ALOHA! The Poly FAQ: Winter 2011 Edition

[woodkins]

Can this month go any slower??? I just want my ADR date to come

Why is everyone so quiet? I have been hanging out of the Iditarod race webpage for the past 10 days because my very good friend is running in it. He is in 5th place and holding! I came here to see what was going on with my Poly lovin friends and found us on page 3 again

On the upside, I randomly got an e-mail from the IPO welcoming me for our October visit. Usually I contact them closer to my ADR date but they contacted me first Of note, they have been having problems with e-mail address @att.net and @sbcglobal.net if anyone has been expecting an e-mail or sending one and they have not had a response this is why.

Happy Monday Everyone

I'm an att.net, and I just got my two IPO emails (staying CL at WL and Poly on our next trip) over the last week. I really need to sit down and look at park hours and figure out some ADRs. We've never done 'Ohana for dinner, so I'm thinking that might be a go this time.

Ugh...our Arrival date is 10/23 and I haven't gotten anything from IPO (and I'm an @aol.com). I think I am going to send them an email right now!

 

[disneydreamin247]

I'm an att.net, and I just got my two IPO emails (staying CL at WL and Poly on our next trip) over the last week. I really need to sit down and look at park hours and figure out some ADRs. We've never done 'Ohana for dinner, so I'm thinking that might be a go this time.

I need to figure out my ADRs as well! Since the princess arrived I haven't had much time to look at our schedule, although I did make our spreadsheet complete with park hours before she was born so that's an advantage. I just need mom to sit down and look at menus with me so she can tell me a few places she'd like to try as well. Then I can send back the email to IPO.

Ugh...our Arrival date is 10/23 and I haven't gotten anything from IPO (and I'm an @aol.com). I think I am going to send them an email right now!

I just got our email from them about a week ago and our arrival is 9/20.

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

Ugh...our Arrival date is 10/23 and I haven't gotten anything from IPO (and I'm an @aol.com). I think I am going to send them an email right now!

I'm a month ahead of you, so you'd probably get yours a month after me. They'd probably go ahead and send you the survey if you contacted them, though.

I need to figure out my ADRs as well! Since the princess arrived I haven't had much time to look at our schedule, although I did make our spreadsheet complete with park hours before she was born so that's an advantage. I just need mom to sit down and look at menus with me so she can tell me a few places she'd like to try as well. Then I can send back the email to IPO.

Oh, I didn't realize she was here! Congrats!!! I had been waiting and waiting for park hours, but now that they're out, I haven't done anything.

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

Hey everyone. I had a few questions about dining at Kona. We will be tat the Poly from October 2nd to 7th and want to try Kona for both breakfast and dinner. How hard is it to eat there without a reservation? I know when we went in November, it seemed that Kona was pretty slow, but we were on our way to 'Ohana, so I really didn't pay a lot of attention.

Thanks!

 

[disneydreamin247]

I'm a month ahead of you, so you'd probably get yours a month after me. They'd probably go ahead and send you the survey if you contacted them, though.



Oh, I didn't realize she was here! Congrats!!! I had been waiting and waiting for park hours, but now that they're out, I haven't done anything.

Thanks! She decided to finally make her arrival 9 days late. She's a true princess!

 

[kimgof]

Hey everyone. I had a few questions about dining at Kona. We will be tat the Poly from October 2nd to 7th and want to try Kona for both breakfast and dinner. How hard is it to eat there without a reservation? I know when we went in November, it seemed that Kona was pretty slow, but we were on our way to 'Ohana, so I really didn't pay a lot of attention.

Thanks!

We've only eaten there during busier time frames so we always had an ADR. But , I've heard that during slower times it is a more "empty" restaurant. I would think that your dates are a slower period. You could make an ADR and when you get there judge for yourself if you think you should keep it or cancel it and just do a walk up. Either way, enjoy Kona...it's a must do for us, we love it!

 

[nrpofp]

Has anybody here stayed in tpv club level lately. Can you tell me what its like. I have never spent this much money on a room so I am a little nervous. I just called to request a 1st or 3rd floor room. I really wan't a balcony or patio to sit on. Were checking in early on a Sunday morning so I am pretty confident about getting one. Any postive reviews would make me feel better about spending this amount of money Thanks

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

We've only eaten there during busier time frames so we always had an ADR. But , I've heard that during slower times it is a more "empty" restaurant. I would think that your dates are a slower period. You could make an ADR and when you get there judge for yourself if you think you should keep it or cancel it and just do a walk up. Either way, enjoy Kona...it's a must do for us, we love it!

Thanks! My only hesitation in booking a set ADR was I was hoping to make the Poly the relaxed part of our trip and not have too many ADRs (doing a split stay sept 28-oct 2nd at POP and oct 2nd-7th at the Poly). lol isn't slow and leisurely the Poly way?? Maybe I'll make them for when we think we will want to go, and see where the wind takes us.

I did have another question. I am going back and forth with Park Hoppers. I know we won't use them for the beginning of our stay, but being so close to MK and Epcot I can see how we might use them when staying at the Poly. We bought them when we were there in November, and it was a waste. We didn't use them, but we were at POP the whole time, and did a completely commando trip.
When staying at a monorail resort do you find yourself park hopping more than you would if you were say at another resort where you had to rely on transportation?

 

[cinmell]

When staying at a monorail resort do you find yourself park hopping more than you would if you were say at another resort where you had to rely on transportation?

Definitely yes for us.

We make good use of our hoppers. We've been staying on the monorail loop for years and we go to the MK almost every day or night of our trip even if we've been to another park earlier in the day or later in the day. I will never buy park tickets that aren't hoppers.

 

[bluejasmine]

We made our ADR for later in the evening so that we could come back to the Poly around 2 and swim and relax and have snacks at the CL around 5 then head back to the parks and to our ADrs.

We did park hop more but we also checked out the other resorts more since the monorail was right there it was so much easier!

If you are worrried about keeping it relaxing make Adrs for later in the evening at some of the other monorail resort like Grand Floridian Cafe, Cali Grill, Chef Mickeys, Narcossee or even take monorail over to MK and boat to WL for WCC or Artist Point..

believe me we relaxed every day and enjoyed the Poly and are now HOOKED

 

[dizneechic]

I did have another question. I am going back and forth with Park Hoppers. I know we won't use them for the beginning of our stay, but being so close to MK and Epcot I can see how we might use them when staying at the Poly. We bought them when we were there in November, and it was a waste. We didn't use them, but we were at POP the whole time, and did a completely commando trip.
When staying at a monorail resort do you find yourself park hopping more than you would if you were say at another resort where you had to rely on transportation?

I have 2 different thoughts on this. First assuming your ressies are linked so your park ticket is valid your entire stay, so if you buy a hopper on day 1 or day 8 you still pay the same rate as if you purchased it for the entire trip. So my suggestion to everyone is don't buy the hopper feature until you need it.. this way if you never use it, you didn't waste the money and if you do end up needing it well then it's money well spent.

As for do you tend to hop more on a monorail resort, well I think that depends on your vacation style and traveling companions. We are leisurely and like to have the kids in bed at a respectable time so no, we don't hop much. The monorail makes it super easy to get to EP and the MK, but to hop from one to the other you still need to go to the TTC to pick up the EP or MK line from the other park, so it's no different than any other time you would have been at that park (if I am making any sense). What I do find though is I am more inclined to just go somewhere to see a parade, or fireworks, or something else special after we have decided to relax for the rest of the day. So say we were at HS all day, but were back at the resort relaxing by 4, we'd have dinner there and just chill for the night, but I might take one of my kids to MK to see spectro/ELP, or take one out to see Illuminations... we're more inclined to run to a park for something special than to hop and plan to spend any length of time there. I think if my traveling companions were older (or just adults) we would hop more and take advantage of eating in WS more often.

 

[taylor3297]

Has anybody here stayed in tpv club level lately. Can you tell me what its like. I have never spent this much money on a room so I am a little nervous. I just called to request a 1st or 3rd floor room. I really wan't a balcony or patio to sit on. Were checking in early on a Sunday morning so I am pretty confident about getting one. Any postive reviews would make me feel better about spending this amount of money Thanks

We stayed CL TPV this past December 4-12. We enjoyed it. We were on the first floor in room 1506 (at least I think this is the room number). We enjoyed being able to walk out the sliding door to the beach. My kids loved it when the ducks came up to our door in the mornings.

My dh was a little grumpy in the beginning with how much money that I spent on the room, but after our trip it told me he was glad that I did.

 

[bluejasmine]

See Im not wanting to spend money for a view.. My DH wants to do a TPV CL but I rather just spend the $ on CL and plenty of souveniers..LOL

I guess b/c maybe over all my trips I have never had a room in WDW with a view so it doesnt matter to me.. Im just happy to be at WDW and the Poly. CL is just another blessing..

Dh keeps hoping to get some kind of view anyway..LOL

 

[dizneechic]

See Im not wanting to spend money for a view.. My DH wants to do a TPV CL but I rather just spend the $ on CL and plenty of souveniers..LOL

I guess b/c maybe over all my trips I have never had a room in WDW with a view so it doesnt matter to me.. Im just happy to be at WDW and the Poly. CL is just another blessing..

Dh keeps hoping to get some kind of view anyway..LOL

We are the same way! We LOVE Poly CL, but don't want to pay for the view. One of the big reasons we love CL is to have the lounge to spread out in, have some space to sit and chat without having the kids *right there*. The kids love hanging out on the couch or by the windows people/castle watching, and we all love kicking back in our home away from home. If we had a TPV room we might be more tempted to stay in the room and probably get on each others nerves more - a little space is a GREAT thing.

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

Has anybody here stayed in tpv club level lately. Can you tell me what its like. I have never spent this much money on a room so I am a little nervous. I just called to request a 1st or 3rd floor room. I really wan't a balcony or patio to sit on. Were checking in early on a Sunday morning so I am pretty confident about getting one. Any postive reviews would make me feel better about spending this amount of money Thanks

We were also there in December (a couple doors down from taylor), and we'll be TPV CL in September, too. If the money bothers you too much, though, you just won't enjoy it. You'll always be thinking "I spent ____, so why isn't this ____?!?" If you make peace with it, you'll be good to go! We've just resigned ourselves to the fact that Disney they way we like to do it will cost a few dollars. Just a few. I say do it and ENJOY!!

P.S. Even if you opt out of CL, I'd definitely say a TPV is great in general!!

 

[jeanylaser]

i can't hardly wait!

 

[nrpofp]

We were also there in December (a couple doors down from taylor), and we'll be TPV CL in September, too. If the money bothers you too much, though, you just won't enjoy it. You'll always be thinking "I spent ____, so why isn't this ____?!?" If you make peace with it, you'll be good to go! We've just resigned ourselves to the fact that Disney they way we like to do it will cost a few dollars. Just a few. I say do it and ENJOY!!

P.S. Even if you opt out of CL, I'd definitely say a TPV is great in general!!

No the money does not bother me. I have just read some bad reviews and needed to hear from a few postive people. The only time I have regretted the money I spent on vacation was when we stayed offsite at DL. I regretted it the whole trip. I will never stay offsite again. I saved money,but I hated it. I like to be right in the middle of the action. I'm really excited about the great view and I'm sure my kids will enjoy the snacks. Dh and I will enjoy the adult beverages. Thanks

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

I did have another question. I am going back and forth with Park Hoppers. I know we won't use them for the beginning of our stay, but being so close to MK and Epcot I can see how we might use them when staying at the Poly. We bought them when we were there in November, and it was a waste. We didn't use them, but we were at POP the whole time, and did a completely commando trip.
When staying at a monorail resort do you find yourself park hopping more than you would if you were say at another resort where you had to rely on transportation?

We do not do commando style park touring and prefer to go back to the resort early afternoon for lunch, swimming, and relaxing. Staying at Poly is our fav because transportation is so quick and easy that it keeps transportation from adding stress to that "time crunch" we often feel on WDW trips. That being said, the ease of transportation makes us more likely to use our park hopper tickets and still feel relaxed on vacation. We make a couple of trips to MK for night riding before the fireworks and/or make a night trip to DHS/Epcot as well. I do not like to do the same park twice a day. Switching parks for the evening trip keeps our energy level up because that park is different than the morning park. Do we go to a park every night? No We also love to just hang at the resort and watch fireworks/EWP from the beach as well. Having park hoppers for our "touring style" is key.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Has anybody here stayed in tpv club level lately. Can you tell me what its like. I have never spent this much money on a room so I am a little nervous. I just called to request a 1st or 3rd floor room. I really wan't a balcony or patio to sit on. Were checking in early on a Sunday morning so I am pretty confident about getting one. Any postive reviews would make me feel better about spending this amount of money Thanks

We did CL TPV in October for our anniversary. It was our first time doing CL and TPV and it was nice to wake up and open the curtains and see the Magic Kingdom (albeit a distance away), and we did enjoy watching the fireworks from our balcony. I'm glad we did it but I don't know if I'd book CL TPV again as we really didn't spend a lot of time in our room. We did thoroughly enjoy the CL benefits and have booked a GV CL room for our May trip, so we'll see if we miss the view. For $200 less/night for our dates in May, I'm thinking the GV will be just fine for us.

This was the view from our room (3rd floor)

Now if we could book this view at the same price, I'd definitely go for it!

Bonny

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the advice on the Hoppers. I can really see us being a lot more leisurely as this is not our first trip....a day at the park here, a night at another park there. I, however, won't buy them until we are going to be using them.