News New Polynesian Resort DVC villas building to open 2024

[John park hopper]

It's not hard to understand the luau performance continued a lot of entertainers who had to be paid another cost cutting measure at the expense of the magic

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Posters think there is a problem with non resort guests taking up spots,sometimes all day.

A few years ago I parked where you inserted a credit card to enter. You inserted the same credit card when you left. You were only charged if you parked more then the free allowance. Its common for restaurants to validate your parking. One place entered my parking receipt into a system to automatically apply the free time. I assume it could be done via the credit card you swiped when you entered the garage.

A system like that would be an easy to enforce a 3 hour parking rule. Charging $50 for excess park will defer guests from using resort parking as an alternative to paying for theme park parking.

Squatting in parking lots is vastly over stated…

Sure it’s always happened…mostly by locals and off duty CMs and often at boardwalk and beach club. Especially pre dining reservations which have been all but mandatory for years.

I can’t imagine parking is really any issue…even with the loss of magical express. Which I still marvel at how they eliminated for no reason and yet the place is rocking.

There’s nothing the people of Stockholm won’t accept.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's not her to understand the luau performance continued a lot of entertainers who had to be paid another cost cutting measure at the expense of the magic

And that would be my guess on the real reason.

Very sad. Nothing unique will be tolerated and every dime must be squeezed.

The “war on actors” that was launched during the plague is not getting nearly enough attention.

 

[lewisc]

That wouldnt be any different than the Grand Floridian parking (theres valet in front, but self-park is across the street)

Which is why a solution would be easy

I can’t imagine parking is really any issue…even with the loss of magical express. Which I still marvel at how they eliminated for no reason and yet the place is rocking.

Loss of DME is having an impact. Disney is no longer booking private transfers. Mears, and other car service vendors,are frequently sold out. Ride share fares are almost double at times.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Which is why a solution would be easy

Loss of DME is having an impact. Disney is no longer booking private transfers. Mears, and other car service vendors,are frequently sold out. Ride share fares are almost double at times.

Right…but impact to space availability on the lots?


Anyone looked at a rental car lately? Yikes. I hope gas goes to $15 an hour to hit their pocket. They deserve it.

 

[Patcheslee]

Right…but impact to space availability on the lots?


Anyone looked at a rental car lately? Yikes. I hope gas goes to $15 an hour to hit their pocket. They deserve it.

Precovid we did rental car, 10 days each time ran us around $300-450 for a standard size with Budget back then. Even now prices are double if not more.

 

[Ayla]

Precovid we did rental car, 10 days each time ran us around $300-450 for a standard size with Budget back then. Even now prices are double if not more.

My rental car (medium suv) for Sat to Sat in May from MCO is $510 at Alamo. I don't think that's terrible. Still ed off at Disney I have to spend the extra money to get a car, but at least they're losing money by me having a car. Renting DVC points, so no parking costs, doing activities off property and getting groceries to eat in our villa.

 

[castlecake2.0]

I still find it a bit odd that they dumped the luau and hoop is MIA…

They charge an absolute fortune for it and it was always pretty packed.

It’s just the Bobs doing their thing. Nothing special. The only thing they support is recharging for the same sunk operations cost. Aka after hours and Xmas parties.

It’s really a shame. It’s all homegenized…nothing to provide a spark.

When chapek leaves…and it will be a glorious flameout…there’s gonna he a lot of “picking up the pieces” and soul searching from fans.

“What happened?!?”

…everyone went along with it.

We just gotta make it a few more years with him, then nowhere to go but up? Feels like the pressler era, which worked for a few years until it caught up with them and fans revolted, though that was on the west coast where they can’t get away with as much... actors and shows can be brought back by a new regime, this Polynesian Marriott is the scary thing that will not be able to be undone. I just don’t understand the blatant disregard to the style of the rest of the resort, just make the roofs match at least? I just don’t get it. And there’s already spray paint on the ground so there’s no turning back. Meanwhile there’s a giant hole in the woods by fort wilderness they could have put this that will spend another decade of doing nothing .

 

[GoofGoof]

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
View attachment 627330View attachment 627331

Hilton Head

View attachment 627332
View attachment 627333

and Old Key West again
View attachment 627334View attachment 627335
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
View attachment 627338

I’m not sure that your opinion on what most DVC owners want is factually accurate anymore. I agree it May have been that way years ago. At most times of year the studio rooms typically sell out faster than 1 bedrooms for sure. If people wanted a bigger room with more amenities it should be the opposite with the villas being more popular. I think in today’s DVC market the majority of people buying in want to stay at a deluxe resort that‘s cheaper and/or they need a 2 bedroom and that’s the best way to consistently stay there. Location matters a lot too. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is arguably the nicest resort on property but the DVC rooms are always available longer than some ”lesser” resorts. I think that’s primarily because of location and lack of availability of non-bus transport. I think the majority of owners today actually want to stay in a studio room at a deluxe resort.

For me personally I almost always use my points to stay in a villa and I’m happy that the studios are more popular so I get what I want at 7 months almost always if I need to trade in. We did a split stay our last trip and were going to spend 4 nights in a Poly DVC studio but the building was under construction so they moved us to a hotel room. It was fine but I prefer a little more space and a kitchen and a washer and dryer.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We just gotta make it a few more years with him, then nowhere to go but up? Feels like the pressler era, which worked for a few years until it caught up with them and fans revolted, though that was on the west coast where they can’t get away with as much... actors and shows can be brought back by a new regime, this Polynesian Marriott is the scary thing that will not be able to be undone. I just don’t understand the blatant disregard to the style of the rest of the resort, just make the roofs match at least? I just don’t get it. And there’s already spray paint on the ground so there’s no turning back. Meanwhile there’s a giant hole in the woods by fort wilderness they could have put this that will spend another decade of doing nothing .

Indeed…that was my time…

But the sad part is there was much more left to work with even then. It’s all about the top.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

My rental car (medium suv) for Sat to Sat in May from MCO is $510 at Alamo. I don't think that's terrible. Still ****ed off at Disney I have to spend the extra money to get a car, but at least they're losing money by me having a car. Renting DVC points, so no parking costs, doing activities off property and getting groceries to eat in our villa.

That’s actually awful…but still below the “going rate”

They asked for bailout money, dumped their fleets on resell, and now are operating with artificial “demand”

Same with airlines

And same with travel operators who dumped their staff and now are charging as much as 50% more and crying about not having staff.

We’re all trapped in a gigantic feedback loop (the Disney elders hate it when I point this out…because it ruins the illusion of anticipation/planning…but it’s still the reality)…

And only the “market” can take a bite out of it…I hope it does. Even with the downsides.

 

[tl77]

Their target pricing is based on someone who books deluxe properties... their entire value proposition is around saving vs your deluxe hotel stay. You can't do that when you build value to moderate resorts and DVC is now targeted more upscale.

Their target pricing is leaving most of those buildings half empty, which is why they're turning them into DVC... they don't want to accept the fact that they aren't The Ritz of The Four Seasons, they're "a place to for families to stay while they go ride roller coasters and meet cartoon characters"

 

[correcaminos]

My rental car (medium suv) for Sat to Sat in May from MCO is $510 at Alamo. I don't think that's terrible. Still ****ed off at Disney I have to spend the extra money to get a car, but at least they're losing money by me having a car. Renting DVC points, so no parking costs, doing activities off property and getting groceries to eat in our villa.

Why not pay for something cheaper? We hated, and I mean hated MDE and always paid for either a rental or a car service. Also as an FYI I have found National to be routinely cheaper than Alamo lately when booking directly. The standard aisle is same as Emerald Aisle and found decent prices. We have $400 for 8 days with them in a midsize (which often has SUVs or even Mini vans in the row). I find the upcharge for SUVs to be bad if you can go down in size to a car. We are DVC owners and do like having small meals in the room. We went on a quick trip and tried all meals with Disney and that got old fast honestly. Their QS breakfasts stink in many cases. I wound up buying bagels I could toast in the room. Only a studio.

I have read this thread a lot while I was at Disney earlier this week and I have to admit I a thrilled by the news. I am a PVB owner and will either sell my original PVB and buy direct or something similar to get 1 bedrooms. Polynesian is our absolute favorite. We are closing on a resale for CCV which is another favorite too. I would be happy only staying at those and OKW or SSR. Though we do have to do an official stay at RR just to get it in. This location is wonderful though I prefer being closer to the TTC. We were just in a studio with me and my 14 year old only which was fine. If there are 3 of us, we do 2 rooms. Having a 1 or 2 bedroom is our preference.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Their target pricing is leaving most of those buildings half empty, which is why they're turning them into DVC... they don't want to accept the fact that they aren't The Ritz of The Four Seasons, they're "a place to for families to stay while they go ride roller coasters and meet cartoon characters"

That is EXACTLY what happened at wilderness lodge. Couldn’t book it at $350 a night

So they convert it to unthemed DVC, call it something different, and the praetorians gobbled it up at twice the price of the themed block 75 feet away.

Like a scam
Out of a sitcom

 

[flynnibus]

Their target pricing is leaving most of those buildings half empty, which is why they're turning them into DVC... they don't want to accept the fact that they aren't The Ritz of The Four Seasons, they're "a place to for families to stay while they go ride roller coasters and meet cartoon characters"

The post you quoted was talking about dvc

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The post you quoted was talking about dvc

They’re pulling the dvcs mostly from the deluxe inventory they can’t sell. Pretty simple progression there.

 

[correcaminos]

That is EXACTLY what happened at wilderness lodge. Couldn’t book it at $350 a night

So they convert it to unthemed DVC, call it something different, and the praetorians gobbled it up at twice the price of the themed block 75 feet away.

Like a scam
Out of a sitcom

Huh? If you are talking CCV they are themed and we actually quite like them. Stayed there without owning there but decided to add on via resale. Maybe I'm the idiot for liking it, but I thought it was well themed. Better than BRV IMO.

 

[tl77]

I likely am part of the problem, but nothing I said in that post would give any information in that regard.

Everything you said gave me that information... Thinking that buying into a club with yearly dues for an old hotel room with 2 showers was the biggest red flag

But the good news is now that you've acknowledged that you're the problem maybe you can take steps to change

Because you're clearly in the denial if you think everything I tried to tell are "just opinions"

Old Key West, Wilderness Lodge, and Bay Lake Tower always go the fastest... If you don't book an Old Key West Grand Villa at 11 months you won't get one, they have 27 grand villas there and only the people who own there can book at 11 months

And I'm not going to waste my time.... AGAIN... telling you that you could fit more Old Key West style buildings on that space at the Ploy, that they chose to build a smaller cheaper high rise... because you keep ignoring NUMBERS like that...

NUMBERS are FACTS not OPINIONS

Believing that over price tiny rooms that are close to the park are "good" is not only an opinion... it's a problem for both Disney's "Deluxe" Hotels and DVC's ...the "belief/theory" that they can charge anyone anything is the real problem

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Huh? If you are talking CCV they are themed and we actually quite like them. Stayed there without owning there but decided to add on via resale. Maybe I'm the idiot for liking it, but I thought it was well themed. Better than BRV IMO.

Stripped down…but enjoy your stay

 

[tl77]

DVC was originally marketed as home away from home. It has evolved to prepaid hotel.

That's exactly right... DVC was originally marketed as home away from home... "The Welcome Home" Gretting started at Old Key West and now is something they say everywhere on property... but "hotles don't ask you to make a 50 year commitment... it's evolved into what most people accuse timeshares of being "a ponzi scheme"