Another question for the Poly experts!

[luvDaMouse]

I am so excited!:D I finally booked my trip for May I will be staying Fri May 21st thru May 24th at the Poly in a GV room then checking into BWV till Sat the 29th. I have always wanted to stay in the Polynesian so I am really looking forward to staying there. I have looked at a TON of pictures of the resort and different views from different longhouses and I think I have narrowed it down to Tahiti or Tokelou with a balcony room. How do I make a request for these buildings? I know they are just requests and there is no guarantee but do I call? or wait till I check in and then ask? Also what is the quiet pool like? What should I take advantage of at this resort? I read about a torch lighting ceremony also is this not to be missed? Tell me everthing! :)
I cant wait, looking forward to my first breakfast and TONGA TOAST!
Thanks,
Dana

[faline]

I would suggest putting any special requests right on your reservation. As noted, they are requests and may not be honored.

Actually, we enjoy the quiet pool more than the new pool. In fact, the quiet pool used to be the main pool at the Poly!

Be sure to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks and the Electrical Water parade from the beach at the Poly.

The torch lighting ceremony is fun to watch!

[eandrsmom]

You have to get a Dole Whip from Captain Cooks!

[deedeebee]

So much at the Poly to enjoy! We love the boat launch to the MK. Real coffee at the Kona:coffee: The quiet pool is very nice, the beach to watch the fireworks. Most if all, the resort feeling at the Poly, very relaxing:cloud9:

[Polynesian Dweller]

Make your building request on your reservation. That is always the best way to get your building request. If you are looking for garden view then Tokelau would be my suggestion.

I'd also suggest using the launch to MK. Be sure to watch the fireworks and the Electric Water Pageant from the beach. Little talked about is the walkway to GF. You can walk there along the lagoon in about 15 minutes. It's a pretty walk past the Wedding Pavillion and a great way to go to have dinner there or visit the GF shops.

[mouseketeer mom]

Hi Dana!
We like the quiet pool much better than the Volcano pool. Thats primarily where we spend our pool time.
Make time for down time at the resort daily. We always kick ourselves at the end of our trip if we spent most of our time running park to park and not enough time at the Poly. We truly like it as much, if not more than, the parks. Balcony time at the Poly is priceless, enjoying the torches and music and ambiance at night is just wonderful. So my biggest tip is build in do nothing time at the Poly. Take a walk, take time to soak up the energy there. Its a wonderful place to recharge. Lisa

[luvDaMouse]

Hey Lisa!
Exactly what I am looking for relaxing at the resort! Now if I can only keep myself from the park and plant myself by the pool it will be great;) By the way I made my reservation online ( i called but the discount was an online one only) I saw no place to request a third floor balcony room or a building request where or how would I do this??
Thanks,
Dana

[pixiesmimi]

We stayed in Tokelau and loved it. The entrance is right by the quiet pool. The funniest thing we saw was the ducks on the property getting in the pool with other guests one morning and just swimming right along with everyone else. :)

[faline]

The funniest thing we saw was the ducks on the property getting in the pool with other guests one morning and just swimming right along with everyone else. :)

The ducks at Disney World seem to enjoy the resort pools more than the lakes! We've seen mama ducks leading their whole brood into the pool! Maybe ducks head to Disney World for vacation as well?!

[DisneyBunch]

The ducks at Disney World seem to enjoy the resort pools more than the lakes! We've seen mama ducks leading their whole brood into the pool! Maybe ducks head to Disney World for vacation as well?!


I wonder if Disney charges them a premium upgrade for swimming during the summer months?:mickey:

[mouseketeer mom]

Dana, you could do two things with your room requests..one, call the reservation center and have them add it to your reservation., but you could also call the Poly directly to do it. Just as a back up. I've faxed requests before, but they don't necesssarily get them where they need to be. Calling the Poly directly is your best bet. Thats what has done it for me in the past. When requesting Dana, decide if you'd rather be closer to the action, or furthur away from things at the Poly, in a quieter spot. People love Tahiti for garden view, but not me. Too off the beaten path for my taste.

[luvDaMouse]

Thanks Lisa:)
I called the WDW reservation number to add magical express and then added it to my reservation. I dont know why but I almost feel guilty making too many requests? I am not very demanding and usually take whatever they give me and not complain. I asked for Tokelou balcony I looked at a map and this one seems kinda in the middle. I wonder if when I check in they might be able to put me on the end of the building so we are close to the beach. Do you think is this a good location?? I wish I could talk my DH into a MK view but he wouldnt budge;) I am just so HAPPY to be able to stay there I would sleep in a chair on the beach!
:cloud9: 84 days away
btw its funny I am listening to live 365 and they are playing a poly resort loop,coincendence? I think NOT:secret:

[coffeelover]

You'll love the Polynesian!
I also think the quiet pool is better. Don't know why more people don't use it. But then again it woulkdn't be quiet anymore if they caught onto it. :secret:

I love the Tahiti building too. :thumbsup:

[SBETigg]

Just keep in mind that the more requests you make, the less likely you are of them being able to meet all of your requests. It's always best to just ask for what is most important to you, or make sure they know your priorities in order but still don't request something that will be hard to meet. In your case, Tokelau balcony seems pretty doable, because all Tokelau upper level rooms have a balcony (unlike in some buildings). But what if Tokelau's full? If having the balcony is the priority, I would list that before listing a building choice.

[Polynesian Dweller]

I agree with Sherri, keep the request to what is most important to you. The room assigners don't assign until about 4 days ahead and have to deal with dozens of special requests. They also don't pay much attention to faxed requests anymore, way too many people did that and now those tend to just get thrown away.

The assigners go with what shows on their computer screens which is why putting it on your request on your reservation was important and the right thing to do. That way it will show up on their screen.

We have been going for 20 years and have no problem saying you won't regret any room in Tokelau or any other building. The Poly is designed to seem like it has huge grounds. It's a clever illusion that really works to make it peaceful and tropical garden-like. But check Google Earth and you'll see it's quite small. You will love it.

[pixiesmimi]

The ducks at Disney World seem to enjoy the resort pools more than the lakes! We've seen mama ducks leading their whole brood into the pool! Maybe ducks head to Disney World for vacation as well?!

Maybe there are too many gators in the lakes and they know they are safe in the pools. :)

We requested Tokelau on our last vacation but when we got there they had stuck us off in a more remote place (because it was our anniversary) but we would rather have the more central location so I asked if we could be moved and miraculously a room appeared in Tokelau so we got a GV room there. We are glad we did. We requested it again for our upcoming trip with family but this time, I won't mind wherever they put us because they all seem to have their good points except being close to the Ceremonial House, which we like. We had a balcony but didn't get to use it much because in the early morning, the sun was right in our eyes and it just faced another building so we couldn't see much. We did enjoy sitting out there one night and watch the space shuttle launch though. So the balconies are overrated.

[luvDaMouse]

:thumbsup: Thank you all for all your suggestions! I am so obsessed with reading and looking at everything about the Poly it has my head spinning :crazy: I thought if I made too many requests that I would get nothing so I think my first one was a balcony. My dh really does not want to be on the ground floor. As I said I am just so happy to be going there I dont care what kind of room I get. I plan on spending my time out of the room by the beach, pool etc taking in all of the resort most of the time :D I am so excited I cant stop reading and looking at every poly picture I can find
Thanks again,
Dana

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

Dana, I am soooo stinkin' jealous!!! Even though we are DVC owners, and totally love the Welcome Home feeling when we get to the resort.... Poly will always be our must do each trip. We go to the Poly every trip for some tonga toast and kona coffee at Captain Cooks. We always make time to explore the Poly.

Don't know if your into sushi but, the coffee stand by Kona Cafe is turned into a sushi bar in the evenings. We can't wait to try that this October.

We will stay at the poly one of these days (when just DH and I can rip our hearts out and leave the kids at home) for a mommy and daddy only trip. :papple: :tikki:

Again, I hate you I'm so jealous!!! But, at the same time, I'm so excited for you. I guess I love to hate you... :D

[SBETigg]

So the balconies are overrated.

Maybe your balcony was, for you. I don't think they're overrated at all. We had a balcony in Rarotonga overlooking the quiet pool and we were out there all the time when we were at the resort. It was wonderful. A lovely place to sit. Great people watching. We could see a strip of lagoon and even the higher fireworks at night. We could watch our kids (older kids, not little ones) when they went out to walk around or enjoy the quiet pool. Without the balcony, our experience would have been good still, but not nearly as amazing as it was. It made coming back to the room for a midday rest or the late evening even better, and it gave us more space than all of us being in the confines of the room all the time.

[pixiesmimi]

Oh, yes, I enjoyed the balcony one afternoon sitting out and reading while DH napped and it does make the room seem larger, etc. But what I meant was that it seems like every time I request a balcony somewhere I always get one that faces a building, garbage bin, or not useable for some reason. That is why I really don't go out of my way to request a balcony any more. If I get one with a view, it is a bonus but I don't use that as my criteria any more. I specifically requested Tokelau last year because of all the rooms with a balcony and was a little disappointed that we had the view we had but still enjoyed sitting out there when we were able to. I think if I request one again, we will try with a lagoon view or MK view and see what happens. We don't get to use it much anyway since we spend most of our time in the parks but it would be nice to sit out there in the early morning and drink coffee. I couldn't do that because the sun came right in our eyes and was too hot. We just happened to be facing that way. Our room was wonderful and I enjoyed using all the amenities in it even if we couldn't use the balcony most of the time.