Emergency Evacuation Procedures at Disney's Polynesian Villas

[SpaceMountain77]

Yes, it is hard to believe and, honestly, I likely would have been in disbelief myself had I not experienced the situation. We simply could not get out.

My mom is okay, thank you all for asking. Sadly, she is still rather upset over the incident and said she does not want to return to WDW this year for the Food & Wine Festival.

Overall, what was most surprising was how the situation was handled by the resort staff. There seemed to be a lack of preparedness and appropriate response. Again, the cast members we interacted with made a distinction between the Villas and the Village. The experience was very unlike Disney.

 

[deedisneydream97]

We were just there for one night only. I remember seeing the evacuation notice on the back of the door, but don't remember the route. We were right next to the exit, so I really didn't pay attention. We only used those stairs once were settled into our room.

OP.....you should take a picture of the evacuation notice that is on the back of your door into your room. It is unbelievable that the building would pass a fire code inspection if the exterior doors could not be opened from the inside during a power outage. I cannot remember if there were any interior stairs in Moorea or not. Also can't remember if the exterior doors had anything about "In case of emergency, do "such and such". If a building is on fire and the power is affected, people need to get out somehow.

 

[southerngirl528]

Space Mountain is exactly right about the access to the stairs being electric sliding glass doors. I just stayed there a week ago, in Moorea, 3rd floor. The stairs are OUTSIDE the building.

While I absolutely agree we should all be savvy travelers and watch out for ourselves, and plan according to our party's needs, it should be an easy thing to escape a building. I stand firmly on my recommendation to write both Member Sat and the GM of the resort. Having a power outage during construction is understandable. Things happen. I have a TS in Hawaii (not Disney but a fine company), and during our stays there over the years, we have had days where the water was off because they were doing work in the area. Stuff happens. Fun? NO. But not a huge deal when they let you know in advance and they make CERTAIN their guests will be not only safe but as comfortable as possible.

I also still stand by my previous comments that I really think the Poly will be a top DVC resort choice for families wishing to use less points by staying in a Studio. These rooms are very large, very nice, and the humongous separate bathrooms will greatly enhance an entire family staying in one room.

 

[freediverdude]

Well I guess worst case scenario most people could jump from their balcony down to the next balcony or ground to evacuate, although the disabled and elderly wouldn't be able to do that. I can just see grandma in a polyester dress with legs spread, struggling off the side of the balcony, lol. Whoops there go the pearls!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm so very sorry, and I sincerely hope that your mother, especially, gets compensation. This thread also reminds me of how I've always wondered why there are HA rooms on the higher floors. I always thought HA villas were only on the first floor, for ultimate safety if the power goes out or fire prevents use of the elevator. Boy, was I surprised the first time I got an upper floor HA villa!

 

[Judique]

Well I guess worst case scenario most people could jump from their balcony down to the next balcony or ground to evacuate, although the disabled and elderly wouldn't be able to do that. !

Couldn't do much jumping if you couldn't get to the balcony because your slider wouldn't open.............

 

[freediverdude]

Couldn't do much jumping if you couldn't get to the balcony because your slider wouldn't open.............

Well to be honest I was talking about each guest's room balcony, but I realized just now, what if you went out into the hallway, and then tried to get back into your room to go out to the room's balcony. Would the door locks still work?? Or are those battery operated. I could see a scenario where a guest could go out into the hallway to see what was going on, realize they needed to evacuate, and then could not get back into their room OR exit the hallway to the exterior stairs either, essentially trapped in the hallways.

 

[Judique]

Well to be honest I was talking about each guest's room balcony, but I realized just now, what if you went out into the hallway, and then tried to get back into your room to go out to the room's balcony. Would the door locks still work?? Or are those battery operated. I could see a scenario where a guest could go out into the hallway to see what was going on, realize they needed to evacuate, and then could not get back into their room OR exit the hallway to the exterior stairs either, essentially trapped in the hallways.

I may be wrong, but I thought I read back there somewhere that the room balcony door also wouldn't open from inside the room.

I found that to be a really frightening idea. You have the hallway to the exits and your balcony door. No other windows.

Edit: I think I read it too fast and jumped to a conclusion about the room slider.

 

[deedisneydream97]

I may be wrong, but I thought I read back there somewhere that the room balcony door also wouldn't open from inside the room.

I found that to be a really frightening idea. You have the hallway to the exits and your balcony door. No other windows.

I think the OP was referring to the "sliders" that are the exit doors at the poly, and not the sliders that open on to the deck. All of the exterior doors at the Poly (Moorea) were glass sliders that opened automatically when you approached them (like the ones on Star Trek). I did not like that at all. And I did not take the time to see if any of them had the "in case of emergency" instructions to get them to open in case of a power outage. We only stayed there for one night.

Lesson for everyone. When staying at any hotel, motel or timeshare, always take the time to examine the emergency exits and read the evacuation procedures posted on the back of your door. Always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. You just never know.

 

[Judique]

I think the OP was referring to the "sliders" that are the exit doors at the poly, and not the sliders that open on to the deck. All of the exterior doors at the Poly (Moorea) were glass sliders that opened automatically when you approached them (like the ones on Star Trek). I did not like that at all. And I did not take the time to see if any of them had the "in case of emergency" instructions to get them to open in case of a power outage. We only stayed there for one night.

Lesson for everyone. When staying at any hotel, motel or timeshare, always take the time to examine the emergency exits and read the evacuation procedures posted on the back of your door. Always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. You just never know.

I edited my post earlier.

I believe that before DVC when I used to stay CL at the Poly, the CL building entrance had an electric slider.

 

[southerngirl528]

Almost positive the door locks on the rooms are battery operated as I have personally seen engineering replacing them.

 

[anna08]

So essentially if there had been a fire in the building, you are saying everyone would have been trapped in the building who couldn't jump from their balcony? Yikes - that does not sound up to code at all and it's probably good that they found that out now. Is anyone writing DVC member satisfaction about it? I wouldn't be surprised if this somehow didn't reach the appropriate administrative ears (no pun intended!) While I don't believe every blip in a vacation deserves some compensation from management, I would say 8+ hours in a FL hotel without power would be one of those times where they should be working hard to ease the inconvenience at a minimum, and seriously addressing the needs of the elderly. This has to be the ugliest opening of a DVC to date. Have a couple days in a studio coming up - can't say I'm not concerned, and that's not a feeling I'm used to having when traveling to WDW with DVC.

 

[bookwormde]

The type of sliding door you are referring to is required to be able to be pushed to swing open with limited force when the power goes out.

If these do not or are not labeled as such then that is a critical life safety issue, and the building should be rendered unoccupable until it is addressed.

I know you are on vacation, but if you can, go to the front desk and ask them to have a (governmental) fire marshal come on site to take a report/complaint from you ASAP.

If they balk or delay let them know that you will call the state fire marshalls office if they do not

Florida Fire Marshalls Office, Inspection Field Offices Orlando/Ocala Kimberly Mendoza (407) 316-4791

 

[disneynutz]

The type of sliding door you are referring to is required to be able to be pushed to swing open with limited force when the power goes out.

If these do not or are not labeled as such then that is a critical life safety issue, and the building should be rendered unoccupable until it is addressed.

I know you are on vacation, but if you can, go to the front desk and ask them to have a (governmental) fire marshal come on site to take a report/complaint from you ASAP.

If they balk or delay let them know that you will call the state fire marshalls office if they do not

Florida Fire Marshalls Office, Inspection Field Offices Orlando/Ocala Kimberly Mendoza (407) 316-4791

The local fire inspector/marshal works for reedy creek which is run by Disney so you would think that getting the error corrected would be easy.

Disney for various reasons takes safety very seriously so I am sure that this issue was a misunderstanding or CM training issue.

Bill

 

[freediverdude]

Almost positive the door locks on the rooms are battery operated as I have personally seen engineering replacing them.

It's possible that because the door locks are battery operated, that they might still light up the Mickey head during a power outage, but depending on where the wireless signal is being sent, it might not get through to verify the magicband and unlock the door. I guess it would depend if the wifi access point (I'm assuming the door locks talk to the resort computers via wifi here, but I don't know) is located within the building that has the power outage, to where the access point hardware might not be getting power either.

 

[bwvBound]

It's possible that because the door locks are battery operated, that they might still light up the Mickey head during a power outage, but depending on where the wireless signal is being sent, it might not get through to verify the magicband and unlock the door. I guess it would depend if the wifi access point (I'm assuming the door locks talk to the resort computers via wifi here, but I don't know) is located within the building that has the power outage, to where the access point hardware might not be getting power either.

Good point!

 

[bookwormde]

The local fire inspector/marshal works for reedy creek which is run by Disney so you would think that getting the error corrected would be easy.

Disney for various reasons takes safety very seriously so I am sure that this issue was a misunderstanding or CM training issue.

Bill

Yes if the local fire marshal is aware I am sure it will be addressed quickly once they know. CMs are not trained at the level needed to realize the critical nature of this issue. Anyone in the fire service knows that blocked egress is a primary factor in high life loss fires.

 

[jerseygal]

HOPE THAT this issue is properly escalated and resolved. HOPE THAT your Mom is doing okay. VERY SCARY for anyone, no less the elderly.

 

[gdrj]

I was at the Poly last week and noticed as I entered the Great Ceremonial House that the side door, which is sliding electric doors like the DVC longhouses have, only opened partway. When I came back out that same door about a minute later, it would not open. I pushed around a bit on it to no avail. There really wasn't a finger hold spot that I saw in those seconds. Some CM's were outside and one of them fairly readily pulled the doors open, but I can surely see where under your circumstances that would be very scary.

There aren't regular exit doors on the stairwells? There's only the sliding glass doors? Not that in an emergency one should need to worry that the front door won't open - that's bad - but I cannot fathom that there wasn't another exit that the CM's should have directed people towards. How could this building pass a fire inspection?

The doors do not have to be broken to open, you push hard on them and they will open in an emergency and yes there are regular doors on the stair wells.

There were several families that tried to open the doors on the third floor, but none of them were successful. Moreover, when the cast members responded, only the doors on the east side of the building were opened by cast members because the doors on the west side could not be opened. Perhaps some of the doors open with a simple push. Unfortunately, the doors at Pago Pago required cast member assistance and could only be opened from the outside on the east side.

Regarding the doors, if roughly a dozen people are unable to open a door and exit a building safely, then it is certainly a safety concern.

I would have never thought the stairwell doors would be sliding too, what in the world made them change them from the other buildings, where you have a push door there. That does make a difference. Also if the doors don't have the emergency release option where you push them down, then yes that is a problem When I say push, I do mean literally push them off the frame not push on them and they open.

I would definitely let DVC know that there is an issue with the doors. You should be able to open them with the power off just as all automatic doors at stores.

the sliding doors did not have anything to push down - they open when you come near them - or at night when you use your magic bands. there is no way to open them with the power out -

this is a big safety issue another reason to call 911 - so the fire department can demand that Disney fix this situation NOW

I don't mean push down on anything, don't you know how they are at say Home Depot, you push them out in an emergency.

While the doors may or may not have a release, what is critical is that it needs to be clear how to "escape" to all guests. In an emergency it needs to be clear how to get out quickly, obviously it currently is not and needs to be addressed ASAP.

 

[ParrotBill]

Keep us posted OP. And anyone who visits should ask about if the "exit safety problem" in this building has been corrected yet to keep driving this point home with them. If the exists aren't usable without power they need to be replaced. If the signs don't explain how to get out then that needs to be fixed.