Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World
Photo Tour of a Studio at Disney’s Polynesian Villas and Bungalows
(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Polynesian Resort, click here.)
PHOTO TOUR OF A STUDIO AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAS AND BUNGALOWS
The Studios and Bungalows opened at the Polynesian in April 2015, and I had the chance to stay in a Studio late that month, and stayed in one again in January 2019.
At 465 square feet, the Studios at the Polynesian are the largest DVC studios, are among a currently small group of DVC studios that sleep 5 (all Polynesian standard rooms sleep 5), and are alone in having one and a half baths. They are also the only DVC studios that can connect to another studio.
However, the extra square footage largely comes from not-useful extra width, and the half bath comes at the expense of living space and convenient storage. So for families paying cash (as opposed to using DVC points) the pros and cons of a studio and a standard room are a bit difficult to tease out.
The entry to my Pago Pago longhouse had fun stuff tied to its theme.
My Moorea longhouse room also had a fun and vibrant entry.
The corridor walls and carpet are fun and colorful, and hint at the orange color scheme you’ll find in the rooms–frankly, more fun than the green of the Polynesian’s standard rooms.
You enter the Studio into long hallway–half of its total length.
One side has the connecting door, closet and kitchenette. This is the outside of the closet…
…and this is the inside.
I did not measure the safe, but my book is six inches by nine inches. Note the small shelves under the safe. Storage is probably adequate in total, but is widely distributed in these Studios (there is no dresser), so I’ll be calling out all the storage options as we tour it.
Next to the closet is the kitchenette.
All Disney deluxe rooms have a mini-fridge and coffeemaker. Studio kitchenettes add another sink, a toaster and microwave…
…and some basic utensils and supplies. Note that you can probably gain a shelf for storage by consolidating some of this stuff…
…especially if you use the cabinet above the microwave.
The other side of the entry has the two bath areas. The first is a full bath with no interior walls–with a sink…
…with these toiletries…
…and some storage drawers and shelves…
…and a tub/shower combo and toilet next to it.
On the side wall there’s this charming art.
The second bath has just a large shower and a sink.
Note the blue accent wall. There’s one in each bath, and they really add a lot to the overall playfulness of the space.
Toiletries in this bath…
…which also has storage.
I also really like the lighting in the shower.
The showerheads.
The living/sleeping area takes up about half the square footage of the Studio–I think this is means less living/sleeping space than you’ll find in a standard Polynesian Village room, but Tikiman disagrees. I’ll sort that out on my next stay in a regular Polynesian room, but regardless, the bed space in a Studio is just a tad more than 16 feet long. This has to be less than standard rooms, as they fit two queens and an easy chair along their bed side–hard to do in 16 feet…
On one side is the queen bed and couch…
This side from the back of the room. The colors are vibrant and fun, but I find this whole wall to be cramped.
A closer view of the bed. Note that–at least as of January 2019–these rooms have not lost their bed skirts!
A bedside table on either side adds a storage shelf with powerpoints, and a storage drawer.
The drawer is large enough for your important books.
On either side of the bed, built in below it, are long, large drawers. The one on the bath side is awkward to access…
…as is the one on the couch side, when the couch is folded out into a bed.
The bed is raised, platform style, enabling storage of rolly bags and similarly proportioned luggage underneath, even slob luggage like mine.
Between the bed and the bath wall is this fun art.
Next to the bed is this couch and chest that serves as a coffee table or place to prop up your feet (when mom isn’t looking). The couch is pretty tight to the queen bed–this side of the room would have worked better with another 12 or 18 inches. The total length of this living and sleeping area is 16 feet 2.5 inches–that’s two feet shorter than the longer wall in the bedroom space of a value resort room…
Above the couch there’s more fun art.
The top of the chest is hinged, yielding access to a large storage area within. Two large drawers in this object would have been more practical than a top-opening chest.
The couch unfolds into a bed that I measured as 76 inches by 59 inches–just a bit less than a queen–with a six inch cushion. I slept fine on it.
On the other side is a fold-down Murphy bed under a large 54 inch TV, and a table and chairs.
The TV side from the back. There’s no dresser.
The Murphy bed pulls down from the enormous object underneath the TV. I measured it as 72″ by 30″, but it sleeps a little shorter than that because of the way it is framed. The cushion is 6 inches. I napped on it fine, but it’s really not suited to anyone over 5′ 9″ tall for a full night.
Note the charming picture of a sleeping Lilo and Stitch revealed when the bed is pulled down.
In the back corner of the room is this table and chairs. Note the different chair colors–a fun feature. Above the table is a power point with one normal outlet and two USB power jacks. There’s another regular outlet below the table, and more in the kitchenette. This room is short on dressers but not on power!
The balcony extends the full width of the room.
All Studios have balconies or patios–in the longhouses with standard Polynesian Village rooms, second floor standard rooms have no balconies.
Views vary, not just by longhouse and longhouse side, but also by the season. Compare the view from my Pago Pago room in April (above) with the foliage you can see from my Moorea room in January, below.
More specifically, among the three Polynesian longhouses with Studios:
- Tokelau has the best overall location, and all of its rooms have fine views. Half face the Oasis pool, so may suffer from noise.
- All Moorea rooms have fine views. Half face the Seven Seas Lagoon, but likely all these will get scarfed up by DVC members.
- Half of Pago Pago rooms have fine views, and the other half face a parking lot that while handy to all three of these longhouses is not worth looking at.
Compared to a standard room, Studios get you a toaster and microwave, a half bath, and guarantee a balcony or a patio.
They trade the desk for a table and chairs, and a queen bed for a pull-out sofa, at the expense of a smaller living space, a bit of cramped space along the bed/couch wall, and no dresser. You also lose an easy chair.
If you use it all and creatively, you’ll likely find enough drawers, shelves, chests and such for all your stuff, but it’ll be spread around more than if you had a dresser.
Most Polynesian Studio rooms have a better location than most Polynesian standard rooms, and, at least to my eye, have lovelier baths and a much more charming color scheme in the living area.
PHOTO TOUR OF A BUNGALOW AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT
This review continues here.
TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT
- Summary and overview of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Theming and Accommodations at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Photo Tour of a Standard Room at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Amenities at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Dining at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- The Pools at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- The Disney Vacation Club at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Photo Tour of a Studio at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Photo Tour of a Bungalow at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- Where to stay–the Basics
- Where first-timers should stay
- Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them
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April 28, 2015 70 Comments
Re-Review of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
As of yesterday I’ve fully published my re-review of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.
The first page of the re-review is here, and the full set of pages in the review is this:
- Overview of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Little Mermaid Area and Rooms
- Photo Tour of a Little Mermaid Room
- Overview of the Family Suites Areas
- Accommodations in the Family Suites
- Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite (plus bed dimensions, storage, etc.)
- Photo Tour of a Lion King Family Suite
- Photo Tour of a Cars Family Suite
- Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
Normally I don’t put up an “announcement” post like this, since the new material will show up in my “Most Recent Stuff” box on the right sidebar. But this time, instead of posting all-new pages, I (mostly) re-did pages that already exist…and thereby hangs a tale.
(Note that most of you won’t care, and should go straight to the new review.)
MY LIFE AT ART OF ANIMATION
The old material on Art of Animation was literally scattered over 11 pages from five different visits, and it was figuring out what to do with the material from my sixth visit that led me to rewrite rather than post new pages.
- We stayed in a Finding Nemo Family Suite in June 2012, the week that Art of Animation opened, and I published a three page review shortly after.
- We stayed in a Little Mermaid standard room in September 2012, shortly after these rooms opened, and I published a three page review of these rooms shortly after.
- A few weeks later, I realized that to be parallel to the other reviews on this site I needed an overview of the whole resort, so I did three pages on that—with a lot of overlap with the first two sets of reviews.
- In August 2013, three things happened: I got a new camera, stayed in a Lion King suite, and stayed in a Cars suite. I updated many (but not all) of the exterior photos in the nine pages I’d already published with stuff from the new camera, and published new pages with photo tours of each of the Lion King and Cars suites.
- In February 2014 I revisited a Little Mermaid room with the new camera, and updated the room and area photos from that visit.
- In December 2014 we re-visited a Finding Nemo suite, and I got updated Nemo and resort images on that trip.
Now, my initial thought had been simply to rewrite everything from scratch, killing a lot of redundancies and providing a flow from topic to topic that better matched the rest of the reviews on this site.
Almost all my reviews have gone through two or even three revisions (as I revisit hotels either after refurbs or to get better pix) and this is what I’ve always done in the past. Technically, what I do is once the new material is out, I use a 301 redirect to send all the old pages to the first page of the new review. This way I keep most old links (internal or external) still useful.
For Art of Animation, though, this didn’t quite work, as the room types are so different and my original posts so distinct in their topics that many links appropriately go just to the Family Suites, just to the Little Mermaid rooms, or (for example) just to the Cars suites and not to the Nemo or Lion King ones.
So what I did instead was keep mostly to the same topics of the old pages, but updated the material and photos on them, killed most of the redundancy (since people don’t always begin on page 1, there’s always gonna be some redundancy), and posted only two new pages (on amenities and pools) to fit the structure of most of my other recent reviews.
This kept the integrity of the old links while giving me complete freedom (so long as I stayed on the topic of the old page!!) for re-writes and new images. As it turned out, of the old 11 pages, 8 could keep their same topics, and only 3 needed redirects.
This also had the virtue of preserving the comments (450+), pins (1500+), Facebook likes (130+, must do better) etc., still to the topics where these were initially created.
New posts with redirects would have lost every one of these. Since Art of Animation is still a new and hot topic, this is good—especially when you note that on this site 450 comments typically means 225 questions from you and 225 answers from me…
A NEW TREND…
I have similar problems/opportunities with my All-Star Music and Port Orleans Riverside reviews.
On Music I have separate reviews of the standard rooms and the family suites, and a bucket of (much better) updated photos of the exteriors and of a standard room from my January visit.
On Riverside I have one main review, but also separate reviews of the 5 person Alligator Bayou and 4 person Royal Rooms—plus much better photos of a standard room from my February visit.
So for each I’ll be re-crafting THEM into single integrated reviews, but like I just did for Art of Animation, I’ll be putting the new material on top of the old pages so that the specific links and shares and pins—e.g. to a Royal Room, or a Family Suite comparison—still work.
In other words, yes I am behind on my reviews again…and tomorrow I depart to Disney World to stay in 3 more resorts!—for an updated review of the Fort Wilderness’s campsites, a stay in one of the new Poly Studios (and review of the refurbed pool, Trader Sams, etc.), and a stay at the Swan! Oh, well…
SOMETHING ELSE, WHAT DO YOU THINK??
Another new thing I did in the Art of Animation update was to revise how the flow of links across the review worked.
Traditionally you’d find something like these numeric links (from my Grand Floridian review):
This time, instead on each page I did text links that show the topic of each page:
- Overview of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Little Mermaid Area and Rooms
- Photo Tour of a Little Mermaid Room
- Overview of the Family Suites Areas
- Accommodations in the Family Suites
- Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite (plus bed dimensions, storage, etc.)
- Photo Tour of a Lion King Family Suite
- Photo Tour of a Cars Family Suite
- Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
I think the new version is uglier, but much more helpful.
Since I am the former, and my goal is the latter, I’m OK with that!
But those of you who have paged through my other reviews using the old numeric link structure—what do YOU think??
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April 14, 2015 2 Comments
The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
For the first page of this review of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, see this.
THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
There are three pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- A small pool centered within the three accommodation buildings in the Cars area
- A large pool, the “Big Blue Pool” between the two Finding Nemo accommodations buildings
- A good sized pool in the center of the three Little Mermaid buildings
There’s no pool between the two Lion King buildings. I view this as a feature, not a bug, as it means suites there don’t get pool noise, but are still just a short walk from the pools in the Little Mermaid and Nemo areas.
THE CARS POOL AT ART OF ANIMATION
The Cars pool is meant to represent half of a tire.
It is unique among the value resort pools in having cabanas–the traffic cones shaped thingies in the image.
Curiously small even for a secondary pool, there’s not remotely enough room here for the guests in the three Cars buildings–but the Big Blue pool isn’t far.
THE BIG BLUE POOL AT ART OF ANIMATION
The Big Blue Pool between the two Finding Nemo buildings is the main pool at Art of Animation, and is where you’ll find most pool-related amenities.
Its claims to fame include that it’s the largest single-tank pool at a Disney owned resort (the three tanks at Stormalong Bay are collectively larger) and that music plays under the water. Since I sing “Born to be Wild” all the time in the tub, not that big a deal for me–but the underwater music really delights kids!!
Besides the main pool, you’ll also find a kids splash play area dominated by an object that you may recognize from Finding Nemo. Otherwise, you will wonder if McDonald’s is sponsoring the pool…
At poolside is Art of Animation’s bar…
…with a refillable mug station.
Movies are shown at the pool in the evenings.
Longtime readers of this site will know I love night shots of pools:
THE LITTLE MERMAID POOL AT ART OF ANIMATION
The third pool at Art of Animation is in the Little Mermaid area.
It has no amenities in particular, but is large enough to be a sound option for those who don’t want to walk the extra five minutes from the somewhat-distant Little Mermaid area to the Big Blue Pool.
At night.
MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
- Overview of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Little Mermaid Area and Rooms
- Photo Tour of a Little Mermaid Room
- Overview of the Family Suites Areas
- Accommodations in the Family Suites
- Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite (plus bed dimensions, storage, etc)
- Photo Tour of a Lion King Family Suite
- Photo Tour of a Cars Family Suite
- Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- Where to stay–the Basics
- Where first-timers should stay
- Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!
April 13, 2015 18 Comments
Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
For the first page of this review of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, see this.
AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
Most amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort except the pools and Skyliner station are in its central “Animation Hall” area.
Here you’ll find the loveliest lobby, by far, among the value resorts. The check-in area…
…the side wall that separates it from the gift shop…
…and note the art on the back wall. On one visit, characters from Winnie the Pooh were greeting as we checked in!
Outside you’ll find the bus stops. With one stop, and no bus sharing, Art of Animation has the best bus service among the values.
On the topic of transportation, Art of Animation shares with Pop Century the distinction of being the only values on the new Disney World Skyliner gondola system to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
It shares a Skyliner station with Pop Century, on the bridge connecting the two resorts over Hourglass Lake. From this station, you ride to the main hub, at Caribbean Beach, and re-board there for either the Epcot or Hollywood Studios lines.
Back inside, between the lobby and the food court you’ll find the large gift shop.
More from the gift shop.
Next is the food court, “Landscape of Flavors.”
At opening, this was the best food court among the values or moderates, combining traditional food court fare…
…with fresh and interesting selections–my favorite was the Mongolian Grill Beef Stir Fry, being prepared here…
…in a setting that is, mostly, warmer and more inviting than the other food courts of its size. This sky light fixture is from the ceiling in the “Lion King” area of the food court.
However, the menu has been dumbed down over the years, so while this is still a fine food court, it is less distinctive than before. Current menus can be found here.
Perhaps best of all–real plates and utensils!!
If you are lucky and win a bet from a guy who looks like this (like I did)…
…you might even get a free breakfast (like I did)!
THE POOLS AT DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
This review continues here.
MATERIAL IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S ART OF ANIMATION RESORT
- Overview of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Little Mermaid Area and Rooms
- Photo Tour of a Little Mermaid Room
- Overview of the Family Suites Areas
- Accommodations in the Family Suites
- Photo Tour of a Finding Nemo Family Suite (plus bed dimensions, storage, etc)
- Photo Tour of a Lion King Family Suite
- Photo Tour of a Cars Family Suite
- Amenities at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- The Pools at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- Where to stay–the Basics
- Where first-timers should stay
- Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 150+ stays in them
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!
April 12, 2015 4 Comments
Review: The Pools at Shades of Green Resort
(For the first page of this review of Shades of Green, see this.)
THE POOLS AT SHADES OF GREEN RESORT
There are two pools at Shades of Green:
- The Magnolia pool, closer to all Palm wing rooms and about half of Magnolia Wing rooms, and
- The Mill Pond pool, closer to the other half of Magnolia wing rooms
Each has a few distinct features–including some added recently–but either is a great choice for most visitors.
The Magnolia pool is the only one with a hot tub; the Mill Pond pools the only with a pool slide and near a playground and arcade–and right next door to Evergreens!
THE MAGNOLIA POOL AT SHADES OF GREEN
The Magnolia pool is to the right and down as you cross from the lobby to the Magnolia wing. On the map it’s near the top, just a little left of center.
This U-shaped pool was extensively redeveloped in 2013. It now features a zero-entry area (at the bottom of the image) and a hot tub (at the top).
Here’s a closer view of the hot tub.
Although the Magnolia pool has a slight feel of “the pool for adults,” with its basketball hoop (on the right), pool volleyball net and other features, kids find it fun as well.
The Magnolia pool at night.
THE MILL POND POOL AT SHADES OF GREEN
The Mill Pond pool is at the far end of the Magnolia wing (it’s the Mickey-head-shaped pool at left on the map), right next to Evergreens.
It has two pool slides…
…one for bigger kids…
…and one for littler ones that also has a splash play area.
Just outside the pool fences you’ll find this playground…
…and inside the building that also contains Evergreens, this arcade.
The Mill Pond pool at night.
The arcade, playground, slides and water play area make the Mill Pond pool feel a little more like the family pool. But you will find many adults here as well.
My advice: try them both!
USING THE AMENITIES AT SHADES OF GREEN EVEN IF YOU AREN’T STAYING THERE
This review continues here.
PAGES: Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Next
TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF SHADES OF GREEN
- Overview of Shades of Green
- Photo Tour of a Standard Shades of Green Room
- Amenities at Shade of Green
- The Pools at Shades of Green
- Using Shades of Green’s Amenities Even if You Aren’t Staying There
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March 31, 2015 No Comments
The Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
THE DISNEY VACATION CLUB AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT
In mid-February Disney World began offering the new Disney Vacation Club Studios and Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort to the general public for stays beginning—so far as I can tell—in April 2015.
I’ll have more to say about the Studios after my late April stay in one, but for the moment, some comments on both, based largely on their floor plans.
STUDIOS AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAS & BUNGALOWS
Studios at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (“PVB”) sleep five in a queen bed, fold-out couch, and fold-down bed. Besides normal deluxe room accouterments, they also—like other DVC studios—include a mini-kitchen, with the same coffee-maker and mini-fridge as in other deluxe rooms, but also a small sink, toaster, microwave, and a few eating utensils.
There’s a couple of distinctive features of these studios compared to other DVC studios.
First, you can book them as connecting rooms—most other DVC Studios only connect to (more expensive) One Bedroom Villas.
Second, their capacity for five is currently rare among studios—but becoming more common. Right now, only Studios at the Villas at the Grand Floridian and Villas at the Wilderness Lodge sleep five. (Refurbs in 2015 are expected to also add capacity for five to Studios at the Beach Club and BoardWalk Villas.)
Third, the baths are distinct. Like the Studios at the Grand Floridian, there’s both a sink and shower space and also a separate tub and toilet space. However, the baths at PVB add a sink to the tub and toilet space, yielding one full bath and a second bath with shower and sink. Add the third sink just outside in the mini-kitchen area, and your family will have every chance to be very clean.
Fourth, at 465 square feet (the size of the rooms they were converted from), these Studios are the largest among the DVC Studio offerings.
This is a mostly a function of extra width—about 14’ 3” compared to, for example, the Studios at Grand Floridian at 12’ 9” wide. About 50 square feet comes from that difference. However, so far as I can tell, much of this extra space is dedicated to the bath and hallway, rather than to the living space, which is wide but apparently short.
It looks like the footprint of the old bath in the rooms these were converted from remains the same as the footprint of the new full bath, the connecting door and closet take up the space that used to be two closets and the coffee service, and the shower-sink bath and mini-kitchen take up space that in the old rooms was part of the bedroom space.
I’ll know better after my visit with my tape measure, as Disney’s floor plan is clearly a bit off in various spots—the queen bed is oversized, width of the hall too narrow, and size of the entry door too large.
So who should stay in these rooms? Well, those renting points should definitely consider them. I’ve already seen PVB point rental offers out there—though I expect it’ll take a bit before there’s much available.
Families staying 7 nights including two weekend nights will find prices in standard view Studios between 98% and 101% of what a standard view room at the Poly those nights would cost, and less on various holiday weekends when the Poly standard rooms get an additional upcharge and the Studios don’t. Those on shorter visits will spend a little more at the Studios on weeknights, and a little less on weekends.
The Studios are in what used to be my most highly recommended longhouses at the Polynesian—Pago Pago (which most recently was Rapa Nui), Moorea (recently Tahiti) and Tokelau (whose name has not changed).
I used to recommend these longhouses for three reasons: balconies or patios in every room (standard second floor rooms at the rest of the Poly are missing balconies), nice positioning between the Magic Kingdom resort monorail and the walkway to the Epcot monorail, and an extra 50 square feet compared to rooms in the rest of the Poly longhouses, which extra space used to be all dedicated to the living area.
The first two reasons still hold. Since most of the extra square footage seems to be dedicated to the bath and mini-kitchen area, the third reason morphs a bit—at the Studios, for about the same amount of money you get a divided bath and the microwave/toaster, and what seems (I’ll know more on this after my April visit) like a smaller overall living space—it looks to me a foot or two smaller than the living space in standard rooms.
Note that half of the rooms in Tokelau face the East Pool, which will be seeing major refurb after the refurb on the main Nanea Pool is completed late this spring. If these rooms with a construction view are closed, I’d still go with Tokelau as the best standard view choice among the Studios at the Polynesian.
BUNGALOWS AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN VILLAS & BUNGALOWS
Bungalows in the Polynesian DVC offering are unlike any other accommodations at Disney World. They hold eight people in two bedrooms—like many DVC Two Bedroom Villas. But the differences are so profound that they should be thought of as their own thing, not as an option among the two bedroom choices.
I’m tempted to start with prices, but let’s focus on the positive. Each bungalow is its own little building built on pilings in the Seven Seas Lagoon, just away from the Polynesian beaches, and reached from over-water walkways. There’s twenty in all—collectively, the “Bora Bora” area.
You enter into the bedroom wing (on the right of the floor plan) and at the far end (on the left) is a deck with views of the Magic Kingdom and its fireworks, sunbathing spots, and a little “cold water” pool in which to refresh yourself on hot sunbathing days.
Note on this deck lounge chairs, table and chairs, and smaller set of chairs (bottom center) accessed from the master bedroom. There’s nothing like this outdoor space anywhere else at Disney World.
Just inside, accessed from two sets of sliding glass doors, is a great room with a full kitchen and dining area on one side, and a living room on the other. The dining area seats all eight this room will sleep—something you won’t find at other two bedroom villas—but the living area, as is common, seats fewer. There’s room here to drag some dining room chairs over.
The living room sleeps three—two on a fold-out couch, and one on a fold-down bed.
Back down the entry hall on the right you’ll find the master suite, with a king bed and private bath. It’s similar to what you’ll find in other DVC master rooms.
Across the hall from the master bedroom is the bath for everyone else, which, after the washer/dryer and closet, is divided into two areas—one of which seems perhaps to be missing a door, at least in this floor plan.
Beyond it is the second bedroom, sleeping three on a queen and a fold-down bed. Other second bedrooms at DVC villas are much bigger than this, and typically sleep four on two queens.
So what have we got?
- An astonishing deck, likely pretty darn uncomfortable in the sun and humidity even with the little pool from later May through September, but charming the rest of the year, and in early mornings and evenings all year
- A kitchen/dining/living space that in sum is clearly better than the equivalents elsewhere except perhaps in Old Key West
- A fine master bedroom and bath
- A very small second bedroom
For this you will pay (including tax) between $2400 and $3400 a night.
That number is so big it makes my head hurt. This is around twice what a Two Bedroom Villa at the Villas at the Grand Floridian would cost, and just $200 to $500 a night less than a Grand Villa at the Villas at the Grand Floridian—which sleeps four more in almost twice the space. It’s just around $300 less than the flagship, two story, eight bay King Kamehameha Suite at the Polynesian.
So Disney is clearly attributing a lot of value to that deck…or seeing the Bungalows as an alternative not to Two Bedroom Villas elsewhere, but rather to suites at the Polynesian.
OK, more to come after my April stay!!
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February 16, 2015 7 Comments