News New Polynesian Resort DVC villas building to open 2024

[monothingie]

Can we please just focus on why the Poly Tower is an architectural abomination?

 

[ToTBellHop]

I was just using the term the person who brought the topic up a few minutes ago used.

But you are wrong! People who don’t stay at the poly can visit the poly! Also, there’s a walkway between poly and GF should people be able to walk between the different resorts just to enjoy the ambiance of the other resort even though they aren’t staying there?

The term is completely fair and that pathway was in place for years until Disney decided it no longer wanted it in place

That bridge was there so that SoG guests could use the facilities AT the Poly (meaning pay for Disney food at its restaurants, thus providing more dining options to guests at SoG). It’s the same reason why they have a boat between Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness, and Comtemporary. It was never the intention that people would freeload and use better transportation options. I presume Disney has found that the cost of transporting these guests from Poly are greater than the profits from these guests eating at Kona.

With the arrival of social media, people started telling others to “steal” benefits from a hotel they aren’t staying at and this has led to Disney restricting its rules for hotel visitation in recent years. As examples, the use of wristbands at more pool areas and ever-increasing restrictions on parking at resorts. These strategies were unnecessary in the 80s and 90s but it has reached the point where too many people take advantage of loopholes so they must be closed. Gone are the days of booking Kona for dinner and parking at Poly all day while you’re in Magic Kingdom.

 

[Disneylover69]

SOG has it's own facilities and transportation...Why is this an issue at all? I am sure Disney doesn't view the Veteran guests as Riff-Raff...that is awful. If they didn't want them there they would have never sold them the old Disney Inn/Golf Resort to begin with...

Disney owns the land SOG is located on and the military has operated it since the 1990’s. It’s an issue because Disney unilaterally closed a much beloved walkway used by people staying there without providing any alternative. Now if someone wants to eat at the poly instead of just walking over they have to take a bus to the TCC, go through security, then take the monorail over or walk over. Then go through same thing going back Now godforbid they have a stroller and the task is that more burdensome.

 

[gerarar]

 

[Disneylover69]

That bridge was there so that SoG guests could use the facilities AT the Poly (meaning pay for Disney food at its restaurants, thus providing more dining options to guests at SoG). It’s the same reason why they have a boat between Wilderness Lodge, Fort Wilderness, and Comtemporary. It was never the intention that people would freeload and use better transportation options. I presume Disney has found that the cost of transporting these guests from Poly are greater than the profits from these guests eating at Kona.

With the arrival of social media, people started telling others to “steal” benefits from a hotel they aren’t staying at and this has led to Disney restricting its rules for hotel visitation in recent years. As examples, the use of wristbands at more pool areas and ever-increasing restrictions on parking at resorts. These strategies were unnecessary in the 80s and 90s but it has reached the point where too many people take advantage of loopholes so they must be closed. Gone are the days of booking Kona for dinner and parking at Poly all day while you’re in Magic Kingdom.

Exactly Disney doesn’t want the free-loading riff raff people staying at shades of green going over to the poly and using their transportation options.

I do agree that tik tok is a huge issue and makes life miserable in many respects.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I'll be interested to see it in person. The design cues lifted directly from Destino are a bit surprising. I can't help unsee the similarities. And I like Destino a lot - but it feels like a great convention hotel. Not an island escape.

Overall, on pictures, I would say:

Rooms - A-
Restaurant - B+
Lobby - B (would be an A if it didn't look like a recycled Destino)
Exterior - C-
Pool - D
Scale/Integration with Poly - C-

This isn't bad. It just feels like they don't care about making anything really unique or special, especially from the exterior. It's similar to the big blue box, painted grey box of Tron, etc. Obviously, this is much more decorated than those. But, they take you out of the immersion. It just feels more soulless than I would want from Disney Parks.

 

[monothingie]

I'll be interested to see it in person. The design cues lifted directly from Destino are a bit surprising. I can't help unsee the similarities. And I like Destino a lot - but it feels like a great convention hotel. Not an island escape.

Overall, on pictures, I would say:

Rooms - A-
Restaurant - B+
Lobby - B (would be an A if it didn't look like a recycled Destino)
Exterior - C-
Pool - D
Scale/Integration with Poly - C-

This isn't bad. It just feels like they don't care about making anything really unique or special, especially from the exterior. It's similar to the big blue box, painted grey box of Tron, etc. Obviously, this is much more decorated than those. But, they take you out of the immersion. It just feels more soulless than I would want from Disney Parks.

I think the pictures of the Lobby throw the scale off and make it look much larger than it actually is.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I'll be interested to see it in person. The design cues lifted directly from Destino are a bit surprising. I can't help unsee the similarities. And I like Destino a lot - but it feels like a great convention hotel. Not an island escape.

Overall, on pictures, I would say:

Rooms - A-
Restaurant - B+
Lobby - B (would be an A if it didn't look like a recycled Destino)
Exterior - C-
Pool - D
Scale/Integration with Poly - C-

This isn't bad. It just feels like they don't care about making anything really unique or special, especially from the exterior. It's similar to the big blue box, painted grey box of Tron, etc. Obviously, this is much more decorated than those. But, they take you out of the immersion. It just feels more soulless than I would want from Disney Parks.

To me, the pool is about as good as the other DVC pool. Volcano pool is where it’s at. Glad Poly gets another hot tub and its own gym. Still should’ve included a QSR, however.

The splash pad is pretty lame but there’s a great one nearby, anyway.

 

[Disneylover69]

I'll be interested to see it in person. The design cues lifted directly from Destino are a bit surprising. I can't help unsee the similarities. And I like Destino a lot - but it feels like a great convention hotel. Not an island escape.

Overall, on pictures, I would say:

Rooms - A-
Restaurant - B+
Lobby - B (would be an A if it didn't look like a recycled Destino)
Exterior - C-
Pool - D
Scale/Integration with Poly - C-

This isn't bad. It just feels like they don't care about making anything really unique or special, especially from the exterior. It's similar to the big blue box, painted grey box of Tron, etc. Obviously, this is much more decorated than those. But, they take you out of the immersion. It just feels more soulless than I would want from Disney Parks.

They also could have included a kids playground. I’m not sure why none of the monorail resorts don’t have a kids playground whereas many other resorts do have them.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I think the pictures of the Lobby throw the scale off and make it look much larger than it actually is.

Oh yes. The scale is nowhere near Destino. But, the glass railing, the general cut outs in the architecture, the wall appliques and even the cluster of columns from the ceiling. There are just a number of elements that overlap to my eye.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

To me, the pool is about as good as the other DVC pool. Volcano pool is where it’s at. Glad Poly gets another hot tub and its own gym. Still should’ve included a QSR, however.

The splash pad is pretty lame but there’s a great one nearby, anyway.

Interesting take. And, yes - adding amenities is good. (And agreed fully on the QSR.)

Just thinking out loud on the pools... The issue is this feels like it should be a feature pool to me. We already have the secondary quiet pool. I don't think it needs the slides and all that. But, I would have expected more landscaping (if not theme), especially for the Poly. Boulder Ridge and GFV have simpler pools, too - but they at least feel like they fit the theme better. I do agree BCV, BLT and certainly Riviera suffer from a similar design. But, I have the same issues with those as well, especially Riviera.

 

[monothingie]

To me, the pool is about as good as the other DVC pool. Volcano pool is where it’s at. Glad Poly gets another hot tub and its own gym. Still should’ve included a QSR, however.

The splash pad is pretty lame but there’s a great one nearby, anyway.

The two places where most people are going to spend time is in the pool and room. The room layout (studio and 1-Bedroom) and decor feels like a college dorm. It looks cheap and fake. The pool is just a standard pool, in fairness to them though, there really wasn't anything more they could have done with it spice it up because of the limited space it was squeezed into.

 

[Disneylover69]

The two places where most people are going to spend time is in the pool and room. The room layout (studio and 1-Bedroom) and decor feels like a college dorm. It looks cheap and fake. The pool is just a standard pool, in fairness to them though, there really wasn't anything more they could have done with it spice it up because of the limited space it was squeezed into.

They have that dangerous splash pad too

 

[Casper Gutman]

But, why? It’s okay for the monorail resorts to have the best features. They could have built a bridge to allow us to walk from Wilderness Lodge to Contemporary and on to MK but chose not to. Could have added a monorail station there if they wanted to, as well. They chose not to because the Lodge was originally designed to be a tier below the monorail resorts (and cheaper).

They can and should provide the best experience at their most expensive resorts. Why else would you book the Grand?

Not for nothing, Poly is huge now. I’d be angry if I paid to stay there and had to wait 45 minutes for a monorail because people are walking over. I hate when I see that people at Swolphin go over to Boardwalk to use their busses because the Swolphin service sucks. Swolphin decided to stop paying for Disney busses. Guests staying there should use the busses they are paying for.

Disney still provides substantial benefits to veterans and active duty military.

I stay at Sapphire Falls a lot but I don’t get indignant because I have longer waits for the boat because Cabana and Aventura guests use it. I’ve stayed at all the pre-AoA Disney resorts and never once thought about how awful it would be if outsiders were using the amenities.

You may want to examine the opinions you posted. They don’t look great.

 

[monothingie]

I stay at Sapphire Falls a lot but I don’t get indignant because I have longer waits for the boat because Cabana and Aventura guests use it. I’ve stayed at all the pre-AoA Disney resorts and never once thought about how awful it would be if outsiders were using the amenities.

You may want to examine the opinions you posted. They don’t look great.

This is really silly. @ToTBellHop is 100% correct. The features of the resort are for guests of the resort. Everyone else should be and are turned away equally regardless of where they stay.

The real outrage should be directed at SOG for not having transportation options that meet their guest's requirements.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I stay at Sapphire Falls a lot but I don’t get indignant because I have longer waits for the boat because Cabana and Aventura guests use it. I’ve stayed at all the pre-AoA Disney resorts and never once thought about how awful it would be if outsiders were using the amenities.

You may want to examine the opinions you posted. They don’t look great.

Nah, I’m good with my opinions. Resorts that charge $900 per night should have better amenities than those charging $300 per night. I am astounded that this isn’t obvious to everyone.

Military can save 25-30% at just about every deluxe resort through the end of 2025 if they’d like those amenities. I really don’t think they mistreat the military. I think there’s a park ticket deal, too.

 

[Disneylover69]

This is really silly. @ToTBellHop is 100% correct. The features of the resort are for guests of the resort. Everyone else should be and are turned away equally regardless of where they stay.

The real outrage should be directed at SOG for not having transportation options that meet their guest's requirements.

It’s not silly at all. SOG had the appropriate transportation in place until Disney unilaterally got rid of it. That walkway has been there for DECADES! It’s silly to go and get rid of it and be like oh well they don’t deserve to have it anyways the plebs can figure it out.

The feature of the resort are NOT only for guests of that specific resort except for things like their room, pool and fitness center, transportation and food places, all people are welcome.

Your post completely ignores how Disney operates and is just very silly

 

[monothingie]

It’s not silly at all. SOG had the appropriate transportation in place until Disney unilaterally got rid of it. That walkway has been there for DECADES! It’s silly to go and get rid of it and be like oh well they don’t deserve to have it anyways the plebs can figure it out.

It was likely more economical for SOG to use another provider, unfortunately that decision was not in the better interest of guests.

The walkway is no longer there because a highway being built in the existing roadways place. I'm sure if SOG was willing to foot the bill to install a tunnel or pedestrian bridge it would have had a good possibility of being installed. But again it was a cost/benefit decision by SOG to evaluate the number of their guests using it versus the tremendous cost to install it.

The feature of the resort are NOT only for guests of that specific resort except for things like their room, pool and fitness center, transportation and food places, all people are welcome.

Your post completely ignores how Disney operates and is just very silly

The resorts are private property. The big sign on the entrance gate says only resort guests and those with confirmed dining reservations will be admitted. The only way I'm getting there if I'm not of the above categories is taking Disney Transportation or Walking from the TTC to get there.

 

[Disneylover69]

It was likely more economical for SOG to use another provider, unfortunately that decision was not in the better interest of guests.

The walkway is no longer there because a highway being built in the existing roadways place. I'm sure if SOG was willing to foot the bill to install a tunnel or pedestrian bridge it would have had a good possibility of being installed. But again it was a cost/benefit decision by SOG to evaluate the number of their guests using it versus the tremendous cost to install it.

The resorts are private property. The big sign on the entrance gate says only resort guests and those with confirmed dining reservations will be admitted. The only way I'm getting there if I'm not of the above categories is taking Disney Transportation or Walking from the TTC to get there.

The entire Disney property is private property! Not just the resorts. The other way is walking from grand Floridian. There’s actually a lot of ways to get to the poly. You can go to Disney springs and take a bus also! Or go to any theme park and take a bus. Disney is very much an open transportation grid, just not with parking as obviously the resorts wouldn’t be able to accompany all the cars who want to park otherwise.

I am not sure about the financial aspects of a substitute, I just know it was there and now it isn’t.

 

[monothingie]

The entire Disney property is private property! Not just the resorts. The other way is walking from grand Floridian. There’s actually a lot of ways to get to the poly. You can go to Disney springs and take a bus also! Or go to any theme park and take a bus. Disney is very much an open transportation grid, just not with parking as obviously the resorts wouldn’t be able to accompany all the cars who want to park otherwise.

I am not sure about the financial aspects of a substitute, I just know it was there and now it isn’t.

While the most parcels are owned by TWDC, most roads and all of the highways and most other utility infrastructure are maintained by CFTOD (RCID) and are considered public.