This year we did a split stay. We spent four nights at the Polynesian and three at the Contemporary. I will also be reviewing the Grand Floridian since we stayed there in November of 2015 and I never posted about it. These are the "big three" - the three hotels that are directly on the monorail that runs to Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center (where you can catch the other monorail line to Epcot).
I always check-in online prior to arriving at a Disney resort, and I had requested a specific building with a theme park view (since we had a theme park view room anyway). I found out that we didn't get the building I requested but I am SO GLAD! We ended up in the very best building they have (in my opinion). Here's a map with the layout of the Poly (I took a picture of it while we were there).
We were put in Tuvalu, room 3414. I highly recommend this room. When looking at the map above, Tuvalu is the top left building and our room was the top right corner room. You'll see our view later.
Back to check-in. This is the lobby at night, when we arrived. It's a beautiful lobby - smaller than the Grand Floridian or even than the Animal Kingdom Lodge (review HERE), but very pretty. Check-in was a very smooth process, and they even gave both boys a Stitch! The night manager came over, and noticing the boys had their pin-trading lanyards on, gave them each a free pin!
I totally forgot to take my own pictures of our room, but these pictures from Disney's website are completely accurate. This is exactly what our room looked like on the inside:
We had two queen beds, a soft that folded out into a bed that our boys LOVED and took turns sleeping on, a deck (we were on the third floor, which is the top floor of Tuvalu) and a bathroom that looked just like the photo below.
There are two closets and a dresser under the tv with plenty of storage space for all of our stuff. Unlike most hotels, they actually provide plenty of hangers which is helpful!
The bathroom is also spacious with a good amount of counter space. The lighting is even pretty decent!
Neither of these pictures are zoomed in! We really had a fantastic view from our room. The only views that would have been closer were from the bungalows and possibly Moorea - but their view would have been semi obstructed by the bungalows.
Funny side note: We have never watched the fireworks from inside the park. I know. We're weird. But really, we hate crowds and the mad scramble to find a spot and then get out of the parks is just too much for me to be honest. We've always watched it from views like this instead. We actually have watched it twice from the monorail and once from inside Cinderella's castle.
Another thing I managed to not photograph is the pool (you can google it and see tons of great photos). It's a FANTASTIC pool! Our kids had a BLAST there! I stayed in the room most of the time when they went swimming because I burn easily and there wasn't a ton of shade. Also, I was battling bronchitis and really just needed to rest a bit! Once I did go sit in the outside seating area of the quick service restaurant which is located just outside of the pool area and I was able to watch them playing and going down the slide while I relaxed (Chris was with them).
Another added benefit (of the silly variety) of staying at the Poly, is that you have access to the famous Dole Whip. There's a Pineapple Lanai right at the hotel (near the pool, no less) and yes, you can use snack credit's for them!
Also at the Poly are a couple of cute stores, a small grocery type store (they have refrigerated cases with salami, cheese milk, etc, and dry goods as well), and a variety of restaurants (our favorite being O'hana). I'll be sharing more about our dining experiences in another post.
If you have any questions about the Polynesian or requests of things for me to include in my upcoming Disney posts, please let me know! I'll be covering The Grand Floridian, The Contemporary, all of our dining, rides, park recommendations etc in upcoming posts. I may also include a Q&A post if I receive enough questions! =)
.JPG)
