The *ALL NEW* Polynesian Resort FAQ thread - *APRIL 2009*

[dfarner]

Just to clarify an earlier post (pages back)...

NO 2nd floor balconies in Aotearoa.
YES 2nd floor balconies in Tahiti, Tokelau and Rapa Nui (only).

When you look at pictures, all the longhouses APPEAR to have 2nd floor balconies. Most 2nd floor ones are just facade...very deceiving.

We have found that at busy times, the best way back to Poly at park closing depends. If your feet are really tired, use the launch. The walk is shorter to the dock than walking up the monorail ramp, and most people don't use the launch, so usually you can walk right on. It's also a beautiful, relaxing ride. If the monorail platform appears crowded, use the launch. If you eyeball the dock and it looks like you just missed a launch and the line for monorail isn't long, use the monorail.

Another way is the ferry to TTC (if your room is close to TTC).

In other words, remain flexible and be ready to improvise.

Would you say that we can keep our little one in the stroller on the launch (if it's not crowded of course), or does the stroller have to be folded up? It's just a single umbrella stroller.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Can someone direct me to a menu for room service that has pricing and hours?

THANKS!

Here is a link to that menu.
http://allears.net/menu/men_polr.htm

 

[vicki_c]

On the resort launch, you will have to fold up your stroller as far as I've ever seen.

 

[Maxie86]

Hi Everyone,
Just jumping on the Poly thread as I have just booked a LVC room for our Aug trip..whoohoo

We were originally going to do free dining with a split stay at Pop Century for 4 nights and then 5 nights at the Poly with a theme park view , but then when the 35% room discount came out last week I started to think about switching our entire stay to the Poly. Well don't you know when I I started pricing it out the lagoon view club rate was better than the theme park view rate! So now we are only staying one night at Pop when we arrive ( we don't get in until 11:30pm) and then over to the Poly for 8 nights. I can't wait!

Will I be contacted by the Poly IPO by email? When we stayed at AKL last year I seem to recall gettting an email from them quite soon after making our reservation. I have all our ADRs made, but I'm thinking of booking the Wildlife Discovery Tour this time.

Thanks a bunch

Congrats on the discount.
The WDE is awesome. We did it twice. I'm not sure how fast it books up, but I would call them now to book it. The van only holds 14 people.

 

[teacher5]

Do they both go to the same places?

 

[Maxie86]

Do they both go to the same places?

The ferry goes from the TTC to the the MK. The launch goes from the Poly-MK-GF-Poly.

 

[johnsonet]

Hi Everyone,
Just jumping on the Poly thread as I have just booked a LVC room for our Aug trip..whoohoo

We were originally going to do free dining with a split stay at Pop Century for 4 nights and then 5 nights at the Poly with a theme park view , but then when the 35% room discount came out last week I started to think about switching our entire stay to the Poly. Well don't you know when I I started pricing it out the lagoon view club rate was better than the theme park view rate! So now we are only staying one night at Pop when we arrive ( we don't get in until 11:30pm) and then over to the Poly for 8 nights. I can't wait!

Will I be contacted by the Poly IPO by email? When we stayed at AKL last year I seem to recall gettting an email from them quite soon after making our reservation. I have all our ADRs made, but I'm thinking of booking the Wildlife Discovery Tour this time.

Thanks a bunch

Congratulations. You have an AWESOME trip planned I would email the Poly's Itinerary Planning Office right now and get the ball rolling. Have fun!

Thanks so much for the info! My kids would absolutely love the games at the pool!

You're welcome Have a great time!

Would you say that we can keep our little one in the stroller on the launch (if it's not crowded of course), or does the stroller have to be folded up? It's just a single umbrella stroller.

You'll have to fold up all strollers.

teacher5 - These are not my pics but...

Ferry to MK

Boat from Poly and GF to MK

 

[Picabo]

Here is a link to that menu.
http://allears.net/menu/men_polr.htm

THANKS!!

 

[dfarner]

Thank you Vicki C and Johnsonet for the replies about the stroller. We rode the boat from WL to the MK once last year, but didn't have the stroller with us so I wasn't paying any attention to the layout of the boat.

 

[dmil]

Hi Everyone,
Just jumping on the Poly thread as I have just booked a LVC room for our Aug trip..whoohoo

We were originally going to do free dining with a split stay at Pop Century for 4 nights and then 5 nights at the Poly with a theme park view , but then when the 35% room discount came out last week I started to think about switching our entire stay to the Poly. Well don't you know when I I started pricing it out the lagoon view club rate was better than the theme park view rate! So now we are only staying one night at Pop when we arrive ( we don't get in until 11:30pm) and then over to the Poly for 8 nights. I can't wait!

Will I be contacted by the Poly IPO by email? When we stayed at AKL last year I seem to recall gettting an email from them quite soon after making our reservation. I have all our ADRs made, but I'm thinking of booking the Wildlife Discovery Tour this time.



Thanks a bunch

Where did you get the 35% off rate?

 

[dfarner]

Where did you get the 35% off rate?

Disney is running specials on their website from 8/9-10/3.


http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/

 

[teacher5]

Thanks for the help regarding the launch and ferry! I could see myself ending up at the TTC instead of the Poly! I appreciate the pictures too!

 

[Me&3]

Thanks for the help regarding the launch and ferry! I could see myself ending up at the TTC instead of the Poly! I appreciate the pictures too!

You can take the monorail straight to MK with the stroller open also. Just another option.

 

[BarleyJack]

WOOOHOOO!! Just 90 days until our first stay at the Poly! Made ADRs this AM via the new online service, was super easy. Even managed to snag a dinner ressie at the ever elusive 'Ohana! For some reason the whole trip seems more "real" now, if that makes any sense.....so excited!

 

[maiapapaya]

WOOOHOOO!! Just 90 days until our first stay at the Poly! Made ADRs this AM via the new online service, was super easy. Even managed to snag a dinner ressie at the ever elusive 'Ohana! For some reason the whole trip seems more "real" now, if that makes any sense.....so excited!

Congrats! We're a month away from ADR day - hope ours goes as smoothly as yours!
And congrats on 'Ohana. I've heard that's been a tough one to get lately.

 

[Picabo]

WOOOHOOO!! Just 90 days until our first stay at the Poly! Made ADRs this AM via the new online service, was super easy. Even managed to snag a dinner ressie at the ever elusive 'Ohana! For some reason the whole trip seems more "real" now, if that makes any sense.....so excited!

CONGRATS! That's awsome!

But now you have me freaked out! If you call exactly 90days in advance, why should it be so hard to get into Ohana for dinner!?!?! If we can't eat there, I think I'll FLIP my LID!

 

[vicki_c]

CONGRATS! That's awsome!

But now you have me freaked out! If you call exactly 90days in advance, why should it be so hard to get into Ohana for dinner!?!?! If we can't eat there, I think I'll FLIP my LID!

Because if you try to book it for the beginning of your stay, everyone arriving up to 10 days earlier than you (on site guests) has already had the chance to book those dates. It seems to be more of an issue with the 90 day ADRs now vs. the old 180 day ADRs -- I think just because more people are willing to book 3 months out vs. 6 months out (just my theory).

 

[Kathy Z]

Gee, I miss checking this thread for 5 days and have to catch up on 10 pages of reading! Thanks so much for the live reports from the CL (sorry, I didn't jot down your name.)

I've sent a PM to a poster who asked how I liked my choice of Tokelau. A few others have given her answers (thanks) and I'll add my 2 cents below. Someone else asked which side of Tokelau had a view of the castle. The rooms on the north end have partial lagoon views. In 2910 we could see the lagoon and the GF to the right and the quiet pool to the left when standing on our balcony. Those on the west side (north end) face the GF and those on the east side (northe end) face the CR. I'm not sure if any can view the castle, but the north end (outdoor) stairway has castle view - it's best from the landing at the 3rd floor.

I agree that the location of Tokelau was just right. It is pretty central to everything. We walked to the TTC for our trips to Epcot. The evening when we stayed in the MK for Wishes we rode the large ferry over to the landing by the TTC. That ferry landing is between the TTC monorails and the Tahiti longhouse of the Poly. When it is raining or really hot you can cut through the Rarotonga longhouse to get from the Great Ceremonial House to Tokelau. You're right next to the quiet pool and a short stroll to the Volcano pool. There are entrances at both ends of Tokelau plus in the middle. The elevator is near the middle. There are also outdoor staircases at both ends and the middle.

Another nice thing about Tokelau is that you can't possibly get a GV room with a bad view. The only thing that Tahiti and Rapa Nui (the two other newer & larger longhouses) have that I wish Tokelau had is double sinks. If we stay at the Poly again I will ask for Tokelau again.

As you can see from my signature, we've booked BWI in Dec. This is because it will be just my husband and myself. We wanted to be able to walk to Epcot and have the option of walking or taking a boat launch to DHS. Without kids we'll only spend part of one day in the MK. We loved Kona Cafe enough that I'm planning a late breakfast ADR for another serving of those yummy macadamia nut pancakes. I'm also going to try to get a dinner ADR for CA Grill during Wishes time. That would have been too late for dinner with the girls in May. Hopefully this overbooking ADR fiasco will be long past by the time we go. I do feel so bad for the people it is affecting. New systems usually have glitches and this seems to be an especially significant flaw.

 

[huntconn]

Thought I would check in again with another Poly update:
-Forgot to mention in earlier updates that I have not noticed any construction/refurbs going on anywhere at the resort although I have read that certain longhouses have their stairwells being reconditioned.
-Still meeting/seeing obvious pool hoppers daily at the Volcano pool. Saw a party of at least 12 people today, some of the adults were wearing matching cub scout tshirts, talking about getting back to Fort Wilderness and how they were going to try the GF's pool next. It's really unfortunate that the Poly management does nothing about this considering how extremely crowded the Volcano pool gets. This group of adults and kids was taking up 2 seperate umbrella tables which are very hard to come by in the afternoon. The people paying to stay at this resort should be able to get these tables. I myself have had to wait hours at a time to get one of these tables for my family. Anyway, the Pool Manager has been pretty visible during the day and I plan on talking to him about the situation.
-The large screen TV on the 3rd floor of the lounge is being repaired so they have one of the standard flat screens that are in the rooms in it's place (it may even be smaller). Looks kind of funny in that large piece of furniture which was designed for a much larger TV.
-If you are staying Club Level, make sure to look out for Ivette in the lounge. She's an absolute sweetheart...always wishing everyone a magical day and offering to clean up after everyone.
-Lots of nice new Polynesian logo wear in BouTiki. Only problem is they apparently aren't making these items quickly enough and most of the stock is down to sizes Small and Medium. We "Fat Americans" need our XL's and XXL's! No American male wears a size Small for Pete's sake!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thought I would check in again with another Poly update:
-Forgot to mention in earlier updates that I have not noticed any construction/refurbs going on anywhere at the resort although I have read that certain longhouses have their stairwells being reconditioned.
-Still meeting/seeing obvious pool hoppers daily at the Volcano pool. Saw a party of at least 12 people today, some of the adults were wearing matching cub scout tshirts, talking about getting back to Fort Wilderness and how they were going to try the GF's pool next. It's really unfortunate that the Poly management does nothing about this considering how extremely crowded the Volcano pool gets. This group of adults and kids was taking up 2 seperate umbrella tables which are very hard to come by in the afternoon. The people paying to stay at this resort should be able to get these tables. I myself have had to wait hours at a time to get one of these tables for my family. Anyway, the Pool Manager has been pretty visible during the day and I plan on talking to him about the situation.
-The large screen TV on the 3rd floor of the lounge is being repaired so they have one of the standard flat screens that are in the rooms in it's place (it may even be smaller). Looks kind of funny in that large piece of furniture which was designed for a much larger TV.
-If you are staying Club Level, make sure to look out for Ivette in the lounge. She's an absolute sweetheart...always wishing everyone a magical day and offering to clean up after everyone.
-Lots of nice new Polynesian logo wear in BouTiki. Only problem is they apparently aren't making these items quickly enough and most of the stock is down to sizes Small and Medium. We "Fat Americans" need our XL's and XXL's! No American male wears a size Small for Pete's sake!

I am just wondering have you thought about telling Polynesian managment about these pool hoppers or is it just not worth it because chances are they won't do anything about it?

Also these new Polynesian logo shirts, is it a simple logo and etc or does it have a design with other things around it?