ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: September 2012

[sjs314]

You're welcome! There is landscaping outside our marina view but the Luau Cove side walks out onto grass.

I do think the Luau Cove side will be best, I don't think the other guests would appreciate Bob strolling past their patio in the middle of the night

 

[polyfor4]

Got our email from the IPO yesterday! We didn't contact them first so they must just do it automatically 90 days out from your trip. Can't wait to see Hawaii refurb pictures soon!!

 

[jw50]

Question - When you rent a boat from the marina, where are you allowed to go? Is there a roped off area you have to stay in or can I rent a pontoon boat and make my way all around Seven Seas Lagoon?

You can go almost anywhere in the Seven Seas lagoon and Bay Lake. When you rent the boat they will tell you which areas to avoid, like where they do the water sports (parasailing, water skiing) on Bay Lake.

 

[maiapapaya]

My mouth literally dropped open when I saw that photo......what a beautiful sight!!! I am so excited for our first Poly stay in August when we'll be able to see that sight every night if we want to. Thank you soooooo much for sharing that photo! It brightened up my night!!!!

It's also a beautiful sight sitting in the pool during the day and seeing the castle off in the distance

 

[Timon71]

Aloha!!!!! Love this board. Has anyone checked at tikimanpages? Just curious. Keep all the great pictures coming....

 

[psac]

Mine did, too, when I saw it start! My pork nachos from Captain Cook's took a backseat. (They were not very good and cold anyway. LOL)

Awesome pic, thanks for posting!

 

[AstroDad]

You can go almost anywhere in the Seven Seas lagoon and Bay Lake. When you rent the boat they will tell you which areas to avoid, like where they do the water sports (parasailing, water skiing) on Bay Lake.

Thank you!

 

[akkraft]

Hey all,
I just returned Sunday from our first stay at the kingdom as a family! We stayed at the poly, me, DW, 5 YO and 3 YO boys! plus Mother in Law… presidents day week is a busy time, but the resort felt quiet and relaxed, felt like we were one of two dozen families staying there. (aside from the busy volcano pool and Ohana in the evening) We're not rich or fancy folks, so i was definitely skeptical that we'd be able to see where all our money was going. The attention to detail must have been what costs so much, the landscaping, the staff, the pool, the movies on the beach… everything was so well managed and slick. it was truly magical there is no other way to put it!

Here are a few other thoughts:
we stayed in Aotearoa first floor lagoon side. great location, we used the patio every night, the noise from the show was a little much, especially since we had a lamp/speaker with the piped in poly music right off our patio, so the piped in music clashed with the show music (right? minor detail)

I didn't mind the workers renovating the longhouses. we hung out at the quiet pool and they were around but not much construction noise IMHO… the noise from the massive construction near the GF was much more annoying to me.

Kona was our best meal for both breakfast and dinner…. Ohana is such a gluttonous affair, just too much, (that being said we still loved it, just felt sick afterwards.)

my boys loved the movies on the beach with fireworks it was memorable.
I loved being on the monorail line, one morning we took the boat to the MK for EMH's and were the only ones on the boat, what a treat!

All in all we loved it! and hope to be back!
Aaron

 

[Cindie-rella]

Is Hawaii the only longhouse with CL ? Does anyone know if it will be booked solid for the end of April/ early May? Especially considering it has been closed for a couple of months with the refurb. I have LV booked but am now considering a GV/CL since the price won't be that much of a difference at this point. Is it worth doing that if it is even possible that there are openings at this time? Or should we stick with our LV? Just not sure if CL is really worth it. We already have quite a few ADR's made. With that in mind we prob won't be eating at the lounge very much...so again I ask, would I be best to stay in a plain LV room rather than GV/CL ?
TIA for helping me un-confuse myself.
I really need to stop over-thinking everything and just learn to be satisfied with my first decisions...

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Here's Wishes via the beach movie (The Emporer's New Groove) tonight

And rum & Cokes while we watched it!

 

[ready2vacation]

Loving the rum and coke pic!!!

For the cabana rental, I'm gathering from the earlier posts that it is prepaid and not just held with a cc?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Is Hawaii the only longhouse with CL ? Does anyone know if it will be booked solid for the end of April/ early May? Especially considering it has been closed for a couple of months with the refurb. I have LV booked but am now considering a GV/CL since the price won't be that much of a difference at this point. Is it worth doing that if it is even possible that there are openings at this time? Or should we stick with our LV? Just not sure if CL is really worth it. We already have quite a few ADR's made. With that in mind we prob won't be eating at the lounge very much...so again I ask, would I be best to stay in a plain LV room rather than GV/CL ?
TIA for helping me un-confuse myself.
I really need to stop over-thinking everything and just learn to be satisfied with my first decisions...

Yes, Hawaii is the only CL longhouse with regular rooms. There are CL suites in the Tonga longhouse, however, those are even more expensive than the rooms in the Hawaii building.

A good indication of whether there are any rooms available in the GV/CL category would be if you tried to book that category of room for your stay and it isn't available. Also, if you are looking to book with a discount, there are only so many rooms available in any category for that discount and when they're gone, they're gone.

Is staying CL worth it? Well, that would all depend on your family. Everyone is different and what might be worth it to someone might not be worth it to another. Saying that, if you weren't going to partake of the Club level food/drink offerings, or be taking advantage of the planning help from the CL concierge CMs (which it sounds like you wouldn't as you've got all your ADRs booked), then save the money and stay in the regular LV room. Other than the lounge and the planning help, the rooms are exactly the same as the other rooms in the resort.

 

[Cindie-rella]

Yes, Hawaii is the only CL longhouse with regular rooms. There are CL suites in the Tonga longhouse, however, those are even more expensive than the rooms in the Hawaii building.


Is staying CL worth it? Well, that would all depend on your family. Everyone is different and what might be worth it to someone might not be worth it to another. Saying that, if you weren't going to partake of the Club level food/drink offerings, or be taking advantage of the planning help from the CL concierge CMs (which it sounds like you wouldn't as you've got all your ADRs booked), then save the money and stay in the regular LV room. Other than the lounge and the planning help, the rooms are exactly the same as the other rooms in the resort.
http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54490

/385/79CF469C000B75F043E9CDD02D603D37.png

Thank You. I thought about it and looked into it after I posted this question and figured just what you had said... we probably will not be using the lounge enough and our ADR's are already in place. Maybe next time, esp if we come alone we will be more likely to be relaxing at the resort more and more likely taking advantage of the lounge offerings. I think I'm just reading so much on the Dis that I'm getting more excited by the day ! it is after all our 1st trip at the POLY and it just all sounds so good. I want to be there now !

 

[Epcotopia]

Hi,

I am looking for pictures or video of the window scene that used to be under the staircase that goes up to Ohanas. Mickey and Minnie were in it and I'm almost positive it was a scene from "Hawaiian Holiday". Are these the figures they moved upstairs into Boutiki?

I'm not really sure what to search for so I hope this inquiry is okay in this thread.

Thanks all!

 

[1971DBday]

Hi everyone!

I apologize asking this since I am sure it's been discussed, but the search function is not working right now. We will be at the Poly in August, and are planning a full resort day on 8/24. We have a 10:15 am Kona ADR for breakfast and a dinner ADR at Ohana for 6:30. The rest of the day will be spent by the pool. We usually stay at the BC at this time of year, and so far we haven't had trouble getting lounge chairs. But looking at the pictures, it seems like there aren't as many loungers by the pool at Poly.

So, my questions:

Doe the pool area become very crowded to the point that it is hard to find a few lounge chairs together?

If so, is a cabana rental recommended? Where are the regular (not premium) cabanas located in relation to the beach and pool? For those of you who rented cabanas, are they worth it? And would you recommend a full or half day? Both half days would cut into our ADRs.

I'm not generally picky if we are just coming to swim on a break between parks, but since we are specifically planning a full resort day (something we've never done) I want to make sure it's a relaxing one!

Thanks!

We have also done only half days for the cabana. However the first time we got hooked was on the day we were leaving. Our ME leave time was 4:15 but since no one was using the cabana in the am they let us go 12 to 4 for our rental. This however was in Oct not Aug..

 

[1971DBday]

Loving the rum and coke pic!!!

For the cabana rental, I'm gathering from the earlier posts that it is prepaid and not just held with a cc?

If things haven't changed I had to provide my resort reservation number and a cc - not prepaid since there is I believe a 24 hour cancellation policy,

 

[1971DBday]

Do you have to call to book a cabana? where can I look to see if one would be available in June. if t is a washout, are you still obligated. I would assume so.

Does it get warmer in them, or does the air circulate fairly well? What time do you think is better for the 1/2 day.

Thanks!

If they close the pool you will be refunded but not for a light drizzle but there is still a 24 hour cancellation window if the weather reports look bad. We rented both standard cabanas in June and the fans do help with air circulation. Plus you are surrounded by vegetation so plenty of shade options!

 

[1971DBday]

Question - When you rent a boat from the marina, where are you allowed to go? Is there a roped off area you have to stay in or can I rent a pontoon boat and make my way all around Seven Seas Lagoon?

Pretty much everywhere! There are rules with the boats and how close you can get to MK and land but we found it very open! Nothing like catching someone else's wave on these things though! It was my two older children's first driving experience - magical!

 

[sjs314]

Hey all,
I just returned Sunday from our first stay at the kingdom as a family! We stayed at the poly, me, DW, 5 YO and 3 YO boys! plus Mother in Law… presidents day week is a busy time, but the resort felt quiet and relaxed, felt like we were one of two dozen families staying there. (aside from the busy volcano pool and Ohana in the evening) We're not rich or fancy folks, so i was definitely skeptical that we'd be able to see where all our money was going. The attention to detail must have been what costs so much, the landscaping, the staff, the pool, the movies on the beach… everything was so well managed and slick. it was truly magical there is no other way to put it!

Here are a few other thoughts:
we stayed in Aotearoa first floor lagoon side. great location, we used the patio every night, the noise from the show was a little much, especially since we had a lamp/speaker with the piped in poly music right off our patio, so the piped in music clashed with the show music (right? minor detail)

I didn't mind the workers renovating the longhouses. we hung out at the quiet pool and they were around but not much construction noise IMHO… the noise from the massive construction near the GF was much more annoying to me.

Kona was our best meal for both breakfast and dinner…. Ohana is such a gluttonous affair, just too much, (that being said we still loved it, just felt sick afterwards.)

my boys loved the movies on the beach with fireworks it was memorable.
I loved being on the monorail line, one morning we took the boat to the MK for EMH's and were the only ones on the boat, what a treat!

All in all we loved it! and hope to be back!
Aaron

Aaron Thanks for the great review. I can not wait to stay there for the first time in the Fall! I keep hearing about the Music from the Luau but I think it will add to the atmosphere. When we stayed at BWI I loved the Boardwalk music/sounds in the evening with our WV room, in fact last trip we stayed in a standard room and it was too quiet.

 

[Kanga1]

Where are the cabanas located? Are they near the pool area, or are they on the beach? Can you see the pool from them? TIA!