ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Fall 2010 Edition

[SydandPaige'sMom]

Woke up to more snow this morning! New York City hasn't gotten this much snow since I don't even know when. I don't think it's been in my 26 year lifespan, that's for sure! Is it September yet? I could really use a sandy beach and a pina colava...and maybe a lapu lapu to wash it down.

Wishing all my Poly peeps a great day, stay safe and warm and listen to plenty of Poly music!!

Good morning snowed in Poly peeps. You can add us to the list for today through Thurs... as of now it's an early release today, we'll be cancelled for sure tomorrow and possibly Thurs (which was already a scheduled early release. Tomorrow puts us at using all preallocated snow days for the year (185) and they announced that the days will all just tack onto the end of the year, so it's looking liek we'll be in school until July!

Now to sit back and watch this weeks 20" of white he!! fall.

Right there with ya! We have 20" or more still on the ground. It is snowing like mad right now, just took my girls to school. We are coastal. I like to call Rhode Island the "Snow Changing To Rain State". But I am a bit leery with the ice we are supposed to get from this afternoon to late Wednesday! Snow-ice-rain-ice-snow is the plan... What a mess! I just want it all to end so we can safely get to the Poly and not put too much burden on the people taking care of our place here... (cows, chickens, rabbits, big wood burner needs wood so lines to house don't freeze...)

I expect tomorrow to be our fourth snow day. Five and they will start cutting into April vacation-- that is my backup plan if we can't get south in

Morning everyone! Sounds like we're all ready for this nasty storm that's coming in. I hope everyone stays warm and safe. Kids are off to school, DH is at work, and I plan on doing a lot of...ummm..housework (read lounging on the boards)

 

[carlnix30]

In Philly it looks like the snow went around us and headed to New York.. its Icy but its not something that needs shoveling yet.. I attribute it to my background picture.. its good luck

 

[disneydreamin247]

Morning everyone! Sounds like we're all ready for this nasty storm that's coming in. I hope everyone stays warm and safe. Kids are off to school, DH is at work, and I plan on doing a lot of...ummm..housework (read lounging on the boards)

I cancelled my dentist appointment. Now I just have the doctor at 11 and I can do my "housework" too.

In Philly it looks like the snow went around us and headed to New York.. its Icy but its not something that needs shoveling yet.. I attribute it to my background picture.. its good luck

Thanks for the extra snow!

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

In Philly it looks like the snow went around us and headed to New York.. its Icy but its not something that needs shoveling yet.. I attribute it to my background picture.. its good luck

I literally got goosebumps when I looked at this. I cannot believe how excited I am for this trip. I never thought the Poly would even be a possibility for us! lol we're POP kinda people so I hope I don't get too spoiled by this

 

[webcreatrix]

Hi, everyone! We've never stayed at the Poly before, but it's been a dream of ours for a looong time. So, now we're looking at going in August with the room discount and I am curious whether we could do CL without the dining plan with plans to have a CS or TS lunch each day and maybe some snacks in the parks in the evening to "fill in", or will we need to do the dining plan to have enough food to eat? I'm thinking since we're looking at August, we'll be back at the Poly for a break each afternoon and return to the parks in the evening after snacks in the lounge at night?

Edited to add:

We are looking at roughly the same price for Poly GV + tickets + DDP or Poly CL + tickets.

 

[rcsilverspring]

I have a question for my fellow Poly lovers.
We have ADRs for Ohana when we are staying at the Poly in May. My husband looked it up in The Unofficial Guide and, after reading about the coconut races and other kids activities, is not sure he wants to have dinner there. We are 6 adults - parents with 2 adult children and their boyfriends. One of the reasons I picked it was that we have 2 vegans in our party and though Chef TJ is no longer there, it was recommended for vegan diners. I've also seen many excellent reviews and wanted to try it myself, especially since we are not doing the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show this trip. Our reservations are not until 8:30 PM, which DH thought might make a difference. Would there be a chance that we could sit away from all the activity or would there be less of it because it is later in the evening?? I was thrilled to even GET this ADR, but now I'm not so sure. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[carlnix30]

I literally got goosebumps when I looked at this. I cannot believe how excited I am for this trip. I never thought the Poly would even be a possibility for us! lol we're POP kinda people so I hope I don't get too spoiled by this

Congrats on your Poly trip!! I found that I love the Poly with all my heart.. but my kids love it as well.. I tried to get them to agree to the treehouses or POP or Allstar.. It would save us soo much. and my daughter could take more of her friends for her sweet 16. she said POLY POLY POLY! I hope you and your family will get hooked. Misery loves company!

Hi, everyone! We've never stayed at the Poly before, but it's been a dream of ours for a looong time. So, now we're looking at going in August with the room discount and I am curious whether we could do CL without the dining plan with plans to have a CS or TS lunch each day and maybe some snacks in the parks in the evening to "fill in", or will we need to do the dining plan to have enough food to eat? I'm thinking since we're looking at August, we'll be back at the Poly for a break each afternoon and return to the parks in the evening after snacks in the lounge at night?

Edited to add:

We are looking at roughly the same price for Poly GV + tickets + DDP or Poly CL + tickets.

I would not rely on the CL food. unless you are coming from MK or EPCOT it will take at least an hour each way from HS and AK just traveling. The food in the lounge is really just a little something to eat. breakfast is like continental breakfast, and they do not expect guests to eat full meals there.

The Deluxe Dining Plan in my opinion is waaay too much food for my family. we have done all tiers of the Dining plan, we have all teens. The best plan for us is the Quick Service. sitting at the TS meals is great for us but getting QS meals is fast and satisfying. we dont have a lot of meals left at the end of our trip and we arent running to get to all of our ADR. the big meals we just pay out of pocket. saves lots!

Congrats on your Dream trip .. If it were me I would get QS dining and stay CLMKV and not rely on the food at the lounge.

 

[carlnix30]

I have a question for my fellow Poly lovers.
We have ADRs for Ohana when we are staying at the Poly in May. My husband looked it up in The Unofficial Guide and, after reading about the coconut races and other kids activities, is not sure he wants to have dinner there. We are 2 adults with 2 adult children and their boyfriends. One of the reasons I picked it was that we have 2 vegans in our party and though Chef TJ is no longer there, it was recommended for vegan diners. I've also seen many excellent reviews and wanted to try it myself, especially sine we are not doing the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show this trip. Our reservations are not until 8:30 PM, which DH thought might make a difference. Would there be a chance that we could sit away from all the activity or would there be less of it because it is later in the evening?? I was thrilled to even GET this ADR, but now I'm not so sure. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

You can get a table that is not all in the activities. It is nothing like Whispering canyon.. not quiet but not all crazy. I am not into the loud boisterous craziness. I love Ohana. Go and you will not be dissapointed.

 

[cinmell]

In Philly it looks like the snow went around us and headed to New York.. its Icy but its not something that needs shoveling yet.. I attribute it to my background picture.. its good luck

Ahhhhh......what a beautiful site!

Checking in from Boston here. Our kids follow the public schools so they had school today but I'm sure they will be off tomorrow. August at the Poly seems sooooooo far away so I really appreciate that picture!

 

[dizneechic]

Hi, everyone! We've never stayed at the Poly before, but it's been a dream of ours for a looong time. So, now we're looking at going in August with the room discount and I am curious whether we could do CL without the dining plan with plans to have a CS or TS lunch each day and maybe some snacks in the parks in the evening to "fill in", or will we need to do the dining plan to have enough food to eat? I'm thinking since we're looking at August, we'll be back at the Poly for a break each afternoon and return to the parks in the evening after snacks in the lounge at night?

Edited to add:

We are looking at roughly the same price for Poly GV + tickets + DDP or Poly CL + tickets.

Congrats on finally getting to stay at the Poly! As for your DP vs CL questions, it REALLY depends on what kind of eaters you are. If your someone that prefers full meals and don't really snack much the lounge isn't going to be enough, but if your casual snackers vs regular meal types then it could work well.

Our family loves breakfast and the lounge was wonderful for that (although we occasionally supplemented hot items with CC's or a breakfast TS mid trip. We are also big time snackers vs full meals (except breakfast) so prefer to do CS lunch (split a few items), a mid afternoon snack, and then a little something from the lounge and fruit. There were several days we planned on making it back to the lounge for apps but decided we would rather stay in park so just ended up splitting a few CS meals and calling it dinner. There were also days the lounge didn't offer anything that appealed to us (Monday was all cold items and sushi), so we had to have alternate plans.

Breaking it down a little further, QSDP would be too much food for our family, even with only 2 full meals a day, because we divide up meals and snack. Reg DP would be too much as we would never eat full TS meals + dessert in one sitting, let alone Deluxe DP. We DO love TS meals and typically book them for characters only, and the ones without characters we do OOP and do apps and split meals. This is why the lounge works well for us, we're snackers and very happy to do so, and if we don't like what's there we head to CC's or hop on the monorail and find somewhere else to eat.

I have a question for my fellow Poly lovers.
We have ADRs for Ohana when we are staying at the Poly in May. My husband looked it up in The Unofficial Guide and, after reading about the coconut races and other kids activities, is not sure he wants to have dinner there. We are 2 adults with 2 adult children and their boyfriends. One of the reasons I picked it was that we have 2 vegans in our party and though Chef TJ is no longer there, it was recommended for vegan diners. I've also seen many excellent reviews and wanted to try it myself, especially sine we are not doing the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show this trip. Our reservations are not until 8:30 PM, which DH thought might make a difference. Would there be a chance that we could sit away from all the activity or would there be less of it because it is later in the evening?? I was thrilled to even GET this ADR, but now I'm not so sure. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I think an 8:30 ressie you will be much safer than a 5:00 or 6:00 one but the entertainment will be ongoing. Maybe you can put in a request when you check in for a table "away from the action" so your not seated right up against it all. Most of the dancing and chaos takes place in front of the "grill" in an aisle between tables, but they do parade around the restaurant. We've always been seated near a window so while we can see (and hear) everything were not smack in the middle of it like the aisle seats would be. There is also a big center grill that sort of divides the restaurant, if you seated on the side where you cant see them cook your on the opposite side of the action so again, would be a little quieter but you'll still see the parade of dancing children. I really enjoy the food there, love the bread, salad and noodles (ok I CRAVE them ) so I think its something that needs to be experienced at least once!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

woo hoo!! The countdown is on

Yep!! It's February and I can make ADR's this month -- Ohana and Kona, here we come!!!

In Philly it looks like the snow went around us and headed to New York.. its Icy but its not something that needs shoveling yet.. I attribute it to my background picture.. its good luck

Beautiful picture!

We haven't gotten too much over here (Pittsburgh) from the big storm yet. Although we did cancel school today because we are supposed to get an ice/snow mix this afternoon.

It's been a long winter already. Oh how I can't wait to be relaxing at the Poly.

 

[webcreatrix]

Congrats on your Dream trip .. If it were me I would get QS dining and stay CLMKV and not rely on the food at the lounge.

Thank you for the clarification and suggestions! I may have used the wrong acronym. I was not looking at the Deluxe plan, but the Plus plan. I do like the suggestion for the QS plan as well as I really think we will want only 2-3 TS meals over the course of our trip. Thanks!

 

[webcreatrix]

Congrats on finally getting to stay at the Poly! As for your DP vs CL questions, it REALLY depends on what kind of eaters you are. If your someone that prefers full meals and don't really snack much the lounge isn't going to be enough, but if your casual snackers vs regular meal types then it could work well.

Our family loves breakfast and the lounge was wonderful for that (although we occasionally supplemented hot items with CC's or a breakfast TS mid trip. We are also big time snackers vs full meals (except breakfast) so prefer to do CS lunch (split a few items), a mid afternoon snack, and then a little something from the lounge and fruit. There were several days we planned on making it back to the lounge for apps but decided we would rather stay in park so just ended up splitting a few CS meals and calling it dinner. There were also days the lounge didn't offer anything that appealed to us (Monday was all cold items and sushi), so we had to have alternate plans.

Breaking it down a little further, QSDP would be too much food for our family, even with only 2 full meals a day, because we divide up meals and snack. Reg DP would be too much as we would never eat full TS meals + dessert in one sitting, let alone Deluxe DP. We DO love TS meals and typically book them for characters only, and the ones without characters we do OOP and do apps and split meals. This is why the lounge works well for us, we're snackers and very happy to do so, and if we don't like what's there we head to CC's or hop on the monorail and find somewhere else to eat.

Thanks, Cariann. We have done the dining plan and not done the plan, and I guess if they are not offering free dining we're not interested in the plan. We really enjoyed our trip this last summer where we had 3-4 ADRs for the whole 8 nights we were there and just kind of winged it otherwise, so for that reason, I think CL might be nice. I guess at this point I am trying to decide if I want to book GV and just pay OOP for meals and snacks as we desire with 2-3 ADRs or if I want to do CL and fill in here and there... Are breakfasts and snacks worth $100 night?

 

[bluejasmine]

Hi, everyone! We've never stayed at the Poly before, but it's been a dream of ours for a looong time. So, now we're looking at going in August with the room discount and I am curious whether we could do CL without the dining plan with plans to have a CS or TS lunch each day and maybe some snacks in the parks in the evening to "fill in", or will we need to do the dining plan to have enough food to eat? I'm thinking since we're looking at August, we'll be back at the Poly for a break each afternoon and return to the parks in the evening after snacks in the lounge at night?

Edited to add:

We are looking at roughly the same price for Poly GV + tickets + DDP or Poly CL + tickets.

We really enjoyd the food at the CL. Now that being said, other than breakfast its snacks not meant to be a meal.

Breakfast-oatemeal, cereals, fruits, yogurt, danishes, bagels and condiments, coffee and juices and milk

Noon-goldfish crackers, cookies, popcorn, gummy candy, tea, juices,water

5pm-several different cheeses, cracker, fruits, carrots and other veggies, two hot appetizers, fresh hummus and pita bread, pb&j uncrustables. Wine, beer, tea, juice and sangria punch

Night-cocktails, desserts ( like shooter cups) mini brownies, cookies

We had the normal DDP and thought it went perfectly with the CL food, we ate breakfast at the CL, lunch at the parks came back to resort around 2 to swim and snacked at 5 then back to parks and whatever dinner ADrs we had.

Breakfast did get boring and we ended up ordering room service once and having CS breakfast another but other than that we were happy and cant wait to be back at the CL this Sept!

I think if your family isnt big eaters Id do QSDDP. We did have a few CS credits left which we used to get lunch for our drive home. and SC for mickey rice crispy treats that we gave as gifts

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I have a question for my fellow Poly lovers.
We have ADRs for Ohana when we are staying at the Poly in May. My husband looked it up in The Unofficial Guide and, after reading about the coconut races and other kids activities, is not sure he wants to have dinner there. We are 6 adults - parents with 2 adult children and their boyfriends. One of the reasons I picked it was that we have 2 vegans in our party and though Chef TJ is no longer there, it was recommended for vegan diners. I've also seen many excellent reviews and wanted to try it myself, especially since we are not doing the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show this trip. Our reservations are not until 8:30 PM, which DH thought might make a difference. Would there be a chance that we could sit away from all the activity or would there be less of it because it is later in the evening?? I was thrilled to even GET this ADR, but now I'm not so sure. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I have never been sat in the middle of the action so they only pass our table when the kids walk around the restaurant. It is not an interference at all to the meal and you don't have to pay attention to what they are doing if you don't want to - it's not 'in your face'. So I wouldn't let that stop you from your reservation.

As for the dietary restrictions, all Disney restaurants are good about this and not necessarily just one chef or one restaurant - just let them know in advance.

You will be at the Poly so going to the restaurants there is a great idea - no travel time! Definitely try Ohana. I wouldn't let your ADR go

 

[dizneechic]

Thanks, Cariann. We have done the dining plan and not done the plan, and I guess if they are not offering free dining we're not interested in the plan. We really enjoyed our trip this last summer where we had 3-4 ADRs for the whole 8 nights we were there and just kind of winged it otherwise, so for that reason, I think CL might be nice. I guess at this point I am trying to decide if I want to book GV and just pay OOP for meals and snacks as we desire with 2-3 ADRs or if I want to do CL and fill in here and there... Are breakfasts and snacks worth $100 night?

If there are 2 of you, no, $100 goes a long way for fewer people... for us not so much . We are a family of 5, so combine that with the convenience of not having to wrangle everyone far from our room for lounge food (or find a table to seat 5 of us), having the space of the lounge to spread out in and not be confined to the room, and in Aug watching EWP and Wishes run simultaneously from the lounge in PJ's and it's $100 very well spent!

 

[webcreatrix]

If there are 2 of you, no, $100 goes a long way for fewer people... for us not so much . We are a family of 5, so combine that with the convenience of not having to wrangle everyone far from our room for lounge food (or find a table to seat 5 of us), having the space of the lounge to spread out in and not be confined to the room, and in Aug watching EWP and Wishes run simultaneously from the lounge in PJ's and it's $100 very well spent!

Excellent points! We are a family of 5, but only 4 of us are making this trip - me, DH, DD8 and DS6. I need to think about this more. That said, I now have a reservation for August! Just need to decide soon if we want GV or CL.

 

[dizneechic]

Excellent points! We are a family of 5, but only 4 of us are making this trip - me, DH, DD8 and DS6. I need to think about this more. That said, I now have a reservation for August! Just need to decide soon if we want GV or CL.

Ok knowing that, do you do normal routines while at the park or do you throw bedtimes out the window? Two of mine are ADHD and need their normal routines or our days are shot to heck. So we were always back to the resort for Wishes (I did hop the monorail once this past trip to see the light parade and wishes in park with my dd though and was right back to the resort ) so having the lounge was heavenly later at night because being confined in the room when I would personally rather be out and about was a nice luxury. Also as far as food goes, if either of your kids eat uncrustables the lounge has them out all afternoon AND each night at app time, so if the kids aren't interested in the offerings they were the fall back food of choice for them (plus crackers and cheese). Best part is some days for us you just KNEW it was "one of those days" so in the AM at breakfast I would ask the lounge staff if they had any uncrustables handy and they would give me one or 2 to tuck in my bag to bring to the park helping us head off lunch battles when one of mine refused anything but (and saved me spending $6 on a kids PB&J ).

Needless to say we could easily get by with a GV room anywhere at the Poly but really love the extras we get staying CL. The lounge staff is just wonderful, SO pleasant to chit chat with (my kids thoroughly adore them) and it makes the trip just seem more personal and welcoming.

 

[webcreatrix]

Ok knowing that, do you do normal routines while at the park or do you throw bedtimes out the window?

I think you've sold me! We stick to normal routines and do not do many late nights, maybe one for Wishes, but last summer we actually sent the kids to the Neverland Club while DH and I went to the Wishes dessert party as DS did not like being that close to the fireworks and cried our first night at MK during fireworks. And, these are just two of the reasons I chose the Poly for our next trip - Neverland Club and fireworks from the Poly! I hadn't thought about having extra space indoors to relax in. Thanks again! I think I'm going to call this afternoon and upgrade to CL!

 

[guitarob]

Aloha everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still around and that a new FAQ thread will arrive shortly. I'll have it up soon, before we hit our 250 page limit here. (I'm hoping for tomorrow night, if I don't keep getting sidetracked).