Did we stumble into central Florida’s best kept secret?
Back at the beginning of the year, when we were researching different options for a Florida trip, my husband came across this resort called “The Polynesian”. The pictures on the website looked amazing, it had so many of the amenities we were looking for, it’s a Hilton property (so we would earn or could use our Hilton points) – but the price was LOW. Like, we passed over this resort multiple times because the price was just SO low – we figured there had to be a catch.
We kept coming back to it though and ultimately decided we would roll the dice and give it a try. What’s the worst that could happen?
Over the several days we spent at this resort, we talked to so many people – at the pool, strolling around the property, and even online afterward who claim this resort to be their favorite “best kept secret” in central Florida.
One couple even begged us (in a joking manner, of course) NOT to tell anyone else about this place.
We did pretty quickly figure out the “catch” though – and I’m going to tell you all about it and let you decide whether it’s worth it to stay here or not.
This is a full, in-depth review of our stay at The Hilton Vacation Club Polynesian Isles Kissimmee, located at 3045 Polynesian Isles Boulevard, in Kissimmee, Florida. We stayed at this resort for three nights in May 2025 and this was our experience.
CLARIFICATION
Let’s be super-duper clear right up front: there are TWO distinctly different resorts that are called “The Polynesian” in the Orlando, Florida area. If you had asked me a few months ago if I was familiar with “The Polynesian”, I would assume you were talking about the one located on Walt Disney World property. This Polynesian sits on the Lagoon with illustrious neighbors like the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, and of course: Magic Kingdom itself. In fact, if you take the “resort” monorail upon leaving Magic Kingdom – you will stop at “The Polynesian.”
This is a review about the OTHER Polynesian (the one I didn’t even know existed).
This is a Hilton Vacation Club resort called “The Polynesian” and it’s located in Kissimmee, Florida (just 9 miles away from the Disney Polynesian).
So, once again (because I know I will get comments from people who are confused): there are two “Polynesians” – we did not stay at the Disney one – this is the Hilton version.
THE RESORT
As I mentioned at the top, the photos we saw of this resort online were beautiful. But let’s be honest: we look at photos on a hotel’s website with a grain of salt. Those photos are taken on the best days, of the best rooms, in the best weather, and at peak beautiful conditions, right?
Well, as soon as we pulled in, we were pleasantly surprised – actually, downright shocked at just how beautiful this resort is.
The property is meticulously maintained.
There are flowers and gardens everywhere.
And there is a large team of maintenance people who lovingly groom this property into looking it’s very best every single day. We saw them, hard at work, every day, and their tender loving care really shines through in how lush the property is.
At the entrance of the resort, you will stop at a security gate. Upon arriving for the first time, security will instruct you on where to temporarily park so that you can check in at the main building (which is straight ahead).
Side note: I do have a few things to say about check-in – so stick with me for a few minutes.
After you’ve checked in, you will receive a parking pass that allows you to simply enter and exit the property at will.
These are condos not hotel rooms – so think of the buildings like townhouses. From my count, there are 13 separate buildings, 6 surrounding one pool area, and 7 surrounding another.
There are basketball, tennis, and pickleball courts, a playground, shuffleboard, ping pong tables, and a putting green.
There is a room called the “Owner’s Lounge” off of the lobby where you check in – it’s set up similar to a hotel’s “business center” with two computers and a printer, but there was also tables and chairs and couches in there – so it would be a fun place to hang out with friends (although, I’m not sure why you’d choose to go there to hang out, when you have your own living room?) This room also had a bookshelf with a small lending-library, just in case you forgot something to read while you were relaxing on your vacation.
What really impressed us when we were walking around the property though was the large number of tables, pavilions, picnic areas (with grills), and lounge chairs scattered around the property. Nestled in all the beautiful landscaping and in between the buildings were a seemingly unending maze of little nooks that you could unwind in. It was so quiet and relaxing!
The property has two pools. We spent the most time at the pool closest to our condo, but we did walk over to check the other pool out as well. Both were very clean and clearly recently updated. There were bathroom facilities inside the pool area, which made it super convenient when spending several hours down at the pool.
Both pools had tons of chairs to lounge in, tables with umbrellas for shade, and even some seating under two kabanas at either end of the pool. Even if the pool was super busy, there were a plethora of seating options and ample space to relax.
There were life jackets provided at both pools and there were tubes, floaties, and some pool toys that I assume guests had left behind that we and other guests took full advantage of.
Each pool had a hot tub adjacent to it – but there were also 2 additional, separate hot tubs nestled in between the buildings. These sat all by themselves and almost felt like a secret we shouldn’t tell anyone about!
Needless to say: the resort aspect of the property easily earns 5-stars.
During our Florida stay, we spent a whole day relaxing here (after we spent a very long day at Epic Universe). It was the perfect place to relax and unwind!
Because of where this resort is situated, as you drive onto the property, it truly does feel like you leave all the hustle and bustle of Orlando (and I-4) behind you. It’s so quiet and peaceful. In reality, you’re really not that far away from the major theme parks (more on that in a minute) and there are tons of shopping options and restaurants within less than a mile – it’s just something about how this resort sits back off of the road that makes it so quiet and really enhances that “relaxing” experience.
THE FOOD
Speaking of restaurants – I do have trouble calling the Hilton Polyneisan a “resort” because it’s missing a major “resort” puzzle piece: a restaurant.
There are no restaurants, poolside bars, or even cafes on the property.
The problem is: this property checks most of the other boxes I would use to categorize it as a “resort”, so I truly don’t know how else to describe it. I call it a “resort” in my head and have referred to it that way so far in this review, but just know it’s one chicken nugget short of a Happy Meal.
So, while there are no food options on site, there are quite a large variety of restaurants about a mile down the road. And when I say: “about a mile” – that might conjure up a picture in your head of you taking a leisurely stroll down to dinner? No, you definitely want to drive. There are no sidewalks and depending on where you want to eat, you might have to cross a major highway – so while the restaurants are close, they are not within walking distance.
There is a small store on site off of the lobby (where you check in). They have the necessities you’d expect in a small resort shop: snacks, some frozen items you can cook, drinks, etc. There was a small selection of alcohol and what I call: “oops I forgot” items like toothbrushes, batteries, shampoo, ibuprofen, etc. Of course, this is more for “emergencies” than daily use (the prices on the items were inflated, as you would expect).
There is a Walmart and a Publix about a mile away – so that’s where you’ll want to stop to stock up on food and drinks for the week. (Do yourself a favor, and schedule a Walmart pick-up order ahead of your vacation, that way you can simply pick up your stuff and be on your way to relaxing, instead of spending an hour wandering around a foreign Walmart!)
Let’s talk about the rooms and exactly WHY you’ll be wanting to pick up food and drinks to stock a fridge and cupboards for your stay!
THE ROOMS
The best way to describe the rooms at the Hilton Polynesian is: they’re condos. The hotel’s website labels them as “suites”, but either way, these are not traditional hotel rooms.
Each suite on property has a full kitchen and living room, and then some condos have one bedroom, with most having two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Each condo shares a full-size washer and dryer with its neighbor unit and that “laundry room” is accessible right outside their front door. Having a washer and dryer while on vacation is a GAME-CHANGER, especially if you have small children. Being able to wash a load of laundry or two mid-week during vacation is incredible – there’s just something magical about having clean clothes! It allows you to pack a little lighter and means you can return home with just a little less laundry to do.
We had a two-bedroom condo and it was SO nice. The kids had two twin beds in their room and their own bathroom (which they thought was just magical), and then we had a massive master bedroom with a king size bed and a HUGE on-suite bathroom. There was SO much space in our condo! Both bedrooms had large closets and dressers, plus benches we could easily set our suitcases on.
If I was going to award the Hilton Polynesian with a random award, it would be: BEST TOWELS EVER. We have NEVER stayed somewhere with more plush towels! Usually towels you find in a hotel or resort are small and wimpy but both the bath towels stocked in the bathrooms and the pool towels (which you have to take down to the pool yourself, they’re in the closets) were these massive, super soft, luxurious towels. I have never ever thought about stealing towels from a hotel before, but the idea definitely crossed my mind at the Hilton Polynesian!
Our condo featured not only a front door, but a back door as well – both accessible via the same room key. The back door led off the balcony, which was right off the living room. The fascinating part about all of the balconies on property was that they were all completely screened in! In other words: you could sit out there in the evenings and have no worries about Florida bugs!
We found our condo to be clean – could it use some updates? Sure, but overall, it was fantastic.
We did find a line of these weird tiny bugs in the kitchen – but they didn’t seem to be after the food (because, we left half a pizza we had cooked on the stove while we went down to the pool one evening, and the tiny bugs didn’t bother with our pizza at all). In my head, I simply call them weird tiny Florida bugs.
Speaking of the kitchen, we found plenty of basic cookware and utensils in the cupboards and drawers. Among other things, we cooked pizza in the oven and made eggs for breakfast – and we had everything we needed. There was even a dishwasher, so we never had to worry about washing dishes!
Under the sink, we found 3 dishwasher tabs, a small bottle of dish soap, and 1 laundry detergent packet provided complimentary by the condo. If you are going to be staying at the Hilton Polynesian for longer than a day or two, you’ll want to either bring your own laundry and dishwasher pods, or add some to your Walmart pickup order for when you arrive.
Remember how way back at the very beginning of this video I said that when we had found this place, it just seemed too good to be true for the low price we were able to snag it at? And that we came to the conclusion that there had to be a catch? Well, we’re here – thanks for hanging with me so far: let’s talk about one of the two catches to this property:
Ready?
Catch number one: There are NO elevators here.
Now, you might be thinking: no elevators? Really? How is that even possible in the year 2025?
I’m not sure, but there are none at the Hilton Polyensian.
And, if you’re lucky enough to check in and be given the keys to a room on the first floor – you won’t even realize that this is a catch.
But if you’re like us, and you check in and are given the keys to a room on the TOP floor – well, you quickly realize what a catch this is. (Especially if you’re a family of 4, who’s in the middle of a 10-day long trip, with multiple suitcases, lots of camera and laptop bags, backpacks, snacks, pillows – you get the idea.)
To be truly honest: the no-elevator thing truly was only a pain on the day we arrived and the day we left (and, with all four of us working to load in and out, I think we only had to take 2 major trips up and down the steps).
Each condo is only three stories high, so at the very most, you have to walk up and down 3 flights of steps. Is this the end of the world? No. Was it kind of a pain? Kind of. Would it stop us from booking a stay at the Hilton Polynesian again? No.
Was it nice to be aware of this little catch before arriving at our condo though? Yes (and thankfully, we had found a few reviews online that explained this prior to our arriving, so we were prepared. The hotel’s website simply leaves this little tidbit out of their details.
Moving on.
THEME PARKS?
This resort is NOT associated with Disney or Universal – in other words: there are no park perks when staying on this property.
If you are visiting Disney or Universal during your Florida vacation, staying on their property does give you a round of perks that staying anywhere else does not: most importantly – early entry. Trust us: getting into a Disney or Universal park earlier than the general public does is a MASSIVE perk that is totally worth taking into consideration where you stay. Coming from a family that specifically travels to visit theme parks: that extra time in the morning will make all the difference in your day. It means getting a jump on the attractions that pull in the longest lines and allows you to squeeze the most out of your day at a (let’s be honest) very expensive place.
If you have no plans to visit Disney or Universal, or you’re simply one of the (cough) crazy people who don’t care about early entry hours – the Hilton Polyensian is an EXCELLENT choice in resorts in central Florida.
The Hilton Polyensian is just 7 miles from Sea World (depending on traffic, that can be a 10 minute drive or a 30 minute drive – gotta love I-4).
It’s just 4 miles from Walt Disney World property, but depending where you’re going: Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot are closest, with Magic Kingdom being a bit further away.
And you’re about 11 miles from Universal Studios.
Oh and let’s not forget: you’re 68 miles from Busch Gardens Tampa (sure, it’s a little over an hour away, but we always visit Busch Gardens Tampa when we’re in Florida because it’s an incredible park!)
Clearwater Beach is just under 2 hours away to the west and Cocoa Beach is just over an hour away to the east. In other words: the Hilton Polyensian is very centrally located to the entire state of Florida and all it has to offer.
CONS
I said that there were two catches to staying at the Hilton Polyensian: the first is the fact that there are no elevators.
The second is that it is a timeshare location, so be aware: they will work very hard to sell you on a timeshare presentation.
Once upon a time, about 5 years ago now, we bit the timeshare presentation bullet. They offered us a complimentary 7-day stay at any of their resorts if we simply sat through a 2-hour presentation. Further, they said: “Oh, and you have young kids? You can probably get out of the presentation even faster than that.” So, we said: “Sure! That sounds great.”
We walked in fully prepared to say, “No thank you,” a hundred times and walk away with our free 7-day stay.
What we didn’t realize was that their “less than 2-hour presentation” would eat up almost 4 hours of our afternoon before we were FINALLY able to get away. There was a “big” presentation in a conference room with a very energetic presenter, and then after an hour of that, we were handed off to a personal sales rep, who walked us all around the property to give us a tour, and then we had to sit down with her so she could present their personalized offer created specifically for our family. I swear, she saw us: a young family of 4, Dad working his way up in a big company, Mom owns her own wedding photography business, and both are content creators for YouTube? She saw us as the perfect catch.
Which of course is the joke, because there was no way we were ever going to say yes to her offer, no matter how good it was. We jetted out of there as fast as we possibly could, but we ended up giving up almost 4 hours of our precious vacation time in the process. Sure, we got a free 7-day stay out of it, but even that ended up coming with a bunch of strings attached.
Needless to say: we will never attend a timeshare presentation ever again – our vacation time is just way too short!
So, if you fall in the same boat as us and know that you don’t want to attend a timeshare presentation either – here’s a heads up about how it works at the Hilton Polynesian, so you can be prepared:
When you arrive and walk into the main building to check in, you’ll go to the main desk to get your room number, your keys, maps etc. They will then send you to a second person at another desk to get your “parking pass” – this is the timeshare person and they will work HARD to sell you on it. Personally, I feel like, if I’m prepared to stand up to a hard-sell and say: “No” a thousand times, I’m much better off – whereas if they hit me from out of nowhere, that’s when I get flustered and am more likely to slip and say: “Sure.”
Upon talking to other guests around the pool, they told us that if you know you don’t want to talk to the timeshare people – you can simply tell the front desk person, who checks you in, that you want THEM to give you your parking pass because you know what’s up and aren’t interested in the timeshare stuff. Then, that front desk person will just give you the parking pass and you can skip the hard sales pitch!
Of course, we didn’t know this when we checked in, so we just stood our ground and said: “No thanks” about 73 times – but feel free to give this a shot if you’re headed to the Hilton Polynesian and want to avoid the timeshare leeches, I mean, salespeople.
Walking through a hard-sales pitch is almost impossible for certain people, so if you know you’re one of those people who just CAN’T say no, either be prepared to sign up for the timeshare presentation OR send someone else in to check in for you!
Thankfully, unlike other resorts we’ve stayed at with a timeshare “presence” the hotel lobby seems to be the only place you find the sales reps. We’ve stayed at other resorts where they’ve approached us around the pool and in different parts of the resort – but our experience at the Hilton Polyensian was, if you can make it through the check-in process with them, you’re free and clear the rest of your stay.
Outside of the no elevators and the timeshare sales – the only other con to this property is that they offer no shuttle services – either to and from the theme parks or to and from the airport. You are on your own here!
PROS
If you are looking for a stay that includes many of the amenities of home – a kitchen where you can cook your own food (and save money over eating every meal out), a washer and dryer, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, a beautiful, lush property with endless places to relax and two separate pools to enjoy – the Hilton Polynesian is a fantastic option.
Unlike an AirBnB (with similar home-like amenities), there is no need to vacuum, do laundry for the room, start the dishwasher, or take out the trash – in that way, it feels just like a hotel or resort and makes the check-out process super simple and easy.
Parking is complimentary – which is a MASSIVE win! So many of the hotels in Orlando upcharge you a daily parking fee or force you to utilize their valet parking services. These additional charges can really add up, especially if you are unaware of them and don’t add them into your vacation budget.
So, if you’d ask us if we enjoyed our stay (no elevators and all) enough to go back to the Hilton Polynesian, the answer is YES. We loved the quiet, peaceful atmosphere, it was such a beautiful place to unwind in between busy days spent at theme parks, and we LOVED having a whole condo to relax in! Our kids loved having their own bedroom and bathroom and the pools were spectacular.
Like I said though: almost everyone we talked to who was staying on property claimed this to be the best kept secret of central Florida, so do me a favor and let’s keep this between us, okay?
