Disney Vacation Club Villas and Bungalows news
Welcome to the Disney Vacation Club section of these web pages.
This section is dedicated to details about Disney Vacation Club that will be opening at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Until details of the villas are available this page will be a time line taken from past news articles of mine that detailed out the progress of how DVC came about at the Polynesian. To help me with information and answer questions about Disney Vacation Club I have asked a good friend and someone I consider an expert on Disney Vacation Club to join my web pages as a writer. He will help me organize and write information needed for my readers to understand how DVC works, the Pros and Cons to purchasing DVC and the best option for you and your family. You can find out more about him and see his helpful information on the DVC Information page.
I created the timeline below to show how the Disney Vacation Club addition to the Polynesian Village evolved and to keep people informed on new projects going on around the resort.
Timeline of events
2006
I was first told about Disney looking into DVC being at the resort. They determined at the time there was not enough land to expand the resort so they looked at turning Tahiti longhouse into DVC or taking that building down and making a DVC building. After all they looked at they decided DVC would not come to the Polynesian.
2010
Word that the Great Ceremonial House needed major work and possibly be torn down to be replaced had come to my attention. There was even some pre-planning on how they could do check in at the old arcade location and open the Tangaroa Terrace for food along with serving lunch at Luau Cove while the GCH was out of commission. One reason or another work on the GCH was being put off. Also planning for adding in a hot tub and doing some re-theming to the pool area was being planned but again was delayed.Early 2011 A rumor was posted to Chip and Co. site that said something like they were tearing down the Polynesian to build a new resort that included buildings for DVC. Some of the details from that rumor lead me to believe that it came from some factual information. Originally I called it all false but as I discovered more details on what was being planned I realized they were not too far off.
October 2011
When we were at the Polynesian for the 40th celebration I had found out some information just before leaving for the trip. After having a few discussions I discovered that not only where they still discussing taking down the Great Ceremonial House because of Asbestos and needing to bring it up to ADA compliance but DVC was being planned for the resort. Also major issues with the pool area had to be addressed soon. Surveyors had been all over the property and would not discuss what was going on but they would only say it was something big.
May 2012
Site balloons are seen over next to Luau Cove. At this time phase one was going to be a 5 story building over where Luau Cove is now. The site balloons were representing the height of the building that would go in that location.
June 2012
Info was leaked about the Bungalows. Some pod casts were talking about the bungalows so I shared what I knew about the future plans at the time. This included two phases. The first being a 5 story T-shaped building over where the luau is now. It would be relocated indoors somewhere. The second phase would remove Rapa Nui for another T-shaped 5 story building and new parking lot over at the Rapa Nui location. Tahiti would be converted into villas and 15 bungalows would be out off the beach of Tahiti. A new pool area inspired by Aulani would be over between Rapa Nui and Tokelau. The building that has the Neverland Club, Tangaroa Terrance and the Laundry would be removed. Construction will start in September.
January 2013
Work finally got started on the longhouse room renovation in 2013. Starting with Hawaii longhouse and completion should be by October of this year.
January 10 Permit filed for work on all longhouse room renovations. Click here to see permit.
January 15 Permit filed for work to the Luau stage. Click here to see permit.
February 2013
February 27 Permit filed for work on sprinkler for Rapa Nui longhouse. This may have been for work on the test room for DVC that was in this longhouse. Click here to see permit.
March 2013
The new room design had started with Hawaii at the beginning of the year and Tahiti and Rapa Nui were on the schedule at the end. Some information was out that the grand plan for DVC was cut way back. There would no longer be the phase one over at the Luau and the word was only Tahiti would be converted into DVC along with 20 bungalows over the water.
March 4 Permit filed for mechanical work to the Luau building. Click here to see permit.
March 25 Rapa Nui had more permits pulled to work on the test room design for DVC. Click here to see permit.
April 2013
April 6 Permits filed for construciton on rooms at the resort. Click here to see permit.
April 9 Permit to remove old guard shack and work to redesign parking lot. Click here to see permit.
April 9 Permit filed for work on roof of Luau building. Click here to see permit.
June 2013
June 11 Permit to start work on beach area for DVC bungalows. Click here to see permit.
June 11 Permit for plumbing and electrical work to be done in Tonga Suites. Click here to see permit.
July 2013
Permits were filed that showed the construction of the bungalows out over the water, new paths around Sunset Pointe, Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Tokelau. In these permits you can see the DVC layout in Rapa Nui. Both Tahiti and Rapa Nui were taken out of the schedule to redo the rooms. Word was that they would close down to become DVC and they were not going to spend the money to convert them to the new room design that was going in on all other longhouses.
There was no word on if the additional pool would make it into the new DVC plans but chances are it was cut. The plans to redo the Great Ceremonial House seem to include the removal of the water feature that has been part of the resort lobby since it opened. The whole GCH will not close or be torn down but it will be done in sections and some stores will be changed in the process.
July 9 Permit filed for conduit installation for fiber optic cable. Click here for permit.
July 11 Permits for replacing lighting in elevator and hallways in all the longhouses except Tahiti and Rapa Nui filed. Click here to see permit.
July 16 Permit for work to Luau roof. Click here to see permit.
August 2013
Travel agents are finally notified that construction would start in September and that views will be affected especially in the areas of Hawaii, Tokelau, Rapa Nui and Tahiti.
August 16 Permit for work to be done to Tokelau longhouse filed. Click here to see permit.
August 27 Permits filed for work on redesigning the Great Ceremonial House (work to begin in 2014). Click here to see permit.
September 2013
Walls go up around Sunset Pointe, Tahiti and Rapa Nui. Shortly after Disney officially announces DVC at the Polynesian by somehow getting the information (or it got leaked) to local news channels and web sites. There is nothing on any of Disney’s official web pages but those in charge of DVC PR have confirmed that this news is correct. All this talk for so long and many people did not believe it until this point.
I was told part of the changes would be to bring back the name “Village” as part of the Polynesian Resort name.
September 4 Permits filed for work to underground utilities and construction of boardwalk for the DVC bungalows. Work should start this month. Click here for permit.
September 11 Permits filed to work on Laundry room at resort. Click here to see permit.
October 2013
The parking lot next to Rapa Nui is torn up for the new parking lot going in. Sunset Pointe is now just a pile of dirt and heavy equipment . The docks heading out into the water are visible. The first docks seen are actually what will support the utilities that will go out to the bungalows and not the actual walkways that people will use to get to the rooms. Depth testing has been going on around the islands and off the shore of Tahiti’s beach.
Word that the Nanea Pool will have the volcano removed keeping the slide and pool intact. A new pool deck area will go in around the pool expanding the pool deck area around and towards the GCH. A new kids wet play area will go in next to the GCH and the marina rental building will move over to where the Premium Cabana is. A fence will go in around the pool only allowing access to Polynesian Resort guests. This is expected to start early 2014 but schedules are getting pushed out all the time.
The first signs of the “Village” name is seen on new jogging signs placed near the GCH calling the resort “Disney’s Polyensian Village Resort”.
November 2013
There has been some information for a few weeks now that the construction around the pool area will be delayed. Some of the work was going to start in January 2014 and the major work was going to begin in March but the latest word is that all the work might not start until May 2014. I will keep you updated on this as information becomes available.
December 2013
Changes to when the Neverland Club will close were announced. Instead of closing early January and reopening on April 1, Disney is saying that it will close on January 28 and reopen in 2015. I would not be surprised to see it open earlier but that is the lates information they are sharing.
The monorail will start out 2014 going back to reduced hours and be closed from 11:30 AM to 7:00 PM week days affecting the two Magic Kingdom lines (Resort and Express) with no limits to Epcot’s monorail. This is expected to go from January to March. This is to do maintenance and not because of any DVC construction.
December 3 Permits filed to construct the 20 bungalow structures filed. Click here to see permits.
December 3 Permit for maintenance building to be built on beach to support the DVC bungalows. Click here to see permit.
December 3 Permit to convert Tahiti Longhouse over to DVC villas filed. Click here to see permit.
December 3 Permit to convert Rapa Nui Longhouse over to DVC villas filed. Click here to see permit.
December 3 Permit for conversion of Great Ceremonial House mechanical for new design. Click here to see permit.
January 2014
Neverland Club closed and is not expected to reopen until 2015.
Wyland Galleries closed January 1 and will not reopen.
Reports that Tahiti Longhouse is closed. Walls were up at Tahiti entrance with construction workers in and out of the building.
January 2 Permits filed for work to be done on the Nanea (volcano) pool and the East (quiet) pool by Falcon of the Nile. Click here to see permit.
January 9 Permits were filed for the Neverland club work. Click here to see permit.
January 24 Permits were filed for sidewalks all around the resort to be replaced and brought up to code for ADA requirements. Click here to see permit.
January 30 Permits for servicing to all elevators across the property. Click here to see permit.
February 2014
Work is expected to start on the Great Ceremonial House in March of 2014 and it looks like the last day that Captain Cook’s will be open will be March 28th. While they work on it they will have a temporary food location set up inside the Great Ceremonail House. The menu will be the same (except no Dole Whips) and hours of operation will be limited 6:30 AM – 4:00 AM. Captain Cook’s is expected to reopen sometime in Summer 2014.
The plan is still to have Trader Sam’s next to Captain Cook’s is now located and it is expected to open in February 2015.
February 12 Permit filed for work on East Pool area. Click here to see permit.
February 19 bungalow walls go up on the platforms out on the water.The Polynesian expect the pool to close in late July 2014 and reopen in March 2015.
February 21 Permit filed for work on electrical inside the Tangaroa Terrace building. Click here to see permit.
February 21 Permit filed for electrical work inside the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
February 24 Permit files for mechanical work on the Great Ceremonail House. Click here to see permit.
Permit filed for electrical work on the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
February 25 Rapa Nui closed and will reopen as DVC. walkways around the longhouses has started being replaced. Currently Fiji is torn up on the west side of the building. Work around Fiji will continue into April. Other longhouses will be affected as they progress across the resort. The main parking lot will have limited spaces while they redo the parking lot a section at a time.
We all know things change with Disney even after a schedule has come out. With that in mind, I will not be sharing many of the dates I have heard because most of them I am told have already changed. I will post when things are announced. At this point the only notification that has gone out are listed below.
March 2014
Schedules are released to the staff for some of the planned projects.
March 11 Permit filed for door hardware replacement inside the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
March 18 Permit filed to add more pilings for the additional bungalows along Tahiti shorline. Click here to see permit.
April 2014
April 2 Permit to install fire protection. Click here to see permit.
April 8 Permit to install signs on Tokelau Longhouse. Click here to see permit.
On Monday March 31 guests were notified that the Arcade located in the Great Ceremonial House would close and that arcades are available at the Grand Floridian and Contemporary Resorts. The arcade is not expected to reopen anywhere on the Polynesian Resort’s property.
April 9 is the expected day that Captain Cook’s will close and be relocated until its location is refurbished. Expected reopening will be in Summer 2014. The menu at the temporary location will remain the same with the subtraction of Dole Whips.
A delay in the reopening of the Kids Club was announced.
April 14 News about renovations came out that include news that they are considering converting Tokelau to DVC rooms also. Shortly after reporting about Tokelau permits were posted showing renovations to the rooms in Tokelau. Considering Tokelau just went through a total renovation last year with the new room design it seems that it is true that they will convert these rooms to DVC.
April 14 Permit for interior and exterior work to be done to the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
April 14 Permit filed for conversion of Tokelau to become Disney Vacation Club villas was submitted. Click here to see permit.
April 18 Permit for electrical work on Tangaroa Terrace for Cast Members to use this location as their cafeteria since the normal location is being used as a temporary Captain Cook’s location. Click here to see permit.
Torch lighting is reported to be coming back once the new pool area is done and it will be in a designated area right outside the back of the Great Ceremonial House.
Dole whips will be back but not at Captain Cook’s. The area that Wyland Gallery was at will have a new Pineapple Lanai with a window to order Dole Whips ( no self serve).
April 22 Permit filed for sensors to be installed inside the Great Ceremonial House for its HVAC. Click here to see permit.
April 23 Tokelau longhouse is in the process of being cleared out to be converted to Disney Vacation Club.
April 24 The east area that includes Tokelau, Tahiti, Rapa Nui and the building that houses Tangaroa Terrace, the kids club and the laundry will be closed off. An access path to the Transportation and Ticket Center will still be available but laundry will not be available onsite. Guests will be able to use laundry at other resorts. Work to the paths around Rarotonga will also start soon and be disruptive to walking in that area of the resort.
April 29 Permit for plumbing and electrical to be done on the Tonga Suites. Click here to see permit.
May 2014
May 2 Disney Officially announced a few of the things I have been sharing for the last few years. The removal of the waterfall and the addition of Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto
May 13 Letters will go out to guests about the closure of parts of the Great Ceremonial House and Nanea pool. It indicates that guests who are there while the pool is closed will recieve a one day admission to Blizzard Beach.
The new Club Disney sill start taking reservations for June 16 and beyond.
May 16 All 4 walls are up around second floor of Great Ceremonial House blocking off the center atrium.
May 19 Details about the bungalows all having plunge pools on the deck of each bungalow.
May 20 Covers blocking the ceiling of the second floor start to go up and the walls start to go up on the first floor to close off the atrium.
May 27 Permit for construction on Captain Cook’s filed. Click here to see permit.
May 28 The last side of the waterfall open was closed off. A new path is going in on the end of Rarotonga to redirect traffic exiting Rarotonga away from the longhouse due to path construction. The path over to the TTC will soon be closed off and rerouted to the front of the resort.
May 29 Permit for electrical work on the new Captain Cook’s location. Click here to see permit.
June 2014
June 3 Permit filed for work to the sprinkler system at the luau. Click here to see permit.
June 4 Path over to the Transportation and Ticket Center was closed off and rerouted to the front of the resort. This will be the path from now on unless staying in the DVC part of the resort. I am told access to the DVC side of the resort will be with a room key from a villa or bungalow only.
June 4 Permit filed for Imagineering to provide graphics for the Polynesian Village Resort. Click here to see permit.
June 5 Permit for improvements to the monorail station. Click here to see permit.
June 12 Permits filed to do mechanical work at the Polynesian. Click here to see permit.
June 24 Permit filed for Mechanical Work on the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
July 2014
July 3 Permit for electrical work to be done to the Barefoot Bar. Click here to see permit.
July 28 Nanea pool closed for renovation until late March or early April 2015
August 2014
August 13 Captain Cook’s moved back to its original location and reopened.
August 28 Trader Jack’s reopened as Moana Merchantile and Samoa Snacks closed for renovation.
August 29 The Pineapple Lanai opened just outside the back doors of the Great Ceremonial House.
September 2014
September 3 Permits were filed for reconfiguration of the docks for the water recreation at the resort. This is due to the moving of the Marina Rental building as part of the pool deck expansion. Click here to see the permit.
September 15-19 Disney announced that the Marina rentals will not be available during these dates due to removal of the marina rental building. It will be relocating for the pool deck expansion.
September 16 The new sign out front was uncovered and turned on.
September 18 Temporary front desk opened and renovations on the old front desk started.
September 23 permits were filed to do some work on the kitchen shared with Kona Cafe and ‘Ohana. Expect some closures from this activity. Click here to see the permit.
October 2014
October 07 Permits for continued work to sidewalks around the resort. Click here to see the permit.
November 2014
November 26 Name of the kids club changed from Club Disney to Lilo’s Playhouse
December 2014
December 18 The lobby opened
January 2015
January 12 Disney Vacation Club at the Polynesian VIllage Resort will go on sale to current DVC members
March 2015
March 2 emails went out to guests with reservations that the main Lava Pool will reopen by April. My sources say part of the Lava pool will open March 26 along with Trader Sam’s.
March 26 Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto and the main pool at the Lava Pool should be open. The kiddy pool will follow by April.
April 2015
April 1 Disney Vacation Club will open some of the Bungalows and the Deluxe Studios in Moorea and Pago Pago. The Lava pool will open but the hot tub and kid play area will not be available.
May 2015
May 14 Permit for electrical work on the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
Permit for mechanical work on the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
Permit for work on the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
June 2015
June 9 Fences came down from around Tokelau. It should be open in a few weeks.
June 10 Fences are up around Tangaroa Terrace
June 11 Fences came down around the East pool. Landscaping was redone around it and near the longhouses. Paths are being completed. The East Pool is expected to close for a long redesign after the 4th of July weekend.
June 11 Permits for work inside the Great Ceremonial House. Click here to see permit.
June 23 Permit filed for Kitchen Equipment install. Click here to see permit.
July 2015
July 13 The East pool will close for major renovations. The pool area will be completely taken out and redesigned with a new pool, hot tub, bar and grill. Completion of this area will be Spring 2016.
March 2016
March 29 The east pool reopened as the Oasis Pool with the Oasis Bar and Grill. This pool is accessible to all Polynesian Village Resort guests with current reservations.
