ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: October 2013

[logpey]

Sorry just excited!!!!

 

[dbreyno]

When is the best time to make a room request?

 

[maiapapaya]

When is the best time to make a room request?

You can make a room request at any time: when you first make your reservation, if you reserve over the phone; you can call CRO and have it added to your reservation; or you have the opportunity to make requests if you do online check-in - there is an area on the online form where you can choose a longhouse and other things like a balcony, accessible room, etc.

 

[dbreyno]

You can make a room request at any time: when you first make your reservation, if you reserve over the phone; you can call CRO and have it added to your reservation; or you have the opportunity to make requests if you do online check-in - there is an area on the online form where you can choose a longhouse and other things like a balcony, accessible room, etc.

Ok, great! Thanks!

 

[Sue M]

I always have my requests attached to my reservation.

 

[Sue M]

At the risk of quoting a Justin Bieber song...we are headed back to the Poly!

The last time we were there was three years ago in August of 2012 and I said I would never go back in the summer due to the heat and the crowds! We have been so spoiled with our Fall vacations. Well DD is graduating 8th grade and starting high school and we have a very small window to go on vacation between her softball season ending and the start of high school!

I feel like a Disney planning rookie again! DH thinks we are staying standard garden but I booked Club garden to surprise DD and DH. We will be there for our 18th wedding anniversary!

We are staying four days longer than our last summer trip so I am hoping that will make a difference! We are hitting UOA two days before and then heading to the Poly on Sunday 8/1! Our ADR date is Monday so I have to make some decisions but I am not too worried. We like to wing it anyway!

I was excited and had to tell someone! Happy Poly Planning!

When we stay CL I make late lunch ADRs so we can enjoy the lounge and offerings in the evening. For us the lounge evening offerings were enough with a late lunch. Our first CL stay we did dinner ADRs, so never got to enjoy the lounge at night.

 

[Sue M]

Hi, I'm not sure I understand the Club Level.

I reserved a standard view room and just checked in online. Under requests there was an option to select "Hawaii", which I understand is all CL. I checked the box.

Any chance it gets fulfilled? Or am I better off making a different request? As far as I know, I didn't pay for club level anywhere.

PS it's so helpful to see recent pictures. Thanks to all who post them!

I don't know if this was answered but, Hawaii is CL, so if you didn't book CL you're best off to make another request. Strange that was an option, system is sometimes glitchy.

 

[SnoweyWhite]

Just changed resort to POLY for our trip April 26-May 2. I am excited about staying there as I haven't stayed there since I was a young child. Along with me, I will be accompanied by my husband and 3 year old son. While I am excited, I am a bit worried about the construction going on. While we don't typically stay at the resort, other than to sleep, we may this trip simply because of the amenities. Should I be concerned?

 

[calismic]

Just changed resort to POLY for our trip April 26-May 2. I am excited about staying there as I haven't stayed there since I was a young child. Along with me, I will be accompanied by my husband and 3 year old son. While I am excited, I am a bit worried about the construction going on. While we don't typically stay at the resort, other than to sleep, we may this trip simply because of the amenities. Should I be concerned?

We are traveling April 17th and staying at the Poly and I have no concerns. It is still a Monorail resort, we can still watch the Electric Water Parade and we will have a great view of the fireworks. While my daughter may miss the slide I suspect it will be a bit chilly to be spending a lot of time in the pool anyway. All of the restaurants will be open and the walk to TTC is unaffected. I cannot wait!

 

[lhall7]

Can someone help please? We are staying at Poly for first time over Thanksgiving. Have all of the rooms been remodeled or is that still happening? I am confused b/c on tripadvisor someone posted that their room was in need of renovation, but I thought all had been renovated. Also, do all rooms now have 2 sinks. On one site the layout shows 2 sinks, but at the beginning of this thread it indicates only certain buildings have 2 sinks.
Also, we are booked SV. Any suggestions on room requests? Right now I have request for Figi, balcony, marina side. I was thinking this building or Samoa. I know during our trip the quiet pool will be under construction so I wanted to avoid that area and I didn't want monorail view. We like to be close to transportation but in quiet area too.

Thanks!

 

[BellsFam]

We are traveling April 17th and staying at the Poly and I have no concerns. It is still a Monorail resort, we can still watch the Electric Water Parade and we will have a great view of the fireworks. While my daughter may miss the slide I suspect it will be a bit chilly to be spending a lot of time in the pool anyway. All of the restaurants will be open and the walk to TTC is unaffected. I cannot wait!

We'll be in WDW 4/11-4/18 with grandma at the Poly... We're thinking about switching to go there from the Contemp to be with her... Your reasoning is exactly why... Big $$$ savings right now and to me at least there is one pool!!!

WDW will never NOT be in some construction mode... And if it's not this vacation it will be the next!

 

[Cluelyss]

Can someone help please? We are staying at Poly for first time over Thanksgiving. Have all of the rooms been remodeled or is that still happening? I am confused b/c on tripadvisor someone posted that their room was in need of renovation, but I thought all had been renovated. Also, do all rooms now have 2 sinks. On one site the layout shows 2 sinks, but at the beginning of this thread it indicates only certain buildings have 2 sinks.
Also, we are booked SV. Any suggestions on room requests? Right now I have request for Figi, balcony, marina side. I was thinking this building or Samoa. I know during our trip the quiet pool will be under construction so I wanted to avoid that area and I didn't want monorail view. We like to be close to transportation but in quiet area too.

Thanks!

We stayed in a SV room in Fiji in April 2013 and it was NOT renovated at that time, but I believe all longhouses are done now. It was a great location!!! We did have only 1 sink though.

 

[lhall7]

Does anyone know if with renovations if all longhouses have 2 sinks?

 

[Sue M]

Can someone help please? We are staying at Poly for first time over Thanksgiving. Have all of the rooms been remodeled or is that still happening? I am confused b/c on tripadvisor someone posted that their room was in need of renovation, but I thought all had been renovated. Also, do all rooms now have 2 sinks. On one site the layout shows 2 sinks, but at the beginning of this thread it indicates only certain buildings have 2 sinks.
Also, we are booked SV. Any suggestions on room requests? Right now I have request for Figi, balcony, marina side. I was thinking this building or Samoa. I know during our trip the quiet pool will be under construction so I wanted to avoid that area and I didn't want monorail view. We like to be close to transportation but in quiet area too.

Thanks!

All rooms have been renovated. We are going in Aug and I requested Fiji or Aotearoa. Samoa is a good location too. I think they may block the rooms on construction side of Samoa.

 

[Sue M]

Allears has posted some nice updated pics of the lobby

http://allears.net/acc/g-poly-lobby.htm

Hi Trish! We were snooping around Poly last week to scope out room location for August. I liked the lobby more then I thought I would. You actually can see the Castle in the distance from lobby!
But miss both the Tiki and drums outside of Boutiki, and upstairs the Dolphins by monorail exit. Don't undetstand why they took Dolphins away!

 

[WDW_Luver]

Holy moly I have never been more confused in my life. I presently have a reservation in the art of animation suite with my family but we are adding one more adult guest to the trip and are thinking of upgrading to the Poly. Thus is our first time staying on-site anD know nothing about it. That being said after reading about the Poly I think this is where we wind up. Now when it comes to requests what exactly are people requesting? Let's say I get a standard room what is something I might request? I can't believe how confused I am reguarding the whole request thing. Thanks for your help!

 

[maiapapaya]

Holy moly I have never been more confused in my life. I presently have a reservation in the art of animation suite with my family but we are adding one more adult guest to the trip and are thinking of upgrading to the Poly. Thus is our first time staying on-site anD know nothing about it. That being said after reading about the Poly I think this is where we wind up. Now when it comes to requests what exactly are people requesting? Let's say I get a standard room what is something I might request? I can't believe how confused I am reguarding the whole request thing. Thanks for your help!

First, all of the longhouses are 3 floors high, except for Niue which is only 2. The second story rooms do not have balconies, they have sliders with a railing, but you can't step out. So if you want outdoor space you should request 1st floor (for a patio) or 3rd floor for a balcony.

Another consideration many people look at is how close the longhouse is to the Great Ceremonial House (GCH), which is where the main lobby, shops, restaurants and monorail station are. However, the Poly is a very compact resort and the longhouses that were the furthest from the GCH have now been taken for conversion to DVC, so that's not such a big deal anymore.

Some people do want to be right by the pool. In that case I would request Samoa.
If you are booking a standard view room, but would still like a bit of a view of the lagoon you could request Figi, marina side.
Some people enjoy a close-up view of the monorail. If so then request Aotearoa, monorail side.

If you want to make a very specific request like the last few I mentioned you should do it over the phone (either when you make your reservation or you can call back at any time and have it added to your reservation). The form if you do online check-in does not have a spot to request specific sides of a building or views.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Hi Trish! We were snooping around Poly last week to scope out room location for August. I liked the lobby more then I thought I would. You actually can see the Castle in the distance from lobby!
But miss both the Tiki and drums outside of Boutiki, and upstairs the Dolphins by monorail exit. Don't undetstand why they took Dolphins away!

We ate at Ohana last week and were also "snooping' around in preparation for our August trip. I have to say that the construction has come such a long way since last August. I also couldn't agree with you more about the lobby...we really do like it more than we thought we would and the view of the castle especially at night is so pretty.

As for Ohana...we had another great meal and this time we got seated by a window that had a great view of the castle...getting such a clear view of wishes from our table was amazing. We are all so excited about our upcoming stay and now that I got to see everything firsthand, I can honestly say we have no regrets with our booking. Now just crossing our fingers that the main pool will be open!

 

[jhaig]

How are the monorail view rooms in Rarotonga?

 

[TIME2DISNEY]

Hello everyone! So excited, booked a spilt stay(May 30-June 6) 3 nights Yacht Club/4 nights Polynesian! I wasn't able to get a discount through Disney so I had to book the Poly thru Orbitz, got a great rate. Yay!
Since I didn't book thru Disney for my room only, can I request specifically FiGi 3rd floor during online check in?
We got to see the new lobby when we made dinner reservations at Kona the day after Christmas. l loved the openness of it but the new DIY rock formation Is pretty sad looking. Sigh...
Also, does anyone know if the GCH bathrooms are going to be renovated? They just aren't up to par for a deluxe resort.
I'm feeling confident the pool will be open when we arrive, so we plan to drink many Lapu,Lapu's poolside. This vacation we plan to slow down and just enjoy the tropical ambiance of this beautiful resort!
Can't wait, so excited!