Island Tower at Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

[Jwaire]

Let me tell you something about that tower it is vertical, and it is beautiful. We are at AKL and ended up with a room in Narnia. Thankfully it’s only a weekend, any longer and I'm going to need a hip replacement. I don’t care what color that tower is anymore

How is the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? I've been wondering. It's been a minute.

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

It’s vertical, but is it actually closer to transit than your room in Narnia? I know the AKL resorts are big, but other than the boats (which I believe are quite close) isn’t the monorail/gch/bus loading area a half mile or so?

I think maybe the furthest rooms might be a bit less than a half mile. It looks like it’ll be just slightly closer than the furtherest longhouse rooms from GCH (at least to my completely untrained eye on google satellite maps) and those are maybe a 7-8 min walk away.

And even if it is that far, there’s something about those AKL hallways that just feels endless in a way that doesn’t elsewhere lol

 

[tx911]

"Politow sad about ridiculous additions."

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But, you have to admit it's got transportation pretty well covered. All we need now is a walking bridge across the lagoon.

 

[AstroBlasters]

How is the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? I've been wondering. It's been a minute.

Turkish Delight is still top notch.

 

[Jwaire]

But, you have to admit it's got transportation pretty well covered. All we need now is a walking bridge across the lagoon.

Maybe Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point will let us borrow its pier?

 

[KimMcGowan]

::hopes somebody else shares a photo of poly from 40 years ago because she’s too lazy to separate real photos from fake ones::

Wow!

https://blogmickey.com/2024/05/repa...lage-resort-longhouses-matches-new-dvc-tower/

Yes, they said may - and I did say I could be wrong.

 

[Patsaizan]

A few thoughts... Poly is already the most aggressive points chart (as others have stated too). This is likely to continue with PVB unless they do some points reallocation between the existing room types - but I am skeptical the math could even work to do that, let alone the legal issues around that....

The rooms look very good...

Separately, I spoke to my guide a couple of days ago - I think Monday. A few takeaways from that call:
- He still would not commit to the Polynesian not having restrictions. He said something along the lines of I don't want to say something that isn't true, or mislead you.
- I get the sense DVC is not going to sell any VGF points direct until after the Poly Tower goes for sale. He didn't directly say that, but a lot of comments made me sense that is why you currently can't buy them from Disney.

We were tossing around the idea of selling our VGF points to purchase CC. Two weeks ago we went over to Wilderness Lodge to tour the rooms (we stayed in a cabin once and loved it, but never toured the studio or one bedroom). We did not like the rooms, too small for our taste. However, the guide showing us around said they can’t say anything about the Island Tower that hasn’t been specifically told to them and put in writing because of the legal issues surrounding their real estate license. This is the reason they are vague, non committal, not answering questions. They can’t even say if the Island Tower will be a part of the same association or not even though all you need to do is look it up to find that answer. It seems their canned response to questions is “you will find out before we do.”

 

[SCDVC2000]

Guaranteed this has been asked—-but I have a cash pay room for Feb. is there any chance I can convert this to a stay on points once the chart is out? Thanks!

 

[Sandisw]

Guaranteed this has been asked—-but I have a cash pay room for Feb. is there any chance I can convert this to a stay on points once the chart is out? Thanks!

No. Different inventory.

 

[Cfabar1]

has square footage been released for each room type? May just be the layout but the 1br kitchen and living area looks smaller to me than vgf, but maybe not.

also, can you confirm is there a tub in the 1 br units? or just two showers?

 

[CastAStone]

has square footage been released for each room type? May just be the layout but the 1br kitchen and living area looks smaller to me than vgf, but maybe not.

also, can you confirm is there a tub in the 1 br units? or just two showers?

No official square footage yet. Someone could probably measure the blueprints for rough estimates.

I know the room sizes have jumped around a bit in recent years but I think that’s more a function of the specific resorts in question; I’d expect rooms closer to their standard size they used in the aughts.

 

[hockeydad21]

has square footage been released for each room type? May just be the layout but the 1br kitchen and living area looks smaller to me than vgf, but maybe not.

also, can you confirm is there a tub in the 1 br units? or just two showers?

In the poly tower’s 1 bedrooms you’ll have 1 bathtub and 2 showers. In the studios you will only have 1 shower, and there will be no bathtub. I repeat, there is NO BATHTUB in the tower studios.

No word on the exact square footage, but I’m with you in thinking the 1 bedrooms in the poly tower will be smaller than VGF’s 1 bedrooms.

 

[Kailunkat]

LOL
I go away camping without internet access for a few days and you all got crazy. I have to say though - I like the longhouse roofs better (even if it does give off McMansion hell to have all those roof nubs). The roof on the tower drives me a little batty - it just doesn’t fit stylistically with anything else and it’s too small.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

In the poly tower’s 1 bedrooms you’ll have 1 bathtub and 2 showers. In the studios you will only have 1 shower, and there will be no bathtub. I repeat, there is NO BATHTUB in the tower studios.

This is so stupid by Disney for a resort catering to young children. Especially a timeshare resort. My kids are both almost old enough for showers at this point, but the lack of a bathtub is going to immediately eliminate any families with toddlers.

 

[Cfabar1]

This is so stupid by Disney for a resort catering to young children. Especially a timeshare resort. My kids are both almost old enough for showers at this point, but the lack of a bathtub is going to immediately eliminate any families with toddlers.

They will be more than welcome to stay in the Longhouses…

I think Disney is trying to balance being a family brand with the demographics showing that fewer and fewer folks are having families, and those who are are having fewer children - meaning the compression of time where a bathtub is a necessity shrinks further.

Not advocating for this, just saying, I’m sure they did their market research on the tub/shower thing.

 

[Sandisw]

This is so stupid by Disney for a resort catering to young children. Especially a timeshare resort. My kids are both almost old enough for showers at this point, but the lack of a bathtub is going to immediately eliminate any families with toddlers.

Maybe it is because they already have so many studios that give that option?

 

[HooperSnag]

Personally, I like the beige-y decor of the new tower but suspect they'll need to add pops of color as time goes on (bed spreads, towels, art work, etc.)
A bit of 80's "Golden Girls" vibe but with more modern sensibilities.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Personally, I like the beige-y decor of the new tower but suspect they'll need to add pops of color as time goes on (bed spreads, towels, art work, etc.)
A bit of 80's "Golden Girls" vibe but with more modern sensibilities.

I think they have plenty of colorful artwork!

 

[CastAStone]

This is so stupid by Disney for a resort catering to young children. Especially a timeshare resort. My kids are both almost old enough for showers at this point, but the lack of a bathtub is going to immediately eliminate any families with toddlers.

It feels like the classic survey issue.

If you survey 100 people I’m sure a very large percentage say they prefer showers.
Most people in positions of authority I’ve worked with in the past would have interpreted that as “we should only build showers because that’s what people want (and oh btw they happen to be cheaper, bully bully!)”

That’s obviously the wrong way to read the data if you apply logical thinking to it. If 80% of people prefer showers, you should hold 20% tubs and make them a separate booking category. But that probably costs more money and isn’t “what consumers told us they prefer”.

When I used to test salad dressing flavors, Blue Cheese always came in last of the major flavors. But it’s the best selling refrigerated dressing flavor, which is what I sold. Because the people who liked it didn’t want anything else. If we relied on research we’d have killed it and decimated our sales.

That’s the survey issue. I think it’s what happened here. Just a guess.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

It feels like the classic survey issue.

If you survey 100 people I’m sure a very large percentage say they prefer showers.
Most people in positions of authority I’ve worked with in the past would have interpreted that as “we should only build showers because that’s what people want (and oh btw they happen to be cheaper, bully bully!)”

That’s obviously the wrong way to read the data if you apply logical thinking to it. If 80% of people prefer showers, you should hold 20% tubs and make them a separate booking category. But that probably costs more money and isn’t “what consumers told us they prefer”.

When I used to test salad dressing flavors, Blue Cheese always came in last of the major flavors. But it’s the best selling refrigerated dressing flavor, which is what I sold. Because the people who liked it didn’t want anything else. If we relied on research we’d have killed it and decimated our sales.

That’s the survey issue. I think it’s what happened here. Just a guess.

I agree but it just blows my mind that nobody with common sense anywhere in the decision-making promise thought to themselves about what the effect would be of not including bathtubs in a resort that a significant number of toddlers and under 5 year old children visiting it.