Disney's POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT Information & Questions

[Disturbia]

Do the island tower rooms qualify for the bounce back offer?

 

[Mle8308]

Do the island tower rooms qualify for the bounce back offer?

It all depends on availability for your dates. DVC villas do qualify (not all, no Grand Villas or Cabins/Bungalows). And if it's more then 11 months out, you will not find anything, however, you can book something else and keep looking to see if something else opens up. From what has been posted, you can now book the BB offer online and modify, you don't have to call.

 

[Dave006]

Do the island tower rooms qualify for the bounce back offer?

Today No. Will they qualify in the future maybe but I would not expect them any time soon unless they have a booking challenge aka they need to fill rooms that would otherwise go empty.

Dave

 

[jenmsmith]

Could you expand on your thought from your post?

What could elevator "hitchhikers" access on the upper floors of the Tower. They can't access the Terrace Gardens since they are also locked and requires authorized access only.

Dave

Not OP, but we stayed at the Island Tower this week. To access any floor besides the first floor required scanning your band/room key/phone. However, two people got one with us last night and after I scanned said “that’s our floor, too.” But they had been hanging out by the elevator bank. I don’t know for sure, but they sure seemed like “hitchhikers”.

To clarify, the Terrace Gardens do not require scanning at their doors to access. You just have to be able to access the floors they are on.

 

[Dave006]

To clarify, the Terrace Gardens do not require scanning at their doors to access. You just have to be able to access the floors they are on.

Yikes all the initial communication stated that the 4 Terrace Gardens would require authorized access directly in addition to Floor access. Did you notice if the doors happen to have Scan points but they are not activated?

Dave

 

[Dug720]

Yikes all the initial communication stated that the 4 Terrace Gardens would require authorized access directly in addition to Floor access. Did you notice if the doors happen to have Scan points but they are not activated?

Dave

Agreed! It seems like if they're not going to have authorized access to those they need to station cast members at the elevators to ensure that only registered guests are getting on them. If it's still this way in August, I may be finding stairs to go up to the second floor and then getting an elevator from there so I don't allow hangers on.

 

[jenmsmith]

Yikes all the initial communication stated that the 4 Terrace Gardens would require authorized access directly in addition to Floor access. Did you notice if the doors happen to have Scan points but they are not activated?

Dave

I looked for a scan point (especially because at first I thought the doors were locked - they weren’t, I just didn’t push hard enough ). The doors do appear to have a lock on them, but just a traditional lock like onto a balcony. No scan points (but maybe later they will).

 

[jenmsmith]

Agreed! It seems like if they're not going to have authorized access to those they need to station cast members at the elevators to ensure that only registered guests are getting on them. If it's still this way in August, I may be finding stairs to go up to the second floor and then getting an elevator from there so I don't allow hangers on.

FWIW, I didn’t see any access to stairs other than emergency staircases.

 

[Dug720]

FWIW, I didn’t see any access to stairs other than emergency staircases.

Great. That's no good if the elevators go down.

And will really not be good if the terraces aren't restricted access and people start hanging out by the elevators to get in. Maybe they'll do wristbands for terrace access and have CMs checking those.

 

[kylenne]

Great. That's no good if the elevators go down.

And will really not be good if the terraces aren't restricted access and people start hanging out by the elevators to get in. Maybe they'll do wristbands for terrace access and have CMs checking those.

Agreed because July 4th is going to be a nightmare if they don’t.

I really, really don’t like that they don’t have scanners on the terrace doors themselves. I will likely end up watching from my balcony but it would suck for guests in standard views to have to fight with other people who aren’t even staying there because they want to sneak in.

 

[Dave006]

FWIW, I didn’t see any access to stairs other than emergency staircases.

Did you happen to walk just past the elevator alcove? There should be stairs at your next left headed toward the Villas section according the building plans. Are those what you indicating as the emergency staircases?

There are no Open staircases.

ETA: add details on the stairs...

Dave

 

[Dug720]

Agreed because July 4th is going to be a nightmare if they don’t.

I really, really don’t like that they don’t have scanners on the terrace doors themselves. I will likely end up watching from my balcony but it would suck for guests in standard views to have to fight with other people who aren’t even staying there because they want to sneak in.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like if I encounter people hanging around the elevators, I'll find a cast member and ask them to help these people. Why would you just be hanging around an elevator that requires MagicBand+, KeyCard, or App to access? The odds of both people in a room having walked out without any of those is pretty slim - how are they getting back in their room?

 

[Disturbia]

Got upgraded to partial fireworks

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

Agreed because July 4th is going to be a nightmare if they don’t.

I really, really don’t like that they don’t have scanners on the terrace doors themselves. I will likely end up watching from my balcony but it would suck for guests in standard views to have to fight with other people who aren’t even staying there because they want to sneak in.

We are poly DVC owners but I haven’t kept up with what the layout of the new building is like. Is there a higher floor viewing area for fireworks or something that the public would want to be able to access?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We are poly DVC owners but I haven’t kept up with what the layout of the new building is like. Is there a higher floor viewing area for fireworks or something that the public would want to be able to access?

Public, no - there are no public spaces in the Tower. Just the first floor grounds and Wailulu Bar & Grill, which has some nice views from many (but not all) tables.

There are two Terrace Gardens in the Tower that have fireworks views, but they are restricted to Island Tower guests only.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

Public, no - there are no public spaces in the Tower. Just the first floor grounds and Wailulu Bar & Grill, which has some nice views from many (but not all) tables.

There are two Terrace Gardens in the Tower that have fireworks views, but they are restricted to Island Tower guests only.

Why would July 4 be problematic then, sorry if that is a dumb question would people try to sneak to the terrace?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Why would July 4 be problematic then, sorry if that is a dumb question would people try to sneak to the terrace?

Yeah, that’s what people were contemplating. Like the pools it’s not out of the realm of possibility for bad actors to ‘gate crash’ things. We’ll have to see, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t see more active wristband like management of more Poly spaces such as the tower for the “big days” like 7/4 and 12/31 like they do at the main beach area. TBD though.

 

[Dave006]

We are poly DVC owners but I haven’t kept up with what the layout of the new building is like. Is there a higher floor viewing area for fireworks or something that the public would want to be able to access?

Just to add to the comments from @GADisneyDad14, there are 2, two-story Terrace Garden spaces on the 4th floor that overlook the Seven Seas Lagoon. It is still not clear what the Fireworks view will actually be due to the orientation of the building and how many guests are able to stand right at the railing vs the depth of the space.

I would not be very concerned about the general public looking to access the space but Guests staying in the Tower having extra "visitors" beyond the guests on the reservation.

ETA: still trying to use all my words...

Dave

 

[Dave006]

We’ll have to see, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t see more active wristband like management of more Poly spaces such as the tower for the “big days” like 7/4 and 12/31 like they do at the main beach area. TBD though.

I am more concerned about crowds blocking the walkway in front of the tower (SSL side) toward GF now that it is open during the July 3-4, and Dec. 30-31. It is right in front of the Wailulu bar area along the building toward GF. We will know soon enough in just 9 days.

Dave

 

[Dug720]

Why would July 4 be problematic then, sorry if that is a dumb question would people try to sneak to the terrace?

The problem is that apparently there is no requirement to use your magic band or app or key card to access the terrace garden areas and from the same report on here there have already been people who figured out you need a band/card/app to access the elevators and were hanging out near them then hopping on when someone with access got on and declaring they were on the same floor (yet were somehow going to be getting into their room without band/card/app) - much like people hang around gated pool entries and try to get in with hotel guests.

If they do put up tap access to the terrace gardens there would be less of a problem (as I'd hope people would call security on random people hanging out by the door to the garden area in a hallway - but who knows), but without anything required to access them there could be "elevator jumpers" who get in. Especially if word gets out about the lack of access checking on further social media.