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Polynesian or Grand Floridian Honeymoon?
- Thread starter aleyva
- Start date
durangojim
Well-Known Member
Having stayed at both within the last 11 month I definitely recommend the GF! The Poly is nice but the rooms felt old. Se my review for more info. The GF was really great and has a more romantic atmosphere and restaurants. If you want to enjoy some of the Poly's amenities it's a quick 5 minute walk.
This was my recent review (wall of text):
We're Disney fanatics. We fly from home to go to WDW 2-4 times a year and have annual passes. We usually stay at the Grand Floridian or Yacht/Beach club or Port Orleans French Quarter and have come to expect great service from Disney no matter where we stay. We stayed at the Yacht Club during New Years and the Grand Floridian during the summer and both stays exceeded our expectations. We had high hopes when we booked our stay at the Polynesian in a Garden view room. Our last stay here was years ago before all the vacation club remodeling and we stayed until the Tokelau building which had beautiful big rooms but now has been converted to a vacation club property. My biggest complaint with the trip overall was the level of service provided by the resort or rather the lack there of. We did the online check in days prior to our arrival. Our flight wouldn't get in until around 10 at night so I wanted to be able to go to our room directly and Disney is supposed to text or email your room number to you. 6 pm on our day of arrival and no text or email. So I called the Polynesian and explained the situation, they went to transfer me to someone who could help and I was disconnected, called a second time and spoke to an extremely rude cast member (very strange since most cms are awesome) who told me under no circumstances could she give the room number or have a text or email sent. I explained we probably wouldn't get to the room until midnight and her answer was that I would still have to go to the front desk. I hung up and called back, spoke to someone else and was able to get our room number.
When we arrived we were placed in the Rarotonga building which was a nice location a convenient to get to the Oasis pool, Great Ceremonial House, and bus stop. All good things. I noticed there were no runners on the bed like in the pictures but thought maybe it was just a new style of decor.
At 7am I heard what I thought was a cellphone vibrating but it was actually the mood music they play outside. They start it at 7am and it's LOUD in this building. Not sure why they couldn't turn it on at 8am instead. Also the walls seem pretty thin because you can hear a lot of the noise in the hallways in the morning when people are going to the parks
Our room wasn't made up until after 4:30pm and that was because I called at 4 to ask if our room would be made up that day. Still no runners on the bed and the bed looked like my kids made it up. Wrinkled sheets, pillows sloppily placed on the bed. It sounds strange but at the Yacht Club and Grand Floridian the sheets are made so tight you can bounce quarters off it which is why this stood out. Also we went to sit on the balcony and there were spiderwebs everywhere. Above the doorway and on the chairs and table. I wiped them off, but it's still indicative of the relatively poor service we encountered there. We had breakfast at Ohana where I had made a reservation for 4. The hostess messed up when we checked in and changed the reservation to 5 people 4 adults and 1 child instead of 3 adults and 1 child which caused us to wait for an extra 30 minutes at for our table. Just again it was the lack of attention to details that Disney is so well known for which really disappointed us, especially when paying over $500/night. Finally because the larger rooms have been converted to DVC the rooms that are left are smaller and in the older buildings. They look older with shorter ceilings and smaller rooms.
The good or great things were the ability to take a boat or monorail to the Magic Kingdom, the ability to walk to the Ticket and Transportation Center to take the monorail to Epcot, the beautiful grounds, and the Oasis pool with very reasonably priced cabanas.
As much as I'd like to, I can't recommend the Poly when better options are available especially for less money.
This was my recent review (wall of text):
We're Disney fanatics. We fly from home to go to WDW 2-4 times a year and have annual passes. We usually stay at the Grand Floridian or Yacht/Beach club or Port Orleans French Quarter and have come to expect great service from Disney no matter where we stay. We stayed at the Yacht Club during New Years and the Grand Floridian during the summer and both stays exceeded our expectations. We had high hopes when we booked our stay at the Polynesian in a Garden view room. Our last stay here was years ago before all the vacation club remodeling and we stayed until the Tokelau building which had beautiful big rooms but now has been converted to a vacation club property. My biggest complaint with the trip overall was the level of service provided by the resort or rather the lack there of. We did the online check in days prior to our arrival. Our flight wouldn't get in until around 10 at night so I wanted to be able to go to our room directly and Disney is supposed to text or email your room number to you. 6 pm on our day of arrival and no text or email. So I called the Polynesian and explained the situation, they went to transfer me to someone who could help and I was disconnected, called a second time and spoke to an extremely rude cast member (very strange since most cms are awesome) who told me under no circumstances could she give the room number or have a text or email sent. I explained we probably wouldn't get to the room until midnight and her answer was that I would still have to go to the front desk. I hung up and called back, spoke to someone else and was able to get our room number.
When we arrived we were placed in the Rarotonga building which was a nice location a convenient to get to the Oasis pool, Great Ceremonial House, and bus stop. All good things. I noticed there were no runners on the bed like in the pictures but thought maybe it was just a new style of decor.
At 7am I heard what I thought was a cellphone vibrating but it was actually the mood music they play outside. They start it at 7am and it's LOUD in this building. Not sure why they couldn't turn it on at 8am instead. Also the walls seem pretty thin because you can hear a lot of the noise in the hallways in the morning when people are going to the parks
Our room wasn't made up until after 4:30pm and that was because I called at 4 to ask if our room would be made up that day. Still no runners on the bed and the bed looked like my kids made it up. Wrinkled sheets, pillows sloppily placed on the bed. It sounds strange but at the Yacht Club and Grand Floridian the sheets are made so tight you can bounce quarters off it which is why this stood out. Also we went to sit on the balcony and there were spiderwebs everywhere. Above the doorway and on the chairs and table. I wiped them off, but it's still indicative of the relatively poor service we encountered there. We had breakfast at Ohana where I had made a reservation for 4. The hostess messed up when we checked in and changed the reservation to 5 people 4 adults and 1 child instead of 3 adults and 1 child which caused us to wait for an extra 30 minutes at for our table. Just again it was the lack of attention to details that Disney is so well known for which really disappointed us, especially when paying over $500/night. Finally because the larger rooms have been converted to DVC the rooms that are left are smaller and in the older buildings. They look older with shorter ceilings and smaller rooms.
The good or great things were the ability to take a boat or monorail to the Magic Kingdom, the ability to walk to the Ticket and Transportation Center to take the monorail to Epcot, the beautiful grounds, and the Oasis pool with very reasonably priced cabanas.
As much as I'd like to, I can't recommend the Poly when better options are available especially for less money.
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GCTales
Well-Known Member
Depends on what you enjoy... GF is a more "formal" atmosphere. Poly is... Not.
Both are awesome, with close proximity to mk.
Tiki man has great information on the Poly... His favorite resort. I know others who love the GF (my brother included, who stayed there for his honeymoon and now has DVC at blt but will stay at gf when it is just him and his wife). For me, GF felt..... Stuffy? Not the right word, but gives the idea.
I have stayed at the Poly multiple times, though not recently- so my experience may not reflect current status. My biggest dissapointment was capt cooks... Very small with limited selection.... At the time, only coffee in,rooms or most resorts was Nescafé powder and Kona Cafe had real Kona coffee... A huge plus for me. I loved Kona cafe and Ohara for breakfast....but you can go there just as easily if you are at the GF...
The only thing you have a challenge with is pool use... You are not supposed to use the pool at a different resort.... So that may be important factor for you, if you are a pool user and depending on time of year..
In truth, you can't really go wrong with either.
Both are awesome, with close proximity to mk.
Tiki man has great information on the Poly... His favorite resort. I know others who love the GF (my brother included, who stayed there for his honeymoon and now has DVC at blt but will stay at gf when it is just him and his wife). For me, GF felt..... Stuffy? Not the right word, but gives the idea.
I have stayed at the Poly multiple times, though not recently- so my experience may not reflect current status. My biggest dissapointment was capt cooks... Very small with limited selection.... At the time, only coffee in,rooms or most resorts was Nescafé powder and Kona Cafe had real Kona coffee... A huge plus for me. I loved Kona cafe and Ohara for breakfast....but you can go there just as easily if you are at the GF...
The only thing you have a challenge with is pool use... You are not supposed to use the pool at a different resort.... So that may be important factor for you, if you are a pool user and depending on time of year..
In truth, you can't really go wrong with either.
correcaminos
Well-Known Member
Theming wise they are apples and oranges. It is really hard to guess which someone would like. If it is down to theming go with your gut.
They are right next to each other so you can visit both for food and the like.
Location I give the edge to Polynesian. I have had really bad experiences in the last 5 or so years with the resort monorails. That means for GF you are stuck with less options. They have a boat to MK but it stops at Polynesian first so they share that boat. With the Polynesian it is an easy walk to the TTC so you can hop on a ferry if the small boat doesn't appeal. Also easier to get to/from Epcot because of that.
I like the straight on views of MK from Polynesian but that's really minor. Go with your gut. They are both great. We stayed at Polynesian for our honeymoon and our 15th anniversary. Both times at check in we got a wonderful welcome. Great service at the front desk in general as well. Truthfully we are not fans of the theming at GF though. We will go for a meal (again easy walk to each) but the decor is not for us. That said my son is pushing to stay there because he hasn't yet. We may just let him LOL
You cannot go wrong with either really, but I do think that you have to decide as a couple which appeals to you more visually and go with it.
They are right next to each other so you can visit both for food and the like.
Location I give the edge to Polynesian. I have had really bad experiences in the last 5 or so years with the resort monorails. That means for GF you are stuck with less options. They have a boat to MK but it stops at Polynesian first so they share that boat. With the Polynesian it is an easy walk to the TTC so you can hop on a ferry if the small boat doesn't appeal. Also easier to get to/from Epcot because of that.
I like the straight on views of MK from Polynesian but that's really minor. Go with your gut. They are both great. We stayed at Polynesian for our honeymoon and our 15th anniversary. Both times at check in we got a wonderful welcome. Great service at the front desk in general as well. Truthfully we are not fans of the theming at GF though. We will go for a meal (again easy walk to each) but the decor is not for us. That said my son is pushing to stay there because he hasn't yet. We may just let him LOL
You cannot go wrong with either really, but I do think that you have to decide as a couple which appeals to you more visually and go with it.
nbreier0805
Member
We are staying at the Poly for our Disneymoon in August, and we can't wait!
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
It's all personal preference. Do you prefer elegance and Victorian style, or do you prefer a tropical resort atmosphere? I think the rooms at the GF are the nicest on property, so that's something to consider. Either way, you can't go wrong, as they're both great and you're within walking distance of the other.
imahistorygeek
Well-Known Member
We've stayed in both in DVC accommodations. I like the pools at Poly more than GF for the tropical feel. Both are great resorts, whichever you choose.
21stamps
Well-Known Member
Personal preference completely. Just decide which theme you like better. I know people say that GF is a little "stuffy" but I don't feel that way. They're both Disney resorts- laid back and casual.
For adult things to do- Trader Sam's and Mizner's are both wonderful evening.. I give TS the slight win, but as other's have said, they are right next to each other, you just hop on the lauch from GF to Poly or monorail from Poly to GF...or walk.
One thing I like about GF is the foosball, ping pong, and chess..not sure if you two would utilize them, but it's nice if you do.
Really the decision is just which atmosphere you prefer- island or golden age floridian.
For adult things to do- Trader Sam's and Mizner's are both wonderful evening.. I give TS the slight win, but as other's have said, they are right next to each other, you just hop on the lauch from GF to Poly or monorail from Poly to GF...or walk.
One thing I like about GF is the foosball, ping pong, and chess..not sure if you two would utilize them, but it's nice if you do.
Really the decision is just which atmosphere you prefer- island or golden age floridian.
WannaBWendy
Well-Known Member
I just love the tropical feel of the Poly. It's still one of my favorite resorts. And I'm one of those that feels the Victorian theme is a little less laid back and more formal at the GF.
dis_mike
Member
Both can be great for a honeymoon so it really comes down to mood and preference. The GF has that high-scale appeal and ambiance. You'll generally see people dressed up at night for V&A and other events. I have friends who've expressed feeling "awkward" in the lobby because they were in shorts and flip flops intermingled with tuxedos so it can go both ways. I particularly love the band and pianist playing in the lobby in the evenings. You don't get that at the Poly.
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KeithVH
Well-Known Member
Some good answers here. But also partially dependent on your age group. Face it, the GF tends to attract a more age-experienced clientele (yes, this is where we stay now). I would say for a younger couple, that the Poly grounds and general ambience are probably more romantic for a younger couple.
I would say to the OP that, if you can swing it, stay club level at either location. This is a lifetime kind of event, it's worth the extra $$$ for club in your case. You will see a difference in your experience.
I would say to the OP that, if you can swing it, stay club level at either location. This is a lifetime kind of event, it's worth the extra $$$ for club in your case. You will see a difference in your experience.
Yeah, it is night and day to Disney... Just service and rooms... I had my wedding there and stayed... There is no comparison.
correcaminos
Well-Known Member
Parker Clan
Well-Known Member
We stayed at the Grand Floridian and fell in LOVE! We were blown away by the amazing treatment from everyone there.. From check in, being upgraded to a beautiful theme park room, to chatting with a cast member in the lobby & several days later a beautiful surprise in our room of champagne, chocolates & a note... It's a gorgeous lobby & so relaxing. We literally loved everything about the resort we are staying there this August on our 1 year anniversaryI cannot decide if the Polynesian or Grand Floridian would be better for my upcoming honeymoon next summer. I haven't stayed at either one, but both look wonderful. Anyone with personal experience with either, feel free to chime in and help me decide!!