AmongMadPeople
Active Member
I love the smell of swamp water in the morning! Maybe they'll make an air freshener as a parting gift to remind you of your Poly bungalow stay.
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Disney is going to scale back the Polynesian DVC plans in a big way.
- Thread starter tikiman
- Start date
I love the smell of swamp water in the morning! Maybe they'll make an air freshener as a parting gift to remind you of your Poly bungalow stay.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Unlimited mug refills from the lagoon!
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
I thought that about AK villas but never had a problem there
Not if its long drop toilets
flynnibus
Premium Member
Those were suggested as the way to bring back the long lost wave machine!
Spike-in-Berlin
Well-Known Member
I have to confess, it took MINUTES for me to realize that it seems to be true, they are REALLY PLANNING to remove the WATERFALLS from the Polynesian's lobby.
I make it brief, if they do that I will save a lot of money because I was planning to stay there in the next years despite the fact that they charge insane prices for mediocre rooms with sub-par housekeeping and now it's clear that I will NEVER stay at the Poly again.
I don't accept that rubbish about maintenance costs, what do these, sorry assh... charge the increasingly absurd prices for? For rooms with ACs louder that those in the values? For a monorail that doesn't run during EMH any more? No, I pay these prices among other features for an extraordinary lobby! A resort with a Polynesian and Tiki setting and theming without waterfalls is a sick joke. TDO is a bunch of beancounting idiots, far worse than I was already thinking. Walt would fire the whole bunch in a second.
No more Polynesian if they really do that, never again. And I hope I am not the only one.
I make it brief, if they do that I will save a lot of money because I was planning to stay there in the next years despite the fact that they charge insane prices for mediocre rooms with sub-par housekeeping and now it's clear that I will NEVER stay at the Poly again.
I don't accept that rubbish about maintenance costs, what do these, sorry assh... charge the increasingly absurd prices for? For rooms with ACs louder that those in the values? For a monorail that doesn't run during EMH any more? No, I pay these prices among other features for an extraordinary lobby! A resort with a Polynesian and Tiki setting and theming without waterfalls is a sick joke. TDO is a bunch of beancounting idiots, far worse than I was already thinking. Walt would fire the whole bunch in a second.
No more Polynesian if they really do that, never again. And I hope I am not the only one.
Buried20KLeague
Well-Known Member
You're assuming they'll keep the water features working at DS.
I'd bet the under.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
asianway
Well-Known Member
It is certainly rubbish when you consider once Disney converts the property to a condominium the common area(lobby being one of them) becomes a shared expense between the hotel and villa owners. As Im sure the plan will be to strip mine the Poly into more timeshares as needed, the expense of the common areas will slowly become more of a burden to the owners then TWDC.
Kind of hard to sell what people fell in love with once youve removed that...
The bugs will be way worse in the water than they would be on shore. stand at the end of a dock near the lights then stand on shore and tell me which is worse.
I don't see the appeal of the water bungalows, maybe disney has something really cool planned like a giant pool/ separate clean lake, to put the bungalows in but lets be honest, that won't happen.
kkocka
Active Member
All it took was a mentioning of Trader Sam's to get me to register for the forums...
So I'm a CA native and right off the bat my instinct is to really want to deny WDW from the Trader Sam's experience. Its one of the precious things FL doesn't have and I absolutely cherish it! But, if the Poly is destined to get it (RIP Tambu Lounge) then you definitely can't port it over as an exact replica. I haven't eaten at Ohana but my idea is to expand Trader Sam's to the size of a classic Polynesian restaurant like Don the Beachcomber or Trader Vic's (so, RIP Ohana if that were the case). The menu would have to be much larger and with more variety. It could definitely work as a medium to large restaurant say with two separate bars (again thinking of Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach) where the charm isn't limited just to those at the bar, possibly designed with an open concept. If you're dining with a family of 4+, you would still experience the enchantment much like you're sitting in The Enchanted Tiki Room with the thunderstorms, etc.
I think we all know you can't simply cut and paste Sam's into the Tambu Lounge location. I'm also in agreement w/everybody in that it would suck to say goodbye to the water feature in the lobby as well. Once you've experienced Sam's, Tambu Lounge really looks stark and empty in comparison. A buddy of mine had to critique Tambu's tiki drinks after many, many trips to Sam's as well.
And for whoever had mentioned it, there is no Sam's at Aulani.
So I'm a CA native and right off the bat my instinct is to really want to deny WDW from the Trader Sam's experience. Its one of the precious things FL doesn't have and I absolutely cherish it! But, if the Poly is destined to get it (RIP Tambu Lounge) then you definitely can't port it over as an exact replica. I haven't eaten at Ohana but my idea is to expand Trader Sam's to the size of a classic Polynesian restaurant like Don the Beachcomber or Trader Vic's (so, RIP Ohana if that were the case). The menu would have to be much larger and with more variety. It could definitely work as a medium to large restaurant say with two separate bars (again thinking of Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach) where the charm isn't limited just to those at the bar, possibly designed with an open concept. If you're dining with a family of 4+, you would still experience the enchantment much like you're sitting in The Enchanted Tiki Room with the thunderstorms, etc.
I think we all know you can't simply cut and paste Sam's into the Tambu Lounge location. I'm also in agreement w/everybody in that it would suck to say goodbye to the water feature in the lobby as well. Once you've experienced Sam's, Tambu Lounge really looks stark and empty in comparison. A buddy of mine had to critique Tambu's tiki drinks after many, many trips to Sam's as well.
And for whoever had mentioned it, there is no Sam's at Aulani.
kkocka
Active Member
In short, yes.
In depth, Trader Sam's is part of the end result of all the renovations to The Disneyland Hotel. All 3 towers were renovated (inside and outside), renamed (Fantasy, Adventure, Frontier), and a new bar + pool area replaced what used to be the Neverland Pool and Lost Bar. The overall refurb is designed as vintage Disney/Disneyland with modern touches. And speaking of removing water features, a giant waterfall/rocks area was removed for this reno as well. I had hoped to get some wedding pics around there, but I'll gladly take the current product instead.
So Trader Sam's is a relatively cozy tiki bar with Adventureland written all over it. Tastefully covered in decor, you'll notice tons of artifacts from the Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room... Adventureland as a whole. You'll even spot some gems from Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a certain orange bird from Florida. Let's not forget some artifacts from The Adventurers Club too. There's a well-researched collection of drinks, exclusive tiki mugs to purchase, and a good selection of underground/off-menu drinks like the Lapu Lapu, Navy Grog, and both versions of the Kungaloosh!
Some drinks, in Disney fashion, just might trigger an effect that the whole room can experience. Anything from sinking ships and volcanoes to raindrops and thunderstorms, its great. They also do a good job paying homage to the SoCal tiki bar scene. You'll notice lots of classic tiki mugs, and probably half the stuff in there was replicated or created by Kevin & Jody (Tiki Room totems, their own previous work w/Disney, etc).
Spend some time and Google Image Search it or watch some stuff from YouTube.
luv
Well-Known Member
Thank you for that vivid explanation! You should write a travel book!
I'd love to go more in depth about the place, so I should get movin'.
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
I love the Poly too and I agree about TDO track history on most projects. The Asbestos is another story.
Yes it can likely be mitigated. What kind of Asbestos is it? There are so many types, was it wrapped in, laid in, glued in or blown in or all of the above? My Dad put Asbestos into buildings for a living and took Asbestos out as a contractor. After he sold the business he worked for OSHA inspecting how it was removed. I supervised the plans for 3 schools plans for Asbestos to be removed , twice in each of the three buildings. It is beyond expensive to remove Asbestos so it depends on what type it is and how it was installed. The bigger issue is when they start tearing up for remodeling, construction stops when they find addition Asbestos. It is amazing how many projects are halted because they find Asbestos in unlikely places. This summer as we took it out of the flooring of the final school, the last thing anyone expected was Asbestos behind the ventilators in each classroom. Those ventilators were only 10 years old. The last contractor obviously saw it, went lalalalala and put in the new ventilators without disturbing the Asbestos. Totally new project than removing from the flooring and major additional dollars to say nothing of that building likely being still sealed when the students should return this fall.
If all of these pumps and pipes are interconnected no telling what they are going to find when they start disassembling portions. The thing about Asbestos is as long as it is stable and it is also not disturbed it really isn't as scary, likely why they have left it be. As old as that building is and it being made of many materials that naturally weather in the Florida, it could possibly be cheaper to squish the building and just rebuild a replica especially if they are going to introduce DVC's onto the property.
Gabe1
Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
And can you imagine how annoyed the EMTs, FireFighters and Sheriff half to be with this? How much longer will the response times be? Sometime a few minutes is the difference between life and .......
Longhairbear
Well-Known Member
We love Trader Sam's and go every evening we are at the resorts. As an aside, The Tonga Hut North Hollywood that has been a tiki haven since 1958, is opening a new location here in Palm Springs. Can't wait!
Move the light to the shore and you have the same problem.
kkocka
Active Member
Yeah it'll be great to have a genuine tiki bar in Palm Springs, finally. A lot of mid century modern stuff, but the tiki's all but left w/the exception of . Back on topic, maybe this gradual revival in tiki will really help the Poly down the line. Still, I'd rather see the water feature replaced with...a different water feature.