Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[MouseMum]

Pre Trip Report

Gotcha! Thanks! Do we have a thread I can have a peek at, for some PTRs? Think I'll take a look!

 

[justme0729]

While the only food offerings in the Tonga building are continental breakfast and afternoon snacks and beverages, Tonga guests are welcome to use the lounge in the Hawaii building.

As of January 2015 when we stayed in the Tonga Princess Suite, the Tonga building did have evening appetizers such as celery with ranch dressing, fruit, drinks including the alcoholic punch the Poly CL serves, uncrustables, and crackers with cheese. The only appetizers that the Tonga CL Lounge did not have were the hot appetizers that the Hawaii CL served.

 

[dansdad]

Gotcha! Thanks! Do we have a thread I can have a peek at, for some PTRs? Think I'll take a look!

Yes we do.

http://www.disboards.com/forums/pre-trip-reports-and-plans.144/

 

[Babsy]

Aloha!

We are going to be staying at the Poly in less than three weeks... SO EXCITED!!! Our airline arrival and departures were changed from the original booking to some not so great times , but rather than shortening our stay by traveling on different days, we are just going to make the best of it.

We will be arriving at the Poly in the wee hours of the morning... flight arrives in ORD at 12:22 a.m...... We'll then arrive by Magical Express at O - Dark -Thirty. I have completed as much of the online check-in as I could, but I am wondering what to expect upon arrival and if there is any advance planning that I need to be thinking of. We are a party of four - with two boys - ages 11 and 7, who I suspect will either be wired for sound or grumpy zombies by that point...

Has anyone ever experienced this? I'm expecting that we won't be greeted with leis in the middle of the night. Wonder if we could come back and get them later??

Our flight out is similarly tough as we fly out at 8:20 a.m. so we will need to check out and leave the Poly again in the wee hours of the morning. OH My!!! We are glutton's for punishment, but my only alternative was to fly out a day in advance of when we wanted to... boo! I'm sure the rest of our trip will be magical.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

Are you arriving in MCO (Orlando airport)?

I have done this more often than not. It is the only way to get there from NL, Canada!

It is pretty much the same as any time of day, except not too many people around. It is also more difficult to get room the changed if requests are not met. The up side is that the room is always ready at checkin when you arrive so late!

We just take whatever they give us, get some sleep and go fix anything that might need changing in the morning. i wouldn't plan a rope drop start the next morning.
Get lots of sleep leading up to departure day and you won't be too bad!

Leaving is a PITA with DME if you are departing on an early flight. We were brought to the airport at 3:50 am for an 8:00 am flight. There wasn't anyone to check us in until 6:00 am! We had to wait for almost 2 hours before we could check in to our flight! Not fun with no sleep. That won't happen to you, if you are in the USA. The DME leaves 3 hours before flight time for USA flights, so roughly 5:20 am. Not ideal, but it could be worse! You could have an international flight like we did!! we usually get a taxi to return to the airport these days - especially for early morning - and leave 2 1\2 hours before the flight.

Make sure to have everything ready before going to bed on the last day. We just hop out of bed and into our clothes at the last minute. We get breakfast at the airport once we are through security. If you have little ones that will need something earlier, just have muffins and juice packed for them to have on the way. It just takes a little organizing.

Good luck!

 

[Babsy]

I get it. Requests mean so much. I would only hope that CMs are trained to make magic happen for their guests. Here's my situation...my brother and his family, who I haven't seen in 5 years, will be at CBR for first 4 days at the Poly. (Unfortunately we couldn't coordinate) We have never vacationed together because I see him only every so often over the years when I visit "back home". It makes me really sad to know that they may not be able to meet with us at the pool at the Poly. They visit Disney often, we don't. They stay value or moderate, us deluxe. Are there empathetic CMs that might allow them to stay at the pool with us? Thoughts anyone?

Yeah, I empathize with you. My daughter and grandchildren could not get into the same resort as me. I would like to hang out with them, naturally, but there is so much talk about pool hopping and magic bands being checked to be sure you are actually staying at that particular resort. I don't know what to say. I guess we will just have to meet for meals and at the parks. It would be nice to hang out together though. How do people feel about this kind of issue? Would love some feedback.

I stayed at a different resort form the rest of my family once (couldn't get us together, I was last minute). We were not allowed to use the others resort pool. They were pretty strict about it. I expect that it is even worse now with all the gates and MB.. Your best chance would be to go to the value or moderate pool to try to ask about swimming there together. Trying to use a really popular pool at a resort that you are not staying at (like the one at the Poly) wouldn't be likely be a good idea. Sorry.

On the up side, you can do just about everything else together. And, if you want to swim together, you can always go to a water park.

Generally, people on these boards do not agree with any rule breaking. Officially, everyone uses the pool at their own resort only!

 

[ThistleMae]

I stayed at a different resort form the rest of my family once (couldn't get us together, I was last minute). We were not allowed to use the others resort pool. They were pretty strict about it. I expect that it is even worse now. Your best chance would be to go to the value or moderate pool to try to be together. trying to use a really popular pool together like the one at the Poly wouldn't be likely to work.

On the up side, you can do just about everything else together. And, if you want to swim together, you can always go to a water park.

Generally, people on these boards do not agree with any rule breaking. Officially, everyone uses the pool at their own resort only!

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the dilemma. But....I'm sure Disney Magic will prevail and fun will be had by all!

 

[ThistleMae]

Oh....another quick question....can anyone eat at Trader SAMs...or do u have to be a guest at poly?

 

[dansdad]

Oh....another quick question....can anyone eat at Trader SAMs...or do u have to be a guest at poly?

Anybody.

 

[Sue M]

I have a question about the pool: are annual pass holders allowed to use any of the resort pools? When we were at the GF last June, there was a large group of them using the pool with a paying guest ( we were next to them, I could hear them talking). They were taking up a TON of room. I wasn't overly worked up about it, just curious now that I'm seeing all the questions about the pool...

AP holders don't get any pool hopping perks.

We will be departing the 20th, sadly. We'll actually be in the world starting on the 12th though, staying at CR and then moving over to the Poly on the 14th and despite the construction, everyone in my family is super excited for our first Poly stay especially my youngest DD who will be taking her senior photos there! Too bad we will miss each other...would have been nice to meet you!

As for the GF...don't get me wrong, we still managed to have a great vacation despite of all the negatives. GF is a beautiful resort and it was on our "must try" list and we have no regrets...just wish the manager on duty had tried to resolve them rather than offer to "buy us dinner" . In any case, we definitely plan to give GF another go but I think when we do, we will try CL there next time.

You'll love GF CL. Our first 2 nights we were in RPC, it was amazing. Then we switched to a lagoon outer building. We had been in FLA a couple of weeks already, and youngest daughter had to go back to work, so I treated her for her last 2 days to RPC before she had to leave!!
We actually arrive in Florida on 12th too for this trip, but will be down south untill 22nd. You have bad timing for 'the meet"

 

[ThistleMae]

Check in question: If I get to Poly too early for my room, can I hang out at the pool until it is ready? Will my MB work to get into the pool?

 

[dansdad]

Check in question: If I get to Poly too early for my room, can I hang out at the pool until it is ready? Will my MB work to get into the pool?

Yup. You can use all the resort's amenities from the moment you are checked in up until midnight of check out day.

 

[ThistleMae]

Yup. You can use all the resort's amenities from the moment you are checked in up until midnight of check out day.

Really! So on check out day, as long as I leave my room by 11 a.m.....I can still hang out at the resort?

 

[csmommy]

Really! So on check out day, as long as I leave my room by 11 a.m.....I can still hang out at the resort?

Yes! We have done it several times.

 

[ThistleMae]

Yes! We have done it several times.

Why thank you! This is new news to me. It is very much appreciated!

 

[dansdad]

Really! So on check out day, as long as I leave my room by 11 a.m.....I can still hang out at the resort?

Yup! One of the reasons we like late flights home so we can soak up some more Disney hanging at our resorts pool. Take the sting out of waiting for the Unmagical Depress to the airport.

 

[Rebelk Family]

Good luck![/QUOTE]

Are you arriving in MCO (Orlando airport)?


Good luck!

Yes, we are flying and out of MCO. Thank you, Babsy, for the info and encouragement. We will spend our first morning sleeping in!! We may just stay pool side and explore the Poly on the first day. Then take in some Star Wars fun the next day.

 

[monkyby87]

Yup! One of the reasons we like late flights home so we can soak up some more Disney hanging at our resorts pool. Take the sting out of waiting for the Unmagical Depress to the airport.

It's really great to do this, hang out at the pool before you have to leave. We don't always like to go to the parks on our last day for fear of being rushed, so we often hang out at the resort and pools.

 

[mommyrosa2]

You'll love GF CL. Our first 2 nights we were in RPC, it was amazing. Then we switched to a lagoon outer building. We had been in FLA a couple of weeks already, and youngest daughter had to go back to work, so I treated her for her last 2 days to RPC before she had to leave!!
We actually arrive in Florida on 12th too for this trip, but will be down south untill 22nd. You have bad timing for 'the meet"

I was bummed when I heard about this year's meet but I did make it to last year's meet which was great and a hoot...prepare yourself for some laughs! Really a great bunch!

 

[ThistleMae]

Does anyone in here have a hot tub update. On the Poly construction thread, there are complaints about the hot tub and kids area being randomly closed?

 

[MouseMum]

I stayed at a different resort form the rest of my family once (couldn't get us together, I was last minute). We were not allowed to use the others resort pool. They were pretty strict about it. I expect that it is even worse now with all the gates and MB.. Your best chance would be to go to the value or moderate pool to try to ask about swimming there together. Trying to use a really popular pool at a resort that you are not staying at (like the one at the Poly) wouldn't be likely be a good idea. Sorry.

On the up side, you can do just about everything else together. And, if you want to swim together, you can always go to a water park.

Generally, people on these boards do not agree with any rule breaking. Officially, everyone uses the pool at their own resort only!

Yeah I get it. And understandable.