Hmmm...Poly or Wilderness Lodge?

[mega13]

Well, after reading some great advice about the beauty of "splitting" your stay between two hotels, I think we're going to do it. We're staying for ten days, so the first half will be at the AKL. But the second half? We haven't decided. It is just my boyfriend and me, so we're looking for something quiet and breathtaking. A few questions:

Which did you find to be the better stay and why... the Polynesian or the Wilderness Lodge?

We can't afford the concierge for either of our stays. How good do you think our chances are of getting a free upgrade?

Also, we're going during the second week of January. Will the holiday decorations all be taken down by then?

And finally, (this may be an utterly taboo question on this board) have any of you stayed on Universal Studios? We're doing both of the parks, so it wouldn't be out of the question to keep those hotels in mind if they were worth it. Thanks!

 

[mega13]

It is difficult to be deciding on a room while the news shows video of the impending storm. My heart goes out to all those down there in the midst of the hurricane.

I pray that you see sun soon!

 

[JonJehrio]

My wife and I love the Wilderness Lodge, we've stayed there a few times, and would choose it again in a heart beat. We've been over to the Polynesian and walked around, never stayed there though. It's a beautiful resort, someday we will hopefully stay there. Our other favorite is the Yacht and Beach Club. They have the best pool for laying around. They are also great because you can just walk over to EPCOT or take a short boat ride over to MGM. The Boardwalk is nice for those reasons as well. You have a tough choice though, one that I wish I was making!

 

[Andrew015]

Another vote for the WL!!!

The WL and Poly are my two favorites, but I really don't think you can beat the feel of the WL. It's romantic and breathtaking. The Poly's is awesome as well, I just prefer the WL. Also, I like the fact that all of the rooms are under one roof at the WL, where as you have to walk to your longhouse in the bad weather at the poly.

It's hard to decide which resort is "quieter." I think it all depends on where you're located. In the WL, if your room is overlooking the main lobby, you'll have some noise coming from the Whispering Canyon Cafe, and the normal hustle and bustle of the lobby itself. On the other hand, if your room isn't overlooking the lobby, and most of the rooms in the WL do not overlook the lobby, your room should be quiest as can be. Get a woods view, and your balcony will be very peaceful and relaxing. Overlooking the courtyard, which is slightly more expensive than woods view, will not be as peaceful as a woods view.

I think the Poly is slightly "louder" than the WL in the sense that I think it gets more traffic. This may be due to the fact that it's on the monorail, and gets more people coming by to check out the resort. I also think the pool area has more activity than WL's. On the other hand, if your put in one of the longhouses further away from the Great Ceremonial House, chances are your room will be quiet as can be.

Look at it this way, whichever you choose, you'll be happy.

 

[missycj96]

I've stayed at both for a week each and both DH and I strongly prefer poly. Our next trip is to the poly. I have found no substitute to being able to look out on the seven seas lagoon and see everything - to me that feels like Disney World. That said, the cost difference can be significant depending on the rooms you choose and the rates, and the WL is a great resort with many excellent features. If you were not comparing the two, but just evaluating WL on its merits, WL is probably a better dollar value. WL can be $100 less expensive per night so if you are concerned about the cost, I would give WL a try. As for an upgrade - at WL we booked standard view and were given courtyard view rooms (2) by the pool by the villas without even asking this summer. At poly we booked GVC and thats what we got. If you are asking about concierge upgrades, this summer we had a really discounted WL standard AP rate of (i think) like 114 pn. We had asked about concierge and it would have been $70 extra per night.

If the extra cost is not going to matter that much to you overall, then the Poly is more of a true disney experience.

As others have said, either way you can't go wrong.

 

[PartyofSix]

Have you checked on info on Portfino Bay Hotel, HRH, or RPH. I strongly suggest for your uso/ioa days you stay there for the fotl access to those parks. For every night you stay that's two days Front of the LIne access. Me and my dh love the HRH just for the theming and we enjoying walking to the parks. Its the closest of the three on site hotels the others you can walk but it's a bit longer and the boats will get you to the park. If your looking for romance try the PBH it's awesome and will just bowl you over i suggest you have supper at mama dellas even if you dont stay at pbh take the boat at city walk over for supper. If your considering the poly why not give the RPH with it's poly them a try! It's newer less expensive and you get fotl access. Just some thoughts. And if you choose to stay onsite sign up for lowes first which gets you some amenties. YOu can visit the uso/ioa here on dis just click on the resorts thread to read up on your favorites. Hopes this helps. If it where me i would stay 7 days at akl and then move to RPH or which ever you liked best at universal for 3 nights. I would not move more than twice though.

 

[Rozzie]

We have also stayed at portofino bay at universal. it was worth every penny, the rooms are incredible. high poster beds, the bathrooms are worth the price and we didn't have a suite. the front of line access is worth every dime also. we went durings spring break (yikes, in area for DB's wedding) and it made all the difference.
Also we are poly addicts....so i have to vote for poly for loyalty sakes, but i hear WL is also super... you can't really go wrong!

 

[Grammamouse]

I'd pick WL over Poly in a heart beat. Our first trip in 2002 was in July at WL. We had reserved 2 woods view rooms and were upgraded to Courtyard which was wonderful. We really enjoyed sitting on the balcony watching our DGDs in the pool, watching the geyser go off and watching the Electrical boat parade. Also, the lobby is a wonderful place to sit and watch the activity, especially in those great rocking chairs near the inside stream.

This year, we went to Poly in August. Because, it was really inconvenient and uncomfortable to run outside in the heat and rain to go to the GCH for pop and coffee, we switched over to conceirge at the Hawaii. The only room available was GVC and our view was other buildings. The lounge was nice for drinks and snacks and not have to go outside, but it was often crowded and noisy with no place to sit. The GCH lobby was not as impressive as WL and didn't really have the ambience to sit and lounge. Kind of like sitting in the hall of a large shopping center.

We also found the rooms a little gloomy at the Poly. I think the location of your room is probably the most important if you are going to spend time at the resort. We would probably have liked the Poly more if we had a lagoon view to look at, or if the weather had not been so hot that we didn't really want to walk around the grounds.

Having the monorail available was great, but still had to walk to the GCH, about the same distance as walking to the dock at WL and we found the boat ride to be enjoyable and no problem.

So basically we paid much more at the Poly to have the convience of the lounge in the same building, while at WL the restaurants and cafe for refillable mugs are all in the same building for any room rate.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

As you can tell, WL is one of my favorite resorts. But Poly is one resort that I would love to try sometime. I hear a lot of good about it.

Since you are at AKL, you might want to stay the other half at Poly. It's not that WL and AKL are the same, but they have a similar "feel" to them. The room size is almost identical, I think.

At the Poly you'd be going somewhere with a completely different "feel". From the safari to the tropical islands. You'd also be getting a much bigger room than WL. Ofcourse, there is a price difference, but you didn't say that was a consideration, except for not staying CL.

I'm sure either place would make you very happy. But I think I would go with AKL/Poly.

Have fun making a decision.

 

[hygienejean]

I vote for the Poly. The location can't be beat and it is so beautiful and romantic.