Disney Vacation Club
Disney finally confirmed what we have been discussing here since my October 2011 article. I know it has been a rough road with all the concept changes but we still have more of the road to go. I want to thank those of you who trusted me and stuck by my information. Thanks to Richard Bilbao of the Orlando Business Journal for his mention of me. You know I will only share with you what I get from good sources and if I am sharing rumors or speculating myself then I will say that is what it is.
Lets start with the announcement. Here is what was released.
Disney Vacation Club Announces New Development Project at Disney’s Polynesian Resort
Disney Vacation Club will have three resorts along the monorail system
Celebration, Fla. (Sept. 17, 2013) – Today, Disney Vacation Club announced that its planned next location will be at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, located on Seven Seas Lagoon at Walt Disney World Resort. When this resort is completed, Disney Vacation Club will have destinations at all three resorts on the monorail system, allowing easy access to Magic Kingdom Park.
The planned development project at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, when completed, will join Disney Vacation Club’s 12 other properties, including The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, scheduled to open Oct. 23. Construction on the Polynesian project began this month, and completion is estimated to be in 2015. In addition to the Disney Vacation Club project, other guest areas within Disney’s Polynesian Resort will undergo refurbishment. More information and project details will be shared at a later date.
Disney Vacation Club debuted in October 1991 with a flexible, vacation point-based model rather than the traditional fixed-week timeshare model. Disney Vacation Club is approaching a total of 200,000 member families from all 50 states and approximately 100 countries who have discovered the joys of membership.
Disney Vacation Club members are able to choose from among a variety of vacation destinations, including a stay at any Disney Vacation Club Resort or at more than 500 other destinations around the world, and when they purchase directly from Disney, members also can take trips on one of the Disney Cruise Line ships or guided vacations with Adventures by Disney. Additionally, vacations at a Disney Vacation Club Resort can last from one night to several weeks.
For more information about Disney Vacation Club, visit www.disneyvacationclub.com
Let’s catch up from the August update. If you want more details you can go check out the other news articles. We discussed some of the plans and that people were being notified as far out as December that work was going to be happening over around Tahiti and Sunset Pointe. I was told preliminary work 
would start September 9th and we saw markers and some work on the electrical happen. Then yesterday (September 16) I was told in the morning that they were going to start putting in the barriers. Shortly after I posted something on my Facebook I got notified that Hawaii guests were told stuff was going up. William Barto and Julie Edwards Bietry sent me photos right away. Thanks to them and other guests who help me out I think we have the best place for up to the minute info on the Polynesian. The photos showed the ditch digger come out and run lines across the end of Hawaii beach, past Tokelau and Tahiti. The small barrier put in place is suspected to be to hold back soil and we all suspect that larger walls will go up to keep people out and things a little more hidden than they are. This is the beginning of all that we have been talking about and seen some of the permits for. One of the hidden gems that came out of one of the permits was found by 
SEDCrockett (screen name on the forums) and if you zoom in on the permit they show details of the room in Rapa Nui. They are not floor plans of the current rooms so the new layouts might be a proposed design for the DVC rooms. Tahiti and Rapa Nui will be converted into DVC and with them being quite a bit larger than any other DVC suites they should offer up more space for amenities that we might have never seen in a DVC studio before. In addition to the two converted longhouses, there will be 20 bungalows. They are said to be the highest price point out of any DVC but only time will tell if that ends up being true. With Rapa Nui having 76 rooms (all connecting and some connecting to 3 rooms) and Tahiti having 143 rooms that will bring non bungalow rooms to 219 so with the 20 bungalows added it will make the new DVC offer up 239 rooms.
There will be no closure of the pool this month as posted on some sites (only because Disney sent out that information) but I am not sure if it will wait for next January or not. Some information I cannot share yet indicates that the work to the Great Ceremonial House and the Pool area might happen sooner. The permits for the Great Ceremonial House have already been submitted and unfortunately the beloved water feature will not survive but it looks like ‘Ohana will make it through the changes along with some changes to the stores and a new look to the lobby. As reported earlier Trader Sam’s will go in along with some major changes to the look of the pool and an expanding of the pool deck. The pool itself will not get larger and the hot tub should still be part of the plan along with an Aulani style kids wet play area. More details will come later.
Oh one more thing. Another major change that is coming is the name of the resort. Yes it is going to change. Well in a way it is going to change back. The Polynesian Resort will go back to being called the Polynesian Village. Not sure what the official name of the villas will be yet…or maybe I just am not telling you yet.
Some of the test patterns being tried out for DVC can be seen in one of the longhouses a while back. This is the same place that the new room design was tested before it went in so at one end of the hall you can see the DVC test pattern that spills into the old design all in one hall. Rapa Nui and Tahiti will not be renovated with the new room before the longhouses close to become DVC. The construction crew that was putting the new room design in has left the property. I know that if you call Disney they tell you Tahiti has been renovated and just opened back up but they are just reading off the old schedule and don’t have any idea what is going on at the resort. Remember when you call the resort number you are not calling the resort but a call center. Someone told me today that they got off the phone with Disney and they assured them that all construction at the Polynesian was completed. That shows you how informed they are. Don’t blame them though. They do their best with what they are given.
Thanks to Adam Sudol for posting more photos of what was going on at the resort and to all of you for your support and help being my eyes at the resort. There will be a lot of changes from here on out until the estimated completion of late 2015 or early 2016. There will also be a big change to this site.
