Help Me Pick A Longhouse at the Poly!!

[Everyyeardisney]

My husband and I have just decided to stay at the Poly in April. Neither of us have ever been in or on the grounds of this hotel. We have only seen it by way of monorail. We have always wanted to stay here and are very excited. But since neither of us have ever been there I have no idea where to begin on picking a longhouse. If all of you that have been here before could give me you suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
My in-laws will be with us so non-smoking and newly renovated is a must (MIL has a sinus problem where mold makes her not breathe well).
We have 2 small children (4 and 1).
We are wanting to be near the pool and the monorail.
We would like a balcony if possible.
Thanks for all your opinions!!!

 

[pozey]

Have you read Tikiman's website? http://tikiman2001.homestead.com/

We are staying at the Poly in June and after researching his website, we decided to request the Tahiti Longhouse.

It's a fantastic site.

 

[catnik]

Based on your preferences, I think you would like Samoa. It lies between the volcano pool and quiet pool, was renovated in 2003 and is non-smoking. Check out Tikiman's website for indepth review of each longhouse, location, etc. Hope you have a great time!

http://tikiman2001.homestead.com/

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Another vote for Samoa, perfect location, right next to the gch and a hop,skip and jump to captain cooks for snacks and mug runs. 3rd floor balcony, either volcano pool view on one side or you can request the quiet pool view. We had 1st floor volcano pool view with our ds. I just picked that because of his swimming and asthma issues. But I have read posters say the 3rd floor is perfect. You will love the Poly.

 

[Sandi]

Here is a suggestion to not request any particular building. We stayed at Poly for the first time last month and absolutely loved it. After much angst and trying to figure out what building would be the best, I asked this very question. Tikiman responded that he had never made a request for a particular building and, with the exception of one time, had always been happy with what he was assigned. (The one time he wasn't happy, they moved him.)

When we checked in, I said that we didn't need to get in right away since we had planned to go do something else anyway. All I really wanted was a balcony (I was paying for a garden view, so was keeping my expectations low). Well, the CM checking us in said that he appreciated my letting him know we could wait since they always try to have a room available for whenever someone checks in. Since we could wait, he put us in a fabulous 3rd floor room in Fiji, overlooking the marina. It was perfect.

So, I guess my feeling is that if you go in with reasonable expections (or low expectations), you can only be pleasantly surprised. If, however, you ask for a particular room, location, building, view (especially if you haven't paid for it), you can be sorely disappointed even if you're in a very nice situation.

I would make sure to note the medical conditions that you mention as I'm sure they'll want to help you out there, but maybe chance isn't such a bad thing for other things.

 

[monorailsilver]

The majority of my stays have been at the Poly & you can't go wrong with which every longhouse you are in, it is just personal preferance to where you want to be located.

We like to be near the TTC so we pick either Tahiti, Rapi Nui or Tokelau. This way we are half way between both monorails.

One other point I might add for you is you may want a ground floor room. Normally I never cared as long as we were there but when we went in 2002 I had my then 15 month old dd.

The ground floor was great because it allowed us to 'leave' the room while she napped mid-day. We put the locks on the front door, put her in the crib & then went out and sat on the lanai. We were able to talk with out disturbing her & we each took turns leaving to either go get drinks, switch over the laundry & my husband enjoyed leaving me with a pocket full of quarters to go to the game room. We didn't have to worry about opening/closing the front door to disturb her.

I kept the slider cracked open a bit to hear her too.

I requested a bottom floor room again for my upcoming July trip. This way either myself or my husband can take my daughter swimming on our mid-day breaks while our son (who will be 21 months when we go) is napping in the room.

One more note, I always request non-smoking since my husband has asthma & they always grant it. This time I told them my son has food allergies on top of some asthma & they said they would do a special cleaning of the room since he is very sensitive & any dairy he comes in contact with (and peanut) he gets a reaction to.