Reviews of Polynesian Village Resort (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by Hbgriffin76 Review Date: 09/25/2018
Rating: (10) Recommended
Best hotel ever! Beautiful atmosphere, gorgeous gardens, multiple ways to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. My favorite!
Pros:
Monorail and atmosphereCons:
NoneReviewed by Michael P Review Date: 12/20/2017
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
As a long-time Disney fan, particularly of the Polynesian resort, it pains me to give this resort hotel a poor rating. However, I believe it is justified based on two things - poor service and inconvenient to the theme parks. I'll explain...
The service at the Polynesian was surprisingly poor. For starters, housekeeping (or "mousekeeping" as Disney calls it) was not on the ball. We had to keep asking for more in-room coffee pods, since they did not refill them daily. On one day, we slept in and went to the park in the afternoon. Apparently, that must have caused them to skip our room and it evidently NEVER got serviced that day, which left us with no new towels and a dirty room to come back to. On our second day there, I misplaced my flip flops at the pool area and had to chase down housekeeping and resort lost & found to find them. Every time I called, I was told in an uncaring tone that they don't have them and there's nothing they can do. On the second to last day, they miraculously appeared in my room. Really??? It took you all week to find them??? Finally, on our last day, I went to lobby concierge to ask about arranging transportation off-site. After waiting in line and listening to the concierge cast member have thorough conversations with each guest about dining, thing to do, etc., when it was my turn, he offered a very cold response and said "your only option is Uber or Lyft." After explaining that I'd prefer a taxi service instead and asked if they can arrange it for me, he said he cannot do that but provided me a number for Mears taxi to call. Really??? You're concierge!!! It's YOUR job to arrange transportation for me. Why would you make a guest do that? I guess since it's not revenue for Disney, they don't give a hoot.
As for the so-called convenience factor of staying on the monorail loop - that is a bunch of baloney! Disney recently switched bag checks from park entrances to the resorts. While this may save time at the parks themselves, resorts like the Polynesian get HUGE lines of people trying to thru bag check on onto the monorail. On one particular evening, it took us 90 mins to get from our room to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. That's right, Disney, 90 minutes! You can see the castle across the lake from the resort but due to this terrible new system for bag checks, it causes a large bottle neck. We tried taking the water taxi from the Poly boat dock to MK, but had to wait for three separate boats to arrive before being able to get my family of four onto one! The other option was to walk to the TTC and take the ferry across the lake to the MK. Despite these options, none of them were convenient at all, made us miss precious time at the parks, and caused a lot stress for my wife and I with two small children in tow.
In summary, for the exorbitant amount of money we paid to stay the Poly, it was NOT at all worth it. The service was poor, almost unacceptable for Disney standards. The convenience factor was not there. Looking back, we could have stayed at a Moderate or Value resort for half the cost, and received the same level of service and convenience. The Poly is a rip-off and the prices Disney charges is highway robbery, considering the poor experience we had there. I have a feeling if I complain to Disney directly, they will respond the same way they did during my trip - with an unfeeling spirit and dismissal.
Pros:
Grounds, pools, diningCons:
Poor service, inconvenient to theme parks, not worth the moneyReviewed by senseicj Review Date: 08/17/2017
Rating: (10) Recommended
This to me is by far the best resort at WDW and possibly the best I have ever stayed in. All the restaurants from Ohana to Capt Cooks and everything in between. This is my favorite bar in WDW also. You get immersed in the Island atmosphire and almost forget you are at WDW. If you stayed here for a week and never went to the parks it would still be a great vacation
Pros:
EverythingCons:
NothingReviewed by disneyhardin Review Date: 11/18/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
We just got back from our 4th stay at the Polynesian. We just love it there.
We spent more time at the resort this trip than we had before and it was great. Our room was on the 3rd floor or Rarotonga and the Oasis pool is just outside that building. We spent a ton of time at the pool/hot tub. The new zero entry pool is fantastic. We got several drinks from the bar and my husband had a burger from the Grill one afternoon that he said was great.
Our room was very clean and comfortable. We were the last room on the hall and so I think we were the last stop for housekeeping. My only complaint was that it was near 3 pm each day before our room was made up.
The Lobby, food court and shops were all great and all the Cast Members working in these places were friendly and helpful.
Transportation was excellent. We took the boat back and forth between Magic Kingdom. For Epcot we walked to the TTC and took the monorail. We took the bus to Disney Springs and the monorail from the Polynesian platform to the Contemporary for Breakfast one morning. We never waited more than 10 minutes for any transportation.
It was a fantastic stay and we have already booked to go back next year.
Pros:
We love the PolynesianCons:
—Reviewed by KarissaB1 Review Date: 09/16/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
This was my first adult stay at the Polynesian since staying there 1 time as a child. What a wonderful experience! This resort will spoil you with the Disney transportation system. Having usage of the monorail to MK and Epcot and the Boat to MK is wonderful. We stayed on a first floor room in Niue. This building is the perfect location. You are located between the 2 pools and right outside of the main Ceremonial House. Everyone on property was friendly. We would definitely recommend this hotel. You will share buses with the Grand Floridian, but most of the time we were still able to get a seat.
Pros:
Location, usage of the monorail and boat system to MKCons:
—Reviewed by disneyhardin Review Date: 11/13/2015
Rating: (9) Recommended
This was our third stay at the Polynesian. We love it here. The rooms are large and the convenience to the parks is fantastic. We requested a room in Rarotonga and got our request. I wish though, I had requested a room in a different building. Our third floor room had a nice balcony that over the looked the construction at the East Pool - not great to look at, but it was my fault for requesting that. Once the construction is done, that view will be a nice one. Despite being up at the front of the resort, we could still see Wishes pretty well from our balcony and that was nice.
All the castmembers we encountered were friendly and helpful. Our room was cleaned and restocked everyday with no problems.
The monorail opened later in the morning than it had in the past, but we were provided with a schedule and were given plenty of information about how to get where we needed to go without the monorail, so it really wasn't a problem.
We really love this resort and already booked a bounce back for next year. I can't wait to see how everything looks when the East Pool construction is finished.
Pros:
convenience to parksCons:
—Reviewed by KnightTime Review Date: 02/07/2015
Rating: (8) Recommended
We were there the second week of January 2015. Construction all over the resort. Should look great when finished! The walk from the TTC was forever long around the construction...a sign warning this (on the "walk to the poly" sign)stating that would have helped us at the end of a long day.
Warning! The bus will not run on a Race day. A BIG sign at the bus stop would have been very nice. Instead, you get a 3" x 7" inch paper at check-in that warns of this, among other rules on the same page along with your welcome folder. AND if they had only told this to the front desk, baggage desk, and to the GUY AT THE BUS STOP...we wouldn't have wasted 40 minutes. Severe lack of communication here and we heard the same thing from the folks at the GF.
Other than that...it's the Poly! Great staff, great place. I still wish they had a food court somewhere a bit larger than the quick service they do have. Rooms are spacious. Bathroom is awesome.
Suggestion: for a deluxe resort, how about a small soda dispenser for the refill mugs at each "village house." But I don't see that happening.
Pros:
Location on the monorailCons:
construction at our visitReviewed by SNC Review Date: 11/30/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
I cannot say enough good things about our recent trip to the Poly! We started our honeymoon at Disney here Thanksgiving week, and were greeted so warmly from the minute we entered the lobby. Everyone said Aloha! The woman at the check-in desk had a folder with all of our information organized and celebration buttons. She then brought out a fresh flower Hawaiian leigh for me and a natural leaf braided one for my husband and had us put it over each other's heads and give each other a kiss. It was so lovely and memorable! Our room was gorgeous, right on the water on the first floor in Tuvalu. We were never bothered or inconvenienced by any of the construction. Enjoyed flatbread pizzas at captain cook's, walked on the white sandy beach next to our room, had drinks at the little pool, and we loved taking the boat across to the MK, very convenient! Everyone was so nice. Our room was also super clean. It was the largest room of the 3 deluxe resorts we stayed at during our week at Disney. So peaceful and we cannot wait to go back and see all the new additions when the Poly is completely finished! We even ended our trip with the luau at the Poly so we could go back and end our trip there. Fantastic!
Pros:
Wonderful Staff, Feels Like Hawaii, Convenient to the ParksCons:
Miss the computerized ordering system in Captain Cook'sReviewed by disneyhardin Review Date: 11/21/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
I am not going to mark the Polynesian down any for the construction because I knew what was going on before booking this resort. We had a ground floor room in the Rarotonga Building. It was fantastic. We were in "standard" view. Our patio faced toward the monorail, but was still private because there were tons of plants between us and the monorail. The convience to the parks via the monorail just can't be beat. We walked one morning to the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail and despite the path being relocated, it was still less than a 10 minute walk.
A big part of the lobby was walled off for the construction, but it wasn't a huge distraction. The front desk was still easily accessible and the staff was very friendly.
We booked a "bounce back" offer for the first week of November for next year to come back to the Polynesian and see how gorgeous it looks after the construction is finished.
Pros:
Convienent to ParksCons:
ConstructionReviewed by bosca Review Date: 09/01/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
Booked this resort for myself and 2 daughters Aug. 21 – 29 with a little trepidation since I knew there was construction taking place throughout. So glad we did. Quick service restaurant had just reopened so didn’t have an issue with the grab and go or coffee in the morning. Also, nice to find it was still opened after a late night at the park to get a cold drink. All around, cast members were extremely friendly and helpful (Ellis is great!) and mouse-keeping left several towel animals (even used my daughter’s blanket for one) which is always fun to see when you come back to the room. Used the quiet pool several afternoons and cast members had games going for the kids. Not too crowded which was fine with us - just right for a rest and cool down before heading back out to a park for the evening. We ate one night at Kona’s. We were late for our reservation after getting stuck at Epcot in a heavy downpour. Very accommodating – let us go back to the room and dry off/change before seating us. Food was delicious. The ongoing construction did not impact us at all. In fact it was fun to see what new changes magically took place overnight. Yes, there are fences up around the main pool area and when you walk to the ticket and transportation center, but, they have a green ivy colored covering so they sort of blend in. Took advantage of the Blizzard Beach free admission as well. We’d never been before so it was a nice opportunity to see what the water park had to offer. Combined it with an Animal Kingdom morning as the parks are close together. Took the #1 bus (Wilderness Lodge/Grand Floridian) directly to Blizzard Beach from Animal Kingdom since they stop there before heading back to the resorts. Found this out by asking a cast member. Put our bathing suits, etc. in a locker at Animal Kingdom, kept the receipt and then got a locker for our clothes at Blizzard Beach without having to pay twice. You only have to pay once for a same day rental. We usually stay closer to Epcot – Beach Club or Swan/Dolphin – but couldn’t get anything there for our vacation time frame. Guess it was fate, because we had a great time and didn’t want to leave. Our room with 2 queen beds and a day bed was in the Rarotonga building (my request since it is closest to the main building) overlooking the gardens but, really, I don’t think it would have mattered if we were on the monorail/parking lot side. By the time we hit the room at the end of the day all we wanted to see were our beds – which were extremely clean and comfortable!
