Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[mousestruck]

Hello Poly fans! I'm a little late with my report, but wanted to share my recent experience at the Poly from 6/29-7/5. It was my family's first stay at the resort (as DVC members) following many trips to our favorite AKV resort. Honestly, I did not think that we could possibly love another resort as much as we love AKV... but I was wrong. The Poly is amazing!!! Here are some random thoughts...

Our View - We splurged on a lake view studio. We requested a third floor room and our request was granted. I don't remember our exact room number, but we were one of the last rooms toward the Transportation Center in Moorea. Our view was absolutely incredible! When I walked into the room I nearly cried... we had a beautiful view overlooking the bungaloos. The castle was directly in front of us, the TTC to the right and the rest of the resort to the left. Yes, we could hear the ferry horns, but they didn't bother us at all. We used a ton of points to get that million dollar view, and it was worth every single one! True magic.







DVC studio - Wow, just wow. We were amazed by how spacious the room felt. It is quite large for a studio. We have two teenagers and did not feel cramped at all. My daughter loved the pull-down bed, which we called "her cabinet"! I was concerned about the storage without a dresser, but we were fine. We used the large drawers under the bed as well as the bathroom drawers and the closet and the big trunk/coffee table. Plenty of space for our stuff. I can't say enough about how wonderful it was to have a second bathroom! The bathrooms were beautifully designed (we especially loved the sliding barn doors), and helped tremendously when we were all getting ready at the same time. What a perk to have two showers! Our only problem was that our safe did not work. We didn't report it until the end of our trip, so I'm not sure if/when it was fixed.

Transportation - This was our first stay at a monorail resort, and won't be our last! We are accustomed to bus transportation at AKV and generally don't mind sacrificing convenience for the beautiful savannah. But we absolutely loved the convenience of the monorail. We were literally steps away from the Transportation Center and express monorails to both MK and Epcot. Awesome! One night we watched Wishes from Main Street and were back in our room 20 minutes later. Can't beat that! We also had great experiences with bus service to and from DHS and AK. Never waited long for a bus and never had to stand. Regrettably we did not try the boats, since we had such luck with the monorails, but we will next time!

Fireworks/Fourth of July - Another wow! We had a perfect view of Wishes from our balcony. It was truly spectacular. The 4th of July fireworks were just incredible. We could hear the music as the entire sky and lagoon exploded with color. I can't imagine a better fireworks display!





Pool - The Oasis pool is fantastic! We enjoyed it so much that we never used the main pool. Loved the pool, the bar and the convenient snack/drink station. We had a little trouble finding seats on July 3 and 4, but we eventually succeeded and spent several hours there.

Food - We've been to the most of the Poly restaurants before and they did not disappoint. Had great meals at Ohana and Kona. Spent a small fortune on take-out sushi, but it was yummy! Also loved having a late night dole whip and shaved ice!

The Grounds - Beautiful, relaxing and exquisitely themed.

All in all, the Poly was everything I hoped for and more. Can't wait to go back!!!

 

[iloveeeyore]

We used a ton of points to get that million dollar view, and it was worth every single one! True magic.

We have spent a fortune at Disney over the years and have never felt we were being robbed...one thing that we feel for sure is that we get what we pay for at Disney!!

I agree that view is worth a fortune. It is truly breathtaking. We just got back and stayed in a standard resort room but enjoyed Wishes from the beach one night. It's spectacular. The only place better is Main Street. It beats the CR and California Grill by a mile, IMO. It must be sooo special to get that from your very own room! We have adult children and this trip was the first time I remember feeling we really missed having a second bathroom, so we will probably consider renting points next trip for that very reason. We also loved the Oasis pool. So peaceful!

Thanks for sharing your experience and I'm so glad you loved the Poly!!

 

[ehlander]

No, but yum!
Working on a cake to be delivered to 'Ohana for us to have at dinner there - did this last year and it was a neat surprise.

What kind of cake did you order?

 

[iloveeeyore]

Ducks in the Oasis Pool!

 

[ehlander]

Does anyone know if all std rooms have day beds? Our travel agent said only a few rooms have them, but I read an old post saying that all rooms at the poly have them. So wondering which it is?

 

[Kona65]

1. Just got back from our trip to the Poly. I can say with out a question in my mind, NEVER AGAIN! I don't know what has happened to this resort, but it was the most disappointing trip we have had at Disney in a long time. The room was dirty, maid service was non existent, and the food was the worst ever. The pool was full of the most disrespectful people you every saw. I would say tear it down and start over, but that's not going to happen. Guess we will just pick different resort next time.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Does anyone know if all std rooms have day beds? Our travel agent said only a few rooms have them, but I read an old post saying that all rooms at the poly have them. So wondering which it is?

All standard rooms have daybeds.

 

[iloveeeyore]

1. Just got back from our trip to the Poly. I can say with out a question in my mind, NEVER AGAIN! I don't know what has happened to this resort, but it was the most disappointing trip we have had at Disney in a long time. The room was dirty, maid service was non existent, and the food was the worst ever. The pool was full of the most disrespectful people you every saw. I would say tear it down and start over, but that's not going to happen. Guess we will just pick different resort next time.

So sorry to read you had a bad trip! We just got back also, but had a great experience with the Poly.

Our first full day our room did not get cleaned until 4 pm, and that was after I called to say what the heck?! It was a Saturday, though, and the front desk explained to me that they had an inordinate number of checkouts that day, and they do those first. When our mousekeeper finally did show up, she was extremely apologetic. After that, we never had a problem. Our room was clean by the time we came back for our mid afternoon breaks, and we always had plenty of towels and extra toiletries. No towel animals, though. I'm not sure if anyone does those anymore?

As for cleanliness of the shared spaces, we thought it was pretty spotless.

The food was as great, or better, than we remembered. We had dinner at 'Ohana, breakfast at Kona, snacks at Pineapple Lanai and a few lunches and breakfasts at Captain Cooks. Everything we had was delicious and fresh.

We did encounter a few disrespectful people at the pool, but I believe that would happen anywhere.

I hope that you have expressed your disappointment to guest services so they can address some of the problems you found.

 

[TJA]

Hello Poly fans! I'm a little late with my report, but wanted to share my recent experience at the Poly from 6/29-7/5. It was my family's first stay at the resort (as DVC members) following many trips to our favorite AKV resort. Honestly, I did not think that we could possibly love another resort as much as we love AKV... but I was wrong. The Poly is amazing!!! Here are some random thoughts...

Our View - We splurged on a lake view studio. We requested a third floor room and our request was granted. I don't remember our exact room number, but we were one of the last rooms toward the Transportation Center in Moorea. Our view was absolutely incredible! When I walked into the room I nearly cried... we had a beautiful view overlooking the bungaloos. The castle was directly in front of us, the TTC to the right and the rest of the resort to the left. Yes, we could hear the ferry horns, but they didn't bother us at all. We used a ton of points to get that million dollar view, and it was worth every single one! True magic.


View attachment 185431

View attachment 185431 View attachment 185432


DVC studio - Wow, just wow. We were amazed by how spacious the room felt. It is quite large for a studio. We have two teenagers and did not feel cramped at all. My daughter loved the pull-down bed, which we called "her cabinet"! I was concerned about the storage without a dresser, but we were fine. We used the large drawers under the bed as well as the bathroom drawers and the closet and the big trunk/coffee table. Plenty of space for our stuff. I can't say enough about how wonderful it was to have a second bathroom! The bathrooms were beautifully designed (we especially loved the sliding barn doors), and helped tremendously when we were all getting ready at the same time. What a perk to have two showers! Our only problem was that our safe did not work. We didn't report it until the end of our trip, so I'm not sure if/when it was fixed.

Transportation - This was our first stay at a monorail resort, and won't be our last! We are accustomed to bus transportation at AKV and generally don't mind sacrificing convenience for the beautiful savannah. But we absolutely loved the convenience of the monorail. We were literally steps away from the Transportation Center and express monorails to both MK and Epcot. Awesome! One night we watched Wishes from Main Street and were back in our room 20 minutes later. Can't beat that! We also had great experiences with bus service to and from DHS and AK. Never waited long for a bus and never had to stand. Regrettably we did not try the boats, since we had such luck with the monorails, but we will next time!

Fireworks/Fourth of July - Another wow! We had a perfect view of Wishes from our balcony. It was truly spectacular. The 4th of July fireworks were just incredible. We could hear the music as the entire sky and lagoon exploded with color. I can't imagine a better fireworks display!

View attachment 185436

View attachment 185436 View attachment 185437

Pool - The Oasis pool is fantastic! We enjoyed it so much that we never used the main pool. Loved the pool, the bar and the convenient snack/drink station. We had a little trouble finding seats on July 3 and 4, but we eventually succeeded and spent several hours there.

Food - We've been to the most of the Poly restaurants before and they did not disappoint. Had great meals at Ohana and Kona. Spent a small fortune on take-out sushi, but it was yummy! Also loved having a late night dole whip and shaved ice!

The Grounds - Beautiful, relaxing and exquisitely themed.

All in all, the Poly was everything I hoped for and more. Can't wait to go back!!!

Great pics! We were also at Poly on the 4th and I agree the show is spectacular! Especially right from your own room...there's just nothing like it. You mentioned spending a fortune on points -- we spend a fortune for a CL lagoon view room so I know what you mean -- and we also think it's worth every cent too! It sure is a magical resort. Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Sunnyside]

We were there in May and my kids started collecting pennies and I never realized how many of these machines were around. I found a site that has a map/list of all the pennies and also which characters are on them. It looks like the poly has 6 different options for pennies and 1 quarter.

http://www.themouseforless.com/disney-downloads/pocket-guides/pressed-coins-checklists/

Thank you so much! Yes we started collecting when we were there and we forgot to get the Poly ones even though we were there!

 

[slatterie]

We are home

The Poly was wonderful again and we had a fabulous week! We saw the largest crowds we have ever seen in the parks (not because of tour groups, we only saw a few of those). The crowds at the pools were much better than when we were there 4 years ago, I guess thanks to the gates. On the other hand, we did not have access to the pools late at night when we enjoy using them after the parks.

Here is a photo from our standard view from Fiji room 3312. The location was PERFECT for us for it's proximity to Captain Cook's, the monorail and the walkway to the GF (DS used the fitness center).

View attachment 185426

We had Fiji 3rd floor a few rooms down from this one last year and we LOVED it. It was so easy to get to everything and there was little noise (or we were too tired to notice or care). Tried to get it again this year but couldn't (we got Hawaii instead). Next time we are able to go we will try to get Fiji as our first choice.

8 days and counting! Why is this week sooooo slow?

 

[princessesintraining]

Can anyone help me? I'm wondering if CApt. Cooks sells a chocolate lovers waffle. We've previously stayed at the wilderness lodge and my daughter loves them. She only agreed to stay at the Poly because I said of course all the hotels sell mickeys waffles. I'm only seeing the chocolate lovers listed at the wilderness lodge. TIA

 

[Oswin]

Can anyone help me? I'm wondering if CApt. Cooks sells a chocolate lovers waffle. We've previously stayed at the wilderness lodge and my daughter loves them. She only agreed to stay at the Poly because I said of course all the hotels sell mickeys waffles. I'm only seeing the chocolate lovers listed at the wilderness lodge. TIA

When I was there over July 4, they did not have a chocolate lovers waffle.

 

[mum22girlz]

60 days until we check in! Paid off the trip yesterday and made fast passes this morning! Can't wait!!!

 

[princessesintraining]

Thanks for your help! That's what I thought after checking menus. I will probably be on the bad mom list for it.

 

[renes]

Some thoughts on our recent trip. We were at the poly July 24th-30th, 3 standard rooms, 9 people total. We (DH & I) got a king room in Rarotonga room 3808. We loved the location, step away from GCH, oasis pool, bus stop... DD and DGS5 were on 2nd floor, queen room, not a problem however DD, DSIL and 3 DGkids were in 3810, a king room. Why would they put 5 people in a king room. It was our mistake not asking to change but the kids already "unpacked" by the time I found out. We loved the pools, Kona, Ohana and capt cooks, although not a big pineapple fan. This was our 2nd stay at Poly and probably not our last. DGS6 has declared the pools his favorite. Loved the location, being so close to MK, DH and I went to MK last Friday night at 9:40 and walked on 3 rides within 45 minutes and back in our room by 11:00. In Feb we stay at the contemporary, then we will have stayed in every deluxe.

 

[Cluelyss]

We were there the 22nd to the 29th and the pools were open from 9 am to 11 pm each day. Maybe one day they might have been opened until midnight? It was a bummer because we enjoy the pool after the parks, and we only had time one night to enjoy Wishes and the pool after Epcot.

We did find the Oasis pool remained open past 11 when we were there last month. Not sure if that is "normal" or we just got lucky, but definitely something to check if you have your heart set on a midnight swim!

 

[trishadono]

LOVE those morning shots when you feel like you have the whole resort to yourself, except for the hard working CMs who are out and about, of course. Remind me what category you're booked at GF? Will you be walking over there with your luggage like DD and I did in August?

Yep we rolled them ourselves at noon on a hot August day!

Luckily our room was ready at gf. Since lys class is all day today I'll have some time to post.

So I always post about mom n me trips with dd. Ds agreed to come but only for the poly part. Guess catching Pokemon with his sissy is fun because when my dh offered for him to stay on to the gf part he agreed.

So I have a day today with him. Yippee!

 

[trishadono]

We got home last night after a very pleasant stay at the Poly. We had booked with the magical deal, and had a GV CL room. We requested a third floor room, and we got 3534, so we were happy that we had a balcony! The room itself was in great condition, no major wear and tear noted, except maybe the outlets - so loose! The clock having the two USB ports gave us guaranteed phone charges, so that was a lifesaver. The view from 3534 isn't spectacular, as it's the nearest GV room to the 3rd floor lounge. That said, it's not a bad view. We could see both pools, but there is a large tree. The upside of a tree is that our room felt entirely private! The convenience of being so close to the lounge was much appreciated. It was very easy to run to grab coffee or a snack and head back up to the room. Housekeeping did a good job cleaning our room before we came back for afternoon break, and getting turndown done after we left again for the evening. The turndown service was not as thorough as we had at other resorts. They don't do anything other than turn down the bed and refill towels. At the CR and BC, they'd turn the lights down, turn the TV to soothing music, and do a quick tidying of the room.

The Poly grounds are beautiful, and the staff that I interacted with were friendly and helpful. The Oasis and Volcano pool redesigns were very well done - everything looks beautiful. My kids loved swimming and spent quite a lot of time at the pool. I swam pretty much every day, though I wasn't as pleased with the pools. Some observations: the pool water is much too warm, and shade is very hard to come by. People are very rude about taking up spots the moment the pool opens and then disappearing for hours. We decided to spend the first half of the day enjoying the resort. We went down to the Oasis pool around 8:00 am, and families had already grabbed all of the cabanas. Usually with one person sitting in it, with all of the chairs and sofas covered with personal items. The same people would stake out the cabanas for the entire week, all day long. We managed to get a chair sitting in one when another family saw us and invited my daughter and I over. Back to our pool saga - the kids swam in the Oasis pool until 9, then we moved over to the main pool when it opened. We were able to get a couple of loungers under an umbrella. My husband and I settled in with some books while the kids played and swam. We'd also hop in to the pool for 5-10 minutes to cool off, then back to the loungers to relax. We were there from 9 until about lunch time. Other people came in around the same time we did. They took the umbrellas around us. Piled stuff on all the chairs around the umbrellas and then proceeded to leave. Only one family was back by noon. I felt so bad for the families with very small kids looking for shade, while unoccupied spots were "reserved." The Poly really needs to do something about it; either figure out a way to provide more shady areas, or police the area to see whether loungers are actually being used.

The club lounge was nice in that there is ample seating and the view is spectacular. The staff was very friendly with us. The food choices were meh. Snacks in the afternoon were identical every day. Fruit skewers, veggies in cups, dip, chips, goldfish, and spicy snack mix, and later on in the afternoon, cookies. The Poly snacks are not as good as what you get at the Contemporary, Beach Club or GF. Breakfast was the same every day. Croissants, bagels, mini muffins, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, yogurt and toppings. The evening appetizers were pretty much a bust for us. I'm the only one who eats seafood in the family, and there was quite a bit of it at the Poly. Nothing really stood out to me as being terribly good. I ate a lot of the veggies and fruit. I did appreciate the size of the lounge and the fact that we could always find a seat at all services. We loved the other families in the lounge! My kids hit it off with some of the others in the lounge, and they had a blast. It was great meeting @GADisneyDad14 and his family! My daughter loved his kids!

Overall - our stay was pretty wonderful!

We transferred to the Grand and I was going to write some thoughts on my stay at poly but everything you wrote I agree with. So thanks Alice!

I'll just add my lv and check in.

They no longer escort but since we received the room not ready text we walked to the Hawaii building and our mb's worked at 11am. Ds was tired since we left at 3:30 am for airport and he was on xbox with friends until 2:30 . So dd and I left him on 3rd floor lounge area and we went mono shopping. Our room did not get ready until 2:38pm. However that view was definitely worth the wait!

The kids promptly went for a nap and the CL cm said 10 minutes for luggage delivery. 3 trips to cm desk and over 1.5 hours they finally arrived. I threatened I was going to go fetch myself. They felt bad and gave us a free fast pass good for any ride/any park which we used for soarin the next day.

Hanging out with my friends in the afternoon and my kids am and pm made for some busy yet fun days!!

We had a great time and I miss poly already. I can see it from my room in sago so there's that at least .

Any questions let me know.

 

[trishadono]

Here is some work in progress on the fencing 8/1.