PHOTOS - Polynesian Resort DVC construction

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I think with Tokelau its about 42%

Wow. That's incredible. And not in a good way. :\

 

[MarkTwain]

Wow. That's incredible. And not in a good way. :\

42% does seem very high. And as I said earlier, it's shocking that Disney would give 42% of the their longterm profits away (subtracting any new construction which seems to be a minority of that figure).

 

[ABQ]

With that addition of Tokelau, @tikiman , how does the overall # of rooms in the entire Poly resort before DVC and after change? Originally it was a pretty modest room count addition, I assume due to those on the water, will the room count go down to a zero net change now? I assume the DVC villas take more space than the traditional Tokelau rooms?

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

With that addition of Tokelau, @tikiman , how does the overall # of rooms in the entire Poly resort before DVC and after change? Originally it was a pretty modest room count addition, I assume due to those on the water, will the room count go down to a zero net change now? I assume the DVC villas take more space than the traditional Tokelau rooms?

And that was my next question! now I'm wondering how it compares to the other resorts with DVC.

 

[R W B]

Many of the GCH projects have been delayed but are still planned.

Any reason why that you know of or how long they are delayed?

 

[fngoofy]

I still don't understand why WDW considers this practice desirable in the first place. I would assume that these rooms being converted, which presumably don't cost more to maintain than any other room on property, are a huge and consistent money-maker for Disney. It's the Polynesian, I'm sure these each of these rooms make hundreds (if not closer to a thousand) dollars a night and almost never go unoccupied. So why they are essentially giving away a lifetime of profits to DVC owners?

I think they have a person with a spreadsheet that knows the maths.

 

[tikiman]

42% does seem very high. And as I said earlier, it's shocking that Disney would give 42% of the their longterm profits away (subtracting any new construction which seems to be a minority of that figure).

That does not include the 20 bungalows. I just figured out the 361 rooms taken out of the total 847 rooms that do not include the 20 bungalows being built.

 

[raymusiccity]

I think they have a person with a spreadsheet that knows the maths.

Spreadsheets are only as reliable as the bean counters putting them together. Look at the accounting boondoggle that accompanied the initial rollout for the Aulani DVC contracts.

 

[tikiman]

With that addition of Tokelau, @tikiman , how does the overall # of rooms in the entire Poly resort before DVC and after change? Originally it was a pretty modest room count addition, I assume due to those on the water, will the room count go down to a zero net change now? I assume the DVC villas take more space than the traditional Tokelau rooms?

With the removal of the 3 longhouses it puts the Polynesian back to the room count it was when it opened in 1971 (486). That number includes the 6 suites in Tonga Longhouse.

The plan to convert Tahiti and Rapa Nui that is currently underway is to make them all studios so the room count in those longhouses will remain the same at 217 for the two longhouses. I just found out last week that they decided to convert Tokelau and it seems it was a last minute decision that was not in any of the original plans. They are telling housekeeping for that longhouse that they will be reassigned very soon.

The question now is are they converting Tokelau because they realize the demand for DVC is not going to be supported by the number of rooms they have, or are they converting it because they need a building to make some one bedroom units. Tahiti and Rapa Nui are already underway with the studio design so that is not going to change now. Tokelau could have a design created to support adding one bedroom units. I have no information that says that is what they are doing with Tokelau, it is just a guess on my part. One negative from that plan would be none of the one bedroom units would have a lagoon or Themepark View. If they did take Tokelau and make some or all one bedroom units than that would obviously cut down on the 144 room total that Tokelau has. Maybe make it 72 one bedroom units or even a mix of one bedroom and studios that could be connected to make a 2 bedroom.

 

[tl77]

With the removal of the 3 longhouses it puts the Polynesian back to the room count it was when it opened in 1971 (486). That number includes the 6 suites in Tonga Longhouse.

The plan to convert Tahiti and Rapa Nui that is currently underway is to make them all studios so the room count in those longhouses will remain the same at 217 for the two longhouses. I just found out last week that they decided to convert Tokelau and it seems it was a last minute decision that was not in any of the original plans. They are telling housekeeping for that longhouse that they will be reassigned very soon.

The question now is are they converting Tokelau because they realize the demand for DVC is not going to be supported by the number of rooms they have, or are they converting it because they need a building to make some one bedroom units. Tahiti and Rapa Nui are already underway with the studio design so that is not going to change now. Tokelau could have a design created to support adding one bedroom units. I have no information that says that is what they are doing with Tokelau, it is just a guess on my part. One negative from that plan would be none of the one bedroom units would have a lagoon or Themepark View. If they did take Tokelau and make some or all one bedroom units than that would obviously cut down on the 144 room total that Tokelau has. Maybe make it 72 one bedroom units or even a mix of one bedroom and studios that could be connected to make a 2 bedroom.

Apparently the Poly was the resort that Vacation Club members most wanted to stay at, so they are probably converting Tokelau to meet some of that demand, but the add on Villas to the different hotels aren't exclusively for DVC members, they can be rented out by any one just like the new Family Villas at The Art of Animation Resort. So it could be there is also a demand by families of 5+ who don't want to rent 2 standard Poly hotel rooms

 

[tikiman]

Apparently the Poly was the resort that Vacation Club members most wanted to stay at, so they are probably converting Tokelau to meet some of that demand, but the add on Villas to the different hotels aren't exclusively for DVC members, they can be rented out by any one just like the new Family Villas at The Art of Animation Resort. So it could be there is also a demand by families of 5+ who don't want to rent 2 standard Poly hotel rooms

Who told you that about the Bungalows?

 

[tl77]

Who told you that about the Bungalows?

I'm not sure what you mean about the Bungalows?

 

[tikiman]

I'm not sure what you mean about the Bungalows?

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you were saying the villas being added to the Polynesian were available to all, not just DVC members. I thought you were speaking about the bungalows because those are the only structures being added. If you were referring to any of the DVC rooms at the Polynesian, I was told that for the Polynesian DVC rooms you will need to use DVC points to book them and they are not available to be booked by just paying cash for them like you can at other DVC.

 

[tl77]

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you were saying the villas being added to the Polynesian were available to all, not just DVC members. I thought you were speaking about the bungalows because those are the only structures being added. If you were referring to any of the DVC rooms at the Polynesian, I was told that for the Polynesian DVC rooms you will need to use DVC points to book them and they are not available to be booked by just paying cash for them like you can at other DVC.

Oh OK, I didn't realize you couldn't pay cash for the Poly DVC Villas, but that fact kind relates to my original point...

I was asking about the long house conversions, I was wondering if they were all being converted to DVC, because they just started this new thing with The Art of Animation Resort they call "Family Suites", which sleep 6 and have a kitchen and sitting area which is in between a standard hotel room and a DVC 2bedroom. These Family Suites aren't part of the DVC, but they are available to use with the DVC member's point system, and they seem like kind of a loop hole they've created for themselves to have large rooms on hand for either DVC members or the general public depending on whoever's interested, and who happens to call first to book them

 

[cspencer96]

These Family Suites aren't part of the DVC, but they are available to use with the DVC member's point system, and they seem like kind of a loop hole they've created for themselves to have large rooms on hand for either DVC members or the general public depending on whoever's interested, and who happens to call first to book them

Most DVC members, I would assume, do not desire to use the Family Suites. Why? Because the "exchange rate" for Points to Cash is insane. Technically, you don't exchange anything, but Disney sets the point values for non-DVC rooms (called the Disney Collection, I think? We never use it, so I can't recall exactly) very high, much higher than you would expect, because (and this is just how I see it) they want us Members to stay in the resorts we actually pay to maintain, not the others. When we use points for a non-DVC room, we essentially are charged higher than rack rate in terms of points. The Family Suites aren't a "loop hole" in my eyes, they are just a larger option for families that don't want to (or can't) pay cash for a Villa accommodation in a DVC resort when they need a room that sleeps more than four. DVC members have their territory already, and they usually enjoy that. The news that @tikiman shared about Poly DVC being member-exclusive is surprising, but good news for us members. It's in high demand, so more supply for us is good. I'm interested in the real reasons why, though.

 

[JLipnick]

Most DVC members, I would assume, do not desire to use the Family Suites. Why? Because the "exchange rate" for Points to Cash is insane. Technically, you don't exchange anything, but Disney sets the point values for non-DVC rooms (called the Disney Collection, I think? We never use it, so I can't recall exactly) very high, much higher than you would expect, because (and this is just how I see it) they want us Members to stay in the resorts we actually pay to maintain, not the others. When we use points for a non-DVC room, we essentially are charged higher than rack rate in terms of points. The Family Suites aren't a "loop hole" in my eyes, they are just a larger option for families that don't want to (or can't) pay cash for a Villa accommodation in a DVC resort when they need a room that sleeps more than four. DVC members have their territory already, and they usually enjoy that. The news that @tikiman shared about Poly DVC being member-exclusive is surprising, but good news for us members. It's in high demand, so more supply for us is good. I'm interested in the real reasons why, though.

As a member, I am very excited to be able to use my points at Polynesian. Always been one of our favorites, but we would never stay at a non-DVC resort due to the abnormally high point rate for non-DVC rooms. I just hope the GCH keeps the feeling of a real Hawaiian resort feel after the remodel.

 

[tl77]

Most DVC members, I would assume, do not desire to use the Family Suites. Why? Because the "exchange rate" for Points to Cash is insane. Technically, you don't exchange anything, but Disney sets the point values for non-DVC rooms (called the Disney Collection, I think? We never use it, so I can't recall exactly) very high, much higher than you would expect, because (and this is just how I see it) they want us Members to stay in the resorts we actually pay to maintain, not the others. When we use points for a non-DVC room, we essentially are charged higher than rack rate in terms of points. The Family Suites aren't a "loop hole" in my eyes, they are just a larger option for families that don't want to (or can't) pay cash for a Villa accommodation in a DVC resort when they need a room that sleeps more than four. DVC members have their territory already, and they usually enjoy that. The news that @tikiman shared about Poly DVC being member-exclusive is surprising, but good news for us members. It's in high demand, so more supply for us is good. I'm interested in the real reasons why, though.

Well you're right that the point exchange rate for a standard hotel room rates isn't so good, but these new Family Suites at the Art of Animation are something different, and part of the appeal of Disney Vacation "CLUB" is that you can stay at any of the Disney locations in Orlando, Vero Beach, Hilton Head, Anaheim, and Hawaii, and different non-Disney timeshares around the world

 

[tikiman]

Tokelau is in the process of clearing out the rooms. It should close in the next few days to be gutted and converted to DVC.

 

[dmbcrush5]

Any info on impact to Kona Café? I'm planning to eat there in early November and am really hoping that it's going to be open!

 

[tikiman]

Any info on impact to Kona Café? I'm planning to eat there in early November and am really hoping that it's going to be open!

I've heard a lot of things that I can't confirm but sounds like there might be some major changes.