Disney's Polynesian Resort

The Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World is Dad's favorite hotel in the world.

What's not to love about this romantic location... Beautiful white sand beaches... Great pools... Large, clean, well appointed rooms... Luau's... Great views of the Magic Kingdom... One of the best restaurants at Disney World... it's all right here at this beautiful island resort.

The Polynesian was built in 1971. It's part of the original plot that Uncle Walt himself designed.

The Tuvalu Longhouse at the Polynesian Resort

Picture by Express Monorail

The Great Ceremonial House

The Great Ceremonial House is the heartbeat of the Polynesian Resort. When you arrive at the resort, you walk through tropical gardens complete with streams stocked with Koi (Japanese fishies). You'll usually hear a welcoming Aloha.

Inside The Great Ceremonial House you'll find the front desk, shops, restaurants and of course more gardens including a waterfall. (There used to be several birds that called the lobby home, but after some unfortunate incidents, Disney decided to relocated them to a more secluded area.

Dad's Great Ceremonial House page

Dining

In the Great Ceremonial House there several options for getting some good grub. Dad's favorite Disney World restaurant is 'Ohana where you can get piles of good food. The Kona Cafe is a very good place to sit down for really good food in an old time diner atmosphere. The addition of the Kona Cafe Sushi Bar gives you the option to grab some good sushi and other appetizers in a relaxed atmosphere.

Captain Cooks is the fast food venue for the Polynesian Resort. You can get quick meals and even some packaged foods to take back to the room for late nite, or early morning snacks.

Also in the resort there is also an almost nightly dinner show called the Spirit of Aloha. The show is very similar to the shows you'd see at a luau in Waikiki. The food is not a bit different than you would see at a luau.

Check out Dad's Polynesian Restaurant pages -

Guest rooms

The Polynesian has some of the largest standard rooms at Walt Disney World. A standard room ranges from 415 to 476 square feet. Some of the rooms have 2 sinks, one inside the tub area and one outside. Most rooms have 2 queen size beds and a day bed and sleep 5.

Rooms are grouped into "longhouses". Each longhouse has a name corresponding to an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. Each Longhouse offes something special. Check out Dad's list of longhouses and information about guest rooms.

Dad's Polynesian guest room page

Pools, Beach Marina and Activities

Nanea, the Volcano Pool at the Polynesian Resort

The Polynesian Resort has the best beach at Disney World. That's Dad's story and he's sticking to it. Not only is there miles of white sand beaches, you have a great view of the Magic Kingdom, great places to put down a beach chair and feel like you've been transported to on of the islands in the Pacific. It's almost perfect.

Along with the best beach, the Polynesian has a great pool called Nanea. The pools surrounds a smoking volcano that has a water slide running through it.

There is also a large marina where you can rent all kinds of water craft to zip around Bay Lake on.

Dad's Polynesian Pool, Beach, Marina and more page

Transportation

The Polynesian hotel has better transportation options that any other resort at Disney World. Monorails to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, the launch and ferry to the Magic Kingdom, buses to all the other parks and Downtown Disney will get you where you want to go and usually pretty fast.

Dad's Transportation page

Location

The resort is located between the Transportation and Ticket Center and the Grand Floridian. It's just across Seven Seas Lagoon from the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom monorail runs right through it, and it's a short walk to the Epcot monorail.

View The Polynesian in a larger map