Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[Cluelyss]

Hey Poly experts. I have booked our first timer trip as a family for the week of Thanksgiving. Will the Poly have Christmas decorations up during that time? Also, where can we find traditional Thanksgiving feast on Thanksgiving Day?

The order the resorts get decorated varies each year, but they are all complete by Thanksgiving. Liberty Tree Tavern does a traditional Thanksgiving feast, but there are several other restaurants that offer holiday menus. Hopefully someone with experience can chime in!!

 

[smhwalker2011]

Question... having never stayed at a deluxe.. how much larger are the rooms than an All Star resort? We will be there in 16 days for our first ever deluxe split stay at AKL/Poly!

-DVC Studio Villa

 

[CMAG38]

The order the resorts get decorated varies each year, but they are all complete by Thanksgiving. Liberty Tree Tavern does a traditional Thanksgiving feast, but there are several other restaurants that offer holiday menus. Hopefully someone with experience can chime in!!

Thank you! Liberty Tree Tavern sounds perfect.

 

[aaarcher86]

Question... having never stayed at a deluxe.. how much larger are the rooms than an All Star resort? We will be there in 16 days for our first ever deluxe split stay at AKL/Poly!

-DVC Studio Villa

This is a pretty good general idea.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Question... having never stayed at a deluxe.. how much larger are the rooms than an All Star resort? We will be there in 16 days for our first ever deluxe split stay at AKL/Poly!

-DVC Studio Villa

A DVC Studio Villa is 465 square feet. A LOT of that space is taken up by bathroom, however, so you have to keep in mind that space use is a huge factor.

A room at an All-Star is roughly 260 square feet.

A standard room at AKL is about 350 square feet.

Even with the bathroom at a Poly Villa, it will feel larger than an All-Star, because the All-Stars are really small, and the usable space that isn't bathroom at Poly is larger than the whole of the All-Star room, including the bathroom.

 

[kcpinwdw]

AKL/Poly!

You'll fine that AKL is noticeably tighter than poly, but both much better than values.

This is a pretty good general idea.

Awesome visual!

 

[Alexsandra]

Quick review for those interested:
Just got back and had an amazing time at the Poly.

Room: I had stayed at the poly before in a regular room but this time stayed in a deluxe studio. The room was really nice and very spacious. I prefer it to the regular rooms. We asked to be put in Tokelau close to the main building. It was a great location and would definitely ask for that building again if I went back. We had room 3935 on the third floor. The view was really nice and it was right by the outside staircase which was really convenient. The studio was very well layed out and the two bathrooms were a great bonus. Only downside I would have to say that there was not enough room for a family of four to place our clothes and suitcases but other than that perfect.

Pool and beach: The pool was amazing and the kiddos loved the splash area. We had a really nice pool days and the pool area is a lot less crowded now that they have fenced it in. The fireworks on the beach are great. The kids loved the water patent too.

Transportation: I love the convenience of having the monorail bring us to and from the parks. We took the boat one evening to magic kingdom and the views were spectacular from the water.

Food: We ate at Kona cafe twice for breakfast and it was delicious both times. We also ate dinner at Ohana' and the food and service were better than I had remembered. We had drinks with the kids at Trader's Sam. Kids are allowed anytime before 8:00PM. We looked inside but decided on the terrace which had nice fireplaces, a waterfall and a live performer. I had the fuzzy pineapple which is now my favourite drink of all time and my husband had the margarita which he said was very good too.

Conclusion: It felt like we had traveled the pacific but were steps away from Disney. Could not have had a better trip! Love the Poly! Will write a full trip report on my blog soon for those who want to know more: http://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca


The view from my room


the room itself


pool


splash area

 

[Tikiman]

Actually, on the WDW room reservation site, they call the quiet pool at Poly "Quiet Pool" (quote below, bold mine):


Garden View - Club Level
View Photos for Garden View - Club Level - Opens a dialog
Views of Garden or Quiet Pool
2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed
Sleeps up to 5 Adults

There are a few things on the official Disney site that have called it the “quiet pool” because so many have called it that over the years but at the resort it has never been officially called the quiet pool. It was always called the East Pool until now that it is called the Oasis Pool.

 

[Tikiman]

Len Testa talked about them in his recent podcast. He said the occupancy rate was around 40%.

They told us they were booked most of the time but I only saw anyone in 3 of them when we booked ours last summer. We were 4 from the TTC end and one night I saw someone on the deck on the one to our right and 2 other nights I saw someone on the deck of the one to our left so if they are all full then everyone was either out all day or hiding inside the whole time. I never came across anyone else out on the boardwalk to the Bungalow.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Quick review for those interested:
Just got back and had an amazing time at the Poly.

Room: I had stayed at the poly before in a regular room but this time stayed in a deluxe studio. The room was really nice and very spacious. I prefer it to the regular rooms. We asked to be put in Tokelau close to the main building. It was a great location and would definitely ask for that building again if I went back. We had room 3935 on the third floor. The view was really nice and it was right by the outside staircase which was really convenient. The studio was very well layed out and the two bathrooms were a great bonus. Only downside I would have to say that there was not enough room for a family of four to place our clothes and suitcases but other than that perfect.

Pool and beach: The pool was amazing and the kiddos loved the splash area. We had a really nice pool days and the pool area is a lot less crowded now that they have fenced it in. The fireworks on the beach are great. The kids loved the water patent too.

Transportation: I love the convenience of having the monorail bring us to and from the parks. We took the boat one evening to magic kingdom and the views were spectacular from the water.

Food: We ate at Kona cafe twice for breakfast and it was delicious both times. We also ate dinner at Ohana' and the food and service were better than I had remembered. We had drinks with the kids at Trader's Sam. Kids are allowed anytime before 8:00PM. We looked inside but decided on the terrace which had nice fireplaces, a waterfall and a live performer. I had the fuzzy pineapple which is now my favourite drink of all time and my husband had the margarita which he said was very good too.

Conclusion: It felt like we had traveled the pacific but were steps away from Disney. Could not have had a better trip! Love the Poly! Will write a full trip report on my blog soon for those who want to know more: http://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca


The view from my room


the room itself


pool


splash area

Awesome review. Thank you!!! I can't wait until we are able to book for August 2017 -- we are planning on finally getting our Poly CL stay!! Can't wait!

 

[CMAG38]

...

Conclusion: It felt like we had traveled the pacific but were steps away from Disney. Could not have had a better trip! Love the Poly! Will write a full trip report on my blog soon for those who want to know more: http://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca

http://disneymommytips.blogspot.ca

I look forward to the review. Even though we are already booked, I'm still in research mode.

 

[Freiden8]

Does anyone have any photos of the property from out these windows in the GCH?

 

[xipotec]

This is a pretty good general idea.

EPIC POST!!!

 

[Freiden8]

Question... having never stayed at a deluxe.. how much larger are the rooms than an All Star resort? We will be there in 16 days for our first ever deluxe split stay at AKL/Poly!

-DVC Studio Villa

I thought this was extremely helpful.. It's crazy but we definitely felt like we had less room (in the actual bedroom area) at AKL than we did at CSR, and this says we were right!

 

[Tikiman]

I thought this was extremely helpful.. It's crazy but we definitely felt like we had less room (in the actual bedroom area) at AKL than we did at CSR, and this says we were right!
View attachment 157536

What this doesn't show is the 360 rooms at the Polynesian that are 465 sqft. Also I am sure that the Contemporary tower rooms are larger than what is shown because they were originally slightly larger than the original Polynesian rooms.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

You have to remember, the DVC villas were put into the 3 "new" longhouses at Poly that were planned/built after the others, and thus weren't built compartment-style. They always had bigger layouts as a result, and the shenanigans with the bathroom in making the villas definitely makes them different from the "core" Poly rooms.

So the mapping above applies to the core resort, not the DVC.

 

[Tikiman]

You have to remember, the DVC villas were put into the 3 "new" longhouses at Poly that were planned/built after the others, and thus weren't built compartment-style. They always had bigger layouts as a result, and the shenanigans with the bathroom in making the villas definitely makes them different from the "core" Poly rooms.

So the mapping above applies to the core resort, not the DVC.

Those 3 longhouses (not sure I would call them new) were built bigger not because of them not being built off site like the original ones from US Steal but because when Oahu was built in 1978 they were trying different layouts as test rooms for the expansion. That chart makes the GF look like it has the largest rooms on the monorail and that is not the case. From numbers I saw years ago the Contemporary Tower rooms were larger than the original Polynesian rooms but the more than a 3rd of the Polynesian rooms were larger than the majority of GF rooms. The GF does have some large deluxe rooms and suites but then the Polynesian has some large suites also.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Those 3 longhouses were built bigger not because of them not being built off site like the original ones from US Steal but because when Oahu was built in 1978 they were trying different layouts as test rooms for the expansion. That chart makes the GF look like it has the largest rooms on the monorail and that is not the case. From numbers I saw years ago the Contemporary Tower rooms were larger than the original Polynesian rooms but the more than a 3rd of the Polynesian rooms were larger than the majority of GF rooms. The GF does have some large deluxe rooms and suites but then the Polynesian has some large suites also.

My understanding was partly that they gave up on the cruise-ship-construction by the point they built those three, because they realized how restrictive it was for future anything, having experienced it via the two resorts built in that style; they had built different room styles with that construction type prior and could have again.

I don't recall where I read it, though.

 

[Tikiman]

My understanding was partly that they gave up on the cruise-ship-construction by the point they built those three, because they realized how restrictive it was for future anything, having experienced it via the two resorts built in that style; they had built different room styles with that construction type prior and could have again.

I don't recall where I read it, though.

By the time they built Oahu they were not even using the same construction company. The rumor that they built the rooms modular so they could slide them in and out with new room designs was a false rumor. That was never intended when they built them offsite. They did that to speed up the process. They could work on the site and on the rooms at the same time and then just bring them and stack them instead of finishing the site and then starting work on constructing the rooms. That is why the whole resort took 6 months to build. That style of construction did not constrict them from anything and in fact a room design change came just a few years after opening.

Much of the history of the Polynesian out there you will find out is false if you talk to people that were there at the time. The biggest rumor was that the rooms were slid into place like at the Contemporary and they were not at the Polynesian. They were stacked and the framework was put around the rooms. They were never intended of even being removed.

 

[dansdad]

I thought this was extremely helpful.. It's crazy but we definitely felt like we had less room (in the actual bedroom area) at AKL than we did at CSR, and this says we were right!
View attachment 157536

The rooms at CBR, which was the first Moderate built (before there was a Moderate classification), are 344 sq. ft. Once they decided to create the Moderate classification they started making them 314 sq. ft. to differentiate them from the Deluxes.