ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: June 2013

[trishadono]

We are leaving for the airport right now!!! I am so excited! Our friend is driving us and my kids think we are just going to dinner with him.

Have a great trip

 

[karriealex]

We are leaving for the airport right now!!! I am so excited! Our friend is driving us and my kids think we are just going to dinner with him.

This is awesome. I hope you have an awesome trip. I tried to surprise my kids one time but the minute we got on the Turnpike they both said in unison "We are going to Disney aren't we?" I was bummed that They didn't figure it out later in the trip up but they were ecstatic that we were going.

They are over the moon about this trip and keep telling me they wish we were leaving NOW. LOL

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Disney is going to scale back the plans for DVC at the Polynesian. It will still start this year but be much less than the original plan. There are some things in the new plan that people will love and people will hate.

I will have details I can share soon. It has nothing to do with Club Level.

 

[Missus Toad]

I don't know how much of the details I can share yet but I wanted people on here to know that if they are planning on going to the Polynesian next year there will be a lot less construction going on than originally planned but there will be work going on in the GCH and East end of the resort.

You just made me so happy, I swear.

 

[Our3ps]

That is so exciting! I love surprises! Have a great trip.

Katie

My daughter started crying it was pretty awesome. Now to wait for boarding.

 

[karriealex]

My daughter started crying it was pretty awesome. Now to wait for boarding.

Awwwwwww so sweet. I hope your trip is magical!

 

[sjs314]

 

[jdd]

I know! Seems the peak seasons have stretched out more in recent years. Have you decided which resort for PHM weekend yet?

I'm on my own for this trip, so would love to do AoA, but can't justify the $200/night price tag, since I could get into CBR (my absolute favorite resort except for the Poly) for $250/night. Have to wait and see what discounts come out. I bought an AP since I have these two trips planned, so hoping that rate will be good.

Have you run a Disney race before? This will be my first

 

[pixarmom]

We (family of 5) are traveling to poly with my parents, and my brother's family. It will be their first Disney stay. I convinced them the Poly was worth the money. So there are 6 adults, 1 11 yo, and 4 kids ages 3-9. We are considering either upgrading everyone to CL or puchasing the dining plan (one quick and one table) for my parents and our family. The cost difference for our family between the two is 600 for our family (dining plan is 600 more than CL). Any suggestions as to what to do?

We'd always go with CL over the dining plan. Even when the kids were little, we didn't find that the dining plan worked for us. Our oldest son never liked kids meals, I often order appetizers instead of entrees, none of us order dessert during at TS meals, we like two TS ADRs per day - not one or three, and we eat at lots of signature restaurants, but our orders don't match the dining plan. So the dining plan didn't really "fit." But that's just us, so you might want to sit down with the menus on allears or here on wdwinfo and think about where your family might eat and what you might order to see if the dining plan is a good value for you. It's definitely a better value with little kids than older kids, but see how it works for you.

As for CL, our boys LOVE CL and we do too. They are currently ages 6, 13 and 14, but we've been staying CL for a while and it's SO convenient. First, breakfast. They wake up hungry and we can take them to the lounge for breakfast very easily. No waiting for a TS reservation, no juggling trays at counter service - super easy. It's particularly convenient when my husband is up really early and needs coffee, followed by our youngest who would like to start the day with juice and something to eat. As the rest of the family is ready to go, we join them.

In the afternoon, there are drinks and small snacks for pooltime - yay! In the evening before dinner, we all enjoy the appetizers - even our youngest and our not-so-adventurous middle son. Cheese and crackers are a nice snack for little ones, along with some fruit (at least they are eating something healthy along the way!) And evening appetizers mean that nobody is starving when we arrive at dinner - makes dinner better for everyone. This works particularly well for our youngest, who sometimes falls asleep at dinner - he's already consumed milk, cheese, crackers and fruit, so he's happy as a clam, even if he doesn't wake up again until morning.

And then there is the extra space in the club lounge. Really nice to have somewhere to be other than your room, especially for a family of five. Our youngest always makes new friends in the kiddie area of the lounge - small chairs with little TV playing Disney channel or something similar.

Finally, club level helps make breaks more pleasant. Our boys would go non-stop without CL. "Hey, let's get some snacks in the lounge" will inspire everyone to take it easy for a while. And my husband and I really appreciate that, along with a glass of wine and a quiet place to sit for a little while before we head out again. We've also enjoyed getting to know the CMs in the different lounges - makes the stay more personal.

Hope that helps a little! (And come on, tiki gods, bring that Poly CL rate down from $900/night in February 2014!)

P.S. My parents also love CL! Last time we stayed CL, I think they were in the lounge more than we were!

 

[pixarmom]

I'm on my own for this trip, so would love to do AoA, but can't justify the $200/night price tag, since I could get into CBR (my absolute favorite resort except for the Poly) for $250/night. Have to wait and see what discounts come out. I bought an AP since I have these two trips planned, so hoping that rate will be good.

Have you run a Disney race before? This will be my first

So hard to wait for those discounts - I'm hoping something will pop up in October!! I'm running solo, but bringing our three boys with me, and my husband will fly in the night before the PHM and just be with us for that night and race day. This will be my first half marathon ever! We (my husband and two teens) will run the DL 10K next month. The DL 10K is actually one of our 2012 Christmas gifts to our 13-year-old son because he's really into cross country, but now there is the added benefit of giving me a time for PHM corral placement. Have you been over on the PHM thread? Great tips and advice from runDisney vets over there!

 

[karriealex]

TigrLvsPooh I kept looking at your name and it was so familiar to me. I realized why when I looked at your join date. You were on the boards when I used to come to the Dis Boards some years ago under a different name. I forgot my log in information hence the new name. I think you might have also been going to one of the Dis meets I was supposed to attend. Not sure though just seems to be in the back of my mind somewhere.

 

[ocalla]

Just watched Wishes fireworks from the beach....it was so beautiful!!!

We can all see why this resort is loved by so many.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

TigrLvsPooh I kept looking at your name and it was so familiar to me. I realized why when I looked at your join date. You were on the boards when I used to come to the Dis Boards some years ago under a different name. I forgot my log in information hence the new name. I think you might have also been going to one of the Dis meets I was supposed to attend. Not sure though just seems to be in the back of my mind somewhere.

Oh really!! Do you remember what your old screen name was sort of like? I use to be very active on the Community board, we had an awesome group of people over there like 10 years ago... I really miss all of them. I was supposed to go to a couple of different meets in Chicago, but it never worked out. Over the years I've gotten to meet a lot of DISers down at WDW... I always tell people if they see me please come say Hello!!! I've got lime green ribbon on my suitcase and that sometimes draws attention from fellow DISers.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Just watched Wishes fireworks from the beach....it was so beautiful!!!

We can all see why this resort is loved by so many.

Can't wait to get there!!!!!!!!

 

[karriealex]

Oh really!! Do you remember what your old screen name was sort of like? I use to be very active on the Community board, we had an awesome group of people over there like 10 years ago... I really miss all of them. I was supposed to go to a couple of different meets in Chicago, but it never worked out. Over the years I've gotten to meet a lot of DISers down at WDW... I always tell people if they see me please come say Hello!!! I've got lime green ribbon on my suitcase and that sometimes draws attention from fellow DISers.

Yup my old screen name was lvs_eeyore. I was active on the community board also.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Yup my old screen name was lvs_eeyore. I was active on the community board also.

Looks familiar! There is a thread over there called "DIS old timers" where a lot of people pop in from time to time. You might recognize names!

 

[karriealex]

Looks familiar! There is a thread over there called "DIS old timers" where a lot of people pop in from time to time. You might recognize names!

I posted on that thread. I remember Dan Murphy very well. I just recently came across a picture of my son on Dan's shoulders. My son is now 15. I think we were both supposed to be at a WDW meet at the same time. I remember that Towncrier made us all buttons and I somehow remember seeing yours. I could be wrong.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I posted on that thread. I remember Dan Murphy very well. I just recently came across a picture of my son on Dan's shoulders. My son is now 15. I think we were both supposed to be at a WDW meet at the same time. I remember that Towncrier made us all buttons and I somehow remember seeing yours. I could be wrong.

YES! I still have my button! He actually made me 2 and I posted a pic of them not too long ago on that thread. I should wear them next week!

 

[karriealex]

I knew we were supposed to go to a WDW meet at the same time. I remember that he made those for that particular meet. They had both our screen name and our real name on them. How long will you be at the Poly? You really should wear your button. I would love to meet up with you if you are still there on the 4th.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I knew we were supposed to go to a WDW meet at the same time. I remember that he made those for that particular meet. They had both our screen name and our real name on them. How long will you be at the Poly? You really should wear your button. I would love to meet up with you if you are still there on the 4th.

We leave the 3rd