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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 22, 2013 TO JUNE 30, 2013

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

(For more on June 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

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(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, click here.)

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

Your visit to Disney’s Polynesian Resort will begin in the Great Ceremonial House, where you will spend much of your time other than when you are at the pool or in your room.

The outside entrance is flanked by a couple of water features.

Inside, the check-in area is on the first floor of a two story space, where you’ll also find shops and casual seating. The famous old water feature is gone from this area, replaced by this OK item instead. First timers won’t miss the old one.

More from this area of the Great Ceremonial House.

On the side of this two-story space you will check in and find concierge offerings for help with tickets and reservations.

There’s some fun art here and there.

Also on this floor you’ll find one of the two shops in the building.

The second shop is upstairs.

Just outside it is the resort monorail stop.  The resort monorail runs clockwise and takes you to the Grand Floridian, Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, and the Transportation/Ticket Center (TTC), where you can find the monorail to Epcot.

Note that for many of the eastern longhouses, the fastest way to either Magic Kingdom or Epcot is to walk directly to TTC and pick up the monorail there.

Buses to other Disney World destinations are outside and to the east.

On the grounds of the Polynesian you’ll find lovely but sometimes confusing walkways to the longhouses which contain the rooms…

…and a green space created in the walkway area between the Great Ceremonial House, Samoa and the main pool has become an informal grassy playground–kinda like the courtyard in front of the BoardWalk Inn.

More from this spot.

In the evenings (ask for the schedule) a greeting ceremony occurs inside the Great Ceremonial House…

…followed by a torch ceremony outside.

Beyond the pool you’ll find the dock for a boat to the Magic Kingdom. It goes non-stop to the Magic Kingdom, and stops first at the Grand Floridian on the way back.

The boat can be a better choice for returning to the Polynesian from the Magic Kingdom than the Resort Monorail, depending on which longhouse you are in.

On the way to the boat is the marina, where you can rent various sorts of boats for water play on the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake.

Between this area and the bungalows you’ll find this firepit, where campfire and s’mores become part of the evenings.

You’ll also find evening movies and other activities.

Kids especially love walking around and seeing the night-time torches that line the Polynesian’s pathways!

There’s also multiple options for dining at the Polynesian.

DINING AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

This review continues here.

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

• Summary and overview of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Theming and Accommodations at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Standard Room at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Amenities at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Dining at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• The Pools at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• The Disney Vacation Club at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Studio at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Bungalow at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, click here.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

Note: rooms in the Polynesian re-opened in July 2021 with a new Moana theme. The basics of the rooms are similar.  I will update this review with images from them after I stay in one of these rooms!  In the meantime, there’s more on these new Polynesian rooms on the Disney Parks Blog here.

Standard rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Resort are among the largest on property.

As you enter the room, on one side you’ll find the bath and the other two closets separated by a cabinet with a mini-fridge below and coffee service above.

Each is good-sized, and overall there’s plenty of space with multiple hanging levels. This image is of the one closer to the door…

…and this one the one closer to the room. Note the ironing board, safe, and small drawers, and the space at the left for hanging longer dresses. (Most rooms do not have the robes.)

The mini-fridge is below the coffee maker, and has plenty of room.

The bath is on the other side of the entry hall. It retains the old-fashioned design of not being divided–the toilet, tub and sinks all share one space. See the floor plan at the top of the page.

As you enter the Polynesian bath, you’ll find two sinks on one side…

…a tub/shower combo on the other…

…and a toilet at the back.

Further back in the room, one side has two queen beds and a chair.

A closer view of a bed.

Between the beds is this small bedside table.

The beds from the window end of the room–you can also see the easy chair.

At the end of the room are three large windows–rooms with balconies or patios will access these from this space as well.

Here’s the view from our balcony in the Hawaii longhouse, theme park view!

The theme park view is best at night during the evening fireworks.

The other side of the room…

…and from the back.

This side of the room includes a desk…

…with a table on wheels underneath that can serve either as a better typing position for a laptop, or be rolled elsewhere in the room to as a place to dine or play with the kids.

Next to the desk is a dresser with a TV on top.

There’s six smallish drawers here.

The last item on this side of the room is a couch…

…which flips down into a bed.

The bed is ~33 inches wide by ~72 inches long, but sleeps longer than that as the frames have 75 inches clear between them. I’m about 6 feet tall, and was quite comfortable in this bed–both in length, and in its cushioning.

The bed side of these rooms has fine proportions, but in rooms with a connecting door, the desk/dresser/sofa side has everything jammed a little too closely together. Overall these are among Disney World’s most livable rooms.

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

This review continues here.

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

• Summary and overview of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Theming and Accommodations at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Standard Room at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Amenities at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Dining at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• The Pools at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• The Disney Vacation Club at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Studio at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Photo Tour of a Bungalow at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

OVERVIEW: JANUARY 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews January 2014 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

Early January 2014 will be dominated by holiday crowds and prices, but after the 4th, most days will see low crowds and low prices–with upticks around the Marathon (weekend of the 11th) and the Martin Luther King Day three day holiday weekend.

Late January has some of the lowest crowds and prices of the year at Walt Disney World.

Even so, January is not recommended for first-time visitors who may never return, because of ride closures.

New Year’s week–ending in 2014 around January 4–has among the highest crowds and prices of the year. Park closings to additional guests are common in this period, as are 8a openings and daily morning Extra Magic Hours.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 15, 2013 TO JUNE 23, 2013

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

(For more on June 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

[Read more →]

TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES ON WDW TODAY!

So Len Testa (of The Unofficial Guide and TouringPlans.com) invited me onto the WDW Today podcast that he, Matt Hochberg, Mike Newell, and Mike Scopa do.

We recorded the podcast last night, and it was released (minus my best joke!) this morning.

You can find the episode here.

I was nervous as hell and kinda had to pee during the whole recording—but they were really nice, and, for my first ever site-related interview, overall it went as well as it could have.  Some of my sentences were grammatical, and I only rarely mixed up March and May…

Give it a listen if you have 20 minutes to kill.  They said if they had enough positive feedback they might invite me back.

So put any positive feedback on the same link (look for the little comments button in the gray box lower on the page—you have to be registered to comment).

Negative feedback, and/or suggestions that the whole episode should be deleted, and the hard drive it was on destroyed with an axe, probably should go here—as we’ll all then find out about them eventually…

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