Thinking about using points for the Poly to be on monorail

[Popovich]

Laurabearz,

Have you been to SAB with your kids? I have not seen it in person. I am wondering if the pool is a good fit for pre-schoolers. We too are splitting our upcoming stay between either Poly or VWL (4 nights) and either BWV or BCV (4 nights).

Our DD will just be 5 and DS is 3. I know we will spend a part of each day at the pool, go to the parks in the A.M. and have lunch in the room most days before the kids nap. We'll either go to parks in the P.M. or just do things at the resort.

What has been your experience? We are new members and have not traveled with our kids. What kinds of perks come with a conceirge room?

Thanks for any info.!

 

[nezy]

Wow!! Just when I think I know so muh iread these boards and find out how much more there is to know. I'm so glad you all are out there filling me in.

Staying at the Poly or any resort that is not DVC for me is not a consideration. I am so spoiled by the space and luxury it offers. We really make ourselves at home and do spend time there. Last year we were in WDW for 9 days --only went to the parks 2 days-- spent the rest of the time in the property enjoying all of the amenities the resorts had to offer.

Being from NY w/ the average commute of 1 hour, in either traffic or train, a few extra minutes on a bus or boat within WDW and not the Belt Pky, Cross Bronx, or Van Wyck or any of the many bridges and tunnels of NYC is actually a pleasure!

So, would I use triple points for the convenience of the monorail--no way. For now, until I get 1000 points, I wil just have to rough it on the boat and visit the Poly.

P.S. What is "SAB"?

 

[Laurabearz]

Originally posted by Popovich
Laurabearz,

I have not seen it in person. I am wondering if the pool is a good fit for pre-schoolers.
Our DD will just be 5 and DS is 3
What has been your experience? We are new members and have not traveled with our kids. What kinds of perks come with a conceirge room?

Thanks for any info.!

Popovich.... Going to WDW with kids is a whole nother world! Our first trip with the kids was great... we stayed at OKW (before we bought into DVC) Your plan on hitting the parks first then retreating back to the hotel is a good one.

SAB (aka Storm Along Bay) is a large pool and from what I hear it is hard to keep an eye on your kids... for us that doesnt matter because our kids are so young we will be with them at all times.... There are slides and sandy beaches (larger sand... easy clean up)

Our choices of resorts for this trip were made for location (we will visit MGM and Epcot while at BC and MK while at Poly) and the pools..... We are planning more non park days than park ones... a relaxing vacation!

Concierge service varies from resort to resort but mostly includes some sort of food offerings.... Light breakfast items, Hor dourves, and the like. Plus all the water bottles you want. PBJ for the kids.... fruit, etc. Plus the staff can assist you with PS's and show ressies.... In our case they are helping plan our DD 3rd birthday....

I gotta add.... this is a very costly trip point wise.... over 600.... but we got a great deal on our OKW resale with lots of banked points.... so we felt it was okay to splurge. Next time, I would do 1/2 DVC 1/2 Deluxe resort to save on points....

If you have anymore ??? please feel free to PM me!

 

[Gigashadow]

We would be coming back to the room every day for swimming and/or napping. We have a DD age 5 and DS age 3.

We started our Disney adventures when our DS was 2 and now both kids are DS-7 & DD-4. We always had Length Of Stay passes to the parks and that Monorail was the "Key" to parental sanity for quick escapes from the MK back to the room for naps/rests/pool breaks during the long and sometimes very hot days for the kids. Happy kids = Happy parents.

After the last stay we decided that we did not want to "wear out" the Disney parks and when we want to goto the parks we will have Hopper Passes or enjoy the other parks Orlando has to offer at our convience. Thats why we bought DVC to have the Disney "feel" and staying on top of a specific park wasnt as important now that we wouldnt be attacking parks everyday like we used to.

So my experience says "SPOIL YOURSELF" at the Poly at least once with the kids young - if we didnt think it was worth it - we wouldnt have gone back 7 times for the amount the stays we paid cash.

About the refidge - Unless things changed: They charged $10 a Night for the mini fridge. Its robbery to pay, but we did because of the kids milk/drinks for parks or pools.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

The Poly was our first WDW stay and when we bought DVC. Our kids were then 2, 5 and 8. We love BWV and also have points at VWL, which we are using for the first time this July.
Last Dec. we made an impulse trip and stayed at the Poly for great rates. This summer I changed our weekend dates to the Poly lagoon view concierge--paying cash--to save points for our hopeful cruise next summer. My 39th BDay I'll be in a hammock on the beach watching the fireworks with a pina colada in my hand!
The monorail is great, but it's not why we love the Poly, it's the atmosphere there.
Robin M.
Poly 6/2000
BWV 6/2001
Poly 12/2001
BWV 5 nights/Poly 2 nights/VWL 2 nights

 

[DiznEeyore]

We're not averse to using points for non-DVC stays. DVC is our pre-paid vacation plan, and we enjoy the freedom to stay wherever our little hearts desire.

We used points for the Poly last September -- it was our first DVC stay. We'd stayed there before and loved it -- we enjoyed it just as much the second time.

Our ds has always wanted to stay in the Contemporary Tower, and we decided to go for it this September while he's still young enough (9) to share a room with and not want his own space. We're using points. With what we've paid for DVC, we just don't have the extra couple of grand lying around to justify paying cash for the Contemporary.

For our trip in 12/03 we'll be back at VWL.

 

[JonHM]

Poly was the first place that my parents ever took us to stay on-site, back in the late 70s, so I definitely have a lot of affection for it. But after staying in the GF last year and then discovering DVC, at this point we would probably take the amenities and space of a DVC Villa over a hotel room - but both are such great options.

If you feel comfortable spending the points on Poly, by all means, go for it. Personally, I don't think you'd be missing out on the convenience factor all that much if you stayed at VWL, and the theming at WL is just as elaborate if not moreso than the Poly. Both are *wonderful* resorts, so you can't go wrong either way.

I think that what we're going to do when we stay at VWL is use the boat launch to the Contemporary, and take the monorail both to Epcot and just to ride around in general. To me the monorail is far more than a convenience, it's an integral part of the WDW experience! Good luck with your decision, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time either way.

 

[Lesley]

What we would probably do in your situation would be split the stay between the Polynesian and the VWL....stay at the Poly first then move to a 1br at VWL. That way you're convenient to the MK, get the Poly experience (there is no other!), but don't have to spend the whole time in a cramped little hotel room (though the Poly rooms are bigger than the studios at DVC properties, even OKW....). Personally we'd probably book our Polynesian stay with as much cash as we could handle before using points. You're probably better off renting out your points and paying cash than using points there. Of course, we could never bear to actually rent out our points...lol.

I love the VWL....actually I think they give the same quality of experience as the Polynesian...but its different.

The new pool at the Polynesian has the walk-in entry like a beach...great for kids and grown ups to play together. Its beautiful. And I hear they're bringing back the torches to that area in the evening (they were temporarily removed when the new pool was put in).

Ah...I love the polynesian....(sorry, drifting off into my own little fantasy world here...back to making dinner.....)

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I've never stayed at the Poly...that and the Swan/Dolphin are the two hotels I'd like to try. My suggestion is to hie yerself over to the budget board or www.mousesavers.com and pay cash for your Poly stay.

I'm not quite sure what your plan is but I'd probably stay at the Poly Fri, Sat and Sun nights and then spend the rest of the time at VWL. Using the rule of thumb that a point is $10 you'll quickly find out that cash is the way to go.

In the paranoia department I think this is a neat ploy on Disney's part. Ask for an outrageous number of points for hotel rooms so the DVC'ers will toss more cash their way instead of using points.

 

[nezy]

I Love hearing all of this great info!

I must say I have never even been to the Poly--pass thru on thre mono on the way to GF. I am so glad to hear all of these wonderful things. I remember as a kid, my first WDW trip I really wanted to stay at the Poly because I had a thing about Hawaii. We did not stay ther not anyplace els on property, My next visit to WDW, many years later was to Old Key(then the only DVC) on my brother's membership. We have been going there ever since.

The night we arrived in WDW this March, we took a tour on the monorail. There were no crowds and the kids got to ride in the front. It was great!! The transportation within Disney is definately part of the experience.

We will be back in Dec. and are staying at VWL and then DCL. Perhaps in the future we will do a Poly weekend--on cash though.
I love to spread out my points!

 

[DeeP]

I love to stay at the WDW resorts and the Poly is one of my favorites. The atmosphere is so pretty and I love the large rooms. However, I can't bring myself to use the very high number of points that are required per night so we will check in to a WDW resort and pay cash for the weekends and then move to BWV on Sunday or Monday and use our points. This way we get to stay in a lot of different WDW resorts and still get a lot of use from our DVC points.