The Gaylord hotels are lovely IMO. I used to live in Nashville where they have one of theirs called the Opryland Hotel, it's quite gorgeous as well. That seems to be the case with all of their hotels. They have really huge atriums that are enclosed with a glass ceiling, often with tons of plants and water features. And usually also with a charming little shopping district to walk around in. All INSIDE the hotel. Here's a couple of pics from the Opryland Hotel Gaylord (google image search it, it's a really gorgeous hotel and they also decorate really well at Christmas)-
As I recall, you have to pay to park if you aren't a hotel guest.
Don't.
I've done lots of conventions there
And your head and neck thank you...
) is on the brink of insulting the feelings of those guests who know what it used to be. I mean it couldn't be any smaller, could it? It would fit into our living room without a problem and our living room is not very large. Even the wanna-be-Tiki statue looks really terrible, honestly WDI, take a look at a good book about Tiki culture or JUST WALK AROUND THE PRESENT POLY and you will see how untikiish this statue looks like. WDI hits rock bottom with this "new" lobby.
And your head and neck thank you...
I've been on two: Hangman (now Kong) and Serial Thriller (now Thunderhawk).
I've had enough for this lifetime...
I emailed it in as I just quickly fired it off from work.
This is what It's all about, Disney!!As an architect who has already designed a few hotels (though none of them was built so far or I could have afforded the Poly a little more often) I can assure you, that the lobby design works, it's not about the positioning of the waterfalls and tropical garden (the "rainforest"), it's about the capacity of the lobby, about floor area and the size of the reception. Positioning the garden feature in the center makes pretty much sense anyway in a building that has an atrium design! A good hotel lobby in a holiday resort (the Poly is neither a convention resort nor an airport or city hotel) is not about rational functionality but about atmosphere, immersion and theming. Becket had done a brillant job there (not in the longhouses because the prefabricated room modules turned out to be a flawed design idea) in the late 1960ies, when actually the Tiki Culture was already in decline (Walt loved Tiki Culture when it was on it's zenith in the 1960ies, the Poly is one result, the Tiki Room the other) Today hundreds or even thousands of hotels worldwide feature an atrium etc. with a garden, waterfalls or other water features. The Poly was one of the first of it's kind in an era of architecture that was still dominated by the cold and functional International Style. The new design is far more functional, it reduces the lobby from a location where you like to stay and spend time (the German technical term is "Aufenthaltsqualität" meaning the quality of sojourn, how much do you like to stay at a place or room) to a mere traffic space, you rush through, the suites with the sofas to the left and right are not placed around something, they are placed a the side, out of the way. Everything looks like they wanted to create a runway for the guests. If I remember the time I spent an the Poly lobby just by sitting there, doing nothing but people watching and inhaling the atmosphere of the place, the new design is nothing less than a desaster. There is nothing to discover anymore. When you come in the Poly now, you walk around the rain forest, you want to see it from all sides, you want to find out what is behind, where can you go, there is something to discover.
The new lobby is a bean counters lobby, easy to maintain, functional, without anything special, without anything unique, without any magic, totally UNDISNEYISH! The mini-fountain, as a very poor substitute for the gone rainforest (how ironic - SAVE THE RAINFOREST!
BTW, Tiki Culture has a revival since the late 1990ies (which hit me right on, I love it!) which brought back Tiki bars etc. in many cities of the western world. And waterfalls are an absolute essential element of Tiki styled locations. Take them out (there are four in the GCH rain forest atrium) and the Poly has lost it's Tiki character. I am quite sure Walt would be not amused although he never saw the finished Poly. But he wouldn't be amused about almost everything TDO does in his name so what does it matter anyway. So TDO, take away the waterfall and volcano from the Nanea Pool as well and replace it with some cheap fake rockworks, easy to clean, I am quite sure it is too expensive to maintain too and you could save some bucks here as well. And after you did it don't forget to raise the room rates!
The only solace to me is, that I will NEVER again have to fight the urge to stay there despite the insane room rates. With actually sub-par rooms concerning cleanliness and mousekeeping and with outdated and loud ACs (at least in the Fiji LH) what reason do I have to pay these prices anymore?
As an architect who has already designed a few hotels (though none of them was built so far or I could have afforded the Poly a little more often) I can assure you, that the lobby design works, it's not about the positioning of the waterfalls and tropical garden (the "rainforest"), it's about the capacity of the lobby, about floor area and the size of the reception. Positioning the garden feature in the center makes pretty much sense anyway in a building that has an atrium design! A good hotel lobby in a holiday resort (the Poly is neither a convention resort nor an airport or city hotel) is not about rational functionality but about atmosphere, immersion and theming. Becket had done a brillant job there (not in the longhouses because the prefabricated room modules turned out to be a flawed design idea) in the late 1960ies, when actually the Tiki Culture was already in decline (Walt loved Tiki Culture when it was on it's zenith in the 1960ies, the Poly is one result, the Tiki Room the other) Today hundreds or even thousands of hotels worldwide feature an atrium etc. with a garden, waterfalls or other water features. The Poly was one of the first of it's kind in an era of architecture that was still dominated by the cold and functional International Style. The new design is far more functional, it reduces the lobby from a location where you like to stay and spend time (the German technical term is "Aufenthaltsqualität" meaning the quality of sojourn, how much do you like to stay at a place or room) to a mere traffic space, you rush through, the suites with the sofas to the left and right are not placed around something, they are placed a the side, out of the way. Everything looks like they wanted to create a runway for the guests. If I remember the time I spent an the Poly lobby just by sitting there, doing nothing but people watching and inhaling the atmosphere of the place, the new design is nothing less than a desaster. There is nothing to discover anymore. When you come in the Poly now, you walk around the rain forest, you want to see it from all sides, you want to find out what is behind, where can you go, there is something to discover.
The new lobby is a bean counters lobby, easy to maintain, functional, without anything special, without anything unique, without any magic, totally UNDISNEYISH! The mini-fountain, as a very poor substitute for the gone rainforest (how ironic - SAVE THE RAINFOREST!
BTW, Tiki Culture has a revival since the late 1990ies (which hit me right on, I love it!) which brought back Tiki bars etc. in many cities of the western world. And waterfalls are an absolute essential element of Tiki styled locations. Take them out (there are four in the GCH rain forest atrium) and the Poly has lost it's Tiki character. I am quite sure Walt would be not amused although he never saw the finished Poly. But he wouldn't be amused about almost everything TDO does in his name so what does it matter anyway. So TDO, take away the waterfall and volcano from the Nanea Pool as well and replace it with some cheap fake rockworks, easy to clean, I am quite sure it is too expensive to maintain too and you could save some bucks here as well. And after you did it don't forget to raise the room rates!
The only solace to me is, that I will NEVER again have to fight the urge to stay there despite the insane room rates. With actually sub-par rooms concerning cleanliness and mousekeeping and with outdated and loud ACs (at least in the Fiji LH) what reason do I have to pay these prices anymore?
Thank you, Spike-in-Berlin!As an architect who has already designed a few hotels (though none of them was built so far or I could have afforded the Poly a little more often) I can assure you, that the lobby design works, it's not about the positioning of the waterfalls and tropical garden (the "rainforest"), it's about the capacity of the lobby, about floor area and the size of the reception. Positioning the garden feature in the center makes pretty much sense anyway in a building that has an atrium design! A good hotel lobby in a holiday resort (the Poly is neither a convention resort nor an airport or city hotel) is not about rational functionality but about atmosphere, immersion and theming. Becket had done a brillant job there (not in the longhouses because the prefabricated room modules turned out to be a flawed design idea) in the late 1960ies, when actually the Tiki Culture was already in decline (Walt loved Tiki Culture when it was on it's zenith in the 1960ies, the Poly is one result, the Tiki Room the other) Today hundreds or even thousands of hotels worldwide feature an atrium etc. with a garden, waterfalls or other water features. The Poly was one of the first of it's kind in an era of architecture that was still dominated by the cold and functional International Style. The new design is far more functional, it reduces the lobby from a location where you like to stay and spend time (the German technical term is "Aufenthaltsqualität" meaning the quality of sojourn, how much do you like to stay at a place or room) to a mere traffic space, you rush through, the suites with the sofas to the left and right are not placed around something, they are placed a the side, out of the way. Everything looks like they wanted to create a runway for the guests. If I remember the time I spent an the Poly lobby just by sitting there, doing nothing but people watching and inhaling the atmosphere of the place, the new design is nothing less than a desaster. There is nothing to discover anymore. When you come in the Poly now, you walk around the rain forest, you want to see it from all sides, you want to find out what is behind, where can you go, there is something to discover.
The new lobby is a bean counters lobby, easy to maintain, functional, without anything special, without anything unique, without any magic, totally UNDISNEYISH! The mini-fountain, as a very poor substitute for the gone rainforest (how ironic - SAVE THE RAINFOREST!
BTW, Tiki Culture has a revival since the late 1990ies (which hit me right on, I love it!) which brought back Tiki bars etc. in many cities of the western world. And waterfalls are an absolute essential element of Tiki styled locations. Take them out (there are four in the GCH rain forest atrium) and the Poly has lost it's Tiki character. I am quite sure Walt would be not amused although he never saw the finished Poly. But he wouldn't be amused about almost everything TDO does in his name so what does it matter anyway. So TDO, take away the waterfall and volcano from the Nanea Pool as well and replace it with some cheap fake rockworks, easy to clean, I am quite sure it is too expensive to maintain too and you could save some bucks here as well. And after you did it don't forget to raise the room rates!
The only solace to me is, that I will NEVER again have to fight the urge to stay there despite the insane room rates. With actually sub-par rooms concerning cleanliness and mousekeeping and with outdated and loud ACs (at least in the Fiji LH) what reason do I have to pay these prices anymore?
I love the staircase, and the dark walls!
