Polynesian Deluxe Studio vs Regular standard room

[aprilbabes]

We’re not dvc members, but from what I understand anyone can stay in the studio rooms. They are over $100/nt less than a standard room. Aside from the fact that it has a sleeper sofa instead of extra queen bed, are there any other disadvantages??

 

[roydavid7771]

None that I can think of. We stayed in one on our last trip last May and they were very comfortable. Having two bathrooms was nice since we didn't have to wait on anyone, but my only very minor gripe was that over half of the room was dedicated to the bathrooms and kitchenette. At times I felt a bit squeezed around the bed, but the location of the room more than made up for the inconvenience.

 

[aprilbabes]

That leads to my next question- I know they’re in only a few long houses. Is there a particular one that you recommend?

 

[Denise W]

That leads to my next question- I know they’re in only a few long houses. Is there a particular one that you recommend?

For DVC members, the 3 long houses have 3 different views. What are you offered paying with cash?
Denise

 

[roydavid7771]

That leads to my next question- I know they’re in only a few long houses. Is there a particular one that you recommend?

We stayed in the Tokelau longhouse. We loved it, centrally located, not a long walk to anything. Not the greatest views, but that didn't matter to us. As long as we weren't facing a parking lot, we were fine.

 

[Deb & Bill]

None that I can think of. We stayed in one on our last trip last May and they were very comfortable. Having two bathrooms was nice since we didn't have to wait on anyone, but my only very minor gripe was that over half of the room was dedicated to the bathrooms and kitchenette. At times I felt a bit squeezed around the bed, but the location of the room more than made up for the inconvenience.

The Polynesian studios don't really have two bathrooms since there is only one toilet. There are two bathing areas (one with a shower, one with a tub with a shower in it - this is the toilet room, too). We stayed in Moorea in 1997 when it ws still a regular hotel room and we thought it was really big. But when we visited the studios shortly after they went on sale, we realized they took so much of the living space for that big bathroom and the kitchenette, leaving must less for living space.

 

[Marionnette]

We’re not dvc members, but from what I understand anyone can stay in the studio rooms. They are over $100/nt less than a standard room. Aside from the fact that it has a sleeper sofa instead of extra queen bed, are there any other disadvantages??

Where are you seeing that a Poly studio is $100/night less than a regular Poly room?

I'm seeing rack rates for a regular, standard view room running around $534/night during Value 2 Season. A studio's rack rate is $555 during that same period. In fact, the rack rates for studios are higher in every season of the year.

Now, if you're comparing staying in a regular room on a cash reservation vs. staying in a studio on rented DVC points, that's entirely different and a big reason why the rental market is so robust. If you stay on points, then you don't get daily housekeeping. You get a daily visit to take out your trash (if housekeeping does the visit). Clean towels and toiletries replaced on day #4 of your stay. No vacuuming, no fresh bed linens, they won't make your bed and they won't wipe down your counters. Full cleaning on day #8. With a cash reservation you get daily cleaning, toiletries as needed and fresh towels.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Where are you seeing that a Poly studio is $100/night less than a regular Poly room?

I'm seeing rack rates for a regular, standard view room running around $534/night during Value 2 Season. A studio's rack rate is $555 during that same period. In fact, the rack rates for studios are higher in every season of the year.

Now, if you're comparing staying in a regular room on a cash reservation vs. staying in a studio on rented DVC points, that's entirely different and a big reason why the rental market is so robust. If you stay on points, then you don't get daily housekeeping. You get a daily visit to take out your trash (if housekeeping does the visit). Clean towels and toiletries replaced on day #4 of your stay. No vacuuming, no fresh bed linens, they won't make your bed and they won't wipe down your counters. Full cleaning on day #8. With a cash reservation you get daily cleaning, toiletries as needed and fresh towels.

You have the cleaning days mixed up for points stays. If you stay seven nights or less, you get your towels and amenities replaced on day four and no full cleaning at all. If you stay eight nights or more, you get a full cleaning on day four and towels replaced on day eight. Trash pick up should be daily, but that is all you get daily.

 

[Runner225]

We just returned from a split stay and were in the Deluxe Studio in Pago Pago. There are the two bathing areas and kitchenette which is nice and more space than other Disney resorts...however my gripe was that the rooms in the Deluxe Studio are ready "anytime" after 4pm. When I went to check in around 4:30, we were told our room was not ready yet because it was in a DVC location and those rooms aren't ready until after 4pm due to being larger and needing more time to be cleaned. I asked if there was a roundabout time for the room to be ready and they couldn't tell us. This is apparently the norm for DVC rooms/villas (we were not aware, as it stated 4pm on MDE). It ended up being ready 30 mins later, which wouldn't have been a big deal if we were just going to hang around the resort, but we had been the parks all day and sweating. We had a CG reservation for 6pm that night and really needed to shower (as well as needing to give our 2-year-old a bath). We somehow got the 3 of us showered/bathed and ran to CG. It put a bad taste in our mouth and if I had known that, I probably would have booked a standard room instead. DH was not a happy camper bc of it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just returned from a split stay and were in the Deluxe Studio in Pago Pago. There are the two bathing areas and kitchenette which is nice and more space than other Disney resorts...however my gripe was that the rooms in the Deluxe Studio are ready "anytime" after 4pm. When I went to check in around 4:30, we were told our room was not ready yet because it was in a DVC location and those rooms aren't ready until after 4pm due to being larger and needing more time to be cleaned. I asked if there was a roundabout time for the room to be ready and they couldn't tell us. This is apparently the norm for DVC rooms/villas (we were not aware, as it stated 4pm on MDE). It ended up being ready 30 mins later, which wouldn't have been a big deal if we were just going to hang around the resort, but we had been the parks all day and sweating. We had a CG reservation for 6pm that night and really needed to shower (as well as needing to give our 2-year-old a bath). We somehow got the 3 of us showered/bathed and ran to CG. It put a bad taste in our mouth and if I had known that, I probably would have booked a standard room instead. DH was not a happy camper bc of it.

That's standard with DVC. Check in is not at 4PM. Villas are ready after 4PM and it could be 5 or 5:30 at times.

 

[CarolynFH]

That's standard with DVC. Check in is not at 4PM. Villas are ready after 4PM and it could be 5 or 5:30 at times.

Or even later - 6:00, 7:30....

 

[SarahC97]

We just returned from a split stay and were in the Deluxe Studio in Pago Pago. There are the two bathing areas and kitchenette which is nice and more space than other Disney resorts...however my gripe was that the rooms in the Deluxe Studio are ready "anytime" after 4pm. When I went to check in around 4:30, we were told our room was not ready yet because it was in a DVC location and those rooms aren't ready until after 4pm due to being larger and needing more time to be cleaned. I asked if there was a roundabout time for the room to be ready and they couldn't tell us. This is apparently the norm for DVC rooms/villas (we were not aware, as it stated 4pm on MDE). It ended up being ready 30 mins later, which wouldn't have been a big deal if we were just going to hang around the resort, but we had been the parks all day and sweating. We had a CG reservation for 6pm that night and really needed to shower (as well as needing to give our 2-year-old a bath). We somehow got the 3 of us showered/bathed and ran to CG. It put a bad taste in our mouth and if I had known that, I probably would have booked a standard room instead. DH was not a happy camper bc of it.

This was a problem we encountered too - not being DVC members, we weren't aware of it. We rented points for a split stay and the day we went over to the Poly to check in, it was about 8 am. We didn't expect the room to be ready, but we wanted them to know we were there, etc. We ended up not getting a room until after 6 pm. It was very inconvenient and just like you if I had known I might have just stuck with the regular hotel room. Plus, we thought the pull out couch was incredibly uncomfortable. We only stayed for a couple of nights, but I couldn't imagine sleeping on it for a week.

 

[Liberator]

When booking a standard view studio one disadvantage can be the parking lot view on one side of Pago Pago. When booking a lake view studio some people expect to see the castle, but especially from some ground floor rooms the castle can not be seen.

The studios are the among the largest non suite rooms on property as far as I remember. As others have said one of the bathrooms is a little oversized and these square feet would have been better in the living area. And the studios do not have a lot of drawers and shelves.

I have never stayed in a Poly regular room, so I can not really compare. But the studios totally convinced me. Having two showers is great for getting ready!

 

[aprilbabes]

Where are you seeing that a Poly studio is $100/night less than a regular Poly room?

I'm seeing rack rates for a regular, standard view room running around $534/night during Value 2 Season. A studio's rack rate is $555 during that same period. In fact, the rack rates for studios are higher in every season of the year.

Now, if you're comparing staying in a regular room on a cash reservation vs. staying in a studio on rented DVC points, that's entirely different and a big reason why the rental market is so robust. If you stay on points, then you don't get daily housekeeping. You get a daily visit to take out your trash (if housekeeping does the visit). Clean towels and toiletries replaced on day #4 of your stay. No vacuuming, no fresh bed linens, they won't make your bed and they won't wipe down your counters. Full cleaning on day #8. With a cash reservation you get daily cleaning, toiletries as needed and fresh towels.

I’m not sure what “value 2 season” is but the week we’re going a standard view room is $730/ nt avg.

 

[Sue M]

Personally for us, I prefer 2 queens and more living space than the studio set up with only 1 real bed. I usually go with my adult daughter and she wouldn’t be happy with getting the pull out for 2 weeks.
Pre DVC conversion we stayed in Tokelau in the beach end which we loved. We had a sideways view of MK. Location was very central right next to the quiet pool, or walk out the beach end to main pool, beach and boat.

 

[Runner225]

That's standard with DVC. Check in is not at 4PM. Villas are ready after 4PM and it could be 5 or 5:30 at times.

Or even later - 6:00, 7:30....

As I had said in the post, we were unaware of this as we are not DVC members. If I had known, I would have booked a regular room at Poly. However, in MDE it was misleading in saying that check-in was at 4pm.

 

[Marionnette]

I’m not sure what “value 2 season” is but the week we’re going a standard view room is $730/ nt avg.

Value 2 Season is one of the many "seasons" that Disney uses to determine hotel room rack rates. It is the cheapest time to travel to Disney World. I only used it as an example. But looking at the rack rates for both hotel rooms and studio villas, there is no period when it is less expensive to stay in a studio than it is to stay in a hotel room at Poly. The only time you might see the villas go for less than a hotel room on cash reservations would be if there is no discount available for hotel rooms but discounts remain available for the studios.

 

[Rich M]

We’re not dvc members, but from what I understand anyone can stay in the studio rooms. They are over $100/nt less than a standard room. Aside from the fact that it has a sleeper sofa instead of extra queen bed, are there any other disadvantages??

I would consider looking at DVC Resale also for even better savings. There is also a thread on here of people looking to sale there points on here too. I am staying at a Poly Studio Oct 14th to Oct 17th. I will be happy to report back as it is my first time staying there.