Island Tower at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

[DonMacGregor]

I have to be in the running for the highest number of unpopular opinions in one day...LOL.

 

[Cabius]

Depending on how these are priced points wise, I think the opposite. Unless you see are a family of 5, these just seem much nicer for smaller families.

It will be fun to watch…but, I hope you are right because I won’t be buying and taking my chances at 7 months because I am not a fan of the current rooms!

I *love* the new rooms, they look really lovely. But after a few years, after the next longhouse refurb when the longhouses are the new shiny thing, with decorative touches from Moana 2? These won't *always* be nicer.

I have a family of 6, so we're already booking two studios (especially once the two youngest are out of cribs).

But even when we were a family of 3-5, being able to stick a crib in that extra shower room, or have more spaces for people to get ready in the morning, is really nice. Bathtubs are good for kids, too!

My point is that there are definite pros and cons here, especially once the newness wears off. In five years, I suspect a lot of people will look at these pros...

• Bigger space
• Second shower
• Bathtub
• Closer to TTC/Epcot
• Fewer points(??)

... and the conventional wisdom will be that the tower rooms are gorgeous, but the longhouses are a better value, especially for families.

As you say, it'll be fun to watch! I do think that which ends up being more popular will really depend a lot on how many PVB owners are couples vs families of 3-5. And it may switch back and forth every few years with each refurb.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

As a PVB1 owner, seeing those new rooms has certainly brightened my day. It’s not every day that something you own gets a major upgrade without you having to spend a penny.

Guessing every PVB contract currently listed resale is undergoing increasd prices today.

 

[Sandisw]

Guessing every PVB contract currently listed resale is undergoing increasd prices today.

Probably, but given how close we should be to direct sales, if I am a buyer, I am waiting to see the price of direct because if what happened with VGf happens with this, resale will go back down pretty quickly!

My guess is that with incentives, people will get direct, 200 point level, for just around $200.

 

[WinterSolider]

Plus, I honestly think that one bedrooms are designed specifically to separate the living from sleeping areas, as opposed to studios where there's no choice but to combine the two so you may as well try to sleep as many as possible (since that's the room's primary function anyway). One bedrooms aren't designed to fit more sleeping surfaces, they're designed to provide more living space NOT committed to sleeping surfaces.

Now all we need to do is convince Disney to build some King bed studios for couples who want to stay affordably and sleep comfortably.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I like the extra bathroom in the 1BR's, that's always handy.

 

[WinterSolider]

You went on a different route lol

I’m saying that because PVB currently has the most expensive point chart for studios (for most of the year), and now adding other room types I expect it to be as expensive as it is now.

Ah, in that case I think I agree, but I go back and forth.

It's unclear whether the Poly studios are priced so high because Disney views the Grand and the Poly as dual-flagship resorts, or if they're price so high because they're inordinately large compared to most DVC studios.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

Now all we need to do is convince Disney to build some King bed studios for couples who want to stay affordably and sleep comfortably.

Yep. Bringing me back to my idea of eventually converting OKW into an "adults only spa resort."

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Plus, I honestly think that one bedrooms are designed specifically to separate the living from sleeping areas, as opposed to studios where there's no choice but to combine the two so you may as well try to sleep as many as possible (since that's the room's primary function anyway). One bedrooms aren't designed to fit more sleeping surfaces, they're designed to provide more living space NOT committed to sleeping surfaces.

The reason we book them is the ability to shut the door between us and kids, 100%. We even booked one once just the two of us so I could get up in the mornings and not disturb my husband. We do Disney differently than basically everyone else I know in real life though. Everyone else is all about how many bodies can you fit in there.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

There are two types of people: those who’ve been to the Islands (the more often and longer the better) and appreciate how much more authentic this style is to actual Island life and decor, and those who think that anything that doesn’t look like Don the Beachcomber in Marina del Rey, circa 1966 (which is exactly where the Imagineers likely hung out for their inspiration), is a thematic sellout.

At least a few of us are both.

 

[voxparse]

The reason we book them is the ability to shut the door between us and kids, 100%. We even booked one once just the two of us so I could get up in the mornings and not disturb my husband. We do Disney differently than basically everyone else I know in real life though. Everyone else is all about how many bodies can you fit in there.

Those of us that go regularly are just a totally different beast and I agree 100%. The way we all do Disney is just vastly different. I would wager most of us "regulars" aren't gogogo the room is a place to sleep and shower types. But maybe I'm projecting

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Now all we need to do is convince Disney to build some King bed studios for couples who want to stay affordably and sleep comfortably.

I do wonder why they didn't do Kings in the Tower/Duos. Is it too big to Murphy-ize?

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

II would think that they would want Polynesian to come out super strong at launch, and better incentives for RIV would distract from having a killer opening month?

Additionally, they know they want all the people on the fence for end of prior period RIV contracts to stick with those contracts (or upgrade to much more expensive PVB ones) so I would think at very minimum you’d need to wait at least one cycle for better RIV pricing (if it comes at all—they might not want to detract from PVB sales for several months).

 

[mistysue]

Rumour is that they had the chance to license the theme park rights in 2019, and passed. Woof.

I'm amazed Disney hasn't dropped whatever obscene amount of money it would take to get the rights to Bluey. It's more popular than anything they own for that age group

Except those little kids shows all swap out every 5 years. 2019 is when Peppa pig was the BEST THING EVER and making all the money and people with older kids just don't understand how much better this show is... (I had a cousin telling me about how naive I was because my kids were too old and I could never understand how Peppa was life/world changing) the same way that the HS Disney Junior show and H&V have to keep flipping their entire casts, because you wait 3-4 years and the new kids have no idea who the old characters are, and the now 8 year old barely remembers the character their toddler self thought the world revolved around.

I have pictures of my daughter with Jojo the clown just before she got booted. She was obsessed with her and a few years later asked me who she was in pictures with. By the time Disney finished building Bluey into the hotel furniture people would be going "oh, yeah, I guess I do remember that weird dog..."

 

[Jwaire]

Yep. Bringing me back to my idea of eventually converting OKW into an "adults only spa resort."

Nah, SSR is almost there. Reopen the spa!

 

[vdangelo239]

Completely accurate and whether I like the rooms or not, as a Poly1 owner - this makes me super happy.

-Vic

As a PVB1 owner, seeing those new rooms has certainly brightened my day. It’s not every day that something you own gets a major upgrade without you having to spend a penny.

 

[AstroBlasters]

At least a few of us are both.

I think of Tiki as “fun” and Island as “relaxing” and that both are wonderful and have a place.

 

[Salokin]

Depending on how these are priced points wise, I think the opposite. Unless you see are a family of 5, these just seem much nicer for smaller families.

It will be fun to watch…but, I hope you are right because I won’t be buying and taking my chances at 7 months because I am not a fan of the current rooms!

The other thing about pvb1 studios sleeping 5 is that extra bed becomes a game changer when you have a boy and a girl and they get too big to share with eachother and mum or dad. That extra bed was another big factor in our recent purchase.

 

[BrianLo]

I do understand that your point was more about maintenance, and it has merit.

To your other point though, I'm just not convinced Moana wasn't used simply because it conveniently ties in with a Polynesian themed resort. Of course, I'm also the guy that absolutely abhors what I think was the same shoehorning of The Incredibles into the Contemporary for no good purpose and who doesn't see introducing Mary Poppins into the Grand Floridian as any improvement.

As you point out, the films tend to represent "eras" at the studio, and in another 10-20 years, we may have already seen another era come and go. I guess my point is that the popularity (and I mean the initial hyper-popularity) of a film can be transient and while the general popularity of a great film endures, I'm not sure it stays at a high enough level over the long lifetime of a hotel. Slapping IP on a hotel (especially a single IP over an entire resort) is relatively new, and the hotels were incredibly successful for decades without it.

I guess to put it in context, the highest grossing Disney animated movie of all time, adjusted for inflation, is Snow White. If one of the original hotels had been built with Snow White theming back in 1971, how popular and contemporaneous would that theming be today? I just think adding IP to hotels runs the risk of dating them as newer, more popular IP is constantly being created.

Couple devil's advocate points;

1) They have an offramp every 8/16 years to change the theme.

2) I don't think Moana is being added to make the hotel feel contemporary. Nor do I think old franchises make things feel dated. Case in point Lion King flourishes at Animal Kingdom wouldn't make it feel dated. Jungle Book at the Disneyland Villas does not make those rooms feel dated either. Moana is just well timed, we'd probably be getting Lilo and Stitch if she didn't exist. Which isn't to say a resounding support of an IP mandate, but Disney is unusually good at making their more popular IP timeless.

3) I think when you think of a Snow White hotel, you think of something crusty that hasn't been updated in half a century. But that assumes they never bothered updating or refreshing the thing. Snow White feels fairly timeless at both the newer Mine Train Coaster and revamped Disneyland ride. These rooms will not exist in their current form for decades either.

4) Moana is at the height of her popularity for sure. But it's also an 8 year old franchise and that starts to get into a cross generational appeal. Young Gen Z and she remains extremely popular to Gen Alpha. This is definitely not a vanilla franchise of the week anymore, she's pretty established as a mainstay. She's also currently the most popular princess in the lineup, which is saying something (Anna and Elsa are not part of the princess lineup).

 

[AstroBlasters]

I have to be in the running for the highest number of unpopular opinions in one day...LOL.

I’ve got an opinion that will be unpopular with a lot of people …. I prefer woodwork and craftsmanship to lots of different bright paint colors!