	Everyone	You
Decor	8.6
Drink Quality	7.8
Drink Selection	6.2
Food Quality	8
Food Selection	6.1
Mood	8
Music	9.5
Product Quality	8.7
Product Selection	6.9
Service	8.5
Tikiness	9.2
Tilt	9.1
Vibe	8

Regulars & Visitors

View all 84 Disney's Polynesian Village Resort regulars & visitors

Humuhumu’s description

Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is one of the high-end places to stay on property at Walt Disney World, just outside of Orlando. The resort is near the Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World's analogue of Disneyland), and is situated on the Seven Seas Lagoon. It opened on October 1, 1971, the same day Walt Disney World opened. Between 1985 and 2015, it was called simply "Disney's Polynesian Resort."

The resort underwent a huge refresh in 2015, with the lobby features changing dramatically (tropical plants and waterfalls were replaced with a large logo tiki), and the addition of Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto

Orlando, FL

Bar & Restaurant

9.2

, a tiki bar patterned after Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

Anaheim, CA

Bar

9.1

in Anaheim.

The hotel is a sprawling complex, with 11 "longhouse" buildings named for Polynesian islands such as Rarotonga, Tahiti, Hawaii and Rapa Nui. Each building is two or three stories tall, and houses dozens of guest rooms; in all, the resort has 847 rooms. The heart of the hotel is the Great Ceremonial House, a massive two-level building that holds the hotel's reception desk, several stores and cafes, and 'Ohana restaurant.

'Ohana restaurant, and its adjacent Tambu Lounge, are on the upper level of the Great Ceremonial House. The restaurant is an all-you-can-eat affair, with great spears of meats brought around to your table for you to choose from regularly, and a pu-pu platter brought to your table to kick things off. There are activities for children, and it can get pretty loud. Tropical drinks are available, including one served in a pineapple, and a Tropical Itch, which comes with a backscratcher.

The hotel's pool area is small, but a looming volcano with built-in water slide gives it some oomph. The grounds are landscaped with tropical plants and many tikis, giving it a very lush feel. Many tikis are copies of those found at the Enchanted Tiki Room

classic

The Enchanted Tiki Room

Anaheim, CA

Themed Attraction

9.7

's pre-show lanai in Anaheim, including Pele, Ngendi, Rongo, and even Uti. (Orlando's Enchanted Tiki Room

classic

The Enchanted Tiki Room

Orlando, FL

Themed Attraction

9.3

has a few of these tikis around, but they are not part of the pre-show). There is a dinner-show luau performed regularly at the resort, called the Spirit of Aloha Show.

The monorail to the Magic Kingdom stops at the Polynesian Resort.

How to find it

street view
picture

Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is part of Walt Disney World.

Parking

There is a parking lot.

Comments

View all 7 comments

Articles in Critiki News

Regulars & Visitors

Cybergosh
Amanda International
dragonflydave
Mrhub
Whaia-Muri
ghornett
Trader Mike
Gilligan

View all 84 Disney's Polynesian Village Resort regulars & visitors

Comments

CWGross

CWGross has visited Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.

January 21, 2016, 10:40 PM

After a day at Animal Kingdom theme park, my wife and I spent the evening at the Polynesian. We had reservations for the Spirit of Aloha, and had time to enjoy Tambu Lounge, the decor, and the beach beforehand. Trader Sam's hadn't opened yet.

The hotel was quite nice, but a little too streamlined and Seventies for my preference. I'm not a fan of the logo character... It just looks too transparently cartoonish. Roaming the grounds was pretty but not as much as, say, the Wilderness Lodge. Roasting marshmallows on the beach was a quaint little diversion. Receiving leis in the lobby was a nice touch. Drinks in the Tambu were good, and deceptively nearly put us under the table before we could get to Spirit of Aloha.

Sobered up by a brisk walk around the resort, we got our table for the show. The endless food arriving at our "category 1" front-row table was fantastic. The pineapple-coconut bread and warm pineapple bread pudding dessert were to die for. The Spirit of Aloha luau show was mixed. A contrived, Disneyfied storyline frames the actual Polynesian dancing, and I could have done with less of it. The dances interspersed traditional stories would have been much preferred. But I get that it IS Disney, so a contrived, Disneyfied storyline is to be expected.

If we end up at WDW again, I would certainly be willing to do Spirit of Aloha again. Between the food and the dancing it was still a good time. With Trader Sam's, another evening at the Polynesian becomes that much more appealing.

Whaia-Muri

Whaia-Muri is a regular at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.

August 21, 2014, 10:22 PM

The Polynesian is where my obsession with Hawaiian music and Tiki began. Although I've never stayed as a guest, I've been regularly visiting since I was a small child and the excitement hasn't worn off yet. The music, the smell (if you've been you know what I'm talking about), the decor were fantastic up until recently. For the last few months the hotel has been undergoing some construction. There is a huge plywood box enveloping most of the lobby interior. Sadly the waterfall in the lobby won't be making it out alive this time (Disney has a long history of killing popular things all over the resort). I suspect it will look and feel totally different in there when it's done. Whether that will be a good, bad or neutral thing is yet to be seen. On the up side, Trader Sam's is coming! If the finished product is anything like the artist renderings, we're all in for a treat! Whatever becomes of the Polynesian, I'll love it just the same.

Peniamina

Peniamina has visited Disney's Polynesian Village Resort.

July 16, 2014, 10:01 AM

Construction has recently started to renovate the Polynesian Resort. Among that changes will be the re-introduction of the word Village to the resort's title, the removal of the beautiful lobby fountain in favor of a more open Lobby aesthetic, and (my favorite part) a new interactive tiki bar called "Trader Sam's Grog Grotto".

View all 7 comments