Great time at the Poly

[nikjd68]

We stayed at the Poly from 8/26 -9/1. I was worried by what I had read on these boards and the 2007 UG.

But, recently posters here had expressed mostly positive experiences and the 2008 UG (which I bought two days before my trip) had only positives to say about the Poly.

Mousekeeping was outstanding the entire time we were there. We came back to our room every afternoon to rest and hit the pool and the room was always cleaned up and well stocked with towels and soap (there were 4 of us in the room).

 

[odhrty]

We stayed at the Poly from 8/26 -9/1. I was worried by what I had read on these boards and the 2007 UG.

But, recently posters here had expressed mostly positive experiences and the 2008 UG (which I bought two days before my trip) had only positives to say about the Poly.

Mousekeeping was outstanding the entire time we were there. We came back to our room every afternoon to rest and hit the pool and the room was always cleaned up and well stocked with towels and soap (there were 4 of us in the room).

I've been a little worried about the posts also. We have our very first stay at Poly 10/26 and I keep debating between Poly and WL. Was the monorail worth it? We will have a car too.Did it feel really spread out? We could get a poolside lakeview at poly for $400 less than the garden view at Poly. And what if I get a view of the Parking Lot. How were the crowds? Where was your favorite place to eat. Were you glad you had the updated 2008 version of UG? Thanks Amber

 

[cara loves the poly]

I've been a little worried about the posts also. We have our very first stay at Poly 10/26 and I keep debating between Poly and WL. Was the monorail worth it? We will have a car too.Did it feel really spread out? We could get a poolside lakeview at poly for $400 less than the garden view at Poly. And what if I get a view of the Parking Lot. How were the crowds? Where was your favorite place to eat. Were you glad you had the updated 2008 version of UG? Thanks Amber

At the Poly if you get a "parking lot" view, it is not a DIRECT view of the parking lot, there is BEAUTIFUL landscaping and foilage between the two, the parking lot is off in the distance.

 

[cara loves the poly]

What is UG?

 

[nikjd68]

What is UG?

The "Unofficial Guide". It is absolutely the Bible for going to Disney.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We stayed at the Poly from 8/26 -9/1. I was worried by what I had read on these boards and the 2007 UG.

But, recently posters here had expressed mostly positive experiences and the 2008 UG (which I bought two days before my trip) had only positives to say about the Poly.

Mousekeeping was outstanding the entire time we were there. We came back to our room every afternoon to rest and hit the pool and the room was always cleaned up and well stocked with towels and soap (there were 4 of us in the room).

Thanks for that great review of the Polynesian and it sounds like you had an amazing time. It's also good to see that the Unofficial Guide finally has some positive things to say, because I have always thought they are negative about a lot of things in the past about other things besides the Polynesian.

 

[dolly-dawne]

We just stayed at the poy...family of 5. We were there from 8/18-8/26 and had a blast. room was always clean and stocked . Although I do have to say even though we hung our towels to dry (in order to save on water and such like they ask) we were given fresh towels every day cleaning came to our room. (there were days I requested no cleaning.) The Poly is soo beautiful we stay there every year.I cant get my DH to go any other place. I tried alot this year but no luck . When we were actually there I remembered why and agreed this is the place to be. My DS was at the contempory resort and it just does not feel the same. To me the CR was like any nice hotel in a big city. My only complaint for the Poly is that they lock up the towels by the pools around 10pm when the pools are open til midnight. And sometimes during the day the dirty towel bins were overflowing . Everything else on the grounds was always clean and tidy and I never saw a cleaning crew -they come in secret I guess.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

The "Unofficial Guide". It is absolutely the Bible for going to Disney.

So glad it was the Disney Bible for you

Bought it once, then checked it out at the book shop each year, but never found anything helpful. Also found it rather negative.

 

[Poly Pal]

So glad it was the Disney Bible for you

Bought it once, then checked it out at the book shop each year, but never found anything helpful. Also found it rather negative.

ITA! I bought the UG once a long time ago and found it to offer negative opinions on almost everything at WDW - resorts, restaurants, attractions, etc. If I followed the UG's advice I would only stay at a Value (blech!), eat only counter service meals, never bring my kids with me and spend my day criss-crossing the parks to ride only the "thrill" attractions. Years later I bought a more recent UG for 99 cents. That was a dollar wasted - still just as negative.

 

[sotoalf]

Why is "negative" bad? I don't see "negative" in the UG -- I see realistic, sober judgments. Any place as relentlessly smiley-smiley as Disney surely needs criticism. Like any judgment, you don't have agree with it. The book is, for the most part, well-researched, thorough, and extremely funny. I laugh out loud many times.

If I followed the UG's advice I would only stay at a Value (blech!), eat only counter service meals, never bring my kids with me and spend my day criss-crossing the parks to ride only the "thrill" attractions.

This is totally untrue. Reread what they've written about Pop Century and the other Values, and MK restaurants over the years.

 

[db99]

I concur that the UG is THE WDW bible. I feel that the writing is balanced and fair. Bottom line: Never leave home without it. Len Testa is God!

 

[mrstbalt]

We were there at the end of April and LOVED it! We were in the Tokelau building with a garden view. When we walked outside the building facing the lagoon on the 3r floor, we had a great view of Space Mountain and the Contemporary. Mousekeeping and front desk were great!

 

[nikjd68]

We stayed at Tahiti. 3rd Floor, MK view (value season, plus free dining with 3 adults and one child in the room made it, if not affordable, at least palatable).

Spectacular view of Wishes (some guests got a spectacular view of me flipping upside down trying to lay down in a hammock!)

 

[nikjd68]

I concur that the UG is THE WDW bible. I feel that the writing is balanced and fair. Bottom line: Never leave home without it. Len Testa is God!

I totally agree. When they were negative about mousekeeping at the Poly, these boards were inundated with complaints as well. I think a lot about what is written about WDW is one part information and one part imagination. The UG does a great job of compiling the opinions of their research staff and readers to give a detailed overview of WDW.

 

[Disfan3]

glad you had a great time


we love the POLY!!!

 

[Arch5807]

We where at the poly from Aug 26-Sept 2 .We where not at all impressed with the poly.This was our first,and it will be our last, stay at the poly and I must say ,in our opinion,it is VERY over rated.While we where given the long house that we requested ,and the housekeeping was very good, our overall opinion of the place was that it was highly over priced.At best this should be a moderate priced resort as it just doesn't come close to matching other high end hotels.The rooms ,while clean,are certainly not plush as you would expect they would be in a VERY high priced resort.And captian cooks ,the counter service resturant ,is an total nightmare .If your lucky enough to get through the mass of people to order and then pay for your food you can't find a table to sit down at.And the staff at the registers act like they don't want to even be there.The food at Ohana's and the Kona are ,at best ,average and certainly not worth the price or the wait.The volcano pool is way to small for a resort this size.And yes there is the quiet pool but you try and tell a 8 and 11 year old that they can't get in the volcano pool and see what reaction you get.So in closing I'm glad someone likes this place but we will NEVER be returning,instead if we go back to disney we will stay at a moderate that's priced as a moderate.

 

[cabanafrau]

Your positive experience reflects each & every Poly stay we've had. In our house, if it's not the Poly, nobody wants to talk about going at all.

 

[nikjd68]

our overall opinion of the place was that it was highly over priced.

And captian cooks ,the counter service resturant ,is an total nightmare .If your lucky enough to get through the mass of people to order and then pay for your food you can't find a table to sit down at.And the staff at the registers act like they don't want to even be there.

The food at Ohana's and the Kona are ,at best ,average and certainly not worth the price or the wait.The volcano pool is way to small for a resort this size.And yes there is the quiet pool but you try and tell a 8 and 11 year old that they can't get in the volcano pool and see what reaction you get.

As far as being overpriced, I don't think Poly is overpriced considering its cost in relation to other Disney resorts. If your main destination is MK and Epcot, you will save hours of travel time over most other resorts. For example, after Wishes one night, we probably saved 45 minutes by taking the ferry to the TTC and walking to Tahiti vs. taking the resort or TTC monorail. I can't imagine how long a bus would have taken (taking the bus back from MGM after Fantasmic was a nightmare). Also, Poly is perfectly themed. My DS4 still keeps talking about staying in "Hawaii". The rooms are great. They are the largest in WDW. And walking out of the 3rd floor balcony to watch Wishes (on another night) or the P&P fireworks was great.

I agree with you that Captain Cooks is an embarrassment to Disney and doesn't belong at any resort, not to mention a Deluxe one.

I thought Kona was fine for b-fast. The pressed pot of coffee was better than I expected. Ohana's character breakfast was fun (Lilo and Stitch are my DS4's favorite characters and he had a blast). We did not eat at either other than b-fast so I can't say whether they are worth it or not although I trust Kevin Klose on the podcast who said Ohana's was bad (but he also thinks Kona is a good resort restaurant--listen to the latest voicemail podcast and he mentions it).

The volcano pool was not very crowded when we were there (usually right before or right after the rains between 8/26 and 9/1).

 

[DeeCeeSW]

We stayed at Tahiti. 3rd Floor, MK view (value season, plus free dining with 3 adults and one child in the room made it, if not affordable, at least palatable).

Spectacular view of Wishes (some guests got a spectacular view of me flipping upside down trying to lay down in a hammock!)

I was in Tahiti, 3rd floor, garden view 3041, from 8/26-9/2. Perhaps we were neighbors?

 

[cabanafrau]

We've never tried Captain Cooks & it wasn't even open last summer when we were there. Could anyone explain why it's so bad in particular? TIA, I'm sure that will be good info to have for our next visit.