Disney's Polynesian Village Resort — Hotel in Bay Lake

Since the late 80s (when I was 14) when I first stepped off the monorail and into the Great Ceremonial House at Poly I have wanted to stay at this resort. Its the location, theming, smell etc etc that has been on my mind every visit when staying at other hotels.||We decided to stay for 8 nights as part of my daughters 21st celebrations. 5 of us in total. Before I break the stay down, I can honestly say - I have never been more disappointed. The service, the food options, the resort were all below standard. They say never meet your heroes, I wish I hadn't met mine. We will return to Yacht and Beach next trip.||Check-in - The Great Ceremonial House feels like a busy airport check-in area. People running round because they're late for their Ohana slot and can't find the stairs! After waiting for what felt like forever we were all good and headed to Fiji.||Room - We overlooked the new pool and the recently completed Island Tower. Being on floor 2 these rooms don't have a balcony or patio. The rooms are a great size, big enough for 5 and plenty of drawer and hanging space. The shower is in the sink room which slows the mornings down as you have to walk through to get to the toilet - not an issue.|My wife went to check with reception to see if it was possible to move to a balcony or patio room - It was, great. Come back she was told for the room info. She went back 10 mins later to be told that if we wanted to move we now had to wait a day...We had no desire to unpack, repack so settled in instead!!|The doors to Fiji were usually open and not locked - Not great considering the number of non-resort guests wandering around. The halls always had cleaners carts and dirty laundry carts in, no matter what time of day. Not what I expect when paying as much as you do here.||Captain Cooks - Terrible. Far too small for the size of resort and the throughput of people visiting the resort to have a look around. Usually had one till open and the service is painfully slow. You order, someone plates your food, someone else puts it in a bag and carries it to a shelf, they then shout you to tell you your order is on the shelf...Bizarre. The Pizza bread and (surprise Chicken) was the best things on the menu.||Ohana - We had an 8.30am booking and was taken to our table (the restaurant was half empty at this point). The table was an end section next to the closed bar so we asked to sit near the window (where there was 4 empty tables). No problem said the man. However the waitress didn't like this and switched from being all nice and giving the spiel about the juice to throwing a mini strop. Fortunately by changing tables we also changes servers. Always good interaction with characters and always too much food. Pro tip - Don't fill up on the bread.||Pool - WE used the Cove pool mainly as it was steps from our room. It's zero entry up to c 4ft and it's close to the coke freestyle machine that also has filtered water. It's brilliant, the seating is great and it was always quiet. You can stay in the pool and watch the MK fireworks which saves you having to wrestle for space on the beach from the day trippers!||Help - We had a flat tire when leaving the carpark one day. After we made it back and parked up we asked concierge for local numbers (zero help), we asked reception for local numbers (less than zero helps), we asked security (suggested Car Care) - I've never known a hotel at this level not have local contacts, support or at least try to be helpful. We eventually called a mobile tire guy who came out to fix the tire...Security wouldn't let him onsite - - - one argument later and they agreed to escort him onsite, then stayed and watched him fix the tire and escorted him off.|I'm all for security but that doesn't run through the resort and we did wonder what the motives were.||Security - If you are heading to MK or Epcot you are better going through monorail security rather than walking to Transport. It's much quicker and more pleasant.||Overall - Disappointing. It feels too busy. There's too many people in the hotel that aren't staying there. People try to get into the pools without keys, the beach goers for the fireworks block the walkways, the food outlets are a nightmare at times - So much so that we got the monorail to Contemporary one night as it was quicker and a better selection! The cast members we interacted with gave surface level smiles but if you scratch the surface theres not great quality underneath. ||I did speak to one lady on reception who has more than 20 years service - She was fantastic and really helpful. Sadly she's the exception and...

First off - the resort itself is amazing. I’ve stayed here 4x the past 6 yrs through Disney Vacation Club. It is not my home resort but I plan on adding on once those towers are built! Every experience I’ve had has been the best across all of the deluxe properties…up until yesterday. There are 2 blonde women at the front desk with insanely fake smiles whose unwelcoming scowls just radiate from within. Unfortunately, as amazing Disney is, there are unpleasant humans that do work there & for the premium this place costs - they need to put genuine people to deal with customers.

Long story short - I checked out of the Floridian and checked into the Poly. I had 3 mugs, 2 snacks & 1 adult quick service remaining on my dining plan. I tried to use them via mobile order the day of check out from the Floridian but even though they were showing up on the app via my hotel reservation, it was not working.

Naturally, I figured I would just go to the main desk & get the remaining credits to use before they expire at midnight. I explained my issue to a blonde with glasses and she then referred me to another blonde in a tan jacket & iPad. iPad girl had such a higher than thou presence and could not figure out what to do. She spent a good 10-15 minutes going back and forth to the blonde with glasses. First, she rudely accused me of using all my credits already & I was like no - I had 2 reservations at the Floridian - perhaps she was looking at the wrong dates? Then when it showed up - she told me I wouldn’t be able to get my remaining credits. I explained that credits are valid until the end of check out day. Then she went back to the girl in green and presented me with a voucher for 3 quick service meals. I asked for the credits I had left and she told me the mugs would be no use since they would expire tonight. I told her if I grabbed the mugs this morning they would be valid for 2 weeks from the date it was issued and she said that’s not how the dining plan works and that it would expire tonight. She refused to give me a voucher for the mugs, went over to the girl in green and then to me saying there’s absolutely nothing they can do. Then I said I’m positive there is something that can be done. I said that it’s not even about the mugs at this point. It’s the principal of not receiving what I paid for, wasting 30+ minutes of my time (which is everything - we were headed to Bayou Adventure & of course that was down by the time we got to Magic) and worst of all - the condescending behaviour & trying to gas light me.

Then both blonde girls went to the back office, refused to make eye contact with me & came back with 2 vouchers - the same one I was offered with quick service meals & a voucher for mugs - then I had to be walked to the quick service area by iPad girl who continued with her sweet fake condescending tone & short smile (you could tell she was holding back how she was really feeling). She then gave the mug voucher to the quick service attendant and thankfully that was the end of the dreadful experience.

Coming out of it I feel so angry to be treated & spoken to like I was an idiot. I never even mentioned I was a DVC member or have been an annual passholder since 2018 - I just let her talk down to me. It is obvious she didn’t know how to deal with the situation & just kept escalating it to something it didn’t need to be. Neither female apologized for their behaviour & unfortunately for me this was my experience the first night of the stay.

I’m a Disney veteran & this icky treatment of two blonde women wouldn’t deter me from returning or paying a premium - as a DVC member, I’m locked in until I’m like 90 yrs old. I’m going to continue to visit long after their time with Disney. My advice to newbies/first time visitors - if you deal with an unkind cast member, just request a different one or go back later. Don’t let a couple of humans on power trips ruin your trip because Disney is magical & their service is usually top notch. Spend the money - memories you’ll make will...

My wife and I recently stayed in the Pago Pago building, 1st floor, for 7 nights. I want to start by saying that my wife and I are not the type of people to complain, and frankly, we didn't to anyone at the Poly. We only hope to share this experience so that other families are fully informed of what to expect.

The rooms are very dated in our opinion. To start, almost none of the drains worked properly; the tub was the worst, and we legitmately had to remove the entire drain plug to get it to empty. The toilet had a huge bead of caulk around the base and looked like it had leaked badly before. The beds are extremely uncomfortable, and the "blanket" you get is more like a thick sheet. The rooms have minimal lighting and honestly felt like a cheap motel. The TV remote is very finicky and only worked about 60% of the time. They do not do housekeeping or turn-down service, and we ran out of toilet paper on day 5. We searched the building for housekeeping to no avail and had to call the front desk. We were told housekeeping should have come on day 4 to empty the trash and give us fresh towels (they didn't).

At check-in, we were asked if we wanted cribs or Pack & Plays for our two kids. We said we needed cribs. Upon room check-in, we were given two Pack & Plays. We called the front desk and were told that someone would "be right there." An hour and a half later with two exhausted kids, still no one. . . My wife walked to the front desk (about a 3-5 min walk from Pago Pago), and they said "hmmm.. I don't know why they said that. We are out of cribs."

Also, at check-in, they told us that our Walmart grocery order would be brought to our room. They said to not worry what time our order arrived, and that Bell Services would make sure everything stayed cold. A call to Bell Services upon our room being ready, and we were told that they were too busy to bring it right now, and that they can't guarantee the cold stuff was put in the fridge upon delivery, because Walmart sometimes doesn't label things correctly. They told me it was no big deal and to just message Walmart, and they'd send me new groceries for free. . . Kinda a big deal when one of the items was milk for my toddler.

The front desk set up my wife's and I Magic Bands. Mine could not charge and would not open my room door for the first 3 days, despite resetting the pin twice; it did work at the pool gates. I finally took it to the front desk, and they had to call a 3rd party vendor to try and get it fixed. After about 15 minutes, they said, "we still don't know if it will charge right, but it will at least get you into your room." It did work on the room door now, but still would not charge. . . and my wife's magic band now only worked if my pin was used. We just made due with the one band for the rest of the trip.

On day 4, we went on a Disney guided fishing trip. We received an email the night before to meet our guide at the Wilderness Lodge dock; we verified this with the front desk. Took a Minnie Van there, only to be told that fishing trips no longer left from Wilderness, the email is wrong and they can't get it changed, and that we need to go to the Grand Floridian. Luckily, the Captain was willing to bring the boat to us.

On check-out day, I walked to Bell Services to get a cart. The lady at bell services told me they were out of carts and instructed me to go search the hallways of the various buildings, and I might get lucky.

After check-out, we left our bags at Bell Services and went to Epcot for a few hours. We got back to the Poly around 2:30 and went to the Cove Pool Bar for a late lunch. We had an Uber scheduled for 3:30 for the airport. Upon placing our family order at the Cove Bar (2:40), I asked how long it would take. They said no more than 10-15 minutes and that they would bring it to our table. 3:15 still no food. . . I walk up to the bar and ask if it's almost done, only to find our order in front of the cash register. The bartender, different from who I ordered from, said, "we wondered when someone was going to come...