Poly or Pop??? Help choosing!! Update: Choice made! #40

[Haley R]

Thank you for all the great replies!!! I read them each several times.

A lot of great view points....that is exactly what I was looking for!

We are headed to WDW Oct 17-22, and both the 17th and 22nd are really just travel days. That doesn't leave us with many days in between due to DD's college schedule. It would be my DD (turning 20 while there), myself and my parents. All in good physical shape.

Poly is one of our favorite resorts, so I'm leaning toward that. Plus my DD does like some pool time to work on her tan!
But, I need to be conscientious of a budget for my parents.

Pop has the refurbished rooms, and we would get 2 rooms to spread out a bit. (We did have bus issues here on a previous stay)
We would have plenty of funds left over to do the special experiences I mentioned in my previous post.

Either way, we will have a great time! I think I will email these responses to DD and let her decide. It's her bday trip after all...

I will mention that we were just at pop and didn’t have any bus issues.

 

[Shanti]

Only because I like getting the best value for my $$, I would choose POP and all those great extras!

Poly is convenient only for the MK. Not so much for even Epcot, monorail transfers can take a while....and that is even if the monorail is running, not broken or delayed, which happens OFTEN. Then ou will miss out on all that great stuff and still be taking a bus places!! Go for POP. Poly convenience is too unpredictable.

Interesting how you say this, yet your signature indicates that you've stayed at Poly five times, at other deluxes & mods, but never at Pop or any other value. Do you know what spending a week at a value is actually like?

 

[DISNEY1975]

Interesting how you say this, yet your signature indicates that you've stayed at Poly five times, at other deluxes & mods, but never at Pop or any other value. Do you know what spending a week at a value is actually like?

At Disney, no I dont, but what I dont mention in my signature is every time I fly to Florida, we stay at a hotel for a few nights outside of Disney and drive to different parks, such as Discovery Cove, Sea World, Aquatica, Busch Gardens etc... Driving to a park, or taking a shuttle is not a stretch for me. Yes, I stay at deluxes when Im at Disney, I stay for 11 nights and use the 10 day pass. That is the best VALUE for me...and I did mention I like a value. Did you see that part? Staying a 12th night would require another 1 day ticket and staying only 5 night makes your ticket price a bit high per day. I am fortunate to not have to choose between a deluxe and the extras, but I KNOW i would chose extras before the location of the hotel. I sail on Norwegian Cruise Lines instead of Disney because its a good value. I shop at TJMaxx and Marshalls because they are good values. I would shop at Walmart, its cheaper, but its not a good value. There is nothing wrong or cheap about POP.

Staying at the Contemporary and Poly several times, I can say the monorail should not be considered if that is the only reason you are staying there. Its not running often and everyone and their mother use the resorts monorail at night to avoid the longer line on the express, as both take you to the TTC and MK. Most times from Poly, we walked to the TTC and were told to walk some more to take a bus as the monorails were completely down. Once, coming out of Epcot after EMH we had to take a bus to DS, then get on a resorts bus..took forever. More times we had to find another way than actually riding the monorail.

 

[Shanti]

At Disney, no I dont, but what I dont mention in my signature is every time I fly to Florida, we stay at a hotel for a few nights outside of Disney and drive to different parks, such as Discovery Cove, Sea World, Aquatica, Busch Gardens etc... Driving to a park, or taking a shuttle is not a stretch for me. Yes, I stay at deluxes when Im at Disney, I stay for 11 nights and use the 10 day pass. That is the best VALUE for me...and I did mention I like a value. Did you see that part? Staying a 12th night would require another 1 day ticket and staying only 5 night makes your ticket price a bit high per day. I am fortunate to not have to choose between a deluxe and the extras, but I KNOW i would chose extras before the location of the hotel. I sail on Norwegian Cruise Lines instead of Disney because its a good value. I shop at TJMaxx and Marshalls because they are good values. I would shop at Walmart, its cheaper, but its not a good value. There is nothing wrong or cheap about POP.

Staying at the Contemporary and Poly several times, I can say the monorail should not be considered if that is the only reason you are staying there. Its not running often and everyone and their mother use the resorts monorail at night to avoid the longer line on the express, as both take you to the TTC and MK. Most times from Poly, we walked to the TTC and were told to walk some more to take a bus as the monorails were completely down. Once, coming out of Epcot after EMH we had to take a bus to DS, then get on a resorts bus..took forever. More times we had to find another way than actually riding the monorail.

Okay. I was curious about your reasoning given your experiences. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[MonorailNate]

I am not really a fan of the value resorts so it is a no brainer for me. However, I would seriously consider Wilderness Lodge. It is less expensive than the poly and is our favorite resort of all. No monorail but we don’t miss that. I also think that there is so much to do at the world and the deluxe resorts that a lot of extras aren’t necessary.

 

[Haley R]

You could also look into a travel agency. We just booked through one for the first time for our trip this October. We got a great deal at the Beach Club and we normally would never be able to stay there. We are doing a split stay between Pop and Beach Club so that we can do two Halloween parties instead of one.

 

[rstevens333]

I am not really a fan of the value resorts so it is a no brainer for me. However, I would seriously consider Wilderness Lodge. It is less expensive than the poly and is our favorite resort of all. No monorail but we don’t miss that. I also think that there is so much to do at the world and the deluxe resorts that a lot of extras aren’t necessary.

*Huge* seconding of this thought. Wilderness Lodge is unbelievably nice. We were stuck there during the big hurricane last year and I still want to go back. It's usually about 20% or so less expensive than the Poly. No monorail, but you can hop a boat to the Contemporary at 6:45am and then walk to MK.

IMHO, the lobby is on par with the Poly and the grounds are every bit as pleasant.

 

[Babsy]

With only 4 full days, I would definitely stay at the Poly. There is lots to do to be busy at the theme parks without all the extras for 4 days and you are planning to do the MNSSHP once anyway. You can boat or monorail to the MK and can walk to the TTC to monorail to Epcot. Great transportation options. watching fireworks from the beach at the Poly is awesome and free!!

Captain Cook's is great. Walking to the GF is nice. Eat at O'Hana's or order it to your room!

I like the values just fine and Pop does have the newly refurbished rooms as a draw...BUT...We just love all the pluses of staying in a deluxe resort!

Enjoy whichever you choose!

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

We love the values and have been to Pop 4 times, once at Music and an upcoming trip in June to Music again. While in Disney I am there for the experiences so a clean place to sleep is all I need. On our non-park days we have always enjoyed the pool and relaxing at the hotel, enjoying lunch, sleeping in etc. I don't feel that I need a deluxe in order to do that. Of course it may be a case of I don't know what I am missing having never stayed deluxe but $1200 is a lot of money for me better spent on experiences, fancy restaurants or another stay. Also, every hotel is close to one park but much further from another. ASMusic is minutes away from Animal Kingdom whereas the Poly is quite far as an example.

Regardless of our opinions you need to stay where you feel your family will enjoy their vacation the most. There is nothing worse than needing a do-over trip because you hated the one you just got back from. Good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

[cwlyle]

Can't speak to Pop as we have never stayed there. We are currently at Poly (DVC - First Time) and have some concerns with staying here. We were surprised how much outside noise there is at this resort (may just be more at the DVC Villas) but the horn going off on the boats can be really annoying - especially if you like to sleep in. Rooms here are nice but seem to be a bit thin as we can hear a lot of what goes on with the neighbors. Pools are small and overcrowded. The convenience of being able to walk to the transportation center and access to the Monorail is a definite advantage. Personally I think I would opt to be at Pop and do more experiences. Just my two cents.......

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Poly. No question. Completely different vacation experience!

 

[kniquy]

Why not do a split stay? -- start off at pop to save a little money and then tack on a couple poly nights at the end with giving up your illuminations cruise and V &A. If doing a split is out then i would probably choose pop with the experiences. You can still visit the poly and make a dining reservation there. You have to stick to a budget so for me the experience would be worth the money over spending it on a room. It sounds like you have a pretty packed trip planned so how much time will you be at the resort anyways?

 

[kniquy]

both the 17th and 22nd are really just travel days.

If you plan your flights right (arriving in the morning an departing in the evening) then you can essentially get 2 more park days (6 more FP to use) which would make park touring a little easier if you know you have that extra time. That is if you are flying you don't have to be at the airport until 3 hours ahead -- so a 6pm flight would give you until 3pm to hit a park. driving is a different situation.

 

[sponica]

If all you're looking for is a bed, I vote 2 rooms at Pop. (I keep thinking to myself, why is it being refurbed? it's so new....then realize how long ago I stayed there)

 

[JennyDrake]

Thank you for all the great replies!!! I read them each several times.

A lot of great view points....that is exactly what I was looking for!

We are headed to WDW Oct 17-22, and both the 17th and 22nd are really just travel days. That doesn't leave us with many days in between due to DD's college schedule. It would be my DD (turning 20 while there), myself and my parents. All in good physical shape.

Poly is one of our favorite resorts, so I'm leaning toward that. Plus my DD does like some pool time to work on her tan!
But, I need to be conscientious of a budget for my parents.

Pop has the refurbished rooms, and we would get 2 rooms to spread out a bit. (We did have bus issues here on a previous stay)
We would have plenty of funds left over to do the special experiences I mentioned in my previous post.

Either way, we will have a great time! I think I will email these responses to DD and let her decide. It's her bday trip after all...

Hands down I would go with Pop. It has 3 pools. Pop is fairly central to ALL of the parks, so minimal bus riding time. I would go for the multiple (w0w!) experiences! (How many people recall, "Hey Tuesday night in the hotel room was fabulous???")

 

[dmaxphil]

I'm shocked there is only a $1200 difference for 5 nights. I recall Pop being in the $150ish area and Poly being $500-700. For only a $1200 difference, it would be easy to justify staying at the Poly.

 

[J'aime Paris]

If you plan your flights right (arriving in the morning an departing in the evening) then you can essentially get 2 more park days (6 more FP to use) which would make park touring a little easier if you know you have that extra time. That is if you are flying you don't have to be at the airport until 3 hours ahead -- so a 6pm flight would give you until 3pm to hit a park. driving is a different situation.

I wish we could arrange our flights that way, but its not possible for this trip. We are taking a late flight in and an early flight back home. DD is in college, and has Thurs/Fri off. We are making the most of a long weekend.

 

[J'aime Paris]

I'm shocked there is only a $1200 difference for 5 nights. I recall Pop being in the $150ish area and Poly being $500-700. For only a $1200 difference, it would be easy to justify staying at the Poly.

If we stay at Pop, we'd get 2 rooms for the 4 of us. If we stay at Poly, we'd share a room.
Plus, the TA I'm working with has access to some deals.

 

[sponica]

If we stay at Pop, we'd get 2 rooms for the 4 of us. If we stay at Poly, we'd share a room.
Plus, the TA I'm working with has access to some deals.

Then definitely do Pop. I always vote for more bathrooms.

 

[J'aime Paris]

Thank you all again who took the time to add some perspective
It was all valuable!!

We ended up with booking 1 night at POP and 4 nights at Poly.

We are landing Wed. evening, so we will simply sleep at POP for one night. Our luggage will be transferred for us, so it's a small inconvenience to switch resorts. And it will save us a few hundred dollars, allowing us another "extra experience" or two.

Thanks again for all the help!!