Construction News
There have been a lot of changes since my last article as I keep getting updates so I will try and bring everyone up to speed on what I know at this point.
I continue to update the schedule on my DVC News page (updated page on March 6) so you can always go there and get the latest.
http://www.tikimanpages.com/poly/the-resort/dvc/item/191-disney-vacation-club
The latest on the closure of the Nanea Pool is that it is projected to close on July 27 and not reopen until March 2015. There was some information that the pool bar will remain open into part of August.
The last thing that was told to me by people on the project is that work to the Great Ceremonial House is to start immediately. I don’t know what that means or what day we will see sections be closed off.
Wyland Gallery is already closed and while it was first told to me to be looked at as a possible temporary location for check in, it looks like they have found another spot. Walls will go up around the kids area just inside the doors to the Great Ceremonial House to have a temporary check in built there to use. Once that area is ready to take check-ins the front desk will then be walled off to start its redesign.
Soon we will see walls go up around the waterfall that will extend to the second floor, closing off the whole center of the lobby. I would expect this to happen in the next week or so from what they are telling me so it maybe your last chance to see the waterfall in the lobby.
Efforts to convert the Cast Cove area (Cast member cafeteria) into a temporary location for Captain Cook’s will start the beginning of March. They are predicting that Captain Cook’s will close and new operations start in the temporary location March 28. The menu in the temporary location will be the same but Dole Whips will not be available.
The work to the Great Ceremonial house will include some redesign and additions but at this point I cannot share many more details. The whole effort is expected to be finished sometime in December 2014.
Rapa Nui closed February 25 and it will remain closed along with Tahiti until they are converted to DVC and open some time in late 2015. I would imagine that the whole East side of the resort will remain walled off until DVC is open. The path to the Transportation and Ticket Center will remain open.
Additional work that is going on around the resort includes work to the main parking lot leaving limited area to park until March 28 when the work is expected to be completed. Work to the walkways around the resort has started and will make some areas not accessible (I posted the permits a while back from WDWMagic.com). A few days ago the walk way next to Fiji was being worked on that will be completed March 7, then the next section of Fiji will start on March 10 and continue until April 4. This will be happening all around the resort for several months with small sections at a time.
These are only a few of the details I have found out about. I would expect there to be many other areas being worked on and some projects we have not even heard of happening until late next year. I want you to be aware of the facts so you can make your own mind up about your vacation plans. I woudl rather not give you advice on if you should stay at the Polynesian or not. Also, don’t expect to call Disney and get up to date information or recieve anything in the mail detailing out what will be under construction when you are there. We have seen in the past that this information comes late or not at all. The information I am sharing with you is not based on rumors but it can change at any time as many of Disney’s schedules do.
New resort with a little of the Polynesian thrown in
It looks like a new hotel will be going up at Hong Kong’s Disneyland and it will be somewhere in between the Polynesian and the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Its theme is “Exotic Locations around the world” and some of the descriptions of what they want to do are also being thrown around for the Polynesian’s renovations. Remember the Polynesian is not Aulani because it represents many Polynesian cultures so some of the things that will be added at the Polynesian will be inspired by things that were designed into both Adventurelands. I don’t think the Polynesian will move into the area of the Adventurer’s Club but think of the areas that surround the two Tiki Room attractions.
This 3rd resort in Hong Kong will be more of an Adventurer’s Club sort of feel with it representing many more areas around the globe but I added it to my news section because it is the closest thing to the Polynesian and the Animal Kingdom Lodge to be built by Disney.
They seem to have a different marketing strategy over in Hong Kong because instead of driving prices higher every time something is added or improved (like we see at WDW) they are adding this new hotel and pricing it in between the two hotels that exist at around HK$2000- HK$3000 a night (about $250- $380 US). Those prices are well below what the Polynesian Resort rack rates are now even for the cheapest room.
Here is some information that is out there about it.
The park’s two existing hotels reported occupancy increasing to 94%. Following advice from the Hong Kong government, park management announced plans to open a third hotel in 2017. The just-announced hotel still has to receive final approval, but with its planned 750 rooms, total available rooms for the park will increase by 75%.
The estimated $550 million (US) hotel will be funded by a cash injection from Disney, the Hong Kong government and partial conversion of an existing loan from the government. The Hong Kong government currently is the majority owner of Hong Kong Disneyland at 52% with 48% owned by the Walt Disney Company.
The new, as yet unnamed hotel, which will be built between the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel and the Hong Kong Disneyland Hollywood Hotel, is being positioned as luxury hotel themed around “exotic locations from around the world”. It will occupy almost 16 acres, feature almost 603,00 square feet of floor area and an outdoor exotic adventure themed area to continue and extend the theme of the hotel, as well as 3 restaurants.
At the event announcing the third hotel, Hong Kong Disneyland also reported their financials. For their financial year ending September 2013, the park, which opened in 2005, experienced profits climbing to $31.2 million (US) due to a revenue increase of 15% to $631 million (US). Park attendance also increased by 10% to 7.4 million, with spending per head increasing by 6%.
“Steady growth was registered across the three main sources of guests from the local community, mainland China and international markets, with the latter two accounting for about two-thirds of total guests,” said Andrew Kam, HKDL managing director.
Three new themed areas – Toy Story Land, Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Point, as well as special entertainment such as “Disney’s Haunted Halloween”, “Disney’s Sparkling Christmas”, “Golden Chinese New Year Celebration”, “Star Guest Program” and “Monsters University” programs drove the 10% park attendance growth.
From www.wdwnt.com
New movie with a Polynesian theme
Some other Polynesian related news. The interest around Disney’s new animated movie “Moana” is growing fast. For a movie that is not predicted to be released until 2018, there has been a lot of discussion and interest. It will be an animated musical that will introduce a new princess to the list of Disney princesses. This one will be a young Polynesian sea voyager named Moana Waialiki and the story will include many details about Polynesian Mythology.
This will be unlike anything you saw in Lilo and Stitch because it will not only be set in another time period with a whole different type of story, but it will also be Computer Generated Animation similar to Frozen.
I
t is reported that the music will be done by Mark Mancina who did the music for Tarzan, the Lion King and Brother Bear.
There are many fake concepts of Moana on the internet but so far only one was accidentally released by Disney.
