DVCnews May direct sales article

[heynowirv]

This is the key figure here:

"In May, 71,458 points were sold for the Polynesian, the fewest number of points since sales resumed for the resort in October 2024. Disney has sold 653,775 points (18.1%) of the 3,608,934 points allotted to the residential units at the Polynesian’s Island Tower."

That has got to be a huge disappointment. I actually think they'd sell more if they had a model room of a longhouse studio, rather than a tower studio. There are some pros to the new tower, but the rooms aren't it.

I disagree we stayed in a longboat over the last 2 years ,but when we toured the IT my wife fell in love with it.

 

[tidefan]

I can totally see that being an issue. I've come to realize I dont like the dvc converted hotel rooms i know about. I know ccv and bpk are converts, did they do that with any other hotels? I think akv might be one and if so I take that back

It's not that BPK is converted, it's that they left BPK essentially as hotel rooms instead of converting them into what most DVC members have come to expect as studios. There is not much difference between say a BPK "Resort Studio" and a regular 2 queen room in say Sago Cay.

IMHO, DVC missed the boat by not making some of those "Resort Studios" have a King Bed instead of 2 queens.

 

[Girlstar30]

Jambo is a conversion, Kidani is stick-built.

So conversions are not a deal breaker then whew

 

[disneylandtour]

I disagree we stayed in a longboat over the last 2 years ,but when we toured the IT my wife fell in love with it.

I think the lobby is lovely, the terrace rooms (i.e. the public pocket garden rooms) are fantastic. The view from the fifth floor terrace during the fireworks is one of the best on property. I was pleasantly surprised by Wailulu. The freestyle machines are great. And the gym is one of the best on property. But the rooms are smaller and less themed than the longhouses. They feel a little generic--like VDH. The view on the backside of the tower is pretty bleak--worse than Pago. And the lack of any permanent front desk is an issue. Oh, and the point chart is pretty bad. Since December, I've spent a total of eight nights in Tower rooms (and I'm sure some here have spent more time there than me, but I've spent a reasonable chunk of time there to sort out my thoughts about the Tower.) I just haven't fallen for them. I have an upcoming trip in Aug--it is in a longhouse room (ideally in Tokelau), even though the tower had availability. They have more of a resort vibe, are better decorated, and all have reasonable views. Being in the longhouses makes me feel more like I'm on Disney property. I understand others have different criteria. But for me, my two top resorts are Poly (the areas of the longhouses, ceremonial house, Lava Pool, and the Oasis Pool) and WL (preferably CCV over BRV). I think the overall atmospheric theming at both of these is among the best on property. But the tower isn't up to the same immersive standards as the older part of the resort.

 

[Girlstar30]

I think the lobby is lovely, the terrace rooms (i.e. the public pocket garden rooms) are fantastic. The view from the fifth floor terrace during the fireworks is one of the best on property. I was pleasantly surprised by Wailulu. The freestyle machines are great. And the gym is one of the best on property. But the rooms are smaller and less themed than the longhouses. They feel a little generic--like VDH. The view on the backside of the tower is pretty bleak--worse than Pago. And the lack of any permanent front desk is an issue. Oh, and the point chart is pretty bad. Since December, I've spent a total of eight nights in Tower rooms (and I'm sure some here have spent more time there than me, but I've spent a reasonable chunk of time there to sort out my thoughts about the Tower.) I just haven't fallen for them. I have an upcoming trip in Aug--it is in a longhouse room (ideally in Tokelau), even though the tower had availability. They have more of a resort vibe, are better decorated, and all have reasonable views. Being in the longhouses makes me feel more like I'm on Disney property. I understand others have different criteria. But for me, my two top resorts are Poly (the areas of the longhouses, ceremonial house, Lava Pool, and the Oasis Pool) and WL (preferably CCV over BRV). I think the overall atmospheric theming at both of these is among the best on property. But the tower isn't up to the same immersive standards as the older part of the resort.

Are there terraces on different floors besides the 5th?

 

[MartyParty]

OMG....no, I taught Kindergarten and 1st grade!!! I didn't have to worry about high numbers!!! So, 175 average, not 200!!! But, even that is high!!!

For what it’s worth, my DW is a retired dental hygienist. She loathes math and would often joke that she chose her profession because she only had to count to 32—that’s the number of teeth in an adult mouth!

 

[disneylandtour]

Are there terraces on different floors besides the 5th?

There are four terrace rooms--two facing the Lagoon, two facing the parking lot / golf course. Fifth is the best angle for the fireworks. Third is not bad for the fireworks, but you need to be on the right hand side of the terrace room. The terraces that face the backside of the hotel, I'm pretty sure, are on the fourth and sixth floors. They face toward the sunset. But mostly these two terrace rooms were empty while I was there. Maybe they're busier when it's cooler, like in December, as the rooms are open to the element and the heat/cold.

I think most members should at least give the tower a try once. Maybe some love it. But for me the rooms have a very different vibe than the older parts of the resort.

 

[Girlstar30]

There are four terrace rooms--two facing the Lagoon, two facing the parking lot / golf course. Fifth is the best angle for the fireworks. Third is not bad for the fireworks, but you need to be on the right hand side of the terrace room. The terraces that face the backside of the hotel, I'm pretty sure, are on the fourth and sixth floors. They face toward the sunset. But mostly these two terrace rooms were empty while I was there. Maybe they're busier when it's cooler, like in December, as the rooms are open to the element and the heat/cold.

This is great information that I was looking for, thank you! How early do you recommend going to the terrace to see the fireworks and have a seat? Around how many seats are there for this?

 

[kilik64]

Gotta figure DVC is not real happy with those numbers, got a sparkly new tower to sell and they cant muster up more points sold then when they didnt have the tower to sell in April 2024? I get economy fears was probably a drag, but even still the numbers for PIT should be better.

 

[airjay75]

I will say that I thought PIT was incredibly beautiful when we toured it. The 1 BR villas with 2 bathrooms, double balcony, the terrace rooms - all just seemed incredible. Walked out of there thinking, alright, maybe this is like RIV, but on the monorail and without those pesky resale restrictions. Then, when we were done, we went over to the QS at the Poly (what is it? Captain Cook's I think). It was late afternoon, so wasn't too busy, but service was pretty slow. Wasn't too hard to find a table, but there weren't a lot of actual tables inside. Then we walked outside to the see the lava pool just packed the brim and turned around to see the Dole Whip line at least 30 people deep, and were like, hmmm, this seems pretty busy. As I thought and did more research, sounds like that level of business isn't uncommon. Then the points charts - at first, I thought, well we'd be ok with resort view, right? I mean the resort view at RIV is great, so PIT is probably ok too, right?. Then I've seen some of the resort view pictures of what looks like a utility room roof and even TP view pictures where you're on the first floor with what is technically a view of MK, but not really all that great, and just really started to question whether it was worth it. I still want to go back and am thinking of booking a stay there for our welcome home trip, but everything seemed to go downhill after touring the actual building itself.

 

[Sandisw]

Gotta figure DVC is not real happy with those numbers, got a sparkly new tower to sell and they cant muster up more points sold then when they didnt have the tower to sell in April 2024? I get economy fears was probably a drag, but even still the numbers for PIT should be better.

You do have to wonder if they had hoped this was better....since there was such a strong buzz and excitement from current owners, especially once it was annouced to be part of PVB,

 

[disneylandtour]

This is great information that I was looking for, thank you! How early do you recommend going to the terrace to see the fireworks and have a seat? Around how many seats are there for this?

With the elevator keys, the rooms are reasonably locked down to those staying in the tower. You need a room key to activate the elevator. Again, from memory: there are four cushioned chairs at the front of both the third and fifth floor terrace. You probably needed to get there a half hour early for the Fifth floor to get one of those chairs. A lot of people brought their own drinks and snacks from their rooms. Behind the chairs are various open couches, probably room for another ten people to sit. The one time we went to the third floor to see the fireworks, we go there about ten minutes before they started (weekday/april) and found two of the four chairs empty, no one else in the entire terrace. My guess is that, over time, as people figure out that the view in the fifth floor terrace is really nice, these four chairs will become harder to get. During the fireworks, people in the chairs sat, and people in the curved sofa walked to the front of the terrace and stood to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks are about to shift to 10pm. But if they're 9:20, it's easy to catch the water pageant and then the fireworks in one set.

 

[disneylandtour]

You do have to wonder if they had hoped this was better....since there was such a strong buzz and excitement from current owners, especially once it was annouced to be part of PVB,

I think they inadvertently killed the buzz with two big missteps: first, the point chart, and then the lack of incentives when points went on sale. On this board, we saw a lot of people go from being interested to moving on to other options.

 

[Sandisw]

I think they inadvertently killed the buzz with two big missteps: first, the point chart, and then the lack of incentives when points went on sale. On this board, we saw a lot of people go from being interested to moving on to other options.

Which, I think this seems to show that lack of resale restrictions may not be enough for buyers to overcome high point charts and unfavorable pricing to choose direct....

 

[Girlstar30]

With the elevator keys, the rooms are reasonably locked down to those staying in the tower. You need a room key to activate the elevator. Again, from memory: there are four cushioned chairs at the front of both the third and fifth floor terrace. You probably needed to get there a half hour early for the Fifth floor to get one of those chairs. A lot of people brought their own drinks and snacks from their rooms. Behind the chairs are various open couches, probably room for another ten people to sit. The one time we went to the third floor to see the fireworks, we go there about ten minutes before they started (weekday/april) and found two of the four chairs empty, no one else in the entire terrace. My guess is that, over time, as people figure out that the view in the fifth floor terrace is really nice, these four chairs will become harder to get. During the fireworks, people in the chairs sat, and people in the curved sofa walked to the front of the terrace and stood to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks are about to shift to 10pm. But if they're 9:20, it's easy to catch the water pageant and then the fireworks in one set.

Awesome, thanks for the tips!

 

[Matty B13]

Poly in general always feels over-run in the afternoons, especially at the pools. I wonder if it will get to the point were they will only let people who are staying there park in the parking lot and not allow people even with dining reservations to park there. I really hope they implement wristbands at all the pools, cause I think that would cut down on the people "just visiting".

 

[Girlstar30]

Poly in general always feels over-run in the afternoons, especially at the pools. I wonder if it will get to the points were they will only let people who are staying there park in the parking lot and not allow people even with dining reservations to park there. I really hope they implement wristbands at all the pools, cause I think that would cut down on the people "just visiting".

Sounds good to me!

 

[disneylandtour]

Poly in general always feels over-run in the afternoons, especially at the pools. I wonder if it will get to the points were they will only let people who are staying there park in the parking lot and not allow people even with dining reservations to park there. I really hope they implement wristbands at all the pools, cause I think that would cut down on the people "just visiting".

I believe they are redesigning the street entrance to Poly as part of the road project. Probably adds a little more parking. Parking, for me, though, has never been problem in the main Poly lot. I agree: Lava pool super busy (less so Oasis and Cove), lines for Trader Sam's and Dole Whip very long. (I don't think there's much of a problem with non-guests sneaking into the pools here.). I've not yet seen the monorail station swamped to the level that it gets at GF. But I think there's about zero chance that they will cut off parking for dining reservations. 'Ohana makes money hand over fist, largely with people who aren't staying there.

 

[Leight19]

What stood out to me but no one seems to be taking about is how abysmal the sales at CFW are. Doesn’t this translate to like 40 years to sell out or something if current rate continues? I haven’t been on the boards a ton the past few months so maybe this has been done to death in previous months.

 

[byurick]

It's been so easy to dunk on the poor sales since inception we've kinda given up on making a big deal about it. It's kind of expected to be terrible now I think.