{"id":1437,"date":"2008-09-08T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?p=1437"},"modified":"2013-04-13T18:48:06","modified_gmt":"2013-04-13T22:48:06","slug":"polynesian-resort-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Polynesian Resort Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>By Teresa Pitman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Poly sign\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-15.jpg\" width=\"350\" height=\"229\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Last\u00a0February I was able to persuade my friend Lenore and her son Liam to visit WDW with me. It would be her very first trip \u2013 I know, I was shocked too \u2013 and I wanted to make sure she had a great time. My planning worked perfectly \u2013 by day five she&#8217;d fallen in love with WDW. But it wasn&#8217;t just the rides and shows that won her over. A big part of our vacation enjoyment was our resort: the Polynesian.<\/p>\n<p>From the moment we walked up to the front entryway, Lenore was entranced. We&#8217;d just left behind several feet of snow and ice in Canada and as we walked past the lush gardens, ponds and fountains it really felt like we&#8217;d entered a different world. Even when we got inside, it felt like we were still outdoors \u2013 the atrium is filled with tropical plants and falling water. While we stood there oohing and aahing, cast members offered us leis to wear. Yes, we had arrived at the Poly.<\/p>\n<p>The main building in the Polynesian Resort is called the Great Ceremonial House, and it&#8217;s home to some important things. Here you&#8217;ll find the two table\u2013service restaurants (&#8216;Ohana and the Kona Caf\u00e9), both on the second floor, and a counter-service restaurant called Captain Cook&#8217;s on the main floor that has both indoor and outdoor seating. There are also a couple of stores in this building as well as the entrance to the monorail. Out behind the building you&#8217;ll find the Luau Cove, where the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show takes place and the Volcano pool.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Pool\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-4.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"324\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Volcano pool.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"lounge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-10.jpg\" width=\"431\" height=\"308\" \/><br \/>\n<em>A quiet lounge area.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our building, Tahiti, was a longish walk from the main building, but we loved it. LOVED it! For one thing, we were right on the beach. For another, we were a very short walk from the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). Those turned out to be two of our very favorite things about staying in the Poly.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s so great about the location? Well, if we wanted to go to a park \u2013 or even another resort \u2013 we had OPTIONS. Lots of options. To get to the Magic Kingdom we could: walk to the main building and take the monorail; walk to the TTC and take the monorail; or walk to the TTC and take the ferry. All of them quick and actually kind of fun. To get to Epcot, it was another short, pleasant stroll to the TTC for another easy monorail ride. Want to go to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom? Once again, you have some options. Take the ferry or monorail to Magic Kingdom, then walk over to the bus stops to find a park bus. Or wander down to the front of the resort where there&#8217;s a handy bus stop and wait for the bus to the park of your choice. Getting to another resort was equally easy: if the resort wasn&#8217;t one of the other monorail options, a quick ride over to Magic Kingdom gave us access to buses to all the other resorts. You can also take a boat from the Poly dock to the Grand Floridian, Magic Kingdom or Contemporary.<\/p>\n<p>That kind of convenience is hard to beat. I think I spent less time actually traveling to the parks on this trip than on any other.<\/p>\n<p>Our other favorite thing? The beach. There&#8217;s nothing quite like relaxing in a hammock or beach chair or lying on a blanket on the beach and watching the fireworks burst into the sky over the castle, or humming along to the music as the Electric Light Parade sails by. On two different evenings, tired after busy days in the parks, we picked up some snacks and wine from Captain Cook&#8217;s, set up a little picnic on the beach, and had what felt like our own private evening of entertainment.\u00a0<a name=\"more\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"pool 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-12.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"308\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The pool and grounds.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-14.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"288\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The marina offers a variety of boat rentals.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We had a standard room on the ground floor decorated, as all the rooms are, in South Seas style. That included two queen-sized beds plus a daybed, a small fridge (which we mostly used to store bottles of wine, it seems), and a sunny patio area. If we&#8217;d been on a higher floor, we would have had a balcony instead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"room\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-1.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"324\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The room is decorated with an island theme.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-7.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"296\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The day bed is handy for a fifth guest or just for a nice afternoon nap.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While the Poly makes it easy to get to the parks, they also provide plenty to do if you want to hang out at the resort. Like water? You can rent boats of various types and sizes to scoot around the lake or swim in either the Volcano pool (which features a slide, a kind of built-in hot tub section, and zero-entry feature) or the quieter swimming pool. Want good food? Kona Cafe serves an impressive selection of food with Asian flare and Ohana&#8217;s is famous for its breakfast with Stitch and Lilo and dinner with meats served on skewers brought to your table. Captain Cook&#8217;s is a fairly typical food court with one exception \u2013 they sell Dole Whips. Want an \u201cadults-only\u201d evening? The Never Land Club provides child care for kids ages 4 to 12 within the resort.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Shop\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-9.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"296\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The Trader Jack&#8217;s gift shop offers Disney and resort themed merchandise. You can even mail yourself a decorated coconut!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Neverland Club\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-6.jpg\" width=\"462\" height=\"351\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The Neverland Club is well-themed as Peter Pan hideaway.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Of the three monorail resorts, the Polynesian is definitely the most relaxed and informal. At night, with the torches burning alongside the pathways to light our way as we walked back to our longhouse, it felt both peaceful and exotic.<\/p>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one bad thing about the Poly, it&#8217;s this: once you stay there, you&#8217;ll fall in love with it. The mix of South Seas hospitality and convenience to the parks is almost unbeatable \u2013 maybe even magical.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Marina\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2008\/images\/Poly-13.jpg\" width=\"432\" height=\"301\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Teresa Pitman Last\u00a0February I was able to persuade my friend Lenore and her son Liam to visit WDW with me. It would be her very first trip \u2013 I know, I was shocked too \u2013 and I wanted to make sure she had a great time. My planning worked perfectly \u2013 by day five [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[297,246,140,291,369],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disney&#039;s Polynesian Resort Review | Magically Speaking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Teresa Pitman Last\u00a0February I was able to persuade my friend Lenore and her son Liam to visit WDW with me. It would be her very first trip \u2013 I know, I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6\"},\"headline\":\"Polynesian Resort Review\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-08T12:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-13T22:48:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/\"},\"wordCount\":1006,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Parks\",\"Polynesian Resort\",\"Resort Review\",\"Rides\",\"Teresa Pitman\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/polynesian-resort-review\/\",\"name\":\"Disney's Polynesian Resort Review | Magically Speaking\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-08T12:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-13T22:48:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"By Teresa Pitman Last\u00a0February I was able to persuade my friend Lenore and her son Liam to visit WDW with me. 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