State of the Resort

I am back to civilization and I wanted to give you all a report before I forget all that happened in 3 days. I was looking forward to getting back to Florida and expected to be slapped in the face with the heat and humidity. As I left the airport I was greeted by the Snow Miser. I left almost 80 degree weather in California to freeze in Florida. Then I got a little lost in all the road construction around the airport and ended up getting on an on-ramp that had an unattended booth, and I was heading the wrong way. On this toll booth you needed a Sunpass or exact change. In a time where your cell phone can pay for everything…..who carries change? Well let’s see how many alarms go off when I blow through this one or should I try and stuff a dollar in the change basket? I can’t be too upset by the rough start because I am heading to the Polynesian to check in and then meet with my buddy Scott for dinner at ‘Ohana. It is hard to be in a bad mood when that is in your plans for the evening.

So the big question I get is what my impression was. Well to be honest I get daily photos and info so there was not much that was a surprise to me once I got to the resort but it was nice to see it in person. Driving in and seeing the new sign out front in person was much better than looking at photos. I think it looks great. I hope the info about them reusing the old sign somewhere onsite is true because it was such a great carving by Oceanic arts that it should be enjoyed. Checking in at the front desk was a good experience. There was staff around to greet you and give you leis as well as get you checked in. I was given a room that matched my request of king bed in Samoa. I made sure to have Michele at Magical Vacations Travel note it on my reservation.

The new lobby was not a big surprise to me since I had seen it all from 3500 miles away through the whole process. My impression is I like it. I found myself sitting in the lobby a few times going through emails and relaxing. While sitting there, Brian was going around the lobby and handing out fresh baked cookies. All the Cast Members I spoke to like it very much. The water feature is a little sad and people constantly pulled on the rocks that are stacked up around it, but it will look better when the tiki makes it his home. I can’t say the design of the water feature was a great effort on Disney’s part.

The main entrance will be a nice addition when it is completed (who knows when) but the water feature out on the left side is in progress. The right side will be a mirror image of that. The new artwork around the lobby is great but definitely more of an Adventureland theme than a Hawaiian theme. Some was even African inspired. I am ok with that because originally the Polynesian was more of an Adventureland theme and was never intended on being a Hawaiian theme. There are definitely some Hawaiian aspects of the resort but with the new changes things will be going back to the original idea of Adventureland.

So far I am not a fan of the magic bands and I figure by my next trip I will have to schedule a bathroom break on My Disney Experience. You will have to scan your magic bands to get into a bathroom stall. I had a hard time getting my magic band to let me into my room but eventually it worked.

On to my ‘Ohana experience. We had a reservation at 9:40pm and shortly after we sat down the dimmed the lights and the music for Wishes came on. Many of the seats inside have a nice view of the fireworks but not all. We were set back a little but it was a nice view. The food started coming out with the pineapple coconut bread out first. The garlic ginger pot stickers and Honey-Coriander wings came out first and were great as always. Now for the lettuce wraps. I think they get a bad wrap..haha but I found them to be tasty and I liked the Hoisin Ginger sauce. The salad was good and you can still ask for it but I thought the wraps were a nice addition. I also don’t need something huge to fill me up before the rest comes out. New to the skewers is the chicken and it is a thigh meat instead of breast. I like it better but then at home I have been BBQing thighs more than breast because I like how it cooks and taste better. Reminds me of the chicken in a plate lunch from some little local place in Hawaii. The sauces that came out for the meats were a peanut and a sweet-n-sour sauce. I put the sweet-n-sour on my chicken and it was a hit around the table. We all asked for more chicken. The shrimp was good but I skipped the beef. No beef for me since my heart attack in 2010. Service was good and not rushed. We finished up with the bread pudding that you can now order a single serving of from the Tambu Lounge. After enjoying some time chatting and drinking Walt’s famous Scorpion it was time for me to get some sleep for a long day ahead of me.

Saturday morning was the day to go check out Disney Vacation Club (DVC). I had spoken to a guide out in California way before all this but unfortunately they can’t even speak to you about Polynesian DVC if you are in California. My guide out there was a great guy but at this point I could not use him. I had to physically be out in Florida to even consider buying Polynesian DVC. My friend Duane who has done a great job with helping me with my DVC pages on my web site, introduced me to his guide and I think I found the best guide in Florida. If it was not for Larry Hope and the rest of the crew at DVC I would not have been able to purchase that day. We toured the preview center with the studios for the Polynesian, Aulani and Grand Floridian and the only surprise there was the Grand Floridian. I had toured Aulani a few months before it opened and with all the info I have on the Polynesian studios it was no surprise. I know how large the rooms in those buildings are and I think they did a nice job with it. There is a little bit of a storage issue but there are big drawers under the bad and a place for my bag since I usually don’t unpack. The two bathrooms are great and unlike the GF studio there is a sink in each bathroom. The kitchenette is the same size as the one in the GF and Aulani studio and I like the hard wood floors in the entry to carpet in the sleeping area. There are plenty of lights in the room and it will be even brighter once there is natural light coming in the sliding glass door. For me it will work fine with my family of 4 and I know once we outgrow the room we will have other options by then at the Polynesian. The Deluxe Studio really offers everything we had in our regular room at the Polynesian and more. I basically purchased into the Polynesian DVC so I can continue to stay there with increasing room rates. I’m getting my hotel room and it sleeps the same amount of people with basically the same bed arrangement (two queens and a day bed) but with the added bonus of a kitchenette, two bathrooms, a small table and one of the beds folds up to give even more room. Looking at the difference in size of the Polynesian studio and the Grand Floridian studio is a big difference. I really noticed the difference when I opened the day bed in the two rooms and saw the difference in the space between the day bed and the bed in the room. There was almost twice as much space between them in the Polynesian Studio.

Without going into all the details of the purchase I ended up using the 2014 points they gave me and a few from 2015 to book at bungalow for two nights to add onto our stay this August. I don’t know that I will every use that many points again to do the bungalow but it will be good to get into one to take photos and be able to answer questions about it for my site. Otherwise we are looking at going for a lake view studio on our next visit.

The DVC property is coming along nicely with all new white sand brought in along the Moorea beach and all in between the bungalows and the new Sunset Pointe. They cleared off all the weeds and it looks as if they may add some lounge chairs to get a tan but I believe these areas will be access only to DVC. I know the docks will require a room in a bungalow to get out on the boardwalk to the rooms.

The new Sunset Pointe area is looking nice and looks to be as elevated as the old one. It just does not appear that it is because instead of being narrow and tall it is much larger and the slope down to the shore is more gradual. You will see the fireworks from up on the new area and there are great paths and landscaping up there.

The rest of the Polynesian is getting all new plants and paths but to be honest it is a maze of construction and there is no way I would have wanted to be there right now with my family on vacation. I know some people have said it did not bother them and I think that is great. So much of the resort is not even accessible that it feels like you can’t go anywhere. To get to Hawaii longhouse or the beach you need to either go all the way around the East pool or you need to walk through Samoa to get to Hawaii and then down the garden side of Hawaii and around the corner to get to the beach. I almost was not sure if I could get out there. Getting off the boat to come back from the Magic Kingdom I had to walk all the way back to the Great Ceremonial House and through it to get over to Samoa. Out front some of the paths were under construction and the left side of the entry is part way through adding the new water feature. Having the lobby and stores back open was the only place you could go and feel like things were normal.

The east pool was open but I almost never saw more than 5 people over there and many times I saw two lifeguards looking at each other. They are still offering access to Typhoon Lagoon and it is for your length of stay, unlike the message you get from Disney that states it is a one day pass to Blizzard Beach. Nice to see Disney checks the accuracy of the stuff it sends out. Also even if someone tells you that you can go over to the GF and use the pool, it is not the policy.

So what is going on with the pool? I looked at it each day and progress is being made but there is a lot to do. They were working hard bending the rebar to form the rocks around the hot tub and kids play area slide. They are far along on the new building for the marina rental that also is offices and a bathroom that will be accessible from the dock side. Why another bathroom? The bathroom under the old volcano (now lava formation) will not be accessible unless you have a room key to get into the gated pool area. Since the pool area will be gated and they did not want to have people on the beach blocking all the views they extended the new pool deck towards the water. This area had been poured but there was still a lot of pool deck not that far along. The old pool and slide are staying as is but are getting freshened up. They said the cabanas will go back in but at this point are not bookable yet, even as far out as August.

So when will the pool open? My original schedule showed completing the middle of April but some info I got indicated that they were pushing to have things open by April 1. Now we know that things can happen or in the case of Disney they push too hard to open something that is not ready yet but it looks like the plan is for it to open by April. They were bringing in container after container of cement when I left so they are pouring but there was still a lot of other things that needed to be done and poured.

UPDATE!!! Since I wrote this report, emails went out to people with current reservations about the opening of the pool on March 2. The email looked like this.

Once the pool is open the passes to the waterparks will be gone. Even when the East pool closes to be redone there will be no passes. When the East pool will close is a mystery but its completion is not expected to be until December of this year or into next year if something gets delayed. The work to the east pool will be extensive. Lee posted the plans on WDWMagic.com last year showing the area of the new Leisure pool that will replace the East Pool. The whole area will be torn up to put in a new pool with a zero entry. The pool area will have its own smaller hot tub and two buildings will be added to have its own bar and grill. Whenever this happens it will include heavy machinery for quite a while. Also don’t expect that once the Lava pool is open that there will not be other construction projects around the resort. Just like with the paths I saw closed this last week, there will be areas all around getting renovated so be prepared for more. If you want no construction when you go you will need to wait until early 2016. Just don’t wait too long, you will run into the next phase of construction.

I sat around the lobby and out at the Pineapple Lanai for a while waiting for a friend to come over from 50 Shades of Green (book and movie to come out soon). I would watch people walk out the back doors with a shocked look on their face and total confusion on where to go. Most of them ended up at the dead end over near Captain Cook’s with that “what the heck” look on their face. A few of them had some choice words. There was staff all over the lobby directing people on where to go. With all the frustrated guests and construction going on the staff was better than great. In the past I have run across some Cast Members that could care less about being there but everyone I saw was doing a good job and seemed to have a good attitude. The only problem I had was my first day I was out early to go to DVC and not back until 3:00 and I walked into a room that was just the way I left it. I asked at the front desk when housekeeping comes by and they were going to send them. It was a few hours later before it was done. From then on I just left the “privacy please” on the door so I did not have to worry about when they were going to come. It was just me so it was not like I was making much of a mess of the room.

I checked out the stores (still no new logo wear and no plans to get any anytime soon). The new Moana Mercantile is a boring version of the old Trader Jacks and Samoa Snacks. I had my press pot of 100% Kona coffee (because it is the only way to get 100%) and it made two cups. Unfortunately anyone I tried to give the second cup to gave me a look like I had an alien shooting out of my stomach. I also purchased a bag of 100% Kona beans to have at home.

I went over to Captain Cook’s a few times. The new system of one person taking your order and no touch screens created quite a line at times. I don’t think it was a good move at all. Sometimes when the line got backed up a CM at the register would take orders. I tried many of the new items and had breakfast there two of the mornings. The Breakfast burrito was good and the Breakfast sandwich was even better. I tried the chicken and waffles. It was not bad but strange to be on the menu of a Polynesian them resturant. I would have liked to have seen some better themed items like I see on the menu of the Tangaroa Terrace out at the Disneyland Hotel. I was looking forward to the fish tacos but they were a little over spiced. Not horrible but not the taste I was looking for. The last thing I tried was the Lobster roll. It was my favorite but it is a little on the expensive side for something that will not come close to filling you up. There are and will be some menu changes and while the Adult Grilled cheese will be coming back on the menu, it can be ordered now. Just make sure to ask what items may not be on the menu now.

Trader Sam’s was coming along more than I had expected. The patio was poured and the outside service bar was going up. The inside is very far along. That place is going to be crazy for a few years….or decades. I’m going to need loan papers when I get in there to pay my tab. The word out there is that it might open March 26, just before the grand opening of DVC on April 1.

The new parking lot was nice but it was as full as I have ever seen it. I would think it would help when the other parking lot opens but DVC will be open also and that just means more people. They were strict about letting people in at the gate and I would think that will become harder to get in once everything is open unless you are staying there or have a reservation.

The monorail had some scheduled down times and a few unscheduled. That made it tough to get around and the boat became a mad house. They did start running two boats with one being larger.

I took a look into the laundry room and it looks like they got new machines in. The kids club is the same other than the new Lilo’s Playhouse sign. See my confused look?

It was a quick trip and worth it for me to get out there to see the resort and purchase DVC. I know that when all this is completed the Polynesian will be more popular than ever. For a while I was not sure how I felt about all the plans to change so much but this is not the first time the resort has had an extensive remodel. Most people just don’t remember when it changed before. The amenities they are adding to the resort will be unlike any other resort on property and in some cases offer more than any other property. People that know me well know I would not say this just because I like the Polynesian. I can be brutally honest with my opinion and while the resort is a mess right now, the staff is great and soon the resort will be also.

I did a podcast with the guys from Enchanted Tiki Talk on Sunday and answered some questions as well as went over some of the details from my trip so if you want to hear more you can go to.

http://www.enchantedtikitalk.com/e/episode71-poly-want-an-update/

I want to thank Michele at Magical Vacations for making this trip possible and for getting us such a great rate for our July/ August trip. With out her, neither trip would be possible.