Polynesian Itinerary??

[amystevekai&bump]

I apologise if I have posted this on the wrong board - but I wanted to get the opinion of those who love the Poly, so thought this was the best option.

We have 4 nights booked at the Poly in May 2008, and are travelling with our two children (DS4 and DS8mths) for the first time - it is also our first visit to the Poly (very excited!!).

Anyway, we will be arriving around 10am (following the disney cruise) and will have most of the departure day (as we will be checking into an offsite villa at 4pm) - so in effect we have 5 days in and around the Poly!!

We can't decide whether to limit all our mornings to MK and then spend each afternoon at Poly (due to young sons needing naps and pool time) or to try and include a full day at Epcot as well (seeing as how the monorail is so convenient) - But this would obviously mean less time at MK and Poly.

We can always do Epcot by car once we are in the villa, but I didn't really want to do MK from the villa, due to the need to park then get monorail/boat - I thought it might be too much travelling for the kids - What would you do????

(sorry for the long post!!)

 

[Marty Joe]

I'm not sure how to answer your planning question. I can tell you that when we go to WDW, I do not drive anywhere. While at the Poly (my fovorite), you are just a monorail ride to the MK and Epcot. and just a bus ride to MGM, DTD, and AK. The last thing I need is to get lost, have a wreck, get road rage or otherwise frosted at WDW. Your longest trip will be around 20 minutes (give or take), and you are staying in the most relaxing resort at WDW (IMHO). We used to fret over planning - what day to go where, when, and how. Boring! We now wing it and it is working well for us. We also rarely spend the entire day at a park without a break. With little ones, they will get crabby and you will not enjoy your WDW vacation that you just spent $$$$$$$$ on. To try to answer at least one of your questions, Epcot will not appeal to a 4yo and a 8mo very much and it can be very taxing due to all tha walking around the countries. For now, I would go with MK and pick Epcot next time. The volcano pool at the Poly has a 0 degree entry (something like that) which means it is very shallow at the entry point and very (small) child friendly. Great for an afternoon break.
(Wow, this reply is all over the place and not constructed very well, but It's Sunday, I'm at work, and I'm taking a Poly break - I took a shot!)

 

[SeaSpray]

We have 4 nights booked at the Poly in May 2008, and are travelling with our two children (DS4 and DS8mths) for the first time - it is also our first visit to the Poly (very excited!!).

Anyway, we will be arriving around 10am (following the disney cruise) and will have most of the departure day (as we will be checking into an offsite villa at 4pm) - so in effect we have 5 days in and around the Poly!!

We can't decide whether to limit all our mornings to MK and then spend each afternoon at Poly (due to young sons needing naps and pool time) or to try and include a full day at Epcot as well (seeing as how the monorail is so convenient) - But this would obviously mean less time at MK and Poly.

Hi there! We're currently working on our own itinerary for next May, and we're staying at the Polynesian as well. (What dates will you be there??)

Let me tell you how we're trying to set up our itinerary, and maybe some of it will be helpful to you.

We'll be with our older sons (ages 20 and 17 at the time), and our aunt who is in her mid-70's. I have some mobility health issues, so we're not able to "run around" the parks anymore, so I really have to plan our days well. Since I see that you'll have young children with you, maybe some of my planning tips will be helpful. (maybe not! lol).

Anyway, what I've done so far is to plan to start out at a different park each morning, and then have lunch in that park. That way by lunch time, we'll have already spent a few hours in the park and then the lunch will be a built-in break. If we feel we need to head back to the resort after lunch, then we can take naps or swim (the volcano pool is wonderful!), or both! This will refresh us for the evenings. Most of our evenings have us staying in the Magic Kindgom area (that's where our dinners will be), then a couple of nights we'll head out to a different park, for example dinner at Epcot, so that way we'll be there for the fireworks show "IllumiNations" that evening.

We love the Polynesian, so that's another reason why we've built-in the breaks there for each afternoon. However, on one day if we're all feeling up to continuing in whichever park we happen to be in, we can just stay there and do more of that park. Basically I try and break the days up, because with my health issues, and not being sure of how our aunt will hold up, I don't want to make us feel like we HAVE to stay in 1 park for the entire day without a break.

I hope this was helpful, and please feel free to ask more questions.

 

[SeaSpray]

I'm not sure how to answer your planning question. I can tell you that when we go to WDW, I do not drive anywhere. While at the Poly (my fovorite), you are just a monorail ride to the MK and Epcot. and just a bus ride to MGM, DTD, and AK. The last thing I need is to get lost, have a wreck, get road rage or otherwise frosted at WDW. Your longest trip will be around 20 minutes (give or take), and you are staying in the most relaxing resort at WDW (IMHO). We used to fret over planning - what day to go where, when, and how. Boring! We now wing it and it is working well for us. We also rarely spend the entire day at a park without a break. With little ones, they will get crabby and you will not enjoy your WDW vacation that you just spent $$$$$$$$ on. To try to answer at least one of your questions, Epcot will not appeal to a 4yo and a 8mo very much and it can be very taxing due to all tha walking around the countries. For now, I would go with MK and pick Epcot next time. The volcano pool at the Poly has a 0 degree entry (something like that) which means it is very shallow at the entry point and very (small) child friendly. Great for an afternoon break.
(Wow, this reply is all over the place and not constructed very well, but It's Sunday, I'm at work, and I'm taking a Poly break - I took a shot!)

Hey Joe, I think you did an excellent job with your reply, and we both basically said the same thing, that a break in between each day is really a very good idea

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi sorry I haven't replied to you both - the morning after I posted my original thread, I went into labour and gave birth to my little boy!!! So have been a little busy!!!

Thank you both for your responses - now that I am juggling two children I can see that rest breaks are very important!!!

We are only staying at the poly for 4 nights (May 18th until May 22nd), then we are transferring to a villa for 13 nights - Although I would have liked to spend my whole vacation onsite, I also thought having seperate bedrooms for us and the children, instead of the whole vacation all in one bedroom, would be a little more relaxing!!! Plus DS4 gets to play in his own pool each day which he will love!!

Anyway, thank you for your advice - I think we will probably limit our 4 days at the Poly just to MK and the volcano pool. We will then drive to Epcot just for one day from the villa (we want to do the revamped Living seas with Nemo, Soarin' and we're thinking of booking the Coral Reef for dinner, and maybe asking for the diver to give DS4 a special message!!) - does that sound like a good idea??

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[Maxie86]

Congrats on the birth of your son. I just wanted to add that you can walk to the TTC from the Poly and have direct monorail access to Epcot. It makes going to Epcot from the Poly as easy as going to the MK. It is very easy to go to Epcot for a couple of hours and then go back to the Poly for rest and pool time. My DS is 21 now and we still do that.

 

[kileybeth]

congratulations Amy, Steve, and Kai on the addition of your newest family member! woo-hoo hope everyone is doing well. including "bump" did I get that user name?

I think you have your plan down just right! 4 mornings at MK and 4 afternoon/evenings enjoying the pool and resort and fitting in a nap or two sounds delightful!

Other MK options while at POLY might be one day go back into park for afternoon parade, 4 years old is a magical time for such. Also may want to plan some character breakfast at Chef Mickeys (on the monorail at the Contempory Resort), O'hana's right in the POLY or Crystal Palace with all the Pooh characters right on Main Street in MK. Fun stuff for a 4 year old, nice and relaxing for parents, and no need to worry about moving baby out of infant seat/stroller or such.

Not to be nosey but I am in envy over 13 days in a villa! plus 4 more days on site! Nice! I know you will have the best kind of vacation, one you actually get to relax while vacationing! Enjoy!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Thanks for everyones comments - Kileybeth, your suggestions are great!! We are defintely going to book Crystal Palace, Chef Mickeys (both for breakfast) and we will also do O'Hanas one evening!!!

thanks again!