ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread: June 2013

[wilkeliza]

*Tahiti is not getting refurbished
It was scheduled to close on July 14 and has not closed yet. Chances are that it will not get the new room design and will close sometime this year. Assumptions are that it would close when the work out along the beach for the bungalows starts that it would close and Disney sources say that the work to the beach and lagoon will start some time in September.

*Construction will begin on the beach soon for DVC
September is the target

*TP rooms don't all have a balcony/patio
The Theme Park view rooms in Tuvalu and Aotearoa second floor do not have balconies.

*Construction on the GCH is set to start this year
I doubt we will see the GCH work start this year but since there is no schedule available for that we don’t know. My guess would be sometime next year but before mid 2015 for sure.

Tahiti desperately needs a refurbishment. That is the long house we had all our issues in. We were not the only people moved for leaking ceiling on the third floor and the bathrooms reeked even if no one had been in the all day.

Just in case I stay at the Poly again does anyone know where the switch is for the bathroom vents or if Tahiti or other long houses even have them? The two switches in our bathroom were just for lights.

 

[mich44]

First time poster but I have read just about every page of this thread. I was hoping to get a little advice for our trip. I was just about to book a club level room at the Poly from 05-31-14 to 06-07-14 and I am becoming completely freaked out about the construction planned. This is our first trip to Disney since we were young children and now we have kids aged 4 and 8. We have never stayed at the Poly, but it seems great! I wouild be okay with the construction as long as it does not disturb our sleep and I am okay with renovations of the GCH, but there is no way we could be without the volcano pool (I do not want to travel to the GF to swim). Should I book it and hope for the best? or should I play it safe and stay at CR? I would hate to book it, find out the construction plan and then not be able to get a room at the CR because it is too late. Help!

 

[Jennygt]

First time poster but I have read just about every page of this thread. I was hoping to get a little advice for our trip. I was just about to book a club level room at the Poly from 05-31-14 to 06-07-14 and I am becoming completely freaked out about the construction planned. This is our first trip to Disney since we were young children and now we have kids aged 4 and 8. We have never stayed at the Poly, but it seems great! I wouild be okay with the construction as long as it does not disturb our sleep and I am okay with renovations of the GCH, but there is no way we could be without the volcano pool (I do not want to travel to the GF to swim). Should I book it and hope for the best? or should I play it safe and stay at CR? I would hate to book it, find out the construction plan and then not be able to get a room at the CR because it is too late. Help!

Thats the million dollar question, lol. I think everone will have to just bite the bullet and pick. Whatever happens at least we will be at Disney! In a few years this whole mess will be a distant memory. I am torn on what to do also. I am afraid that CR and GF will fill quick with Poly overflow, but what if it is something going on that we can handle and we miss out on the Poly.

 

[Tikiman]

Tahiti desperately needs a refurbishment. That is the long house we had all our issues in. We were not the only people moved for leaking ceiling on the third floor and the bathrooms reeked even if no one had been in the all day.

Just in case I stay at the Poly again does anyone know where the switch is for the bathroom vents or if Tahiti or other long houses even have them? The two switches in our bathroom were just for lights.

Tahiti is in bad shape. My first two trips to the Polynesian were there when it was Moorea and I love it but it has been in bad shape for a while.

The bathroom vents are supposed to be automatic. There is no switch.

 

[BelleBway]

Tahiti is in bad shape. My first two trips to the Polynesian were there when it was Moorea and I love it but it has been in bad shape for a while.

I have a TPV room in a couple weeks and I requested Tahiti since I'd loved staying there before (1996) and the location is much better than the other TPV longhouses. Do you think I'd be better off requesting Tuvalu? I'm so confused; almost wish I'd booked garden view.

 

[wilkeliza]

Tahiti is in bad shape. My first two trips to the Polynesian were there when it was Moorea and I love it but it has been in bad shape for a while.

The bathroom vents are supposed to be automatic. There is no switch.

Yeah there was a vent outside the door that seemed to come on when you turned the little "hallway" lights on but that wasn't very effective for the bathroom. If there were ones in the bathroom we never noticed them.

If we do ever give Poly another chance we will request anything but Tahiti.

 

[Masonmj84]

First time poster but I have read just about every page of this thread. I was hoping to get a little advice for our trip. I was just about to book a club level room at the Poly from 05-31-14 to 06-07-14 and I am becoming completely freaked out about the construction planned. This is our first trip to Disney since we were young children and now we have kids aged 4 and 8. We have never stayed at the Poly, but it seems great! I wouild be okay with the construction as long as it does not disturb our sleep and I am okay with renovations of the GCH, but there is no way we could be without the volcano pool (I do not want to travel to the GF to swim). Should I book it and hope for the best? or should I play it safe and stay at CR? I would hate to book it, find out the construction plan and then not be able to get a room at the CR because it is too late. Help!

I'm planning a trip for early May and share your concerns.

Right now, I think there's at least a coin flip's chance that the Volcano Pool will be down during your dates.

The reason I say coin flip is because, on the one hand, they are notorious for changing or delaying their plans.

But if their goal is to get DVC up and running by late 2015/early 2016, then I've got to think they have a lot of incentive to get started next January (and expect that a refurb involving removal of the Volcano will take at least 6-8 months, if not longer).

Your situation is made tougher by the fact you want to book CL, which are much scarcer than non-CL rooms, and at Poly, seem to book up faster than non-CL rooms.

On the other hand, CR (across all room categories) seems to be booking up much faster for 2014 than either of the other two Monorail resorts.

So if you were okay staying non-CL, I'd advise to book CR for now because I think, for non-CL rooms, it will be easier to switch from CR to Poly than from Poly to CR.

But with CL, it's a tough call (sorry not to be more helpful).

 

[mickeynut1]

What number would I call to request a specific longhouse, one month and we will be at the Poly! Thanks.

Just call the regular reservation number and tell the CM you want to add a request to your reservation .

Well, we're home now from our fabulous Poly trip. And I'm suffering from severe vacation hangover. I keep looking at our pictures and wishing I was still swinging in my hammock drinking my poolside plunge. Sigh.

Glad you had a good time. Now is the best time to start planning the next one .

First time poster but I have read just about every page of this thread. I was hoping to get a little advice for our trip. I was just about to book a club level room at the Poly from 05-31-14 to 06-07-14 and I am becoming completely freaked out about the construction planned. This is our first trip to Disney since we were young children and now we have kids aged 4 and 8. We have never stayed at the Poly, but it seems great! I wouild be okay with the construction as long as it does not disturb our sleep and I am okay with renovations of the GCH, but there is no way we could be without the volcano pool (I do not want to travel to the GF to swim). Should I book it and hope for the best? or should I play it safe and stay at CR? I would hate to book it, find out the construction plan and then not be able to get a room at the CR because it is too late. Help!

You don't say which room category you would book at the CR, but if you are looking at a GW room, I think I'd book the CR now and try to switch to the Poly later should the construction not be too bad and/or the pool won't be closed. The GW rooms tend to book up first since they are the cheapest and there is a good chance (IMO) that GW will not be available last minute should you want to change. Good luck.

 

[Chavaleh]

I have a TPV room in a couple weeks and I requested Tahiti since I'd loved staying there before (1996) and the location is much better than the other TPV longhouses. Do you think I'd be better off requesting Tuvalu? I'm so confused; almost wish I'd booked garden view.

We'll be there in a couple of weeks as well and I had requested Tuvalu (we're TPV). If they put us in Tahiti I think I'll just try and downgrade to a standard room. I really do not want to pay those rates for a room in bad shape that hasn't gotten the refurb. I'm trying not to worry about it too much but we're going for our 20th anniversary and plan on spending a lot of quiet time at the hotel so the quality of the room is really important to me.

 

[LifeOnCloud8]

Hey y'all!

I'm currently booked at Port Orleans Riverside but I just got hooked up with a 40 percent discount, so I'm considering upgrading to the Poly, which is my *dream* resort!

I've go three quick questions:

1. Would you consider the Poly romantic? I'm taking an anniversary trip with my boyfriend and I'd like it to be special.

2. Are the rooms loud? I was wondering since I'd love to spend some time relaxing in the room during the middle of the day but the Poly got an F in the unofficial guide for noise.

3. Are the standard rooms still nice? And if so, what longhouses would you suggest for the best standard view?

Thank y'all so much!

 

[bluejasmine]

I agree. I like the pool and it has a great beach and view but I just can't see packing up my stuff and traveling over from another resort to hang out at the Polynesian pool. Well soon when they add the fence those problems will be gone. Its not even up to Disney to do it or not. It has to happen to come up to Florida code. Same reason the quiet pool was made shallow. Not something Disney wanted to do but something they were told had to happen.

I can't even imagine the fence around the pool that's gonna take away some of the beauty... Such is life tho...

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[bluejasmine]

We plan on having a swim if we get there before our room is ready and if I hadn't been reading the DIS Boards I would have had no idea that it was even possible to leave my luggage with bell services. It just wouldn't have occurred to me.

They would tell you at the desk you can leave your luggage with bell services

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mickeynut1]

Hey y'all!

I'm currently booked at Port Orleans Riverside but I just got hooked up with a 40 percent discount, so I'm considering upgrading to the Poly, which is my *dream* resort!

I've go three quick questions:

1. Would you consider the Poly romantic? I'm taking an anniversary trip with my boyfriend and I'd like it to be special.

2. Are the rooms loud? I was wondering since I'd love to spend some time relaxing in the room during the middle of the day but the Poly got an F in the unofficial guide for noise.

3. Are the standard rooms still nice? And if so, what longhouses would you suggest for the best standard view?

Thank y'all so much!

1. IMO, most definitely . The tropical grounds are beautiful and relaxing for walks, the hammocks on the beach are great for relaxing/napping while listening to the whistles as the boats go back and forth to MK, the beach is great for watching the fireworks, and it's very romantic (IMO) walking around at night under the lit tiki torches .

2. We've only stayed at the Poly once, but we didn't think it was noisy at all. We sometimes heard people running through the halls if it was late, but we have experienced that at all of the resorts we've stayed at .

3. We had a GV (which is now standard) and we loved it. We were in a 1st floor room in Samoa with a view of the quiet pool. We loved the location as it was just steps from the GCH, the volcano pool, the beach, and Captain Cooks .

We've never stayed at POR, but we LOVE the Poly and I would definitely make the switch (especially with a 40% CM discount ).

 

[BabyFu18]

We also found out something the other day. If anyone is driving into the Poly and is disabled with a handicapped placard or license plate Bell Services will Valet park your car and it is free instead of the 15.00 a night it normally is. Bell services told dh about this and re-parked our car the other day when he and dh went to the car to get our luggage and Bell Services noticed my handicapped license plate. I thought it was sweet of them to tell us.

Thanks for this info, we have a handicap placard and one CM on the phone told us about this courtesy and then another CM told me it was not the standard, so I was confused about it.

 

[karriealex]

That is a reliable source for sure but head of recreation (who is incharge of the Marina also) was the one that had the information about the pool rehab being moved to January. Its possible that has changed again but since that was the latest information I was given I will stick to that until they tell me otherwise. Thanks for sharing your info though. They have to start sometime next year and I would be surprised if they don't start in the winter and push it off to summer.

Steve that is who IPO said they spoke to. Exactly, she said the head of the Marina. Disney is an odd bird that changes it's flight pattern on a whim so it could have changed.

 

[Tikiman]

I can't even imagine the fence around the pool that's gonna take away some of the beauty... Such is life tho...

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

From some of the latest info (as of today) it looks like the pool will change including the little river up to the GCH doors so chances are they might limit people just outside the GCH. There will be some changes all the way up to the patio outside the arcade and Captain Cook's with a possible kids wet play area so that whole section up to the beach might be resort guests access only. That will cut down on the crowding if that plan makes it through. If that is how you do it then you won't even see the fence from most of the pool area.

 

[Tikiman]

Steve that is who IPO said they spoke to. Exactly, she said the head of the Marina. Disney is an odd bird that changes it's flight pattern on a whim so it could have changed.

very true

 

[karriealex]

Wait! I'm confused! (not uncommon) Are these offers for this year? 2013? Not for 2014? I could swear they used to do BB's for next year, which would be super helpful. Can you confirm please? Thanks so much for your reporting! I'm glad you're having a nice time!

Yes these are 2013 dates. My offer which is the same offer everyone gets is only for dates in 2013. Used to be the luck of the draw if you got a BB rate but now everyone gets them. It may be why they have lessened the time to book down to just 2013 dates

 

[mmouse50]

For the 1st week of December the only thing available for RO discounts were the Theme Park Views, so I thought great! Cancelled by standard view and upgraded to the Theme park view. If they only have 2 longhouses that are not being affected by construction - how many rooms will that be? I really don't want to pay to see backhoes and cranes out my window if I get put in Tahiti. I stayed in Tahiti before but it was a long time ago and loved the location but if it isn't going to a clear view the castle I don't really want to pay the money. I know that it is a few months away but what would be Plan B if I get there and get Tahiti with construction view instead of theme park view.

 

[red712371]

For the 1st week of December the only thing available for RO discounts were the Theme Park Views, so I thought great! Cancelled by standard view and upgraded to the Theme park view. If they only have 2 longhouses that are not being affected by construction - how many rooms will that be? I really don't want to pay to see backhoes and cranes out my window if I get put in Tahiti. I stayed in Tahiti before but it was a long time ago and loved the location but if it isn't going to a clear view the castle I don't really want to pay the money. I know that it is a few months away but what would be Plan B if I get there and get Tahiti with construction view instead of theme park view.

I'm not sure if they will be starting beach construction that soon but maybe someone else knows for sure?