Must dos at poly

[patm95]

My husband and I stayed there the first time October 2025. It was just us that trip. We were going to the MNSSHP and liked to just jump on monorail and be at MK. We are heading to DW in March with our daughter and will be at Poly again bc she really wants to stay there. All in all it was nice and a change from our home resort. What I didn't care for and not a deal breaker for me were the crowds. It's a popular resort and many come for Ohana (especially Ohana), Kona Cafe and Trader Sams. Monorail crawl is popular so that adds to the amount of people.

The crowds is what I’m most afraid of. Thanks!

 

[maui22]

The crowds is what I’m most afraid of. Thanks!

Friday night-Sunday (plus holidays) tend to be the busiest at the Polynesian. Weekends draw some locals, plus many checkin/checkout on the weekends making the lobby busier.

The nice part about the Polynesian is there are many quieter places. Even the quiet pool near the DVC longhouses can be a lot of fun. They have good food there and soda stations.

 

[Lionezz]

I love the rooms, the pool and the crowd... and also the lobby. Just to hang out there makes me happy!

 

[Tatebeck]

I think in general people either love the kitsch and vibe at PVB OR think it's too dense/crowded/over-hyped. You should know pretty quickly where you hit on that scale.

Some special Polynesian perks if you are doing a resort stay:

1. Trader Sam's. If you love a Tiki drink this should be a top priority. There are no reservations and you have to join the wait list in person (so you should have a good opportunity to get in if you are hanging at the resort this trip). People start lining up around 2pm on the bottom floor of GCH in the hallway headed towards Island tower. The door is unmarked but if you see people waiting around down there for no reason - now you know why!
2. Take advantage of all the wonderful dining options. The options at Polynesian are all good (the Pineapple-Coconut Bread Pudding at Ohana and Kona is so good I will travel just to have a piece) but where PVB goes beyond is the fact that you can easily walk to Grand Floridian and its GREAT restaurants, or hop on the monorail to head over to Contemporary for Steakhouse 71 or California Grill.
3. I am not sure how the access to the Island tower outdoor terrace gardens is working ATM - they were restricted only to tower guests at opening - but if they are accessible now you should definitely walk over and relax there.
4. Watch the fireworks from the beach or the "hill" between the island tower and the lake.

Not any longer. Trader Sams now operates on a walk up waitlist. So you can be in the area and join the waitlist, no more waiting in line for an hour!

It is actually a virtual waitlist now (not just a walkup waitlist, not sure if this is what you meant) in the app, so you can join when at the resort without actually going all the way to the physical Trader Sam's location! The geo-fence may not cover the entire resort though so you may have to get close-ish to it to join.

It also opens earlier now at 11:00AM! We went around a week ago around noon and had a 20ish minute virtual wait. Loved the lounge though!