Reviews - WDW Resorts

We stayed at Disney's Polynesian Resort in November 2022 and the resort is just divine! There are lush trees everywhere, it's very calming as well as we didn't find it too busy at this time either. They have great food options as well, Captain's cook's is a to go place which we did eat from a few times and felt the portion sizes were quite good value for money. We ordered from Kona Cafe to go once as we were really wanting a steak however didn't really want to go to a sit down restaurant and we have to say the New York Strip was very good (pricey at $40) as we were expecting it to be cold and tough but it was hot and not very chewy at all. Whilst it was expensive, it was something we would order again. There are other dining locations on site, but we didn't try them this time.

Our room was a Deluxe Studio and we were extremely impressed on first sight. The bedding was fresh and carpet was very clean. There are 1.5 bathrooms, a shower room with sink and a full bathroom with bath/overhead shower, toilet and sink. A small kitchenette which we found to be quite useful and used each day. We had a coffee machine, toaster and a full fridge, plus a small sink. We were given disposable cutlery and paper plates/bowls which was also very handy and you can ask for more if required, though they do top them up when doing a room service ( note: when renting through DVC, room cleans are only done every 4 days). A small patio with table and 2 chairs, plenty of storage options as well. Room felt quite big for what it was being a studio. 

The main pool we didn't use (the one with the slide) but we did use the other one and at no point even during the day was it crowded which was really nice. Everywhere was clean, plenty of fresh towels were available and enough seating for everyone. 

With the Polynesian Resort being on the monorail loop, it was very nice and easy to be able to walk from your room upto to the monorail to go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot whenever you wanted and this we feel is a huge plus as it really does save time, especially in the mornings when you're trying to get to the parks for opening. 

We stayed at Disney's Old Key West in September 2023 as we wanted to try another DVC Resort. Old Key West is a very large resort so be warned to be driving a distance to find your room, if you don't have a car, then you can ask the front desk for a cart and a cast member will help you to your room with your luggage. (have a few $ on hand to give to the cast member helping you with your luggage). Old Key West is very close to Epcot (6 minute drive) and has some really nice grounds. It also has the option for the boat to Disney Springs. Each section of the Resort where the rooms are located do have a pool but they are very small and can get quite crowded which we found to be a bit unfortunate and can be a bit of a walk to the pool as they aren't always close if you've been put right at the end of the building/road. The main pool was really nice, though smaller again, it didn't get overall crowded unless they had a pool party happening where cast members do pool games/quizes, but this didn't impact our pool time and was nice seeing everyone have fun.

We would say however that the food options at the resort were limited which was disappointing. We ordered from Good's Food to go a few times, the breakfast platter wasn't as nice as we'd hoped as the scrambled eggs were quite dry and so was the waffle. However, the lunch we ordered was actually very good for the items we ordered (see Pics)Turkey BLT Sandwich, this was really full of flavour and crunchy toast/lettuce which added to the texture. We ordered a few cocktails, one being the pina colada however it was so watery and didn't taste like a colada at all as it was just premixed. Though, if you pop next door to the Gurgling suitcase, they serve colada's which are made there and then with proper cream/ingredients which was really quite tasty. 

We ordered from Olivia's Cafe to go also, Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken, it also came with mash, biscuit (unsweetened scone to the british people, 😂)gravy and seasonal veg. The mash was very creamy and smooth and the gravy had a really nice meaty flavour which complemented the chicken quite well.

 At the time, they were renovating some of the rooms however the one we had hadn't been renovated and was feeling quite dated. The room it's self was clean and bedding was fresh so for us, we weren't too bothered. Same as the Polynesian Resort we had a small kitchenette and used each day. We had a coffee machine, toaster and a full fridge, plus a small sink. We were given disposable cutlery and paper plates/bowls which was also very handy and you can ask for more if required, though they do top them up when doing a room service ( note: when renting through DVC, room cleans are only done every 4 days). A small balcony with table and 2 chairs, though it did lack storage options in our opinion. 

We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort back in April 2018 and it was lovely to stay in with all the thememing that is around the resort itself. This is a very large resort and can take a while to get from one side to another. The little mermaid rooms are quite far from the main lobby and can easily take 15 minutes to get there. Plenty of parking spaces though. 

 We had the little mermaid room which was themed perfectly. A large mirror with shell lights, the bathroom was themed to under the sea as well as different pictures from the movie. A small table and 2 chairs and 2 queen beds. Now, whilst you can sleep up to 4 guests in this room, it is very small and you could struggle with 4 adults in this room as we felt it wasn't really big enough for the two of us comfortably. 

The little mermaid pool was very nice and wasn't crowded as most people go to the big main pool over at Nemo's pool so this was nice on hotel days. Plenty of seating and free towels to go around. There was no pool bar at the Little Mermaid pool which was a shame but nothing really to bothersome. 

The theming around this resort is just wonderful and so colourful! Enormous statues around of different characters from the movies make great photo spots. There is only one dining location on property which is the Landscape of Flavours. They had different options for breakfast/lunch and dinner but you can expect your typical to go items such as burgers, pizza's, salads and pasta's. We tried the large pepperoni pizza which was actually quite nice for resort food and came in a takeaway box so we were able to take it to our room after a long day at the parks. We didn't have breakfast at this resort as we always ate in the parks so we couldn't comment on the breakfast items.