Poly nearly full, checking in early am-worst room expectations?

[jenjersnap]

The first weekend of December seems to be nearly fully booked at the Poly and we won't be arriving until after midnight. So, I am expecting that it is very unlikely that we will get our room request (3rd floor Tokelau). In fact, I am assuming that we are going to get the least desirable room possible. Can someone give me an idea what the WORST GV rooms would involve and approximate location? I am guessing second floor in many longhouses is least desirable for most people (no balconies and sandwiched between two floors). Sheer distance from the GCH? Are there any yucky, yucky views, like five feet away from parked cars? (I have an idea from the mas which longhouses face the parking lost, but I guess I can't get a sense of the distance from them). I know that some people like to view the monorail, but we're from Colorado and would much rather see lush tropical landscaping on our vacation.

*sigh* If I had known it was going to be this crazy busy, I would have booked our first night off-site. Can't change because of the BRP. I am trying to prepare my family for less than ideal conditions this time, though my DH is going to be royally peeved if we are stuck looking at the parking lot for the amount we're paying ... anway, I figure if I prepare for the worst and we get some pixie dust it will seem that much more magical.

 

[plutolovr]

My only suggestion would be to call the resort either the day before or the morning of your arrival, let them know you will be arriving late and that you would appreciate it if they could honor most of your requests. It doesn't hurt.

 

[jenjersnap]

My only suggestion would be to call the resort either the day before or the morning of your arrival, let them know you will be arriving late and that you would appreciate it if they could honor most of your requests. It doesn't hurt.

Calling the Poly directly just gets a call center so I am not sure it will do any good. Late arrival is noted on our ressie, but, since everyone who arrives before us and is dissatisfied with their room assignment can be given ours until we physically show up, not sure it even matters.

Is the Poly ignoring faxes like most other WDW hotels? That was the only other pro-active thing I was pondering.

I feel like Eeyore with my negativity. I am really excited about staying at the Poly, it's been a dream, but I hate that our circumstances do not put us in a good position. Plus this is our last trip for awhile and DH isn't the Disney lover the rest of the family is. If this goes badly, it might be a very long time before we do Disney again.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We arrived late in april and I knew the Poly would be busy too with ny spring breakers and the press people coming for the 50th events. I originally asked for samoa volcano pool view, lst floor. Well they changed our flight and we got there much later like 10 pm. I really like to normally check in by 11 am. Well dh called the Poly front desk from the airport, nicely telling them we would be delayed etc. could our bldg. request still be honored etc. Well when we arrived we did get the bldg, samoa that we wanted but our view was terrible, 3rd floor, bird poop all over the balcony and our view was of the tops of palm trees and the 3rd floor of the hawaii conceirge bldg. We really dont spend that much time in the room, we just wanted to be close to the volcano pool and gch. The cm who checked us in also said something like well you are getting a ap discount on the room so this is the room you are getting etc. Hmm, didnt know what to make of that. Being nice, smiling, asking if there are any other rooms available if you don't like the lst choice they give you helps. He offered us 2 other bldgs. 2 but we didnt want them. We have stayed in aeorotora and niue too. But I usually like samoa. Good luck.

 

[Sammie]

First off, since you can't change when you arrive, lets work on the attitude,

I truly believe in bad karma begetes bad karma, put that happy face on and believe in the best.

Instead of preparing your family for the worst, try to prepare them for the best of the situation. You truly do not know the room will be bad, and it is Disney World, surely they are excited about the trip.

I truly do not believe there are any horrible views at the Polynesian and are you going to spend hours on your balcony. While some of the rooms do face the front of the resort, the landscaping is plush and the monorail is a fun thing to watch.

Something else you might want to consider, if you truly believe that due to your arrival time you will not get Tokelau, 3rd floor, which by the way is one of the most requested areas of the Polynesian and you might not get it if you arrived at 8am, then change your request to something else such as nice garden view not facing the parking lots.

Some of the buildings on the front of the property are very nice with interior views and great locations.

 

[Allison]

First off, since you can't change when you arrive, lets work on the attitude,

I truly believe in bad karma begetes bad karma, put that happy face on and believe in the best.

Instead of preparing your family for the worst, try to prepare them for the best of the situation. You truly do not know the room will be bad, and it is Disney World, surely they are excited about the trip.

I truly do not believe there are any horrible views at the Polynesian and are you going to spend hours on your balcony. While some of the rooms do face the front of the resort, the landscaping is plush and the monorail is a fun thing to watch.

Something else you might want to consider, if you truly believe that due to your arrival time you will not get Tokelau, 3rd floor, which by the way is one of the most requested areas of the Polynesian and you might not get it if you arrived at 8am, then change your request to something else such as nice garden view not facing the parking lots.

Some of the buildings on the front of the property are very nice with interior views and great locations.

I agree with all of this. I especially agree with not having the room request be so specific.

Also, we did end up in a room last year at the BC that we did not like, mainly because it was smoking. We were moved to a terrific room the next day after we talked to them about it.

 

[oots]

we will be arriving late next week-between 11pm-12pm-we only requested non smoking room. I also thought about getting only what was available-but I will just be very happy to be there---in four days

 

[Ladyhawke10]

If you get a room you do not like when you check in, you can always request to be moved the next day to something you might prefer more.

I've checked in at all times, and there doesn't seem to be a correlation between check-in time and room desirability. There might be less upgrades available if a lot of people ahead of you came in asking for them (or paying for them...) but you might have gotten a very nice room assigned to you to begin with. Good luck!

 

[jenjersnap]

Thanks, everyone. I meant to mention that BEST upgrade we ever had was arriving after the same flight, on the same Friday in December last year, at AKL (not that I am talking about an upgrade in this circumstance, just looking interior toward gardens would be fine), so there is no *real* reason not to be hopeful. OTOH, my gut is telling me to be realistic.

Have another question that is purely out of general curiosity and an MBA's geeky interest in job order theory: When you are dissatisfied with your room and want to be moved, how does that work in the queuing for room assignments? Are those who want to be moved matched with the rooms being vacated first BEFORE new guests are assigned rooms? I.E., are they first in priority? (I have often thought I would be a great room scheduler because I love this stuff, LOL )

 

[iliketoby]

It isn't true that the best rooms are saved for later! Nobody knows what rooms will be available at, say 10:00, until 10:00 rolls around. The hotel knows pretty much which rooms won't be available, but nobody knows what time the folks that are checking out will actually be gone.

Housekeeping is ready to go first thing in the morning. When people check out, they get in there and clean the rooms. Then they mark the rooms as "clean" in the computer.

When the front desk clerk pulls up your reservation, he'll get a list of rooms that are ready that meet your specifications -- smoking king, or non-smoking double, or whatever.

Maybe the perfect room won't be ready when you get there, but it could very well be!

Cheer up!

 

[goofie4goofy]

Don't worry...just because you are checking in late does not mean you will get a bad room. The room assigners assign your room 3 days before you get there. Your request may be fufulled. WDW does not work on first come first serve like some hotels do.

 

[nwdisgal]

Quite honestly, I think you have more of a chance getting a crappy room checking in early, than in late.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Thanks, everyone. I meant to mention that BEST upgrade we ever had was arriving after the same flight, on the same Friday in December last year, at AKL (not that I am talking about an upgrade in this circumstance, just looking interior toward gardens would be fine), so there is no *real* reason not to be hopeful. OTOH, my gut is telling me to be realistic.

Have another question that is purely out of general curiosity and an MBA's geeky interest in job order theory: When you are dissatisfied with your room and want to be moved, how does that work in the queuing for room assignments? Are those who want to be moved matched with the rooms being vacated first BEFORE new guests are assigned rooms? I.E., are they first in priority? (I have often thought I would be a great room scheduler because I love this stuff, LOL )

Come to think of it, I once got a great upgrade when arriving late at night after a flight. Maybe if they've given out all the rooms in your category and you arrive later, they go ahead and give you an upgrade. This was a non-Disney hotel, however--but as far as moving to a new room, I think they work pretty hard to get you what you want if they have it available, and you are willing to move after a couple days to the location you are looking for.

 

[disneyforme33]

We checked in at 2am this past July. The Polynesian was full if I recall correctly. We were not supposed to be in that late, but bad weather caused flight delays. We had requested the Samoa building but were put in Nuie. No complaints the location was right next door to Samaoa and it was late and we wanted to get our 3 kids to bed. When we got to the room we realized our only view was a big bush directly outside our room. It completely blocked any view of anything at the resort. It was fine though. We decided if we wanted a view we could just go out and sit by the pool. Anyway, as we fell asleep, I smelled smoke everywhere and realzied Nuie was a smoking building. I am not good with the smell our somke, eyes tear etc. I requested a new room in the morning. They were excellent about it. Said we would have to wait until 3pm, but switched us without a problem. We were put in Aetorea which we loved. Not our original choice but still good. I guess my point is to go with an open mind. If you have legitimate problems with room location I am sure the Polynesian will accomodate you if they can. Next time I think I'll remember to request non smoking and not worry about the location as much.

 

[southjerseymom]

We stayed at the Poly last November. I wrote a very chatty fax and sent it four days before arrival requesting Tokelau - 3rd floor - beach side. I said "I know you can't honor all requests" yada yada yada. I just tried to be nice and friendly. When we checked in early they told us our room wasn't ready. About 2 pm I asked if any room in any building might be ready. The CM kind of told me I would like the room if I waited - so we stuck it out. Around 3 pm she called us over and told us we had Tokelau. We got the room that Tikiman's site says is lagoon view for garden view price. And boy was it spectacular!! So you never know what you are going to get. By the way - we did notice that Tokelau housekeeping did not get to the 3rd floor until very late in the day. That is probably why the room wasn't ready until so late. So maybe all the "early" checkins will get the other longhouses and you will be saved the "slow poke" 3rd floor Tokelau! Any way you look at it - you will be at the Poly and it will be awesome!! Have fun!

 

[oots]

we arrived at poly @10m on 11/8/05-i decided to follow the advice of unoffical guide to wdw-i called the nite before we left around 11pm and got the front desk at the poly-i asked if my room was already assigned-the woman asked me what i wanted so i requested-non smoking room-no parking lot view-room with a balcony and a newly renovated room. she said "I think we can accomadate you"-I asked which room and which building-but she said she was not supposed to give out that info. so we arrived the next nite and we were assigned room#3318 in the FIJI longhouse. I t was everything I asked for-room was newly renovated-our view was-staight ahead looking at the marina and the boat docks-if you looked left the view was out to the seven seas lagoon and the contemporary resort and space mountain in the distance-it looked great all lit up at nite. this was a "garden view" reseravtion and I don't think I was upgraded-but it was more than I had hoped for. so we had a great time and the weather was unbeleivable!!

good luck all

 

[morrismhs]

When I went last August, I originally wanted Tokelau. However, It was not available(my first request was 1st floor and they honored that). We ended up in Rarotonga which we loved. We faced the quiet pool. Not a wonderful view but pretty and private. THis building is close to GCH and the bus stop and near both pools as well. I know you want it to be perfect, but as others have said, I don't think there is a really horrible view there. THere is so much vegetation and honestly how much time are you in the room anyway. Goood luck - I know once you get there all will be well.