Polynesian - Hawaii Building

[pinkcroc]

We are planning our annual trip to WDW to celebrate our son's 6th birthday and we have a 4 year old daughter as well. This will be our 7th visit and I think our 6th time at the Polynesian.

I booked a concierge (Hawaii) Lagoon view and I am submitting a request to the itinerary planner. Because our kids go to bed around 8:30/9:00, I would LOVE a room where we have a patio or balcony AND a view of the castle/fireworks. We stayed on the first floor in Hawaii last year, second room from the desks and it was a nice view. I have heard that the second floor rooms do not have balconies. Has anyone stayed on the third floor?

I'm happy to have found this site, I have a bunch of other questions not relating to resorts and I look forward to sharing my own Disney experiences too. :wave:

 

[Kwit35]

Do you mind if I ask how much a room like this costs? We have always wanted to stay at the Poly but can never afford it.

 

[pinkcroc]

No of course I don't mind at all, all the room rates are public information. Here is the rate chart if you want to compare others:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...ixPage?id=BenefitsOSOP2009RoomPriceMatrixPage

I think the base rate for the polynesian is about $350 (garden or pool view), add about $100 for lagoon view and maybe another $100 for concierge building. Dollar for dollar, most will agree that the concierge building is not "worth it" for what you actually get: concierges in your building, speedy check in/out, free breakfast (limited selections), snacks and cocktails. It's kind of like flying first class, a nice to have but not a necessity. This is our only big family vacation with the kids and we tend to splurge, it gets worse every year!

As for as the polynesian itself, I LOVE it and think it totally worth it. If you have little kids, older guests, or disabled guests, it's so nice to be right on the monorail. My kids love the volcano pool and the little beach.

This year I booked with a kids play & eat free offer. So we saved enough to cover the room upgrade and our dining plan. The other popular offer that I'm sure you've heard of is stay 4 days and get the next 3 free. We only go for 4 nights (5 park days) so the kids free offer saved us a lot.

One more thing on the $$$/resorts topic... my friend who normally stays at the Grand Floridian let her kids pick the resort for the land portion of the land/sea cruise. They picked either the pop century or all star resorts. She said they loved it at least as much as the GF, if not more.

Sorry for the long post! If anyone has a comment about my hawaii room # questions, I would love to hear it. THANKS!!

 

[mousefan1972]

We are planning our annual trip to WDW to celebrate our son's 6th birthday and we have a 4 year old daughter as well. This will be our 7th visit and I think our 6th time at the Polynesian.

I booked a concierge (Hawaii) Lagoon view and I am submitting a request to the itinerary planner. Because our kids go to bed around 8:30/9:00, I would LOVE a room where we have a patio or balcony AND a view of the castle/fireworks. We stayed on the first floor in Hawaii last year, second room from the desks and it was a nice view. I have heard that the second floor rooms do not have balconies. Has anyone stayed on the third floor?

I'm happy to have found this site, I have a bunch of other questions not relating to resorts and I look forward to sharing my own Disney experiences too. :wave:

Definitely request the third floor for the best view of the castle and to also have a balcony. There are no balconies on the second floor, and the view isn't as nice from the 1st floor (plus you have the walkway right in front of the building, and the crowds on the beach watching the fireworks- not very private, IMO) Have fun!

 

[Kwit35]

Thank you so much for all the information! It truly is helpful. We usually only stay for one night, if we stay at all (we usually hit Disney while visiting family in Tampa). We have stayed at Animal Kingdom and Wilderness (again only one night) and we LOVE Animal Kingdom. However, recently, we have started staying at Pop and we love it too. It is great theming and very convenient.
We have also recently started going over to Poly just to get a Dole Whip fix and watch Wishes from the beach. It isn't the same as staying, but we at least get a little feel for what it is like staying there.
One of these years we will have to suck it up and stay at Poly.
Thanks again for the information.