News New Polynesian Resort DVC villas building to open 2024

[Sirwalterraleigh]

WOW! I can't think of a polite way of telling you that you're clearly part of the problem... but if you want to spend your points on "a hotel room with 2 showers?" you're part of the problem... most of us want more than that, that's why the biggest rooms, Old Key West being the biggest, go the fastest

If you hadn't "edited" my post you'd see there's about 12 Old Key West buildings on the map, which is around 35 units... if they were all 1 story taller that'd be 50 units, and that looks like this ugly high rise in the concept art is offering about 30 units. There are 20 of the "over priced bungalows on the water" ...that are usually empty

But When the DVC first launched 30 years ago, it was 3 Vacation clubs built by Disney... the original now called Old Key West, Vero Beach, and Hilton Head... they all had similar layouts, and Disney "lead you to believe" they would be building more of these on property, but they never did.

Here's what they look like... Vero Beach
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Hilton Head

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and Old Key West again
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Not many people seem to want to stay in Disney Deluxe Monorail resorts for $600 a night, so they're converting them into DVC, but "most" DVC members don't want to be in hotel room at all. All these low profile DVC buildings would work real well at the Poly, "instead of" the ugly Reflections thing at Wilderness Lodge... on that giant piece of land between the Poly and Contemporary that's"not suitable for building another high rise on" and no one wants to stay in a high rise anyway

What Bob should want, is what we 30 year DVC members want... or he can try building "another high rise" that sits half empty most of the time
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Respectfully…do you mean the type of people who 30 years ago bought their points for $42 and were give handfuls of annual pass vouchers and refillable mugs??

…I think you see where I’m going with this?

Not that I disagree with your points. But the generations and mentalities have changed.

That’s the last person Disney wants now. They want people that buy points for a fixed two bedroom in a fixed spot at a fixed time, pay per day for the parks, buy Christmas parties and afterhours and can’t get enough of the Epcot food booths.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So, the conversation centered on Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend representing cabins and mansions on a southern plantation, respectively.

Yes, the possibilities ranged from razing Magnolia Bend, building new lodges, and retheming the overall resort to being the first resort to go the way of Discovery Island and River Country. It would close for an extended period of time, be razed, and rebuilt as something entirely different.

Any redo of “port orleans” would involve trying to knock out the buildings with the Most antebellum themes…
And of course…that’s not port orleans…it’s Dixie.

Just a hunch

 

[CaptainAmerica]

...ruining the existing resort aesthetics.

The ugliest building on property is the Contemporary A-frame.

"Older" doesn't mean better.

 

[nickys]

But why did they cancel Reflections. And the decide to build this. It doesn’t match any of the existing resort. That’s my only concern.

This will sell quicker. And is entirely DVC, unlike Reflections.

 

[John park hopper]

This is the Four Seasons in Maui.

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Tahiti resort

 

[dreday3]

The ugliest building on property is the Contemporary A-frame.

"Older" doesn't mean better.

No...the monorail goes through it. And I stayed there in the 70's, it was pretty darn cool. Now it's iconic.
Seeing Contemporary feels like home.

personally, I think the All-Stars aren't very attractive, but I digress.

I'm still waiting to see more details in the actual structure/design elements before deciding about this new addition. Not that we can stay there anyways.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The ugliest building on property is the Contemporary A-frame.

"Older" doesn't mean better.

I don’t love it either…but people don’t like that because it’s “old”

They like Peter Pan, test track and mine train cause they’re old

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

We get it, they have big buildings there. That doesn't justify placing them all over WDW and ruining the existing resort aesthetics.

Seriously. I've been to Hawaii six times (Maui x3, Kauai x2, Oahu x1) as well as French Polynesia, and one of the least appealing aspects of Hawaii was seeing the ugly high rises of Honolulu, condos of Kihei, timeshare towers of Ka'anapali, etc. Felt like I could've been back in Boca Raton or SoCal.

Of these three Hawaiian islands, Kauai is very probably my favorite, as it feels the most remote, the most like a jungle escape, the most like French Polynesia (down to the chickens!). It's also the most height-restricted, with few buildings exceeding the height of a coconut tree.

Poly might be mimicking the 'actual' Hawaiian resort experience with its bland astroturf makeover, but the stream and lava rocks were so much more interesting. That was the whole point of Poly - it evoked something special that might not even exist, compared to the concrete reality of a modern Hawaiian resort.

But that hotel is IN Hawaii, not a Florida swamp. Disney was about transporting you to what you imagined an idyllic locale would be, not what it actually is. That’s why France pavilion doesn’t smell like cat pee.

Exactly this.

 

[UNCgolf]

This is the Four Seasons in Maui.

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Yeah, the resorts were never supposed to copy real hotels in those locations (with some exceptions; the exterior of the Grand Floridian is obviously modeled after a real hotel), because they're generally pretty generic buildings like most hotels. They were supposed to be a kind of hyper-realistic setting that was focused on the overall feel as opposed to copying a real world location.

The Polynesian is sort of its own thing anyways since it was more about tiki culture than any real world time/place.

 

[TikibirdLand]

This is the Four Seasons in Maui.

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The good news is that you'd never want to stay in the rooms; the beach is SO BEAUTIFUL. We stayed at the Sheraton near Black Rock. I remember so little about the room; we spent just about all our time snorkeling with the turtles that hang out there. I don't think you'll be distracted that way at the Poly -- or any place else on WDW property. But, the poster you responded to was talking about his/her perception of a Polynesian hotel as you'd see in movies. Certainly what I thought before we decided to visit.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is the Four Seasons in Maui.

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And I guarantee the service and food is 25x than what they schlep as “magical” in the 32830

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No...the monorail goes through it. And I stayed there in the 70's, it was pretty darn cool. Now it's iconic.
Seeing Contemporary feels like home.

personally, I think the All-Stars aren't very attractive, but I digress.

I'm still waiting to see more details in the actual structure/design elements before deciding about this new addition. Not that we can stay there anyways.

Why not?

 

[peter11435]

to being the first resort to go the way of Discovery Island and River Country.

It wouldn’t be the first

 

[UNCgolf]

It wouldn’t be the first

They haven't actually torn down any resorts, have they?

The only thing I can think of is the Golf Resort/Disney Inn, but that still exists. It's just not run by Disney.

 

[John park hopper]

But that hotel is IN Hawaii, not a Florida swamp. Disney was about transporting you to what you imagined an idyllic locale would be, not what it actually is. That’s why France pavilion doesn’t smell like cat pee.

Exactly ---an escape from the real world

 

[peter11435]

They haven't actually torn down any resorts, have they?

The only thing I can think of is the Golf Resort/Disney Inn, but that still exists. It's just not run by Disney.

 

[UNCgolf]

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I had no idea that even existed. I guess some parts of it were kept for Saratoga Springs but most of it was demolished?

 

[peter11435]

I had no idea that even existed. I guess some parts of it were kept for Saratoga Springs but most of it was demolished?

The treehouse villas are just about the only thing left from the original resort

 

[Prince-1]

The ugliest building on property is the Contemporary A-frame.

"Older" doesn't mean better.

The Riveria resort is much uglier than the Contemporary which is far far from ugly.

 

[dreday3]

Why not?

We dont have DVC and I just doubt we'd be able to comfortably afford a cash stay.