Must dos at poly

[patm95]

We decided to tack on an extra day this May at poly. It’s our first time staying there and we want to evaluate how we like it because we are thinking about adding on. We are staying in a studio preferred view (not at the tower). What should we do/checkout to better evaluate if we want to buy here?

 

[cruisehopeful]

I would get some food and drink at the Grand Ceremonial House at different times of the day. Although, since you are in a preferred view room, you might be kind of far away from it. Walk around the property. It'll give you an idea of how much time you'll be in the heat or rain going from point A to point B.

 

[patm95]

I would get some food and drink at the Grand Ceremonial House at different times of the day. Although, since you are in a preferred view room, you might be kind of far away from it. Walk around the property. It'll give you an idea of how much time you'll be in the heat or rain going from point A to point B.

Great point. We don’t mind walking around. We plan to spend our entire time at the resort.

 

[Kailunkat]

I think in general people either love the kitsch and vibe at PVB OR think it's too dense/crowded/over-hyped. You should know pretty quickly where you hit on that scale.

Some special Polynesian perks if you are doing a resort stay:

1. Trader Sam's. If you love a Tiki drink this should be a top priority. There are no reservations and you have to join the wait list in person (so you should have a good opportunity to get in if you are hanging at the resort this trip). People start lining up around 2pm on the bottom floor of GCH in the hallway headed towards Island tower. The door is unmarked but if you see people waiting around down there for no reason - now you know why!
2. Take advantage of all the wonderful dining options. The options at Polynesian are all good (the Pineapple-Coconut Bread Pudding at Ohana and Kona is so good I will travel just to have a piece) but where PVB goes beyond is the fact that you can easily walk to Grand Floridian and its GREAT restaurants, or hop on the monorail to head over to Contemporary for Steakhouse 71 or California Grill.
3. I am not sure how the access to the Island tower outdoor terrace gardens is working ATM - they were restricted only to tower guests at opening - but if they are accessible now you should definitely walk over and relax there.
4. Watch the fireworks from the beach or the "hill" between the island tower and the lake.

 

[maui22]

Definitely walk around the resort. Food at GCH (Ohana or if you can’t get in, go to Tambu Lounge and order a couple items to try. We like the Ohana Noodles. Even Capt Cooks has variety. Wailulu bar and grill at the tower is really good. Dole Whip is also fun.

If you happen to like espresso martinis, definitely go to Wailulu for one. Warning, they are really good.

For fireworks, the areas we fell in love with are Sunset point (hill near the bungalows, sitting in a swing but I believe only one can see the fireworks, and over by island tower there are hammocks and more).

We like to watch the families watching movies at night near GCH.

Check out the electric water pageant too, which is typically right after the fireworks. It’s been going on for more than 50 years. Not super exciting until you realize it’s been going on for 50+ years. Becomes a tradition for many.

I also suggest getting a tour at Island Tower. Fun to see the difference in rooms. The 1BR was really well done.

Enjoy, there is so much to do at the resort.

 

[Philsfan77]

Agree with someone else about ordering from the quick service at different times of the day. We stayed there and Mobile order was regularly at least an hour out. The line inside often seemed daunting, but moved rather quickly. Depending on what you were ordering, it went quick as well, but that was my biggest con for this property was how long it took to get food throughout the day at Captain Cooks. We had much better success with Mobile order from Kona-To-Go. Catch the fireworks on the beach. Walk over to the Tower and check that out. Enjoyed the food from both quick services, but it defeats the purpose a bit of being a quick service when you might have to wait an hour to get a mobile order in, or put in a half hour minimum ordering and getting your food if you choose to wait in line.

The other thing I'd suggest if traveling with young ones, is doing their kids activities throughout the day, and the movie under the stars. Their activities team was phenomenal when we were there, and my kids spent most of their evenings doing the dance parties they had leading into the movies after swimming. Our kids loved the pool.

I'd also suggest at some point walking from your building to the transportation center just to see how easy that is and maybe take the loop to Epcot one time just to get the full effect. The convenience of that and how easy it was to do was a big draw for us.

There are a lot of pros to the property, but it often felt overcrowded for us.

 

[patm95]

Agree with someone else about ordering from the quick service at different times of the day. We stayed there and Mobile order was regularly at least an hour out. The line inside often seemed daunting, but moved rather quickly. Depending on what you were ordering, it went quick as well, but that was my biggest con for this property was how long it took to get food throughout the day at Captain Cooks. We had much better success with Mobile order from Kona-To-Go. Catch the fireworks on the beach. Walk over to the Tower and check that out. Enjoyed the food from both quick services, but it defeats the purpose a bit of being a quick service when you might have to wait an hour to get a mobile order in, or put in a half hour minimum ordering and getting your food if you choose to wait in line.

The other thing I'd suggest if traveling with young ones, is doing their kids activities throughout the day, and the movie under the stars. Their activities team was phenomenal when we were there, and my kids spent most of their evenings doing the dance parties they had leading into the movies after swimming. Our kids loved the pool.

I'd also suggest at some point walking from your building to the transportation center just to see how easy that is and maybe take the loop to Epcot one time just to get the full effect. The convenience of that and how easy it was to do was a big draw for us.

There are a lot of pros to the property, but it often felt overcrowded for us

Very interesting. I had no idea about the quick service delays. We do have young ones so it’d be great to check some of that stuff out. We have a studio preferred view. Would we be able to see the fireworks from there? Do they pipe the music into the room?

 

[lukemorenus]

Fireworks from the new tower pool are amazing!

 

[byurick]

Pros: Tonga Toast!
Cons: very crowded at times

That's all I got

 

[Philsfan77]

Very interesting. I had no idea about the quick service delays. We do have young ones so it’d be great to check some of that stuff out. We have a studio preferred view. Would we be able to see the fireworks from there? Do they pipe the music into the room?

Should be able to from the 3rd floor rooms. I would imagine the ground floor rooms would be obstructed views. Not 100% on if they pipe the music in.

 

[Steelers0854]

There are no reservations and you have to join the wait list in person (so you should have a good opportunity to get in if you are hanging at the resort this trip). People start lining up around 2pm on the bottom floor of GCH in the hallway headed towards Island tower. The door is unmarked but if you see people waiting around down there for no reason - now you know why!

Not any longer. Trader Sams now operates on a walk up waitlist. So you can be in the area and join the waitlist, no more waiting in line for an hour!

 

[Steelers0854]

I would say you need to see an Island tower studio, so do a tour and really spend some time and see if you like it. Since they take up a good part of the total studio inventory you should see how happy you would be to stay there.

We have stayed in both PIT and the longhouses and like them both, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. I wouldn’t be mad staying at either one. We own there and in no way regret our decision.

I wouldn’t also go to Epcot from the poly. Walk to the TTC and see if you are ok with the walk there and back. Getting to MK you have the boats which are great and the monorail which is fine because you get on before the VGF folks and i think people mainly walk to MK from the Contemporary so we didnt have any issues getting on even in the mornings.

Wailulu is probably one of our favorite spots on all of WDW property to eat now. The view, the vibes and the food are 10/10 no notes.

 

[Add-On-Itis]

Wailulu is probably one of our favorite spots on all of WDW property to eat now. The view, the vibes and the food are 10/10 no notes.

Loved Wailulu. Hopefully, turning that into a reservation spot won't make it too hard to get in. The pork chop was delicious.

I do wish there was a side entrance to PIT tho.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I was going to recommend the Macadamia Pancakes .
I don’t get the TongaToast thing since the banana inside was mushy when I have tried it.
It is a nice place to enjoy their Kona Coffee too !

 

[BlueGreen5]

We decided to tack on an extra day this May at poly. It’s our first time staying there and we want to evaluate how we like it because we are thinking about adding on. We are staying in a studio preferred view (not at the tower). What should we do/checkout to better evaluate if we want to buy here?

I want to be the first to welcome you home to POLY. You're already thinking about it without even having stayed there so you're doomed.

I agree with others about walking around the property. IMO, it's the quintessential Disney resort - convenient location, awesome theming, relatively compact, and tons to do. Also walk to the TTC so you can feel how convenient it is to get directly on the EPCOT and TTC monorails. Walk to the Grand Floridian so you can see how another world is just steps away. Look at all THREE of the pools. Check out Kona Cafe, Ohana, Wailulu, Trader Sam's, Tambu Lounge - SO many options. If you get bored at POLY, I can't save you.

The studios you are staying in are the best at any Disney property. They're huge for studios and the longhouse layout means no long elevator waits and no never-ending hallways. You'll like the preferred view because it's essentially theme park view. With that said, I think most owners prefer to save their points and stay in resort view because, other than one side of one of the three buildings, there's not a bad view. Consider that when thinking about how many points to buy. But, as someone who relishes resort view availability at 7 months, if preferred view is your jam, I fully support that.

There are three drawbacks to POLY. First, when it rains, you're going to get wet. There is nothing to do in the longhouses other than stay in your room and you'll need to walk outside, uncovered, to get anywhere. Second is the bus situation. There is no good reason a resort this big, popular and expensive should be sharing bus service with the even larger, more popular, and more expensive Grand Floridian. We've just learned to build ride share cost into our budget when we stay there. Finally the noise from the TTC is bothersome to some (we've never noticed it, but there are plenty of complaints). These are all such minor drawbacks, though. I really think POLY is as close to a perfect resort as you can get.

Enjoy your stay!