We just recently enjoyed a three night stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, part of the gorgeous Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. And when I say “enjoyed” I mean “had the socks knocked off of us.” Lets start at the beginning:
We pulled up to the Polynesian after getting off the Magical Express, walked over a waterfall-lined, tropical walkway lined with flaming tiki-torches and into the amazing lobby. We were all given leis and my kids were literally squealing in delight – it was just so beautiful. The main building – the Ceremonial House – hosts the hotel main desk, several shops and restaurants and the walkway to the monorail. Seeing as its Disney, the staff was absolutely delightful.
Our room was a standard garden view room. It had two queen beds, a day bed, gorgeous Polynesian-style decor and a huge marble bathroom with private toilet. The rooms also have coffeemakers, refrigerators and microwaves (on request), hair dryers, irons and ironing boards and an in-room safe. We also had a crib in our room (also complimentary on request). There was more than enough room for our family of 5, the huge double stroller, our four suitcases and our piles of other stuff. Our room was quiet, comfortable and gorgeous!
As I’ve said before the two non-negotiables of a hotel are 1) comfy beds and 2) a great shower. The beds at the Polynesian were very comfy. I loved the bedside lamps on a dimmer – they made perfect nightlights for the kids. (The hotel also will provide bedrails if you need for little ones). The shower was literally my only disappointment with this hotel. Our shower was weak – only one setting worked and not very well. I couldn’t even get my hair clean.The hotel offers so much right on site (which we learned during a rainy day!). There are four restaurants on site – one of which is Ohana, which offers a popular character breakfast. (Get there early, even with a reservation. Its really popular!!) Captain Cook’s is a quick service restaurant that offers kids meals for around $5 as well as bottles of milk and juice that we stocked our fridge with to pacify the toddler until we could get him real breakfast. The Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show is very popular as well. They even had craft activities every afternoon for the kidlets.
As for location, I cannot imagine a better location within the Disney Resort – its located directly across the Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. You can even watch the fireworks from the sandy beach at the resort! The monorail comes right outside the lobby and within minutes you can be at the Magic Kingdom. Buses to Epcot, Downtown Disney, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom pull up right outside, or you can walk one block to the Transportation Center and get the monorail to Epcot.
This hotel was FABULOUS! Our next trip to Disney, I will look into staying here first before any other Disney hotel. The location is just too perfect!! And my kids, who have stayed at lots of hotels in their young lives, said this was their most favorite hotel ever!
disclosure: i stayed at the polynesian as part of the disney social media moms conference. while i did pay to attend the conference, we were given a terrific deal by disney!
