Poly studio or AoA suite?

[mi*vida*loca]

I would do a standard room at the Poly. The rooms are very spacious. You're on the monorail line. The pool is great. Awesome restaurants. You can see Wishes from the beach.

I went with my 15 and 9 year olds. We are a family of four and live in a home with only one bathroom so we know how to maximize bathroom time. Some shower at night, some in the morning, we keep our bathroom time to a minimum, etc. We were up and ready in an hour. It was never a problem. My kids actually slept in one of the queens. Neither wanted to sleep on the pull out bed. I thought they were nuts but it worked for them.

 

[Crystal824]

Funny enough, I'm staying at both of those resorts this trip, which starts tomorrow. We are DVC members, but we couldn't get our first night at the Poly. We are staying at AoA for the first night, and then moving to a Poly Studio. I'll let you know.

 

[kayteekt]

If it were our choice, it would be poly all of the way. We stayed in a studio this summer, the room is very spacious. After staying in regular rooms and a studio at BWV we couldn't believe how large it was. The room is really wide, so when you have the sofa bed and/or Murphy bed pulled out there's still a decent sized walkway. I would just fold them up when you're not sleeping to give you some room to hang out. I will attest to the lack of storage, which could be a bigger issue for that length of stay. We actually ended up leaving the murphy bed down and keeping our suitcase on that. There is a closet we could have utilized and also I think there was some storage in a table or ottoman that was in front of the couch.

We've stayed at AoA, were under impressed. However we did not have a suite. If you had little ones who would really enjoy the theming, that would be something to consider.

You know the pros of the poly...location and that Polynesian feel, I mean the resort is just gorgeous! To me that will win every time.
However your children are older than mine and 9 nights is a long stay.

If you're nervous about the space, I would consider a split for sure. We actually just did our first this fall. Same thing, 9 nts total. I thought it would be a bigger hassle than it was. We enjoyed a new resort after our first 5 nights.

You can't go wrong, it's Disney....have a great trip!

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

Your 40th, your choice
But, I would pick the Poly, hands down.

 

[gorkt]

Having done both, If I had to choose one, I would do AoA for the space. A split stay might be ideal though if you don't mind moving. We are currently on a 9 night vacation, and we spent the first two nights in a Poly studio and now we are spending 7 nights at Old Key West on rented points for the space. The first few days at the Poly were all about the MK and Poly restaurants since they were so convienient and now we are visiting the other three parks and Universal studios. I will admit that there was a lot of crankiness at our Poly stay, especially with the teenager, but she still liked the Poly. I think two nights was enough though to see and experience a lot of the resort.

If you do stay at AoA, get a preferred room near the main eating area. SO worth it to be able to grab a quick snack or coffee and sit by the pool, and to be a short walk from the busses at the end of a long day. The busses at AoA are surprisingly convienient - the resort is centrally located so every bus is direct and quick. The food court was good too with a lot of nice options, although it can be crowded at main eating times.