Booking a taxi from Poly

[Catheirne's Mom]

We have a booking at O'hana for dinner on July 4th and plan to watch the fireworks from the beach. Since it'll just be just me and my daughter and I know the crowd levels will be huge that day I was considering just taking a taxi back to ASMovies after the fireworks so we don't have to contend with the buses.

Do I need to call ahead or will there be taxi's somewhere near by the resort?

Thanks for any help you can give!

[vicki_c]

No, you don't need to call ahead - there will be taxis there or the bell stand can call one for you within a few minutes.

As to the fireworks @ the Poly on the 4th, I have no personal experience, but I will just related what I have heard. Which is that the 4th of the July is one of the only days of the year when the Poly restricts its beach use to guests only. So you may want a back-up plan.

[Catheirne's Mom]

Thanks for the info, I had heard that as long as you had dinner there you were okay for the beach but I'll look into a back up plan just in case.

Thanks!

[clanmcculloch]

Last year I'm pretty sure I also read that they were asking to see resort IDs on July 4th just to watch on the beach. As Vicki said, you need to have a backup plan. July 4th is different than days surrounding it. I'm pretty sure that the reports I read said that they were looking at the KTTW cards for which resort you're staying at.

[pfalcioni]

What about the balconies at the Contemporary? I wonder if they'd be checking there also?

[josh]

The big problem you run into at the Deluxe resorts that border the Magic Kingdom or Epcot is getting your car through "security" at the resort itself. If you're traveling by foot or monorail, it's much more difficult to police who's there. It seems like it would be difficult or impossible to constantly monitor the beach and a hassle for people staying at the resort to constantly check room IDs. In the case of the Polynesian Beach, it's obviously very long and accessible from multiple areas. They might be able to check through the main walkway from the main building, but it seems like it would be difficult to watch all of the possible entrances/exits.

[clanmcculloch]

I read several accounts last year that they had the main beach actually roped off with only a single entrance and they were asking to see ids for people to get through that single entrance. I'm not sure if the more outer beaches were being checked or not. Of course I also read these accounts on the board where people like to police each other big time. I personally don't care if others watch from there (even as somebody who stays there) but I'd definitely want to know if I might encounter problems. The beaches farther from the GCH will be much less likely to get policed. I don't know what they did last year with those beaches.

[josh]

Weird, I'm surprised there are enough Polynesian guests that actually want to watch the fireworks from the beach to require such security. Ordinarily for Wishes, there are maybe 50 people there. And while you could say more people would be interested in the 4th of July Fireworks, I guess I would have thought they would be watching them from one of the theme parks.

[josh]

As a backup plan you could watch over to the Transportation and Ticket Center and watch from the boat dock there. The view isn't quite as good, but it would be better than nothing for sure.

[blyday]

Weird, I'm surprised there are enough Polynesian guests that actually want to watch the fireworks from the beach to require such security. Ordinarily for Wishes, there are maybe 50 people there. And while you could say more people would be interested in the 4th of July Fireworks, I guess I would have thought they would be watching them from one of the theme parks.

I don't think that the issue is too many Poly people wanting to see it but too many non-Poly people wanting to see it. In fact, so many that they take all of the spots and the people staying at the Poly then can't find a spot to enjoy the fireworks from. Personally, I think that I'd try for the GF beach instead. It isn't a straight on view or anything but it is my understanding that less people try to go there so they don't police it like they do the Poly.

[josh]

I've never seen that level of security with my own eyes. Usually I think the people on sites like DISboards.com tend to overstate (lie about) the lengths Disney goes to in order to "protect" Deluxe resort guests. Maybe I'll check it out for myself this year.

[mousehelper]

My personal experience is that at --Disney's Contemporary Resort -- when we stay off property, off peak and peak times, we are asked for an Adr number if we go there at night or early-ish morning. On property with a tag in our car? Just ID.

Never been asked for anything at Poly. And have been there When staying off property, over Thanksgiving and Pres. Week.

Now, DHs wallet has a big fat gold badge on it. That may have an influence. I have no idea. But I do like that badge!
: )

[Catheirne's Mom]

Wow, thanks for all the comments. We're going to give it a try at the beach and if that doesn't work we'll have plan B for sure. Thanks for all the advice, it's much appreciated!