We are back from our first Poly CL stay. Wanted to share some thoughts while fresh in my mind before getting back into my work world tomorrow morning. We have stayed CL at all Epcot resorts, WL and CR and have seen various levels of service, check in and lounge options and have to say we were thoroughly impressed with our stay at the Poly.
Arrival - we arrived via Magical Express around 8:45am and checked in at the main building and the cast member, after giving us Aloha leis, walked us to the Hawaii building to complete check in. Our room was not ready (and we did not expect it to be with the early arrival). We went to the lounge and found a seat with a view of the castle near the windows of the lounge and enjoyed coffee, croissants, cereal, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, turkey lunch meat, orange juice, raspberries, pineapple and cantaloupe (this was spread across 3 of us, not what I ate.
). We took a few croissants and bananas to go to have for sustenance before the Princess 10K on Saturday.
Besides the food offerings, the location of the Hawaii Building was just perfect. Close to both pools, not too far of a walk from the main building and a nice set up inside the lounge itself with seating on the 2nd and 3rd floors. We went to the Race Expo and then returned to the lounge and hung out upstairs on the 3rd floor while waiting for our room ready text that came around 2pm. Afternoon appetizers were shrimp lettuce wraps, chips, celery, carrots, goldfish crackers. There may have been more but that is what I remember having. We went to MK and made it back to late for the dinner apps but did enjoy beverages and dessert.
I had reserved a Garden View CL room and we received room 1505 which was a lagoon view? Theme park view? It was definitely an upgrade from what I reserved but we had a lovely view of the Bungalows (is that what they are called over the water) with the top of the Castle and Space Mountain behind it.
We were definitely able to enjoy Happily Ever After from our patio (truth be told I was ugly crying), especially with the music piped in all around us. Perfect end to our arrival day.
Saturday, we did the Enchanted 10k and came back to the same breakfast, same afternoon appetizers and we made it back from AK too late again to try evening appetizers. But soon enough to enjoy some adult beverages and desserts. In between, while relaxing on our patio, I had two aggressive ducks come up to the patio and basically chase me off. I'm sure they were looking for food, which I refused to give, but the mallard raised its wings at me and I scrambled to go inside. My husband and son thought this was hysterical and told me I was mugged by a mallard. As we were ending our night, the staff was packing up some peanut butter and bread and I think water bottles for those running the half marathon the next morning. I say this because that was my experience at the Atrium Club last year for both the 10k and the Half, but at Poly it was just for the half. I shared a seat on the race bus who was staying at the Grand Floridian who said that she too had nothing for the 10k, but she figured it was because our resorts this year have 24 hour quick service as opposed to prior years. Good theory. I don't know whether true. I did not run the half this year so not sure what was available as runners were heading to the monorail.
Sunday, we went to BWI for breakfast at 10:20 at Trattoria Del Forno. My son is playing Prince Eric in Little Mermaid JR at his school, so we found a way to meet him on this trip (after meeting Ariel earlier in the trip) and having them sign a newspaper article about his show. This was one time I regretted not staying at an Epcot resort, but I attribute a lot of the traffic to the race I should have been running. We made it very close to our ADR and were seated right away. I recommend this breakfast if these characters are must dos. Food was good, but could be found elsewhere faster and cheaper. After breakfast, we enjoyed 3 parks - Epcot, DHS and MK. Waiting for a monorail back from MK at the end of the day was an exercise in patience. But worth it to ride POTC unplanned. Lounge was closed upon our return.
Monday, usual CL breakfast followed by pool time and then a nice walk to the Transportation and Ticketing Center to catch the monorail to Epcot for our ADR at Le Cellier for my son's birthday. We were all pleasantly surprised at how nice the walk to the TTC was, but a- there was a nice breeze and b - we had adult beverages.
CL staff helped print out our boarding passes for our trip today, and also called Lost and Found when my husband thought he had misplaced his insulin.
We enjoyed this resort immensely and probably relaxed more than on other trips. We did find ourselves missing our Epcot resorts and took a tour of some of them after breakfast and while waiting for a boat to DHS, but I could see myself staying here again. The pools were nice, but I can't put them in the great category. The hot tubs were awesome, especially after the 10k. I loved the location of the Hawaii Building.
) We are going for 10 nights, 11 days with 6 days in the park. With my three kids (ages 8,6,2) its nice to break up the park days and I'm so excited to really just enjoy our first stay at the Poly and enjoy full use of CL offerings!!!
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I'm thinking the former, since we had changed it originally so we could have one lazy morning by the pool and go into the park a little later in the day and stay through the evening, instead of doing a mid-day break. Probably six of one, half dozen of the other...I definitely agree with the bolded! So many different ways one can utilize them!
