Cosmo
Member
Hi Everybody...my second trip report in as many weeks! Yep...finally took the plunge and got married on 11/30. :sohappy: The new wife and I decided to take a long weekend at disney and here's how it went:
First off, let me give the disclaimer that i am a disney FREAK. I've been going since i was 6 months old. I've had an annual pass for years and have pretty much stayed at every resort at one time or another (there are a few exceptions, but not many). My wife is new to FL and this was only her 5th trip to disney (all with me!) We want to stay at all the resorts eventually. Well, i just want everyone to know that i am NOT complaining, we had a great time. I love disney dearly and would never complain or moan about anything, but there are a few things that I want to point out about our trip that may sound like complaining but its not.
For this trip we chose the Polynesian. Our favourite is the Contemporary but we wanted to try something new. I haven't stayed at the Poly since i was a little kid (it was my sister's favourite) and was looking forward to it. I know that the poly is a favourite for a lot of people. It always scores well in polls and most people write that its their fav and most people we talked to said it was their fav when we told them we were staying there...but i was a little dissapointed.
The trouble started right at check in. Again, i am not complaining and the CM's did a GREAT job, it wasn't their fault at all and we told them how happy we were with their efforts, but the computer had my last name incorrectly spelled. My last name begins with a T and they had it as a P. So two people with the exact same first names show up, it's flagged as a honeymoon (we arrived in our wedding attire...the wife's idea) and the last names are identical except for one letter which sounds alike. You'd think it would be no problem...but it was. It took close to 45 minutes to straighten this out (during which i really had to use the restroom and my tux was bothering me). The cm's apparently had to call Eisner or God to get clearance on this.
So finally we check in and we're in room 2820 in the Rarotonga Building. This is nice because its right next to the GCH and the monorail and right around the corner from the arcade (my wife and i have a standing bet on Ms. Pac-Man and Air Hockey). But the process for baggage isn't really streamlined. Our car was valet parked and we had to go out and find a Bellman to help with our bags which were just sitting curbside. In the past when we've checked in to a deluxe, the bags are brought in and we can go straight to the room and they'll be brought up shortly after. So anyways, the bellman wasn't very happy and just kind of took us to our room. Then there was confusion because the front desk told us that our room was 2820 but the bellman's slip said 2828. Finally got that worked out. He brought our bags in and just kind of tossed them down and ran off without saying anything or even smiling
The the room wasn't very nice at all. We had a parking lot view (which was actually pretty cool because we could see the monorails zipping past which in my opinion rocks!) but the room itself was very dark, it just seemed like the lighting was inadequate and it stunk! It was very very very musty. The thermostat was antiquated and most of the numbers were worn off so it was hard to tell how to set it and we never could quite get the room temp correct. Then we heard it....the rattling. The whole room rattled! We never could figure out what caused it, i think it was everytime a bus drove by, or the monorail or everytime somebody walked on the floor above or something. We couldn't figure out what was rattling either! Sometimes it sounded like the window and at others it sounded like the canopy over the bed. My wife can sleep through a 10 megaton nuclear blast so it was no big deal for her, but i kept waking up for it all night! The bathroom was very pretty though and we both like the marble and tile. The dresser drawers never did open and close right either. We were starving (being too nervous to eat at the reception) and ordered a little room service snack which came up quickly and was very tasty, but again, the CM wasn't very nice. Not that they were mean, but just not very friendly. The shower head also was very old and kind of spat water at you. I'm a medium build kind of guy, but i felt like i had to jump around in the shower to get wet! I also noticed that the room was very noisy. Like i said, we've stayed at disney resorts in the past and of course there will be children and laughing and noise, but MAN, it was NOISY! There was running and screaming and everything else, much more than we'd experienced at any of the other deluxe resorts or even the moderates!
I've heard that the buildings at the poly are under renovation, and apparently rarotonga hasn't been upgraded yet. If you're staying there soon, avoid room 2820! The grounds of the hotel were nice though and we strolled around quite a bit through the course of our stay, but again, there was nothing that really made it "special". Even out on the beach, looking at the magic kingdom at night and hearing the christmas music, sure it was beautiful and romantic, but the swing we were sitting on was in dire need of WD-40!!! It made so much ruckus that we couldn't hear ourselves talk and were worried it would wake people up (it was rather late) so we sat still and didn't move too much on the swing. The bar also seemed to have problems. My wife wanted a chocolate martini (which she always gets at the resorts) and they couldn't make her one!!! (she gets MEAN when she doesn't get her chocolate!) Once again, please remember that this is only my opinion of our stay and i'm not trying to diss the poly or anyone's favourite, just want you to know. We had a great time, but we probably won't be staying there again. OK..enough complaining.
So the first night we were there we had a PS for the ca. grille. I had checked the website and it said that the MK was open till 10p that night so our seating was for 930. Dopey me, i didn't check to see what time the fireworks were and just assumed they'd be when the park closed. Wrong. But it worked out because we were on the monorail and it had stopped (for traffic i guess) giving us a perfect view of the fantasy in the sky (not as good as CA grille, but kind of romantice from a monorail nonetheless!) We had a wonderful dinner at the Grille and a nice server and we couldn't help but lament that we elected not to stay at the Contemporary as its our very favourite (and the first place we ever stayed together). The waitress was very nice and brough us a congratulatory chocolate (soothing my wife's chocolate withdrawal somewhat...that and the 3 chocolate martini's she'd had at the grille~!
We were pretty tired afterwards and just headed back to our room at the poly. The staff had given us a bottle of champagne and a rose and we enjoyed both on our wedding night watching disney tv and cuddling together!
The next morning we had a wonderful room service breakfast (still had another grouchy CM deliver it though!) and just lounged around till about 2 when we headed to MK. We really didn't ride much except the TTA which was cool because there was something up with SM and the lights were on which Amy had never seen. So we had some yummy ice cream and split a hot dog and headed back to the resort as the temp. was dropping quickly and we wanted to be warm. The park was EMPTY! Really, there didn't seem to be any significant wait for the rides and we really enjoyed being able to stroll through the park without bumping into strangers and being able to window shop without being jostled. We didn't even have to wait for our delicious soft serve from mrs. pott's cupboard!:slurp:
The temp during the day was wonderful and i wore shorts and t-shirt, but we changed into jeans and t-shirt with a hooded sweatshirt for the evening (as a side note, when i got married apparently i missed the part of the ceremony which states that i have to give all of my comfy sweaters to my wife!) We had a PS at the brown derby and walked in. We requested our favourite waiter, David (Geyser i think is the last name). He's always our waiter there and we think he's great! Make sure to ask for him when you go. He brought us champagne and even the manager came out to congratulate us and gave me his card so that we could call directly the next time we wanted to eat at the brown derby (its "our place"). Everything was perfect and beautiful and delicious and great. We left the derby at around 810 or so and strolled through the now deserted mgm to the bus stop to head over to epcot. It took the bus quite a long time to get there but a wonderful cm commandeered a "special" bus for us and we had a chauffered drive over to epcot. The driver was great and we chatted the whole way and had a nice ride over. We finally got there at 9 (told you it was a long wait for the bus) and just snuggled up against the cold and headed to the Rose and Crown to have a few pints and kick back for illuminations. We even wore our Groom and Bride mickey ears (compliments of david and the brown derby staff) and were congratulated by everyone and even given an autographed picture of Pam Brody. We stayed there till the park emptied out and grabbed a monorail back to the poly. Then Amy whomped me at Ms. Pac-Man (she got the hire score) and i smoked her at Air Hockey (she didn't stand a chance). Thats when we went and sat out on the noisy swing for a while and called it a night.
The next day we headed over for a late breakfast at chef mickey's autograph book and camera in hand. Had a great time and took TONS of pictures and got all the autrographs of all the main characters. Then we went back to the resort and rented a water mouse boat and cruised the lake (something she'd never done) and took pix of the resorts and again noticed how there wasn't anything special for us about the Poly. It was just a brown spot on the shore when compared to the Beauty of the GF, the coolness of the monolithic Cont with monorails zooming in and out and the majesty of the Wilderness lodge, but I digress.
So we finished that up and toured around AK. Again, very few if any crowds (walked straight onto dinosaur) and went to MGM to ride a few things and munch on some tasty snacks.
We had a PS italy so we changed into our warm clothes and headed to EPCOT. We ate ourselves monumentally sick there on all the good stuff and had a great time taking it easy and rolling ourselves over to the exit after illuminations.
Our last day there we spent solely at EPCOT. We walked over to WS and started in Mexico. We really enjoyed seeing all the holidays around the world stuff in each country and getting the snacks from around the world too!
We took lots of pictures of a whole bunch of characters and got their autographs too.
We left around 6ish after a dinner of fish and chips and arrived home safely later that night.
It really was a great time, but like i said, the poly left a TON to be desired. I'm hoping that perhaps after all the renovations are complete it will be nicer, but we'll be staying at other resorts for a while. The staff seems to need some happy pills too. I would have much prefered a moderate resort for the experience we had at the poly. The crowds were very very lite and the weather was excellent (though pretty darn chilly at night, definitely jacket and sweater weather!)
With any luck, we plan to go back before christmas and do it all again! A great honeymoon!!! (tip: if you're on your honeymoon, be sure to tell EVERYONE! cms and other guests too.) we met some great people that way!
sorry so long, hope you enjoyed it!:snore:
First off, let me give the disclaimer that i am a disney FREAK. I've been going since i was 6 months old. I've had an annual pass for years and have pretty much stayed at every resort at one time or another (there are a few exceptions, but not many). My wife is new to FL and this was only her 5th trip to disney (all with me!) We want to stay at all the resorts eventually. Well, i just want everyone to know that i am NOT complaining, we had a great time. I love disney dearly and would never complain or moan about anything, but there are a few things that I want to point out about our trip that may sound like complaining but its not.
For this trip we chose the Polynesian. Our favourite is the Contemporary but we wanted to try something new. I haven't stayed at the Poly since i was a little kid (it was my sister's favourite) and was looking forward to it. I know that the poly is a favourite for a lot of people. It always scores well in polls and most people write that its their fav and most people we talked to said it was their fav when we told them we were staying there...but i was a little dissapointed.
The trouble started right at check in. Again, i am not complaining and the CM's did a GREAT job, it wasn't their fault at all and we told them how happy we were with their efforts, but the computer had my last name incorrectly spelled. My last name begins with a T and they had it as a P. So two people with the exact same first names show up, it's flagged as a honeymoon (we arrived in our wedding attire...the wife's idea) and the last names are identical except for one letter which sounds alike. You'd think it would be no problem...but it was. It took close to 45 minutes to straighten this out (during which i really had to use the restroom and my tux was bothering me). The cm's apparently had to call Eisner or God to get clearance on this.
So finally we check in and we're in room 2820 in the Rarotonga Building. This is nice because its right next to the GCH and the monorail and right around the corner from the arcade (my wife and i have a standing bet on Ms. Pac-Man and Air Hockey). But the process for baggage isn't really streamlined. Our car was valet parked and we had to go out and find a Bellman to help with our bags which were just sitting curbside. In the past when we've checked in to a deluxe, the bags are brought in and we can go straight to the room and they'll be brought up shortly after. So anyways, the bellman wasn't very happy and just kind of took us to our room. Then there was confusion because the front desk told us that our room was 2820 but the bellman's slip said 2828. Finally got that worked out. He brought our bags in and just kind of tossed them down and ran off without saying anything or even smiling
The the room wasn't very nice at all. We had a parking lot view (which was actually pretty cool because we could see the monorails zipping past which in my opinion rocks!) but the room itself was very dark, it just seemed like the lighting was inadequate and it stunk! It was very very very musty. The thermostat was antiquated and most of the numbers were worn off so it was hard to tell how to set it and we never could quite get the room temp correct. Then we heard it....the rattling. The whole room rattled! We never could figure out what caused it, i think it was everytime a bus drove by, or the monorail or everytime somebody walked on the floor above or something. We couldn't figure out what was rattling either! Sometimes it sounded like the window and at others it sounded like the canopy over the bed. My wife can sleep through a 10 megaton nuclear blast so it was no big deal for her, but i kept waking up for it all night! The bathroom was very pretty though and we both like the marble and tile. The dresser drawers never did open and close right either. We were starving (being too nervous to eat at the reception) and ordered a little room service snack which came up quickly and was very tasty, but again, the CM wasn't very nice. Not that they were mean, but just not very friendly. The shower head also was very old and kind of spat water at you. I'm a medium build kind of guy, but i felt like i had to jump around in the shower to get wet! I also noticed that the room was very noisy. Like i said, we've stayed at disney resorts in the past and of course there will be children and laughing and noise, but MAN, it was NOISY! There was running and screaming and everything else, much more than we'd experienced at any of the other deluxe resorts or even the moderates!
I've heard that the buildings at the poly are under renovation, and apparently rarotonga hasn't been upgraded yet. If you're staying there soon, avoid room 2820! The grounds of the hotel were nice though and we strolled around quite a bit through the course of our stay, but again, there was nothing that really made it "special". Even out on the beach, looking at the magic kingdom at night and hearing the christmas music, sure it was beautiful and romantic, but the swing we were sitting on was in dire need of WD-40!!! It made so much ruckus that we couldn't hear ourselves talk and were worried it would wake people up (it was rather late) so we sat still and didn't move too much on the swing. The bar also seemed to have problems. My wife wanted a chocolate martini (which she always gets at the resorts) and they couldn't make her one!!! (she gets MEAN when she doesn't get her chocolate!) Once again, please remember that this is only my opinion of our stay and i'm not trying to diss the poly or anyone's favourite, just want you to know. We had a great time, but we probably won't be staying there again. OK..enough complaining.
So the first night we were there we had a PS for the ca. grille. I had checked the website and it said that the MK was open till 10p that night so our seating was for 930. Dopey me, i didn't check to see what time the fireworks were and just assumed they'd be when the park closed. Wrong. But it worked out because we were on the monorail and it had stopped (for traffic i guess) giving us a perfect view of the fantasy in the sky (not as good as CA grille, but kind of romantice from a monorail nonetheless!) We had a wonderful dinner at the Grille and a nice server and we couldn't help but lament that we elected not to stay at the Contemporary as its our very favourite (and the first place we ever stayed together). The waitress was very nice and brough us a congratulatory chocolate (soothing my wife's chocolate withdrawal somewhat...that and the 3 chocolate martini's she'd had at the grille~!
We were pretty tired afterwards and just headed back to our room at the poly. The staff had given us a bottle of champagne and a rose and we enjoyed both on our wedding night watching disney tv and cuddling together!
The next morning we had a wonderful room service breakfast (still had another grouchy CM deliver it though!) and just lounged around till about 2 when we headed to MK. We really didn't ride much except the TTA which was cool because there was something up with SM and the lights were on which Amy had never seen. So we had some yummy ice cream and split a hot dog and headed back to the resort as the temp. was dropping quickly and we wanted to be warm. The park was EMPTY! Really, there didn't seem to be any significant wait for the rides and we really enjoyed being able to stroll through the park without bumping into strangers and being able to window shop without being jostled. We didn't even have to wait for our delicious soft serve from mrs. pott's cupboard!:slurp:
The temp during the day was wonderful and i wore shorts and t-shirt, but we changed into jeans and t-shirt with a hooded sweatshirt for the evening (as a side note, when i got married apparently i missed the part of the ceremony which states that i have to give all of my comfy sweaters to my wife!) We had a PS at the brown derby and walked in. We requested our favourite waiter, David (Geyser i think is the last name). He's always our waiter there and we think he's great! Make sure to ask for him when you go. He brought us champagne and even the manager came out to congratulate us and gave me his card so that we could call directly the next time we wanted to eat at the brown derby (its "our place"). Everything was perfect and beautiful and delicious and great. We left the derby at around 810 or so and strolled through the now deserted mgm to the bus stop to head over to epcot. It took the bus quite a long time to get there but a wonderful cm commandeered a "special" bus for us and we had a chauffered drive over to epcot. The driver was great and we chatted the whole way and had a nice ride over. We finally got there at 9 (told you it was a long wait for the bus) and just snuggled up against the cold and headed to the Rose and Crown to have a few pints and kick back for illuminations. We even wore our Groom and Bride mickey ears (compliments of david and the brown derby staff) and were congratulated by everyone and even given an autographed picture of Pam Brody. We stayed there till the park emptied out and grabbed a monorail back to the poly. Then Amy whomped me at Ms. Pac-Man (she got the hire score) and i smoked her at Air Hockey (she didn't stand a chance). Thats when we went and sat out on the noisy swing for a while and called it a night.
The next day we headed over for a late breakfast at chef mickey's autograph book and camera in hand. Had a great time and took TONS of pictures and got all the autrographs of all the main characters. Then we went back to the resort and rented a water mouse boat and cruised the lake (something she'd never done) and took pix of the resorts and again noticed how there wasn't anything special for us about the Poly. It was just a brown spot on the shore when compared to the Beauty of the GF, the coolness of the monolithic Cont with monorails zooming in and out and the majesty of the Wilderness lodge, but I digress.
So we finished that up and toured around AK. Again, very few if any crowds (walked straight onto dinosaur) and went to MGM to ride a few things and munch on some tasty snacks.
We had a PS italy so we changed into our warm clothes and headed to EPCOT. We ate ourselves monumentally sick there on all the good stuff and had a great time taking it easy and rolling ourselves over to the exit after illuminations.
Our last day there we spent solely at EPCOT. We walked over to WS and started in Mexico. We really enjoyed seeing all the holidays around the world stuff in each country and getting the snacks from around the world too!
We took lots of pictures of a whole bunch of characters and got their autographs too.
We left around 6ish after a dinner of fish and chips and arrived home safely later that night.
It really was a great time, but like i said, the poly left a TON to be desired. I'm hoping that perhaps after all the renovations are complete it will be nicer, but we'll be staying at other resorts for a while. The staff seems to need some happy pills too. I would have much prefered a moderate resort for the experience we had at the poly. The crowds were very very lite and the weather was excellent (though pretty darn chilly at night, definitely jacket and sweater weather!)
With any luck, we plan to go back before christmas and do it all again! A great honeymoon!!! (tip: if you're on your honeymoon, be sure to tell EVERYONE! cms and other guests too.) we met some great people that way!
sorry so long, hope you enjoyed it!:snore:
