I have recently returned from my honeymoon. My husband and I chose Disney World for several reasons. To begin with, I grew up in California, so my family always went to Disney Land. However, we had cable television and I remember watching a special on all the different theme hotels at Disney World and wishing I could stay at all the different hotels. I had stayed with my family at the Disneyland hotel many times, but that hotel does not have a theme.  
 
 
Our first choice was the Grand Floridian, but since we were paying for the honeymoon ourselves, we opted not to stay there after learning that our honeymoon would cost about $500 more than it would if we stayed at the Polynesian.  
 
The "Poly" was our second choice. We chose to stay there because it had a Hawaiian/Polynesian theme that would be (hopefully) similar to going to Hawaii for a honeymoon. Well, not exactlybut you know what I mean.  
 
The Poly is very ideally situated. It is on the monorail line, so getting to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot are very easy. It is also within walking distance of the Ticket and Transportation Center, which provides bus transportation to MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney and the water parks. Additionally, bus transportation is also provided directly from the hotel. Staying at the Poly makes it very easy to get around the "World."  
 
The rooms at the Poly are quite large. Rooms are located in one of about five or six 2-3 story buildings. A standard room comes with two queen beds and a day bed, so two parents and three children can stay quite comfortably. I think you can fit in a baby in a crib in addition to the five people already staying there. The armoire has 5 drawers or so with plenty of space for clothes. Additionally, there is a large closet with a room safe for storing valuables. There is also a table, two chairs and an ice bucket.  
 
The room dcor is very festive. Island patterned bedspreads about and the aforementioned armoire had a faux bamboo design as did the headboard. While it was more kitschy than authentic, it was still a fun place to stay.  
 
There are several types of rooms. The least expensive is the "garden" room and there are also "lagoon" rooms (with views of the water) and concierge rooms with lots of extra pampering. We had a garden room-next to the monorail, no less. However, even though the monorail passed right by our patio door, it was so quiet that it did not bother us at all.  
 
The Great Ceremonial house is the main building at the Poly. It includes clothing stores for men and women. We got caught in a HUGE rainstorm on Wednesday and Steve's shorts were soaked. We thought about buying another pair for him, but the shorts on sale were around $40-and they were ugly!  
 
One of our favorite places was the snack bar. You can buy a mug there for $10 and then get free refills for the duration of your stay. Considering that a soda costs about $1.50, this is a great cost saver-especially if you come back to the hotel for a rest in the middle of the afternoon.  
 
Additional dining options include the Kona Caf and Ohanas, which we ate at on our first night. I plan to review the restaurant in a different section, but I assure you, this is a must see-even if you don't stay at the Poly. In short, it is an all-you can eat feast featuring meat on sticks. The cost is $22 per person and well worth it. It's a great place to take kids-we loved our meal there. In the morning, Ohanas features a character breakfast. There is also a luau show presented two or three times a night for several nights a week, but we did not see it.  
 
 
The Poly features a "quiet" pool and the more popular "Volcano" pool with a water slide and "smoking" volcano. Since we went in August and it was very hot just about every day, the pools were crowded. The waterslide was fun, but ruffian children going down face first made it a little less fun.  
 
Although we did not do this, the Poly also rents little speedboats for about $25 for a  hour. They looked like a lot of fun, but we did not have time to do this.  
 
I did have a couple of very minor problems about the room. First, the shower pressure was very low. I don't know if this was a Florida drought thing or something else, but it was annoying. Also, our remote control had no batteries, but since we did not spend so much time watching television, this did not bother us either. The pillows were smaller than normal and a little hard, but that was the only thing that bothered me. As you can see, these things are minor.  
 
Also, when we arrived, Steve asked about an room upgrade because it was our honeymoon. The clerk said that there were no rooms available, but he would be happy to send something for us over the next day. We never got anything. Again, since we were going to be getting something for nothing, not getting it didn't bother me, but still.  
 
Overall, staying at the Poly was great. We ate a meal at the Yacht Club resort and we found it somewhat inconvenient to take a crowded bus to and from the Magic Kingdom after our own experiences of simply taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. In my opinion, it is worth the money to be so close to the theme parks.  
 
The Poly is a great place for everyone-honeymooners, couples, families, singles-everyone can appreciate the dcor and everything the Poly has to offer.  
 
