our stay at the Poly garden view

[lizmc]

just back from a week at the Poly, we had a garden view and requested Somoa 3rd floor, and were given all our requests!! The Somoa building is right next to the volcano pool on one side and the quite pool on the other, we had the valcano side of the building. Next time I would request the quite pool side or the Tokelau building for garden view. The view of the pool was great and it was 10 feet away from the great cerimonial house, but we are sleepers, and tend to go to bed at 9 -9:30 that is really hard in the Somoa building where we were. There were very loud kids and adults having fun in the pool till well after 11 pm almost every night. If you don't plan on going to bed till then it's a great location. Also it was a busy location as tikiman has pointed out too, I think to get a more true feeling of Hawaii Tokelau would be better!! the grounds were beautiful and they had many plants and flowers found in Hawaii, we enjoyed being able to walk around , and sit and play on the beach , to feel removed from all the disney action. the water mice were tons of fun too! Was not impressed with captain cooks at all !!! We loved Ohana's and the Kona cafe was very good too. It was really easy to hop the monorail and go to dinner at the Grand Floridian and Contemperary too. I think for our family what made the Polynesian special was the outdoor spaces, the pools, the paths with lush foliage all around , the beach looking out over the lake . just being able to move around and enjoy a peaceful setting!! aloha

 

[Jackie H.]

Thanks for your review! We will be staying at the Poly for the first time in a few weeks.

We have ressies for a garden view, as well. How did you communicate your request for a certain building? And how far in advance did you make that request?

Thanks again! I can hardly wait!

 

[Tikiman]

Glad to hear you had a great time. I agree that Captain Cook’s is is not great. I only go in there for a quick bite or a late night snack. It is nice to jump on the monorail and have access to the other resorts. It sort of feels like one big resort. On days when we have had lots of rain we just go resort hopping and never get wet.

Any photos from the trip?

Aloha

Steve

 

[figmentvi]

Thanks for reporting on the Poly. We'll be arriving there in 16 days !!

I'm really looking forward to it even though I wasn't all that thrilled about staying there when I first made the ressie. I live on a tropical island, so staying at the Poly didn't really float my boat. But I'm now really looking forward to it thanks to Steve's website. It really looks wonderful.

BTW Steve.....Great site. Thanks so much for building a very informative site on the Poly.

I'm not too picky about where we stay, just as long as it isn't a "parking lot view". I'm thinking about inquiring at check in what the price difference will be for a Lagoon View. If it's reasonable, I may go for it.

 

[MJTinNH]

Thank you for your report! We have stayed at the Poly in years past and your description brought back some fond memories I have of our stay there.

 

[Tikiman]

Thanks figmentvi,

Although there are some rooms that face a parking lot there is truly only one set of rooms (The south east side of Rapa Niu) that you can see the parking lot from. The parking lot side of Rarotonga actually looks into a well kept garden area and the monorail. There is also a very nice thing about ending up in the parking lot side of Rapa Nui is the view is not horrible (compared to parking lot views at other resorts) and you can be very close to your car if you have one.

I think checking on a lagoon view is a great idea. You can’t go wrong there.

Aloha

Steve

 

[lizmc]

Figment vi , I also live on a tropical island , actually I live in hawaii, and we really enjoyed the Poly. That is one reason I was so impressed with the plants and flowers ,they actually had red and green ti leaves, there! They have done a really good job creating a tropcial laid -back atmosphere. We really enjoyed going over and looking at the Grand Floridian Christmas decorations, WOW, but it was wonderful to return to the mellow, lush grounds at the Poly. We rented the bikes, and the water mice and walked around the grounds , swam in the pool , went down the cool slide too many times, and hung out on the beach watching fireworks, and the electric light parade. The resort seems to invite you to enjoy the outdoors, just like Hawaii does!
Even when it was cool (60's-low 70's) we palyed on the beach, fed the ducks and bunnies, fed the fish from the dock, and still went on water mice!! Anyone going will have a great time.

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

We will be checking into a garden view room on 12/15. This will be our 2nd Polynesian stay. In 2001 we had to change our POR reservations after its closing (following 9/11). Although our "deal" was no where as good as the POFQ deals reported here last Spring, they did give us a fair upsell rate. That is what made it possible for us to afford a Deluxe. Now, we had to save an extra year to return to the Poly, but it is SO worth it! The Poly is perfect for our family, at least right now (DD's 9,6,4).

In 2001, we requested the Tahiti longhouse because of its proximity to the TTC. Well, not only did we get out building request, we got a complimentary upgrade to lagoon view. I can not even describe the look in my girls' eyes when they stepped out of the sliding glass doors to see the castle and Space Mountain! Of course, my DH says that was nothing compared to the look in my eyes!

We will once again be requesting Tahiti. We certainly will miss the lagoon view this trip, but the location is the best! Steve really knows his stuff. Additionally, the fact that this longhouse is at the end of the resort lends to the quiet relaxing atmosphere...very little foot traffic.

Thanks for getting my excitement level up a few more notches!

P.S. We almost booked the Dolphin, but for nearly the same price (I got a post card rate...yipppeeee), I could not bring myself to go anywhere on-site but the Poly!

Aloha, all