News New Polynesian Resort DVC villas building to open 2024

[Disneylover69]

This is basically the same reason that it's incredibly unlikely Disney would ever charge a separate fee to use bus service or other transit. It would cause too much bottlenecking to check every single guest and would slow down service tremendously (which would then cause people to not buy it because it wouldn't be worth the price).

It's much easier to just raise room rates, add resort fees, etc. and cover it that way.

Resort fees what would be the point of those as compared to raising room rates with regards to Disney

 

[FiestaFunKid]

The hotel room numbers alone likely couldn’t sustain it. Plus it would just encourage others to do what manyyyyy complain about

I don't know about the logistics, but an expanded pool with slide a bar/quick food option (as with BLT), include Dole Whip, could have been useful to keep some stress off the main pool and ceremonial house. You can put the pool and bar behind key/band access to limit resort hopping motivation.

Perhaps a pool bar with food could still be added someday.

 

[Disneylover69]

I don't know about the logistics, but an expanded pool with slide a bar/quick food option (as with BLT), include Dole Whips, could have been useful to keep stress off the main pool and ceremonial house. You can put the pool and bar behind key/band access to limit resort hopping motivation.

Perhaps the bar with food could still be added someday,

I agree with you that a quick service would be nice, but would it have enough people going to it to make it worthwhile. It would likely require people not staying in the tower to frequent it to make it busy enough to justify

 

[Horizons '83]

A month ago I stayed at AKL and I resort hopped. I visited: Cont/Poly/Grand Flo/WL both with and without reservations for a meal. Not one time were there any barriers of entry other than getting to the MK bus stop.

This is what we do all the time, its one our favorite things to do. I don't necessarily need to stay the Grand or Poly with prices the way they are, you can still enjoy everything those resorts have to offer without paying $700 to $1,000 a night. We will be staying at AKL for the first time in February and we're quite excited.

 

[FiestaFunKid]

I don't know about the logistics, but an expanded pool with slide a bar/quick food option (as with BLT), include Dole Whips, could have been useful to keep stress off the main pool and ceremonial house. You can put the pool and bar behind key/band access to limit resort hopping motivation.

I agree with you that a quick service would be nice, but would it have enough people going to it to make it worthwhile. It would likely require people not staying in the tower to frequent it to make it busy enough to justify

Agree that a full Cook's style quick service may be tough, but a smallish poolside location like BLT or Beachclub pull off seems doable to me, especially with the crowd gathering around the pool.

 

[flyerjab]

We visited yesterday. The lobby is stunning and the atmosphere of the Waillulu Bar and Grille is wonderful as both an indoor and outdoor location. The outdoor section will be a vibe after sundown. The gym is great as well. It has a lot of equipment and space.

We mobile ordered and ate at the pool deck. Basically a quiet pool, although it does have a ledge around the entire perimeter, including what they call a sun shelf at the one side. My wife had the tuna poke bowl and I had the chicken (highly recommended). Both of them were excellent.

We were staring at Saratoga Springs so we checked out the rooms at the preview center. Some things that stood out: they are not as monochromatic as photos would have you think; the art work is beautiful; the walls and other finishes have a textured look which adds depth to the design of the rooms; the deluxe studios have an expanded kitchenette with a small dishwasher.

All in all, we both felt it was gorgeous and adds more to the Poly than takes away from it. Truly beautiful and can’t wait to stay there in March.

 

[JD80]

This is what we do all the time, its one our favorite things to do. I don't necessarily need to stay the Grand or Poly with prices the way they are, you can still enjoy everything those resorts have to offer without paying $700 to $1,000 a night. We will be staying at AKL for the first time in February and we're quite excited.

AKL is basically an offsite hotel. It's 15-20 minutes to any park not AK. Amazing resort though.

 

[Horizons '83]

AKL is basically an offsite hotel. It's 15-20 minutes to any park not AK. Amazing resort though.

It is, that its biggest drawback, but we will only be doing 1 park day, so its a non-issue.

 

[ToTBellHop]

AKL is basically an offsite hotel. It's 15-20 minutes to any park not AK. Amazing resort though.

We stayed there 1 night before a cruise and it was lovely to just enjoy the resort.


I wouldn’t stay there for a week. The busses would get to me.

 

[donaldtoo]

This is what we do all the time, its one our favorite things to do. I don't necessarily need to stay the Grand or Poly with prices the way they are, you can still enjoy everything those resorts have to offer without paying $700 to $1,000 a night. We will be staying at AKL for the first time in February and we're quite excited.

We do this, as well.
We stayed at AKL (Jambo House) for 5 nights on our family (8 of us - myself, DWifey, oldest DD, SonIL, 2 young granddaughters, DS and youngest DD) trip in Oct. of ‘23, and loved it…!!!
It was our first ever stay at a deluxe, and we had no bus issues. We only had 2 park days (MK for oldest granddaughters 5th birthday, and Epcot for DS’s 31st birthday), but used the busses every day, including going to Disney Springs, catching a bus to MK to catch a monorail to the Poly for an ‘Ohana Character Breakfast then visiting the other monorail resorts, etc.
I’ve always heard stories about the bus issues regarding AKL, but we, honestly, had none.
Plus, we found plenty to do around the beautiful resort while we weren’t doing other things…!!!

Hope y’all enjoy y’all’s upcoming stay there as much as we enjoyed ours…!!!

 

[doctornick]

I don't know about the logistics, but an expanded pool with slide a bar/quick food option (as with BLT), include Dole Whip, could have been useful to keep some stress off the main pool and ceremonial house. You can put the pool and bar behind key/band access to limit resort hopping motivation.

Perhaps a pool bar with food could still be added someday.

That is basically what I was thinking. A quick serve near the pool that functioned as a pool food/bar but with proper orientation could also be the place to pick up snacks or a light meal for something in the hotel not using the bar. Wouldn't have to be a huge footprint or anything overly substantial.

Or even just a coffee bar setup in the lobby with a few food items.

 

[nickys]

That is basically what I was thinking. A quick serve near the pool that functioned as a pool

Or even just a coffee bar setup in the lobby with a few food items.

I don’t really see the point of a coffee bar in a wholly DVC building where every room has a coffee maker and fridge.

But a QS definitely should have been included.

Is there anywhere to refill mugs?

 

[ToTBellHop]

I don’t really see the point of a coffee bar in a wholly DVC building where every room has a coffee maker and fridge.

But a QS definitely should have been included.

Is there anywhere to refill mugs?

Yes, there are a couple Freestyle machines.

Why not have a pool bar with food like Kidani has by its pool? Works great..

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Just like how Disney made sure there was still a walkway that connected poly to GF they could have done the same here! That’s of course if they wanted too

Not really the alternate walkway was closed for a segment time, and even then when one was opened it wasn't really ideal as the ridiculous ways they made you have to cross the street. They could of built temporary bridges also there but did not.

 

[rle4lunch]

We stayed there 1 night before a cruise and it was lovely to just enjoy the resort.


I wouldn’t stay there for a week. The busses would get to me.

Yep, that's the biggest drawback. Especially if you have a family member that often goes with us who needs a scooter.... ugh. We did a split stay there with a savannah view and it was nice. Big rooms, and the TSR was excellent (bread!). The hallways to get out of the place felt like a 10 minute walk in itself though.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Yep, that's the biggest drawback. Especially if you have a family member that often goes with us who needs a scooter.... ugh. We did a split stay there with a savannah view and it was nice. Big rooms, and the TSR was excellent (bread!). The hallways to get out of the place felt like a 10 minute walk in itself though.

Been there twice and always at the end of a wing. Half-mile walk to the lobby! It’s fine for a night when you are happy to stroll and watch zebras but there reaches a point in your vacation where the room is just a bed and your goal is to get to the parks. At that point, long walks and busses everywhere gets old. So we move somewhere with a more desirable location. Crescent Lake is my favorite location for a full week, honestly. Followed by Bay Lake. Location, location, location.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Lobby looks better than I expected but still too generic IMO. One thing I can't tell from the photos is where the front desk is in the tower? For those that have been there, is there even a front desk or will they just have CMs standing in the lobby with ipads?

nope, not a front desk in site other than what you described, and then a small setup for DVC as usual.

 

[ToTBellHop]

nope, not a front desk in site other than what you described, and then a small setup for DVC as usual.

I presume no baggage handling so, in practice, most guests need to check in at GCH?

I do love BLT’s set-up in this regard. No need to venture in the A frame with the look-e-loos.

Oh, look! Another dude who came over from MK searching the ground floor for Chef Mickey’s!

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

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.

I have not seen The Swolphin bus service suck, I find sometimes they get you to where you want to go faster than the Disney buses. As for those guests going to Boardwalk for the bus is not an improvement either unless you want to be dropped off at the center central area of Disney Springs or want to arrive at Magic Kingdom gate instead of TTC. One Disney buse sharing three resorts all deluxes for Disney Spring's is as ridiculous as one bus for all three All Star Resorts until they finally changed that. The Swolphin at least have Mears Tour Buses for it's three.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I have not seen The Swolphin bus service suck, I find sometimes they get you to where you want to go faster than the Disney buses. As for those guests going to Boardwalk for the bus is not an improvement either unless you want to be dropped off at the center central area of Disney Springs or want to arrive at Magic Kingdom gate instead of TTC.

Swan and Dolphin social media groups are filled with people who refuse to take the MK bus to TTC and just go to BW. It’s BS. Those swans should vaporize these people with their lasers as originally planned.