Poly or Grand Floridian

bbak30

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 5, 2010
Hi all,
We rented DVC points in October to stay at the Poly and absolutely loved it. It was just me and the girls. We are looking to go back Thanksgiving 2020 and DH will join us this time.
I’m going back and forth between the Poly and GF. We loved everything about the Poly—size, location, our room, the food, etc...
One thing I noticed was that when we had to take the bus, it was often full of Poly people when we got to the GF. That’s the only thing making me hesitant. Especially if we will be there thanksgiving week with the crowds.

Any advice? Part of me wants to try a new resort, but DH didn’t get to experience the Poly.

I’ll be booking at the 11 month mark and I don’t know if it’s harder to get the GF. Looking at a studio at either.
 
We are DVC and our last stay was at the Poly. We are going again in 3 weeks and had a similar thought process to you. We wanted to try a new place but loved the Poly. My wife's first choice (meaning the family's first choice) was to try GF. So at 7 months we checked what was available and unfortunately we couldn't move our entire trip to GF. We moved over from BLT to Poly and had to waitlist GF. A studio is much easier to get at the Poly, they have a ton of dedicated studios. So I might try to get GF and if it isn't available then do the Poly. I think that is going to be our plan for the next few trips until we get to try it out.
 
I agree, the GF is harder to get, I would go with that one. I like to mix it up too, it’s so differently themed (both resorts)
 
Both resorts are awesome. If you don’t like the bus situation there’s always Uber/Lyft/Minnie Vans. We use a car service when we visit WDW. It saves time and frustration (though not $).
 


If you’re concerned about transportation, you might also want to consider the difference in getting to Epcot from the two resorts.

From Poly, you can take a short walk to the TTC and catch the Epcot monorail. From GF, you have to walk from the DVC building to the main building, take a monorail to the TTC, get off that monorail, then walk down the ramp and back up to the other side to switch to the Epcot monorail. It might not sound bad, but between the transfer and the double security checks — especially if it happens to be a busier time of year (people flock to the GF to visit around the holidays, and we experienced that monorail security line getting pretty backed up) — it takes a bit longer than you’d think.

When we stay at the GF we actually take a Minnie van to Epcot to avoid the hassle. A regular Lyft/Uber would be cheaper, but we have two little ones in car seats so I like the convenience of the Minnie van.
 
The GFV Studio for a holiday will be very hard to book as a rental. Some owners need to walk their reservations to get those units for those days. You'll need to have a GFV owner at least a year ahead of time because they may need to walk the reservation (that means they book it several weeks ahead of time and each day drop the first day and add the last day until they get the days they need). And you'll probably need to pay extra for that service. Even owners at the GFV had a hard time booking studios. It's a very small resort and there are a lot fewer studios at the GFV than the Polynesian. There are only 47 lock off two bedroom villas (meaning 47 studios and 47 one bedrooms) at GFV. There are 360 studios at the Polynesian.
 
I’m going back and forth between the Poly and GF. We loved everything about the Poly—size, location, our room, the food, etc...

If you loved everything about the Poly, then I recommend the Poly. Call me boring (or risk averse), but that resort is wonderful and has excellent transportation.
 


I absolutely love VGF. I think the rooms are the most beautifully done on WDW property. That being said, VGF felt very far away from everything when we stayed there. I felt it was a bit of a hike to get to the main building to access the restaurants, monorail, etc. I will definitely stay there again at some point when I want a quieter resort experience, but if you are there during Thanksgiving week and want quicker access to transportation and amenities, I would probably go with Poly especially since you know you love it!
 
Any advice? Part of me wants to try a new resort, but DH didn’t get to experience the Poly.
I am in the camp of sticking with what you love until you are bored with it. ;) Since DH didn't get to try Poly yet then maybe he should experience it first before you move on. :)
 
I have stayed at both (though not in the DVC side) and prefer GF over Poly, but if that's what you like, stick with it. :)
 
I have stayed at both (though not in the DVC side) and prefer GF over Poly, but if that's what you like, stick with it. :)
Same here, every word of it. I've not stayed DVC, but have stayed at both resorts many times. I prefer GF but if you love the Poly, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 

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