The *ALL NEW* Polynesian Resort FAQ thread - *APRIL 2009*

[tiggspring]

Disneynuts. You may want to consider a Magic Kingdom room veiw at Tahiti. We had one this past May the views are FABULOUS!!! and its like having your own private beach.My husband had no trouble with his allergies even though one of them is grass. The rooms have about 8 feet of grass then a sandy beach facing the lagoon and Castle. Not much vegitation at all compaired to the interior lodges and great breezes. Since I don't know if grass is one of the major allegries I'm not sure how helpful this well be for you but you can check it out for yourself online. I will send you a Pm for the TIkiman site several posters have sent me. It has LOTS of pictures of Tahiti that should allow you to see if this area will work for you. Good Luck

[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by DISNEYNUTS

I have never sent in a room request to the resort, but thought I might for this trip, they are already doing the special cleaning for my DD, but I also requested a balcony/patio, She has severe allergies and we don't want the landscaping to come up right to the balcony/patio (even if it is beautiful). She also has severe asthma, so CM put it in as a medical request to not have a patio with lush landscaping, and to do pool view. Where do I send request, just to restate all of this. and is there a longhouse that would be best for her? We have never stayed at the Poly.

Originally Posted by tiggspring

Disneynuts. You may want to consider a Magic Kingdom room veiw at Tahiti. We had one this past May the views are FABULOUS!!! and its like having your own private beach.My husband had no trouble with his allergies even though one of them is grass. The rooms have about 8 feet of grass then a sandy beach facing the lagoon and Castle. Not much vegitation at all compaired to the interior lodges and great breezes. Since I don't know if grass is one of the major allegries I'm not sure how helpful this well be for you but you can check it out for yourself online. I will send you a Pm for the TIkiman site several posters have sent me. It has LOTS of pictures of Tahiti that should allow you to see if this area will work for you. Good Luck

Tiggspring,

The only problem with your good suggestion is that the price difference between a standard room and a theme park view room for Agust 2009 is $145 per night.

If DISNEYNUTS is staying 7 nights, that change in room category, if it's even still available, will cost just over $1,000.

[ckdsnynt]

Originally Posted by taylor3297

If you do CL you will be in the Hawaii longhouse. So, you will just need to put in a request for the ground floor.

I just checked at they show nothing left at CL. So, how do i make a request for one of the other longhouses?
Anybody??

[DISNEYNUTS]

Originally Posted by CleveRocks

Tiggspring,

The only problem with your good suggestion is that the price difference between a standard room and a theme park view room for Agust 2009 is $145 per night.

If DISNEYNUTS is staying 7 nights, that change in room category, if it's even still available, will cost just over $1,000.

Thanks for the suggestions! The Magic Kingdom view upgrade is not a possibility as the additional $ is not possible. This is a second trip this year, and this was supposed to be a budget trip for DD b-day that turned into the POLY (not so budget LOL). Just concerned with all the landscaping now, as the last time we came in the summer months (june) DD had a major asthma attack and ended up with pneumonia. would like a patio/balcony that doesn't open up to fast trees. If possible?

[Aliceacc]

Could you request a 3rd floor room? Or one facing the monorail? I would imagine either would put you far enough from most of the ground level vegetation.

[PolynesianLily]

You can request those items, and be sure to state the reason. This could potentially lead you to getting the room that you would like more, than if you were to stay silent about it and not make any requests. The CM's will try to accommodate you're requests as much as possible, but no true guarantees.

[bdink921]

Hey all you Poly lovers!! We're back from a short 2 night stay at the Poly prior to our Canival Glory cruise. I must say that we loved the Poly . This was a more relaxed trip so we did a few things at the parks--the main things we wanted--and spent some time at our resort. I never posted pics before, but these are a couple of random pic I took while there--hope this works.


View of Cinderella Castle from the hill near Tahiti


DS enjoying the hammock on the beach in front of Hawaii


Waterfall at GCH lobby

We had a great time--spent lots of time at the pool--volcano pool was busy but never really crowded. The weather was hot and sunny and I was so happy since the weather in CT has been so cold and rainy. We were in Tokelau 1930--never in the room too much. Ate at Ohana for dinner--little disappointed with that--and Kona for breakfast--yummy. Saw Wishes once from the beach but did not hear the audio--I was near the pool so maybe that's why? I saw the speakers near Hawaii the next day and just didn't get another chance to see Wishes. Room was clean and if I had to pick on something I'd say that the bathroom could have been cleaner (minor gripe) but we were happy overall. We arrived on Wednesday 7/21 at around 1115 am and our room was ready which was great because we had gotten up so early to start our travels. We left the Poly to stay at the Radisson at the Port but wished we had just stayed one more night here--we really enjoyed it.

[jaycns]

Originally Posted by DISNEYNUTS

I have never sent in a room request to the resort, but thought I might for this trip, they are already doing the special cleaning for my DD, but I also requested a balcony/patio, She has severe allergies and we don't want the landscaping to come up right to the balcony/patio (even if it is beautiful). She also has severe asthma, so CM put it in as a medical request to not have a patio with lush landscaping, and to do pool view. Where do I send request, just to restate all of this. and is there a long house that would be best for her? We have never stayed at the Poly.

Hi Disneynuts! Sorry to hear about your daughter, I know just what it's like to travel with a little one with allergy/asthma issues. Sadly, I know about it all too well. Two of my four sons have moderately severe issues and our fourth son has very severe issues. You picked a great place to vacation though! Disney has been the most accommodating company as far as our special needs (even above the Ritz and other luxury resorts).

First a question for you, has your reservation been 'blocked out' by special services? If not call back and get whatever reservations CM you talk with to call special services and have your special cleaning noted as a medical NEED not just a request. Maybe you already have this done.

In that case, call a reservations agent and ask that they have special services note the needs you stated above on your reservation. If a request comes through from special services instead of just one you make it carries a LOT more weight. I wouldn't try and request a specific long house or location. I would tell them what you need and why and then leave it up to the room assignor to pick which area they know has the least vegetation.

In the past, I have also talked with them (special services) myself and asked them to transfer me to a housekeeping supervisor at the resort and explained our allergy/asthma triggers to them so that we could work out what parts of the VIP cleaning were essential for my son and which ones were okay for them to skip (for instance, we don't need his bed linens/towels washed separately without detergent). Also, I have been transferred to the resort's room assignor by mousekeeping in order to discuss room requests. Trust me, the housekeeping at the resort does NOT want you to request a move! Doing a VIP cleaning requires a LOT more work on their part to get a room ready for incoming guests. They do NOT want to have to do that work again should you come in and request a room change. They would much rather have your requests noted beforehand and be able to provide you with what you have requested if it is at all possible in the first place.

I know you didn't ask any of that, but instead of faxing a room request or calling reservations and adding requests, I would deal with special services to ensure that the medical needs are noted with them vs. just being considered a request. Once special services sends your medical request to the resort, your room will be dealt with BEFORE other room assignments. If your request is based solely on medical need it is given a lot of weight and if at all possible, it is accommodated and is blocked ahead of time.

Cleaning starts almost always before you even arrive and in some cases before you even leave home- they like to give themselves a cushion of a night for the in depth cleaning if at all possible depending on how busy the resort is when you visit. The room you end up in is not even in the general pool of rooms available to other incoming guests. Again, they aren't going to put in all of that extra work and then hand it over to somebody else who doesn't require the extra effort to occupy a room and then have to do it all over again for your party.

Hope this helped (I wish someone had explained this all to me back when we first experienced a need for this type of help, I learned as we went on vacations over the years by talking to some great CMs at different resorts mousekeeping departments, special services and even a few resort managers). If you knew all of this already, SORRY!! I didn't' mean to sound preachy or like you didn't know what was going on. And as a disclaimer, I am not a Disney employee, this is just what I have been told and how things have worked for us in the past (as recently as this past March).

Have a great vacation! I cannot wait until our stay at the Poly (about 45 days out for me).

[BarleyJack]

WOOHOO!! Trip is paid in full as of today, including tickets to the Halloween Party on 10/1. ADRs made, now to get packing! Poly here we come!!

[ckdsnynt]

Originally Posted by jaycns

Hi Disneynuts! Sorry to hear about your daughter, I know just what it's like to travel with a little one with allergy/asthma issues. Sadly, I know about it all too well. Two of my four sons have moderately severe issues and our fourth son has very severe issues. You picked a great place to vacation though! Disney has been the most accommodating company as far as our special needs (even above the Ritz and other luxury resorts).

First a question for you, has your reservation been 'blocked out' by special services? If not call back and get whatever reservations CM you talk with to call special services and have your special cleaning noted as a medical NEED not just a request. Maybe you already have this done.

In that case, call a reservations agent and ask that they have special services note the needs you stated above on your reservation. If a request comes through from special services instead of just one you make it carries a LOT more weight. I wouldn't try and request a specific long house or location. I would tell them what you need and why and then leave it up to the room assignor to pick which area they know has the least vegetation.

In the past, I have also talked with them (special services) myself and asked them to transfer me to a housekeeping supervisor at the resort and explained our allergy/asthma triggers to them so that we could work out what parts of the VIP cleaning were essential for my son and which ones were okay for them to skip (for instance, we don't need his bed linens/towels washed separately without detergent). Also, I have been transferred to the resort's room assignor by mousekeeping in order to discuss room requests. Trust me, the housekeeping at the resort does NOT want you to request a move! Doing a VIP cleaning requires a LOT more work on their part to get a room ready for incoming guests. They do NOT want to have to do that work again should you come in and request a room change. They would much rather have your requests noted beforehand and be able to provide you with what you have requested if it is at all possible in the first place.

Anyway, in the past, I have always had great luck with our requests. Still, I know they are just requests and as long as they guarantee the medical needs, I will happily take whatever else comes to me by way of room location. I know that having medical issues doesn't make our family any more deserving of getting a request granted than anyone else's but at the same time, I think that the resorts have been great with recognizing that my family (and others with these severe issues) don't really have the latitude to ask for last minute changes or make last minute requests and offer to wait so they can be fulfilled (like most others who could ask that they be given a third floor room at check in and offer to wait until the next one becomes available vs. taking the first available room which might be on the first floor).

That said, in our case, what is outside our window would have no impact on our son's condition so I don't feel we have the right to request a room change for anything less than something major broken, leaking or otherwise untenable conditions in the room since I know the amount of work they would have put in ahead of time. In your case, however, I WOULD request that change even if it meant them doing all of the extra work over again if it was my child's health at stake.

I know you didn't ask any of that, but instead of faxing a room request or calling reservations and adding requests, I would deal with special services to ensure that the medical needs are noted with them vs. just being considered a request. Once special services sends your medical request to the resort, your room will be dealt with BEFORE other room assignments. If your request is based solely on medical need it is given a lot of weight and if at all possible, it is accommodated and is blocked ahead of time.

Cleaning starts almost always before you even arrive and in some cases before you even leave home- they like to give themselves a cushion of a night for the in depth cleaning if at all possible depending on how busy the resort is when you visit. The room you end up in is not even in the general pool of rooms available to other incoming guests. Again, they aren't going to put in all of that extra work and then hand it over to somebody else who doesn't require the extra effort to occupy a room and then have to do it all over again for your party.

Hope this helped (I wish someone had explained this all to me back when we first experienced a need for this type of help, I learned as we went on vacations over the years by talking to some great CMs at different resorts mousekeeping departments, special services and even a few resort managers). If you knew all of this already, SORRY!! I didn't' mean to sound preachy or like you didn't know what was going on. And as a disclaimer, I am not a Disney employee, this is just what I have been told and how things have worked for us in the past (as recently as this past March).

Have a great vacation! I cannot wait until our stay at the Poly (about 45 days out for me).

I really don't have any comments about the above recommendations, but I wanted to say how cute the penguins were in your siggie! They remind me of my two DGD: one is four and a live wire, the other is one and is very mellow. They normally play well together and just arode each other. One day, the 4 year old was getting her hair brushed and the 1 year old was walking by and just whopped the tar out of the big sister, for no reason, and just kept walking like she didn't do a thing! The older one looked at her Mom and said "What was that for?" It was so out of character for the little one, you just had to laugh!

[PolynesianLily]

Originally Posted by BarleyJack

WOOHOO!! Trip is paid in full as of today, including tickets to the Halloween Party on 10/1. ADRs made, now to get packing! Poly here we come!!

Woohoo!
It's approaching fast!
Do you have a favorite longhouse or one that you would like to stay in?

[BarleyJack]

Originally Posted by PolynesianLily

Woohoo!
It's approaching fast!
Do you have a favorite longhouse or one that you would like to stay in?

Not fast enough We need this vacation like nobody's business LOL. Originally just the 2 of us were going, then decided to invite the Niece for her first WDW trip. Since then we've found out she's pregnant! We also decided to invite my brother and his wife, who have been many times (but never to the Poly).

Celebrating:

April's first trip, celebrating that and her baby on the way!

First time EVER in a deluxe, glad we chose the Poly!

First adult vacation with my little brother!

Food and Wine festival woohoo!

MNSSHP!


Can only afford a garden view room though, so we put in a request for Tokelau 3rd floor in hopes of a sideways view of the beach/MK LOL. Plus we like to spend a lot of time at EPCOT and it seems as though this longhouse is pretty centrally located....good choice? Hope so

Ya never know, maybe we'll get some pixie dust and get an upgrade, although we're totally not expecting it, just happy to be staying at the Poly

[PolynesianLily]

Originally Posted by BarleyJack

Not fast enough We need this vacation like nobody's business LOL. Originally just the 2 of us were going, then decided to invite the Niece for her first WDW trip. Since then we've found out she's pregnant! We also decided to invite my brother and his wife, who have been many times (but never to the Poly).

Celebrating:

April's first trip, celebrating that and her baby on the way!

First time EVER in a deluxe, glad we chose the Poly!

First adult vacation with my little brother!

Food and Wine festival woohoo!

MNSSHP!


Can only afford a garden view room though, so we put in a request for Tokelau 3rd floor in hopes of a sideways view of the beach/MK LOL. Plus we like to spend a lot of time at EPCOT and it seems as though this longhouse is pretty centrally located....good choice? Hope so

Ya never know, maybe we'll get some pixie dust and get an upgrade, although we're totally not expecting it, just happy to be staying at the Poly

Woohoo!
Trust me, as soon as you stay in the Poly, you won't want to stay anywhere else again (haha). I heard that Tokelau has a good sideways view of the MK, which is lovely because you don't have to pay those expensive MK View prices. It's also a nice walking distance to the TTC and the GCH.

It sounds like you are your family are going to have loads of fun!

[jaycns]

Originally Posted by BarleyJack

Not fast enough We need this vacation like nobody's business LOL. Originally just the 2 of us were going, then decided to invite the Niece for her first WDW trip. Since then we've found out she's pregnant! We also decided to invite my brother and his wife, who have been many times (but never to the Poly).

Celebrating:

April's first trip, celebrating that and her baby on the way!

First time EVER in a deluxe, glad we chose the Poly!

First adult vacation with my little brother!

Food and Wine festival woohoo!

MNSSHP!


Can only afford a garden view room though, so we put in a request for Tokelau 3rd floor in hopes of a sideways view of the beach/MK LOL. Plus we like to spend a lot of time at EPCOT and it seems as though this longhouse is pretty centrally located....good choice? Hope so

Ya never know, maybe we'll get some pixie dust and get an upgrade, although we're totally not expecting it, just happy to be staying at the Poly

Sounds like you are going to have a great trip! We stayed in Tokelau last time we were at the Poly and LOVED it! It was a very central location, we had a sideways view of the castle (make time to sit out on your balcony FACING the castle at night...the colors changing and the beauty of it really made me smile).

HAVE FUN!

[jaycns]

Originally Posted by ckdsnynt

I really don't have any comments about the above recommendations, but I wanted to say how cute the penguins were in your siggie! They remind me of my two DGD: one is four and a live wire, the other is one and is very mellow. They normally play well together and just arode each other. One day, the 4 year old was getting her hair brushed and the 1 year old was walking by and just whopped the tar out of the big sister, for no reason, and just kept walking like she didn't do a thing! The older one looked at her Mom and said "What was that for?" It was so out of character for the little one, you just had to laugh!

Thanks for sharing. That really made me giggle.