Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[wahmtexas]

getting excited...32 days... any recent POLY DVC studio reviews, concerned about cleanliness of rooms

 

[DisneyHardin]

I will be visiting the Poly for the first time shortly (yay!!). My husband has no idea, he thinks I booked All-Star Movies.

Anyway, we have a breakfast reservation (8:10am) at Akershus during our trip and I'm wondering on the best way to get there. I saw on Tikiman's Facebook page (http://tikimanpages.com/) that the monorail hours are varied and might not be available that early in the morning. What do all of you seasoned Poly visitors recommend?

When we wanted to get to 8 AM EMH at Epcot last year, we walked to the TTC and got on the first Monorail train when it ran at 7:30 and got to Epcot pretty quickly.

 

[Kuzcotopia1]

When we wanted to get to 8 AM EMH at Epcot last year, we walked to the TTC and got on the first Monorail train when it ran at 7:30 and got to Epcot pretty quickly.

But if it's not EMH then the monorail won't start running until about 8:30am, correct? I'd miss my ADR then.

 

[Lalalyn]

getting excited...32 days... any recent POLY DVC studio reviews, concerned about cleanliness of rooms

Just got back from staying at a DVC studio using rented points. We had no issues with cleanliness. Room was perfectly clean when we checked in. We didn't have cleaning service during our stay. Just towels and trash on day four.

We picked up towels in the cleaning carts when they were in the hallways and threw our own trash out every night.

 

[Surgie2]

I have booked 3 resort only rooms at the Poly for May 2018 and want to know how to be on the lookout for any future discounts that might be applied. I know it is too early now.
I subscribed to the Mousesavers newsletter last fall but it only came in October and November so not sure how reliable that is as a heads up. What else can I do or where can I look regularly to check? I don't want to miss it when discounts first appear. I do not have AP and not a FL resident.

 

[DisneyHardin]

But if it's not EMH then the monorail won't start running until about 8:30am, correct? I'd miss my ADR then.

That may be true. I didn't realize your ADR was a PPO one and that Epcot wasn't opening until 9 that day.

 

[Tonberry]

OK, I have a question. I have some Poly pictures that I took on our November/December 2015 trip and I was wondering if this was the right place to post them. If not, could someone point me in the right direction? I know that they are from a year and 3 months ago, but who doesn't want to see Poly pictures, right?
Thanks!

 

[MamaMeggie]

Packing up the car!!! Question - are there irons in the DVC studios?

 

[Moxiepup]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to answer a question (or two). I first asked on the Transportation forum, but didn't get many nibbles, so I'm hoping the Poly people might have answers.

We plan on attending the 8:15 Spirit of Aloha Luau at the Polynesian during our trip in late April. Our plan was to hop on the monorail to Epcot afterwards, and catch a shuttle from there, back to CBR. (Since CBR is closer to Epcot, and therefore it would be a shorter bus ride.)

I know the buses continue for about an hour after the parks close, but I'm concerned that the luau will conclude too late to use Disney transportation. Assuming the show lasts 1 1/2 - 2 hours, we're looking at leaving the Poly 9:45 - 10:15? Would we have time to monorail it to Epcot and catch the bus from there? Right now, the calendar shows the parks closing at 9 on our reservation night. I know we could catch a shuttle to Disney Springs and then transfer to CBR from there, but that seems like it would take quite awhile.

Someone on the Transportation thread mentioned that four years ago, they had a bus that took people back to their resorts. Can anyone verify if they still offer this service?

Does it look like we'd have time for our first plan? Has anyone else done this or had other strategies for returning to their resort after the late luau show? We're keeping Lyft as an option, but would prefer to use Disney transportation.

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[kayteekt]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to answer a question (or two). I first asked on the Transportation forum, but didn't get many nibbles, so I'm hoping the Poly people might have answers.

We plan on attending the 8:15 Spirit of Aloha Luau at the Polynesian during our trip in late April. Our plan was to hop on the monorail to Epcot afterwards, and catch a shuttle from there, back to CBR. (Since CBR is closer to Epcot, and therefore it would be a shorter bus ride.)

I know the buses continue for about an hour after the parks close, but I'm concerned that the luau will conclude too late to use Disney transportation. Assuming the show lasts 1 1/2 - 2 hours, we're looking at leaving the Poly 9:45 - 10:15? Would we have time to monorail it to Epcot and catch the bus from there? Right now, the calendar shows the parks closing at 9 on our reservation night. I know we could catch a shuttle to Disney Springs and then transfer to CBR from there, but that seems like it would take quite awhile.

Someone on the Transportation thread mentioned that four years ago, they had a bus that took people back to their resorts. Can anyone verify if they still offer this service?

Does it look like we'd have time for our first plan? Has anyone else done this or had other strategies for returning to their resort after the late luau show? We're keeping Lyft as an option, but would prefer to use Disney transportation.

Thanks for any and all advice!

#1-park hours are probably going to change, it's too far out for final hours. Besides the last week of April you're looking at spring break, so parks will def be open later. At the very least I would expect MK to be open later, so you could go there to catch a bus.

#2-If EP and MK have really closed at 9, I would go to the closest park (which is MK) they will have some buses running still. We've had late ADRs and exited the park an hour or so after closing. There's norm a CM at the buses to ask where you're going. They'll tell you what bus to get on. I don't know exactly how long they're out there, but I would go to MK since it's closer.

Enjoy the show!

ETA, you can take the boat or monorail to MK.

 

[Cluelyss]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to answer a question (or two). I first asked on the Transportation forum, but didn't get many nibbles, so I'm hoping the Poly people might have answers.

We plan on attending the 8:15 Spirit of Aloha Luau at the Polynesian during our trip in late April. Our plan was to hop on the monorail to Epcot afterwards, and catch a shuttle from there, back to CBR. (Since CBR is closer to Epcot, and therefore it would be a shorter bus ride.)

I know the buses continue for about an hour after the parks close, but I'm concerned that the luau will conclude too late to use Disney transportation. Assuming the show lasts 1 1/2 - 2 hours, we're looking at leaving the Poly 9:45 - 10:15? Would we have time to monorail it to Epcot and catch the bus from there? Right now, the calendar shows the parks closing at 9 on our reservation night. I know we could catch a shuttle to Disney Springs and then transfer to CBR from there, but that seems like it would take quite awhile.

Someone on the Transportation thread mentioned that four years ago, they had a bus that took people back to their resorts. Can anyone verify if they still offer this service?

Does it look like we'd have time for our first plan? Has anyone else done this or had other strategies for returning to their resort after the late luau show? We're keeping Lyft as an option, but would prefer to use Disney transportation.

Thanks for any and all advice!

If Epcot closes at 9 (and even in busy times, that's not unheard of, outside of EMH), the monorail will not be running TO Epcot at 10 pm. MK will likely still be open at that time, as pp mentioned, so you could catch a boat or monorail there.

 

[PSofiasMama]

But if it's not EMH then the monorail won't start running until about 8:30am, correct? I'd miss my ADR then.

We just got back from a fantastic stay at the Poly. We had a PPO ADR at Garden Grill and Extra Magic Morning at MK during our stay - the parks opened at 9 am. We rode the bus both days - they started running at 7:15am. We arrived with plenty of time for both. Hope that helps.

 

[Moxiepup]

#1-park hours are probably going to change, it's too far out for final hours. Besides the last week of April you're looking at spring break, so parks will def be open later. At the very least I would expect MK to be open later, so you could go there to catch a bus.

#2-If EP and MK have really closed at 9, I would go to the closest park (which is MK) they will have some buses running still. We've had late ADRs and exited the park an hour or so after closing. There's norm a CM at the buses to ask where you're going. They'll tell you what bus to get on. I don't know exactly how long they're out there, but I would go to MK since it's closer.

Enjoy the show!

ETA, you can take the boat or monorail to MK.

If Epcot closes at 9 (and even in busy times, that's not unheard of, outside of EMH), the monorail will not be running TO Epcot at 10 pm. MK will likely still be open at that time, as pp mentioned, so you could catch a boat or monorail there.

Thanks guys! As long as we can catch a monorail to one of the parks and catch a bus before transportation stops for the night, we'll be happy.

One more thing... Does anyone know if the luau has an intermission? I know that the Electric Water Parade and Wishes are visible from the Poly. It'd be pretty cool if this coincided with the intermissiion, to see them from there! (Not huge if it doesn't happen. Just a nice perk if it does.) We're hoping to get there early just to walk around the resort, see the sights, check out the gift store and maybe Trader Sam's as well.

 

[McKelly]

We just got back from a fantastic stay at the Poly. We had a PPO ADR at Garden Grill and Extra Magic Morning at MK during our stay - the parks opened at 9 am. We rode the bus both days - they started running at 7:15am. We arrived with plenty of time for both. Hope that helps.

Wait, so there are buses that run from the Poly to Epcot and MK? Are the times listed somewhere? I also have a PPO Garden Grill and a PPO tour at MK. I was thinking I would have to take a cab to Epcot.

 

[LvsTnk]

Thanks guys! As long as we can catch a monorail to one of the parks and catch a bus before transportation stops for the night, we'll be happy.

One more thing... Does anyone know if the luau has an intermission? I know that the Electric Water Parade and Wishes are visible from the Poly. It'd be pretty cool if this coincided with the intermissiion, to see them from there! (Not huge if it doesn't happen. Just a nice perk if it does.) We're hoping to get there early just to walk around the resort, see the sights, check out the gift store and maybe Trader Sam's as well.

There isn't an intermission.

 

[vrajewski10513]

Packing up the car!!! Question - are there irons in the DVC studios?

Yes

 

[dzak1717]

Wait, so there are buses that run from the Poly to Epcot and MK? Are the times listed somewhere? I also have a PPO Garden Grill and a PPO tour at MK. I was thinking I would have to take a cab to Epcot.

Im guessing they meant, the bus from the TTC. But I know sometimes they run a bus from the poly to epcot/mk when the monorail isn't running but thats very rare.

 

[JKalai]

From all the Youtube videos I have seen on the different room types, they all have no towel animals. I went ahead and googled it and I've seen conflicting reports of people getting them and not getting them in their rooms.

Is it just at random depending on which mousekeeper you get? or did Disney completely get rid of them?

 

[NYCANC]

From all the Youtube videos I have seen on the different room types, they all have no towel animals. I went ahead and googled it and I've seen conflicting reports of people getting them and not getting them in their rooms.

Is it just at random depending on which mousekeeper you get? or did Disney completely get rid of them?

We were in the Hawaii building for 10 days and did not have any towel animals.
Mousekeeping did have fun with displaying my kids stuffed animals all over the room!

 

[PSofiasMama]

Im guessing they meant, the bus from the TTC. But I know sometimes they run a bus from the poly to epcot/mk when the monorail isn't running but thats very rare.

No, I meant a bus from the Poly just like I said. Both days the parks opened at 9am and the buses started running from the Poly (with a stop at GF) at 7:15. It was plenty of time to be at the front of the park by 7:45 when they allowed us to enter. And no, the monorails were not running at that time. This was our experience on 2/6 and 2/7.

Not sure how you find out this information - I learned about the bus from the bartender at the quiet pool because he called to find out for us. There was quite the crowd at the bus stop (both hotels) so it was readily available information. I would probably just ask at the front desk/concierge.