Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is a Disney-owned and operated AAA Four-Diamond Award–winning resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort. It began operation on October 1, 1971 as one of Walt Disney World Resort's first two on-site hotels. The resort has a South Seas theme, and originally opened with 492 rooms. It was designed by Welton Becket and Associates and constructed by US Steel Realty Development. The resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Since its opening in 1971, the resort has seen three major expansions; the first in 1978, with the addition of a longhouse, the Tangaroa Terrace restaurant/support facility, and a secondary pool. A second expansion took place in 1985, with the construction of two additional longhouses. In that same year, the resort adopted the shortened name "Disney's Polynesian Resort". On May 2, 2014, it was announced that the resort would revert to the Disney's Polynesian Village Resort title while expanding further to include Disney Vacation Club accommodations as well as enhanced resort amenities. On April 1, 2015, the third expansion officially opened, including the new DVC additions and other amenities around the resort.
Design
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is situated on the southern shore of the manmade Seven Seas Lagoon, south of Magic Kingdom and adjacent to other Walt Disney World complexes, with the Transportation and Ticket Center to the east and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa to the west. The resort is on the Magic Kingdom monorail loop, providing transportation to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and is part of the route for Disney's Magic Kingdom Resorts Water Launch service. Other Walt Disney World Resort theme parks and attractions are served by Disney Transport buses. The resort is organized around a central building named the Great Ceremonial House, itself designed after a Tahitian royal assembly lodge. The Great Ceremonial House houses guest services and most of the resort's dining and merchandise locations. From its opening until 2014, the Great Ceremonial House also featured an expansive tropical waterfall feature in its atrium, with over 75 species of plant life. The waterfall and foliage were removed and replaced, however, during extensive resort renovations due to health and safety concerns and to reimagine the lobby as a social space. No rooms are contained in this building, instead several lodges - longhouses - and water bungalows house all guest rooms and are spread out amongst resort property. As of 2008, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is certified green lodging property with the state of Florida.
Original design and construction
The resort used United States Steel's then newly developed construction process for its original longhouses; steel frames were erected on-site, and pre-constructed modular rooms were lifted into these frames via crane, similar to Disney's Contemporary Resort. This method of building caused problems in both Disney's Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts, with guest complaints of a moldy smell in their rooms. It was found that mold and debris had collected in the spaces between each room. The spaces were filled in, stopping the problem, and Longhouses built as part of the resort's later expansions were built using conventional building techniques. With newly found construction photos of the Polynesian Resort found, the rooms were done differently than the . The Polynesian Resort, the Contemporary Resort, and the Court of Flags Resort all had the rooms built off site. The difference was instead of sliding the rooms into a metal frame like the Contemporary, they stacked the rooms and built the frame/concrete around them.
Accommodations
The resort design and layout consists of 11 two and three story longhouses, spread throughout the property. The resort originally opened with 484 guest rooms in 8 longhouses, Bali Hai, Bora Bora, Fiji, Hawaii, Maui, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. In 1978, the Oahu longhouse was added. The Moorea and Pago Pago longhouses were added in 1985. Between 2013 and 2015, 20 over-the-water DVC bungalows were constructed in a new area named Bora Bora. On October 28, 1999, most of the resort's longhouses were renamed. Today the longhouses are named for islands on the Polynesian isle map, with chosen longhouse names matching the relative geographic position of their namesake island. Ten of the eleven longhouses, excluding Fiji, were renamed: Bali Hai became Tonga; Bora Bora became Niue; Hawaii became Samoa; Maui became Rarotonga; Moorea became Tahiti; Oahu became Tokelau; Pago Pago became Rapa Nui; Samoa became Tuvalu; Tahiti became Aotearoa and Tonga became Hawaii. The 2013-15 resort reimagining has returned the original names of the DVC longhouses. Two of the current longhouses, Hawaii and Tonga, offer a Concierge Lounge - where refreshments, views, and lounge space are offered exclusively to guests of Hawaii or Tonga.
Shopping
The resort offers several shopping areas focused on Disney parks merchandise, resort-specific specialty merchandise, and convenience items, located in the Great Ceremonial House. BouTiki is located off the main lobby, with Moana Mercantile located opposite Kona Cafe on the second floor. Trader Sam's Grog Grotto also offers a limited range of merchandise.
Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
On September 17, 2013 DisneyVacation Club announced that its next planned location would be at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. The first phase of DVC expansion to the resort opened April 1, 2015, adding 20 over-the-water 'Bora Bora' Bungalows and converting 2 existing buildings, Pago Pago ) into Deluxe Studios. The Tokelau conversion was completed mid-2015 creating a total of 360 Deluxe Studios between the 3 buildings. Between the three DVC longhouses is a barbecue area for the use of resort guests, with two gas barbecues. In addition there will be 5 new rooms added between the Moorea, Tokelau and Pago Pago vacation club buildings.
