News Refurbishment coming soon to Disney's Polynesian Village Resort - Moana details to be included

[CaptainAmerica]

If I only had those two to chose from, the latter one would be it. The first one looks like a kids room (a fun one, but a kids room!)

That's exactly how I feel. To me, that room looks much more cartoon-y than the new Poly rooms, despite the latter being literally themed based on an animated film.

 

[MrPromey]

Hotel rooms don't really have "themes," as such. That's not really a thing.

I guess someone should have tipped off the folks working on the Galactic Starcruiser that this is the case. From the sounds of what you're saying, they really screwed up the rooms on this new deluxe experience they're building.

... I know - "but, but, but that doesn't count because... reasons" :eyeroll

 

[dreday3]

I guess someone should have tipped off the folks working on the Galactic Starcruiser that this is the case. From the sounds of what you're saying, they really screwed up the rooms on this new deluxe experience they're building.

... I know - "but, but, but that doesn't count because... reasons" :eyeroll

Well, yes it's a hotel, but I mean - it's an immersive experience, the hotel actually playing a part of that.

I do think some other hotels have themes, though mostly just touches here and there, unless Disney. Although really, only hotels associated with theme parks.

Except that one in California - the rooms are space, jungles, other stuff...

 

[GimpYancIent]

I guess someone should have tipped off the folks working on the Galactic Starcruiser that this is the case. From the sounds of what you're saying, they really screwed up the rooms on this new deluxe experience they're building.

... I know - "but, but, but that doesn't count because... reasons" :eyeroll

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, to reiterate what has been said soooo many times the "Galactic Star Cruiser" is not a Hotel" it is an experience. Oh yea, without a pool.

 

[el_super]

... I know - "but, but, but that doesn't count because... reasons" :eyeroll

I'm really curious what people think would be "in theme" for the Polynesian? Bamboo walls? Plastic Flowers? Maybe the beds should be made out of thatching?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I guess someone should have tipped off the folks working on the Galactic Starcruiser that this is the case. From the sounds of what you're saying, they really screwed up the rooms on this new deluxe experience they're building.

... I know - "but, but, but that doesn't count because... reasons" :eyeroll

That's literally not a hotel, it's a LARP game.

Also, the actual ROOMS on the Galactic Starcruiser are going to be themed like... bedrooms on a spaceship. Just like the rooms at the Polynesian Village Resort are themed like... hotel rooms in a Polynesian village resort.

I'm really curious what people think would be "in theme" for the Polynesian? Bamboo walls? Plastic Flowers? Maybe the beds should be made out of thatching?

Exactly! Go to any nice hotel in Hawaii or Fiji or Somoa and it's not going to look like whatever goofiness these people are imagining.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Well, yes it's a hotel, but I mean - it's an immersive experience, the hotel actually playing a part of that.

I do think some other hotels have themes, though mostly just touches here and there, unless Disney. Although really, only hotels associated with theme parks.

Except that one in California - the rooms are space, jungles, other stuff...

I also tend to think the theming in the hotels has always been a different beast to what existed in the theme parks. For example, your room at the Caribbean Beach Resort is supposed to seem like a Caribbean-themed hotel room not a traditional Bahamian dwelling. That's why it really doesn't bother me when they update them from, for example, the over-the-top style of the 1990s to one more in line with current tastes.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I'm really curious what people think would be "in theme" for the Polynesian? Bamboo walls? Plastic Flowers? Maybe the beds should be made out of thatching?

Bamboo walls could be a start!

 

[MrPromey]

Well, yes it's a hotel, but I mean - it's an immersive experience, the hotel actually playing a part of that.

I do think some other hotels have themes, though mostly just touches here and there, unless Disney.

I knew the arbitrary "but" was coming!

You know, before Disney started de-theming their resorts and cheapening out like this with what looks like basically a vinyl wall-wrap, a lot of people would say that what they are doing with Star Wars is taking their themed resort building to the next level.

Now apparently, existing themed resorts are only themed tastefully on the outside and the inside is either nothing or IP literally so big it spans an entire wall. The later is what we've come to expect from value-style resorts - big in your face stuff. You paid to stay at a Disney resort, so I guess it's important when you post that selfie in front of the main wall that your friends all pick up that it was a Disney room because look - the stylized illustration of the Rock is there!

Times change. Styles change and obviously the rooms need to be updated. We've seen plenty of hideous pictures in this thread of old rooms that reflect styles from other periods thst clearly fell out of favor but the heavy-handed addition of the cartoon is what bothers me most.

To be fair, again, the rooms definitely needed an update but small Moana touches would be things like unique light fixtures (the shade on the ceiling lamp is, in my opinion, a good example of this) or knobs on dressers - simple easy to spot easter egg types of things that would feel special when guests noticed them like they "get it" - not an entire wall covered with it along with framed pictures everywhere else, just in case you missed the wall.

Personally, I think the new rooms look nice. I think they would look nicer without that wall and the framed cartoon pictures but that's just me.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Bamboo walls could be a start!

Dude that's not a thing. Polynesian hotels don't have bamboo walls.

(Go ahead, I'm sure you're going to Google "bamboo hotel walls" and find the one example of some place in Bali that proves me wrong.)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You know, before Disney started de-theming their resorts and cheapening out like this with what looks like a basically vinyl wall-wrap, a lot of people would say that what they are doing with Star wars is basically taking their themed resort building to the next level.

You people are insane. Honest to God, this was the Grand.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Dude that's not a thing. Polynesian hotels don't have bamboo walls.

Dude what I am getting at is if the idea is "theme" then do it! This is just a room at Hilton, Best Western, Hiatt etc, not what is looked for at the "Polynesian" at WDW.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Dude what I am getting at is if the idea is "theme" then do it! This is just a room at Hilton, Best Western, Hiatt etc, not what is looked for at the "Polynesian" at WDW.

You not understanding what a Polynesian resort actually looks like is not Disney's problem.

 

[GimpYancIent]

I knew the arbitrary "but" was coming!

You know, before Disney started de-theming their resorts and cheapening out like this with what looks like a basically vinyl wall-wrap, a lot of people would say that what they are doing with Star wars is basically taking their themed resort building to the next level.

Now apparently, themed resorts are only themed tastefully on the outside and the inside is either or IP literally so big it spans an entire wall.

To be fair, the rooms definetly needed an update but small Moana touches would be things like unique light fixtures or knobs on dressers - not an entire wall covered with it along with framed pictures everywhere else, just in case you missed the walls.

Personally, I think the new rooms look nice. I think they would look nicer without that wall and the framed cartoon pictures but that's just me.

Yes they look nice, clean and generic.

 

[MrPromey]

That's literally not a hotel, it's a LARP game.

Also, the actual ROOMS on the Galactic Starcruiser are going to be themed like... bedrooms on a spaceship. Just like the rooms at the Polynesian Village Resort are themed like... hotel rooms in a Polynesian village resort.


Exactly! Go to any nice hotel in Hawaii or Fiji or Somoa and it's not going to look like whatever goofiness these people are imagining.

It's "literally" not a hotel? So like, people won't be sleeping there? They won't be booking a stay? What part of the LARP game involves storing your clothing and sleeping, exactly?

Your brain must be in top shape for all the mental hoops you need to jump through to justify what you're trying to say right now.

If these rooms are themed like a Polynesian Village Resort "Just like" the "actual ROOMS" on the Galactic Stare Cruiser, why didn't they cover one of the walls in those rooms with some sweet larger than life Naboo themed artwork and then add a few framed pictures of Darth Vader and Yoda?

Because it would look stupid - that's why.

That's how I feel about the look of these new rooms. I feel it's mostly tasteful up until we get to that and then it feels... cheap.

 

[GimpYancIent]

You not understanding what a Polynesian resort actually looks like is not Disney's problem.

True and I plus my family will not stay there. More space for others to enjoy.

 

[el_super]

Bamboo walls could be a start!

LOL I wouldn't pay that kind of money to make it look like I was staying the night in the antiquity. Antiquity in this case being the 1970s.

 

[UNCgolf]

But as I've already proven by posting the old hotel room photos from several different iterations over the years, those people are full of crap. The rooms were no more intricately themed in 1972 than they are in 2021.

I wasn't talking about just hotel rooms with that but everything across the board. The hotels are a bit different because the strongly themed Disney resorts were really an 80s/90s thing. However, I'd disagree with you -- a lot of the hotels built in that time period did have themed rooms.

You only posted photos of rooms at the Polynesian, which was always its own weird tiki kitsch thing that wasn't rooted in any real era/place. Many of those 80s/90s resorts had furniture, wallpaper, and other furnishings that looked (at least to an extent) like they came from the appropriate time period. While I can absolutely accept someone thinking the original Grand Floridian rooms were ugly and that they would not want to stay there, I think it would be a lot harder to argue they weren't attempting to theme them to the overall resort.

I mentioned the similarity above, but in thinking more about it I believe a lot of my dislike of the new Polynesian rooms is that they remind me of a worse version of the rooms at the Royal Pacific (bathroom excluded).

 

[TikibirdLand]

I'm really curious what people think would be "in theme" for the Polynesian? Bamboo walls? Plastic Flowers? Maybe the beds should be made out of thatching?

I'm thinking Aulani might be a good "theme". I do like the bathroom look of the new ones though.

 

[el_super]

Except that one in California - the rooms are space, jungles, other stuff...

The Disneyland Hotel? It has towers devoted to Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frontierland. Mostly in the wall art surrounding the common areas on the ground floor. The rooms themselves were pretty generic "Disneyland" themed (except of course for the themed suites).

The rooms at the Disneyland Hotel are currently being re-modeled as well.