diswedwish
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2002
- Messages
- 812
We've (DH and I) just returned from our trip and had a wonderful time
Deep in post-Disney depression, but it was worth it!!
This is how we split our trip:
11/12-11/18 - POR Silver Plan - 7 for the price of 5 special
11/19 - POR room-only, AAA discount
11/20-11/22 - Poly Platinum Plan - how did we afford it, we're in debt up to our eyeballs (not really, but that's the commercial we'd quote to each other)
11/23 - Pop, room-only, code discount
These are just our resort reviews, I'll do reviews of the Silver and Platinum Plans once I have the #'s in front of me. I do know that we saved $ with both and wouldn't hesitate to do either one again.
We love POR, and this trip was no exception. We were in bldg. 28 on the AB side, as requested. Our room wasn't refurbished yet, but did have a fridge and coffee pot in our room - those weren't in our room in Jan. We were lucky enough to get a few towel animals, which we liked. We bought 1 refillable mug and used it just about twice every day, well worth the cost. We got to use the pool/hot tub once at night. We ate at Boatwright's once for breakfast, I had filled up my mug prior to coming, and she didn't give me a problem over not ordering a drink - actually she asked if either of us needed a drink implying that sharing was fine by her, but DH did order juice. We ate breakfast at the food court twice, one morning they seemed short-handed and one of the CMs seemed to be in a fine temper, but other than that everyone was very nice and we enjoyed our stay and plan to return.
On to the Poly *sigh*. We paid for a garden view room. We were upgraded to a lagoon view (we could see the GF, WP and volcano pool, even the castle if we leaned waaaaaaaay over our balcony) in Samoa with concierge-access. Double *sigh*. We loved the Poly very much. We weren't there too much since we were out and about on the Platinum Plan, but we did manage to spend almost one entire afternoon/evening there and it was heavenly. We loved sitting on the balcony, and the size of our room. It was very nice being right on the monorail, great to be able to walk to and from the GF, and the resort itself was smaller than what we are used to with POR. We loved the tiki torches and the landscaping, and the slide, and seeing the castle from the pool. We loved having concierge access too, everyone was so nice there and it made check-in so much nicer. We didn't use concierge very much either, again due to the Platinum Plan, but it was nice to slip over and have a glass of wine at night or grab a glass of milk in the morning. I don't think it will ever be a necessity to us, but if we could afford it, concierge would be great. We didn't notice any smell, other than the somewhat damp smell the first time we walked outside of the ceremonial house, but that's due to the fact that it's outside, and there are plants there that get watered regularly. The rest of the time we didn't notice a thing.
On to Pop Century. I'd read to end with the nicest resort, but I just couldn't justify the $ since we would be out late Tuesday night, and had to be up by 5 am. It made it easier to leave anyway
Not that Pop is bad by any stretch, it was fine. The rooms were clean, the themeing (especially the lobby) is cute, and hey, they all look the same with the lights out
I'd stayed in a value resort before, DH hadn't, so I thought it would be interesting if he would say "why haven't we saved $ and stayed here all along", wouldn't say anything, or "we're never staying here again". Well after the Poly, you can guess what his reaction was
He complained about the size of the resort and the size of the room and that it wasn't as pretty as POR or the Poly and that it was noisy outside. We didn't hear a peep when we were in our room however, thankfully. He usually doesn't complain about anything, so I was a little surprised, but glad because I like POR and the Poly too and if we have to wait longer before we come back in order to stay there, that's fine by me.
As far as switching resorts it worked out really well. I'd put a lot of effort and thought into our packing however. We had 1 large "POR" suitcase with a baggie for each day, labeled by date, with shirt/undies/etc. At POR we unpacked the whole bag and our shower goodies but didn't touch the other 2 "Poly" bags. By the end of POR we had a large laundry suitcase, and 2 unpacked bags. Same deal for the Poly. For Pop I had a separate small bag packed inside one of the larger suitcases, so that and the shower stuff were the only things we needed to unpack.
The night before the first switch, we stopped by bell services at POR, and requested a pick-up time of 7:10 am. We were told that we didn't have to wait with our bags so we didn't, we just left a tip envelope. That afternoon at the Poly, once we had our room # we called bell services and they brought it up within 10 min.
From the Poly to Pop, bell services told me to call the morning of, and they'd be by within 10 min. They were, no problems there. At Pop, we stopped by bell services after we had our room # and they brought it up to our room within an hour.
So we wouldn't hesitate to switch resorts again, as long as you take that into consideration when you pack it's no problem at all.
HTH and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help
This is how we split our trip:
11/12-11/18 - POR Silver Plan - 7 for the price of 5 special
11/19 - POR room-only, AAA discount
11/20-11/22 - Poly Platinum Plan - how did we afford it, we're in debt up to our eyeballs (not really, but that's the commercial we'd quote to each other)
11/23 - Pop, room-only, code discount
These are just our resort reviews, I'll do reviews of the Silver and Platinum Plans once I have the #'s in front of me. I do know that we saved $ with both and wouldn't hesitate to do either one again.
We love POR, and this trip was no exception. We were in bldg. 28 on the AB side, as requested. Our room wasn't refurbished yet, but did have a fridge and coffee pot in our room - those weren't in our room in Jan. We were lucky enough to get a few towel animals, which we liked. We bought 1 refillable mug and used it just about twice every day, well worth the cost. We got to use the pool/hot tub once at night. We ate at Boatwright's once for breakfast, I had filled up my mug prior to coming, and she didn't give me a problem over not ordering a drink - actually she asked if either of us needed a drink implying that sharing was fine by her, but DH did order juice. We ate breakfast at the food court twice, one morning they seemed short-handed and one of the CMs seemed to be in a fine temper, but other than that everyone was very nice and we enjoyed our stay and plan to return.
On to the Poly *sigh*. We paid for a garden view room. We were upgraded to a lagoon view (we could see the GF, WP and volcano pool, even the castle if we leaned waaaaaaaay over our balcony) in Samoa with concierge-access. Double *sigh*. We loved the Poly very much. We weren't there too much since we were out and about on the Platinum Plan, but we did manage to spend almost one entire afternoon/evening there and it was heavenly. We loved sitting on the balcony, and the size of our room. It was very nice being right on the monorail, great to be able to walk to and from the GF, and the resort itself was smaller than what we are used to with POR. We loved the tiki torches and the landscaping, and the slide, and seeing the castle from the pool. We loved having concierge access too, everyone was so nice there and it made check-in so much nicer. We didn't use concierge very much either, again due to the Platinum Plan, but it was nice to slip over and have a glass of wine at night or grab a glass of milk in the morning. I don't think it will ever be a necessity to us, but if we could afford it, concierge would be great. We didn't notice any smell, other than the somewhat damp smell the first time we walked outside of the ceremonial house, but that's due to the fact that it's outside, and there are plants there that get watered regularly. The rest of the time we didn't notice a thing.
On to Pop Century. I'd read to end with the nicest resort, but I just couldn't justify the $ since we would be out late Tuesday night, and had to be up by 5 am. It made it easier to leave anyway
Not that Pop is bad by any stretch, it was fine. The rooms were clean, the themeing (especially the lobby) is cute, and hey, they all look the same with the lights out
I'd stayed in a value resort before, DH hadn't, so I thought it would be interesting if he would say "why haven't we saved $ and stayed here all along", wouldn't say anything, or "we're never staying here again". Well after the Poly, you can guess what his reaction was
He complained about the size of the resort and the size of the room and that it wasn't as pretty as POR or the Poly and that it was noisy outside. We didn't hear a peep when we were in our room however, thankfully. He usually doesn't complain about anything, so I was a little surprised, but glad because I like POR and the Poly too and if we have to wait longer before we come back in order to stay there, that's fine by me.As far as switching resorts it worked out really well. I'd put a lot of effort and thought into our packing however. We had 1 large "POR" suitcase with a baggie for each day, labeled by date, with shirt/undies/etc. At POR we unpacked the whole bag and our shower goodies but didn't touch the other 2 "Poly" bags. By the end of POR we had a large laundry suitcase, and 2 unpacked bags. Same deal for the Poly. For Pop I had a separate small bag packed inside one of the larger suitcases, so that and the shower stuff were the only things we needed to unpack.
The night before the first switch, we stopped by bell services at POR, and requested a pick-up time of 7:10 am. We were told that we didn't have to wait with our bags so we didn't, we just left a tip envelope. That afternoon at the Poly, once we had our room # we called bell services and they brought it up within 10 min.
From the Poly to Pop, bell services told me to call the morning of, and they'd be by within 10 min. They were, no problems there. At Pop, we stopped by bell services after we had our room # and they brought it up to our room within an hour.
So we wouldn't hesitate to switch resorts again, as long as you take that into consideration when you pack it's no problem at all.
HTH and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help