An Island Frame of Mind (A Cam and Luke Trip Report) COMPLETED 8/6 - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Somehow I missed the start of this! All caught up now!!! I love how well you two travel together! And your little shopping excursion! I did have to laugh at the thought of Luke trying to eat Taco Bell while driving I can barely eat that as a passenger!
Still so jealous of your view!!!!
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Lisa Co-Guide to Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports
Somehow I missed the start of this! All caught up now!!! I love how well you two travel together! And your little shopping excursion! I did have to laugh at the thought of Luke trying to eat Taco Bell while driving I can barely eat that as a passenger!
Still so jealous of your view!!!!
We picked up Taco Bell last night to have with Luke's mom, her choice for dinner. We both were very glad to see at a table to eat our meals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
I laughed out loud at "because I was raised as a pack mule"! The Poly looks amazing!!! What a fantastic view!!!
Luke asked me at some point within the first year of marriage why I always felt the need to carry all the shopping bags in in one trip. I replied that that was how I thought everyone did it because my dad always loaded us down so that we only had to make on trip to get everything in. Luke's response was so you were raised as a pack mule. The expression has stuck. We don't always operate this way, but sometimes the pack mule mentality strikes us.
Once we had calmed down about our view, Luke called bell services to have our luggage delivered while I quickly documented the new deluxe studio room without all our clutter. These studios are now the largest DVC studios on property. Over the course of our 9 nights we truly appreciated all that room.
Polynesian Village Resort Deluxe Studio Review
The living area is huge. Lots of room to sprawl out and we did. The large drawers under the bed proved to be larger than I at first thought. Each drawer is quite spacious, but I’m not sure there is enough storage overall for more than 2/3 folks. There are the two drawers under the bed, two drawers in each part of the bathroom (1 small and 1 medium large). Luke and I both give the HDTV a thumbs up. The Hide-a-Bed under that HDTV was so cool, but anyone (probably a child) in this bed would not be able to watch TV very well. The nightstands on each side of the queen size bed house charger hubs in the lower cubby. I had my iPhone, Kindle Fire HDX, and my laptop all hooked up here. For my camera charger, I used the plug-in in the kitchenette, and my Orbit (fitness band) charger was plugged in at the table. This charger also works for Luke’s extra phone battery. In Luke’s nightstand, he had his cell phone and tablet, and when he needed to charge the extra phone battery, he moved it to this station.
This is the actual order of my photos, so the excitement had me flitting from inside to outside to this area to that area.
The split bathroom concept provided plenty of room for the two of us to get ready each morning and afternoon. This set up would most likely work well even for 5 people (room capacity). We both preferred the standing shower with the rain shower head and handheld shower head. I would love to redo our prefab shower to one like this. One little con is that the shower door allowed some water to escape while we showered. Nothing severe, but I had to move over when Luke showered so I didn’t get sprinkled on. Another con to the split bathrooms is that the hallway is long and dark at night, and the bathroom with the toilet is even darker. There is some weird strobe light that is motion sensitive, but I found it didn’t come on until I was practically on the toilet. In the future, I would just bring a night light along with us to leave in this part of the bathroom. This is also not the first bathroom that has been difficult to find at night. Some of you may remember that when we stayed at the BC in a one bedroom that it is a maze with that split bathroom. Luke placed glow in the dark bracelets on each door handle to lead me to the bathroom at night while we were there. I think my greatest excitement over the bathrooms came when I realized that the bathroom with the standing shower also had a lighted makeup mirror that swings from the wall. I have wondered for years why other hotel chains can have these in every bathroom, but Disney does not, even in deluxe resorts. FINALLY and thank you, Disney. With my presbyopia (old eyes), I need all the help I can get. In the end I chose this bathroom for mine because of the mirror and extra counter space for all my girlie stuff. Luke had the vanity in the other.
The hall looks light filled right now, but that is with the sun pouring in through the sliding glass doors. But even in the day when the curtains are pulled, this hall is dark. There are lights in it but at night those were turned off so we could sleep.
The kitchenette was very basic: tiny fridge, sink, and microwave. Two complaints: the sink faucet here was awkward to operate, especially if you were left-handed. Because of the carpal tunnel in my right hand, I’ve been using my left hand much more. I had to be careful at night when I used this sink to rinse out cups or I wound up with water pouring into the sleeve of my pajamas. The second complaint concerns the microwave. We never needed it, but if we had, I would have been at a disadvantage due to its height. The only kitchenette light was under the cabinets. The microwave was flush with the cabinets, thus no direct light. I found the buttons hard to see. Later when the clock on the microwave needed resetting, even Luke didn’t care to do it as he didn’t feel like putting on his readers to fix it. So we left that for someone else.
One other minor issue was the closet doors which stuck and made a racket when either opened or closed. Luke said it was the newness, feeling they were be more cooperative with use. I’m not so sure. I thought maybe ours weren’t put in quite right.
While I was photographing all of that, Luke yelled for me to come back into the living area. He loved the little Tiki lamp on the table. And so did I. Wish that Disney sold these.
And I have mentioned yet that lagoon view with MK right outside our balcony was incredible. Before we could leave finally to explore our first park, I had to return to the balcony for a few more photos. I must have thought the view might be missing when we got back.
Look closely and you can see the tops of Splash Mountain and BTMRR.
I even got a monorail in this shot. I do have my lens zoomed out, but I could see all this with the naked eye.
Then outside, I snapped a few more photos of the longhouse itself, home for the next 9 nights.
A bonus of Moorea was its proximity to all transportation. The Express Monorail was less than a half kilometer to our right from the front doors. The Resort Monorail boarded at the Ceremonial House was about the same distance in the opposite direction. The bus stop was closest of all. Now we headed right for the Express Monorail as you may remember we were headed to Epcot to take in a bit of the Flower & Garden Festival. And here are the first photos of our first Disney transportation of the trip.
The decor is just beautiful! Interesting about it being so dark in there. I would have an issue with that microwave because I am vertically challenged. But that view sure seems to make up for it! I loved the story behind the pack mule comment!
That is one gorgeous room!!!! I love the shower - the blue tiles are so pretty (I love blues).
That would be annoying to have the microwave so high, and above the lights. If the door to the microwave was open, do you think the light from inside the microwave would have made it easier to read the buttons (though still not addressing the height issue!)?
Haven't been on the boards for a few days. Wonderful that your sister Pam has joined our numbers. Very impressed with the view! DH says the Poly is his dream resort; we have only stayed in moderates and AofA. I have to say that I agree that the renovation makes the place very airy looking. That little tiki lamp is adorable.
Thanks for posting so many pics of the interior. It looks so nice! I love that they keep incorporating useful touches into the new units, like the charging stations and the make-up/ shaving mirrors. Yes, they're usually behind the other deluxe chains, but at least they get there!
YEAH a Cam report! I was so glad to see this when I logged on yesterday. So glad that you guys had a safe trip down. Like everyone else when you said the comment about taco bell I laughed. I love the pictures of the room and can't wait to here more of your trip.
Have you ever tried the socks by Feeturs? I love these socks as they are not bulky and have compression in the middle. I can find them at Nordstrom rack, running places and even amazon.
Love the photos of the room - it definitely has a nice airy feel and what a view. The Tiki lamp is so adorable. I love the idea of the split bath - just having the two showers can make the world of difference when trying to get ready.
Sounds like Moorea is in the perfect spot for transportation.
The decor is just beautiful! Interesting about it being so dark in there. I would have an issue with that microwave because I am vertically challenged. But that view sure seems to make up for it! I loved the story behind the pack mule comment!
When the curtains are open, it doesn't seem as dark as the rooms at AKL Villas, but it was very dark at night with the curtains closed and the lights all off. I'm not really complaining as much as I wanted to point out some less than perfect things, so that no one is blindsided by something when they arrived here. Nothing I will mention now or later took anything away from our vacation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
That is one gorgeous room!!!! I love the shower - the blue tiles are so pretty (I love blues).
That would be annoying to have the microwave so high, and above the lights. If the door to the microwave was open, do you think the light from inside the microwave would have made it easier to read the buttons (though still not addressing the height issue!)?
Now that you say that the light in the microwave itself might help, but we never needed to use it, so we never even opened it. Another recessed light in the hallway right at the kitchenette would have been a great idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcneal
Haven't been on the boards for a few days. Wonderful that your sister Pam has joined our numbers. Very impressed with the view! DH says the Poly is his dream resort; we have only stayed in moderates and AofA. I have to say that I agree that the renovation makes the place very airy looking. That little tiki lamp is adorable.
When I was posting last night, I thought that maybe someone at Disney would read it and decide to make those Tiki lamps for us to buy.
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All caught up now!!! I love how well you two travel together! And your little shopping excursion! I did have to laugh at the thought of Luke trying to eat Taco Bell while driving 
I can barely eat that as a passenger! 
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Pixie Dust
, you two! Luke and I were both initially a little overwhelmed by that view. 
The expression has stuck. We don't always operate this way, but sometimes the pack mule mentality strikes us. 
I do have my lens zoomed out, but I could see all this with the naked eye. 
Mary - not enough trips!
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