Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[JennLTX]

While you're sampling tropical drinks, I would recommend trying the backscratcher too!

It's Bacardi Superior Rum, Myers's Original Dark Rum, and Passion Fruit Juice topped with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey and a Bamboo Backscratcher. My favorite of the Tambu Lounge offerings!

That Bamboo Backscratcher is one of my top 4 favorite souvenirs.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

What is the best way to get to The Grand Floridian, monorail or walk? We have ADRs for 1900 Park Fare.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

What is the best way to get to The Grand Floridian, monorail or walk? We have ADRs for 1900 Park Fare.

Sort of a toss-up for us.

We'd usually walk unless it's mid-day/super hot/sunny.

If we want more shade / a cooler trip, we'd likely monorail. You do have to go through security to board the monorail - although that's normally not that big of a deal.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Two weeks till our first DVC Poly stay! We're taking my middle child with her best friend on a post high school graduation trip. My user picture is from her first trip in 2009. It's hard to believe she's about to head off to college. The saying is true, "the days are long but the years are short". We spent 10 days in the Hawaii building last summer with all of our gang but I'm really looking forward to sending Isadora and her bff out on their own and getting some serious relaxing resort time with the spouse. Tiki Terrace is his most Happy Place. If you're there while we are and see a middle aged lady with pink hair and a tiki drink it's probably me.

My dd is now 23. All 4 years of college she was instate but 3 1/2 hours away.

All through middle and high school we did a mom n me trip in August leaving the guys behind. Be a good girl , work hard this year etc, mama loves you.

Then for college I did the august and added January. I MISSED my girl.

Freshman year I did poly cl in may right after the semester ended and convinced dad we "needed" to also go back in August.

All 4 years , august and January but then I added march birthdays too.

Know what? she lives in Va now . 5 1/2 hours away and I miss her everyday. However all those trips wher I didn't have to compete with boys or besties or even dad and lil bro. Best days of my life.

So try to enjoy the next years while home is well, still her home.

If you can squeak in even a value or mod trip you'll be glad you did.( we were happy any hotel at Disney as long as we together)

OMG talk about letting go my daughter (21) is moving out today!!! Im on a rollercoaster of emotions...

Holy cow, you guys are making me cry!! My little boy is only 2.5, but I already feel like the time is just flying. He’s my entire universe and I can’t bear to think about sending him off to college!! We are taking him to Disney for the 2nd time this fall, the week before his 3rd birthday. It’ll be our first time staying at the Poly...it just looks like a place he’ll love. He loved the WL when we stayed there a year ago.

I keep trying to remind myself how much time I have left with my son before he leaves, and they won’t let him into college unless he’s potty trained anyway. That’s my project for the next few weeks...wish me luck!!

 

[Tinker_Belle]

Another patio question...My husband will need a scooter for the first time this trip. If we request ground floor with the patio will he be able to ride it out that door (if it's not muddy, of course) to save a few turns?

 

[lala5176]

Another patio question...My husband will need a scooter for the first time this trip. If we request ground floor with the patio will he be able to ride it out that door (if it's not muddy, of course) to save a few turns?

When you leave the patio area it will be thick grass. If the scooter can ride over that and fit through the door first you should be ok.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Another patio question...My husband will need a scooter for the first time this trip. If we request ground floor with the patio will he be able to ride it out that door (if it's not muddy, of course) to save a few turns?

No personal experience, but I’m going to say that it’s not likely from most room locations. The grass around many buildings is very thick / deep - doesn’t necessarily seem ideal for a scooter. Heck, I have trouble even walking on the grass outside of the Hawaii longhouse on the beach side. It's sort of squishy.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

No personal experience, but I’m going to say that it’s not likely from most room locations. The grass around many buildings is very thick / deep - doesn’t necessarily seem ideal for a scooter. Heck, I have trouble even walking on the grass outside of the Hawaii longhouse on the beach side. It's sort of squishy.

Thank you! I figured it was a long shot.

 

[trishadono]

Thank you! I figured it was a long shot.

We usually mono to Gf and walk or boat back for quickest routes. However rain or cold and mono then is best.

I would request 1st floor. It would be easier than trying to catch an elevator . Also polys elevators are kinda small. If that's important to you them request that.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

We usually mono to Gf and walk or boat back for quickest routes. However rain or cold and mono then is best.

I would request 1st floor. It would be easier than trying to catch an elevator . Also polys elevators are kinda small. If that's important to you them request that.

Thank you! Great tips!

 

[Summer2018]

Holy cow, you guys are making me cry!! My little boy is only 2.5, but I already feel like the time is just flying. He’s my entire universe and I can’t bear to think about sending him off to college!! We are taking him to Disney for the 2nd time this fall, the week before his 3rd birthday. It’ll be our first time staying at the Poly...it just looks like a place he’ll love. He loved the WL when we stayed there a year ago.

I keep trying to remind myself how much time I have left with my son before he leaves, and they won’t let him into college unless he’s potty trained anyway. That’s my project for the next few weeks...wish me luck!!

I remember feeling the same way when my daughter (turning 21 in November) was little. Treasure this time. It flies by so quickly, in the blink of an eye.

 

[Summer2018]

I have a monorail question. When we stayed at the Contemporary in 2015, the monorail was down constantly. We had to walk to MK several times in the July humidity and heat. I was NOT happy that there was no communication to resort guests about the monorail being down when it was. We didn't find out until we were at the entrance to board it.

Is the Polynesian any better at communicating the status of the monorail? I will be using a wheelchair when my knee is bothering me (torn meniscus, arthritis). It will be not only inconvenient, but also difficult to have to deal with arriving at the monorail entrance only to find out we have to haul a$$ to the boat to get to MK or board a bus to Epcot because the monorail going to Epcot is down. Would the Epcot bus be located at the TTC or would we have to walk across the resort to the bus stop?

Any information or tips that you could provide to help us avoid walking all over God's green earth to find the operating transportation would be SO appreciated.

 

[HappyCan]

Does anyone know if the shaved ice stand is still set up at Poly?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I have a monorail question. When we stayed at the Contemporary in 2015, the monorail was down constantly. We had to walk to MK several times in the July humidity and heat. I was NOT happy that there was no communication to resort guests about the monorail being down when it was. We didn't find out until we were at the entrance to board it.

Is the Polynesian any better at communicating the status of the monorail? I will be using a wheelchair when my knee is bothering me (torn meniscus, arthritis). It will be not only inconvenient, but also difficult to have to deal with arriving at the monorail entrance only to find out we have to haul to the boat to get to MK or board a bus to Epcot because the monorail going to Epcot is down. Would the Epcot bus be located at the TTC or would we have to walk across the resort to the bus stop?

Any information or tips that you could provide to help us avoid walking all over God's green earth to find the operating transportation would be SO appreciated.

You might not like my answer here, sorry! If the monorail is down for some reason, the only way you're going to find out about it is if you walk up to the station entrance and they say "sorry folks, closed." There's really no other way to determine the status. They may have a CM type stationed by a door when walking into the GCH or something... but normally you're going to find out upstairs by those platform doors.

If the resort monorail is down, the bus to Epcot would be from the Poly bus stop.

Now that being said, I wonder if your 2015 trip was when they were doing a bunch of work to the monorails and had abundant mid-day closures. These days - baring mechanical problems (which do happen but aren't all that common) - the monorails operate on a far more normal schedule.

We stayed at Poly quite a bit last year and are frequent monorail users. Only experienced one closure. Of course, that was when we were rushing to get to MK rope drop, so had to quickly come up with plan B. Otherwise, we've been lucky and have never really had any major inconveniences in recent times.

 

[Summer2018]

You might not like my answer here, sorry! If the monorail is down for some reason, the only way you're going to find out about it is if you walk up to the station entrance and they say "sorry folks, closed." There's really no other way to determine the status. They may have a CM type stationed by a door when walking into the GCH or something... but normally you're going to find out upstairs by those platform doors.

If the resort monorail is down, the bus to Epcot would be from the Poly bus stop.

Now that being said, I wonder if your 2015 trip was when they were doing a bunch of work to the monorails and had abundant mid-day closures. These days - baring mechanical problems (which do happen but aren't all that common) - the monorails operate on a far more normal schedule.

We stayed at Poly quite a bit last year and are frequent monorail users. Only experienced one closure. Of course, that was when we were rushing to get to MK rope drop, so had to quickly come up with plan B.

I am surprised that they cannot put monorail updates, and other transportation information on the room television. High tech Disney should be able to come up with some way to communicate with us. If I can look at wait times for rides on an app, I should be able to look up delays or closures as well.

Anyway, we stayed at the Contemporary in July 2015. We had trouble nearly every day. We were either turned away at the escalator to the monorail or told to get off after boarding. I think we rode it successfully twice during our entire trip.

Hopefully it won’t be an issue. It sounds like if it is, it won’t be as often as last time.

 

[Surgie2]

Would the Epcot bus be located at the TTC or would we have to walk across the resort to the bus stop?

Yes, the Epcot bus will be at the TTC. We stayed 9 nights at the Poly earlier this month and the only monorail down was the Epcot line from the TTC on one morning. We walked to the TTC to catch it and there was a sign and CMs directing us to Epcot buses. We didn't have a further walk...and they had plenty of buses on hand to move people. We were not notified at the resort but it wouldn't have changed what we did anyway. That line was still down when we left Epcot, but again it was clear what to do and we just walked to the bus stand instead of the monorail and waited about 3 minutes for a bus after just missing the previous one. The trip took a bit more time by bus but we weren't on a deadline either way. All the other days of our trips we took one or both lines with no closures at all. I'm surprised at the number of people I've read on these boards who experience monorail closures. Either we were just lucky or maybe people with no issues don't tend to report in. We also did not experience dirty or smelly monorail cars.

 

[Summer2018]

Yes, the Epcot bus will be at the TTC. We stayed 9 nights at the Poly earlier this month and the only monorail down was the Epcot line from the TTC on one morning. We walked to the TTC to catch it and there was a sign and CMs directing us to Epcot buses. We didn't have a further walk...and they had plenty of buses on hand to move people. We were not notified at the resort but it wouldn't have changed what we did anyway. That line was still down when we left Epcot, but again it was clear what to do and we just walked to the bus stand instead of the monorail and waited about 3 minutes for a bus after just missing the previous one. The trip took a bit more time by bus but we weren't on a deadline either way. All the other days of our trips we took one or both lines with no closures at all. I'm surprised at the number of people I've read on these boards who experience monorail closures. Either we were just lucky or maybe people with no issues don't tend to report in. We also did not experience dirty or smelly monorail cars.

That’s excellent news! Thanks!

 

[bluejasmine]

Questiin on the studios Villas, how is storage, is there drawers for clothes?

 

[kittylady1972]

I just read the last few pages of posts here, as I have a reason to be checking in here again myself. My oldest son graduates from high school on May 29th, and when I asked him about plans to celebrate he didn't have anything in mind. I mentioned a Disney trip for the two of us, even though he's not the biggest Disney fan in our house, but he was VERY excited about the idea. I managed to get one night in a Poly Villa using our DVC points but couldn't get the second night...until YESTERDAY! And so it's official, we will do a very short mom and son post-graduation celebration trip in just over a week and we'll stay for TWO nights at a Polynesian Villa!

We both LOVE the Poly. We are also doing an after-hours DVC event at Typhoon Lagoon while there. It's going to be a whirlwind trip. I think on his short bucket list is actually eating at the sushi counter there inside the Polynesian, so that will be on our agenda for sure as well. The rest of the trip is somewhat up in the air, though we have FP+s at MK and HS so far. He also really wants to do EPCOT so we'll see if we can squeeze that in also.

 

[trishadono]

Questiin on the studios Villas, how is storage, is there drawers for clothes?

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=REMdCP82Lq8


I just posted for you on gf thread too.

Disney dvc site has good info.

This 3D viewer is fun! I think the coffee table bench thing has storage too.