![\"1518view01\"](\"images\/stories\/news\/1518view01.jpg\")
<\/a>If we assume you are not staying club level then your choice is based on your view. Booking club level will assure you a spot in Hawaii longhouse so that takes some of the stress out of requesting a longhouse. If you book a Themepark View or Lagoon view room then you will be in one of 4 longhouses but probably will only be in two from now on. How did I come up with 4 and then down to 2? Until Tahiti closes it is still open and available for lagoon and themepark view rooms but I suspect that will change in the next month or so. I was told they were preparing to clear it out and shut it down back in September. As of the first week of October it seems to still be open. The next two longhouses most people know about for this type of view are Aotearoa and Tuvalu. Aotearoa is a very nice longhouse and I think it has some great garden views. Its lagoon and themepark views are also nice but it is set father back from the beach than Tahiti or Tuvalu. Also since they recatagorized some rooms this year Aotearoa when from having 12 Lagoon View rooms and 8 Themepark View rooms to having 9 lagoon view rooms and only 4 Themepark View rooms. Tuvalu may be your best best for themepark and lagoon view but keep in mind that with Aotearoa and Tuvalu, the second floor has no balconies.<\/p>\nSo now lets get to request for standard view. Well I already wrote up my picks in order on my site that describes all the views and buildings on my \u201cWhich Longhouse” page.<\/p>\n I will try and explain that my top picks are based on what longhouses I feel offer up the best mix of things. I have Tokelau before Fiji and Samoa not because Samoa and Fiji don\u2019t have great views but Tokelau has a few more things going for it. There are only a handful of standard rooms that can even get a glimpse of the castle. I think a few in Aotearoa that face the water may be able to see something through the trees, the upper floor corner of Samoa can see through the tree next to Hawaii and some rooms facing north in Rarotonga and Rapa Nui might catch some of the tops of the fireworks. Tokelau has many rooms on the west side of the longhouse that can see down between Hawaii and catch a peek at the castle and fireworks looking off to the side of their room. Also the corner rooms on the east side of Tokelau can see towards the Magic Kingdom. Tokelau is also a short walk to the laundry and bus at the south end of the building, the beach at the north end, next to the east pool and a building away from the volcano pool. It is also not far from the Transportation and Ticket Center, Great Ceremonial House and boat to the Magic Kingdom. It has larger rooms and balconies on both upper floors. If someone has never been to the Polynesian, this is my safe bet to tell them to request. Once Rapa Nui and Tahiti become Disney Vacation Club it will be the last of the very large rooms with balconies on the second floor longhouses.<\/p>\n Samoa is my next pick even though Fiji has slightly better views but Samoa has a better location. Others will say that Fiji is the best to request. I even had someone say that Tuvalu standard view side was great and I consider it almost as bad as Rapa Nui parking lot view. You can see that opinions are going to be different and just because I have a web site about the resort does not mean my opinion is any better than anyone elses. Maybe I know some more details about the longhouses and what they have to offer but I am sure I will still have people that have a different order on their list of best to worst longhouses. I always say that the best way to know what you want is go check it out when you stay there or if you are visiting the resorts and see what area looks best to you.<\/p>\n For more tips on requesting or picking a longhouse go to my \u201cWhich longhouse\u201d page http:\/\/www.tikimanpages.com\/tiki\/planning-quick\/quick-which-longhouse-<\/a><\/p>\n So what is the outlook for construction? Well here is my best shot at what I see happening and when. Some of this is guessing from what information I have been given and some are dates that have been suggested to me by those working on the project.<\/p>\n January 2014 Resurfacing of the volcano pool and closure of the Neverland Club to be re-themed.<\/p>\n March 2014 Extensive work to the pool deck and removal of the volcano leaving the water slide and pool intact. Extending the pool deck to be larger and around to where the Marina Rental building is now. Aulani inspired kids wet play area to go in around the back side of the pool.<\/p>\n Completing of Disney Vacation Club and all renovations to be late 2015 or early 2016.<\/p>\n Work to the Great Ceremonial House, addition of Trader Sam\u2019s and schedule of when Tahiti and Rapa Nui will close is still unknown. If I had to guess I would think the longhouses would close in the next month or so due to work all around them. Prep for bungalows would continue this year with gutting of the longhouses. Great Ceremonial House work would start the beginning of next year. This is pure speculation on my part. I will report more when I have more information.<\/p>\n Correction to report:<\/strong><\/span> Contemporary guests they will have access to the Magic Kingdom by monorail. They have been running the resort monorail to the Contemporary and back to the Magic Kingdom. There is no monorail access to the Transportation and Ticket Center from the Contemporary while this work continues. and they have the option to walk over to the Magic Kingdom.<\/p>\n Polynesian guests will have the small boat (motor launch), larger ferry at the Transportation and Ticket Center to roll ECV and strollers onto and access to the express monorail by walking next door to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Click on image above for larger version<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n When this happened in the past the shutdown was not for as long as they predicted. Hopefully this time will be the same case.<\/p>\n<\/a>So what is the forth longhouse? Many do not know (including front desk staff) but back around 2002 they changed the category of the two west side corner rooms of Tokelau to be Lagoon view. I am told that often they just put people in them who have standard view rooms but if you request them, be prepared to pay for lagoon view. I was assigned a lagoon view room in Tahiti for my 2012 trip and I requested to be put in 2914. At first the front desk told me it was not lagoon view but I knew it was from the information Front Desk staff gave me years ago. She came back and said that it was and she could switch me. It was a very nice room and location.<\/p>\n<\/a>September 2013 Walls go up around Sunset Pointe, Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Tokelau. The parking lot next to Rapa Nui is closed off<\/p>\n<\/a>Some depth testing off the shores of the Polynesian was seen today. I do want to say thank you to all those at the Polynesian sending in photos of the work going on and updating us. All the info and photos are very helpful for my Facebook updates and my articles. Some of the photos that I have not used I save in my archives and someday will go in my history section.<\/p>\nPolynesian Village<\/h2>\n
<\/a>I reported a while back that one of the changes coming to the Polynesian was bringing back the “Village” as part of the Resorts name. The first signs of this happening were on a new jogging trail map placed next to the Great Ceremonial House. There were some questions about why the “new” map does not show the new Disney Vacation Club buildings at the Grand Floridian or the soon to be bungalows at the Polynesian. The reason it does not have those details is because the map was made from an old flyer that they made years ago showing the jogging trail. They added some color and the names to that. It now calls the resort Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Old handout jogging map<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nMonorail shutdown<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>Disney sent out notices to guests at the monorail resorts about the resort monorail being down from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM starting this last weekend (October 5) until about October 19. This shut down is not scheduled maintenance or have anything to do with some power beam issues they had recently but have to do with finishing off some work at the Grand Floridian DVC. Whatever the case may be, the resort monorail could be out of service during those times over the next couple of weeks. This will affect the Grand Floridian guests more than anything. They will have no monorail access, no way to walk to the Magic Kingdom and limited options.<\/p>\nCancellation fee<\/h2>\n
In October of 2011 Disney started a policy of charging a $10 a person fee for not canceling your dining reservation 24 hours in advance. This was for signature resturants but as of October 31, 2013 this will apply to all dining reservations. In the cast of pre-paid dinner shows like Spirit of Aloha, they will keep the entire amount if you do not cancel before the 24 hour period.<\/p>\n