Glad to hear about your trip! We feel the exact same way about the Poly and the AKL. Love everything about Poly....love the AKL theme and lobby, but did not love the rooms at all (or the buses getting around...).
You are correct about the draw to the Epcot resorts. We do love the Beach Club very much, but we tend to focus more on Epcot and HS when we stay there. If your trip is long enough, maybe you could start at BC for a couple nights and then move to Poly for the remainder.
When we first started going to WDW, we stayed at many resorts and found our favorites (BC and Poly). However, to this day, we need to switch things up or else we feel like we're repeating the same trip. Not a bad thing since the trip was so awesome, but it's nice to experience different things. So I know what you mean about staying where you know you love versus trying something else. It's a risk. We've stayed at CR and like it a lot, but the theme is just so different from Poly's theme. I will be honest and tell you that the CR balconies made my knees weak because the building is straight up and down -- it made me nervous when my kids were on it, not that it wasn't secure but I guess I just felt a lot better at Poly on the first floor with that awesome lagoon view.
We are trying GF for the first time next month. I'm thinking it will be wonderful, though I also had initial vibes about it versus the relaxing vibe at Poly. Someone is at GF right now and posted some of his room view pics -- you should take a look on the GF thread. He is in an outer building, I believe first floor, and has a view like we LOVE at Poly. His view actually looks even better. It's building Boca Chica TPV. He just posted pics yesterday. See if this link works:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/di...villas-information-questions.3336950/page-260
SINCERE condolences during this most difficult time. 
