The latest construction news and rumors
It seems like every week some new information is coming out. Trying to verify it all and separate out the false rumors from the facts has been difficult. Even information that has been accurate has changed making it difficult to keep up with it all. I know it is frustrating for the Cast Members to try and keep up with the current information when they are not always told right away. They have to deal with confused and sometimes frustrated guests.
Lets get to the latest information….before it changes again.
We saw that Captain Cook’s finally closed and moved into its temporary location. One morning it was open and by the end of the day it was relocated. With Captain Cook’s location closed. Wyland Gallery closed and the arcade closed it leaves room to start renovations. Originally I was told that Trader Sam’s would go in the area right outside Captain Cook’s. Some of the latest information says that Trader Sam’s will go into the arcade area with a small seating area inside and a larger seating area outside. This information conflicts with what I was originally told because that area outside the arcade was described as the location for the new kids wet play area. If Trader Sam’s patio is going in there then maybe the kids wet play area is going where the marina rental building is. I was told that building will move over to where the premium cabana is once the pool deck renovation is done.
There was mention word that Wyland gallery will have a new space in part of the old arcade also. At the same time some are telling me Wyland will not be back. It seems like a small area to have the gallery and Trader Sam’s. I guess we will have to wait and see if that is true. As for the old Wyland gallery area, I keep hearing from different sources that it will become an ice cream shop and there will be an order window for Dole Whips. No more self-serve. I saw that one coming. There has been a lot of abuse from people either taking Dole Whips without paying or dispensing huge amounts into their small cup. At one point when I was there people had run the dispenser for so long that they broke it and it was down for most of the day.
The pool is still on track to close the end of July and be closed until March 2015. While the pool is closed they will have a temporary bar set up at the East Pool. Last Saturday (April 12) saw the last of the torch lighting for a while but I am told a designated area of the new pool deck will be where the torch lighting will continue once it is open again.
It seems that Disney is getting so more interest in the new Disney Vacation Club part of the property than they have with any other DVC property. With this increase in interest they are now saying that they will convert Tokelau into DVC units along with Tahiti and Rapa Nui. This is the first I have ever heard them mention doing this so it seems that the increased interest is now driving decisions to change the plan. I was very surprised but I guess it makes sense to convert Tokelau since it has the larger rooms like Tahiti and Rapa Nui. With the rooms in these 3 longhouses at 465 sqft it would make them the largest studios in all of the DVC collection. If I did my math right, the Polynesian studios should be 90 sqft larger than the Grand Floridian studios. It will be interesting if they change their plan and make some of the Tokelau rooms one bedrooms since so far the new walls up in Tahiti and Rapa Nui look like they are all studios. The only problem I see is you would never have the option of a one bedroom with a lagoon or Themepark view. With those 3 longhouses out of the main inventory, this will leave 486 rooms available to non-DVC owners. This would be the same amount of rooms that were at the resort when it opened in 1971.
There is a lot of information about DVC that I am told from a few sources that seem to have the same theme to them. The theme is that the Polynesian will not be like the other DVCs in some ways. I don’t know much about DVC and when I mention some things to people who know a lot they don’t believe the information. I don’t know how much to believe either so it may just be something we have to wait and see how it turns out. Hopefully it will not be as bad as I am hearing but let’s go over some of the rumors I have been hearing from inside Disney.
They have talked about the DVC at the Polynesian not being available to people booking with cash like you can do at other DVC locations. I even heard that they bungalows could not be booked if you did not buy into the Polynesian DVC. Not sure how much of that to believe but I would not be surprised. Even if you have DVC points but your home resort is not the Polynesian they seem to think it will be extremely difficult to book at the Polynesian.
Some other ideas being discussed is having the Polynesian DVC buy into a specific week.
There is mention that the DVC part of the resort will not be part of the non-DVC part so the resort will not be getting any of the revenue from the DVC. That seems strange to me but again I am just going by what I am told. Because the regular part of the resort will not be getting money from the DVC side and they will be down to 486 rooms, they will have to increase the room rates to be the highest out of all the Disney properties. With all the complaints now about rates I am very surprised to hear that. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens with that.
Other things being discussed internally are the possibility of bringing back the idea of adding another pool for DVC. No word on where it would go but the original concept had the additional pool over between Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Tokelau.
I don’t know how these changes will affect the finish date but they were looking at late 2015 or early 2016 to be done with everything at the resort. I think once the pool opens back up next year we will be past the worst of it.
That is all I have for now and I think it is safe to say we don’t really know what will happen until they are all done so take this information for what it is worth.
Once DVC opens in late 2015 I will be looking for my site expert Duane to help us understand DVC better.
