Transportation/Rooms at Polynesian

[Bellerella]

I have been doing some research on hotels for my next trip, and have been considering the Polynesian. It looks like a fun hotel, however I am a little confused about the transportation. Is the monorail the only means of transportation to Magic Kingdom and Epcot? I have read that you should walk to the TTC, then ride the monorail to Epcot. Is that correct? It seems like at the end of the day, a long walk would be a little irritating. :confused:

Also, which building/view is the best? Is a Garden view good, or should we splurge for a Lagoon view? And is there a specific building we should request? We have only stayed at AKL, so this is all new to us. Thanks! :lei:

[SBETigg]

The Polynesian is lovely and has about the best transportation options of all WDW resorts. AK, DHS, Downtown Disney, and the waterparks are bus rides, shared buses with other resorts but the Polynesian is often the first pick-up/drop-off and buses are seldom full.

There's a boat launch or monorail to the MK. It's convenient to the TTC and a monorail to Epcot (definitely the best way to Epcot from the Poly). The walk to the TTC is actually very short, shorter depending on which building you're in. To catch the monorail to Epcot, it's faster to walk to the TTC, but you could take the MK/resort monorail around to the TTC instead of walking. The resort monorail is fast and easy after taking the Epcot monorail on return trip- Poly is the first return stop.

My favorite Garden view building is Rarotonga with a view of the quiet pool/central location, right next to the Great Ceremonial House. A lagoon view is nice, but Garden view is quite decent for the savings.

[Polynesian Dweller]

SBETigg has answered this pretty completely so I'll only add a few things. The boat launch is a nice way to get to MK and we use it almost exclusively. The boat goes from the Poly to MK then to GF in a continuous circle and there are usually 2 operating so not much of a wait.

The monorail stops at GF first and then MK. On the way back it stops at both the Contemporary and the TTC before going to the Poly. Sometimes the stops can be a bit long but its still good.

The walk to the TTC really is only about 5-7min at most depending on where you are located. The Poly really isn't as widely spaced out as people think and nothing is more than 5-7 minutes away and the GHC is about 3-4 minutes from any longhouse.

Finally, if you want lagoon view to see the fireworks from your room Tahiti is perhaps a great choice. Garden views are very relaxing places at the Poly and if that's your choice, in addition to Rarotonga you could consider Tokelau. It has slightly lareger rooms and you can step out to your balcony or patio and catch a view of the fireworks.

Have a great trip.:mickey:

[CleveRocks]

Except for the club level rooms, the 3 room categories are garden view, lagoon view, and theme park view. The only difference between LV and TPV is that in a TPV room you are guaranteed an unobstructed view of Cinderella Castle. Right next to a TPV room could be a LV room, the only difference being a palm tree partially obstructing a view of the Castle from that particular room.

The resort is fairly spread out. I measured the walk from the far end of the Tahiti longhouse (one of the closest to the TTC) to the entrance to Capt. Cook's, the counter service location, and it's one-third of a mile. At a very leisurely pace of 2 miles per hour, that's a 10 minute walk. I don't being this up as a bad thing ... I loved my TPV room in Tahiti. Of all of the TPV buildings (there are only 3 of them), Tahiti by far has the most beautiful panoramic views of everything, from Grand Floridian all the way around the lagoon to the docks at the TTC.

[marlaine]

We always stay at the Poly! Transportation is a breeze! The monorail is very convenient, and usually after a long day at MK, we take the boat back to the resort.
We've only stayed in a Garden View room. We stayed at Niue one year and Rarotonga another year. Both are so convenient to the Great Ceremonial House and both of the pools! One year we stayed at Rapa Nui, which was convenient to the buses and the TCC to Epcot. I've always requested ground floors-it seems easier with a little one. When we stayed at Niue, our glass door opened up right by the Volcano Pool. Rarotonga was great too, right by the Quiet Pool. I don't think you can go wrong at the Poly. I don't know if it is worth it or not to spend the extra $$$ on a Lagoon View, as we've always been happy with our Garden View.
There are plenty of activities for the kids at the GCH. Check it out!:thumbsup:

[tikiman]

Hey CleveRocks. How did you measure that walk? When we did actual time studies (walking and recording the walk at a slow pace) it took 8-10 minutes to walk from Tahiti to the Wedding Pavilion. The end of Tahiti to the GCH took 3 minutes and even the video I have posted on my site following some very slow moving kids from the path to the TTC all the way to Captain Cooks only took 8 minutes and that was not even walking the most direct route. Either way I never considered the Polynesian spread out.

Anyway the walk back from the TTC monorail after returning from Epcot is not as long as many walks I have had to take from the bus stop to my room at other resorts so I would not worry about that. If you really want to take a bus over the monorail you can get on the busses at the TTC or the busses at the Polynesian. The only difference is the TTC has more destinations and you don’t share with any resorts.

I would not worry so much about what building since you can’t book a specific building but figure out what view you want to book. It all depends on what you want to spend. If you want to guarantee a view of the castle then you will book a Magic Kingdom View room but if you want to save and take your chances with still maybe getting a view of the lagoon and castle, there are some garden view rooms that can see the castle off to the side and have great views of the lagoon, pools, marina or garden areas. Also consider the perks of club level instead of spending it on a view. You can get a garden view room (looking at the pool) in club level for about the same price as a Magic Kingdom View room and you have the lounge to view the fireworks and Electrical Water Pageant as well as all the food and drink offerings of the lounge. About half the Magic Kingdom View rooms can’t even see the Electrical Water Pageant from the rooms.

[CleveRocks]

Hey CleveRocks. How did you measure that walk? When we did actual time studies (walking and recording the walk at a slow pace) it took 8-10 minutes to walk from Tahiti to the Wedding Pavilion. The end of Tahiti to the GCH took 3 minutes and even the video I have posted on my site following some very slow moving kids from the path to the TTC all the way to Captain Cooks only took 8 minutes and that was not even walking the most direct route. Either way I never considered the Polynesian spread out.

I used my favorite runners' website, www.usatf.org

You can click on the icon for America's Running Routes, then get the satellite photo for Poly, then clock the distance of the run/walk by clicking on the exact path one would take. I measured the route I walked every day, which was along the path nearest the beach and then through the pool complex.

[tikiman]

Thanks for the link. I usually walk the beach from Tahiti also but the shortest is around or through Tokelau.

Thanks for the info CleveRocks.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Got to jump into this one. My timings are taken from a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch actually wearing it on my wrist. I have dozens of timings around the grounds which are actualy ground tracks and timings for a casual walking pace.

No timing from anywhere on the grounds to the GHC is longer than 5 minutes by any pathway and end to end TTC to Luau Cove average 7minutes, and from Tahiti to the Wedding Pavillion is about 9 minutes on average. And estimate of 10minutes from Tahiti to GHC is a large over estimate according to my ground tracks at 4km per hour (2.5 m per hour) which is a slow pace. Ist more like 4minutes on average. When walking with my DW I can assure you that what we do is a casual walking pace.

[PixieMagic]

Thank you Tikiman and Polynesian Dweller....not to be rude but after reading the first post I was like "there is no possible way it takes that long"! We enjoy the Poly fully and make a point of walking around everywhere just to enjoy it at a leisurely pace and it has NEVER taken that long to get anywhere.....

You'll have a blast and it seriously takes like 2-3 minutes to walk slowly to the TTC...and you don't notice it b/c you are enjoying the surroundings and amazing smells everywhere!!:cloud9:

[tikiman]

I use to read reports that people were saying that it took 15 minutes to go from Tahiti to Captain Cook’s so one year we just leisurely walked the grounds with a video camera. When I got home I timed the walks and posted them on my site. I totally believe people’s perception is sometimes different than reality so I figured doing the time study would settle the argument. I even did that time estimator on another site where you use the satellite maps, draw your path and it tells you how long it takes and it was off. I see Polynesian Dwellers numbers are almost the same or are the same as what we timed so I feel better about my numbers but for kicks I was going to time the walks again on Monday when I am there. We also did time studies from the Yacht Club and Beach Club into Epcot going to World Showcase and Future World because people use to say how close it was and the walk was about 2 or 3 minutes. Again it was a perception. The walk is actually much longer from the resorts over near Epcot but for some reason seems short.

Anyway I just think it is interesting how people can remember things differently that it actually is. Then again maybe the perception is more important than the facts.

Thanks for all the input. Sorry to stray a little from the topic.

[Bellerella]

Thank you so much everyone- I am glad to know that the walk isn't as long as I thought it was! Also that no one has had any "bad" rooms- I saw another thread on here that had some photos of yucky views at other hotels. I am excited to try out this hotel! :mickey:

[CleveRocks]

I even did that time estimator on another site where you use the satellite maps, draw your path and it tells you how long it takes and it was off.
I just went to the USATF site and mapped the route I walked every day from the far end of Tahiti to the Capt. Cook's entrance. It was 0.28 miles, not the 1/3 of a mile I recalled (from mapping the route before), a difference of 0.05 mi. I saved the route I mapped, and anyone can see it at http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=296631 ... after you see the image, click on the "hybrid" tab to see an actual photo along with some identifying text.

Anyway, I never said that it should take everyone 10 minutes. In my earlier post, I described that at a "very leisurely" pace of 2 mph, a 0.33 distance would take 10 minutes. At a motivated, very quick walking pace of 4 mph, that same distance would take 5 minutes, yes.

Anyway, the distance of 0.28 mi. isn't my perception, it was my actual route, so I can't see how that could be "off." 0.28 mi. at a leisurely 2 mph pace would take 8 minutes 24 seconds.

It didn't take me that long, because I walk faster than 2 miles per hour, but MANY people do walk at that pace. In fact, I'm painfully aware that many people walk at that pace ... those are always the people in my way in front of me. :-)

[tikiman]

It didn't take me that long, because I walk faster than 2 miles per hour, but MANY people do walk at that pace. In fact, I'm painfully aware that many people walk at that pace ... those are always the people in my way in front of me. :-)

Must be the same people I get stuck behind in the parks :D

[tikiman]

Thank you so much everyone- I am glad to know that the walk isn't as long as I thought it was! Also that no one has had any "bad" rooms- I saw another thread on here that had some photos of yucky views at other hotels. I am excited to try out this hotel! :mickey:

There are only a handful of rooms that directly face the parking lot that I would consider a "bad view" and that is over in Rapa Nui but they try not to book those rooms very often.

[tikiman]

Just incase anyone was interested, I just got back and I walked from the movies at the GF that are located next to the Wedding Pavilion all the way to the middle entrance of Tahiti and it took me 8 minutes. Also from GCH to Tahiti took 3 minutes and a few seconds just to give you an idea of walking time. While I was walking I had parents with small kids passing me.

By the way the Polynesian looked great!!