ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: September 2012

[robinbutterfly]

I called and randomly requested Fuji or Niue longhouse on 1st or 3rd floor.
I guess I wanted to be close to GCH, the pool, the boat launch, and monorail station. I was guessing those 2 buildings kind of was central to all of those. Am I correct?
This resort confuses me... lol. Can't wait to go once and understand it!

 

[jdd]

Not sure how to quote, but we are 3rd floor Hawaii. Our kids are 4 and 7 and we love the 3rd floor. Our view is the quite pool and we love it. Ir makes the roon feel bigger b/c the kids will play on the patio, but can not run off. I'm in the roon while my 7 year old is sleeping and the hubby went to the lounge to watch the fireworks with the 4 year old. The wifi had been great for us.

Sorry for typos, I am on my phone

Have a wonderful vacation! Both times we've stayed in Hawaii we've had a third floor garden view room - it's a fantastic spot

 

[mickeynut1]

Not sure how to quote, but we are 3rd floor Hawaii. Our kids are 4 and 7 and we love the 3rd floor. Our view is the quite pool and we love it. Ir makes the roon feel bigger b/c the kids will play on the patio, but can not run off. I'm in the roon while my 7 year old is sleeping and the hubby went to the lounge to watch the fireworks with the 4 year old. The wifi had been great for us.

Sorry for typos, I am on my phone

Sounds like you're having a great time . We can't wait to try CL in December. I am requesting a 3rd floor room, so hopefully we will get lucky. Enjoy the rest of your trip .

 

[sjs314]

I called and randomly requested Fuji or Niue longhouse on 1st or 3rd floor.
I guess I wanted to be close to GCH, the pool, the boat launch, and monorail station. I was guessing those 2 buildings kind of was central to all of those. Am I correct?
This resort confuses me... lol. Can't wait to go once and understand it!

I requested Fiji as I wanted to be close to GCH, Niue is actually the closest to GCH but is only 2 stories. Fiji is one of the furthest from TTC if that matters.

There is excellent info on all the Longhouses on Tikiman's site

 

[Our3ps]

When checking in online you can list your requests? Will your reservation list if you already have a request listed?


Thanks!

 

[Running Babeck]

Staying 9 nights total for our 1st WDW visit (DH, DD, DS & me). Currently booked for all 9 in a family suite @ AoA. I'm now wanting to stay 4 or 5 nights @ the Poly before checking in @ AoA. Am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea? Just thinking that the room (suite) will be a space upgrade so we won't miss the amenities @ Poly?

Also, in order of priority, we would like a location that is reasonably close to TTC, pool, and GCH so I'm thinking of requesting Tokelau, Raratonga or Niue. We would also like a balcony or patio in a room that's already been through the renovation. Am I on the right track?

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Dominion]

Can someone tell me how much time we'd have to budget to get to The World Showcase restaurants from the Poly if we go directly from the TTC monorail? I think the monorail ride is 8 minutes but I don't have a good sense of how long it takes to walk from the resort to the TTC and from the Epcot monorail station over to the WS restaurants. The ones we are considering are Le Cellier, Chefs de France and Nine Dragons.

Thanks!

 

[jw50]

Can someone tell me how much time we'd have to budget to get to The World Showcase restaurants from the Poly if we go directly from the TTC monorail? I think the monorail ride is 8 minutes but I don't have a good sense of how long it takes to walk from the resort to the TTC and from the Epcot monorail station over to the WS restaurants. The ones we are considering are Le Cellier, Chefs de France and Nine Dragons.

Thanks!

I would allow a minimum of 45 minutes and an hour would be even better. You can't anticipate how long you will have to wait for the Epcot monorail but I don't think we ever had to wait more than maybe 15 minutes. You can walk from anywhere at the Poly to the TTC in less than 10 minutes, unless you are the type that wants to stop and play with the lizards.

We did make it from the Poly (from right in front of Tangaroa Terrace) to inside MouseGear in just over 15 minutes one night but I wouldn't try to cut it too close.

 

[Dominion]

I would allow a minimum of 45 minutes and an hour would be even better. You can't anticipate how long you will have to wait for the Epcot monorail but I don't think we ever had to wait more than maybe 15 minutes. You can walk from anywhere at the Poly to the TTC in less than 10 minutes, unless you are the type that wants to stop and play with the lizards.

We did make it from the Poly (from right in front of Tangaroa Terrace) to inside MouseGear in just over 15 minutes one night but I wouldn't try to cut it too close.

OK, we were thinking of leaving our kids at The Neverland Club that evening and this seems to add a lot of time, unless we want the kids there for 4 hours and going to bed very late which we are trying to avoid. My other thought was to go to the Contemporary and eat at The Wave or California Grill (if its open by then.) How long should we budget to get there?

 

[jw50]

For us going to eat at Flying Fish or Yatchsman's Steakhouse from the Poly is only 2.5 to 3 hours round trip if we don't go anywhere else. And that is walking all the way through Epcot. We do try to be there 15 minutes before our ADR time and it only takes us maybe 30 mins to get back to the Poly after eating.

If we were going to CG we would allow 30 minutes on the monorail. When we go to CG we usually stay and watch the fireworks from the observation deck and then walk over to the MK and take a boat back to the Poly, but I would think it wouldn't take more than about 20 minutes after you finished eating at CG to get back to the Poly on the monorail.

There isn't going to be a huge time difference between eating at CG and eating at one of the Epcot restaurants unless you run into transportation issues (i.e., the monorail breaks down).

 

[Jennygt]

Has anyone heard a timetable for this big DVC project? We don't want to get stuck with some major construction during our stay, as much as it pains me to say we will have to go somewhere else if the construction is extensive when we are going at the end of next August.

 

[DznyCrzy11]

Has anyone heard a timetable for this big DVC project? We don't want to get stuck with some major construction during our stay, as much as it pains me to say we will have to go somewhere else if the construction is extensive when we are going at the end of next August.

From what Tikiman was told, the projected starting date is towards the end of this year. They are still in the process of renovating the longhouses so I highly doubt any major construction would be going on the end of August.

 

[DznyCrzy11]

I called and randomly requested Fuji or Niue longhouse on 1st or 3rd floor.
I guess I wanted to be close to GCH, the pool, the boat launch, and monorail station. I was guessing those 2 buildings kind of was central to all of those. Am I correct?
This resort confuses me... lol. Can't wait to go once and understand it!

Fiji is a great location!!!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

OK, we were thinking of leaving our kids at The Neverland Club that evening and this seems to add a lot of time, unless we want the kids there for 4 hours and going to bed very late which we are trying to avoid. My other thought was to go to the Contemporary and eat at The Wave or California Grill (if its open by then.) How long should we budget to get there?

Just to let you know, DH and I always schedule an Epcot night and leave the kids at the Neverland Club. I was all worried about the whole thing and it turns out the kids adored it and they want to go back every time and multiple times per trip! We typically drop the kids off around 4:30, go to Epcot and eat table service, walk around, and get back to the Poly about 9:30. You could probably do dinner in 3 hours if you don't walk around but we like the extra me time

If you really are just going to Epcot for dinner and nothing else (whether you have the kids or not), then I would highly suggest you choose one of the 3 hotels for dinner - Poly, GF, or Contemporary. It is so easy to get on the resort monorail and there is never more than a few minute wait to get on. You can even walk to GF from the Poly and that is a really lovely walk! You can walk to GF in about 15 - 20 minutes depending on how fast you walk. The monorail to GF would take 10 minutes max (that includes waiting time) but might take 2 minutes if you get there and board right away. Taking the monorail from GF to the Poly makes 3 stops and many times they stop for a few minutes so you should budget 20 minutes. Same goes for Poly to Contemporary and vice versa. The time is really the 'waiting' time that you sometimes experience at each stop.

 

[kpitarresi]

How difficult is it to get seated at Kona Cafe for dinner without ressies?

 

[AshleyD1983]

How difficult is it to get seated at Kona Cafe for dinner without ressies?

Like most other things it might depend on the crowds, but when we were there last April we didn't have any problems. We made almost all of our ADRs for breakfasts because we didn't want to be tied down to specifics for lunch and dinner. We decided to try Kona Cafe one afternoon and hardly had a wait at all.

 

[BringingUpDisney]

Not sure how to quote, but we are 3rd floor Hawaii. Our kids are 4 and 7 and we love the 3rd floor. Our view is the quite pool and we love it. Ir makes the roon feel bigger b/c the kids will play on the patio, but can not run off. I'm in the roon while my 7 year old is sleeping and the hubby went to the lounge to watch the fireworks with the 4 year old. The wifi had been great for us.

Sorry for typos, I am on my phone

Than you so much for sharing! We will be staying CL with DD3 in December and I think we will request the same. Have a magical trip!

 

[samacita]

Staying 9 nights total for our 1st WDW visit (DH, DD, DS & me). Currently booked for all 9 in a family suite @ AoA. I'm now wanting to stay 4 or 5 nights @ the Poly before checking in @ AoA. Am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea? Just thinking that the room (suite) will be a space upgrade so we won't miss the amenities @ Poly?

Also, in order of priority, we would like a location that is reasonably close to TTC, pool, and GCH so I'm thinking of requesting Tokelau, Raratonga or Niue. We would also like a balcony or patio in a room that's already been through the renovation. Am I on the right track?

Thanks for any advice!!

I think leaving a Deluxe for a Value would be a hugely disappointing shock to the system. If I had to split the two, I'd do it the other way around.

 

[disneydreamin247]

I think leaving a Deluxe for a Value would be a hugely disappointing shock to the system. If I had to split the two, I'd do it the other way around.

I completely agree with this. While AoA suites have more space, it just isn't the same. You will definitely miss the amenities.

 

[polyfor4]

Staying 9 nights total for our 1st WDW visit (DH, DD, DS & me). Currently booked for all 9 in a family suite @ AoA. I'm now wanting to stay 4 or 5 nights @ the Poly before checking in @ AoA. Am I crazy for thinking this is a good idea? Just thinking that the room (suite) will be a space upgrade so we won't miss the amenities @ Poly?

Also, in order of priority, we would like a location that is reasonably close to TTC, pool, and GCH so I'm thinking of requesting Tokelau, Raratonga or Niue. We would also like a balcony or patio in a room that's already been through the renovation. Am I on the right track?

Thanks for any advice!!

We're staying 3 nights at AoA before 5 nights at the Poly next week! We're staying in the Cars suites which we did in October and loved. Like everyone else, I recommend AoA first because there's no comparison to the Poly. We enjoyed AoA so much that it not only saves us money but we will be content to be there in the beginning. Tokelau would be a great location for those three proximities you mentioned. I would also recommend Samoa since it is so centrally located (a bit further from TTC but not much). You will love the Poly and never want to leave- stay at AoA first so both resorts feel special!