Polynesian Resort

[claudiered]

I'm planning a trip to the Polynesian in early June. I have never stayed there before. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We're using the concierge service.

 

[Tess]

What would you like to know about the resort? It's hard to know where to begin. Here's my ancient summary of concierge:

Poly Concierge is wonderful. The service is impeccable and the staff is very willing to make your stay pure magic.

The concierge service has a lounge area on the 2nd floor of the Hawaii building. The building itself is situated along the lake with the themed pool on one end and the quiet pool at the other. We have stayed lagoon view and garden view. Frankly, for the price difference I'd book the garden view, but that's a matter of preference. The 2nd floor of Hawaii does NOT have balconies. If this is important to you request a first floor patio OR a third floor balcony room. You should also be aware the 3rd floor is a "smoking optional" floor.

The lounge serves several times a day. From 7:00 to 10:30 a.m. there is a "continental" type breakfast buffet. The fare will include juices, milk (chocolate is available on request), coffee, tea, cereal, bagels, English muffins, mini-muffins, fruit, and a good assortment of danishes.

Beginning at 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. the lounge offers cookies and an
assortment of fruit, lemonade, juice, milk, etc.

At 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. the lounge features a wine service with a variety (changing daily) of appetizers. There is a rather large assortment of cheese, crackers, fruit, finger sandwiches on the kid's bar, a pasta dish or other, more substantial, appetizer--one night there were eggrolls, another time it was a seafood/pasta salad, still another night there was a chicken/pasta salad. There are Runts and M&Ms served at the kid's bar as well. The beverages are consistently the same: wine, coffee, juice, iced
tea, tea, lemonade, milk, soft drinks.

At 8:00 (as I recall) until 10:00 p.m., cordials are offered along with a nice selection of "mini" sized desserts. On the cocktail shelf you will find cognac, Bailey's Irish Creme, Kahlua, etc. Cream is available to mix and you can ask for whatever else you might like to make your own "cordial" cocktail. You can also view the fireworks from this lounge as well as the water pageant, if you desire.

Water bottles and soft drinks as well as coffee, etc. is available all day long in the lounge. You are free to stock your in room fridge with whatever the lounge has to offer. We typically kept a few water bottles and Diet Cokes in our fridge to have handy throughout the day.

During serving hours you are able to take your food/drinks from the lounge to your room, the pools, or eat in the lounge. If you have a specific request from the lounge, ask--if it can be accomplished, it will be done. They will not bring in beer, however, my husband did ask about this. We purchased it at Publix and, in fact, left some in the lounge--we told them
we'd be back for it! LOL

Robes are provided in the rooms as well as a refrigerator. Ironing boards, hair dryer, and newspaper each morning is also a part of the service.

The concierge staff is available to you until 10:00 p.m. During the
planning stages of your vacation the staff will arrange your priority seating (at about 30 days out). A vacation planning questionnaire should be mailed to you at about 60 days out from your arrival. You can choose your PS restaurants, etc. at that time and return the form. The staff will then make your PS arrangements and call you at the 30 day mark to review the
arrangements personally. Upon arrival you will receive a print-out which sets forth your dining/golf arrangements along with the PS #s. Should you wish to change seating dates/times, just have a member of the staff handle it for you.

If you have a special occasion you are celebrating, let the staff know you would like something "special". It will be handled for you, if possible.

Then you should definitely visit Steve's site:
http://tikiman2001.homestead.com/

If you have anything else you want to know after visiting his great website, then we'll be happy to help!

 

[claudiered]

Thank you so much for the info. You answererd all my questions. This will be very helpful to me.

 

[Dooley1966]

Wow, that was a great detailed report!

I have made a Garden View Concierge reservation at the Poly, and I think I know I'm not sure which floor to request. I am not a smoker, but I think I would like a balcony. How badly do the 'smoking-optional' floors smell like smoke? Are the 1st floor rooms noisy?

Any suggestions or opnions you could give me would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,

Leslie

 

[Tess]

The review I gave is one that I made several years ago. We do visit, and stay concierge, nearly every year though and things haven't changed much from year-to-year. HOWEVER, if you are going this summer--2003--you should be aware the Hawaii building will be closed for rehab!

You will still be able to opt for a terrific lagoon view, if you so desire, and the ammenities will remain the same. The big differences are ALL floors in the Tahiti building (the building to which concierge will be moved) have either patio or balcony. Further, your building location will not be poolside for either pool. Tahiti is a short walk down the beach (or through the resort depending on your walking preferences) to both. The quiet pool will be nearer than the volcano, but neither is far. The benefit of Tahiti is its close proximity to the TTC to catch the EPCOT monorail. You could also board the MK monorail here, too, but it's just as quick to go to the GCH for that one. The GCH will also be a longer, although not a lengthy walk, from Tahiti.

There are differing dates being bandied about for closure of Hawaii--I've no official word, but Tikiman says he has information it will be June 1. I'm planning that we will be in Tahiti and we'll be happy either way.

Glad to help. You might also want to check out the thread on this board that provides reviews of concierge service. Just remember, everyone has an opinion--some are favorable, some are not. . .only you can decide by giving it a go.

 

[PLibster]

The person I spoke with on the phone with reservations on Sunday said that the Hawaii building will begin rehab on June 23. Of course, I don't know if that is an official word or not. I hope so though. We are planning our Concierge trip for June 8-18. I guess we will be happy either way.

 

[chucknrita]

Dooley1966 (Leslie),
I tried to e-mail you back last night but it came back as undeliverable. We stayed on the first floor, GV concierge last month and as far as noise goes the only major problem we had was the "Lord of the Dance" family (or a herd of elephants) above us at one point. My husband had to call the front desk to handle that one. I think noise travels easily in the Hawaii building because it's so old...you could hear it if people ran up and down the hallways. I went up to the third floor to see if I could detect a smoke smell...it didn't smell bad, but to me it smelled like they had tried to cover the smell with a lot of Carpet Fresh or something.

 

[Tess]

Our stays will overlap--introduce yourself if you notice us. We will definitely have a 3rd floor smoking room if in Hawaii (husband enjoys an occasional cigar on the balcony) and I'm not sure what we'll have in Tahiti in the event the June 1 closing is accurate. I give up trying (or worrying) to figure it out and will go with the flow when we get there--or just before arrival anyway.

We will have 5 (our two kids 15 y/o young man; 12 y/o young lady; and an 11 y/o blond boy--nephew). If the weather is good, we will be poolside in the afternoons enjoying our afternoon Bud break!