Nanea Volcano feature pool at Disney's Polynesian Resort closing in August for extended refurb

[jlsHouston]

Oh..I'm a sucker for the POLY....I LOVE that resort. I love the resort property. Yes the lobby is kind of small but all the greenery and the waterfall...I don't care for the front desk much, they could relocate that and the bunch behind the counter to the parking lot, and speaking of parking lot, I think POLY has the BEST parking lot. I love the shops and the merchandise and Captain Cooks might be my favorite QS. Like the pool and the slide and the cabanas and the beach. Like the NeverLand Club. LOVE OHANA'S.
I think the rooms are kind of Brady Bunch in Hawaii themed and I like that too. Vote POLY best resort bathroom even with 1 sink.
The only thing I find dismal about the POLY, pricing aside is the condition of the elevators..those elevators need the cosmetic refurb

 

[tikiman]

Guest who are staying at the Polynesian during the closure of the Nanea pool are going to be offered a visit to Blizzard Beach for free. Letters going out to guests about the construction they will see during their visit will have this statement in it.
“We anticipate the Nanea Volcano Pool and Slide to close for enhancement in late July through early 2015. Should you find the pool unavailable during your stay, one complimentary ticket to Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, our watery winter wonderland featuring waterslides, a wave pool, water play areas for the kids and more, will be given to each member of your party. To ensure you have a seamless visit to the Park, we will provide transportation to a dedicated check-in at Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park where you will receive your complimentary tickets and towels.”

 

[Bairstow]

Sounds fair, especially since the "quiet" pool will still be open.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Hm. The very least they could do.

I'm assuming they're still charging the same room rates, no?

 

[DisneyDad1977]

I was actually wondering if they were going to do something like this. Even acknowledging an inconvenience is a step in the right direction.

It is a deluxe after all.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Classy. Do these guests also have access to a feature pool at another deluxe as per usual?

 

[flynnibus]

Guest who are staying at the Polynesian during the closure of the Nanea pool are going to be offered a visit to Blizzard Beach for free. Letters going out to guests about the construction they will see during their visit will have this statement in it.
“We anticipate the Nanea Volcano Pool and Slide to close for enhancement in late July through early 2015. Should you find the pool unavailable during your stay, one complimentary ticket to Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, our watery winter wonderland featuring waterslides, a wave pool, water play areas for the kids and more, will be given to each member of your party. To ensure you have a seamless visit to the Park, we will provide transportation to a dedicated check-in at Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park where you will receive your complimentary tickets and towels.”

an interesting comp on the surface... but doesn't really answer all needs

Using Blizzard Beach means giving up part of your DAYTIME hours.. and more of them.

The benefit of the MONORAIL resort is you are so close and can easily return to your resort. Can't do that with blizzard beach. You're not going to take an afternoon break with the kids at blizzard beach the same as you would at your hotel. Anyone compare the crowds at BB compared to your hotel too?

Want to relax in the pool after a long park day? can't do that at blizzard beach which closes early...

It's a nice bone to throw at the guests... but I assume they already encouraging pool hopping as an alternative?

 

[tikiman]

an interesting comp on the surface... but doesn't really answer all needs

Using Blizzard Beach means giving up part of your DAYTIME hours.. and more of them.

The benefit of the MONORAIL resort is you are so close and can easily return to your resort. Can't do that with blizzard beach. You're not going to take an afternoon break with the kids at blizzard beach the same as you would at your hotel. Anyone compare the crowds at BB compared to your hotel too?

Want to relax in the pool after a long park day? can't do that at blizzard beach which closes early...

It's a nice bone to throw at the guests... but I assume they already encouraging pool hopping as an alternative?

If you want to relax at the pool and not travel to BB then relax at the East pool or walk over to the GF and use the pool there while the Nanea pool is closed. They will be placing a temporary bar at the East pool while the other one is closed.

 

[COProgressFan]

I, agree a classy move. I know it doesn't make up for the construction, but it's a nice gesture overall.

I've never heard of this being done before when Disney resort pools are refurbed, but at the very least kudos to whoever made this decision to at least acknowledge any inconvenience and throw guests a bone.

 

[surfsupdon]

Sounds nice.

Also, let the Poly Guests have access to the main pool at Contemp and GF. It's all just a simple monorail ride away (assuming the monorail is working).

 

[raymusiccity]

All of the buildings would have to burn to the ground before disney closed the resort for any stretch of time and even still, they'd probably turn it into a temp camp ground with the same price and tents.

So true, but, it remains a victimless crime as long as customers keep booking rooms at the going rate. Surely all of the present resort guests aren't strangers in paradise. It will be interesting to read some Trip Advisor reviews or current Trip Reports to see if the situation is as dire as everyone is trying to make it.

 

[bethymouse]

Well, it's something. But, I would still avoid the POLY during construction. That's just me.

 

[BigTxEars]

Omni hotels are great - but for a more direct comparison

http://www.thehiltonorlando.com $424 night for a 1300 sq ft suite and a FULL breakfast THIS is why I feel Disney has priced themselves out of the market at WDW.

Everything but location is better IMO. And in this regard location is king. Regardless of price or perks nobody else offers what a monorail resort does when at WDW. The Disney bubble is real or not depending on who you talk to, if it's real then no other offsite place will replace an onsite Disney resort. If it's not real then offsite offers a lot of incentives to stay offsite. It's 100% personal preference.

The construction and refurbs suck, no ways around that but in the long run it's the right thing to do IMO. The free pass is a nice perk but lower prices at the resort make sense as well during the work.

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

So Blizzard Beach instead of the resort pool..that's..inconvenient. Its not even like BB is near the Poly. I guess guests just looking for a few hours out of the park to swim at their resort won't be able to do that. Why wouldn't they allow these guests to use another pool on the monorail line? That's still inconvenient but less so than having to hop buses and then ride another 15-20 minutes to a water park. And its only 1 ticket per person from what I understood. So if someone is staying a week at Poly, they're allowed 1 visit? Seems very off balance.

Since DVC is invading Poly, why not let inconvenienced Poly guests invade Contemporary and GF DVC pools?

The entire refurb, while needing to happen after the last one (the game room in the GCH now smelled horribly of mildew back in 2009), they still could've kept the familiar tone (volcano in lobby), kept it 'retro as an on purpose choice, but freshened everything up. Like the pictures of the Cabana bay which looks like something out of an old 1960s beach movie, the Poly could've remained 70s Bradys in Hawaii in the best way possible. Not reinventing the wheel for the DVC that they're shoehorning in.

 

[stevehousse]

So would guests be allowed to use the GF pools at all during construction? It seems like it would be the best option!

 

[tikiman]

Originally they were going to let guests use the Grand Floridian pool as they have in the past when the main pool was closed for maintenance but because of the long time the pool will be down and the increased amounts of guests from the GF DVC using the pool they decided last week to not allow guests to use the GF pool.

I don’t really see the big issue. The East pool will still be available at the Polynesian resort and they will have a temporary bar set up. With all the longhouses closed and half of the longhouses closed that are next to the pool the room count will be less than it was when the resort opened in 1971 by 38 rooms. Back when it opened in 1971 it only had one pool and it was about the same size as the East pool. Guests seem to find a way to survive back then with one pool.

 

[wdwmagic]

Polynesian Resort Nanea Volano Pool, Barefoot Pool Bar and Trader Jacks refurbishment closure dates set

 

[Bocabear]

Has anyone seen any concept art yet? We all saw the oh-so underwhelming concept art for the lobby, what about the pool defurbishment?

 

[wdwmagic]

Has anyone seen any concept art yet? We all saw the oh-so underwhelming concept art for the lobby, what about the pool defurbishment?
View attachment 54207

I don't believe any has been made publicly available. If they were going to, I would have thought this last round of press material would have been the ideal time to do it.

 

[monothingie]

Since most of us here are all into mindless speculation, I actually found the concept art for pool refurb and its exciting new water feature. Please keep in mind that this may be proprietary Disney information so use caution.