Why not to buy into Poly 1 but maybe Poly 2 / Those Darn Bungalows !!!!

[Nursemanit]

I prefer SSR if I am doing anything other than just Disney

 

[Yankee626]

I prefer SSR if I am doing anything other than just Disney

This is a great point. Especially if you want to do a golfing trip. Or as the new EPIC Universe opens at Universal it becomes a great option .

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I prefer SSR if I am doing anything other than just Disney

Resort rankings when you have/are actively using a car can change a lot. Car friendliness ranking is some order of SSR/OKW 1 and 2 and then Kidani 3 - basically exactly the opposite order of convenience to the Disney parks.

 

[bksomody]

I was very surprised at how close the point chart is for a 2BR preferred at SSR compared to a savanna view. It's only about a 10 point difference for a week in October. I enjoy the preferred view at SSR and the ability to walk to Disney Springs but, in my opinion, it doesn't compare to a savanna view at AKL.

 

[SL6827]

Most people don't have enough points to stay in the Bungalows . Thats a fact . They are rented out by Disney to fill them up.

That was the intent of Disney.

 

[Sandisw]

Most people don't have enough points to stay in the Bungalows . Thats a fact . They are rented out by Disney to fill them up.

True, but there are also plenty of owners who don't have enough to do the larger units of a 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms either. Just like the cabins at CCV, these are definitely not something people buy to stay in each trip, but they are a nice choice for splurging for a night or two occasionally if one has the desire to do it!

 

[tjkraz]

They are rented out by Disney to fill them up.

That was the intent of Disney.

So your position is that there aren't 20 DVC Members willing to pay ~100 points per night for a bungalow, but there are 20 cash guests willing to pay $4000+ cash per night. What a ridiculous assertion.

 

[RaymOOOnd]

It does seem like, via the bungalows, DVC added a bunch of points to the system which end up being used disproportionately often at places other than Poly. Certainly the studios don't seem very difficult to book, so those bungalow points are being used somewhere else. I'm quickly becoming one of the culprits here -- we just had twins and are quickly outgrowing those studios, and there's simply no other room category at Poly which we can afford.

Our (resale) PVB contract is therefore becoming our SAP contract, which isn't so bad since we got it for <$140pp a few years ago (post-restrictions). Reaaaally hoping the new building is same association, at which point we'd go back to using the points at Poly -- for a 1bdr. Not looking good on that front though.

 

[R2DWho]

Resort rankings when you have/are actively using a car can change a lot. Car friendliness ranking is some order of SSR/OKW 1 and 2 and then Kidani 3 - basically exactly the opposite order of convenience to the Disney parks.

I don't typically drive much and haven't stayed at many resorts. What's the advantage of the ones you listed in terms of car friendliness? BWV / BC / Riv would appear to be as good or better located.

 

[CarolynFH]

I don't typically drive much and haven't stayed at many resorts. What's the advantage of the ones you listed in terms of car friendliness? BWV / BC / Riv would appear to be as good or better located.

I think they're referring to parking the car at the resort. At SSR and OKW, you park in front of your building. At Kidani, you park under the building, close to the elevator nearest your room. At the other resorts, you park in a surface lot and may have to circle the lot a few times to find a place and then end up with quite a walk from your parking space to the building entrance. That's why Disney has cracked down on parking at resorts if you're not staying there and don't have a reservation for dining or other activity there. The original VGF building has a small lot in front of it, and most of the time spaces are conveniently located, but if there's a wedding at the pavilion right next door, you may not find a good space.

 

[Cupcake232]

A huge reason why I will not buy into Poly1 are those overpriced / underused Bungalows. DVC made a ridiculous amount of money off the sale of these Tiny little Villas that basically sleep 6 people and where nobody can afford. I'm actually sick of looking at them on the Seven Seas Lagoon. They block the view of MK from both the beach and the Resort. A little math tells me that they were each sold to DVC owners at Approximately $8.6 Million dollars and cost about $432K in MF a year to keep up. Thats using a total of 54352 points per year per Bungalow and 7.92 PP for MF . AND THEY ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE BECAUSE NOBODY HAS ENOUGH POINTS TO USE THEM. Its only a matter of time before they transfer some of those points to the already high Studio point chart. Now if the new Poly Tower is a separate DVC community I'm in ! Hopefully it will have a better point chart and better views. They will also be all new construction and not make over outdated rooms from 1971. What do you think ?

I’m hoping for the same thing as you! The Bungalows are too (point) pricey. I’m hoping for more reasonable room rates at the tower

 

[R2DWho]

I think they're referring to parking the car at the resort. At SSR and OKW, you park in front of your building. At Kidani, you park under the building, close to the elevator nearest your room. At the other resorts, you park in a surface lot and may have to circle the lot a few times to find a place and then end up with quite a walk from your parking space to the building entrance. That's why Disney has cracked down on parking at resorts if you're not staying there and don't have a reservation for dining or other activity there. The original VGF building has a small lot in front of it, and most of the time spaces are conveniently located, but if there's a wedding at the pavilion right next door, you may not find a good space.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

I think they're referring to parking the car at the resort. At SSR and OKW, you park in front of your building. At Kidani, you park under the building, close to the elevator nearest your room. At the other resorts, you park in a surface lot and may have to circle the lot a few times to find a place and then end up with quite a walk from your parking space to the building entrance. That's why Disney has cracked down on parking at resorts if you're not staying there and don't have a reservation for dining or other activity there. The original VGF building has a small lot in front of it, and most of the time spaces are conveniently located, but if there's a wedding at the pavilion right next door, you may not find a good space.

Precisely. We did WL on a cash stay with a car last year and it was absolutely infuriating at times.

 

[Cfabar1]

True, but there are also plenty of owners who don't have enough to do the larger units of a 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms either. Just like the cabins at CCV, these are definitely not something people buy to stay in each trip, but they are a nice choice for splurging for a night or two occasionally if one has the desire to do it!

Exactly.... the notion that your typical bungalow visitor is staying for a week is not one I subscribe to. I think they are likely coming for 1-3 nights for an extremely special occasion. A "once in a lifetime" visit they can have wonderful memories with.

 

[Cfabar1]

So your position is that there aren't 20 DVC Members willing to pay ~100 points per night for a bungalow, but there are 20 cash guests willing to pay $4000+ cash per night. What a ridiculous assertion.

I absolutely think there are 20 cash guests willing to do that! Look at the rates for a normal room at Poly or GF.... It amazes me people pay them, but they seem to sell enough of them! A regular room at those resorts sometimes isn't too far away from $1,000.

 

[ehh]

So your position is that there aren't 20 DVC Members willing to pay ~100 points per night for a bungalow, but there are 20 cash guests willing to pay $4000+ cash per night. What a ridiculous assertion.

Another case against the "made these to rent" is that the cash :: points ratio is quite low in the Bungalows.

Disney has X number of points to rent out at Poly each year, their path to maximize their rental revenue is to get the highest $ per point. At the Poly (and most of DVC) the highest cash :: points ratio is a Studio.

Some figures:

• Poly SV Studio
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$860/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 21.73/night
  • Average $/pt: $39.58/pt
• Poly LV Studio
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$1,100/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 25.78/night
  • Average $/pt: $42.67/pt
• Poly Bungalow
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$4,250/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 146.92/night
  • Average $/pt: $28.93/pt

(rack rates from https://www.mousesavers.com/2024-polynesian-villas-bungalows-room-rates-season-dates/)

If they rent out 100k points per year (around 2.5% of points, just above their 2% minimum ownership threshold), they'd make over $1mil more by renting exclusively Studios (either view) vs. exclusively Bungalows.

Renting Bungalows is a bad business decision for Disney. Anecdotally, I've found it hard to find them to book via cash on the WDW site.

 

[crvetter]

Thats using a total of 54352 points per year per Bungalow and 7.92 PP for MF . AND THEY ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE BECAUSE NOBODY HAS ENOUGH POINTS TO USE THEM.

We have no idea if the Bungalows cost more in MF or the Studio since they split across the entire resort per MF. It's kind of socialistic in a sense that some rooms cover the Maintenance cost of others with this structure. Given the newer build and high point cost of the bungalows I suspect over the year some of the MF on bungalow points actually cover the longhouses.

Remember the longhouses are fairly old, and really weren't built in the best of ways (and far from today's standards). So I honestly suspect the studios cost a bit more than the MF they bring in.

Over time, life has taught me a harsh lesson: there are always people who can afford things that I cannot. Just because there are bungalows showing available doesn't mean there are 20 empty rooms.

We can actually see the availability of the bungalows completely, how many rooms are available each day out of the 20, etc. I summarized this in a chart below that is presented in a way to really emphasize that the bungalows are indeed being booked currently within the 7 month window and a pretty high rate outside of the breakage period that leads me to believe that most people bookign the bungalows are from other resorts.

Also it isn't happening last minute, so these aren't points to be burnt, this would imply they are deliberately being planned by people.

Month	% of Points Unbooked
Jun-23	0.68%
Jul-23	5.72%
Aug-23	40.94%
Sep-23	8.17%
Oct-23	38.76%
Nov-23	24.59%
Dec-23	34.82%
Jan-24	59.32%
Feb-24	94.99%
Mar-24	98.88%
Apr-24	96.33%
May-24	98.80%

The above tables shows each month how much of the bungalows aren't being used measured by the amount of points it would take to book the vacant ones (knowing the number available each day) over the number of points it would take to book all 20. My trends and comments above exist. It will be curious to see in a month what happens with February, does it drop because it is now within in 7 month window.

Season	% of Points Unbooked
1	8.17%
2	71.57%
3	58.15%
4	33.98%
5	33.55%
6	92.47%
7	69.89%

This is presented on a seasonal basis to show there isn't much trend on the season really it seems kind of all over the place. Now granted some seasons are more or less in the 7+ window.

Most people don't have enough points to stay in the Bungalows . Thats a fact . They are rented out by Disney to fill them up.

Over the entire availability of the bungalows for the entire open window of booking 46% of the bungalows are booked. So apparently people do have the points to book them.

So your position is that there aren't 20 DVC Members willing to pay ~100 points per night for a bungalow, but there are 20 cash guests willing to pay $4000+ cash per night. What a ridiculous assertion.

I would assert that people who want a bungalow are very wealthy and do pay cash or bought points at SAP resorts (or long ago when cheaper). This really suggests to me that no resort is bad on the system because currently all resorts book pretty high, and breakage is expiring points so they don't really stress the system. It isn't DVC's fault people don't choose to rent their points, but let them expire. I'm sure someone would pay MF cost for a bungalow a night, but if they go to breakage that is on owners letting their points expire.

All in all I believe the bungalows don't actually seem to be a problem to DVC in general; however, they do seem to be a problem to PVB owners because they aren't booking them within their home resort priority period. So as the original resorts retire/sunset and more people can't trade into Poly (or paid more per point) they might not be interested in spending on the Bungalows. Then again it is possible that in 20-30 years what newer people paid per point is going to be a steal so they will absolutely spend on the Bungalows.

Edit to Add: The points per night are more 150 points than ~100.

It's all conjecture really, but we know that all the bungalows are not sitting empty, currently for the next 11 months 46% are booked and some months we are up to 60+% booked out.

 

[crvetter]

Another case against the "made these to rent" is that the cash :: points ratio is quite low in the Bungalows.

Disney has X number of points to rent out at Poly each year, their path to maximize their rental revenue is to get the highest $ per point. At the Poly (and most of DVC) the highest cash :: points ratio is a Studio.

Some figures:

• Poly SV Studio
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$860/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 21.73/night
  • Average $/pt: $39.58/pt
• Poly LV Studio
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$1,100/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 25.78/night
  • Average $/pt: $42.67/pt
• Poly Bungalow
  • Average 2024 Rack Rate: ~$4,250/night
  • Average 2024 Points per night: 146.92/night
  • Average $/pt: $28.93/pt

(rack rates from https://www.mousesavers.com/2024-polynesian-villas-bungalows-room-rates-season-dates/)

If they rent out 100k points per year (around 2.5% of points, just above their 2% minimum ownership threshold), they'd make over $1mil more by renting exclusively Studios (either view) vs. exclusively Bungalows.

Renting Bungalows is a bad business decision for Disney. Anecdotally, I've found it hard to find them to book via cash on the WDW site.

Also the only way Disney is making free money on the Bungalows is via breakage. If they use the 2% they hold back in each unit of the association to book the Bungalows that is their points to spend. So if they built the Bungalows with that intention no issues there.

And breakage only happens because owners let their points expire. Book a bungalow and rent it for MF instead of expiring but a majority of DVC owners I bet really don't know about renting their points out. Just like a majority of Disney guests don't know about renting DVC.

 

[Yankee626]

So your position is that there aren't 20 DVC Members willing to pay ~100 points per night for a bungalow, but there are 20 cash guests willing to pay $4000+ cash per night. What a ridiculous assertion.

There are millions of people out there will ing to pay cash while only a limited amount of DVC owners who actually have enough points (1000) to do a week at a Bungalow . Who knows Disney may even give those away to VIPS for favors.

 

[Yankee626]

It does seem like, via the bungalows, DVC added a bunch of points to the system which end up being used disproportionately often at places other than Poly. Certainly the studios don't seem very difficult to book, so those bungalow points are being used somewhere else. I'm quickly becoming one of the culprits here -- we just had twins and are quickly outgrowing those studios, and there's simply no other room category at Poly which we can afford.

Our (resale) PVB contract is therefore becoming our SAP contract, which isn't so bad since we got it for <$140pp a few years ago (post-restrictions). Reaaaally hoping the new building is same association, at which point we'd go back to using the points at Poly -- for a 1bdr. Not looking good on that front though.

They add about 1.1 million points to the system in Total.