Just back from AKL concierge and Poly concierge

[Mike_in_FL]

We just got back from a few days at AKL concierge and Poly concierge. We had a great time...

AKL
We were very impressed with our first concierge stay here. The CMs were very friendly and the lounge was never overcrowded. There were always tables and chairs available and no long lines for food. Speaking of the food, it was excellent! There was great variety and it was plentiful. Some of it was reasonably spicy, and may not be to everyone’s tastes, but there were plenty of other choices. We also enjoyed the South African wines . The famous coffee machine and the African Smoothie were big hits with my family. The other guests that we met were friendly. Our children got a kick out of seeing their stuffed animals arranged on the beds every night. We were surprised on our last night by a beautifully decorated cake in recognition of our 10th wedding anniversary – a really nice touch. The bellman also brought us a bag containing bottles of water when we checked out – another very thoughtful touch which we appreciated. We will definitely be returning here! Were there any negatives? Well, the weather was not very cooperative when we wanted to swim, but we live in Florida and are used to it, so not a big deal. The view from the lounge is certainly not terrible (the lobby is pretty impressive after all), but it can’t match the Poly. I was joking with one of the CMs one day about not being able to see the castle from the lounge, and she told me that they actually had a guest who was slightly upset by this, so they got together with his family and put a picture of Cinderella’s castle on his window one day...

Poly
We love the Hawaii building and were nervous about the move to Tahiti. I am happy to report that it is still a great place to stay and we will be returning here also! We did miss the old lounge, and the CMs are certainly missing Hawaii too and can’t wait to get back. They were of course, as friendly as ever, and several welcomed us back. Chef Dick, Ivette and the others did a great job, dodging guests to keep the tables supplied with food. As far as we could tell, they never ran out during the regular hours. We did not even get to the lounge until 6:30pm on our first couple of nights, and there was still plenty left. The one night we did go at 5pm, the line was quite long, as others have reported. The only complaint I heard about the food was from some guests who came by at 7:30pm and were not happy that the only things still out were some crackers and fruit. There were still desserts left at 10pm. We received our chocolate bar, much to the delight of our children. Once again, they liked having their stuffed animals arranged on the beds. The refrigerator worked very well. There was absolutely no smell in our room (2020), and we definitely thought that it felt less damp than Hawaii. The downsides? The set up is clearly more difficult for the CMs and more crowded for the guests. You cannot get a really good view of the water pageant from the lounges, and we missed the music with the fireworks. While we did not encounter any rude guests (with one exception – on our last day my wife saw someone who was being quite rude to one of the CMs at the concierge check-in desk for something that was not her fault), people seemed to be keeping to themselves more than we are used to seeing. One last comment - there was no recognition of our wedding anniversary at the Poly. It’s not that we expected anything, but it was a contrast to AKL.


One thing that my wife and I noted and that may be of interest to some people is that both the AKL lounge and the Tahiti lounge have a greater number of “open” exits with elevators in close proximity than the Hawaii lounge. While you should of course always watch very young children closely, this makes it more important and a little harder.


All in all, another great vacation that was way too short!

Mike

 

[dylansdad]

Welcome Back! Report was great! Whats the pool like at AKL? slide? size etc

 

[princess angel]

thanks for the great report Mike!
I am so happy to hear you had a great time, I have to try AKL concierge one of these days!

one question....do they close the lounge during the day at the AKL, or is it open all day like at the Poly?

Laura

 

[Mike_in_FL]

The pool at AKL is relatively large (compared with the Poly, GF, WL etc), but has a shorter, less impressive slide than the one at the Poly for example. My 7 year old daughter still enjoyed it (she loves slides, and has ridden almost everything at Blizzard Beach). My 21 month old son even rode it, although it is probably a little too fast for him (he absolutely loves being in the water and can swim already). Some people do not like the fact that the water looks "murky". That is primarily due to the fact that the pool bottom has a sandy color to it to make it look like a watering hole. The pool has zero depth entry on one side (a nice feature common to all the newer Disney pools).

Hope this helps!
Mike

 

[hightown]

Mike, glad your both stays were nice. Am hoping for a little more cooperation from the weather when we go.

Question for you...did either lounge have bottled water that guests could take to the parks? I've heard some do some don't. The inconsistancy sounds strange. We'll be at the YC Concierge and trying to get an idea on whether to take water bottles to fill there, do a grocery stop or the lounge will have.

Thanks, Sharon

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Laura,
The AKL lounge is open all day, with drinks always available from 6:30am, and only short breaks between the different food services. It is also open all night, although they take away all the food and drink after 10pm. Interestingly enough, the two Poly lounges (converted guest rooms) did actually close for cleaning for some time each day. We love the "always open" lounge access, and found it hard to adjust when we stayed at the Dolphin, where the lounge was only open at specific times in the morning and evening.
Mike

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Sharon,
The Poly lounge has chilled bottles of water and cans of soda out all day, which is a great feature (and one I should have mentioned, since it appears to be unique). The AKL lounge had bottles of water available if you asked, and cans of soda in a refrigerator in the evenings. If the YC lounge is like the BC lounge, they have them available, but you will need to ask for them there also...
Mike

 

[>>^..^<<]

Hi Mike... did you do the sunrise safari at AKL?

ALso, how were the parks, shows and did you have any really good meals?

Welcome Back


>>^..^<<

 

[princess angel]

thanks so much Mike! AkL concierge sounds great.

Sharon,
the YC used to have the small plastic bottles available if you ask, now they give you the large glass bottles, like at the GF.

Laura

 

[4dizfans]

Thanks so much for your report on the Polynesian. Our family will be there from September 20th-27th. I've been reading so many negative reports about the concierge being in the Tahiti building, it was great to finally read something positive!

 

[Mike_in_FL]

We did not do the Sunrise Safari - we were tempted, but to be honest we did not want to get up that early! The parks were very crowded and very hot, as expected. We picked and chose what we wanted to do, got fastpasses and generally only stayed a few hours. We then headed back to the sanctuary of the lounge and a swim in the pool. We did not eat out much - my wife and I don't typically eat large meals (I eat several smaller meals a day), so the lounge offerings were often enough for us, and we would go to Mara (AKL) or Captain Cook's (Poly) to get additional snacks or meals for the kids. I enjoyed the food in the AKL lounge so much, I really didn't want to go anywhere else anyway!

We did the ice cream social at the Garden Grill, along with the "re-hitching ceremonie". This is pretty new, and almost nobody had heard of it. The CM at the Poly concierge had to call up a colleague in dining to find out about it! It was fun, but not cheap. We also had reservations for the Spirit of Aloha, but the aforementioned uncooperative weather put a stop to that (long story, but I got very wet because they did not cancel it until the last minute, despite a massive downpour and very close lightning strikes from 5pm onwards)... We had a great meal at Kona Cafe that night, so all's well that ends well! We also had lunch in Cindy's castle one day, and that was pretty good, although I think that there are better values in MK and the other parks. Did I mention that the food in the AKL lounge was really good?!

By the way, thanks to all for the welcome back and the positive feedback!

Mike

 

[princesscrazydaughte]

I am also so glad to hear a positive report on the Poly concierge as we will be there Sept. 20-26. Thank you for all the information!!

 

[princess angel]

hey Mike, just an FYI, the rehitching ceremony at the Garden Grill has been around for at least a couple of years, we first did it for our 3rd anniversary, over 2 yrs ago. It seems it is something that not too many people (or even cm's) know about, not sure why...
it sure is fun !!!

Laura

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Laura,
Thanks for setting me straight! It is certainly strange that only one of the CMs I spoke to (the one who originally told me about it!) had even heard of it...
Mike

 

[kkozma]

Mike in one of your posts you speak of a rude guest. I was wondering if you experienced what my husband saw one afternoon at the concierge desk. The rudest guest he has ever seen. He was actually leaning over the desk and threatening to throw an ashtray at the gal at the desk. My husband even needed to go back because he felt this woman who was alone at the desk may be in trouble. Later in the week he was told this guest had two more incidents and was about to be kicked out of the resort. They actually asked if they could use my husbands name as he was a witness. My husband overheard this guy say to this woman" you think I am angry, you want to see angry wait til I pick up this ashtray and throw it at your head". Thank goodness I never ran into this guy. It seems his travel agent made some promises that Disney knew nothing about.
Oh well, he was there with his family maybe we need to say a prayer for them.....