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

[JoJo1980]

Unless something has changed, and at Disney something is always changing, it opens at 1:00 PM. If you go at night you can grab a lapu lapu and head down to the beach to watch the EWP and Wishes. We also like to stop by in the afternoon during our break time.

Thats great!! Thankyou so much for your help I'm loving the idea of getting one and then going down to the beach for the fireworks

 

[Magical JenK]

1 week & we'll be there for the first time! Very excited to stay at the Poly (10 nights). We booked a Garden View room. I have no idea what to expect so I really don't know what to request. We wanted a king size bed, but further research showed only suites have those, so that's out. I did say that I'd like a balcony or patio...but as far as long house I have no idea.

Any advice?? I know nothing is promised but is there any long house that people don't necessarily care for??

Thanks

 

[sillyyankee]

Hello - I was hoping to get some input about two different rooms that we are considering. They are:
1 - a one bedroom suite in the Tonga LH ( for 2 adults and 3 kids, 5, 7 & 9)
or
2 - two connecting rooms in the Hawaii LH

Anyone out there with experience in either or both of these kinds or rooms?

Thanks very much!

 

[Sammy]

Just wanted to join in as we just made our first-ever Poly reservation! It is our 20th wedding anniversary in November and because we are DVC owners, DH thinks we are staying at OKW. However, the Poly is his "dream" resort and every time we go to Disney, we have to visit. So as a surprise to celebrate, I booked a Poly GV! I am so excited and I don't think I'm even going to tell him until Magical Express pulls up to the front door!

I have NO idea what longhouse to request, and have been reading through this thread and on Tikiman's site as well. There will be lots of "resort time" vs park time, so I'd like a quiet (read: romantic!) area with a patio or balcony with a nice view for the price.

Woo hoo....2 months to go!!

 

[mmmears]

Just wanted to join in as we just made our first-ever Poly reservation! It is our 20th wedding anniversary in November and because we are DVC owners, DH thinks we are staying at OKW. However, the Poly is his "dream" resort and every time we go to Disney, we have to visit. So as a surprise to celebrate, I booked a Poly GV! I am so excited and I don't think I'm even going to tell him until Magical Express pulls up to the front door!

I have NO idea what longhouse to request, and have been reading through this thread and on Tikiman's site as well. There will be lots of "resort time" vs park time, so I'd like a quiet (read: romantic!) area with a patio or balcony with a nice view for the price.

Woo hoo....2 months to go!!

Congrats! What a nice surprise to book your DH's dream resort! It's a really nice anniversary gift... The Poly is such a beautiful place to relax -- I hope you can keep your secret!!!

 

[mermster]

Thanx for that, it does look like a great location. How cool that you could watch Wishes from your room. We are staying in a GV, do you know where those rooms are mostly situated in that LH?

We stayed in Aeroteroa GV a few weeks ago. Loved the location - close to everything, but not in the middle of everything! We had a view of the monorail (and some big trees). My daughter loved watching to see what color monorail was passing by! Have fun!

 

[Sammy]

Congrats! What a nice surprise to book your DH's dream resort! It's a really nice anniversary gift... The Poly is such a beautiful place to relax -- I hope you can keep your secret!!!

Oh gosh....I hope I can keep it too!! I had to tell someone, so my 17 y.o. son is in on it, but that's it. I'm trying to figure out some way to tell DH about it when we arrive. A card on te plane? On ME on the way in? Wait to get to the check in desk and then just say, by the way, "happy anniversary"...? No idea yet.

 

[Scott MC]

I wanted to share some Poly pics that were taken last week from our stay in the Main Building at the Grand Floridian. Enjoy!

 

[stm61]

Hello - I was hoping to get some input about two different rooms that we are considering. They are:
1 - a one bedroom suite in the Tonga LH ( for 2 adults and 3 kids, 5, 7 & 9)
or
2 - two connecting rooms in the Hawaii LH

Anyone out there with experience in either or both of these kinds or rooms?

Thanks very much!

unless you want the extra room, you don't really need it in Hawaii. I had myself, ds16, ds15, 2 dds9 in one room. I had a bed, oldest ds's took turns on the fold-down couch and air mattress (unless they bribed 1 of the girls to sleep on the blow-up lol), and the girls shared the bed. Ds's had the option of sharing the bed but declined lol. It was a little crowded, but not bad. If someone couldn't wait they walked to the 2nd floor bathroom in the lounge. With 3 small kids you wouldn't have any problems fitting everyone in. if anyone if worried about the size of the couch, ds15 was about 5'10" last year and didn't complain.

 

[swald91]

1 week & we'll be there for the first time! Very excited to stay at the Poly (10 nights). We booked a Garden View room. I have no idea what to expect so I really don't know what to request. We wanted a king size bed, but further research showed only suites have those, so that's out. I did say that I'd like a balcony or patio...but as far as long house I have no idea.

Any advice?? I know nothing is promised but is there any long house that people don't necessarily care for??

Thanks

As far as what longhouse...I don't think there is a bad one there. I like Rarotonga-next to GCH, bus stop, laundry & close to both pools!!! Just stayed in Hawaii last week-LOVED it!!! We have stayed there 6 times & haven't found a longhouse we didn't like. Have a great trip...by the way-the pics here of the bullys...are they yours? We have one, his name is Wilson-we love our crazy bulldog!!!!

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

Does anyone know where I can find photos of the remodeled suites? I am specifically looking for the bathrooms. I would like to remodel ours and get many remodel ideas from my fav places!

 

[BreezysMom]

I am not sure if Steve Tiki has remodeled pics on his site. I am sure there may be some somewhere.

As far as the question about the suites in Tonga comapred to two rooms in Hawaii...we given a choice and from what I have heard, I would rather stay in Hawaii with the two rooms. It seems that you still have to go to Hawaii to get the lounge offerings and while the suites maybe bigger but i don't feel that the building is secluded enough and I am not sure how great the view may be on the lagoon side of the building. But frankly, I will probably never know firsthand.

I hope you can find what you are looking for!

 

[Magical JenK]

Oh gosh....I hope I can keep it too!! I had to tell someone, so my 17 y.o. son is in on it, but that's it. I'm trying to figure out some way to tell DH about it when we arrive. A card on te plane? On ME on the way in? Wait to get to the check in desk and then just say, by the way, "happy anniversary"...? No idea yet.

Sammy-I booked the Poly as a surprise for my DH as it's our anniversary too. I've kept it a secret for over 6 months & he just figured it out 2 weeks ago. I'm totally ok with it though, because like you I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to tell him. Now I don't have to! No worries, I do have other surprises (Keys to the Kingdom Tour) for our anniversary day.

Have a great trip & happy anniversary!

 

[Magical JenK]

As far as what longhouse...I don't think there is a bad one there. I like Rarotonga-next to GCH, bus stop, laundry & close to both pools!!! Just stayed in Hawaii last week-LOVED it!!! We have stayed there 6 times & haven't found a longhouse we didn't like. Have a great trip...by the way-the pics here of the bullys...are they yours? We have one, his name is Wilson-we love our crazy bulldog!!!!

Thanks! I figure since it's our first time at the Poly, we won't know any better & everything will be great regardless of me putting in a long house request. We're looking forward to it so much!!

Yes, all 3 are my babies. Howie, Doc & Vivian are their names. Wilson...such a cute name! I always say I could talk Disney or Bullies all day! I even have a website for them...yep, I'm that big of a bullynerd! hahaha

 

[Stefy]

We stayed in Aeroteroa GV a few weeks ago. Loved the location - close to everything, but not in the middle of everything! We had a view of the monorail (and some big trees). My daughter loved watching to see what color monorail was passing by! Have fun!

DF would like watching the Monorail go by too This does seem like the winner as location wise it looks great

Another question I have is where are the best garden view rooms with balconies?

Does anyone have any opinions on the Tuvalu and Tokelau GV rooms?

 

[Aliceacc]

We stayed in Tokelau GV rooms both this year and last year, and I never want to stay anywhere else!!!!

 

[Stefy]

Its great for location, is it a hard LH to request?

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

DH & I will be staying at the Poly in a couple of weeks. This will be our first stay onsite and I'm so excited that it's at the Poly!! Are there hot tubs near the pool areas? I didn't see anything in the thread so far.....

No hot tubs at the Poly. If there were, I would be able to stay there all the time but my hubby was a bit upset that they didn't have one when we stayed this past trip. It's a bummer! Although I did hear that you can use the GF health club and there are hot tubs inside but they are boys or girls only (and inside...and quite a walk).

^^^We were thinking of doing a split stay with AKL, but it would cost more because we would have to pay for 2 lots of 7 day tickets. But I am glad it is all Poly because I think it is an awesome resort.

I have been doing some research on TikiMan (v helpful site) and have narrowed it down to 3 Longhouses that we like the look/sound of, there are:-

Aoteroa
Tokelau
Tuvalu

DF likes the sound of Aoteroa, but I wanted to get your guys opinions on these LH's

We like to be in a quiet area, but not too far from food or transportation (not too fussed about being too far away from TTC)

1 week & we'll be there for the first time! Very excited to stay at the Poly (10 nights). We booked a Garden View room. I have no idea what to expect so I really don't know what to request. We wanted a king size bed, but further research showed only suites have those, so that's out. I did say that I'd like a balcony or patio...but as far as long house I have no idea.

Any advice?? I know nothing is promised but is there any long house that people don't necessarily care for??

Thanks

DF would like watching the Monorail go by too This does seem like the winner as location wise it looks great

Another question I have is where are the best garden view rooms with balconies?

Does anyone have any opinions on the Tuvalu and Tokelau GV rooms?

The longhouse request is by far the most asked question on this thread Both times at the Poly, I have stayed in Tokelau. The first time I stayed on the 3rd floor and we liked our balcony and this past time, we stayed on the ground floor and LOVED it! We liked watching the ducks go by and having a bigger 'space' than just the balcony. If someone was in the room, the others could walk out the patio door to go wherever. We also could close the patio door (but leave it unlocked) and walk to the beach and still keep an eye on the room. We also had the end room and if we just walked out a couple feet, we could see MK castle (at a GV price!). Why do we like this building?
1. It is central to the GCH and TTC. The walk is not bad at all to either place.
2. It is right next to the quiet pool (which has a 'deeper' end and a lot more free chairs).
3. It is still not far to the volcano pool/GCH.
4. It is a quiet setting, yet still close enough to everything. (I'll clarify this by saying we were not staying on the quiet pool side but on the other side although our travel companions did stay on the pool side and they did not notice the noise and they liked being able to walk out their patio to the pool.)
5. It is steps away from two of the 'beaches'.
6. All the rooms have balconies or patios (and that is a must for me).
7. It is a GV price

That's my 2 cents but everyone has their own favorite. And honestly, I think that once you stay at the Poly and have a nice time, of course your room/longhouse is going to be your favorite! All of the longhouses have pros/cons but the biggest pro is being at the Poly and enjoying the resort so it's rare to 'go wrong' here with a room

 

[sillyyankee]

unless you want the extra room, you don't really need it in Hawaii. I had myself, ds16, ds15, 2 dds9 in one room. I had a bed, oldest ds's took turns on the fold-down couch and air mattress (unless they bribed 1 of the girls to sleep on the blow-up lol), and the girls shared the bed. Ds's had the option of sharing the bed but declined lol. It was a little crowded, but not bad. If someone couldn't wait they walked to the 2nd floor bathroom in the lounge. With 3 small kids you wouldn't have any problems fitting everyone in. if anyone if worried about the size of the couch, ds15 was about 5'10" last year and didn't complain.

Thank you!!!! I appreciate your help, makes me feel that much better about the suite
Have a great day!

 

[mamabright]

If you are making room requests, is it better to make reservations online or on phone? Also I you a good deal comes along after you've made reservations online how do you change? Can you call to change an online reservation?