Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[1971DBday]

Do you mean in front of the connecting door? Did you bring hangars or did you have enough with what was provided? Thanks for the detailed info!!

Yes. We do not bring hangers and just work with what is given to us, but as mentioned before I might hang three shirts on one hanger. I just don't want the extra havoc when packing.

 

[1971DBday]

Hi guys - this has probably been addressed somewhere so I apologize if I am not finding it. I am staying at the Poly next month and we will be using the pool after check-out since we have a later flight. I haven't stayed in a few years so I haven't checked out any changes around the pool. Do they have showers inside the volcano restrooms?

Very excited to go back

Yes they do, even though not the best showering option. I prefer just to smell like the pool on my way home

 

[johnsonet]

While we still go to Disney a couple of times a year; since the kids have grown, married and begun their own adult lives, we don't stay at the Polynesian any longer. Once the CL staff turned over (except for Yvette ), Hawaii didn't hold as much magic for us any longer. When we visit now, we stay in the EPCOT resorts area because we spend more time at EPCOT than anywhere else and it makes sense. We enjoy staying at BWI and BC or the Villas there and occasionally a night or two at either Swan/Dolphin, but we have such fond memories of Polynesian--our kids grew up there! I have to admit, I long to stay there again. . .some day (maybe with kids/grandkids). For now, we appease ourselves by visiting and wandering about the property on our way back to EPCOT from MK or in the evening when we don't feel like hitting a park. I was tickled when I saw maiapapaya's departure pic with her girls practicing their Polynesian Pout.

Good to hear from you johnsonet!

Oh my goodness, your kids really are all grown up!
Well, I'm so glad to read that you are enjoying the Epcot resorts these days (it's fun over there!) and that you still take the time to wander around the Polynesian now and then. I hope that when you do decide to return, your stay there will be magical

I'll have to go find the photo of maiapapaya's daughters doing their own Polynesian Pout

Take care

 

[mickeynut1]

If you wanted to spend a lot of time in the oasis pool and wanted to be close to everything where would you request? I'm thinking Samoa..I also want a king bed,would my thinking be correct? But on the other hand would love a view of the castle but I know I cant get it all.....

I love how Samoa is so convenient to everything, so that would be my choice .

Thanks for the review! We leave in 8 days!!! I've been thinking about the clothing storage situation. We're staying for 11 nights so I definitely want to unpack. There are only 3 of us, so hopefully it won't be so tight. I was thinking of either bringing hangers or packing cubes (link below). I think DS6, I'm going to put his clothes in gallon ziplocs and then use the bathroom drawers. Do you think that will work? Any other hints or suggestions? Do suitcases fit under the bed? Or did you put them in the closet or something? Thanks!


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHBR008...lid=2JL72S7QLRVF8&coliid=I31YHG8OU2ZUCP&psc=1

I can't help with suggestions on hangers/packing cubes, but wanted to say I hope you have a great time and enjoy the Poly .

I have my next trip booked! 5 nights at the Polynesian in early August

I requested Fiji, Marina view b/c it was extra beautiful last summer. Can't wait to catch up on this thread

Hi there ...hope things are going well with you .

How exciting to have your next trip booked! It'll be August before you know it!

Omg. Tiny heart attack!

I happened to check availability and see the last day I needed to snag was available. I went to book and saw I had a weeks worth of points back in my account. Checked my reservations and my entire standard stay was missing!

I called DVC and thankfully in some weird twist of fate I had just checked my account at the exact moment my waitlist for that same day came through and they were combining all the reservations.

But yay! We are all booked up with no reservation holes! Woo! SO EXCITED!

I don't blame you, I would have freaked too . Glad everything worked out and the last day you needed was available .

Yes, it's new. Not quite as lush there, is it? But I think it must allow for the views of the Castle from the lobby.

Here's one of my oldest Polynesian pics, facing the GCH

I agree, it's not as lush as it once was .

Hi guys - this has probably been addressed somewhere so I apologize if I am not finding it. I am staying at the Poly next month and we will be using the pool after check-out since we have a later flight. I haven't stayed in a few years so I haven't checked out any changes around the pool. Do they have showers inside the volcano restrooms?

Very excited to go back

Your question has been answered, but I wanted to say I hope you have a great trip .

 

[johnsonet]

Hi @mickeynut1 ! I just PM'd you

 

[mickeynut1]

Hi @mickeynut1 ! I just PM'd you

Just noticed it

 

[jhammond3966]

Hm. I think I forgot that, actually. So now it's a tossup between renting points at BCV or Poly. Renting points is probably a non-starter for the Poly. But if there's a decent deal for renting the studios, I might be able to make that work.

If you stay on it, you can find Poly DVC owners to rent points from and make reservations during the 11-7 month window. We just booked our rented Poly DVC Deluxe Studio for our October trip a few weeks ago. The cheapest I saw rented points for Poly was $16/point. You can get points cheaper (around $13/point) if you are willing to risk it and try for a booking right at 7 months (8am that day) and find an owner willing to do that. From what I saw monitoring poly DVC availability for our October trip (Food & Wine so super high DVC demand time) is that Poly lake view studios were already partially booked before 7 months and standard view studios are full for your first day of arrival shortly after 8am. I recommend searching and finding a Poly owner to rent points from at 11-8 months before your trip. At $16 per point (and no sales tax on top of the point rental) it is still an absolutely incredible value for that resort!

The refurbished rooms at BCV do look nice though and I am going to miss not having a 1 bedroom at Poly. I highly recommend trying renting DVC. You will never go back to rack rates again. (A deluxe resort studio with two bathrooms at Poly for the price of a substantially smaller and less convenient moderate resort room / or a 1 bedroom for the price of a regular deluxe resort hotel room = simply the best bang for your Disney buck)

 

[MouseMum]

Thanks for the review! We leave in 8 days!!! I've been thinking about the clothing storage situation. We're staying for 11 nights so I definitely want to unpack. There are only 3 of us, so hopefully it won't be so tight. I was thinking of either bringing hangers or packing cubes (link below). I think DS6, I'm going to put his clothes in gallon ziplocs and then use the bathroom drawers. Do you think that will work? Any other hints or suggestions? Do suitcases fit under the bed? Or did you put them in the closet or something? Thanks!


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHBR008...lid=2JL72S7QLRVF8&coliid=I31YHG8OU2ZUCP&psc=1

Storage is DEFINITELY minimal in the DVC rooms! So here's what we did...
DD and I used the drawers/shelves in the shower-only bathroom. Lots of space! Not like you're packing winter clothes. DS x2 used the coffeetable/trunk storage. DH used the drawer under the bed (didn't know there were two drawers, so there could've been more storage for us). We asked for the removal of the playpen. Done, no problem. I brought an over-the-door storage bag on a hanger for the washroom, for all of our toiletries, sunscreen, small items. Brought two dollar store hooks that clipped on the tv ends to hang our fanny packs. Lol As well, I brought along a hanging storage system I got from IKEA. It hung in the closet and was perfect for storing our dry goods, as the kitchenette had minimal space. Also, an inverted umbrella-type clothes pin hanger for drying bathing suits and two dollar store pop-up laundry baskets for each bathroom. Just a bunch of little items that proved to help A LOT! In a nutshell, if you go in knowing there is minimal storage space, you can make it work.

 

[Tikiman]

Do the QS restaurants sell 100% Kona coffee or just the TS restaurants? Also, does the gift shop sell 100% kona beans?

Kona coffee can be ordered in Kona Café or Kona Island Coffee Bar in a press pot. If you get it at the Island you get two cups worth out of the pot (about the size of a Starbucks Grande). You can purchase the 100% Kona beans or a Kona blend at both the Island and Boutiki but for some reason it is cheaper from the Island. Those are the only places you can get 100% Kona at the resort.

 

[Tikiman]

While we still go to Disney a couple of times a year; since the kids have grown, married and begun their own adult lives, we don't stay at the Polynesian any longer. Once the CL staff turned over (except for Yvette ), Hawaii didn't hold as much magic for us any longer. When we visit now, we stay in the EPCOT resorts area because we spend more time at EPCOT than anywhere else and it makes sense. We enjoy staying at BWI and BC or the Villas there and occasionally a night or two at either Swan/Dolphin, but we have such fond memories of Polynesian--our kids grew up there! I have to admit, I long to stay there again. . .some day (maybe with kids/grandkids). For now, we appease ourselves by visiting and wandering about the property on our way back to EPCOT from MK or in the evening when we don't feel like hitting a park. I was tickled when I saw maiapapaya's departure pic with her girls practicing their Polynesian Pout.

Good to hear from you johnsonet!

We need to meet up in Epcot again soon or maybe I can drag you guys back to Trader Sam's

 

[Colleen DePuy]

View attachment 134533

Aloha and welcome to the spring 2015 edition of the Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort Information Thread!

In 1971, along with the Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort opened as one of Walt Disney World’s first on-site hotels.

Located on the monorail loop directly across the Seven Sea’s Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort has gone through two major expansions since its opening. The first was in 1978 with another in 1985. At that time the name changed to Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

Beginning in 2014 and continuing into 2015 Disney’s Polynesian Resort began undergoing many new changes with several major refurbishments, including the lobby of the Great Ceremonial House and the Nanea volcano pool as well as the addition of Disney’s Vacation Club to the property. The Polynesian also reverted back to its original name.

The goal of this thread is to answer any questions that you may have about Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Detailed information is provided in the first several posts, along with photos of the resort. As they become available the thread photos will continue to be updated to reflect the ongoing changes to the Polynesian as they are completed.

If you have any questions that are not answered in the information section please feel free to ask and hopefully one of our Poly faithful will be able to help!

I would like to acknowledge the contributions and hard work of the former keepers of the Poly thread, Seaspray, BreezysMom and Guitarob, along with any that carried the tiki torch before them. Mahalo!

(photo credits to Guitarob and Maiapapaya unless otherwise noted)

Thank you for all the work that went into this. Who knows when we will be able to go but it's fun to dream.

 

[BestAunt]

Kona coffee can be ordered in Kona Café or Kona Island Coffee Bar in a press pot. If you get it at the Island you get two cups worth out of the pot (about the size of a Starbucks Grande). You can purchase the 100% Kona beans or a Kona blend at both the Island and Boutiki but for some reason it is cheaper from the Island. Those are the only places you can get 100% Kona at the resort.

Thank you for the info!

 

[Tess]

We need to meet up in Epcot again soon or maybe I can drag you guys back to Trader Sam's

That would be great and we would love to visit again. There are still a number of drinks for us to try at Trader Sam's, but we have been there a time or two.

 

[MouseMum]

If you are too specific with your room requests then how does touring plans work? If you are putting in specific rooms that you want and it's not available then wouldn't the system just randomly assign you somewhere else then? Wouldn't it be better to say you want connecting rooms in a specific longhouse? Just was wondering as we are coming at the end of August this year and never used touring plans as a way to put in our room request

Used touring plans fax once and was very happy with the results. Not sure how it worked, but I got the room next door to my room preference.

You can pick a room from the Touring Plans app and it generates a code that the system at the Polynesian understands. The code identifies the building by number and the room. From one of the codes I saw generated it also suggested other rooms surrounding the specific room. It can also add in a code for a longhouse and floor and even a side of the building but if you sent a code of just one room you would have the same issue if it is not available. The reason the code works best is because it is not a person assigning the room but the computer system and the computer understands the code. The other reason the code is the best way to enter your request is because the system is limited to how many characters can be entered in for the request so a long description sent as a request might never even make it into the system.

I was originally told that for requests on DVC rooms you needed to go through DVC but recently Len Testa of Touring Plans used the Touring Plans request on a DVC room and it was accepted.

I'm curious then, if room requests with touring plans work with codes and rooms are computer-assigned, what impact would the "additional special requests" have? I used it to give reasons why I would appreciate the building/view, mentioned our anniversary, and was fortunate to get the room next-door to my preferred room.

And yes, our request was for the then newly-opened DVC rooms.

We've used the Touring Plans fax three times and had good luck with it. Each time, we used their standard text and then added a note that talked about what we liked about the room / view / resort, what was important to us in our stay, and thanked them. We got the room next door to our request at the Poly, the exact room at CBR and were upgraded from garden to lagoon view at Yacht (we'd selected a room w/ a partial lagoon view room and mentioned that we hadn't been able to book that category, but really loved watching the boats out on the lake).

I know there's no guarantee, but when it works out it's a definite perk!

Did you ONLY use touring plans to make your room request or had you mentioned any of this through your travel agent or when you made your reservation? I was successful in getting a room request as well last year but had used touring plans AND made requests upon booking. The reason I ask is because in 2014, before touring plans offered this fax service, I had sent my own fax to the room assigner at the GF. Not only did I get a great room, but I also received a personalized email from this person as well, congratulating us on our anniversary and ensuring us that we would love the room we were assigned! Gotta love the human touch!

Does this code request bypass room assignors? I'm not understanding how it works. Haven't used it yet. And I find looking at chart, clicking views they are inaccurate in some cases. With GF anyway, I've been looking at that as its our next stay.

I'm wondering if there is both personal/computer involvement.

 

[gluestickgirl]

Did you ONLY use touring plans to make your room request or had you mentioned any of this through your travel agent or when you made your reservation? I was successful in getting a room request as well last year but had used touring plans AND made requests upon booking. The reason I ask is because in 2014, before touring plans offered this fax service, I had sent my own fax to the room assigner at the GF. Not only did I get a great room, but I also received a personalized email from this person as well, congratulating us on our anniversary and ensuring us that we would love the room we were assigned! Gotta love the human touch!

We only used the touring plans fax. I think we did check boxes that were similar when we did online check in, but we didn't use a travel agent and booked online so we never mentioned any room requests to any one.

 

[ADGoofy]

Would anyone be able to tell me if the gift shop at the poly still sells tiki mugs. I've seen pictures of 2 different styles with the Polynesian resort words on the back. If they are still for sale could you tell me how much they are? Thank you very much!

 

[DisneyHardin]

Would anyone be able to tell me if the gift shop at the poly still sells tiki mugs. I've seen pictures of 2 different styles with the Polynesian resort words on the back. If they are still for sale could you tell me how much they are? Thank you very much!

When we were there in November, they had a couple Tiki Mugs for sale in Bou-tiki, but I don't remember if they were personalized to The Polynesian or if they were more generic ones.

 

[BenandMorgsMom]

Hi there! We are getting excited to be in double digits soon! I wonder if the club level lounge offers uncrustable sandwiches at snack time? I seem to remember the WL club level having that during the day. Thanks!

NO!

We only saw them one night of our stay. Child offerings were basically non existent.

 

[BenandMorgsMom]

I actually got to tour a bungalow about a week ago, since I was purchasing an add-on to DVC. Since it was after the normal 2-4pm hours (I had gotten there later than expected), it was actually someone from the hotel side giving me and the DVC person a private tour of one that wasn't occupied. Anyway, the point of this post is that I asked the hotel person if the bungalows were normally full, and he said yes that most of the bungalows are occupied every night. So I guess somebody must be paying the money or points, lol. I can see why they charge a premium though, it really is a unique unit with some unique features.

That is a FIB...we were there and inquired about the Bungalows....only a few were occupied our whole vacation. We asked the woman who serviced our room and she was assigned that area and said they are below 50% occupied at peak time so now she was working Club Level Hawaii.

 

[Lulu'sMom]

When we were there in November, they had a couple Tiki Mugs for sale in Bou-tiki, but I don't remember if they were personalized to The Polynesian or if they were more generic ones.

Hope they have them as I would love a Tiki mug!

Just entered into the double digits and getting excited!
We're going back "home" to the Poly~