Good afternoon, I was previously debating Beach Club vs. Wilderness Lodge and decided on Beach Club but am now questioning whether or not we should consider the Polynesian. For the price of a water view room at Beach Club we could do a Standard View room at Polynesian. Looking at the TouringPlans room selector tool the Standard view room views don’t look terrible at the Polynesian. We have never stayed at either hotel, both previous visits were to the Wilderness Lodge. It will be me, my wife, my 9 year old daughter and my 6 year old daughter. The plan is a 6 night stay, two days at MK, one day at Epcot, and one day at HS. I understand the pros for Beach Club are the pool, proximity to Epcot and to Hollywood Studios. For some reason though something is giving me pause. I like the way the new updated rooms at Poly look, I like the theming of the Poly better, and the food options look a little better. Does anyone that has stayed at both have any thoughts? The Poly pool looks nice but maybe not as good as the Beach Club?
I think it will boil down to your preference with regard to your proximity to parks. Which matters more: walkability and Skyliner, or walkability, monorails, and ferries. You’ll take buses on two days either way.
Food wise I think BC/YC/BW and Swan/Dolphin far outweigh what’s available on the monorail loop (heck there may even have been a food poll!).
And honestly I think the pools are about equal.
Your view at BC is going to outweigh the view at Poly. Water view > Standard view. And although most standard views at Poly are more than just okay you could be staring at the parking lot.
I’ve been absolutely no help here. You’re welcome.
Hahahaha you definitely were helpful! I always appreciate people taking time out of their day to reply. I liked the idea about being able to walk to Epcot and a short commute to HS. It really feels more about liking the Polynesian theme and rooms better.
I can’t imagine being able to afford Poly and not staying there. BC is boring AF though it’s proximity to parks, dining, etc is primo. The actual qs at BC is terrible, but the pool bar is good when it’s open. Actually there is really no good qs in that whole area. The only other iffy thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about BC is the pool area isn’t super relaxing for parents bc there are so many places your kid could be that you can’t always keep an eye on them from your lounge chair, especially if they want to ride the slide a lot because you have to walk across the main lakefront walkway to get to it.
Location wise they are pretty much equal if you visit all 4 parks. Both have their pros and cons when it comes to transportation but ultimately they balance each other out.
I think there are more dining options within a short walking distance from BC. Poly has better theming, BC is more bland, though you have the Boardwalk nearby which is great. I would imagine kids in general would enjoy Poly theming more. It also has a great view of fireworks if you don’t plan on being at parks every night.
So no help here either 
Stayed at Polynesian back in 2012 and Boardwalk in 2021 and will be staying at Yacht Club in August (want to try Stormalong Bay). To me, the proximity to walk to two parks can’t be beat. We will have 6 park days in August, with four of them starting at Epcot or DHS, so not having to worry about buses, ferries or monorails is very enticing. Staying at Boardwalk last year was a game changer. I liken it to staying at a Deluxe UOR resort and the ability to walk. And I’m by no means a snob, as if it wasn’t for the location, I’d stay at All Star like I did in 2017 and save the money. But I just would rather rely on my own two legs for as many parks as possible. To me, my focus is time in the parks and riding as many rides as possible!
As for food, I’m not a good one to ask as we don’t really worry about that too much. And if you have park hoppers, you can always duck into Epcot at night for dinner!
Follow-up question on Poly, are some of the room categorizations on the TouringPlans room finder out of date? For instance, if you look at the room I show here from the Rarotonga 3rd floor room 3805 you can clearly see one of the pools but it comes up here as Standard view. If I do book Poly I want to know if this is the type of view I may be able to get with a standard view or should I expect this to be in the Pool view category?
Ok. This is maybe a better way to approach it.
I’ve stayed at both. Honestly BC did nothing for me as a resort. But I fell in love with walking to IG and HS. Cannot be beat for that.
OTOH I adore Poly. Like adore. Am so happy they are building rooms that will more comfortably accommodate my family because at this point it’s a no for the four of us (two bigs and two parents). I love the music and the sounds and the smells. And that view across the lagoon. Yeah. I think I’d pick this because of walkability to MK, short walk to TTC for monorail to EP. And nicer rooms. And I am obsessed with those blue chairs in the villa rooms (is there something comparable in the hotel side)
Oh but wait. Dammit. Construction city is about to happen.
Back to BC
(Still no help)
Talk to me again after BC gets a refurb. I may feel differently.
It’s far off from the pool. Pool view literally overlooks the pool.
That’s a possible standard view.
But again so is a parking lot
I think there are a lot of nice standard views at Poly.
It isn’t like BC/YC where there is a very good chance of a very bad view if you book standard but you are still taking the chance of ending up with a parking lot (maybe someone will volunteer to run the actual odds!) so it’s still a dice roll.
This thread really has me fantasizing about somehow moving Poly to the crescent lake location (our current family favorite). They would have a really hard time ever getting rid of me….
I’m sorry, I’m totally hijacking. 
There’s going to be construction at Poly? We’re planning a trip either in December or January.
They are building a Poly DVC tower where the Spirit Of Aloha show used to take place (it has been permanently discontinued). No idea when they will break ground but they are planning to open it in 2024 so they gotta get hustling. So it won’t be right at the existing buildings but very much adjacent and I would think Fiji and aoareotoa (close enough) will see the biggest impact.
That’s good info, thank you! We had a trip to the beach in April and there was construction all around the property. By the end of the week I was ready to drive a bulldozer off a cliff. 
You’re welcome. It’s definitely something to consider.
If we ended up in a building that was away from the construction site would the impact of that project still be felt? The reality is that for four of the six days we are there we will be at the parks the majority of the day when the construction would be taking place. Unless they do night construction.
I don’t really know. The furthest away buildings are DVC buildings, but given the location of where the construction is I would think that guests many times wouldn’t be particularly inconvenienced. At the same time I’m sure there will be times it will be unavoidable.
I was going to stay at the Poly
This a fall and construction was reason why I switched.
OP, look at the map where the Luau was and you can see how it’s located to buildings you might be in.
Poly is just so $$$ I want it to be not under construction when I go back. But I have no idea what impact it really will have. I mean building a building is noisy at minimum.
We have stayed at both - Poly a few times. Both are really nice and would like to stay at either again. For me it likely depends on which park you prefer between Epcot & Magic Kingdom. The easy access to either is the best thing about them really. Poly has better theming and QS options, but BC has better sit down options nearby (thanks to Epcot there are a ton of choices presuming you have park hoppers) and a better pool including the lazy river. BC also has the Skyliner or boat to HS which is a nice option (or walking).
I was underwhelmed by BC water view - it’s basically just a view of Crescent Lake looking across at the Boardwalk - it’s OK, but nothing exceptional. I think most of the Poly standard views are OK - not many parking lot views - worst case is typically more monorail.
My SWAG on the Poly construction is as long as you don’t get a building nearby, it probably won’t be a big deal. More likely to impact walking access to the GF than anything really. And if that’s the case, you can always take the boat over to the GF if you had a need to stop there.
I’d lean Poly if everything is equal but it is a slight lean. If I expected to visit Epcot or HS more then I could see BC being a better choice…
Please help me with this one?
SWAG = Scientific Wild Ass Guess (i.e. an educated guess)