VGF vs Polynesian

[kboo]

I don't think either is a bad choice for a studio. They're both among the best studios out there! I'd go with your preference as just a couple, if you think your son may outgrow going with you guys. You may enjoy the fine dining and Enchanted Rose lounge at VGF. If that's not your vibe, Poly with Trader Sam's and dole whips and fireworks on the beach sounds great as a couple, too.

I'd go with the Poly over the Grand (saying this as a Grand Flo owner) as there's more standard view studios to select from to help stretch out a smallish contract that it sounds like you're looking for.

Actually, I'm a VGF owner and would say the same. The studios are already plentiful and it looks like the new Poly tower, if you want a larger unit, will have a better balance of sizes/units. Especially if you're buying resale, the point charts on studios are not that far off, so if you like the resorts equally, you may as well get cheaper points.

I think the major reason though is because it's a closer walk to get to the TTC for the monorail to Epcot.

@intamin why would you even be taking the monorail to Epcot if you have Riviera points?

More seriously, though, in the days before we owned Riviera, we'd walk to Poly for an early breakfast and then walk to the TTC from breakfast. Yes, in total it's a longer walk, but it became not just a walk.

I also like the dual showers in the Poly studios.

VGF deluxe studios (and Riviera studios) have the split bath which, imo, is a better use of square footage than the Poly split bath. So those 3 studios, at least, have 2 showers.

I'd try them both out with your SSR points before making a decision, good luck!

This, 100%. I always think I'm more a Poly vibe (love Hawaii, have been to French Polynesia) and also thought VGF would be "stuffy", but I haven't felt that way in all our stays there (starting with a cash hotel room stay). When staying in the MK area, we always used to visit Poly for a meal at Ohana or Kona Cafe, and Trader Sam's. But I think we started sizing up to 1br and larger soon after we bought DVC, so we never stayed at Poly before. We will probably try the larger units once the tower opens, though.

tl;dr - the bathroom situation and layout are not different enough to tip in favor of one or the other. Same with the point charts. I feel it would depend on how you value decor/amenities/location and price, and maybe if you see the "perfect" contract at the "perfect"

BUT the new points imbalance (too many resort studios) at VGF has me leaning Poly for you, all other things being equal. You're mostly a studio stay and the studios at Poly are large and plentiful. Soon you'll have an opportunity to check out larger units at Poly, if you want. And if you like them, there should be enough of them that you're not competing with Poly owners at 11 mo.

Moreover, I too have noticed that sometimes (especially the Deluxe) studios with standard view may not be available at 11 months out. But that's oftentimes due to walkers who walk unnecessarily. If you wait 1-3 days, those will become available as they are dropped.

Agree. You bring up another point though - that even though it's incredibly points heavy, there are only a few times a year that home resort priority really matters. And if you're planning on going during that time, consider whether that's going to be a frustration. e.g. VGF's hardest to get in December - Winter holidays - January. December and January because it's the "cheapest" time and Winter holidays because parents like us are tied to school breaks and VGF is amazing during the winter holidays. Yes, there are a ton of people around the gingerbread house. But the OG villas are off on their own, and the entire atmosphere (and smell!) are so special. So far Poly seems to have decent availabilty for Poly owners, and an influx of new points isn't likely to affect that. I am not sure how that cuts. If you're able to get a room at Poly at 7 mo, then maybe get a new home resort where the 11mo advantage matters?

 

[iloveeeyore]

Team Poly, here! This is the view from our deluxe lagoon view studio last month. And so many other reasons.

But truly, you can't go wrong with either choice. Have fun deciding!

 

[DVCsloth]

I'm a VGF fan, but with the new tower coming soon, I could have been swayed into giving Polynesian a try. My biggest concern is going to be the potential lack of availability in the tower. I'm on the team of thinking that the tower should have been its own association, but that's already been worked into the ground, and it looks like it will be the same. So, I highly doubt there will be any Polynesian points in our future plans, but it looks like it's going to be a really nice addition to DVC.

 

[intamin]

Actually, I'm a VGF owner and would say the same. The studios are already plentiful and it looks like the new Poly tower, if you want a larger unit, will have a better balance of sizes/units. Especially if you're buying resale, the point charts on studios are not that far off, so if you like the resorts equally, you may as well get cheaper points.


@intamin why would you even be taking the monorail to Epcot if you have Riviera points?

More seriously, though, in the days before we owned Riviera, we'd walk to Poly for an early breakfast and then walk to the TTC from breakfast. Yes, in total it's a longer walk, but it became not just a walk.


VGF deluxe studios (and Riviera studios) have the split bath which, imo, is a better use of square footage than the Poly split bath. So those 3 studios, at least, have 2 showers.


This, 100%. I always think I'm more a Poly vibe (love Hawaii, have been to French Polynesia) and also thought VGF would be "stuffy", but I haven't felt that way in all our stays there (starting with a cash hotel room stay). When staying in the MK area, we always used to visit Poly for a meal at Ohana or Kona Cafe, and Trader Sam's. But I think we started sizing up to 1br and larger soon after we bought DVC, so we never stayed at Poly before. We will probably try the larger units once the tower opens, though.

tl;dr - the bathroom situation and layout are not different enough to tip in favor of one or the other. Same with the point charts. I feel it would depend on how you value decor/amenities/location and price, and maybe if you see the "perfect" contract at the "perfect"

BUT the new points imbalance (too many resort studios) at VGF has me leaning Poly for you, all other things being equal. You're mostly a studio stay and the studios at Poly are large and plentiful. Soon you'll have an opportunity to check out larger units at Poly, if you want. And if you like them, there should be enough of them that you're not competing with Poly owners at 11 mo.


Agree. You bring up another point though - that even though it's incredibly points heavy, there are only a few times a year that home resort priority really matters. And if you're planning on going during that time, consider whether that's going to be a frustration. e.g. VGF's hardest to get in December - Winter holidays - January. December and January because it's the "cheapest" time and Winter holidays because parents like us are tied to school breaks and VGF is amazing during the winter holidays. Yes, there are a ton of people around the gingerbread house. But the OG villas are off on their own, and the entire atmosphere (and smell!) are so special. So far Poly seems to have decent availabilty for Poly owners, and an influx of new points isn't likely to affect that. I am not sure how that cuts. If you're able to get a room at Poly at 7 mo, then maybe get a new home resort where the 11mo advantage matters?

I always forget about the VGF bathrooms lol. But we park hop a LOT midday. So I can imagine us going to Epcot in the morning, going back to the room in the middle of the day and then monorail to MK afterwards. Agreed on the point charts. I'm expecting the tower point chart to be insane which is why I'm planning to get like 300 Poly 2 points in order to cover like half to 3/4 of a week in a 2BR . IMO OP can't really go wrong with either resort. It's all a matter of personal preference. I think we're going to have a similar situation at Poly like we do at VGF currently. Lots of studios with less 1/2/3BRs available so I think home resort priority will matter at both. Something else to consider is how much OP likes tower resorts or if OP even likes the aesthetic of Poly tower.

 

[CastAStone]

This really depends on when you're looking, and it's usually not as bad as it might seem. For example, right now standard view studios are available at 11 months out for March 2025 which is Spring break season. And that's both the Deluxe and Resort studios available.

Moreover, I too have noticed that sometimes (especially the Deluxe) studios with standard view may not be available at 11 months out. But that's oftentimes due to walkers who walk unnecessarily. If you wait 1-3 days, those will subsequently become available as they are dropped.

With Poly, because it's all studios and also expensive to book, availability at 7 months out is often so good that you don't even need to have it as a home resort. Either it's just available at 7 months, or enough owners try to switch out then that it becomes available.

Poly and VGF Resort studios have both proven to be fairly easy to get at 7 months. Poly availability dipped while everyone worked through the post pandemic point glut, but availability has improved meaningfully over the last year according to the tracking that dvcfieldguide.com does.

However, with the poly tower opening soon, I think it becomes very hard to predict future availability at PVB. Adding millions more points should make it easier. But will the tower over index on 1/2 BRs vs the points they sell for it and push more people into the longhouses?

 

[Rex1993]

We bought VGF during the summer sale and just completed our first stay last week. The low direct cost was the driving force behind the purchase but we were really happy with being at VGF. We did stop over at Poly and enjoyed the vibe but felt a little like it made us just want to actually be in Hawaii instead of Florida. If you like both, I don't think you can go wrong with either. Don't stress about dues differences unless they are huge. The present value of dues 20 years from now is almost zero. The biggest driver of present value differences is the price you initially pay for the contract, plain and simple. I agree with the addage that is to buy where you want to stay, but if you're fine with two different places, pick the one you can buy cheaper. In other words... do the opposite of what we did and don't buy the "Grands."

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Poly and VGF Resort studios have both proven to be fairly easy to get at 7 months. Poly availability dipped while everyone worked through the post pandemic point glut, but availability has improved meaningfully over the last year according to the tracking that dvcfieldguide.com does.

However, with the poly tower opening soon, I think it becomes very hard to predict future availability at PVB. Adding millions more points should make it easier. But will the tower over index on 1/2 BRs vs the points they sell for it and push more people into the longhouses?

Like @CastAStone, I think that Poly Tower is going to be a real wild card for PVB longhouse availability (especially in 2026 and beyond). Everybody seems to assume that PVB owners are going to be desperate to stay in the Tower, but depending on the point chart, they might be happier with the non-TPV studios in the longhouses, and I worry that with the very high $/pt rates they will push Poly Tower at, along of people will be trying to stretch their 150/200/250 contracts and stay in non-TPV studios. If you know you want studios, I might wait to see the point charts for Poly Tower before making a decision.

I personally like the VGF vibe (which I think of as country-club casual but I see how others might find stuffy) and think their resort studios are gorgeous (the only noise that bothered us was the boats on Seven Seas Lagoons honking their horn), but I also love being at Poly with it's kitschy tiki culture (and fun bar and dole whip stand)...but my husband says that being at PVB makes him wish we were actually in Hawaii. We own at VGF but I'd own both with infinite vacation time and money, and I do think being able to walk to TTC from the original Poly longhouses gives it the edge on location (we don't walk from VGF to MK because we have younger kids who get walked out by the end of the day).

 

[kboo]

However, with the poly tower opening soon, I think it becomes very hard to predict future availability at PVB. Adding millions more points should make it easier. But will the tower over index on 1/2 BRs vs the points they sell for it and push more people into the longhouses?

I'm hoping that they may have the reverse happen ... with VGF, they sold out the resort studio points but people wanted the studios and even other units in the OG building. There's 47 dedicated 2br and 47 1br and 47 deluxe studios (approx? from googling) for the millions of points in a now sold out resort. In the past, the only time maybe we needed to be exactly on at 11m/8a was during Dec-Jan and for us Xmas week, BUT only for studios and 2br. Maybe we are still settling down from COVID points glut, but I am a little concerned that we'll face a squeeze going forward, even in larger units.

If people bought old Poly knowing it was only studios, and now Poly 2 will sell as tower + a lot of studios, I'm wondering how many new buyers will be pushing for the tower units, especially the larger ones? or if people will continue to buy points mainly for studios (and studio point costs)?

just thinking out loud I guess.

but if you're fine with two different places, pick the one you can buy cheaper. In other words... do the opposite of what we did and don't buy the "Grands."

I'm just chuckling at all the VGF owners here who are saying, buy Poly. But Poly resale is still less $ than VGF resale right now, and so if you're really equally drawn to each resort, *and* you're mostly staying studios, I think Poly is the way to go. (Can you tell I'm not a huge fan of the resort studios?)

#OGvillas4eva

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I'm just chuckling at all the VGF owners here who are saying, buy Poly. But Poly resale is still less $ than VGF resale right now, and so if you're really equally drawn to each resort, *and* you're mostly staying studios, I think Poly is the way to go. (Can you tell I'm not a huge fan of the resort studios?)

#OGvillas4eva

I just realized we’re doing this ALL wrong. We need to push people who don’t like VGF (or do love PVB) to buy VGF and then we’ll have the 11m booking period all to ourselves.

 

[kboo]

I just realized we’re doing this ALL wrong. We need to push people who don’t like VGF (or do love PVB) to buy VGF and then we’ll have the 11m booking period all to ourselves.

hmmm... that's sort of crazy... but it just might work!

Or we might need to start talking like 2 real beds is the way to go and Murphy beds are nowhere near as comfortable ...

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

hmmm... that's sort of crazy... but it just might work!

Or we might need to start talking like 2 real beds is the way to go and Murphy beds are nowhere near as comfortable ...

I’ve heard VGF points are great SAP+ with their low dues— great for using at AKV and HHI.

 

[walt34]

Murphy beds are nowhere near as comfortable ...

Murphy beds will be terrible for dues because people keep smashing them into the coffee table - will this help?

 

[peabody58]

Life is short - buy both.

And for the record, the Murphy Bed at Poly was so comfortable I stayed in my 'Cushion man-cave' bed while Wife Unit stayed up with her tablet in bed.

 

[Instagramhusband]

This thread delivers.

 

[DanCali]

Maybe it's Poly vs.

Team Poly, here! This is the view from our deluxe lagoon view studio last month. And so many other reasons.

But truly, you can't go wrong with either choice. Have fun deciding!

Well, with this type of criteria, maybe it's VGF vs. Poly vs BLT...