ducklite
<font color=teal>Take the Poly, it's fabulous!<br>
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2000
- Messages
- 33,487
We pulled up under the front entrance of the Polynesian, and were immediately greeted by a valet who assisted with our luggage. We let him know that we were concierge guests, and he called the concierge. A moment later he came back and let us know that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that our room was waiting for us, the bad news was that we would need to wait a few moments for someone from bell services to be available to escort us back to the Hawaii building. Not a problem. A very few minutes later we were loaded up onto a golf cart and driven back to Hawaii. We were taken directly to our room, where we had a chance to settle in before going to the concierge desk and checking in. The room was very spacious. We had requested, and were given room 1505, which had a PERFECT view of the castle. (Thanks Tikiman for the tip!!) I have a very sensitive nose, and didn't smell anything bad in the room at all. One complaint about this room was there simply wasn't enough "shelf" space in the tub to hold our assorted shampoos and such. Be aware that there is no split bathroom in this room either, so if you have a larger group, it could make mornings really tough.
The amenities included Mickey style soaps, shampoos, lotions, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. I grabbed all but the hand soap up and stashed it away. (I save all the soaps and such from hotels, especially the Mickey ones from WDW and "upscale" ones from nice resorts and donate them to a battered woman and children's shelter.) There was an empty mini-fridge that had obviously at one time been the mini-bar, as well as a hairdryer, iron and board. The room had two queen beds, a large daybed, and a table with two chairs. DS decided that he would rather sleep on the daybed than the queen bed. He said the mattress was more comfortable.
DS wanted to go out and play on the beach/in the pool, and DH and I decided to head over to the MK for a little while. We grabbed Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear, then went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We were headed back over to Buzz, when all of a sudden the sky lit up with a crack. The lightning started, and we headed for cover. We assumed (wrongly) that it would be over in 10-15 minutes. Almost an hour later we were able to safely leave, although it was still raining. It stopped right about the time we got to the Polynesian. We found DS with a lot of others in the concierge lounge watching TV and eating snacks. The concierge staff was really wonderful. They were extremely pleasant, and greeted us without fail, even if it was just to look up and smile if they were involved with another guest. A big plus was that they have the bottled Dasani water in the lounge, and encourage you to take some with you to the parks. Also, unlike all of the other concierge lounges that I've experienced at WDW, they had soda clearly out and iced. You didn't need to request it.
One thing to be aware of, is that kids seem to love to run up and down the halls in this resort, and it sounds like thunder in your room. If it's several older kids, it literally makes the floor shake. They really need to do some serious soundproofing during the rehab. A small amount of noise from the hallways is to be expected, but it was more like a rampaging herd of wildebeasts morning, noon, and into the fairly late night. One evening my DH actually stuck his head out the door and told two particularly obnoxious kids to stop running and yelling in the halls.
Breakfast in the concierge lounge was very good, and very much like the one at the AKL, with creamy hot oatmeal as well as a wide variety of pastries, donuts, bagels, toast, etc. One of our three mornings it was rather crowded, and we took the last table downstairs, but I'm pretty sure there were still at least three tables empty upstairs.
Thursday afternoon I spent sitting in a swinging chair on the beach reading, which was wonderful, until the rain came. At first it was just sprinkles, and I moved onto my patio, then the deluge began and I had to go inside.
On our last night we ran into a bit of a problem, we had been at MGM all day, and had gotten very hot and sticky, so we headed back to the room to shower before we went to dinner at Jiko. We all showered, and left for dinner at about 5:30pm. When we returned at about 10:15, the room hadn't been turned down. I can certainly pull down my own spread, but it left us in a pickle, because now we had no clean towels for the morning. The concierge had already left for the evening, so I called housekeeping. First she told me I must have had the Do not disturb sign out. I told her that it hadn't been. Then she told me to call the concierge. I told them the concierge was closed, and that I just needed towels. She got huffy with me and said she would send them. Half an hour later (we had to get up early in the morning, and I wanted to go to bed, so I wasn't very happy at this point) I still didn't have my towels. I called again. The same girl answered the phone, and got downright nasty with me. She SNARLED "You only called a few minutes ago, you'll get them when they get there." Not a very nice way to end the trip. I regret not having gotten her name, as I would certainly have written a complaint. I DID tell the concierge the next morning, who apologized profusely. Now, one other thing, SOMEONE from the concierge had been in our room after we had left for dinner, as they had left a little gift. So someplace along the line someone dropped the ball on the turndown service. It's not a deal breaker, but it wasn't the most pleasant end to the trip.
One other minor complaint, we called for baggage assistance on Saturday morning. After waiting for ten minutes, someone called us and asked if we had called for assistance, and were we ready to leave. Uh, yeah. After another five plus minutes, someone finally came. This made us late in meeting our limo to the Port.
Some final comments In all honesty, one of the the biggest selling points for me was the beach right outside our room, and of course the castle view. The room was clean and comfortable. The concierge lounge was nice, although I prefer the one at the AKL in terms of décor and food, except for the soda/water issue as stated above. The concierge staff was very nice. I would stay here again, and could certainly recommend it to others.
Anne
The amenities included Mickey style soaps, shampoos, lotions, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. I grabbed all but the hand soap up and stashed it away. (I save all the soaps and such from hotels, especially the Mickey ones from WDW and "upscale" ones from nice resorts and donate them to a battered woman and children's shelter.) There was an empty mini-fridge that had obviously at one time been the mini-bar, as well as a hairdryer, iron and board. The room had two queen beds, a large daybed, and a table with two chairs. DS decided that he would rather sleep on the daybed than the queen bed. He said the mattress was more comfortable.
DS wanted to go out and play on the beach/in the pool, and DH and I decided to head over to the MK for a little while. We grabbed Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear, then went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We were headed back over to Buzz, when all of a sudden the sky lit up with a crack. The lightning started, and we headed for cover. We assumed (wrongly) that it would be over in 10-15 minutes. Almost an hour later we were able to safely leave, although it was still raining. It stopped right about the time we got to the Polynesian. We found DS with a lot of others in the concierge lounge watching TV and eating snacks. The concierge staff was really wonderful. They were extremely pleasant, and greeted us without fail, even if it was just to look up and smile if they were involved with another guest. A big plus was that they have the bottled Dasani water in the lounge, and encourage you to take some with you to the parks. Also, unlike all of the other concierge lounges that I've experienced at WDW, they had soda clearly out and iced. You didn't need to request it.
One thing to be aware of, is that kids seem to love to run up and down the halls in this resort, and it sounds like thunder in your room. If it's several older kids, it literally makes the floor shake. They really need to do some serious soundproofing during the rehab. A small amount of noise from the hallways is to be expected, but it was more like a rampaging herd of wildebeasts morning, noon, and into the fairly late night. One evening my DH actually stuck his head out the door and told two particularly obnoxious kids to stop running and yelling in the halls.
Breakfast in the concierge lounge was very good, and very much like the one at the AKL, with creamy hot oatmeal as well as a wide variety of pastries, donuts, bagels, toast, etc. One of our three mornings it was rather crowded, and we took the last table downstairs, but I'm pretty sure there were still at least three tables empty upstairs.
Thursday afternoon I spent sitting in a swinging chair on the beach reading, which was wonderful, until the rain came. At first it was just sprinkles, and I moved onto my patio, then the deluge began and I had to go inside.
On our last night we ran into a bit of a problem, we had been at MGM all day, and had gotten very hot and sticky, so we headed back to the room to shower before we went to dinner at Jiko. We all showered, and left for dinner at about 5:30pm. When we returned at about 10:15, the room hadn't been turned down. I can certainly pull down my own spread, but it left us in a pickle, because now we had no clean towels for the morning. The concierge had already left for the evening, so I called housekeeping. First she told me I must have had the Do not disturb sign out. I told her that it hadn't been. Then she told me to call the concierge. I told them the concierge was closed, and that I just needed towels. She got huffy with me and said she would send them. Half an hour later (we had to get up early in the morning, and I wanted to go to bed, so I wasn't very happy at this point) I still didn't have my towels. I called again. The same girl answered the phone, and got downright nasty with me. She SNARLED "You only called a few minutes ago, you'll get them when they get there." Not a very nice way to end the trip. I regret not having gotten her name, as I would certainly have written a complaint. I DID tell the concierge the next morning, who apologized profusely. Now, one other thing, SOMEONE from the concierge had been in our room after we had left for dinner, as they had left a little gift. So someplace along the line someone dropped the ball on the turndown service. It's not a deal breaker, but it wasn't the most pleasant end to the trip.
One other minor complaint, we called for baggage assistance on Saturday morning. After waiting for ten minutes, someone called us and asked if we had called for assistance, and were we ready to leave. Uh, yeah. After another five plus minutes, someone finally came. This made us late in meeting our limo to the Port.
Some final comments In all honesty, one of the the biggest selling points for me was the beach right outside our room, and of course the castle view. The room was clean and comfortable. The concierge lounge was nice, although I prefer the one at the AKL in terms of décor and food, except for the soda/water issue as stated above. The concierge staff was very nice. I would stay here again, and could certainly recommend it to others.
Anne
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