I'm Glad We Gave the Poly a try, but....

[CarolMN]

we most likely won't be staying there again.

The resort is beautiful. Loved the lobby and Holiday decorations. Had a great view from our second floor lake view room - it was really special to see the Castle from the bed each evening and morning. IMHO, the view of the WISHES fireworks from our balcony was even better than that from the TOTWL deck at BLT. Loved the very short walk over to the TTC and the proximity of KONA & Trader Sams. CMs were all great and all administrative tasks were done quickly without a glitch.

So why won't we stay at the Poly again? It's simply the cost per night. Our two nights at the Poly cost the exact same number of points as two nights in a 1 bedroom standard view at the BWV. We love the BWV (our home resort) and to us, the amenities of a 1 bedroom and the resort's location between our two favorite parks are far more desirable than those of the Poly studio given the cost.

Anyway, if we decide to do another split stay (which I am not crazy about) to be close to the MK for a few nights, we'll be booking BLT. Since we are usually a party of two, the extra space at the Poly isn't a consideration and we value the ability to walk to the parks. FWIW, the storage at the Poly is in no way suitable for more than a couple of nights - unless you are OK with living out of a suitcase. (IMO, BLT is much better than the Poly as far as storage goes). I agree with those who say there is a lot of wasted space in those Poly bathrooms that could have been put to better use.

So good news for those of you who want to stay at the Poly and have to book at 7 months. No more competition from us!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Carol I agree. We stayed in 3rd floor standard in Moorea building in September. Excellent view. Room just okay. No major problems. But no covered walkways and the distance to the ceremonial house was a negative for us. Just overall too spread out. The ability to walk to TTC was nice but not a must.

We are one and done with Poly.

 

[CarolMN]

Carol I agree. We stayed in 3rd floor standard in Moorea building in September. Excellent view. Room just okay. No major problems. But no covered walkways and the distance to the ceremonial house was a negative for us. Just overall too spread out. The ability to walk to TTC was nice but not a must.

We are one and done with Poly.

Yes, during our stay at the Poly, it did occur to me that it doesn't rain in the air conditioned hallways at the BWV.

 

[cvjw]

I totally agree. Our two standard view studios over Memorial Day weekend was basically the same amount of points as the BLT lakeview 2 bedroom that we gave up to try the Poly.

No comparison of the two in our book. The BLT two bedroom gives you so much more living space, a full kitchen, a full living area, a king size bed and the important washer and dryer. Plus you can WALK to the magic kingdom, which you can't do at the Poly.

Not to mention that our 2 standard view studios in Pago Pago were like 10 feet from the parking lot. What a wasted use of all those points.

Poly is a one and done for us

 

[hakepb]

Yes, during our stay at the Poly, it did occur to me that it doesn't rain in the air conditioned hallways at the BWV.

No, but It does seem like it might start snowing at any moment in the cold BWV hallways

 

[CarolMN]

No, but It does seem like it might start snowing at any moment in the cold BWV hallways

Well, not to someone from Minnesota!

 

[emilymad]

Would you have felt the same if the resort was finished or are you basing this only on the rooms themselves? We only do studios and are thinking of trying the Poly on the next trip.

 

[CarolMN]

Would you have felt the same if the resort was finished or are you basing this only on the rooms themselves? We only do studios and are thinking of trying the Poly on the next trip.

The only construction I noticed was the leisure pool. It didn't bother us and we generally don't use the pools, anyway. So I don't think having that finished would have changed my opinion - as I said the resort is beautiful and has many things to recommend it. I think you should definitely give it a try and decide for yourself if the point cost is worth it to your family.

 

[jekjones1558]

We don't do studios so your opinion, Carol, makes me feel a little better about not staying at Poly. I can't imagine spending the points for a bungalow (and I don't even know if there is a HA bungalow).

 

[wdrl]

We don't do studios so your opinion, Carol, makes me feel a little better about not staying at Poly. I can't imagine spending the points for a bungalow (and I don't even know if there is a HA bungalow).

Yes, there is a Handicap Assessable Bungalow : #7012.

 

[DougEMG]

we most likely won't be staying there again.

The resort is beautiful. Loved the lobby and Holiday decorations. Had a great view from our second floor lake view room - it was really special to see the Castle from the bed each evening and morning. IMHO, the view of the WISHES fireworks from our balcony was even better than that from the TOTWL deck at BLT. Loved the very short walk over to the TTC and the proximity of KONA & Trader Sams. CMs were all great and all administrative tasks were done quickly without a glitch.

So why won't we stay at the Poly again? It's simply the cost per night. Our two nights at the Poly cost the exact same number of points as two nights in a 1 bedroom standard view at the BWV. We love the BWV (our home resort) and to us, the amenities of a 1 bedroom and the resort's location between our two favorite parks are far more desirable than those of the Poly studio given the cost.

Anyway, if we decide to do another split stay (which I am not crazy about) to be close to the MK for a few nights, we'll be booking BLT. Since we are usually a party of two, the extra space at the Poly isn't a consideration and we value the ability to walk to the parks. FWIW, the storage at the Poly is in no way suitable for more than a couple of nights - unless you are OK with living out of a suitcase. (IMO, BLT is much better than the Poly as far as storage goes).

I feel pretty much the same way. It hurts to pay double the point cost of a BWV standard view room compared to the POLY room. As for monorail resorts, the POLY is my least favourite. Would rather stay at the VGF for the same points, but prefer the point cost and walk from the BLT given the option.

 

[Anal Annie]

We're going to try it out in June. We want to try ALL of the DVC resorts and have now with the exception of the 2 newest ones, the Poly & VGF. It's hard to stay caught up when they keep adding resorts. The points at the VGF are even higher than at the Poly and it doesn't look like "our style" so we're leaving it for a (shorter) future trip we can plan in the "Adventure Season". We had never stayed at the Poly before and everybody has always made such a big deal out of it I was anxious to plan a stay there. We had just enough points left with only 1 to borrow to plan 8 nights there early next June. But yes, we could have had a couple more nights at other resorts for essentially the same number of points. We don't normally splurge on these point intensive resorts tho so unless we fall in love with something there I doubt we'll go very often. But this lets us cross one more resort off our list and I'm looking forward to it. This will be our 4th trip on these AP's and with the new pricing structure on them and the increased cost for TIW I'm already thinking ahead to maybe skipping WDW for awhile & perhaps trying to plan another (longer) trip to DL and So. CA.... We loved the VGC when we stopped there on our way to Aulani in 2014 so maybe it's time to change it up?! But in the meantime I'm looking forward to our June trip….

 

[suebeelin]

We are staying at poly next month. It's likely one and done for us too.. We own at bwv and BLT and std 1bds are our usual go to rooms.

Hard to compare a studio vs 1bd. Thanks for confirming my thoughts!!

 

[DenLo]

We tried PVB in mid November and stayed in a lakeview--what a view! And if there is anyway we can swing the points we will be staying there again. But then we are view people. Having a view from the room is important to us and we are willing to pay extra to get it. I really liked the room. It was nice having a real table with lots of space for our two lap tops. Plus night stands for both sides of the bed with USB so we could each charge our cell phones yet have them available to check the time at night. I have to admit that we mainly used the bathroom with the shower. The other half was basically a powder room for us. My only complaint was that the cabinet over the sink for the kitchenette was pretty high up and the top shelf was out the for someone that is 5' 4" or less. No way would I ever be able to use the cabinet that was over the microwave. I had to jump just to open it and struggled to get it shut. And the microwave was above my eye level. A little tricky getting a hot cup of water out of it safely for me. DH who is 7 inches taller had no problems with it.

I thought there was plenty of storage, with having two large under bed drawers, the space inside the coffee table and all the drawer space in the bathrooms.

Two drawers in each bathroom section under the sink.

Plus all the shelf space.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thx for posting those pics. I hadn't really looked into Poly pics before. Sad to see yet another dinky studio kitchenette. Not sure why they can't bother making them just a few inches bigger? The counters at VWL and BLT are so much more practical. I actually try to USE that countertop area for making some breakfasts etc. So hard when they barely give you room for the toaster and the coffee pot. I feel like I need to bring a folding tray table or something so I can move the coffee pot & toaster out of the way. Maybe I will just move stuff to one of the bathrooms or something.

Last summer I added a collapsible hanging closet shelf thingy to our owners locker to make up for some of the resorts that only provide like 4 drawers….