Island Tower at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

[mistysue]

But the Wailulu Grille will have breakfast too?

And I’ve actually never had trouble getting Kona breakfast reservations in the fall (which is a busy DVC season), even the day before. Maybe it’s tough to get ones early enough to RD Magic Kingdom after? But breakfast at 8 or 9 has always been no problem in my experience…

You can't get early enough to rope drop - Kona hasn't been opening until 7:30, which matters to my group because CC can't do complex allergy orders until they open, and they haven't been turning their grills on until 7:30, meaning if you are rope dropping Kona, you need to get in and out of there in ~30 minutes to make an 8:30 early entrance time IF transportation goes flawlessly.

 

[ClipperDerek]

I went to the “spam thread” and boosted my reply count. Now I can upload! Many thanks for the suggestion to go to the “technical thread” and boost my posting stats. Great idea!

I’m still flying home from Miami to Dubai after a long drive down I95 from Orlando. But I was determined to post before the images get stale. Enjoy the updates.

These images were taken after some thunderstorms on the morning of August 22nd - and after enjoying our Ohana breakfast in checkout day!

 

[CarolynFH]

@ClipperDerek thanks for the photos! Have a smooth flight to Dubai!

 

[disneylandtour]

I was thinking the same thing. I had been thinking CFW for this purpose, but after seeing these I envision staying at Island Tower studio. Get up and work here while DW sleeps in.

Assuming the WiFi is good. BLT is still very much hit and miss, even though (I think) there are Wifi amplifiers in most (all?) rooms.

 

[ClipperDerek]

 

[ClipperDerek]

Sorry if there were duplicate images. The Wi-Fi in the plane is super slow and I forgot which ones I had previously uploaded.

Fingers crossed for good news about the incentives!

 

[disneylandtour]

I'm starting to think that one purpose of that DVC members email earlier this week was to gauge interest to see how significant incentives needed to be to move sales. I'm starting to wonder if, since many people responded, we just told DVD that big incentives weren't that important.

 

[GoingSince1990]

I'm starting to think that one purpose of that DVC members email earlier this week was to gauge interest to see how significant incentives needed to be to move sales. I'm starting to wonder if, since many people responded, we just told DVD that big incentives weren't that important.

As quite possibly the last ever opportunity to buy direct points without RIV/VDH/CFW style resale restrictions, I expect it to sell like hotcakes without needing much in the way of incentives.

 

[accm]

I'm starting to think that one purpose of that DVC members email earlier this week was to gauge interest to see how significant incentives needed to be to move sales. I'm starting to wonder if, since many people responded, we just told DVD that big incentives weren't that important.

I think it would be foolish of them to assume that the interest is irrespective of price, especially given that they'll be competing with resale prices. What percentage of the people that responded do you think would still be interested if it turns out that there is no real incentive? My guess is not very many, especially if they can get other resorts for cheaper.

 

[disneylandtour]

I think it would be foolish of them to assume that the interest is irrespective of price, especially given that they'll be competing with resale prices. What percentage of the people that responded do you think would still be interested if it turns out that there is no real incentive? My guess is not very many, especially if they can get other resorts for cheaper.

Oh, there will be incentives. But how big will those incentives be is a different question? I think, after the cabins, there was a little testing of the water here. But maybe not?

 

[TinkAgainU]

I think it would be foolish of them to assume that the interest is irrespective of price, especially given that they'll be competing with resale prices. What percentage of the people that responded do you think would still be interested if it turns out that there is no real incentive? My guess is not very many, especially if they can get other resorts for cheaper.

Agreed. I know some people are very excited about the new Tower and will want to walk over from Grand Floridian to see what is "new" - but a number of Grand Floridian people are Not excited about more people on the monorail before it gets to them. There are already times it arrives "full" from Poly headed to MK

Will be interesting to see how both the Poly/Grand Floridian prices look. No doubt some of the withholding of Direct Points at both were meant to build up FOMO - but that only gets them so far. We could be surprised to find DVC prices more practical for once, even before incentives, given the obviously waning interest in travel recently. They can only do so many incentives to fix an overpricing error without needed to drop the actual price later (which looks bad on many levels).

P.S. Your icon with the little one on the bridge is really cute!

 

[disneylandtour]

As quite possibly the last ever opportunity to buy direct points without RIV/VDH/CFW style resale restrictions, I expect it to sell like hotcakes without needing much in the way of incentives.

Oh I don't know. I understand that the current permits aren't for a CCV expansion. But there's a lot of land there to expand. I sorta expect to see another expansion there, as that is one of the first DVCs to fill.

 

[accm]

Oh, there will be incentives. But how big will those incentives be is a different question? I think, after the cabins, there was a little testing of the water here. But maybe not?

But again, if the incentives are similar to what was offered for CFW, while Riviera has significantly better ones, I don't see too many people choosing to spend more, or at least not outside of the first few months.

Didn't the same thing happen while they were selling VGF2? When Riv incentives were better, Riv outsold it, even with the resale restrictions? I just don't think most people buy DVC direct planning on selling it.

Edit: we're likely going to be in the market for more points early next year (only 16pts left in Aug 24 and 77 in Aug 25 ). There's a good chance we'll buy direct. I've specifically booked a Riviera stay for early next year so we can determine if that's a resort we like staying at. The resale restrictions won't impact my decision at all. It'll come down to where I'd rather stay, and which one works out better financially.

 

[TinkAgainU]

As quite possibly the last ever opportunity to buy direct points without RIV/VDH/CFW style resale restrictions, I expect it to sell like hotcakes without needing much in the way of incentives.

Every one of the original 14 (except Poly and VGF - which are currently being held, possibly to build FOMO) can still be purchased either Direct OR Resale with NO resale restrictions, and you'd have access to RIV/VDH/CFW even if you bought Direct at Animal Kingdom for example (which btw, has nice incentives). Thus far, there is no shortage of resorts for sale without resale restrictions.

To be a little "unmagical" they mostly added room capacity to an existing DVC resort. The theming looks nice - but when all is said and done, it is still a timeshare and still a high rise - will have to see if it is "hotcake" worthy after the first couple of months

 

[byurick]

Every one of the original 14 (except Poly and VGF - which are currently being held, possibly to build FOMO) can still be purchased either Direct OR Resale with NO restrictions. Thus far, there is no shortage of resorts for sale without resale restrictions.

To be a little "unmagical" all they did was add rooms and a "new" highrise to an existing timeshare resort. The theming looks nice - but when all is said and done, it is still a timeshare and still a highrise - will have to see if it is "hotcake" worthy after the first couple of months.

Regardless of what folks think of the theming and design just the fact that it's an MK adjacent resort means it will always be popular.

 

[CWTC]

As quite possibly the last ever opportunity to buy direct points without RIV/VDH/CFW style resale restrictions, I expect it to sell like hotcakes without needing much in the way of incentives.

I think it will sell well but not reasons related to resale restrictions (or lack thereof). As others have pointed out, the original 14 can all be bought direct or resale. The primary selling points in my mind are that it is MK adjacent and lots of people have nostalgia about Poly. RIV requires the Skyliner to get to the park, CFW is well CFW, and VDH is in Cali. Everyone does DVC differently but we only stay at/own at resorts where we can walk to at least one park.

 

[mkatsy]

I went to the “spam thread” and boosted my reply count. Now I can upload! Many thanks for the suggestion to go to the “technical thread” and boost my posting stats. Great idea!

I’m still flying home from Miami to Dubai after a long drive down I95 from Orlando. But I was determined to post before the images get stale. Enjoy the updates.

These images were taken after some thunderstorms on the morning of August 22nd - and after enjoying our Ohana breakfast in checkout day!

Great photos! Next time you’re here, we have a high speed train (Brightline) from Orlando to Miami you don’t have to drive it, if you don’t want to.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I'm starting to think that one purpose of that DVC members email earlier this week was to gauge interest to see how significant incentives needed to be to move sales. I'm starting to wonder if, since many people responded, we just told DVD that big incentives weren't that important.

I did my part by refusing to click any links or call my guide.

 

[MagicDVC]

I did my part by refusing to click any links or call my guide.

Me too, came here to see what was up with the email.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

I did my part by refusing to click any links or call my guide.

Same. When I heard they had no new info on the dvc fan Facebook page I hung up while on hold.

I’m sure we will get some news soon