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Spend some lazy time relaxing in a hammock on the beach.
If you like the music played around the resort, CDs are available
at the gift shop.
Have
your photo taken by the mini rainforest in the lobby, alongside
the beautiful waterfall.
A
must have for breakfast is the Tonga Toast from the Kona Cafe. French
toast stuffed with banana - delicious! Also available on the room
service menu. If you find yourself craving Tonga Toast once you
return home, you can find the recipe here.
One of the more popular
WDW restaurants can be found here - 'Ohana (meaning Family). Featuring
an all-you-can-eat Polynesian feast at dinner cooked in the world's
largest indoor firepit, along with hula dancing and coconut races!
A nice touch, unique to the Polynesian, is the lei that you receive
on checking-in. Not staying at the Polynesian? You can purchase
leis from one of the Resort's shops.
If you want to get into the spirit of things, check out the Hawaiian
fashions in the shops.
Don't
miss the Torch Lighting Ceremony. Performed just outside the entrance
to the Great Ceremonial House at 6pm from Tuesday to Saturday.
Whilst
on the beach see if you can spot the wave machine that was installed
under water when the Resort first opened. Use of the machine had
to stop due to the waves causing beach erosion, although it was
never removed.
If
the main Nanea Volcano Pool is too crowded, try the quiet pool instead,
which is actually larger.
Want
to visit Epcot? To get to the TTC by monorail, requires stops at
Grand Floridian Resort, Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary Resort.
It would be quicker to walk to the TTC to get the express monorail
to Epcot.
Buses
going to the Animal Kingdom Park, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon
and Downtown Disney also pick guests up at the Contemporary and
Grand Floridian. At peak times, it may be better to walk to the
TTC and board a bus there.
Not
in a hurry? Take the boat launch to the Magic Kingdom instead of
the monorail, which can be crowded at peak times.
When
getting the monorail from the Magic Kingdom, make sure you get the
Resort monorail rather than the express monorail, which only stops
at the TTC.
Throw
a penny in the pond at the main entrance, it means that you want
to return to the Resort!
"Another
good, completely unrelated tip for visitors during the winter months:
Even though the pools are heated, the ambient air around them can
get quite chilly, and this is exacerbated by the wind coming off
the lake (same goes for CR and GF). So, on cold days the quiet
pool (surrounded by longhouses that block the wind) might be a
better choice than the Volcano pool (near the beach)." melish27
"I just returned from a weeklong stay at the Polynesian in
November. While this is a lovely resort, it is a bit challenging
for those of us who rely on ECVs and wheelchairs. I had faxed a
room request to the resort 3 days prior to my arrival stating that
I would be traveling alone and in an ECV, yet I did not need a full
accessible room but did need an accessible building. Upon arrival,
I was assigned to Raratonga, which is conveniently located next
to the GCH. However, it does not have automatic doors, which make
it nearly impossible to enter/exit on your own if you are in an
ECV or W/C. The only longhouses with automatic doors are Tokelau
and Rapa Nui.
While the monorail is easily accessible from both the GCH and TTC,
bus service from the Polynesian is nearly unmanageable for those
of us on wheels. Because of the location of the bus stop, there
is only a small area forward of the regular stop for the driver
to lower the ramp for access into the bus. This area is not level
and if the driver does not get the bus "just right", it can be dangerous.
I tipped over twice. Also, because the resort is the second stop
on the route, often the bus arrives so full from the Contemporary
with standing passengers, etc, there is no room for the wheeled
guest. To resolve these problems, I had to go to either the MK or
Contemporary to have safe access to the buses.
Also, inside the resort, the elevators are very small, leaving only
minimal clearance between the ECV and the doors. I witnessed wheeled
one guest unable to use the elevator as his ECV was too long and
he could not retract the steering post due to his girth. He was
very distraught at not being able to get upstairs to join his family
for dinner." B Christie
" When staying at the hawaii long house if you want to get
a table with a nice veiw iat breakfast make sure you arrive when
it opens. It gets crowded early."
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