Poly Tahiti - Run down, feel ripped-off

[WaltRulez]

Let me start by saying this is my first post to the DIS, long-time reader though and love this place.

Stayed at Poly from 1/30 to 2/3. The ambience (outside) of the place was really as nice as people say. However, I am shocked that disney charges upper-deluxe rates to stay here. We were checked in the Tahiti building with Lagoon view. Upon our arrival into the room, we discovered that these rooms probably havent been touched since the 70's, or whenever the building was constructed. All it took was a simple look around to discover that MOLD was rampant throughout the room with some other stains in the carpeting. Thats right, MOLD, around the vents, and also "bleeding" through the wallpaper around the TV set and atleast 5 other areas of the room. Add to this, that the automatic door on the 2nd floor was stuck in the half'way position the entire 2.5 day stay. The CM's of the resort did make efforts to let us try other rooms in Tahiiti (we DO like to view), the 3 other rooms we tried - same MOLD situation in 2 of them and one room right next to a giant AC unit. After going to the front desk to try and resolve the situation in person, to my dismay the person waiting in front of me had the same exact complaint - a total disgrace IMO

Unforunately for us, availability didnt open up until 2 days later in a different building. We moved at that time to Tuvalu. Although the location isnt as good as Tahiti, atleast the room was clean (a basic requirement of ANY hotel, esp. one where you pay close to $300 per night). The place was really noisy prob due to thin walls and proximity to central areas of the resort, but atleast it was clean.

This whole experience left a bad taste in our mouth, as nice as the ambience at the Poly is, we still cant believe that they stick $300 per night paying customers into mold-filled rooms. And judging by the delay to get us into other buildings, they sell plenty of these rooms at Tahiti building.

I suppose some people can just ignore these issues (or dont notice or care to complain). The previous 4 nights we stayed at PO Riverside. These buildings havent been rehabbed to my knowledge in quite some time, but the room was clean for 1/3 the price.

Im done ranting and will be less mad as time goes on I suppose, Been to Disney 9 times, by far the worst value Ive ever had (stayed at all 4 moderates, GF, Swan, WL)

The DIS magic remains, but never at the Poly again!

 

[Selket]

I thought they were renovating the Poly - have they not done all the buildings yet or do they not plan to do them? That is really disgusting. I keep thinking the Poly sounds cool and I'd like to try it and then I read reports like this and I know I'd go nuts if I checked into such a run down hotel room.

 

[GoofyDad_STL]

This so weird. We stayed in Tahiti, first floor, lagoon view last August and had no problem with mold in our room (thank goodness since my dw has asthma), but I have heard quite a few times about people with mold problems. I wonder if the mold is more pronounced during certain times of the year and less so others, or if it is just hit and miss dependant upon the room location.

The funny thing was when we got back from our trip last year, we were disappointed with the Polynesian and thought we would stay somewhere else next trip. But the more I have been thinking about our next trip and where I want to stay, the more I keep coming back to the Polynesian. I think in retrospect, our expectations of conceirge were just way too high.

So here is hoping for some great discount codes for the summer.

 

[WaltRulez]

yeah, ya know I dont want to tell you to do "this" or "that" regarding the Poly. The ambience is really nice, but in my experience it is by far the WORST maintained resort at Disney. This is based on my experience at all 4 moderates, the GF, and WL. Since this isnt just one room Im talking about (but seemingly the whole building), I find this to be a total disgrace.

 

[shelly3girls]

Now I am a little worried. We are staying at the Poly in March (3/19 - 3/24) for our first time. We are really looking forward to our lagoon view booked using an AP code and felt fortunate to even get the room since it was the only discounted room available at any deluxe when I called. I am worried b/c my DD has asthma and we are both extremely allergic to mold. If there is mold in our room our trip may literally be ruined from illness! I am really looking forward to this trip to celebrate my 30th, someone please reassure me!

 

[Gem85]

Now I am a little worried. We are staying at the Poly in March (3/19 - 3/24) for our first time.


We are staying in the poly for our first time 3/20-3/26. I guess we shouldn't request that building. I have had bad reactions to mold in the past and that could surely take away the magic!

 

[hookedondizney]

Oh no, I have booked a LV room and I had requested to stay in the tahiti bldg because of the wonderful view of the castle. Well, I surely don't want a terrible room with mold for that price.....Does Disney know what mold can do to people? Maybe they haven't looked into it because it can really cause problems in people. Maybe I will look for another bldg. that will have a great view of the castle but possibly has been renovated. This really upsets me......Thanks so much for the heads up on this bldg at the poly!

 

[WaltRulez]

Let me re-iterate, the mold and run-down building was in the Tahiti bldg and not for the 2nd half of our stay in Tuvalu bldg.

The Tahiti building has the best views and location in IMO becuase you have your own private beach and the building is far-removed from the hustle and bustle of the GCH/Pool areas. This is unfortunate, because their best location needs serious work.

I did notice that 2 others buildings were shut down during this time frame, I suppose they are renovating these buildings but not sure to what extent. The remaining buildings that were open- The 2 Concierge buildings, Tokaleau, Aeotorra (?), and one other seemed to be open for business but I dont know whether they are updated or not. I would call the Poly and ask them which buildings have been rehabbed and pick one of those rooms. Again, Tuvalu seemed newer inside but it was pretty darn noisy at night.

Good luck and Im sure if you plan right you can enjoy the resort because the overall theming is nice.

 

[LvsTnk]

What was your room #? Where you on the side of the Hawaii Building? There have been few posts on mold in the rooms on that side of the building.

We were down the hallway LV, for the 4th of July and didn't have any problems with mold.

Still, you should not be finding mold in your room

 

[GoofyDad_STL]

One other thing I seem to remember from reading the boards last year before our trip. The issue of mold had come up then too and someone said that they had requested a room without mold (not sure what disney does with this), but someone else said that they thought the rooms need the end of the building were more suseptible to the mold then the ones in the middle (I was in the middle of the first floor).

 

[gallaj0]

My family and I were in Tahiti from 1/15 to 1/19, first floor 1018, a lagoon view, and there was nothing wrong in that room. My wife and I would know, we always go over the rooms with a fine toothed comb before we unpack. We didn't get up to any other floors, or even down the other end of the building though, so I can't speak for all of them.
I'd book there again, and just move if the room was unacceptable; maybe shoot for a discount too, to teach them a lesson.

 

[mickeem]

Well, I have not stayed in Tahiti but I have stayed in Tokelau (right in between the TTC, and the GCH).

We have never had any problems with Mold, Mildew, or anything that was not clean. The whole resort has always been kept in immaculate condition.

I think this is one of those "It never happened to me, or it always happened to me", kind of things.

I think you really have to try something for yourself to see if you will like it. If anyone has qualms (is that a word?) about staying in a certain resort, maybe only do it for a weekend. Then you at least get to experience it for yourself.

JMHO...

Have a great time!!

 

[Susiesnowflake]

We were in one of those moldy/musty smelling rooms in Nov. Also Tahiti. The room was a garden view room and centrally located. We wondered if it was a first floor thing, but I guess not. There were no obvious signs of mold, but the smell was overpowering. As soon as I reentered the room, I would stuff right up. Once brought to the attention of the front desk, some air filtering machine was brought to the room. I requested it twice, and it was improving things. Interestingly, you cannot be present when it runs...and it runs about an hour. I joke about what the bigger health hazard was...the mold or the machine.

We stayed in Tahiti in 2002 too. Just a few doors down and never had any problems with moldy smells. Both times, hskpg was great. Our rooms were always neat and clean.

The Polynesian is my favorite resort, but the mold issue definitely needs to be addressed.

 

[WaltRulez]

My complaints had nothing to do with mousekeeping, a maid can not nor should be relied on to fix this problem. When mold patches are bleeding through the wallpaper, I would assume that the wallpaper would have to be stripped at the very least and the walls somehow disinfected. We saw this problem both on the first and second floors (we had 2 rooms) that our party of 4 stayed at, and 2 additional rooms on the first floor that the Poly guest services brought us to (they agreed it needed work).

Overall, the service was acceptable because atleast they tried, but the management of the Poly should be ashamed to stick people in these rooms until they are brought up to livable conditions.

Someone who doesnt know what mold "looks like" maybe wouldnt think twice about it, but my mother and girlfriend could not ignore it, which really upset me because I was footing the bill and wanted a magical stay for both of them. They both were soured of the place from that point on, which really disappointed me ..

 

[Tikiman]

I think you should write a letter to the manager and tell them the room number because there must be a handful of rooms with issues if what everyone is saying is true. The reason I know it is not the whole building is because our friends were just there a few days ago also and I have also had many reports for people staying in Tahiti that had no problems.

Tahiti just had some minor rehab a few years a go with a total rehab in the late 90’s and the building was only built in 85 so I would have to say that it is not possible it was last worked on in the 70’s. In fact in 2001 they were doing work on many of the rooms when we were there. Obviously some of the rooms have moisture issues so it would be good to post the room numbers instead of scaring people off from the whole building since there have been many guests lately in Tahiti that have had great rooms.

Can you remember what your room number was or where in the building it was?

As far as rehab all the original longhouses except Tonga (suites) have been completely redone down to the foundation. The last to have rehab was Tuvalu (just finished in January 2004). Niue and Rarotonga should be in the middle of rehab now. Tokelau, Tahiti and Rapa Nui do not have to have the foundation work the older ones had since they were constructed different but all the buildings usually get some sort of rehab every year or two.

 

[undertheradar]

Perhaps the cold and damp weather that has been experienced in Florida has contributed to this problem. It sounds as if Disney tried to assist you with your concerns. I would stay somewhere else next time and not stay at the Poly in the future.

 

[disneyfor3]

Was just in third floor gardenview room in Tahiti, Room 3002, from 1/29 thru 2/2. The room was in great condition, absolutely no mildew. I loved the location so close to the ticket and transportation center. We plan to go back for my husband's 40th birthday in May and stay here again.
I also wanted to mention the last two nights we were there we had an extremely noisy family move in next door that propped their door open to the hallway and left their balcony door open so their 3 children could run screaming in and out and throw things into the walls, and open the connecting door on their side and bang on it (this bothered us somewhat since our 3 year old goes to sleep at 8 pm). We were going to call management about this but noticed at 10 pm sharp both nights it was instantly quiet next door so we are assuming someone else called and management took care of it right away.
We were celebrating our son's third birthday (no surprises in room nor towel animals - none were expected) and had a great time.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

WaltRulez - you are right, for mold you have to strip the wallpaper and wash the walls down w/bleach solution to remove it (this is the direction from the CDC.) We have had to do this in one of our bathrooms, and let me tell you, one time usually doesn't do it. We finally have left the wallpaper off and bleached the walls and painted with mold-retardant paint. I think we have finally beaten it, but it is pesky!!!

Both of our stays at the Poly were in Aeotearoa, and we had no mold problems of any kind. Tikiman, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is one of the recently rehabbed bldgs.?

I have severe allergic asthma, the slightest strong odor, cigarette smoke, cologne, etc. causes an attack that can last for days. I would not hesitate to stay at the Poly again, in fact, this is next on the list for us!! We love the Poly!!!

 

[WaltRulez]

I dont remember the exact room numbers but I can tell you however that the first floor room was the third room from the GCH side of the building on the lagoon side, and the second floor room was the first room from the GCH side of the building on the lagoon side also. There is a small group of palm trees in front of the 2nd floor room if that helps.

The rooms that they offered us as replacements in Tahiti were I believe the 6th/7th room from the GCH side/lagoon side on the 2nd floor and 1st floor at the very end of the hallway in the center of the building on the lagoon side (this room was cleaner but was right next to huge AC unit).

Again the Disney employees on the "front lines" did try to help the best they could, not sure though that theres anything they can do other than report to their own bosses (?).

I plan on contacting management somehow to complain, I dont believe in killing the "indians" when its all the "chiefs" fault.

 

[floridafam]

I have heard several reports about mold in some of the Polynesian buildings. If it is coming through the wallpaper then it is definately a problem.

Yes, Florida is humid and it must be very hard to control the mold but there are certain molds that can be very dangerous. The room you speak of should be refurbished immediately.

Maybe Disney needs to change the heating/cooling system at the Poly as this seems to be an ongoing problem in some of the buildings.