I'm so sorry I didn't answer - I never logged back in to Disboards while we were there!! I hope you had a wonderful stay!
We are back from our week's trip (12/28 - 1/4...although due to flight cancelations we officially got home today after a night at a Marriott near the airport)
We were in the Hawaii building (room 1525), and all of the CMs there were wonderful. Some of the guests not so much, LOL!! I have never had such poor interactions with other guests. Grabby, snatchy people - going so far as to take an appetizer plate right out of my husband's hands (shortrib one night, which was very good, but not good enough to grab out of someone's hands), and someone who took a chair from my son to add to their own table (we were sitting in the chairs in front of the window, he got his plate and sat down for a second, then got back up to get a drink, leaving his plate on the little table, and as soon as he got up someone took the chair and moved it to another table. Another nice guest saw what happened and brought a different chair up for him. Crazy.) This was all in the first two or three days and I avoided the lounge after that, I just wasn't willing to go Mad Max for chicken nuggets and tiny desserts.
We would go and get a few things and take them back to our room but it just sucked the enjoyment out of the whole experience.
My 17 year old wasn't deterred, and one night he claims he had 7 key lime tarts, but he didn't take them out of anyone's hands - He works retail, so he's not shocked by much
On the morning of NYE, the payment feature on the app was messing up, and people weren't able to get the paid lighting lanes. So many people being absolutely downright rude to the two CL front desk CMs trying to help. We just let everyone else go, and then Betty Jo (huge shout out!)went above and beyond trying to help us get a time for Rise of the Resistance that worked best for us - I was in the room trying to finish getting ready and DH was texting back and forth with me, and she worked some kind of miracle and the timing was perfect. We intended to watch fireworks that night but had the lights out by 1045
As for construction...the first couple of days I forgot it was even happening! We walked out one morning and I said, "Oh yeah, the tower construction!" From the boat dock and monorail it's very noticeable, but I heard no noise and it didn't seem like any kind of issue toward the interior of the resort. The rooms directly facing it however, would be another story. But if you're not over there I didn't find it intrusive at all. Yesterday morning we noticed the work had started on the Lava Pool slide.
Oh, and if you're in Hawaii and plan to be in the room past 830/9am, don't forget to have the room occupied hanger on the door. They will come by early like clockwork for service. Our kids (both boys, 17 and 19) often slept in and joined us later on, and they had a couple of awkward encounters of knocking once they'd gotten in the shower or sat down in the bathroom, lol. But oh how nice to come back every day to a clean room, fresh towels, and beds made. It makes all the difference with four adult sized people in a room.
Overall it was a great trip, and the Polynesian continues to be a favorite when we're all there as a family. I still prefer a standard room in Rarotonga over Hawaii (i'm a weirdo, what can i say?), but DH and the kids liked having the lounge access...and I sure did love the POG juice! It was my second stay in Hawaii and their first, and my experience both times was quite similar.
Cast members all throughout the resort were very pleasant, we only had positive experiences everywhere with cast - Parks, transportation, restaurants...they were all great.
I hope everyone with upcoming stays has a magical visit - the Polynesian just has that extra something special!
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Problem is of course if family needs to get back in. So now I keep phone nearby just in case.
