Disney's Polynesian Resort - Lake Buena Vista

We felt like we were in Hawaii!! It smells like gardenias! So beautiful. And the staff is amazing! So friendly and helpful. The volcano waterslide pool is a blast. And there were always activities for the kids deck side. Like dancing or trivia games. Super fun!! The poolside bar has awesome piña coladas and mai tais. But the very best part was taking […] the boat to and from magic kingdom. Our stay at the Polynesian was wonderful!! Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Most convenient location to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The pool was great and provided many activities for my 3year old. Two draw backs...It is advisable to make restaurant reservations in advance. We could not get reservations at the two main restaurants when we walked up any of the days and we were there on not peak dates. Surprisingly, the television […] in the room was bad quality and one would think they would have the Disney Channels easily accessible. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Loved it. The rooms were recently renovated and were very nice. I loved the beach and the fact that you could get to the Magic Kindom by boat or monorail very easily. The staff was very friendly and always had an "aloha" for you. I would go back to the resort again and would recommend it to a friend.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

We will book our next Disney trip at the Polynesian based on our stay on 2/12/13. The rooms are a bit older and the showers aren't exactly designed for taller people. It is a bit dark in the rooms but this is easy to get over. The service was great we had towel animals on our bed each morning from the cleaning staff. Anytime we called for anything they […] were there in minutes. The choices for dining is awesome and the proximity to the ferry and monorail sold us for future visits. The pool, beaches, and views are amazing. the campfire, outdoor movies, and light show in the lake sealed the deal for us. We will stay again for sure. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Most convenient access to all transportation available to any WDW parks. This is a monorail accessible hotel also with direct walking access to the transportation and ticket center and also the ferry launches directly from the resort.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Great location in Disney World with an excellent staff . The hotel is showing its age and despite the many ongoing and somewhat intrusive renovations, it's looking tired. Food and service at this resort were both excellent. I would recommend a more updated resort.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Loved it. Sure it was expensive, but you get what you pay for and there's no comparison to staying on a monorail stop vs. some random hotel off property that you have to get in a car and drive to the parks everyday. Great friendly staff, everything was easy, quick - and Disney magic hours were worth every penny of the trip.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The obvious advantage is that it is in the monorail; the lobby staff is very friendly; the hotel is obviously dated, the elevators tiny, the matresses quite worn out and a little of a musty smell on the hallways. It is definitelyoverpriced for what you get; next time i'll just deal with car and parking and spend the money elsewhere

Genuine Expedia guest review

Beautiful place. Room was pretty clean. Some broken items in the bathroom. Most of staff was friendly except for some older grumpier workers at the hotel. I would stay again.

Genuine Expedia guest review

The hotel is old and (as far as I can tell) has never been renovated but it is kept very clean and the service at the hotel was very pleasing. Plus the location (right on the monorail) is great and makes up for the fact that the hotel is older. Overall would recommend if the person does not mind that it is an older hotel.

Genuine Expedia guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Staying at any of the three hotels directly on the Disney monorail is phenomenal. We were able to go into and out of multiple parks per day. The rooms were also very spacious (much larger than I remembered from many years ago). We had two queen beds and a pull-out queen size bed, plus a desk and separate sitting chair and table. The bathrooms were also […] very spacious. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Clean and comfortable but way too expensive. They advertise it as a "luxurious" hotel but it is not. It is comparable to the "all-inclusive" resorts in the Carribean but with nothing included, except for the free internet. By the way, this was the first hotel I've been to that provided a hassle-free, no password-required wi-fi connection. A big plu […] s! Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

XMAS week and the hotel was understaffed. One day we had to call at 5PM because our rooms had not been serviced. We received a temporary electronic key because of a computer glitch. Unfortunately the key was disabled 11PM and we could not get back into our room. It took many calls and the better part of an hour to get security to open our door. The […] room was properly serviced the other days. The airport transportation from the hotel and the checkout was sensational. Of course the location was great until the monorail stopped late one night because of mechanical problems. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Our check-in was dreadful. We probably wasted $45 in tips just checking in. When we arrived at the Polynesian, the first thing asked if us was, "Do you want to valet park?" I said, Yes!" No one bothered to tell us that we could park our cars right in front of the wing near the express monorail which was a long walk from the lobby of the hotel with the […] valet parking lot out front. When all if the luggage was taken out of our car, it was placed in a holding area. After checking in, it was then placed on golf carts to be taken to our room quite a distance away. We then discovered the wise thing to do would be to not valet park but mice or a car to the wing where we were staying, I asked the receptionist to the valet parking charge off. When I checked out, the charge was still on my bill and I had to. wait to get it off. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Our room was clean and felt pretty newish. The hotel is old (I think it might be the first Disney one) anyway, for being old, they have done a good job keeping it up along with the room. We had a theme park view which looked out over the 7 seas lagoon to the magic kingdom which was great. The food at the hotel is expensive and not the best, but no terrible […] by any means. We enjoyed our stay and may go back or possibly will try another Disney hotel off the monorail. We'll see... Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This was our family's first visit to Disney World, so first the Cons: Candidly, for the price of the room, I expected a little more "pop." All the basics were there, but the beds were too firm. Towels were rough. One morning, the housekeeper knocked to see what, if anything we needed for the room, which was nice, but I have three daughters ranging in […] age from 16-25. Getting up and going is not exactly our "strong" point. Housekeeping was knocking before 9:00 am, which was a little awkward for us. After that the privacy sign was out. We lived in Northern Florida for 4 years during military service. I am aware that in general, the water does not taste good. With that said, I kind of expected that Disney would "anticipate" some of these issues, sadly they did not. But...they did have very expensive bottled water to make up for it! ;-) The Pros: It was very nice to access the various parks, use the mono-rail and bus system (which is very extensive) directly from our motel. There was a trade off for us in that we didn't want the expense of a car rental, and the convenience afforded was very nice. Obviously, each family etc... will have to determine what their priorities are and make decisions from there. Our time at the park was very leisurely and from that perspective, it was exactly what we wanted! If we do end up coming again, we will probably research a little more. We "heard" the Grand Florida Resort (on-site) was very nice, but this was a pricey upgrade. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

I'm glad to give the Polynesian Hotel an excellent review. Pools were super clean. Great lifeguard supervision for my kids. Grounds were beautiful. Staff super helpful and friendly. Was not impressed by the food at Capt. Cooks but both the Kona Cafe and Ohana were excellent.

Genuine Expedia guest review

The only thing that I was really disappointed about was the restaurant situation. There were no reservations available at the restaurants. We had to eat in the cafe there and is was way overpriced. I think that the prices on food, soft drinks, etc. were way overpriced, and I believe that they should allow some walk up seating at the nice restaurants. […] We never got to try the other two restaurants. Other than that, it was wonderful and the staff was very friendly. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Excellent vacation.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

My kids love staying at the Polynesian and I love being able to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach. We had a great time!

Genuine Expedia guest review

We love the location of the Polynesian. The front desk person "Ivan", went above and beyond our expectactions. There was a small problem with the room we checked into, but "Ivan" cleared up the problem in no time. His attention to detail and to please us was outstanding. We also had a problem, twice with dining in the Kona Cafe. When we checked in […] for our reservations, we were given a pager and told that we could stay anywhere on the second floor. Much time passed by when my husband approached the host and asked when we would be seated and we were told that our pager was obviously not working and they did not bother to look for us. This happened on two different occasions. After I thought about it for a while, I was thinking that perhaps, since we were so inconvenienced, they could have at least given us a complimentary cup of coffee(etc.) but, nothing was done to compensate us for the more than 45 minute wait, when the restaurant wasn't even full. I suppose it was our fault for not speaking up, but we were following the instructions of the host. We also felt that the hotel/resort was a bit tired looking. It definitely looked like it was ready for a decorative update. This Polynesian decor definitely needed some freshening up including the guest rooms and the guest areas, such as the Great Ceremonial Hall. If one is going to stay in a 5 star resort, you have to give them that 5 star look and feel. Otherwise, we had a glorious time!! Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Room was very clean. Scenery was tropical and beautiful. Service was great.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Everyone was so nice and helpful. My twin 6 year old boys LOVED the volcano pool with water slide. Access to all of Disney properietes were easliy accessable with the monorail, boats and buses.

Genuine Expedia guest review

Had a little trouble with the air conditioning, but it was resolved.

Genuine Expedia guest review

Property and staff excellent hard to believe the hotel is 41 years old! Look forward to another trip to this Disney Iconic Resort...

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This WDW Hotel has the advantage of being located inside WDW Orlando. This makes it easy to go to the different attractions directly by Monorail. The hotel is probably as old as WDW Orlando (about 50 years) and it shows its age although it is well maintained. Rooms are away of main building,but if you come to WDW you come to walk, walk, walk and wait, […] wait and wait. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

A great Escape. Beautiful lush foliage like the rain forests of Hawaii.

Genuine Expedia guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

Fabulous room, big balcony, beautiful view. Perfect!

Genuine Expedia guest review

The hotel is nice enough. However, the pillows on the beds are half the size of a standard bed pillow. We thought they were kid pillows. Also, after a long day at Disney came back around 10pm to relax and watch tv after putting kids to sleep. Turn on TV and got a no signal message. Therefore, could not get a picture. I called the front desk. A technician […] had to come to my room and pressed a button on my remote. I guess this is a common problem at the hotel. He mumbled something about pressing a number in a certain range on the remote. Location is great. Character breakfast at the hotel restaurant was well done. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

The room was clean and comfortable, the concierge helpful, the staff is great, the hotel is well located, monorail at the door... but 1) if someone gets sick, nothing serious, and you ask the concierge for help, they will give you a flyer of a medical center and probably you will spend lots and lots of hours there. In a place packed of tourist a good […] doctor would be good common sense. 2) if you need to print a single sheet of paper, the nice concierge will tell you to go next door, to the Floridian, where you can find a business center (but no nurse or doctor there too). They cannot print a single paper. 3) restaurants at the Polonisean seems to work on a book out base, meaning that is a win - lose situation (hotel profits and you don't eat, or take a cab and go to downtown disney or outside the park or order a pizza to your room). Bottom line: stay at the Floridian (comtemporary may be is a option too) if you need to print any last minute stuff and PLEASE be healthy. Getting sick may make you lose one precious day AND enjoy, because kids LOVE the parks. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

The rooms are beautiful with big bathrooms and you can't beat the location. The resort is on the monorail line so you have easy access to other monorail resorts as well as Magic Kingdom and Epcot. You can even watch the Wishes fireworks from the beach at the resort or your room if your room faces the castle. Now the most important part is that you can […] get a Dolewhip whenever you want at Capt. Cook's since it's open 24 hours and definitely try the Tonga toast at Kona Cafe. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

A beautiful environment of lush, tropical plants! The room was very comfortable, very clean and very coordinated with the Polynesian theme. One morning we walked by a cobblestone sidewalk being cleaned with hot, soapy water--unbelievable! I felt very confident about the cleanliness and safety of this resort. The friendly staff and earthy surroundings […] projected a cozy family feel, unlike some of the more extravagant hotels/resorts. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary at the Polynesian. The resort is a beautiful property with its tropical foilage both in the lobby and outside, beach front with hammocks and swings and a view of the magic kingdom. It is especailly romantic at night as you walk along torch lit paths with Hawaiin music playing. We did not use the pools […] but they looked great and we observed families watching movies on the beach and roasting marshmellows. When we checked in they gave us special fresh leis in honor of our 25th and a lovely room in Tokelau. I think that the best buildings in terms of location are Tokelau and Hawaii. You have monorail access at the Polynesian which allows easy access to the Magic Kindom and Epcot. It also allows easy access to the Floridian, the Contemporary and the Wildnerness Lodge-- I encourage you to explore these properties. The room is a good size and a family of 5 could easily stay in the space. It also has a good size safe that will fit a laptop and a small refrigerator. Drawbacks-- Decor needs freshening up, lighting is not great, sinks are not outside the bathroom. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

Everything at this hotel was great. I don't have a single complaint.

Genuine Expedia guest review

Great hotel for a family the kids loves the theme and the night at the pool is the best!!!!

Genuine Expedia guest review

disney needs more seating areas in the parks, (shaded areas) create them, they are very good at creating things, impressesed about work ethic and coordination, very well done, we need more of that in this country!

Genuine Expedia guest review

Everyone was very friendly. My only issue was that when you would ask a question, they didn't always have the answer. So, I would have to ask my question to at least two people to get it confirmed.

Genuine Expedia guest review

It has a friendly staff and good location.Loved having a room with a view of the fireworks.

Genuine Expedia guest review

We always go back to the Polynesian, we love it here. We love the tropical feel to it, the closeness to the parks and all the transportations we get! The pool is amazing and there's nothing like watching the fireworks from their beach at night!

Genuine Expedia guest review

staff went above to make sure my stay was wonderful

Genuine Expedia guest review

First time staying at a Disneyland Resort property and I must say I was very happy. We opted to spend a little more money to be at a nicer resort and one much closer to the main parks. The monorail service that is at the hotel is awesome and the bus stop was close to our room as well. Pretty much could have gone with out a car rental but now we know. […] The hotel itself was build in the 70's but they have done refurbishents to help keep it up and keep things nice. Inside lobby is relaxing and the water fountain there is nice as well. Garden area is nice and kept up. Only downside is they did some gardening one day and it kind of woke us up (we were on the 1st floor) and it was after 10am, but cant complain too much. Also staff was nice and helpful for the most part. Great places to eat there at KONA Cafe and OHANA! I would stay here again when we go. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

This hotel is gorgeous, but be warned - depending on where you stay you may be walking a lot! The luau is great, and overall the staff was exactly what you expect at Disney- gracious and accommodating. We requested a crib and a microwave and got them both with a smile. The only issues we had were that 1) the front desk staff was totally unable to help […] us fix our magical express ticket problem- waited for over one hour and still ended up boarding with a handwritten note and 2) the fan in our room had not been dusted in ages. Considering that the rooms are kind of dark, they NEED to be super clean to feel top notch. That being said, when we asked the mouse keeper to dust it she did so with a smile in about two seconds. Overall this place is fun, very pretty, and a great place to stay! Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

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Genuine Hotels.com guest review

A wonderful hotel with great staff and fantastic location for Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Genuine Expedia guest review

Great pool for families, super convenient monorail, clean rooms and great atmosphere. Loved Kona cafe and the hotels nighttime activities! Enjoyed it over Beach Club Resort. Would love to go back!

Genuine Expedia guest review