Pros and Cons of Polynesian

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Main Con: Sharing bus w/ GF, longhouses not connected

They are also share bus service with the Contemporary.

 

[mickeysaver]

The main con for us is the fact that there are no more affordably priced rooms with king beds. The king beds are only in certain suites and we just don't need a suite, but we certainly prefer a king bed. The other con is the lack of a hot tub. Even with these cons, we still love the Poly and can't wait for our next stay there!

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Things we love (my three kids helped me)

large rooms
pool and slide
beach/hammocks
finding hidden mickeys
seeing the castle
Ohana
Captain Cooks
Kona
GCH fragrance and shopping
walks by tiki torches
Neverland Club
wonderful CM
monorail

Things that we just deal with

lower showerheads
bus to DD
CC can get too crowded

We love the Poly! My kids said they would rather stay there then have the SAB. That really surprised me.

 

[lucyem]

cons (that put us off)
No hot tub
Cold pool
Seperate buildings (we had a lot of rain)
Transport by bus patchy
Crowded lobby
Lots of non resort guests everywhere including the pool.

I have to agree with the above. We also had issues with the staff. Check in time was to be 3, so we arrived after 3 and still had a 2+ hour wait for a room. Someone tried to steal my laptop by breaking the security cord from the computer and the staff could have cared less. "oh we will send security over" and no one ever came.

Really for the price I was not too impressed. Granted the location is nice being on the monorail and very handy with a little one and nap time. But to be honest we would not go back.

 

[Disneylvr]

IMHO if you spend that kind of money to go to The Poly to spend a lot of time in pool why go to the Poly when you can stay/swim at the All Star resorts for 1/5 of the cost. I don't mean offend anybody but a dip in pool is ok, but I/we go to Disney and the Poly to do Disney.

I didn't spend big money to spend time at the pool. I spent big money to be on the monorail and close to the MK. DD has autism and when she was younger it made the trip so much easier to be able to use the monorail to get to two parks. We return to our resort, no matter where we are staying, every afternoon for swimming/naps and then return to the parks during the evening. DD loves to swim so yes the pool IS IMPORTANT to us. At the Poly pool you couldn't even stretch out your arms without touching another guest and that can be a big problem for any guest let alone someone with autism. We go to Disney World to enjoy the parks AND the resort and for now the moderates are working out for DD and are much easier on our budget. I still love the Poly but another con is how much it costs to stay there!!!!

 

[mmmears]

Disneylvr -- I completely agree. I don't see the point in paying for an expensive resort if we didn't actually spend time there and relax. We return every afternoon for a rest and a swim, and I agree that the Poly pool is a bit too crowded for relaxation.

If I was just going to spend all my time in the parks, I'd stay at the cheapest place I could find (probably off property).

 

[brergnat]

Pros:

Location
On Site Restaurants (except I think CC is gross...)

Cons:
no hot tub
no fitness center
no balconies on 2nd floor rooms
one bathroom sink in many longhouses
golf carts all over
small pool

 

[kerry34]

Loved the poly and hoping to stay there again in 2011. Here are some thoughts on cons:

pricey

its large and can be confusing to get around for some. My poor mother got lost several times going to/from our longhouse, but we all had a laugh about it and made several jokes about her getting old and needing to put her on a leash. I joked with her that next time we are attaching a GPS to her.

Some have complained about the dark hallways, I could care less about this, after all we are in the hall for a mere few minutes and either in the room or gone for the day.

Decor in the room, again not an issue for me, as long as there are windows and it is in good upkeep, I dont care what color the walls, bedspreads, furniture is, etc. Just show me the comfy bed after a long day and I am a happy camper.

Pool is a bit smaller than other resorts, and there isn't a hot tub as far as I know (unless they have added one in the past five years)

Now for the pros:

Great atmosphere. Loved walking around the resort at night, and sitting on the beach to watch fireworks, kids loved the fact they could see the fireworks while they were swimming (this was a huge hit with them), also loved the hammocks on the beach, very nice to relax in.

Comfy beds, almost didnt want to get out of them each morning.

Rooms are good size with a nice amount of storage. Room didnt feel cluttered to me.

Nice being on monorail especially with little ones.

Good size bathrooms. Not as important for some, but for me at the time, I was bathing five year old twins, so the extra room helped.

 

[J3nn78]

Pros
*On the monorail loop-awesome to be in the park just minutes after leaving the resort
*LOVE Kona and Ohana-we eat at Kona at least once and Ohana at least twice
*Volcano Pool-my boys LOVED this pool and slide
*Watching fireworks and water pageant from beach
*Large rooms and bathroom
*Atmosphere
*Sea Raycers
*I could go on and on

CON
*Price-I never thought I would pay that much for a hotel room, but after staying once last year with the 40% we were so hooked that I was willing to pay rack rate this year. Luckily we got another pin

 

[TheLittleMermaid:)]

We just went there last August and loved it! We originally payed for a room with a cheaper view, but we were upgraded to a castle view for free. It was a great experience, the view was amazing, the transportation was so convenient (monorail!). The restauraunts have great options and great service, my personal favorite is OHANA! The only potentially bad thing about the Poly is that it is one of the older resorts so the hotel rooms aren't all connected to the lobby complex (which i prefer) so it can tend to be a longer walk to the various forms of transportation from your room. I hope this helps!

 

[Spaceship Tigger]

Pros:
Large updated rooms
Zero-entry pool right at the beach area
Transportation options (location)
Tiki torches, streams, and waterfalls
Children's area in the lobby

Cons:
Not a great selection of Poly themed merchandise
No hot tubs
No good playground or children's pool
Crowded lobby (especially before the Luau)

 

[swald91]

I have to agree with the above. We also had issues with the staff. Check in time was to be 3, so we arrived after 3 and still had a 2+ hour wait for a room. Someone tried to steal my laptop by breaking the security cord from the computer and the staff could have cared less. "oh we will send security over" and no one ever came.

Really for the price I was not too impressed. Granted the location is nice being on the monorail and very handy with a little one and nap time. But to be honest we would not go back.

Oh my! I hope that you confronted them!!! I'm not sure of your situation, but when we were leaving there was a family that must have been waiting for their ride-they left ALL of there luggage & bags on the couches & they just sort of wandered the lobby-now it wasn't crowded but very easy for someone to come over & take ANYTHING! Being that we were sitting close by maybe they assumed we were "watching" their stuff for them
I can't believe that the CMs didn't send over security...was it busy? As far as a room wait goes, did you request anything? Alot of times if you ask for something specific you will have to wait. Once we requested a certain longhouse & we arrived around 11am-had to wait to almost 3pm for it...so now if we make a request & something else opens we'll take it just to get settled in!

 

[LadyGracey]

Pros:

Dole Whip and Tonga Toast and the great food & sushi (and real coffee!) at Kona
24-hour food court...for your 3am soda craving
Theming and relaxing atmosphere
The Lapu Lapu (adult beverage served in a pineapple!)
Tropical gifts and clothing in the main shop
Beautiful landscaping
Wishes & Electrical Water Pageant from the beach
Watching a real hula class (and you may be asked to join in! so much fun!)
Convenience to both the MK and Epcot monorails and to theme park buses at the TTC AND they have boats to the MK and GF!!!
Big rooms with big bathrooms and nice decor (some people are not fans...I am)
You can watch the fireworks while you're IN the pool



Cons:
Expensive!
The main resort bus service shares with the Grand Floridian and sometimes the Contemporary (but you can just walk to the TTC and catch a bus there instead)
Walkways are all outside (pleasant when the weather is nice, but not when cold/raining)
'Ohana is always packed and you can never get a seat in the lounge for a drink because of all the people waiting to be seated...also can make Kona packed at night too because of the walkups turned away from 'Ohana. They need another restaurant. (wish they would reopen Tangaroa Terrace!)
Capt. Cooks is way too small for such a large resort (though the food is good)
The volcano pool is always packed and there is no hot tub.
The bathrooms are not split as in other resorts-sinks are located in the same room as the toilet/shower.


With all that said...going back to the Poly for the sixth time this weekend! For me the pros far outweigh the cons.

 

[my2disneyboys]

The DIS boards LOVE the Poly!!! You will not get much complaints from here!! I am sad to report that I had a horrible stay there a couple weeks ago. I have written a review about it, but basically they gave us a dirty room with the AC/Heater unit broken- took two days and multiple calls to management - they couldnt fix it and we had to change rooms mid trip... we never got one towel animal... it rained and having to walk to the TTC or the GCH to catch the monorail in a downpour was no fun.... it was cold so the pool was of no use to us. We had the worst waiter of our entire trip at Kona. The elevators were so tiny.

It was so pretty though and I loved Ohana. But I can go there anytime to visit and not pay the price to stay there.

 

[kecmouse]

PRO'S
-Close to themeparks
-Hawaiian themed
-great restaraunts
-Spacious room sizes
-Great views of fireworks

CON'S
-No hot tub
-The restaruants are seperate from rest of hotel
-awkward bathroom layout compared to AKL
-expensive for long stays!!

 

[The V Gang]

Pro's-
1) Location
2) Theme (gorgeous!)
3) food - pretty great

Con's -
1) Tiny elevators - only enough room for one double stroller (we had two)
2) - Tiny pool - Only about 25 lounge chairs so get up early!
3) - Dark rooms
4) - Spread out - get placed in the wrong longhouse and your in for a long walk
5) No hot tub