My wife, child, and I stayed at the Polynesian for 4 nights recently. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts about your questions and other posters' comments:
Originally posted by BTDis
It seemed really spread out (almost like the moderate resorts now). Am I remembering this correctly? I am concerned mainly with the walking distance to the transportation stops and lobby/restaurants.
The resort, as a whole, is spread over a fairly large area, but the distance is nothing like the moderate resorts. The buildings aren't too far apart from each other. You can catch the monorail from the Great Ceremonial House (GCH). The GCH is, basically, dead center in the "front" (away from the beach side) of the resort. You are never more than a five minute walk (assuming usual walking habits, no disabilities, ...) from the GCH. The bus stop is outside the front of the GCH (leave the exit, walk straight past the valets, down three steps).
The TTC is a short walk from the Poly (head east). If you were in the western-most building, it could talk you 10 minutes to be on the platform. As was discussed by DisneyPhD, this is MUCH less time than riding the monorail all the way around the seven seas lagoon.
Finally, there is a launch (small boat) from a Polynesian dock to the Magic Kingdom. It is not clear to me whether or not the Polynesian and Grand Floridian share a boat.
Also, are the concierge rooms closer to the lobby?
No. The concierge rooms are in the Hawaii building (where we stayed) and one other building (I don't remember which one).
According to may handy-dandy map, Raotonga, Niue, and Tonga buildings are closest to the GCH (but, I think, afford no view of the MK).
Hawaii and Samoa are the buildings with the shortest walks to the boat launch. Tuvalu and Fiji look closer, but, from those buildings, you have to walk completely around the marina.
Tahiti and Rapa Nui are closest to the TTC.
Originally posted by Scooter
I've actually gotten lost for a few minutes on the paths between buildings at night
My wife had this problem. I never did (I have a pretty good sense of direction. It's easy for me to say "walk north" and go the right way -- a necessity in New England with its cowpath highways).
As for DisneyPhD's complaints:
1) no hot tub - I have read, but not confirmed, that this has something to do with one of Florida's laws. I will research this in my copious free time.
2) no play structure for the kids - He's absolutely right about this. We hopped over to the contemporary for a playground fix. Skip the one at the Wilderness lodge; it's smaller than the one we have in our yard. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a larger play set at WDW than the one at the the contemporary.
3) lots of crowds - DisneyPhD is right that this is seasonal. We left on 12/19. There were never very many people in the resort or in the pools.
I will add fourth and fifth complaints, specifically aimed at the Christmas season:
4) Not many decorations - Disney goes all out decorating for the holidays. However, these decorations don't make a significant appearance at the Polynesian. That may be a cultural thing with the polynesian islands, but that isn't made really clear.
5) The damned music - Like other disney resorts, theme/mood music is played continuously. During the Christmas season, this means that the Christmas music has a polynesian flair. Unfortunately, the good folks at WDW could only find ONE cd with Hawaiian Christmas music. After the first day, it's enough to want to plug your ears with anything handy.
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Originally posted by Luau Cove
... it's really comfortable. The calm climax is perfect for the theme of the resort. Rooms are incredibly decorated.... [/QUOTE]
Here I agree with Luau Cove. The rooms are very pretty and there is a calm atmosphere throughout the resort that is in stark contrast with most other resorts.
