Starting today, current members of the Disney Vacation Club can begin purchasing points at the newest property of the Disney Vacation Club…the Polynesian.  The addition of Disney Vacation Club villas and bungalows has been a major part of the renovations done at The Polynesian Village Resort and vacation club members and non-members have been waiting for sales to open.  Currently, only current members can purchase points at the Polynesian at the cost of $160 per point.  Sales for new members will begin on February 9th.  No word on if the sales will remain at $160 or will go higher.

With the addition of Disney’s Vacation Club to The Polynesian Village Resort, there are Disney Vacation Club villas at all four monorail loop resorts: Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Bay Lake Tower, and Wilderness Lodge.  My family enjoys the vacation club and all that it entails.  We currently own property at both Bay Lake Tower and at the Grand Floridian.  We have used our points for a stay at Wilderness Lodge as well.  That said, we will not be using our points for a stay at the Polynesian.  First off, we are just not fans of the Polynesian to begin with.  It’s probably the least favorite of the monorail resorts for our family.  That aside, we have some bigger problems with how Disney Vacation Club has packaged the resort.

Above is the point chart for the Polynesian.  The studios are reasonably prices when compared to other vacation club resorts especially the Grand Floridian.  The points needed for a two-bedroom bungalow are off the charts.  They are almost twice the value of a two-bedroom villa at the Grand Floridian and more on par with a Grand Floridian Grand Villa, however, the two-bedroom bungalows at the Polynesian sleep four fewer people than the Grand Floridian Grand Villa.  On the flip side, the bungalow is out on the lake while the Grand Floridian Grand Villa is still on land.

Looking at the hypothetical dollar value of the points for Easter or Christmas week, it would cost  $230,240 (1439 points * $160/pt) to have enough points to rent out the bungalow during these peak times every year.  Plus, the owner would need to pay over $8500 in yearly dues for these villas.  For that kind of money, a person could buy a house in Orlando and rent it out for the other 51 weeks of the year.  That would be a lot more cost-effective but the purchased home does not have the location that the bungalow.  You are paying for the experience and location not what’s most “cost-effective.”

Another problem with have with the two-bedroom bungalow is how the beds are laid out.  It’s not really designed for eight adults.  Disney is expecting families to stay in this bungalows.  There are three beds (one in each bedroom plus a pull-out bed in the living area).  There are also murphy-style “pull-out” beds in the second bedroom and in the living space.  I can’t think of any adult who would want to spend their vacation sleeping on a murphy bed.

Another layout problem is in the living area.  The person sleeping on the “inside” spot of the sofa sleeper has to either climb over their partner in the sofa sleeper or the murphy bed to get in the living space and the bathrooms/kitchen.  Just not an ideal situation for the point cost of the bungalow.

Above is the floor plan for the studio.  Now, I don’t have any problem with the studios themselves.  The room looks big compared to a standard sized hotel room and has plenty of sleeping options with a regular bedroom, sofa sleeper bed, and a murphy bed.  The room also comes with a split bathroom which is seen on the Disney Cruise Line.  This allows a person to take a shower or use the toilet while another person uses the sink at the same time.

However, the rooms do not connect.  You can not rent two studios and turn it into a “one-bedroom” lock-off villa.  There are also no washers or dryers in the studios.  There are washers and dryers on each floor.  If you want your own washer and dryer, you need to rent one of the two-bedroom villas.   My family likes having a washer and dryer in the villa.  It allows us the opportunity to wash some clothes while we are in the pool during the afternoon.  It also allows us to pack less since we do close to a load of laundry every day we are at Disney.

Now, I do not want to say that putting in studio villas and bungalows is a bad decision on Disney’s part.  It’s not.  I just see the choices of either studios or “small” grand villas as not the best choice which Disney could have made for this vacation club property.  Disney will, though, capitalize on guest’s love of the Polynesian and the studios will be a very hot commodity.  The bungalows, I can see though, as running hot or cold.  I just can see people lining up to fork over tens to hundred thousands of dollars to get enough points to rent out a bungalow.

Putting in a vacation club property at the Polynesian had so much potential.  Disney chose poorly, in my opinion, on how it went about creating the vacation club property at this iconic Disney resort.

Thanks for reading!