Need Advice on the Poly

[dzneelvr]

ok--need some advice.
my family of 4 (me, DH, DS age 16, DD age 14) want to try the Poly, since both kids wouldn't give up our WDW trip for a Hawaiian trip next summer (hard to believe, but true!!).

We will stay at our usual haunt--the ASM-- for the first "leg" of the trip, but I want to experience a bit of the tropics at least !! What are the best rooms for view, pool access, sand beach usage, etc.
We've eaten at the Poly over the years, but haven't really investigated staying there.

Let me know what you think, you veteran Poly-lovers...I know you'll help make our trip a close second to the real Hawaii!!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Jovo]

Having stayed at many of the resorts in WDW...The Poly is the only place I care to stay now! The most requested longhouses are Tokelau and Samoa. I will email you an awesome sight. Lots of info

 

[Grumpy37]

http://www.wdwig.com/polymap.jpg Here is a scanned picture of the resort guide that you get on check in, from wdwig.com. (115K)

 

[Tikiman]

Well if you stay at the Polynesian you will not be giving up your Hawaiian vacation. It is as close as you can get on the main land. I have been to many of the islands and I study Polynesian culture and I now own property in Maui and the Polynesian represents much of what you would see there. In fact in the original design and again in the mid 90’s was influenced by representatives from the Kaanapali Beach Resort in Maui. This resort calls itself “the most Hawaiian resort”. They actually visited the Polynesian in the 90’s to bring more culture to the resort. For more history go to

http://disneyecho.emuck.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=37;t=14

As far as a room, well there are so many great locations so it depends on a few things. Are you going to pay for a lagoon view? Are you staying concierge? If you are in a garden view there are many types of view that are considered a garden view including pool views, beach views, parking lot views, marina views and partial lagoon views. What do you want to be close to (and don’t say everything)? Also when are you going?

Aloha

Steve

 

[dzneelvr]

Steve:

I'm leaning toward either a beach view or a lagoon view--probably the lagoon view as I would believe it would have a beautiful look at the MK??
I'm not into concierge or a garden or parking lot (!!) although I thank you for pointing those things out. I've had one or two instances in past travels where the "views" were disappointing at best, even for extra bucks.

With the posts so far, I am VERY excited about the stay. We may give up Vero Beach as our "end of WDW trip" if the Poly proves to be all you are saying it is.

We hit WDW in late June-early July ..... I know I hear groans out there, but we love that time of year. Basically it's the only time the family can fit in between sports activities in the summer and since switching to the summer after the kids got out of elementary school (we used to go in January), each year just gets better and better!

 

[Tikiman]

You don’t have to talk me into late June and early July being a good time to go. I have been in Florida and WDW at different times of the year and The first week of july is my favorite. Why? Yes it is crowded and it can be hot but I have been in August and it was hotter. We always love going for the 4th of July. Why do we love the 4th there? A WDW engineer in charge of much of the WDW grounds told me that WDW plans rehab of rides and Resorts to be ready and at its best for the 4th of July week. I have even seen it myself. We checked into the Polynesian one year on the 1st and there were walls up outside the entrance because they were painting and cleaning. I was told they were getting the resort ready for the 4th. Also many of the rides down for rehab in May and June were set to open back up for the 4th. As far as crowds well yes there are more people but just about everything is open so there is more places for all the people to go. Also things are open later so people go in and out all day. Every time we have been in WDW for the 4th we keep a journal and one of the tings we keep track of was our longest wait time. With using fast pass or just knowing where to go when we never waited longer than 15 for anything and most things we got on in less than 5. Also there is usually a little rain almost every day around 3:00 which the clouds help keep things cooler and the rain does not feel bad at all. Besides all of those things there are always special things going on for the 4th and I don’t think there is a better place to be for the 4th of July.

Now as far as the view a beach view is considered a garden view. There are only two categories of view, garden and lagoon. Now I totally recommend a lagoon view. I would suggest requesting Tahiti although all the lagoon views are great and face the Magic Kingdom and Seven Seas Lagoon with an exception of the two lagoon view rooms in Tokelau. Now some say Tahiti is to far from the Great Ceremonial House (lobby) but the walk actually takes less than 5 minutes (yes I have timed it) and I see your kids are old enough to walk. Also you are right next to the TTC where you can get on the monorail to Epcot or even the other resorts and MK. You would be right along your own beach in Tahiti and the pools would be a short walk down the beach. The rooms in Tahiti are slightly larger and the bathrooms have double sinks. Also the 2nd and 3rd floor have balconies with the 1st floor having an open patio to the beach. I would say the lagoon view is worth every penny and would not be a disappointment.

Aloha

Steve

 

["thegirls"]

Hi~ We (myself and 10 and 11yr old girls) were at the poly in June. We stayed in Tahiti and loved it! At the time it was also the temp. conciere building. Not only is the view Fantastic but the location is sooooo convient. We used TTC for epcot every evening and arrived in record time! My one daughter suggested using the TTC for acess to the Grand Cerimonal House and it took us only 7 minutes! It also was a fun experiment.
Also, read the back of the map you get at check-in to fing out all about the Freebies on site. We did the arcade(also convient to tahati) for one whole hour for FREE...every coin operated video game pinball machine and interactive game is included. Really cool perk for me since we budget $20.00 per child for just the arcade!!

Have a GREAT trip!!!!

 

[DisneyMim]

I just had to do a quick reply on this. I agree with Tikiman, I've been to Hawaii and I absolutely adore the Poly, it's our fav hotel resort. We just came back, well actually a few weeks ago, from a wonderful, fantastic, fabulous (can I use any more adjectives??) 17 night vacation in the world (7 nights at Poly concierge) and have been meaning to post a mini report. But for now I just wanted to add my little ole 2 cents and say that the Poly is a wonderful Hawaiian themed resort that I think you will love.

Happy Planning!!!!!

 

[dzneelvr]

You all have been great--as I knew you would be !!

My son is a big football lineman and wants to know if we can get queen size beds in the rooms you suggest.

Other than that--I feel equipped to add the Poly to our trip this summer. I still want to get to the real islands (as my DH was born there and spent the first 1 1/2 years of his life there while his dad was in the service), but this sounds like the next best thing.

Any other tidbits that pop up--jot a quick one off to me!

(the last thread i sent had incorrect smilies--our pc was acting funky!)

 

[goofy4tink]

We were just there in August. And it sure did seem like Hawaii to me!! We stayed in Tokelau. If we could have, we would have loved to stay in Tahiti. But it was concierge at the time. It won't be when you go. You can gave a great view of the caslte/MK from your room. It's an incredibly short walk to the TTC to get the Epcot monorail. And the walk to GCH is a nice one. As Steve says, only about 5 minutes. It's a great resort.