The circumstances were extraordinarily bad and, in my opinion, a complete breakdown of operations. We were definitely aware of the fact that the Poly can get busy, we've gone there many times while visiting Disney World prior to owning there. We knew what we were signing up for and what happened over July 3-4 was way worse.
Since its obvious I have to reveal everything before someone calls me a Kevin/Karen, below is a copy of the email I sent to my guide several weeks ago. They told me they would forward to their supervisor and would make its way to the right people.
I wanted to share our poor experience directly related to the operations of specifically the Island Tower and the Polynesian Village Resort in general during our first/“Welcome Home” stay as Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members from July 1-5. This stay had my wife and me disappointed, wondering if selecting the Polynesian Village as our home resort, and questioning if purchasing DVC at all was a huge mistake.
It’s been a rough few weeks for us. Amongst other things, my son contracted a virus during our stay, and our car had been rear-ended. We’ve been busy dealing with the repercussions of both. After a busy week or so of catching up with responsibilities and life in general at home, I finally had time to reflect on our experience, and it was clear to me that it was necessary to speak up about this.
On July 3rd, my family and I drove over from the Island Tower to Wilderness Lodge for an early dinner with the plan of returning to Polynesian Village and finding a location to watch the special holiday fireworks that night. We got back to the Island Tower to find the security gate up because it was broken, and a security guard was stationed in his SUV. I told him we were guests, and we were let right in. There was no scanning of room keys or Magicbands and no verification of our name off of a list of guests. He simply took me on my word.
Since it was pouring rain, I dropped my wife and kids off under the porte cochère, and I went to park. I circled the entire parking lot and found no spots. I patiently waited for someone to come out to their car; the lot is designed in such a way that positioned myself where I could see anyone walking to their car. But for over a half hour, no one came out.
I pulled around to the front and asked someone from bell services what to do, and he had no advice. I waited another half hour, now an hour total, and still no one moved their car. During this period, there were as many as 4 other cars lined up behind me also waiting for a spot. Some gave up and left during the hour.
I finally pulled my car up to the security guard and asked what I should do. He told me that my only option was to go park at the Ticket & Transportation Center (TTC) as the main parking lot at Polynesian Village was also full.
So, to be clear, the only solution was:
- Park in the Magic Kingdom lot.
- Walk or wait for a tram to the TTC.
- Walk from the TTC or get on a monorail.
- Walk back to the Island Tower.
This is a 20+ minute excursion that also required repeating the same steps in reverse to retrieve the car.
The Island Tower parking lot is clearly too small. Unfortunately, this did not occur to us prior to purchasing our DVC contract. We understand that the gate unexpectedly broke down that night. But at the same time, there was clearly no scrutiny of who was parking in there. That is inexcusable on any night and especially so when a popular, twice-a-year holiday fireworks show was taking place.
My assumption is that people were also being allowed to park at the main parking area of the Polynesian Village who also were not resort and maybe not even dining guests. Why else would it be full? People with dining reservations at the two restaurants at Polynesian Village that offer them have the same seating capacity on any given evening. So how did the property run out of spots?
The top priority should obviously be to ensure there are always spots for overnight resort guests spending thousands of dollars to stay at the property. A limited area of the lot should be reserved for dining guests and the bulk for overnight guests. Overnight guests should never be told they have to park at the TTC.
The next day, July 4, was not much better. We decided to remain on the property, fearing a repeat of the night before, and had an early dinner at Wailulu. Also, since wristbands were distributed to resort guests, we assumed it would be a calmer atmosphere at the resort. Unfortunately, we were wrong.
While the beach near the Lava Pool on the original side of the resort was fenced off and reserved for hotel guests, the smaller beach by the Island Tower was not, and it was filled with people. It was easy to see that many, if not most, people there did not have a wristband. So why go through the motions of distributing bracelets just to let anyone watch from there and disappoint us as resort guests?
We understand and appreciate that the Island Tower is only open for 7 months or so, and that there is going to be a learning curve inherent with operating a new property. But at the same time, the Island Tower has already gone through a similar high-attendance holiday fireworks event on New Year’s Eve. Further, the Polynesian Village has been operating and dealing with fireworks crowds for over 50 years.
To be clear, we completely understand that holidays are going to be busy at Walt Disney World. Further, we do not have any unrealistic expectations of special treatment as DVC members. But we want to be confident we made the right decision purchasing DVC and selecting Polynesian Village as our home resort. After this stay, it doesn’t feel that way.
If I had to boil it all down to one sentence, the feeling of “Welcome home” that we heard so much about during the sales process was really lacking for us.
I appreciate your time and attention to this matter and would appreciate a response in the next few days. Most of all, we want to be reassured that we made the right decision both in joining Disney Vacation Club and making Polynesian Village Resort our home.
