Final Thoughts
It's now been 3 months since our trip ( hard to believe ) so before I officially ended this report I wanted to give some final thoughts and comments. Hopefully it will be helpful to someone in planning a future trip. I know it will help me as I did go back to my previous TR (and reading other TRs) before planning this one.
Resort
The obvious place to start, considering this was our first time staying at the Poly. Having stayed at the Beach Club ( and BCvillas ) the previous two trips, the comparison was inevitable. The kids especially were comparing throughout the trip, which may have been a bit unfair for the Poly as we all loved the BC. Nevertheless, here are my thoughts.
Many people love the
Great Ceremonial House, maybe because of tradition (which I appreciate) or fond memories or the "scent", but I was slightly let down. The water effects are pretty neat I guess, but I've seen Marriots with trees and streams and bridges running throughout the atrium so I was not blown away. As I said before, the feel was very much "Brady Bunch" era - which isn't surprising considering when it was built. There is a distinct scent to the GCH - I grew to like it in a strange way, but could not figure out what it really was. It's a dark environment - the stone floors, the decor, the woodwork are all dark; vs. the Beach Club which is bright and airy.
Lobby/atrium advantage goes to Beach Club.
As for restaurants - I think Poly wins easily, even if I add in Yachtman's from the Yacht Club. Ohana's and Kona are almost must do restaurants and to have them right next to each other is amazing. Beach Club also suffers from not having a full QS spot. Their "Marketplace" is far below "Captain Cooks" ( where you can even get a Dole whip! ). Beaches and Cream at the BC not to be overlooked, but overall the Poly wins in my opinion.
One caveat however, from the Beach Club one can walk over to the Boardwalk to experience Kouzzina, Flying Fish and other spots AND one can walk into Epcot for all the restaurants in World Showcase. If you expand the offerings to walking distance ( and throw in the Grand Floridian restaurants in favor of the Poly) it is a much more even match - I'm inclined to give BC a strong edge under that criteria.
Shops in the Poly are a definite advantage over BC. Val agreed with that.
The
Poly grounds are also better, in fact they may be the best of any Disney resort. The tropical foliage, the real tiki lamps, the beach looking into 7 seas lagoon and the Magic Kingdom - very special stuff. I think the BC grounds are very nice, down well and beautiful it's own way, but the Poly is gorgeous.
The Rooms themselves are a toss up. Poly rooms are slightly bigger and I liked the new decor, but I love the BC decor. Again, for me bright and airy wins out over darker. The BC rooms also felt more "luxurious" for some reason. The bathrooms at the Poly were nice and big with double sinks, but small things were annoying like the illogical placement of hooks. The longhouses themselves do feel dated - the entrance doors and elevators have seen better days and dare I say feel "rundown". That's a word one should never have to use when describing a Disney Deluxe resort. Poly for being bigger, BC for the decor and "feel" means draw for me. If it were just Val and I, Beach Club would win.
Now to the Pool. The answer is obvious since Storm Along Bay is the best pool at any Disney Resort. It is an E-ticket attraction in it's own right that you can spend the entire day in. My kids went down the Pirate "jib" slide more times than I wanted to count. The sand bottom is wonderful, the sinking sand area is cool (when working), you have a lazy river area, and great spot on the Yacht Club side which is literally a zero entry beach in the pool where smaller children can build sand castles right at the pool's edge. The depth of the pool reaches 7 feet ( I believe ) at some spots. Bridges, waterfalls, a windmill and plenty of nooks and crannies make this an amazing pool. There are also several hot tubs a step or two away. The Poly pool does have it's own highlights - the volcano is pretty cool ( but does not erupt ) and the slide inside the volcano is fast and fun. You always have a view of the castle and the surrounding tropical theme is beautiful, but the pool itself is small and the deepest part is only 4 feet. It many ways it felt like a big kiddie pool. Amazingly there are no hot tubs. (SAB) also had a much better staging area for the afternoon pool games - my kids always participated in them ( even as teenagers ) and they always had good numbers. Not so at the Poly - I barely noticed the activities there and was only a handful of kids; none of which were mine. I never expected the Poly pool to be on par with StormalongBay (SAB) but it was overall a let down. This was my kids biggest complaint - they really missed the BC pool.
Activities have to give to Poly because of your ability to take out the SeaRacers and pontoon boat and explore Seven Seas and Bay Lake.
Cost - Both are crazy and Poly is more. We all know that when staying at a Disney resort, you are paying for more than the room. One can get a similar type room at other hotels for a fraction of the cost. You are also paying for free Disney transportation (and other fringe benefits) and most of all; location, location, location. From my room, I can walk 100 yards to a boat launch or monorail that will have me at the front gate of Magic Kingdom in 15 minutes or so. That is an awesome perk. From the BC, you can count on an hour from the time you leave your room, to the bus stop, to waiting for the bus, to getting dropped off 100 yards away from the front gate. If you spend most of your time at Magic Kingdom, a monorail resort is a wonderful place to stay. If however you enjoy Epcot and DHS just as much, being able to walk to both from the Beach Club ( or short boat ride ) is also appealing. On this trip we spent the least amount of time at Epcot than any other trip and I did miss it. Again, the cost for both resorts (even with 30% off) is nutty until you consider everything ( maybe still nutty ). For me, the extra cost of Poly wasn't worth it over BC, only because we spend time at all of the parks.
I'm so happy we stayed at the Poly, just to get a different feel. I would also love to stay at AKL, WL and GF someday. Having said that, if I had to choose between the Poly and the Beach Club for a next visit, it would be Beach Club. Sorry Poly fans.
Dining
I'm not going to rehash here what I wrote in the TR but I did leave this trip with a different feeling for the 2 credit restaurants. Citricos was a fabulous meal...BUT, I don't know if I would go back for two credits. Just consider the price difference and comparisons. At Kouzzina the typical meal was around $30. At Citricos is was $40-$45. That to me seems about right. 15-25% more, even 30-40% more seems right for a "Signature" restaurant, but giving up 2 credits vs 1 means the restaurant has to be twice as good which I didn't feel it. We ate at California Grill and Flying Fish last time and while we loved them, again didn't feel it worth a 100% markup over other places. This will probably sound funny, but I did feel using 2 credits for Hoop-de-doo-review was worth it because you got a show/entertainment with your meal of fried chicken and ribs ( plus endless beer and wine ). Next trip, I am considering dropping the meal plan and paying out of pocket. We may end up eating dinner a few nights at QS spots and on other nights go to a Signature restaurant.
Parks - Again, from reading the boards leading up to the trip, I was expecting the parks to look beaten up and rundown. The reality was completely different. I found them all to be in wonderful shape with no signs of an impending WDW apocalypse. It was nice to see the mostly done new Fantasyland, I would love to go back for the 7Dwarfs Mine. We are ready for something new, however. The recent news regarding Avatarland getting closer to reality is encouraging as are the rumors of a expanded StarWars area at DHS. I want more - i want to see what Disney can do in this decade and I want to be amazed by it. The last time I was truly amazed was riding EE in 2007 with the Yeti working. That was amazing! I want to feel that again.
Yia-Yia and Crew. My first trip to WDW was with my parents and my sister in 1976. It was one of the fondest memories of my life. It was our only "real" vacation as a family - we ran a restaurant as a family business and it was never easy to get away. Being able to take my mother back with us was a real treat - I wish my Father was still around but I'm sure he was smiling somewhere while we were down there. My sister took him to WDW with my Mom a few years back before he passed and he loved it. My Mom had a great time and she was amazed at this World as much as I am. I came to realize more than ever that WDW is truly a place for ages 0 to 100.
Photography
About a year ago i purchased my new camera, a Sony NEX-7. I couldn't wait to bring it to this trip. I had many pictures I wanted to take in my mind before the trip - but didn't get most of them. I did however get many shots I never planned for. The big advantage of this camera is its small size and weight. It's very easy to carry around - I took mostly hand held shots while keeping up with the pace of my kids. This was very important for me and for them. It didn't slow us down much and I was very happy with the results. I loved using my 50mm lens and my fisheye especially. Last trip I only used the big zoom 18-200, which this time I used it only on the safari ( one time ). WDW is just an amazing place for any photographer - so many endless opportunities. This has become a more important part of my trip since photography has became a hobby of mine. I could see myself doing a trip just for photography. One final thought on this subject. Seeing the amazing pictures and reports here when I first joined this site back in 2009, really inspired me to get into photography. I also learned much from the photographers on this site. The photography section down below is a great place to get those juices flowing.
Well that's it ( I promise ). My 2013 trip report is now officially complete. Thanks again all for following along, reading, commenting and "liking". It was a pleasure doing this but I'm now eager to read other reports...until our next trip.
Thanks again for reading along!
