Standard view at Poly-which longhouse?

[3DisneyBuggs]

In the past we stayed in Samoa and liked the location. Are there standard views there now? Ive been using room finder on Touring Plans and none of Samoa rooms show standard. I have standard view booked. Any ideas what to request?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Samoa is all Pool/Water now.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We really like Rarotonga. It’s so close to GCH, the walking path to TTC and the quiet pool. We like to request 3rd floor to avoid having people walk past our room. Fiji, luau cove side was nice as we could walk out and see the fireworks at night, but it is loud until the luau ends around 10 pm on show nights. We liked 1st floor in Fiji to walk out to luau cove beach.

 

[momof2halls]

We stayed in Rarotonga in May this year. It was nice to be close to GCH, but in all honesty we hated the Poly. I wanted so bad to love it but it failed to live up to my expectations.

 

[AngiTN]

We really like Rarotonga. It’s so close to GCH, the walking path to TTC and the quiet pool. We like to request 3rd floor to avoid having people walk past our room. Fiji, luau cove side was nice as we could walk out and see the fireworks at night, but it is loud until the luau ends around 10 pm on show nights. We liked 1st floor in Fiji to walk out to luau cove beach.

Same here. I don't think there could be a better location. About the only one where you can walk to the lobby and not get soaked during a storm too.

We stayed in Rarotonga in May this year. It was nice to be close to GCH, but in all honesty we hated the Poly. I wanted so bad to love it but it failed to live up to my expectations.

Well, yeah, that too. Though hate was a strong word, for us, but it's not a place we rush back to. It did not even come close to living up to the hype for us either. Loved Rarotonga for when we do return. We even like the monorail side, it's fun to watch, just not fun to ride.

 

[tnolan]

We liked Aotearoa because it was so close to the GCH, and we could watch the MK fireworks from the marina crossing between the 2 buildings.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

We stayed in Rarotonga in May this year. It was nice to be close to GCH, but in all honesty we hated the Poly. I wanted so bad to love it but it failed to live up to my expectations.

Why did you hate it? I don't know if I have ever heard that! What hotel do you prefer then>

 

[Shellyb84]

We loved our view from our standard room in Fiji (room 3301). We were all the way at the end by the elevator. It wasn't a bad walk at all to the GCH.

 

[momof2halls]

 

[momof2halls]

Why did you hate it? I don't know if I have ever heard that! What hotel do you prefer then>

GCH was always crowed due to ‘Ohana’s, Capt Cooks seemed to always be chaotic (i guess because its so small). The longhouses are dated, the elevators are tiny and need updating bad, the lava pool is small to be a feature pool, we had trouble with housekeeping (we were gone all day and didnt get back to our room until 2am due to Galaxtic Nights at HS and our room had not been serviced, waited over 2 hours after calling for towels and no one ever came, ended up walking to GCH and having someone there help me) overall it was not at all what i expected especially for the amount of money we paid per night (and we had a magical deal saving almost 1/2 off rack rate).
We have stayed at AoA, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, AKL and last month Beach Club. Based on what type if vacation you are looking for I would stay at all the others again, but sadly not Poly. We have 3 trips booked between now and Nov 2019, we are booked for those trips at WL, Contemporary and Beach Club.
WL and AKL are very similar to us, if you have a lot of resort time planned I would pick AKL, for Christmas this year we are doing WL. If you want a tropical feel then Beach Club all the way. And I love the upscale feel of the Contemporary, even with it having Chef Mickey’s it never felt as crowed with extra guest like Poly did.

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

GCH was always crowed due to ‘Ohana’s, Capt Cooks seemed to always be chaotic (i guess because its so small). The longhouses are dated, the elevators are tiny and need updating bad, the lava pool is small to be a feature pool, we had trouble with housekeeping (we were gone all day and didnt get back to our room until 2am due to Galaxtic Nights at HS and our room had not been serviced, waited over 2 hours after calling for towels and no one ever came, ended up walking to GCH and having someone there help me) overall it was not at all what i expected especially for the amount of money we paid per night (and we had a magical deal saving almost 1/2 off rack rate).
We have stayed at AoA, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, AKL and last month Beach Club. Based on what type if vacation you are looking for I would stay at all the others again, but sadly not Poly. We have 3 trips booked between now and Nov 2019, we are booked for those trips at WL, Contemporary and Beach Club.
WL and AKL are very similar to us, if you have a lot of resort time planned I would pick AKL, for Christmas this year we are doing WL. If you want a tropical feel then Beach Club all the way. And I love the upscale feel of the Contemporary, even with it having Chef Mickey’s it never felt as crowed with extra guest like Poly did.

Great post. I have stayed at POLY and I agree with much of what you have said. But it still calls me back for some reason. The feeling I get when I am there. Contemporary I have stayed in 2 times but it just feels lacking to me now with little ones.

 

[Realgrumpy]

We had room 3228 in Aotearoa. Standard view room. Great location plus we saw the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony over the trees.

 

[emilyhuff]

We loved our view from our standard room in Fiji (room 3301). We were all the way at the end by the elevator. It wasn't a bad walk at all to the GCH.

View attachment 350133

This is the exact view we had last year and loved it!!! I hope people are persuaded to request Rarotonga so that I could possibly get this view again in October

 

[deeevo]

Fiji was our favorite

 

[Anthony1971]

GCH was always crowed due to ‘Ohana’s, Capt Cooks seemed to always be chaotic (i guess because its so small). The longhouses are dated, the elevators are tiny and need updating bad, the lava pool is small to be a feature pool, we had trouble with housekeeping (we were gone all day and didnt get back to our room until 2am due to Galaxtic Nights at HS and our room had not been serviced, waited over 2 hours after calling for towels and no one ever came, ended up walking to GCH and having someone there help me) overall it was not at all what i expected especially for the amount of money we paid per night (and we had a magical deal saving almost 1/2 off rack rate).
We have stayed at AoA, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, AKL and last month Beach Club. Based on what type if vacation you are looking for I would stay at all the others again, but sadly not Poly. We have 3 trips booked between now and Nov 2019, we are booked for those trips at WL, Contemporary and Beach Club.
WL and AKL are very similar to us, if you have a lot of resort time planned I would pick AKL, for Christmas this year we are doing WL. If you want a tropical feel then Beach Club all the way. And I love the upscale feel of the Contemporary, even with it having Chef Mickey’s it never felt as crowed with extra guest like Poly did.

I will agree with this... years ago it was not like this much more relaxed and my Hammock by where the Bungalows are now... we own DVC and have stayed at the POLY our last 2 trips...this past trip my Brother in Law wanted to stay otherwise I might have stayed somewhere else and even he agreed with most of above... he stayed there as a child as did my wife when it first opened and this was his first time as an adult may years later.... HOWEVER the DVC buildings a re further away and we enjoyed the lack of people in that area.. the quiet pool was always quiet... the DVC rooms are done very well, watching the fireworks from the pool can not be done at any other resort... most important just avoid the main building during peak breakfast and Dinner hours and you will be OK... I always laugh at the race to Ohana in the early 2000's it was 12 bucks and they begged you to eat there saying it was the best value at Disney--and it was a great value than....
with that said I love POLY for certain reasons but only if it was as relaxed as WL or even AKL... which us busy during dinner hours but nothing like the POLY...

 

[Childs1stTime2Disney]

This is the exact view we had last year and loved it!!! I hope people are persuaded to request Rarotonga so that I could possibly get this view again in October

How far did Fiji feel from Lava Pool, etc?

 

[suse66]

I loved Aotearoa on my latest trip. I was on the lagoon side with a partial castle view even though it was classified as standard view.

 

[emilyhuff]

How far did Fiji feel from Lava Pool, etc?

You could literally see the lava pool once you exited the building. I would say no more than a 2 minute walk.. The Oasis pool was about 4-5 minutes because you have to weave between buildings but the lush landscaping made the walk very enjoyable!

 

[Tooth Fairy]

GCH was always crowed due to ‘Ohana’s, Capt Cooks seemed to always be chaotic (i guess because its so small). The longhouses are dated, the elevators are tiny and need updating bad, the lava pool is small to be a feature pool, we had trouble with housekeeping (we were gone all day and didnt get back to our room until 2am due to Galaxtic Nights at HS and our room had not been serviced, waited over 2 hours after calling for towels and no one ever came, ended up walking to GCH and having someone there help me) overall it was not at all what i expected especially for the amount of money we paid per night (and we had a magical deal saving almost 1/2 off rack rate).
We have stayed at AoA, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, AKL and last month Beach Club. Based on what type if vacation you are looking for I would stay at all the others again, but sadly not Poly. We have 3 trips booked between now and Nov 2019, we are booked for those trips at WL, Contemporary and Beach Club.
WL and AKL are very similar to us, if you have a lot of resort time planned I would pick AKL, for Christmas this year we are doing WL. If you want a tropical feel then Beach Club all the way. And I love the upscale feel of the Contemporary, even with it having Chef Mickey’s it never felt as crowed with extra guest like Poly did.

Poly was our dream resort but we too were disappointed for all the same reasons and then some. We stayed in Fiji...our room was convenient and large with a nice view of GF/monorail/beach. The bathroom door would not close---like it was not hung correctly....literally would not fit. Make up mirror in bathroom was missing a screw that attached to wall. No convenient towel bars close to shower. Housekeeping was sub par. Ice bucket not serviced/ no coffee pods replenished/ dry creamer in room...really we just moved from movies with liquid creamer in rooms. no towel animals. I agree about the elevators....just dingy looking. Tried to get a 1 pm checkout and never had a response from housekeeping. Also we were not impressed with their table service restaurants or resort shopping.I will say we had a nice experience at Trader Sams...and of course the view of the fireworks. Location to MK is the biggest selling point but I doubt we will pay that kind of money again. Back to WL for us

 

[DisneyPandaBear]

GCH was always crowed due to ‘Ohana’s, Capt Cooks seemed to always be chaotic (i guess because its so small). The longhouses are dated, the elevators are tiny and need updating bad, the lava pool is small to be a feature pool, we had trouble with housekeeping (we were gone all day and didnt get back to our room until 2am due to Galaxtic Nights at HS and our room had not been serviced, waited over 2 hours after calling for towels and no one ever came, ended up walking to GCH and having someone there help me) overall it was not at all what i expected especially for the amount of money we paid per night (and we had a magical deal saving almost 1/2 off rack rate).
We have stayed at AoA, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, AKL and last month Beach Club. Based on what type if vacation you are looking for I would stay at all the others again, but sadly not Poly. We have 3 trips booked between now and Nov 2019, we are booked for those trips at WL, Contemporary and Beach Club.
WL and AKL are very similar to us, if you have a lot of resort time planned I would pick AKL, for Christmas this year we are doing WL. If you want a tropical feel then Beach Club all the way. And I love the upscale feel of the Contemporary, even with it having Chef Mickey’s it never felt as crowed with extra guest like Poly did.

100%

Stayed there for the first time last weekend and wasn’t impressed. No issues but just not blown away for everything you hear about. I don’t know what it was but something was just missing.

And the elevators are SO SLOW. The first time in I thought we were stuck for a moment.

I did like our standard room though in Aotearoa. We had a monorail view but with all the trees it was very tropical. Quiet too and close to GCH.

We’ve stayed at all the deluxes and I think poly is on the bottom of the rankings for me and my family.