Polynesian booked! Our first trip with 5 year old

[Nancyg56]

The whole trip is for our daughter. If I was being selfish, we'd go to France or Turks and Caicos. I want to experience Disney with her, as a family and we can't wait. When I say I can't wait to see Disney through her eyes, I mean all of it but especially Magic Kingdom. She's going to love the trip and so will we. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to stay in a nice hotel. I personally don't like motels at all and I refuse to spend hard earned money on a special trip to stay in a motel. Maybe I'm being oversensitive but your reply sounds like you think I'm being selfish by choosing poly over art or pop. If that's true, I don't appreciate that at all. I give 500% to my daughter every hour of every day. If the poly is a little bit more for me, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

I don't think the intent was to insult. The values seem to really appeal to kids, they SCREAM Disney, and whenever folks are asked for suggestions, POP always is one of the first ones mentioned, along with AofA.

I also choose to stay in moderates and deluxe, and FWIW< the Poly was one of my DGD favorites at that age. She believed we were staying where Lilo and Stitch lived. I will say that to my DD shock, she is now a Grand Girl, which is another one we choose when we take little Girls. They love the "ballroom" (lobby) and dance to the Grand Pianist as he entertains every afternoon. The parasol parade in the mornign is awesome for kids, and the pools pretty darn sweet.

For a trip with a child, I woudl choose a monorail resort whenever possible, because while the children do love the themeing of the values, the convenience of the monorail makes a huge difference for parents.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

I don't think the intent was to insult. The values seem to really appeal to kids, they SCREAM Disney, and whenever folks are asked for suggestions, POP always is one of the first ones mentioned, along with AofA.

I also choose to stay in moderates and deluxe, and FWIW< the Poly was one of my DGD favorites at that age. She believed we were staying where Lilo and Stitch lived. I will say that to my DD shock, she is now a Grand Girl, which is another one we choose when we take little Girls. They love the "ballroom" (lobby) and dance to the Grand Pianist as he entertains every afternoon. The parasol parade in the mornign is awesome for kids, and the pools pretty darn sweet.

For a trip with a child, I woudl choose a monorail resort whenever possible, because while the children do love the themeing of the values, the convenience of the monorail makes a huge difference for parents.

Aw, those are such sweet memories with your girls

I still remember riding the monorail when I was 5 or 6. I loved it.

 

[dkrauss]

I'm curious about how your ADR morning turns out. You have some tough gets on your list........... BOG dinner and CRT the toughest..........then Chef Mickey. I don't recall your exact dates but you need to consider if the MVMCP is going to impact you? On party nights BOG only books until 6pm.

Hope all goes well.

Doug

 

[shawnh199]

I wouldn't worry about choosing the Poly over POP. We stayed at POP for our first 5 trips, starting when my girls were 8 months old and 4 years. They loved POP, but they loved Poly so much more. My youngest had always been asking to go to a pool with a slide because POP didn't have one. We just didn't want to spend the extra money on a place like Poly, even though we spent our honeymoon there. Our 5th trip we decided to do a split stay from POP to Poly back to POP. My kids said they never wanted to stay anywhere other than Poly ever again; the rooms were so much better/larger and beds so much more comfortable and so was everything else (the only thing we will miss at POP is the pizza they serve in the food court). With the ease of using the monorail vs the buses (and it was never the bus you wanted when you stayed at POP and the lines for buses were super long and the farthest away) it is a no brainer for us. We spent so much time waiting on buses and then long bus rides to Magic Kingdom (not so bad to other parks) we had to get up super early to be there for pre park opening breakfasts and got home so late because you waited in huge lines. We actually bought into DVC that trip and made Poly our new home away from home. And what kid wouldn't love that view from the beach. You can't watch fireworks every night from your hotel at POP (well there are certain spots you can see Epcot but not like Poly) and with the volcano pool and the new splash pad, your daughter should have tons of fun at the resort.

We leave for our first visit to Poly since becoming DVC members on Thursday 5/25 and we couldn't be more excited to hear "welcome home" there for the first time!

And, IMO, even if you were being a little selfish to choose Poly over POP, who cares. You should get a little out of this trip too.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Not sure why someone would question your resort choice when you came here - on the restaurant board - to discuss your dining plan....

But FWIW, I think the Poly is a fabulous choice with a five year old. I've taken DS multple times now ages 3-6, it's 'our' resort. Absoluately love it.

And shame on me for keeping with the OT trend here of dissecting your trip, but can I ask why no Epcot days? One of the GREAT aspects of Poly is walkability to the TTC to easily get to Epcot. I am always amazed every time we go how much there is to do for kids there. Have you thought about Garden Grill? It's one of our favoriate breakfast ADRs and we try to do it whenever we can. Food is basic Disney but the charachter interaction there is great.

Anyway, good luck with the planning. Sounds like an awesome trip.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

I'm curious about how your ADR morning turns out. You have some tough gets on your list........... BOG dinner and CRT the toughest..........then Chef Mickey. I don't recall your exact dates but you need to consider if the MVMCP is going to impact you? On party nights BOG only books until 6pm.

Hope all goes well.

Doug

Thanks! ADR was crazy because the website was down for awhile. At first we didn't get anything except ohana for breakfast but kept trying and got an ideal CRT lunch, ohana, chef Mickey and BOG breakfast. We'll probably drop the BOG and keep trying to get dinner since DD loves the beast. If not it's ok. I think we're lucky we got everything we wanted except BOG. We also decided to the MVMCP.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

I wouldn't worry about choosing the Poly over POP. We stayed at POP for our first 5 trips, starting when my girls were 8 months old and 4 years. They loved POP, but they loved Poly so much more. My youngest had always been asking to go to a pool with a slide because POP didn't have one. We just didn't want to spend the extra money on a place like Poly, even though we spent our honeymoon there. Our 5th trip we decided to do a split stay from POP to Poly back to POP. My kids said they never wanted to stay anywhere other than Poly ever again; the rooms were so much better/larger and beds so much more comfortable and so was everything else (the only thing we will miss at POP is the pizza they serve in the food court). With the ease of using the monorail vs the buses (and it was never the bus you wanted when you stayed at POP and the lines for buses were super long and the farthest away) it is a no brainer for us. We spent so much time waiting on buses and then long bus rides to Magic Kingdom (not so bad to other parks) we had to get up super early to be there for pre park opening breakfasts and got home so late because you waited in huge lines. We actually bought into DVC that trip and made Poly our new home away from home. And what kid wouldn't love that view from the beach. You can't watch fireworks every night from your hotel at POP (well there are certain spots you can see Epcot but not like Poly) and with the volcano pool and the new splash pad, your daughter should have tons of fun at the resort.

We leave for our first visit to Poly since becoming DVC members on Thursday 5/25 and we couldn't be more excited to hear "welcome home" there for the first time!

And, IMO, even if you were being a little selfish to choose Poly over POP, who cares. You should get a little out of this trip too.

This is good to know, thank you! Yes, I agree, it's totally fine to be a little selfish sometimes! Dd and H would be fine staying anywhere and I definitely don't think she'll miss out on anything by staying at poly! The volcano pool alone sounds so cool.
Congrats on dvc! I hope you have an amazing trip!!

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

Not sure why someone would question your resort choice when you came here - on the restaurant board - to discuss your dining plan....

But FWIW, I think the Poly is a fabulous choice with a five year old. I've taken DS multple times now ages 3-6, it's 'our' resort. Absoluately love it.

And shame on me for keeping with the OT trend here of dissecting your trip, but can I ask why no Epcot days? One of the GREAT aspects of Poly is walkability to the TTC to easily get to Epcot. I am always amazed every time we go how much there is to do for kids there. Have you thought about Garden Grill? It's one of our favoriate breakfast ADRs and we try to do it whenever we can. Food is basic Disney but the charachter interaction there is great.

Anyway, good luck with the planning. Sounds like an awesome trip.

Haha, I don't mind having our trip dissected, especially since you're being helpful and not judgey

I think we're going to switch to a park hopper and add a 4th day for that reason, especially since Dds fave princesses are Mulan and Pocahontas and they're at Epcot and HS. I'll check out GG, thanks!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Haha, I don't mind having our trip dissected, especially since you're being helpful and not judgey

I think we're going to switch to a park hopper and add a 4th day for that reason, especially since Dds fave princesses are Mulan and Pocahontas and they're at Epcot and HS. I'll check out GG, thanks!

Cool. Well, have fun!

One thing I like about your plan is that it's relatively well spread out with some open days/meals. I used to overplan and then would start canceling ADRs right and left once there when you get in the flow of the trip, realize you're having more fun at the pool, want to go back to a park, etc,etc.

I also like having Ohana breakfast on a Poly/resort day. That's something we do too.

In my multiple Poly stays so far I've yet to get to the Luau. Maybe someday? Just never can seem to fit it in.

Glad you decided to do a MVMCP. I love the MK parties. If for some reason you don't end up going, definitely try to watch the fireworks show from the Poly beach if you can.

 

[Haygar2]

Thanks! ADR was crazy because the website was down for awhile. At first we didn't get anything except ohana for breakfast but kept trying and got an ideal CRT lunch, ohana, chef Mickey and BOG breakfast. We'll probably drop the BOG and keep trying to get dinner since DD loves the beast. If not it's ok. I think we're lucky we got everything we wanted except BOG. We also decided to the MVMCP.

One thing to keep in mind. While Beast is usually there, it is not a guarantee. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you get the reservation and expect to see him and he's not there. That would be a bummer.

 

[Bookgirlinchicago]

One thing to keep in mind. While Beast is usually there, it is not a guarantee. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you get the reservation and expect to see him and he's not there. That would be a bummer.

Oh so even at dinner he may not be there? So good to know, thanks!