The *NEW* Polynesian Resort FAQ thread - *SEPT 2008*

[JRDMAN]

I follow Tikiman's site also and while my experiences at CL have been nothing less than wonderful. I too was concerned to hear about the complaints he mentioned.
However, since reading all these glowing reports, I tend to think that the not so pleasant reports about CL or Poly in general are exceptions to the norm and I still have faith in all that is Poly based on my past experiences there.
While it's impossible to please everyone all the time and mistakes can happen, I think that the Poly worked too hard and too long to establish their great reputation as the place to be at The World to allow things to deterioate without working quickly to address any unacceptable services.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences (both good and bad). You all help keep the magic alive for me.

 

[BCV23]

I follow Tikiman's site also and while my experiences at CL have been nothing less than wonderful. I too was concerned to hear about the complaints he mentioned.
However, since reading all these glowing reports, I tend to think that the not so pleasant reports about CL or Poly in general are exceptions to the norm and I still have faith in all that is Poly based on my past experiences there.
While it's impossible to please everyone all the time and mistakes can happen, I think that the Poly worked too hard and too long to establish their great reputation as the place to be at The World to allow things to deterioate without working quickly to address any unacceptable services.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences (both good and bad). You all help keep the magic alive for me.

JRDMAN, very well said. I completely agree.

 

[nyyankeegirl]

Hey All!! I recently got back from an 8 night stay at the Poly! I was there the same time as Team Disney -- although I did not run into her at all.

We checked in on Sat. 9/27 around 1:30 pm. There was no wait at all at check-in. The boys loved getting "lei'd". The CM told us we had a 2nd flr. room in Tokelau-- yikes, that was just not going to work. The only request I had was that I was NOT on the 2nd flr. With 2 children, we really like to have a balcony or patio to escape! So, the cm was nice enough to check, and he was able to switch us to a first floor in Rarotonga. No we didn't have a gorgeous view, but we had a very private patio w/ lush vegetation 4 feet from our door. It worked for us! Plus I don't think there is a room any closer to the GCH. We were the first room as you entered Rarotonga. I thought it would be really noisy, but it wasn't too bad. It nevered bothered us at night. When we got to our room there was a "hidden mickey" towel on the bed. That would turn out to be our only towel "animal" for the week!

So we spent about an hour getting settled into our room. DH accidentally broke the lock on our patio door -- oops! So we called maintenance & they came right over to fix it! Then we headed over to MK, via the boat. We had a great day there! It was a bit hot, and very crowded. I wasn't used to the high crowd levels- since our past visits are always empty. But it was my fault for choosing MK on a Saturday-- it was open till midnight, so all the locals were there too. But we still had fun! We had just gotten fastpasses for BTMRR, and then someone handed us their FP's for Splash Mtn!! Woo Hoo! We were able to go on back to back. The stand by lines at that point were around 50 min. The rest of the day is a blur, but I remember we stayed until about 11:00. DS3 fell asleep on my lap on the short monorail ride back to the Poly. That was the easiest night getting him to sleep!
I'll try to update w/ some pics in a bit.
Thanks for reading!!

 

[Picabo]

Hey All!! I recently got back from an 8 night stay at the Poly! I was there the same time as Team Disney -- although I did not run into her at all.

We checked in on Sat. 9/27 around 1:30 pm. There was no wait at all at check-in. The boys loved getting "lei'd". The CM told us we had a 2nd flr. room in Tokelau-- yikes, that was just not going to work. The only request I had was that I was NOT on the 2nd flr. With 2 children, we really like to have a balcony or patio to escape! So, the cm was nice enough to check, and he was able to switch us to a first floor in Rarotonga. No we didn't have a gorgeous view, but we had a very private patio w/ lush vegetation 4 feet from our door. It worked for us! Plus I don't think there is a room any closer to the GCH. We were the first room as you entered Rarotonga. I thought it would be really noisy, but it wasn't too bad. It nevered bothered us at night. When we got to our room there was a "hidden mickey" towel on the bed. That would turn out to be our only towel "animal" for the week!

So we spent about an hour getting settled into our room. DH accidentally broke the lock on our patio door -- oops! So we called maintenance & they came right over to fix it! Then we headed over to MK, via the boat. We had a great day there! It was a bit hot, and very crowded. I wasn't used to the high crowd levels- since our past visits are always empty. But it was my fault for choosing MK on a Saturday-- it was open till midnight, so all the locals were there too. But we still had fun! We had just gotten fastpasses for BTMRR, and then someone handed us their FP's for Splash Mtn!! Woo Hoo! We were able to go on back to back. The stand by lines at that point were around 50 min. The rest of the day is a blur, but I remember we stayed until about 11:00. DS3 fell asleep on my lap on the short monorail ride back to the Poly. That was the easiest night getting him to sleep!
I'll try to update w/ some pics in a bit.
Thanks for reading!!

Glad you had a great trip! But FYI...Tokelau is one of the bldgs that has balcony on both 2nd and 3rd floor (of course with patio on the 1st floor) so you'd have been fine there as well. But it's nice to know they were still able to make you happy in the location of your room!

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi everyone

I haven't posted in a long time because of some serious health problems with one of my DSs. But things seem to be much better now, so I am optimistic. I've missed reading this thread, and I don't have the time or energy to go back to where I left off, so I figured I'd just start on this page and go forward.

Is the MK view your greatest desire for this stay? If so, then heck yeah--save the money request a room in Tahiti and you will have your balcony. If the view is not the priority, why not book a GVC? The last time I checked rates, I was surprised that a GVC room was actually less than a MK view without concierge. With the GVC you have all the great concierge amenities and are still able to have the view from the lounge or beach.

In the update you mentioned, and I could have misread it, but I thought most of the issues were with pre-planning and not the actual building cast members. When we were there in June, the Hawaii building cast members could not have been better, including mousekeeping.

Those are just a couple of random thoughts I had--for whatever they are worth. Nice way to celebrate 40!

I agree with Tess 100%. You have decide if the view OR the CL service is more important. I absolutely love lagoon/theme park view, but if I had to choose, I'd go with garden concierge. But that's just me.

>>>in Tikiman's last email, he was saying there've been lots of not-so-great reviews of club level at the Poly lately. I'm really confused!<<<<

Can't help with your decision as to whether or not to stay club level (I am hooked on it), but just came back last week from a club level Poly stay. Everything was absolutely perfect--outstanding mousekeeping, lounge offerings (those ribs and desserts!), general cleanliness, and every single cast member we encountered in the Hawaii building.

Tikiman does receive all kinds of reviews of the Polynesian and club level, so he really does hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's disheartening to read the bad reviews, especially since we all work hard for our Disney-vacation dollars, and nobody wants to feel that they'll get inferior service for their money. However, I personally feel that the good reviews far outweigh the bad ones, and I've personally experienced excellent customer service (via excellent Polynesian CMs), while there, and even when encountered with a problem with the room (the ceiling tiles became saturated and actually were falling down like oatmeal onto the floor), we were treated extremely well and were completely satisfied with the way things were handled for us.

We last stayed there in May and Hawaii was great as always. Most reports I've seen are like yours and mine, jackemail....very positive.

Ditto!

Thank you all for your input! I definitely thought about GVC, but they are completely booked (a year out!). Maybe I'll keep checking back on that.

I'm glad to hear the positive reviews of everything in Hawaii. We had a really good experience there, too, but it was two years ago. And with Tikiman saying that people who'd always stayed concierge were never even going back to the Poly again because of the level of service, I was really kind of concerned.

Thanks for putting my mind at ease!

The last I've read, Tikiman is back to considering the Hawaii building for his trip next August. Again, negative reviews give many of us a reason to stop and reconsider our resort/club level decisions.

If anyone is concerned about whether or not the Poly Club Level is worth it, check out the Dis podcast's review. Pete pretty much raves about it and he does not do that very often. We stayed Club Level (GV but upgraded to LV!) in July and it was amazing as always.

That's great! Do you happen to have a link to that specific pod cast? Thanks

Adding my 2cents on the CL comments.... We stayed CLGV last month (we were upgraded from GV) and loved it. We loved the cast members in Hawaii and when we wanted to enjoy a lagoon or MK view we went into the lounge and enjoyed a beverage and snack along with it We truly felt spoiled.

Good to hear!

I follow Tikiman's site also and while my experiences at CL have been nothing less than wonderful. I too was concerned to hear about the complaints he mentioned.
However, since reading all these glowing reports, I tend to think that the not so pleasant reports about CL or Poly in general are exceptions to the norm and I still have faith in all that is Poly based on my past experiences there.
While it's impossible to please everyone all the time and mistakes can happen, I think that the Poly worked too hard and too long to establish their great reputation as the place to be at The World to allow things to deterioate without working quickly to address any unacceptable services.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences (both good and bad). You all help keep the magic alive for me.

I agree; I do like to hear all sides and aspects of people's visits to the Polynesian.

Hey All!! I recently got back from an 8 night stay at the Poly! I was there the same time as Team Disney -- although I did not run into her at all.

We checked in on Sat. 9/27 around 1:30 pm. There was no wait at all at check-in. The boys loved getting "lei'd". The CM told us we had a 2nd flr. room in Tokelau-- yikes, that was just not going to work. The only request I had was that I was NOT on the 2nd flr. With 2 children, we really like to have a balcony or patio to escape! So, the cm was nice enough to check, and he was able to switch us to a first floor in Rarotonga. No we didn't have a gorgeous view, but we had a very private patio w/ lush vegetation 4 feet from our door. It worked for us! Plus I don't think there is a room any closer to the GCH. We were the first room as you entered Rarotonga. I thought it would be really noisy, but it wasn't too bad. It nevered bothered us at night. When we got to our room there was a "hidden mickey" towel on the bed. That would turn out to be our only towel "animal" for the week!

So we spent about an hour getting settled into our room. DH accidentally broke the lock on our patio door -- oops! So we called maintenance & they came right over to fix it! Then we headed over to MK, via the boat. We had a great day there! It was a bit hot, and very crowded. I wasn't used to the high crowd levels- since our past visits are always empty. But it was my fault for choosing MK on a Saturday-- it was open till midnight, so all the locals were there too. But we still had fun! We had just gotten fastpasses for BTMRR, and then someone handed us their FP's for Splash Mtn!! Woo Hoo! We were able to go on back to back. The stand by lines at that point were around 50 min. The rest of the day is a blur, but I remember we stayed until about 11:00. DS3 fell asleep on my lap on the short monorail ride back to the Poly. That was the easiest night getting him to sleep!
I'll try to update w/ some pics in a bit.
Thanks for reading!!

Welcome back, and I hope you do post some pictures!

 

[nyyankeegirl]

Glad you had a great trip! But FYI...Tokelau is one of the bldgs that has balcony on both 2nd and 3rd floor (of course with patio on the 1st floor) so you'd have been fine there as well. But it's nice to know they were still able to make you happy in the location of your room!

Oh, don't tell me that ....
I wish the CM would have explained that to me..... oh well, I guess. We still had a wonderful time. Plus Rarotonga was super close to the bus stop!!

Seaspray-- hope all is well w/ your DS!! Glad your back with us!

 

[Me&3]

Hi SeaSpray sorry to hear about your DS hope he is doing better

 

[sandym718]

Oh, don't tell me that ....
I wish the CM would have explained that to me..... oh well, I guess. We still had a wonderful time. Plus Rarotonga was super close to the bus stop!!

I'm surprised they didn't tell you, that's odd!! As soon as I read your post, I was like I KNOW there are 2nd floor balconies in Tokelau, LOL. We had 1st floor (as requested) and the unsupervised kids on the balcony above us kept shooting waterguns off of it, which would then blow back on me, getting my book all wet!!

 

[nyyankeegirl]

OK --after all this talk about Tokelau having 2nd flr. balconies, I started second guessing myself. So I just checked the Poly map, and it was actually Aoteartoa that they had first assigned us to. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[mickey2minnie1]

Hi Seaspray!

We have missed you here. I hope your son is feeling better very soon. We are thinking of you.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

I have a question. I tried on the website to see if Poly GVCL was available the last week in October '09, and it wasn't. Do TA's have inventory for that, or is it 1st come 1st served all around? Not too sure how it works. Thanks!

 

[PNO4TE]

Hi, SeaSpray! I hope your DS continues to improve. Welcome back here; we have missed you!

 

[sandym718]

OK --after all this talk about Tokelau having 2nd flr. balconies, I started second guessing myself. So I just checked the Poly map, and it was actually Aoteartoa that they had first assigned us to. Sorry for the confusion!

No worries, it just makes more sense why the CM didn't say something!!!
Glad you ended up getting what you wanted!! I'd hate to be in a room, with kids, without either a patio or a balcony. Would feel too confining/stifling!!

 

[janiebegood]

Hi, y'all! *waves*

I haven't been here as much because we have been in serious discussions about whether to cancel (or, more likely, postpone) our trip. As of today, we are still planning to go. We have a few more weeks before we have to pay the full amount, so I guess we will know then for sure!

We've already bought plane tix, so we're leaning towards going...but boy, it's hard in this economy not to want to keep all my money to myself!

 

[PNO4TE]

Hi, y'all! *waves*

I haven't been here as much because we have been in serious discussions about whether to cancel (or, more likely, postpone) our trip. As of today, we are still planning to go. We have a few more weeks before we have to pay the full amount, so I guess we will know then for sure!

We've already bought plane tix, so we're leaning towards going...but boy, it's hard in this economy not to want to keep all my money to myself!

I can totally relate to you on this. We made the decision this past week to change our reservations from AKL CL to POFQ. We returned from our Poly LV Anniversary trip two weeks ago to the same economic everyone is dealing with and had a couple of long talks. When I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about paying for the trip we decided it was time to make a change. Not going was not ever a consideration, but paying for the trip easily without compromising our finances was important.

Is switching resorts a possibility for you? It might help in the decision in the long run. Good luck.

 

[janiebegood]

Is switching resorts a possibility for you? It might help in the decision in the long run. Good luck.

For me, a LOT of the pleasure of this trip is being at the Polynesian -- I've wanted to stay there since I was 7! Since the whole Disney trip is our "consolation prize" for not going to Hawaii (details in my pre-trip report -- check my sig line), the thought of switching to different resort makes me want to cry! We planned our ADRs around being at the Poly, including two nights for our DD7 at the Neverland Club.

I'm waiting until the very last minute. Our AAA agent says there's some chance if we cancelled and rebooked at the same time, we might be able to move our deposit to the new reservation and not lose it. It's a minimal amount compared to the total price -- only $200 -- so I wouldn't mind doing that.

I just feel like spending money like that on a four-day vacation in this economy is like swilling gin in a speakeasy in 1929!

 

[PNO4TE]

For me, a LOT of the pleasure of this trip is being at the Polynesian -- I've wanted to stay there since I was 7! Since the whole Disney trip is our "consolation prize" for not going to Hawaii (details in my pre-trip report -- check my sig line), the thought of switching to different resort makes me want to cry! We planned our ADRs around being at the Poly, including two nights for our DD7 at the Neverland Club.

I'm waiting until the very last minute. Our AAA agent says there's some chance if we cancelled and rebooked at the same time, we might be able to move our deposit to the new reservation and not lose it. It's a minimal amount compared to the total price -- only $200 -- so I wouldn't mind doing that.

I just feel like spending money like that on a four-day vacation in this economy is like swilling gin in a speakeasy in 1929!

It made me want to cry too. This is our annual family Christmas trip. And we had planned to stay at AKL CL for a year. But the only other option was to not go, so that was really not an option.

The CM I spoke to at CRO was a saint. He got our packages canceled, requested the refund of the deposit and booked our room only reservations very easily. I hope you have as easy a time as I did. And I hope you can make it work so that you can stay at your dream resort!

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

We've already bought plane tix, so we're leaning towards going...but boy, it's hard in this economy not to want to keep all my money to myself!

I SO hear you on this. We've got our plane tix as well and it is so hard seeing all the money going towards this trip with the economy being the way it is. But it's the Christmas present, we've been looking forward to it all year and this will probably be the last stay at the Poly for a few years.

And SeaSpray, glad to hear your DS is doing better.

 

[Shell54]

Seaspray I am so glad your son is doing better . You are missed when you're not here.

And yes the economy issues, Iam dying to "do" a quicky pre holiday trip with the Disney Visa free dining code...I have started to call so many times..but I know I should save my money for our June trip. I still might break down and call..but I think time is running out on that promo and all the good ADRs are probably gone. I would have to stay in a value..but it is an an incredible deal, money wise. ..see how I'm talking myself back into it so easily

 

[matthew_hull]

And yes the economy issues, Iam dying to "do" a quicky pre holiday trip with the Disney Visa free dining code...

Can you direct me to the web-site explaining about the "Disney Visa free dining code"? I have a Disney Visa, myself.