ALOHA!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our family stayed at Disney's Polynesian Resort in July of 2005. We reserved a lagoon view concierge room. All of the concierge rooms (suites, and the Honeymoon room, are in the Tonga building, however) are located in the Hawaii building. The Hawaii building is a locked building, and only those guests who are registered as concierge guests have room keys that will open the doors.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When walking from the Great Ceremonial House to the Hawaii building, you go past the Volcano Pool towards the beach, and to the right. Below is the entrance to the Hawaii building....
We were given a very warm welcome by the concierge staff. They gave each us flower leis at check-in. We also helped ourselves to the delicious, cold, refreshing orange-guava juice that they have near the concierge desks. We checked in on a very hot day and the juice was a wonderful welcome to the resort!
In this picture you can see the juice in the background. We drank a LOT of it during our stay at the Polynesian! LOL (Don't the boys looked thrilled?) ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our room was on the third floor, almost to the end of the hallway, on the left-hand side, which is the lagoon view side of the building. The other side are garden concierge rooms and they face the resort's quiet pool. Our room was #3517.
Before our arrival I had arranged through the concierge pre-planning office to have the special 50th Anniversary golden Mickey ears to be embroidered with each of our names and placed in the room for our arrival. Here they are, and I like how concierge had them arranged on the daybed:
This is a picture of the sink and shower/tub area.
One evening Robby went into the bathroom to take a shower. He immediately walked out of the bathroom and announced that someone had gotten there first! LOL It was a cute little salamander. I grabbed the camera and took some pictures of the little fellow before John wrangled him up and released him outside, unharmed :)
And just like Gloria Swanson, he's ready for his close-up, Mister DeMille....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a few words about expectations of having a lagoon view room reserved at Disney World: I think *most* people consider a view of Cinderella Castle to be "THE VIEW" of the entire Walt Disney World Resort property. And when you've got a lagoon view room booked at the Polynesian Resort, you have a 99% chance of having an excellent, unobstructed view of the castle. However, and this is my person opinion after having been there, I believe the BEST views of the entire lagoon, including the Castle, are at the third (top) floor of the Hawaii building. And room #3517 has got to be one of the best. I submit for your approval and observation, the below pictures, taken from our room and balcony ;)
Look at how the palm trees "frame" the castle.... This picture was taken without any zoom at all. However, it doesn't properly represent the size ratio of the castle, in person.
This view of the castle, taken from our balcony, is a better view than what you see when riding past the Magic Kingdom on the monorail. You see less of the castle while on the monorail, you don't see as much of the bottom half. And look at the detail. We had all sunny days and we could see the shimmering gold decals in the oval decoration on the front of the castle. This picture was taken using zoom, and in person you don't see this much detail.
This picture best represents what you see when actually in the room, and on the balcony. Again, look at how the palm trees seem to frame the castle. Just beautiful!
Look to your right there's the Contemporary Resort.
To your left is the beautiful Grand Floridian Resort.
On the day we checked in, we saw 2 weddings being conducted right outside our balcony, at Sunset Point.
Another picture of the castle, as taken from our balcony. Not quite zoomed in all the way.
Here we go, another zoom in :} I highly recommend bringing a pair of binoculars with you, we did, and we could see so much detail going on around the lagoon.
This is the second wedding that day. This wedding had a violinist who was playing softly in the background. We could him very clearly from our balcony. It was very romantic!
Here's Space Mountain, as seen from our balcony, zoomed in. I really like this picture for some reason! The green trees against the white "mountain", the blue lake with boaters enjoying zipping around the Seven Seas Lagoon....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shortly after we got to our room there was a knock on the door and we were presented with this chocolate postcard of the Polynesian, along with a card, welcoming us to the Polynesian resort.
We thought it was a wonderful gift from the concierge staff, and brought it home with us. We do plan on eating it, not saving it. lol
This is a closer picture of the golden Mickey ears. The embroidery on the back is done with heavy black thread, similar to the embroidery you'd see on someone's jacket. It's very different from the way they embroider the names on the hats in the parks. I was very glad that I had asked the concierge staff to handle this for us :}
In this picture, John was sitting at the table in front of the sliding glass doors, looking back at me. I was standing in the hallway by the entry door, closet, and bathroom.
The second day of our stay at the Polynesian was our anniversary. While we were out that day the concierge staff delivered an autographed card to us, signed by Aladdin and Jasmine. We really appreciated their thoughtfulness! In this picture, you can see a little bit of the black embroidery on Robby's gold Mickey ears! If you've ever had Mouse ears embroidered at a Disney theme park, you can see the difference between this, and the usual thin embroidery that they do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next several pictures were taken in the concierge lounge.
Here is Chef Dick's artwork made out of fruit and vegetables. The detail is amazing!
The concierge lounge is 2 levels; this is what the stairs banisters look like. I am always amazed at the detail at Disney resorts.
In this picture I wanted to show the excellent view of the castle, as seen from the concierge lounge. I was sitting at a table all the way at the back of the lounge.
The light fixtures in the lounge...
Craig and Robby in the lounge, as seen from the third floor! :}
Robby enjoyed the cheese crackers each evening before dinner.
And here is Chef Dick himself! I felt as if I were meeting a celebrity. LOL
On this particular evening, the hot dishes were chicken lo mein, and spring rolls. They were outstanding, as were the ribs, the night before.
Each afternoon there were at least 2 varieties of cookies, nuts, gold fish crackers, and cheese flavored popcorn. They also had cold soda available all day.
This is a view of the 2 floors of the concierge lounge. I am standing with my back to the glass walls that look out over the lagoon.
When you are a concierge guest, you have access to the lounge for your entire last day. On our last afternoon, we were glad to have a nice place to relax and have refreshments while waiting for our limo to arrive. The boys decided to play cards while we waited.
This is the third floor of the lounge. The door in the back on the left leads to a large bathroom that had cloth washcloths and towels, and soaps. Many people swim on their last day and this is a great place to freshen up before leaving the resort.
Even up on the third floor, I was surprised to see what a great view of the castle there was!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This waterfall is in the front of the resort, to the left of the entry doors.
Many times John and I would stop and enjoy the beauty of the grounds of the resort.
At the back of the resort, just past the doors, there is a little bubbling "volcano" that leads down to the big volcano pool....
Tiki torches were all around the paths of the resort and were lit each evening. It added the perfect tropical island feel to the resort.
Robby and I relax inside the Great Ceremonial House....
This is the (fairly) new gift shop called Boutiki
Robby named this guy "Dave". lol
Craig and Robby, in front of the 2-story waterfall inside the Great Ceremonial House.
We saw several duck families that live at the Polynesian resort.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And finally, the VOLCANO POOL! During the day, steam was coming out of the top... at night, the top was glowing red....
This picture shows the view of the castle, from the pool. At night it was amazing to swim and watch the fireworks over the castle, from INSIDE the pool!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This cake was a surprise for John, after dinner, on the night of our anniversary. I had seen the Food Network's special all about Disney Weddings, so I decided to call the Grand Floridian Bakery and spoke to the people they showed on tv! lol They were extremely helpful and explained the different size cakes, cake flavors, filling flavors, and decoration options. I decided to get the 6" cake (although in person, this cake was much wider than 6" because of the frosting and fondant covering). I chose a yellow cake with chocolate mousse filling. I asked for the gold powder Mickey shape to be embossed on the sides. And for the top I chose a white chocolate Bride & Groom Mickey and Minnie. The cake came out exactly as I hoped it would. And it tasted even better than I hoped it would! :}
Our server snapped a picture of the four of us, with cake. We all wore matching tropical Mickey shirts to dinner that night. Craig and Robby were good sports for wearing them and not complaining (too much! lol).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On our last day we bumped into a wonderful person I had corresponded with via the DIS message boards, named Sean. He's a Disney Imagineer from California. He's a very warm friendly person and I was so glad that John and I had the opportunity to meet him and his family, and to chat with him at the Volcano pool one night! :}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you have enjoyed our pictures of Disney's Polynesian Resort! :) ALOHA!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~