Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

Never write reviews, despite traveling consistently for work, because I feel like everyone is entitled to bad days, and having spent plenty of years in service industry jobs as I was in college and grad school I know it’s impossible to please everyone. That said. If you are expecting anything resembling a luxury hotel experience or even like a pretty OK three star hotel, stay elsewhere. A few snippets from this trip: - arrived at 4 (check in time.) Was told room was not ready and that 4pm was an “approximate” check-in time. Room was not ready until 5:52. - at 5:52, asked if the bell services could bring our luggage to the room and was told no - we had to be in the room for delivery. - returned to the hotel (with young kids) at 8pm. Was told bell services was “very busy” and they could “bring our luggage in approximately 60 minutes but it could be longer.” I said I would do it myself. I lugged all luggage on a cart to the bungalow - approximately a five minute walk. I called bell services to come pick up the cart and was asked “to be placed on a brief hold.” Nobody ever came for the cart. I walked it back myself after kids were asleep. Amazingly, everyone I talked to was wildly unapologetic and disinterested in helping. In the past, I have found “cast members” at Disney to be so kind, helpful, and unfailingly polite. This hotel was so understaffed that I think everyone was just hanging on by a thread. I don’t blame them. It was chaos. - silverware and dishes in the room patently unclean. Fingerprints on knives. Hair in a coffee mug. Hair in bathroom sink. Every 2-5 minutes, there is a thunderous sound of the water evacuation pump pumping water/sewage. Woke me and my kids up multiple times in the night. It’s the plumbing system for these bungalows. If you’re a sound sleeper, great. But it’s louder than the fireworks. - upon checkout, called one hour before pickup for bell services to come take our stuff since it was pouring rain and I thought I had learned my lesson. Was told all luggage carts were in use and they would “try” to get to us but all times approximate. Walked in the pouring rain to get a luggage cart and then went back to bungalow and took all luggage myself to the front lobby. In short, if it has been a dream of yours to stay at a bungalow, then do it. If you want a great view of fireworks, it’s exceptional. But this is basically a Best Western and there is no justification for the astronomical cost.

We met friends here and stayed in a deluxe studio in the Moorea building. After getting lost and wandering around after dark, we flagged down a worker on a golf cart and asked where our building was. We were standing right in front of it! More signs and more lights please! The room itself was really nice. The 2 bathroom layout was a nice surprise. We used the fold down trundle bed as a storage rack. The bed was comfortable, but would like a king size instead. The resort is nice, loved the idea that we could get a Dole whip here but the lines were always so long at the end of the night we never took advantage of it. The monorail right outside the front door is really nice.

Don’t do club level here. Do it at the Grand Floridian. I wish I could have my night back and used it there. Not many options for people with dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, non dairy, we have a wide array of people) , and not as many options in general compared to the Grand. The cappuccino machine was broken and we were told to go to the lobby for coffee (Cappuccino in the early morning on our balcony was a huge reason we wanted this stay for my family). No mickey bars, no cold bottled water, no smoked salmon for breakfast, very little hors d'oeuvre options. Forget about watching fireworks from the lounge because the glare from the indoor lights is so bright, you cant see outside the windows at night. I was dissapointed in the shower/tub combo shower (they should have a walk in shower) and a ton of mosquitoes on the balcony at night so you cant enjoy the view much (Grand Floridian didn’t have this issue). The food options are also not great here especially Captain Cooks (not many options and very limited) I recorded my experience so you can see it on You Tube “Disneyworld Vacationer”. Other than the club level, we stayed on the DVC side for the rest of the trip and it was heavenly. This is the best hotel in Disneyworld if you stay DVC, don’t do club level, and travel elsewhere for food. The vibe, tiki torches, trader sams, sand beach, boatrides, monorail access, so wonderful. I’ve stayed at pretty much all their hotels and here is my favorites list in order (and where you should stay): 1. Polynesian 2. Grand Floridian 3. Wilderness Lodge (if you are doing DVC, choose Boulder Ridge side) 4. Port Orleans Riverside 5. Tied between Saratoga Springs & Animal Kingdom Lodge I’ve also done Aulani and a Disney Cruise, if you can only afford 1, I’d choose Walt Disney World EVERYTIME I give this specific club level stay a 2 out of 5 stars because of my experience and the lack of service to make the experience magical as it usually should be with a Disney trip, but the hotel itself is so special that I love it. It has that magic from the original concept and build. I just wish the trend wasn’t to detheme and generalize aka “las vegas”ize the disney hotels that has been a trend lately. Magical express being cut was a HUGE loss for us (we added Universal and reduced our stay ay Disney because of that loss since the convenience of that transportation had locked us in the Disney bubble start and end of our trips)