Help! Need Polynesian experts

[sleepyone]

We have changed our mind from the WL to the Polynesian. One of our reasons for doing so is the monorail. We won't have to unload and reload the stroller everday. We can just leave it open and full of the necessities with two kids in pull-ups, etc. We would like a room close to the monorail and close to the restaurants for breakfast.

So, what would be the best building/room for us to request? Should we just request Samoa for the proximity to the pools and ceremonial house? Or should we request Tokeleau or another building centrally located?

I'm looking at a map of the Polynesian and it seems that there are two monorail stations? Am I wrong? Why are there two and which should we try to be nearer to?

 

[Princess Mindy]

There are 2 monorails because one goes to resorts and MK only, and the other goes to Epcot. Since your kids are small you are probably going to spend more time at MK, so I would choose to be closer to the GCH as opposed to the TTC, which is where the Epcot monorail is.

 

[sleepyone]

Okay, thanks so much. So, I'll request and hope for a room in Samoa.

 

[bcsmom]

My family always stay's in Tokelau, I think it is pretty central to everything. In case you wanted to go to TTC, you could walk there. It takes maybe 5 mins to walk to GCH also. It is even close to the pool.

 

[Sammie]

Just so you know before you change your reservation, if the monorail is packed, you will not be able to just roll the stroller in open, as there will not be room.

I witnessed a very heated argument on the monorail with 2 guests when one with an open stroller tried to force its way onto a crowded monorail. The CM had to intervene and ask the guest with the stroller to wait for the next train or fold up the stroller.

 

[MissionMouse]

...and if the monorail is packed and they require you to fold up your stroller you can always take the Ferry back to the PR since the transportation center (where the ferry launch is located) is right next door.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

You might have your best luck just requesting a room "close to the great ceremonial house". From what I've heard, the more broad your request is, the more likely it is to be met.

 

[Saphire]

We actually like Tahiti. The rooms are larger than most on property. It was very quiet and peaceful there. Garden view rooms are lovely, as well as lagoon view (similar view as the concierge buiding, Hawaii). It is a quick walk to the TTC monorail station. This same monorail will then stop at the GCH, Grand Floridian, then Magic Kingdom.

 

[Tikiman]

I agree with the idea of using the ferry over at the TTC but also you can board the resort monorail at the TTC and hardly anyone gets on it there. Most people that are coming from the parking lot take the express monorail and I hardly ever see people getting on the resort monorail at the TTC. Than you are not trying to squeeze in with everyone at the Polynesian, you are already onboard. Now we go in the summer and many times during the 4th of July week and I have only seen a handful of times that the monorail was very crowded but that is not to say it does not get crowded. The best thing about the Polynesian being next to the TTC is you have more options than any other resort. As far as requesting rooms or buildings…I myself just don’t do it. If you do decide to that don’t get the impression that buildings are far from anything. People talk about Samoa or Rarotonga being close to the GCH but Tokelau being closer to the TTC (which is true) but realize that Tokelau is right next to Rarotonga and across from Samoa so the difference in walking is less than 2 minutes.

 

[sleepyone]

I agree with the idea of using the ferry over at the TTC but also you can board the resort monorail at the TTC and hardly anyone gets on it there. Most people that are coming from the parking lot take the express monorail and I hardly ever see people getting on the resort monorail at the TTC. Than you are not trying to squeeze in with everyone at the Polynesian, you are already onboard. Now we go in the summer and many times during the 4th of July week and I have only seen a handful of times that the monorail was very crowded but that is not to say it does not get crowded. The best thing about the Polynesian being next to the TTC is you have more options than any other resort. As far as requesting rooms or buildings…I myself just don’t do it. If you do decide to that don’t get the impression that buildings are far from anything. People talk about Samoa or Rarotonga being close to the GCH but Tokelau being closer to the TTC (which is true) but realize that Tokelau is right next to Rarotonga and across from Samoa so the difference in walking is less than 2 minutes.

Thanks for this post. I've stayed at 2 WDW resorts before. The first was AKL and, there was no problem walking anywhere. The second was CBR which is a huge resort. We paid for a preferred location and were close to the pool, food court, the bus stop, and parking lot. I just don't know how large a resort the Polynesian is. Could you give me an idea how long it would take to walk from one side to the other side?

 

[3littleHalls]

Hate to be a downer...but I have had to break down our stroller(even with a kid sleeping inside) when the monorail is full. This hasn't happened often, but it does happen. Just don't want you to get upset if it happens to you. Have a magical trip! There are lots of wonderful things about staying at the Poly!! The ferry trip is nice too!

 

[SB in KY]

It is a pretty spread out place and unlike CBR and the other moderates there is no direct route from one end of the resort to the other....

personally I hate being at the TTC end of the Poly (although that is a real minority view on this board)....it is a major hike back to all of the rest of the hotel (pool, desk, shopping, dining, etc)....I would just second the posters suggestion for requesting a room near the GCH....we had terrific stays there when my girls were stoller age with that request....they always gave us a room in the first bldg to your right when you get off the monorail (name escapes me sorry) we always had garden/standard views and they always put us on the first floor which was great because even though the parking lot was out there, you couldn't see it for all the lovely landscaping (if you were upstairs you would have been looking right at the parking lot), the girls could go out and play and watch the monorail glide by and I LOVED sitting on the patio at night with the torches going...ahhh what happy memories!!

We were close to everything (pool, shops, monorail, food), and had the least expensive rooms in the resort. We would walk down to the beach at night for fireworks...it was great.

 

[Tikiman]

Thanks for this post. I've stayed at 2 WDW resorts before. The first was AKL and, there was no problem walking anywhere. The second was CBR which is a huge resort. We paid for a preferred location and were close to the pool, food court, the bus stop, and parking lot. I just don't know how large a resort the Polynesian is. Could you give me an idea how long it would take to walk from one side to the other side?

I use to film around the entire resort and I walked from one end to the next. Since my camera has time stamped on it I could use it to calculate walk times. Also these times were walking at a slower than normal pace since I was filming but it gives you an idea of walk times. Here is the link to the page some of these times are posted. Just to give you an idea the walk from Tahiti (at the TTC end) to the Wedding pavilion (that is past Luau Cove was 8 minutes.

http://www.tikiman2001.homestead.com/map.html

 

[Tikiman]

It is a pretty spread out place and unlike CBR and the other moderates there is no direct route from one end of the resort to the other....

personally I hate being at the TTC end of the Poly (although that is a real minority view on this board)....it is a major hike back to all of the rest of the hotel (pool, desk, shopping, dining, etc)....

Not quite true. If you walk the beach path from Tahiti to the pool or motor launch to the MK it can be faster than from many other longhouses on property.

 

[sleepyone]

We will probably use the ferry to get back to the resort from the MK some nights. We are so used to folding the stroller up to get on and off the trams. I can hold both the little ones and dh gets the stroller...we've got it down to an art...

What I meant by "We won't have to unload and reload the stroller everyday", was that we won't have to load it up in our van every day. All of the in and out, in and out, stuffing it in the van among all the souvenirs, drives dh nuts. Dh can fold it to get on the tram without taking everything out but, it will only fit in the van if we pull the big things out. Once we get to the resort after a day at the park, we either leave it in the van (and have to run to the car for extra wipes, etc.) or unload it once again and put it in the room. It will be much easier to not have to load and unload it all day.

For us the monorail (or ferry) would be so much easier for us. Even if we have to fold it up for a little while, we still don't have to take everything out of it to try and stuff the stroller in the van. Hope that makes sense.

 

[sleepyone]

I use to film around the entire resort and I walked from one end to the next. Since my camera has time stamped on it I could use it to calculate walk times. Also these times were walking at a slower than normal pace since I was filming but it gives you an idea of walk times. Here is the link to the page some of these times are posted. Just to give you an idea the walk from Tahiti (at the TTC end) to the Wedding pavilion (that is past Luau Cove was 8 minutes.

http://www.tikiman2001.homestead.com/map.html

YEA!!! Wow, thanks for the link!!! I was just hoping for a guess!

ETA: I love your site! It's a wealth of information. Great work!!!

 

[Tikiman]

I use to guess but I got asked that question too many times. Also people get different impressions and have different sense of time and distance so instead of throwing impressions around I just put the facts down. It was either measure the distance (was not going to do it) count the steps (not going to dot that either) or time the walk (already had it on tape). I kept on seeing people post that it took 15 minutes to walk from Tahiti to the GCH and the only way it would take that long is if you were crawling or got lost. I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression about the size of the resort. Many people come back and report that it was smaller than they expected and not so spread out like some resorts can be.

 

[sleepyone]

Your site is better than every other site I've seen for the Polynesian. The official Disney site should have a link to your site! I'm so excited to visit this resort. I don't really care which building I stay in as long as it doesn't smell like cigarettes.