there used to be juice on the fountain beverages and some places wouldn't give a child under 3 a drink even though she was required to eat from our plate. They did eventually but had to talk with manager. Yak and Yeti was the major issue and had a great experience last time we went however this time just left a bad taste in my mouth. I just feel all dining selections on plan should be the same across the board. ie.If some rest, give juice for choices with kids then all should and if some give child under 3 a drink then all should. Like I said we have never had this problem over the past 3 years so not sure why the change or if I just lucked out. The crowds were minimal except the last 2 days which they were taping the parade however still didn't wait long in lines etc. Poly was great like I said staff was friendly, room was great and can't wait to go back.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I hope you didn't come back to some ugly weather! Happy to hear you had a good time.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Well, I just modified my dates so we're staying 7 nights instead of 5. Going to have to pull the kiddo out of school for an extra day, but 4 days in the parks just left me feeling rushed. We're a solid week now -- a much more relaxing vacation for me!

 

[Daisey Mae]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I hope you didn't come back to some ugly weather! Happy to hear you had a good time.

We definately had some weather when we got home but we arrived home on the 4th and then drove to our house on the 5th. didn't snow until that night and we got more than a foot I think but love it. Looks very much like a winter wonderland

 

[mommylovespoly]

We are seriously considering using a 35% off room only PIN to surprise our kids with a late January trip. We will be celebrating our youngest DD's 2nd birthday.

I just got laid off for second time this year (I KNOW-- some kind of record, right) but both times I had a great package, so we can actually afford this trip with the PIN and January prices. I mention this so you understand we want a great trip BUT want to keep prices in control.

We have been to WDW three times and stayed POLY twice (Fiji, 1st floor, Luau Cove-- same room both times and we LOVED it.) So we know that the POLY is THE way to go for us. Not cutting costs by staying anywhere else, because with a 2 year old we need the monorail! (And I need easy access to Lapu Lapus.)

We have always done DDP. Last time we did DxDP and absolutely loved it. But this time we are considering the CL instead of DDP, and then being frugal while eating at the parks. I think that, with a 2 year old, I will spend more time at the resort than usual and so CL would be helpful. Plus, they seem to have toddler friendly snacks easily available, which would help my packing. And with less than one month to plan (and I am a binder-making, TGMing planner extraordinaire usually) I think I might need the concierges to help. Finally-- I thought the concierges would be helpful with planning birthday surprises.

If we did do CL room only, we'll try to get tickets from a discounter.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Critiques?

 

[Tess]

We are seriously considering using a 35% off room only PIN to surprise our kids with a late January trip. We will be celebrating our youngest DD's 2nd birthday.

I just got laid off for second time this year (I KNOW-- some kind of record, right) but both times I had a great package, so we can actually afford this trip with the PIN and January prices. I mention this so you understand we want a great trip BUT want to keep prices in control.

We have been to WDW three times and stayed POLY twice (Fiji, 1st floor, Luau Cove-- same room both times and we LOVED it.) So we know that the POLY is THE way to go for us. Not cutting costs by staying anywhere else, because with a 2 year old we need the monorail! (And I need easy access to Lapu Lapus.)

We have always done DDP. Last time we did DxDP and absolutely loved it. But this time we are considering the CL instead of DDP, and then being frugal while eating at the parks. I think that, with a 2 year old, I will spend more time at the resort than usual and so CL would be helpful. Plus, they seem to have toddler friendly snacks easily available, which would help my packing. And with less than one month to plan (and I am a binder-making, TGMing planner extraordinaire usually) I think I might need the concierges to help. Finally-- I thought the concierges would be helpful with planning birthday surprises.

If we did do CL room only, we'll try to get tickets from a discounter.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Critiques?

Your reasoning is sound and I would agree with it. If you can get a discount for CL--I would say go for it. We have never used the dining plans in any form, but would have found it overkill on the food with the CL service. That is our experience--I know others who have enjoyed a dining plan and CL--simply too much food for us.

Have fun whatever you opt to do!

 

[kmrein]

I don't know if I'm going to do a full-blown report or not but just wanted to let all my Poly buddies know a bit about our stay 11/28-12/3. It was our first time staying there, and first time at Disney during the holidays.

Check-In
We did not do online check in but only had to wait about 2 min before checking in. We got leis, but they were red/white/blue-seemed like leftovers from the 4th of July but still fun. Cast member was very friendly and efficient and professional, especially since there was a woman next to us yelling at another CM, it seemed like she was upset over nothing, she was being terribly rude and just trying to finagle an upgrade.

Room
We were placed in Rapa Nui on the second floor, facing the parking lot but it was mostly obscured by trees. I think if we were to stay at the Poly again, we would wait until we can splurge to pay for a TPV or say in Club Level-but this is certainly no one's fault but our own. In this case, we got what we paid for and it was very pleasant to wake up and eat breakfast on our balcony every morning. We also loved being literally steps from the TTC and so close to the quiet pool. We also liked having the refrigerator in our room (we usually camp at FW, so that felt like a big luxury, as did the showerhead).

Mousekeeping
....was fine. We didn't get towel animals other than one that was there on check-in, but we are just not people who care about that. I know others like to know about it, though, so just wanted to include that in. We were not traveling with children, which our mousekeeper knew, so maybe they save those for families...not sure. Our room was always clean when we returned mid-afternoon to early evening. All the mousekeepers-in fact, all the CMs we saw on property-stopped to say "Aloha" and were very friendly.

Weather
Was "cold" by Florida standards, but just fine to us Wisconsinites! We were fine with layering sweatshirts and jeans, in both daytime and at night. It was in the 60s during most days and got as cold as low 40s at night, however no rain and the sun was out every day.

Beach
We LOVED the beach, it is such a relaxing place to sip a drink and watch the fireworks. We also got to see the castle being lit in the gorgeous holiday lights a few times, too. We couldn't fully hear what was being said during that, but could hear the music and see it and it was beautiful!

Captain Cooks
Worked just fine to grab a late snack or get coffee/milk in the morning.

One negative thing...
And not to be preachy, but it was some of the other guests! I was actually taken aback by some of the rude behavior we saw this time-it seemed much worse than usual. There is always the odd person or two on each trip, but this time everyone just seemed grumpier/meaner/ruder than usual, especially to cast members. I just couldn't get over it. I know it is a stressful time-I am certainly right there myself as far as stress levels go, but we had seen this trip as an escape from that and it was a little hard to get away from. It was just kind of sad to see-this is supposed to be the happiest place on earth and so many people looked anything but! I wish we could have sprinkled them all with pixie dust or something. (Our solution to unwind was just to get a daily tropical drink at the pool bar )

Overall
We feel incredibly lucky that we got the chance to stay at the Polynesian, which is something we have both wanted to do forever. It has a great atmosphere and the location/proximity to the MK/TTC/other monorail resorts is fantastic. I wouldn't take back our stay for anything and those of you excited about upcoming trips have NO REASON to worry about the quality of the place. However, if I'm being fully honest, I would just say that I learned that my heart belongs to FW/Wilderness Lodge and I think that is a route we will be going in the future. Still like I said, it was great and it's been really fun getting to know all of you and hearing about your Polynesian experiences on this thread!

Hope this is helpful and feel free to ask if you have any questions! Hope those of you about to leave for your trips have a fantastic time!

 

[jetskigrl]

We are seriously considering using a 35% off room only PIN to surprise our kids with a late January trip. We will be celebrating our youngest DD's 2nd birthday.

I just got laid off for second time this year (I KNOW-- some kind of record, right) but both times I had a great package, so we can actually afford this trip with the PIN and January prices. I mention this so you understand we want a great trip BUT want to keep prices in control.

We have been to WDW three times and stayed POLY twice (Fiji, 1st floor, Luau Cove-- same room both times and we LOVED it.) So we know that the POLY is THE way to go for us. Not cutting costs by staying anywhere else, because with a 2 year old we need the monorail! (And I need easy access to Lapu Lapus.)

We have always done DDP. Last time we did DxDP and absolutely loved it. But this time we are considering the CL instead of DDP, and then being frugal while eating at the parks. I think that, with a 2 year old, I will spend more time at the resort than usual and so CL would be helpful. Plus, they seem to have toddler friendly snacks easily available, which would help my packing. And with less than one month to plan (and I am a binder-making, TGMing planner extraordinaire usually) I think I might need the concierges to help. Finally-- I thought the concierges would be helpful with planning birthday surprises.

If we did do CL room only, we'll try to get tickets from a discounter.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Critiques?

We stayed at the Poly for 10 nights last August and did the same as you are considering. I have a 12 year old dd that is a very picky eater so paying for her as an adult on the dining plan would be a waste. So we stayed club level and it could not have worked out better for us. We had breakfast in the lounge every morning except two (when we had character breakfasts booked) and enjoyed the appetizers at night almost every night. Our only paid for meal each day was a big lunch inside one of the parks. This worked out perfect for our family. Both my kids could live on PB&J if I let them, so having those available was wonderful. They also drink soymilk and the CMs made sure to have it available for them every morning (1 each to drink and 1 shared to use for their cereal).

Ohhh and the alcoholic punch saved us a fortune on drinks, LOL. It was so nice to stop in the lounge on our way to the pool to grab snacks or drinks. We had ordered a few things from Garden Grocer but most of it was not needed.

Enjoy the trip!! I sure hope to get back there someday myself!

 

[robeck]

We are going back to the Poly for our third time. We have not stayed anywhere else. Last February we stayed CL with DDP. We hardly used any CS credits during our week there. We are doing an almost identical trip this Feb. and are planning on making better use of our dining plan this time.
It is nice to get up and walk down the hall for a light breakfast before hitting the parks. I was not crazy about the coffee but there always seemed to be plenty of things to eat. It's also nice to get a bottle of water to keep in the room. I enjoyed grabbing a beer or 3 at night. We didn't hit evening offerings much but the desserts at night were nice.
I used IPO for both trips only to make my reservations. We did aqua seas tour, Breathless II cruise for Illuminations along with dinners at Yachtsmen Steakhouse, California Grill for wishes, Fantasmic package at the Brown Derby, pirate advenure at GF for my 12 yo son and the Luau. I mention this because we got every reservation requested at the times that we wanted no problem. Although I was told that the IPO doesn't have any advantage when it comes to making reservations it sure seemed like they do.
CL helped make an already magical trip even more special. I would recommend the upgrade if it is in your budget.

 

[mommylovespoly]

Thanks for the two votes of confidence on my plan!

Are bottled beers included from CL?

THAT will seal the deal and save us a LOT of money.

 

[jetskigrl]

Yes, there is beer and wine available in the lounge (pluys other liquor in the evening during dessert service). I believe they have the beer sitting out during the evening hours, but you can request one any time the serving area is open and they will bring it out for you.

 

[clanmcculloch]

We stayed at the Poly for 10 nights last August and did the same as you are considering. I have a 12 year old dd that is a very picky eater so paying for her as an adult on the dining plan would be a waste. So we stayed club level and it could not have worked out better for us. We had breakfast in the lounge every morning except two (when we had character breakfasts booked) and enjoyed the appetizers at night almost every night. Our only paid for meal each day was a big lunch inside one of the parks. This worked out perfect for our family. Both my kids could live on PB&J if I let them, so having those available was wonderful. They also drink soymilk and the CMs made sure to have it available for them every morning (1 each to drink and 1 shared to use for their cereal).

Ohhh and the alcoholic punch saved us a fortune on drinks, LOL. It was so nice to stop in the lounge on our way to the pool to grab snacks or drinks. We had ordered a few things from Garden Grocer but most of it was not needed.

Enjoy the trip!! I sure hope to get back there someday myself!

We've also found that the CL lounge suits us better than the DDP. We're light breakfast eaters so the morning offerings are great for us. Most park days we've found that a big TS lunch is a great mid-day break and then we head back to the resort to hang out for the rest of the day meaning we're around the resort at dinner time anyway so we just much from lounge offerings. After having eaten a big lunch, we're really not hungry for much of a dinner so a couple skewers of pork or a few meatballs along with some veggies is all we want anyway. It works perfectly for how we like to spend our days.

2 months and 6 days until we're back.

 

[MrsDef]

We check in tomorrow! I just put all the DME tags on.. so excited!!

 

[Tess]

We check in tomorrow! I just put all the DME tags on.. so excited!!

So jealous--have fun and looking forward to a report!

 

[bethclayton]

We check in tomorrow! I just put all the DME tags on.. so excited!!

Maybe we'll see you! We are here now!

And Taylor, we will look for you and say hi if we see you!

 

[leshunlenese]

thanks everyone for your reviews. we are checking in tomorrow for our 1st poly stay!!!

 

[MrsDef]

Checking in.. We are so happy to be here. We have a great room in roratonga with a view of lush foliage and a slight monorail view- this is very exciting for my 3 year old.

Last night my little guy spiked a fever of 104. We gave him Tylenol but it didn't work and he started vommitting. The manager had an emt come quietly (it was 3am) and sent an employee to get childrens motrin from a store. They bent over backward to help us and we're so grateful

Hopefully my ds will be better soon!!

 

[Tess]

Checking in.. We are so happy to be here. We have a great room in roratonga with a view of lush foliage and a slight monorail view- this is very exciting for my 3 year old.

Last night my little guy spiked a fever of 104. We gave him Tylenol but it didn't work and he started vommitting. The manager had an emt come quietly (it was 3am) and sent an employee to get childrens motrin from a store. They bent over backward to help us and we're so grateful

Hopefully my ds will be better soon!!

Hope your little one is better this a.m. We have had issues like that while on vacation when our kids were young. . .kind of makes for a tough vacation.

 

[BreezysMom]

Checking in.. We are so happy to be here. We have a great room in roratonga with a view of lush foliage and a slight monorail view- this is very exciting for my 3 year old.

Last night my little guy spiked a fever of 104. We gave him Tylenol but it didn't work and he started vommitting. The manager had an emt come quietly (it was 3am) and sent an employee to get childrens motrin from a store. They bent over backward to help us and we're so grateful

Hopefully my ds will be better soon!!

I hope your little one is better soon!

The very same thing happened to us on our first trip to Disney and the Poly! We were quarantined at the resort for the first 48 hours of our dream trip!

The Poly staff was wonderful and helpful, they even sent DD a get well package with ears and balloons. They turned what could have been a nightmare situation into total pixie dust and now we are Poly addicts for life

I am sending get well vibes your way