Polynesian Resort / What to Do in Florida?
Polynesian Resort
The Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World captures the atmosphere of the South Seas islands in a lush tropical setting, with architecture representing what you might find on a remote island somewhere far away.
We never have stayed at the Polynesian, but we often drop by to visit. Because it was one of the original Walt Disney World hotels, it still often has the feel of 1971, even though it has been updated and modernized a bit over the years.
Photo location: Polynesian Resort, Walt Disney World, Florida
A three exposure (-2, 0, +2) HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, edited in GIMP
What to Do in Florida?
The other day, a friend asked what all there is to do in Central Florida besides Disney. And at first, I really didn’t know how to reply. I did say something about how we like to drive over to Cocoa Beach for the day. And we have also been to Kennedy Space Center. Although both of those involve a little bit of driving.
When we are in the area, we actually don’t spend all our time at the Disney parks. In fact, for the last few years, we have just spent one day of our week at a Disney park each year, always at the Magic Kingdom.
Back in the old days, we used to try to go to all of the parks and see everything that we could see there. And then we would be completely exhausted for several days. It was fun. We got to ride lots of rides. But we were tired.
Somewhere along the way, we decided to relax a bit more. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean that we are getting old. We don’t get up all that early (unless we are going to the Magic Kingdom). We swim in the pool. We go shopping at Downtown Disney or some of the outlet malls. We eat. Because you can’t skip a meal, after all.
One of the things I like to do is to visit the Disney hotels. Even if we aren’t staying at them. Sometimes we just drive up to the hotel, telling the security guard (quite honestly, of course) that we are there to shop and eat for a while. Sometimes they give us a parking pass good for a few hours, and sometimes they just wave us on through. Or sometimes we will park at Downtown Disney and ride the buses from there to whatever hotel we want to visit.
Each of the hotels has its own variety of shops and restaurants. We are usually the fast food kind of people, and one of our favorites is Captain Cook’s at the Polynesian Resort. They have quite an interesting blend of offerings that are just a bit different. And we have also enjoyed the Gasparilla Grill at the Grand Floridian Resort.
Over the last few years, we have gone to Florida without a specific agenda, besides having fun and getting away from the responsibilities of home. And we have had a lot of fun doing just that.
