OK guys here goes! We are back and I am now rested so this is my Poly CL report:
We arrived around 11:30am at the Poly via DME. No luggage since DME would deliver it later that day. checked in at the desk out front and they called for CL. They said it would be about 5 or 10 min wait so we decided to walk to the Hawaii bldg. We were greeted and told our room was ready. (rm 1513). Great view of castle (though we only paid for lagoon view.)
We grabbed a bite from the lounge and headed to MK.
Now, I am not good at describing the offerings in the lounge. Breakfast was the same almost daily. Steel-cut oatmeal is THE BEST and i ate it almost every morning. They also had fruit, cereal, juices and the rolls/muffins/croissants varied by the day. Daily "snack" offerings were cookies, goldfish, pretzels, gummy sharks, Late evening offerings varied by the day as well (usually 3 items were out); small cupcakes, brownies, stuff like that. Besides wine and beer they have their own version of Sangria which was great. (they set out a pitcher during dinner.)
Dinner offerings mostly had an "Asian" flavor...dumplings, pot stickers bbq, egg rolls, teriyaki pork. They put out 2 "main" offerings every night. 2 nights they also had a small salad. They put out fruit, cheese, crackers, hummus & pita bread every night. The first 4 night the chef was very young (don't remember his name) but he was so sweet and talked to us every night. He played baseball in college so he and my DS17 who plays baseball talked often. Last few nights the chef was older and he didn't really speak to us unless we spoke to him and even at that he only answered direct questions. Oh well...
I am so glad we did not do the dining plan. Since it was hot while we were there we just didn't have much of an appetite (kids included) and we snacked on the CL offerings if we were at the resort. We only had 3 sit-down meals in 8 days; Yak and Yeti, Crystal Palace, and T-Rex.
We watched Nightastic from either the beach or our room if we were at the resort and LOVED doing it that way! Only saw it at MK once.
We found all of the CM's very helpful in the CL, though honestly we did not use them for much. My kids (age 7 to 17) enjoyed having the ducks outside of our room every day. They even named many of them. My DS17 named the big one Thor (those of you who have been there recently know which one I mean).
The pool was crowded, and I thought the parks were crowded as well but we haven't been in the summer for quite a long time. We love the ambiance of the Poly...could not imagine staying at GF or Contemporary.
We did not get a rental car; used dis transport only. Walked to TTC almost daily. Longest wait for a bus was coming home from DTD one evening; waited maybe 25 mins.
I used the laundry 3 times (afternoon) which was never busy.
I pre-paid for the photopass cd ($99) and am still putting borders, etc on pics but am glad we used photopass this time around. I figure $99 for 75 pics on a CD is fair.
Our family made blankets in February for the Give-a-day promotion so we each had a GAD certificate. I decided we should use those for fast-passes since we were going at a busy time. I cannot tell you what a difference those made in our trip. We each got 6 extra fast-passes (to be used on 2 dif categories of rides) for 5 days. AND when we went to will call at MK to trade in one of the GAD certificates we were asked to be in the volunteer parade that day at 3pm! My DS7 was so excited. It was HOT riding in the parade but fun too. That was a new experience for us for sure!
Best new dining exp. - we had never been to Yak and Yeti before and there was something for everyone in my family. We all enjoyed that meal.
New Experience - napping in a hammock at the Poly with DH. Have stayed there before but never napped in a hammock. I highly recommend it!!
Best new technology - I have Verizon so downloaded the Disney Mobile Magic app. $9.99. Gave us wait times on rides, whether FP's were available, park hours, etc. We used it numerous times a day.
Sad to see it go - DS7 liked to ride in the front car of monorail with the driver whenever we could. We were told they no longer do that and noticed that no one was ever in the front car but the driver.
If anyone has any questions please let me know. We had another great Poly stay! There was a bounce-back offer in our room but we did not use it.
Although, from many reports on this thread, the LV does have an awesome view of the castle...who knows??
when they see them!
It made me wonder, do the lifeguards just happen to notice something floating in the pool (isn't this a scene from Groundhog Day?
) or do the parents say something???
