I think the tower is going to put pressure on GF’s transportation and pools. Just eyeballing the distance but GF monorail/bus might be the same distance or even shorter - I easily could be wrong about that though. I also really am banking on wrist bands for the pools - I have seen it posted multiple times on FB that tower guests should just use the GF pools.
I hope both Poly and VGF pools get actual wrist bands. As a VGF owner (who doesn't own at Poly b/c it's always crowded when we stay there), the worst case scenario is that only Poly gets them and then our pools get overrun with daytrippers (I'm less worried about tower guests). It's not just the crowding, it's also safer not to have random non-guests slipping in and hanging out.
I’ve got some bad news about that. I went to the first board meeting for the Polynesian and asked specifically about crowd control at the pool. I don’t remember the name of the board member that answered the question. She was understanding of my concern, but shared that they are reluctant to wrist band pools because it creates a different set of issues when you restrict access to amenities.
She did say that they will monitor the situation, but are not anticipating an issue because there is no slide at the tower pool.
This is so disappointing. I suspect a lot of "hackers" are already planning to bring their kids for a mid-day cool off at the Moana splash pad, too.
This is my concern. I genuinely want all resorts to have wristbands for pool access. It's less about Poly Tower people going to VGF's pool or the other way around, and it's more about people who are not staying at the resort but using its pools because they're easily accessible.
Agree-- again, it's not just crowding, it's also increasing risks of theft.
Somewhat off topic but related. The reason I like the older Fast pass+ was because we could make our choices for a little later and avoid the opening mob. The busses and monorail will be much busier at Poly and GF so I'm sure they will add more busses to cover it, but not sure how much more they can add on the monorail line. We liked to go to the pools when they first open for an hour or two "almost always no crowd" then head over to the parks. Maybe this updated Genie plus will be different, but it seems wasteful the last time we were there in June to purchase it later in the day. Poly was sharing the gym with GF, so hopefully they will end up with their own as well.
This is a great point-- we aren't rope droppers at WDW and used to stack and arrive later. That really does not work well with the new LLMP system, and I wonder if it has already increased crowding on the monorail and buses int he AM.
Oh I agree! I bought BLT resale this morning and I’m actually looking forward to booking there. I’ve never paid much attention to that resort because the theming in the contemporary just isn’t my thing. Now my attention has shifted from “how pretty is this” to “how crowded is this”
We have two different VGF contracts, which we sometimes use at home and sometimes use as SAP-- I'll hold our direct contract but seriously considering unloading our resale contract before everybody else realizes how much less pleasant it is with a lot of new guests using the monorail, buses and maybe pools. If I could swap my resale VGF to BLT with no costs, I would do it.
This is so frustrating to hear. If I had to take a guess as to what their biggest "issue" is in restricting pool access to only those who are PAYING FOR THOSE AMENITIES, it would be that they have to add multiple employees to the payroll in order to staff it 7 days a week. God forbid they improve the experience quality for their paying customers!
I think they both do not want to pay extra employees, but they also don't want to create scenes of tresspassing guests fighting with pool staff. Just paying whomever is manning the slide to check wristbands might solve some of the problems but I think at least some of the resort pools don't have anybody at the top of the slide, only a light, right?
Once upon a time, Stormalong Bay was not nearly so particular about letting people in. The access policy was created in response to problems--possibly only perceived problems, but problems nevertheless.
I am a fan of minimalism, and would rather they wait to see if there is a problem before creating a solution to it.
Unless SAB has way more capacity per guest than Poly, I think the signs of the problem are evident. Even when BC & YC are sold out, you can typically find a few chairs together (and have multiple options) in the middle of the day, and at least one or two hot tubs won't be crowded. Meanwhile, at Poly (where we stay less frequently) we've had several days where we can't find more than one chair available at the feature pool and it's after hunting for some time to even find one, or we are sitting in upright chairs instead of loungers.
