Polynesian Villas Owners Thread

Agreed. We bought in 2016 and were a family of three at the time. We’re now a family of six and our littlest is no longer considered an infant, and those 150 points don’t go anywhere near far enough for a 2-bedroom. We’re hoping to add another contract soon to give us enough to go for a week at least every other year, or maybe two out of three years.

We also have 375 points at Riviera and have plenty for a week each year, usually with some to spare!

Yes! I told my husband we need to try and get into Trader Sam’s. I’ve never been but hear it has such a great atmosphere! Is the outside area of the lounge closed for construction through June?

Can’t get much better than calling these two resorts “Home”! We wanted to have a MK resort and an Epcot resort and these two fit that perfectly!

They compliment each other really well! There are quite a few of us Riviera-Polynesian owners!

I saw one blog said no reopening date has been announced and another said closed until at least June. Hope it opens back up as quickly as it closed for people visiting this time of year since it was an unexpected one.

The longhouses (Moorea is where I stayed) are awesome! You can view fireworks AND walk to the TTC which was super convenient!

I learned a fun little hack while at the Poly last month. If you can't get into Kona Cafe for breakfast you can mobile order on the app and then just take it outside and eat on the Tiki Terrace and enjoy the view of the lake. Nothing like Tonga Toast and a view of the castle!

Every time my wife and I went to Disney or on a Disney Cruise, I’d joke that I was going to stop and talk to someone at the DVC booth. She’d usually laugh it off and roll her eyes.

That all changed during a stay at Saratoga Springs this past January.

She wanted to browse the gift shop so I decided I’d hang back and chat with the cast member at the DVC podium. This time, instead of rolling her eyes, she just laughed and said, “Enjoy!” So I did!

We ended up talking for about 15 minutes. The cast member answered all of my questions and asked about our plans. We were checking out that Friday but didn’t have a flight until later in the afternoon, so we had some time to kill. Our plan had just been to wander around Disney Springs, but she suggested we stop by the DVC showroom at Saratoga Springs and meet with someone.

Right as she mentioned that we’d each get a gift card for attending a one-hour presentation, my wife walked back and overheard. She was in! 🙂

Fast forward to Friday: we went to the meeting and were shown an incredible showroom featuring Riviera and the Polynesian Island Tower. One hour later, we were the proud owners of 150 direct points at the Polynesian. Its honestly a dream come true for me, since it’s always been my favorite resort.

Our first home stay will be in September: a long weekend, Thursday through Sunday, with no park tickets. We just want to relax and enjoy the resort. Something we’ve always wanted to do. We’re also hoping to snag a spot at the DVC Moonlight Magic event at EPCOT on September 10th, but we’ll be happy either way.

We’re Polynesian owners. Bought about a year ago and it’s currently our first and only DVC contract. My wife had always dreamed of staying there. I wasn’t opposed to the idea, but before buying DVC we weren’t willing to pay the cash prices. Our first stay there wasn’t in February and it was our favorite Disney resort stay yet.

We stayed in the Island Tower in a deluxe studio. It was great!

Also, a recommendation to @DVCDerek and anyone else staying at the Poly…the Terrapin Luau Krunkles Passionfruit Orange Guava IPA found over at Wailulu and maybe at 1-2 other spots at the Poly is excellent! 10/10 recommend.

YES! That is a great beer and so nice to see it at Poly and a welcome change from Jai Alai that is EVERYWHERE down here ;) - glad you had an amazing trip, we'll be doing a Poly Tower studio for the first time coming up before Mother's Day and can't wait - the Tower pool is quickly becoming my favorite on property!

I know how popular the Poly is but what are considered the least crowded pools during June?

So all pools of course in the state of Florida are popular here in June ;) - at Poly I have found that the Tower pool overall has MUCH more space than the other pools (lots of room between chairs unlike the main pool which can be insane) - if you get there early enough you can get a great spot and see the castle from your pool chair - I much prefer the Tower pool to the other Poly quiet pool because of the VIEWS you get from the Tower pool area vs the 'boxed in' (aka no views) from the other quiet pool.

We are Poly faithfuls! While we enjoy checking in on other resorts for short visits our annual July trip must be held at the Poly! Love the vibe, the food, the transportation options, just everything!

We love the Poly. We held out to be able to purchase Poly as our first DVC contract! We usually stay in the Moorea longhouse with Lake view or what they call preferred view today. We can’t wait to stay in the tower for one of our next trips.

We love Poly for lots of reasons but found a new reason to love it, it’s a fabulous location for run Disney races. The race bus stop was moved to the new tower. (Cast member told us they are gonna keep it there for races) For the last race I was able to walk to the parking lot gate and watch my daughter run by then walk to TTC and cheer her on a second time. We loved it for race weekend.

Love your signature! Especially the Dole Whip Diva and Spirit Jersey Junkie! I too resonate with those personas :)

Wonderful photos!!

Yaaaaaasss I’ve found my people!! 🥰🥰🥰

Polynesian owner since 2015.

My father’s last family trip, he brought us to the Polynesian resort (80s). Ironically, we stayed in the longhouse known as Moorea today. When PVB opened, knew we had to add on there.

We love Island Tower addition and added on more at PVB.

We have stayed at the Poly twice and always find ourselves visiting there on every trip. Today I signed a direct contract. It feels so good to call the Poly home!

Same. Even when I'm not staying at the Poly, I always find myself there to shop in Boutiki and grab a reservation at Trader Sam's!

I wanted to tell you that I think your picture is simply phenomenal. I thought "maybe it's just me" so I showed it to my wife of 42 years and she almost broke into tears at how beautiful it is. I gave it a heart a few weeks ago.

Here a mere few weeks later, I've just been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer out of the blue and we've decided to make it into a wall photo if that's OK with you, it will be a great memory for her when I'm gone. If you're OK with this, is there an even higher resolution version than the version you posted? It seems GREAT as-is but I thought I'd ask up front.

Thank you, and sorry for the bad news,

Bill Watson

Wow, im so sorry to hear this, watt-man. Prayers to you and your wife.

So sorry to hear this. Prayers to you, your wife, and family. I'm unsure the poster of the photo saw this, but you can message them directly on here as well.

Hi Amy, thanks - I thought I HAD sent a direct message but I must have done it wrong. You can remove it and your reply and UberSchtik's (thank you!) as well from this thread. I'll try again to send it to Razorback directly.

Hi all - first stay at the Poly Tower coming up this July. Seems like the right thread to ask -

Advice on getting to MK and Epcot? I have two little kids, and my mother in law also joins us. Ive heard walking to the TTC can be the most efficient but am not trying to burn ourselves out on the walk, especially with the heat of july. Thoughts on this?

From the Poly Tower, the walk to the TTC would be quite a haul, especially with kids in the heat of July. Your best bet for both MK and Epcot is to hop on the resort monorail. You actually have two similar options from the tower: you can backtrack to the Great Ceremonial House or you can actually walk to the Grand Floridian to catch the monorail. If you're rope-dropping, I would probably head back to the GCH to catch it. Otherwise, you can see which station seems closer/easier for your family. The benefit of walking to the GF is you skip the Poly stop, so you're just one stop to MK and three stops to the TTC.

The resort boat from the Poly to MK is also a direct shot (it stops first at GF on the return trip), so that's also an option that can be just as fast or faster than the monorail, depending on if you happen to catch the boat close to its arrival at the resort.

Our family is also staying at the Poly Tower the end of July. This will be our second time staying there. If your schedule allows, catching the fireworks from the 5th floor terrace provides a fun and unique perspective of the show.

Very helpful! Thank you so much!

We are planning our first stay at the Polynesian Tower. I was wondering if anyone can tell me if there is a map that shows what rooms are "resort view" or can anyone share their experience/thoughts/photos from staying in a room in this category? I am only seeing videos on youtube where people are complaining about concrete wall and roof top views. I'm wondering are they all like this or should I request a certain area? Any advice would be outstanding. Thanks fellow Disney lovers!

So we just booked our second stay at the Poly as DVC members! The first trip we stayed in the Island Tower and LOVED IT!! Now we’re going to try out the longhouses and are excited about it.

I was watching room tour videos (DVCFan’s being one of them) and it occurred to me that I wasn’t seeing a dresser in the room, as the spot normally for a dresser was the extra pull down bed.

Am I missing something, or do the longhouses not have drawers ?

There are drawers built within the base of the bed. On my first trip, i didn’t find them until a couple days into the trip 🤦🏻‍♀️

If it helps, the Touring Plans room finder does have have a number of images of the views from the Tower.

I always felt like the resort view is luck of the draw. Some views will be better than expected, and some of them will be flat out bad- but it's the tradeoff with booking the cheaper view.

Maybe make a request via the member chat? I know room requests are being phased out, but it never hurts to ask nicely.

Thank you! I had seen those on a room tour of another resort, but wasnt sure if the longhouses had them. Good to know!!

We own two DVC contracts for the Polynesian we had are first stay in the Tower a few months ago (Resort View) and have our Fall trip scheduled for the Theme Park View this time. The furnishings felt like home and the cast members are top tier! I have stayed at the Grand Floridian, about a year ago and Poly about a year prior to that. This is just no vibe that can compare!

Poly owners since 2016! 🏝️

We love unwinding here and enjoying our own version of “Island Time” while on vacation. Plus, Poly has some of our favorite food options on property!

Our daughter already knows this is home too…the green turf is easily her favorite spot at Walt Disney World 😂

Hi! We are new DVC owners! We just bought our first contract for the Polynesian while at Aulani at the end of May. We are doing our first stay at our home resort in January and I am so excited! We at staying in the original villas, not the tower this time, but the tower is definitely on my bucket list. Any tips for our first stay?

We have already "planned" out or next two stays after our first and can't wait to see where this adventure takes us.

Did you book TPV or standard? If standard view, most folks prefer Tokelau for proximity to pools, the GCH, and the resort monorail. But Moorea and Pago Pago are nice because you can walk the other way down the walking path to the TTC. If you have TPV the you'll be in Moorea.

We booked standard view for this vacation. Wanted to make sure we banked to our 2027 use year so we can make two trips in that use year.

Don't own at the Poly but our first stays in the Tower are coming up. We have one night there in October before we head to MCO following a five night cruise on the Dream and three nights at Vero Beach. Then we have six nights in a studio in February after a six night stay in a 1BR at Boulder Ridge. What should I look forward to while staying in the Tower?

Congrats! What an awesome purchase, we love the Poly!

I would say definitely give yourself plenty of resort time. We love being able to just walk around and hang there. The vibe can't be beat.

We like to get bread pudding to go and eat it on our balcony. Just make sure to mobile order early in the day if you want some.

We love captain cooks, I also get the nachos.

The main pool area is fun for everyone. The quiet pool is nice as well, especially when we do adults only. We like to hit the hot tub at the quiet pool. And the new tower has a really fun Moana water area for young kids depending on your family.

One nice thing about staying in the original buildings are the room sizes are good sized.

We just stayed there on the 4th of July and can't wait to get back. You will be very happy with your choice to buy there!

I enjoy both the longhouses and the Tower, but if you like a quieter atmosphere, you'll enjoy the Tower. The beach in front is less crowded during fireworks time, and the terrace gardens are a nice spot in the mornings. I thought the rooms are great too. The Tower also feels a little more secure since you need to scan your magic band or key to the world card to use the elevators. Definitely try Wailulu while you're at the Tower!

What are the chances of snagging a longhouse studio at 7 months for Springtime Surprise weekend?

I actually looked at this because we are doing springtime surprise as well. It looks like if you are on it right at 7 months, chances are pretty good based on some availability predictor tables I have looked at.

Thanks, we have eaten at Wailulu in the past and enjoyed and we are looking forward to getting to try other things on the menue.

We recently added poly to our portfolio and are excited about our upcoming trip. We booked a bucket list item - bungalow for several nights - it was 3 years of points and a transfer from our original contract

We have been owners since 2017. Best decision we ever made regarding Disney. We have stayed at other resorts, but the Poly is where I would rather be. We like Tokelau as our home base the best. The new tower is nice, but I don't think it has the same vibe as the longhouses. We do like eating at the tower though.

We checked out from a 5-day stay at Poly on Sunday. We transferred over from a 5-day at Riviera. We went into the trip thinking Poly might be our next add on. However, i experienced a couple things that have made me rethink that.

Upon arrival (4pm) to our room, I immediately called bell services for a luggage transfer. After about 15 minutes of no answer, i walked from Moorea to the GCH to go to the bell services desk. When i arrived, there were 3 employees standing there unoccupied. I lnkw things change rapidly up there, so they could have just got through a rush. When i gave them my ticket, they had confirmed my luggage would be brought down shortly and to remain in my room (standard protocol). I went back to the room and an hour went by. I called down again. After 4-5 tries, i got an answer. The girl was crienly and told me i was next in the queue. After another 45 minutes, i called the front desk. They stated this was abnormal and said they would put a rush request. Our luggage arrived at 8:47pm. I had every intention of going and getting it myself but figured i might meet a bellman on the way and it would be a wasted trip. At Riviera, bell services responded within 10 minutes for every request- i get it, smaller resort, smaller footprint… but, yikes. Is this normal? The front desk did give us a $75 resort credit for the impact on our evening.

Outside of that, the stay was pretty decent. The resort was insanely busy, which is to be expected- its the Poly. We really loved the proximity of Moorea to TTC. Folks described it as a 5 minute walk but its literally right around the corner- pretty sweet!

I didnt come here to just complain, moreover, id like to hear from you Poly owners why you bought there and why a propective buyer should choose Polynesian over another resort?

I’m sorry you experienced those issues with bell services during your stay. We've stayed at the Poly a half dozen times or more, with luggage fransfers to and from the resort, and haven’t had a negative experience like your described.

The Poly was our first DVC contract and remains a family favorite. It’s quinnesential Disney to us, being an opening-day resort. The walkability to the TTC makes it the most convenient resort on the monorail loop (IMO). But I’m burying the lede - the vibes are why I love the Poly. The music, the scents, the food…it’s impossible not to be relaxed while staying there. You also get the best fireworks view of any resort. From a practical DVC perspective, not having resort restrictions will help ensure that Poly contracts hold their value in the resale market.

I don't own points at the Poly, but it's one of the non-home resorts I've stayed at the most (and frankly where I would add on if I had to do so now). I love the atmosphere and the eats, and I gotta say I enjoyed the quiet of the Island Tower. The Poly also has the advantage of being near the TTC for easier transportation on EPCOT days versus GF and BLT.

I've never had issues with bell services there before. Hopefully that was just a bad day.

Dumb question, our first stay in the tower is coming up in October. It's just one night before we fly home out of MCO, coming on the back end of five nights on the Dream and three nights at Vero. Does the tower have its own parking lot or is it the same parking lot as the rest of the resort?