Newbie Here-Help REALLY needed on planning - Poly ?'s too!

[Tricia1972]

Hi Everyone!! I am loving reading this board and am so happy to have found you all!

A little bit about myself. My name is Tricia, I am 33 years old and am a virtual newbie to Disney. We went in September of 2004 with DS (20mo), DH, my Mom and my Dad, and my lack of knowledge, lack of planning and hurricane Jeanne made it quite an experience for us. I have already gotten a lot of information from reading about all of your experiences and questions here, but have a ton of questions of my own. Please bear with me – I am so sorry to ask so much all at once, but I really appreciate ANY help that anyone can offer!

Booking – I had planned to use Magical Vacations to get the “Tiki” plan as I am staying at the Poly. I have heard a lot of talk on the board of using AAA. Does anyone have any experience that would show a greater discount for us if we use AAA? How much does a membership cost for AAA?

Tickets – I have read that it can be a lot less expensive to book tickets separately from rooms. Will a travel agent do this for me, or should I just use the travel agent to book the room and I take care of my own tickets.

Rooms – Poly – I have read a lot about the different longhouses, and how you can often get nice lagoon views for garden prices. Does anyone here know anything more specific about these longhouses? I am looking at Aotearoa, Samoa, Fiji, and Tokelau. Has anyone stayed in these longhouses? Can you recommend certain (garden view) room numbers that would be good?

Strollers – When we travel our sons will be 4 and 2. We will be bringing our own stroller and would like to get a double stroller that isn’t just obnoxious to take on a bus. (Since we are at Poly we are only planning to bus to AK and MGM) Does anyone have any suggestions for strollers to buy.

Dining – Is the dining plan worth it? We plan on having breakfast of cereal in our room each morning. For approximately $37/person per day is it worth the extra money for the service? We also want to dine one night in DD. I am assuming that the dining plan does not apply to DD. What do you all recommend?

Transportation to Resort from Hotel – We plan on using Murray Hill, Happy Limo or Quick Silver. It is important to us that we get a grocery stop on our way in. What experience have you had with these services? Is one better than the other? Are there grocery stores to ‘avoid’ that one of these services stop at? Am I missing a good service out there? A limo ride isn’t important to us, we will probably use the van service anyway. We are mostly concerned with grocery stop and working with a reputable company for a reasonable price.

For all of these extra things, is it better to work on our own or with a travel agent?

I am SOOO confused!! Please help!!!!

 

[mouseaddicts]

I can't answer all your questions, but I'll do what I can.

First - the Poly - we LOVE the Poly! This trip will be our 2nd visit there. The 1st time we went, we had a DS 2 & DD 5. I simply rented a double stroller at the park each day rather than try to haul one around. That was a few years ago now, but they rented for $16/day with $1 refund (disney dollar) when you turned it back in. It was worth the extra $$$ to not lug a stroller on buses, monorail, etc.

For additional information on the Poly (longhouse locations, etc.) you just can't beat Tikiman's site:
http://tikiman2001.homestead.com/

Good luck!

 

[hulagirl87]

I can try to answer some of your questions. As for the AAA ones, I have a membership and I think I pay around $50 a year. It's great to have. I book my trips through them and it does save money. For my upcoming trip, we are saving about $300 and we are doing hotel, tickets and airfare through AAA.

As for the dining plan, it is a good deal if you like to eat a lot of food. For the sit down meals, you get an appetizer, meal, drink and dessert. Or you can get a buffet. Then for the counter service, you get a meal, drink and dessert. It's nice to have the dining plan to not have to worry about money set aside for meals and tipping.

As for your transportation to your hotel, we do the magical express, so I don't have any suggestions as for the grocery store thing. Sorry! Have fun planning and have a great trip!

 

[Minniespal]

Welcome to the Dis

 

[Tricia1972]

Thanks for the info guys! I really appreciate all of the tips so far. Planning for Disney is wonderfully exciting, yet totally overwhelming - all of your help is truly appreciated. I know that I asked WAY too many questions in one post, but at the time I felt like I was drowning in questions. You guys are really coming through and I appreciate the insight of all of you who have taken the time to ready my LONG post and reply!

THANKS!!

 

[Kick Save]

Stroller question: We bought a pair of Jeep umbrella strollers for our boys, 5 and 2 at the time. They're yellow and blue, and a bit heavier than your standard $4 umbrella stroller. Think the Mrs got them at Wal-Mart. Along with them we found some snap together "straps" (for lack of a better word) that would allow the two to be hooked together to make a double stroller. We never used them...found out each of us pushing a single allowed for much easier travel through the parks since we could go single file if needed.

Looks like they've changed them a bit, but look around for the Jeep Wrangler stroller, that's basically what we have. Has a canopy, side pouches, and folds up nice and small for the bus rides. They have a double in the same thing, if you decide to go that route. Price seems to range between $35 and $50.

 

[Thinktinknpixiedust]

i agree with finding one of those connectors for the umbrella strollers and getting 2 umbrella strollers.

1. if you want to push them at the same time you can....
2. pushing them separate does maneuver much better through the crowds.
3. They fold up quickly for on and off busses
4. easy to pack and take up less space...

Welcome... no matter what you'll have a wonderful time...

 

[WIDisneyFan]

First off Hello from Wisconsin We live just outside of Milwaukee. As for most of your questions I am not of too much help, but I can comment on the AAA question. The short answer is a travel agent other than AAA can get the AAA room discount for you (last summer we used Dreams Unlimited and they got it for us), they just can not book a full AAA package. I would suggest that if your curious get a quote from AAA and compare it to the Tiki Plan

As for the Polynesian - GREAT CHOICE !!!!!! we are headed back there in July and are counting the days until we arrive!

 

[byoung]

Welcome to the Dis!!!