About Have a Magical Day

As a beautiful, tropical paradise situated across from the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Disney’s Polynesian Resort is the epitome of a luxurious vacation. It is no wonder that this soothing resort has a long history that is filled with many changes over its lifespan, though its evolution is so complex that it cannot be a coincidence. 

Known for its reputation of being the “Hawaii of the East Coast”, the Polynesian Resort has a unique development that makes it stand out from other Disney World resorts. Designed by Welton Becket Associates and constructed by Steel Realty Department, the Polynesian started construction in February 1971 and concluded by late September of that year, featuring a main building known as the Great Ceremonial House, a primary pool known as the Nanea Volcano Pool along with a stream leading to it, eight longhouses known as Bali Hai, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Bora Bora and Maui, and a beautiful waterfall feature in the GCF’s lobby, which features 75 species of plant life. 

Disney’s Polynesian Resort opened on October 1, 1971, as Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and hosted an opening ceremony that concluded with the Electrical Water Pageant, followed by the resort’s official birthday on October 24, 1971. In May 1973, an entertainment show called Polynesian Revue was built and offered nighttime entertainment from Tuesdays through Saturdays. On December 29, 1974, the rock-and-roll band known as The Beatles permanently broke up when its leader John Lennon signed his name on the paperwork brought to him by the Apple Company’s lawyers.  A few years later, in mid-April 1978, the first expansion of Disney’s Polynesian Resort was established, and a ninth longhouse known as Oahu was added to the resort, along with a two-in-one building featuring the Tangaroa Terrace and Moana Mickey’s Fun Hut, and a secondary pool called the Polynesian East Pool, replacing a small putting green that existed for seven years. Additionally, the Maui longhouse was renamed to Maori until 1999. This fresh, new expansion increased the resort’s room count from originally 484 guest rooms to 636 and added more amenities to Disney’s Polynesian Resort without tarnishing its legacy. 

This was a necessary addition to the beautiful resort, and some soft rehabs to all the guest rooms and public areas enhanced the overall feel of the Polynesian Resort to the finest degree. Construction of the resort’s first expansion began in September 1977 and concluded in early April of 1978 in time for the opening of the new accommodations, increasing the Polynesian Resort’s popularity in the process. 

Seven years after Disney’s Polynesian Resort added its first expansion, another, “final” expansion took place in the mid-1980s to complete the overall layout of the resort. In late May 1985, the tenth and eleventh longhouses, known as Moorea and Pago Pago, were added to the Polynesian Resort, along with more walkways along the resort, a third and final beach (when the resort first opened, there were two beaches), the Sunset Pointe (located north of the Oahu longhouse), and a second parking lot situated south of the Pago Pago longhouse. Construction of the resort’s second and final expansion lasted from November 1984 to mid-May 1985. 

All these new amenities in this second expansion once again increased the resort’s popularity while leaving its legacy intact, and the room count increased from 636 to a grand total of 853 guest rooms. Later that same year, in August 1985, the resort’s name was changed from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort to its true, shortened title, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and its first refurbishment occurred the following year in 1986, with a new interior design to accentuate its South Seas themes. 

In 1987, a walkway to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) was installed along with a fresh roof for the Great Ceremonial House (GCH), and in 1988, the Neverland Club opened at the Moana Mickey’s Fun Hut building, also renaming the building itself to the Neverland Club as its true name; it opened on September 12, 1988. Another refurbishment of the resort occurred in mid-1991 with a more tropical-looking room design; this new interior design would stay the same in the Bali Hai (later Tonga) longhouse’s suites until 2005. 

In that same year, Polynesian-style torches were added throughout the resort, having been absent for the first two decades of the Polynesian Resort’s lifetime. The addition of these torches created an entirely new atmosphere for Disney’s Polynesian Resort, making them a crucial component in its South Pacific theming and inspiration. A quick-service restaurant named Captain Cook’s opened at the GCH in 1993. 

In July 1994, the Tonga (later Hawaii) longhouse had six of its guest rooms demolished and permanently replaced by a concierge lounge that was built in their place, offering amenities like the Bali Hai longhouse. This change was necessary, adding a bit of spaciousness to the Tonga longhouse and decreasing the resort’s room count to 847, so there would be more accommodations for Club Level guests. On April 12, 1995, the Ohana restaurant opened at the Great Ceremonial House, replacing the Papeete Bay Veranda, which operated from 1971 to 1994. 

A wonderful, colorful transformation occurred at Disney’s Polynesian Resort in 1996; this was a massive development change that would establish its “adulthood”. This facelift featured several amazing changes: the Great Ceremonial House replaced its tile flooring with an earth-toned floor resembling actual Hawaiian rock slabs, a brand-new refurbishment of all the resort’s rooms and public areas occurred with a brightened interior design, automatic sliding doors throughout all its buildings were installed, and the repainting on the exterior of all eleven longhouses occurred from 1996 to 1998. 

The new exterior design of the longhouses featured red, white, and yellow-orange geometrical inlays as opposed to the old, muted black design that existed from 1971 to 1995. Hawaii (later Samoa), Oahu (later Tokelau), and Pago Pago (later Rapa Nui) were the first three longhouses to receive this special treatment and were repainted on their exteriors throughout mid 1996 along with the rest of the changes as stated above. Additionally, the Polynesian East Pool’s amenities building got repainted on its exterior with white, yellow and red geometrical inlays. 

This facelift added a huge splash of color and appeal to Disney’s Polynesian Resort, and it had the largest amount of development since its “infancy”. Even then, this transformation did not finish, as the resort’s “adulthood” had just begun. The Tangaroa Terrace building closed in late 1996, although it reopened the following year as a meeting facility. Tangaroa Terrace also became used for wedding receptions and special occasions. 

From early-to-mid 1997, the Polynesian Resort’s transformation continued for several more buildings: the Tonga (later Hawaii), Bora Bora (later Niue), Maori (later Rarotonga), and Moorea (later Tahiti) longhouses were repainted on their exteriors. The same treatment occurred on the Tangaroa Terrace and Neverland Club, though with different designs: the Tangaroa Terrace was repainted from black to red, orange and white geometrical inlays, while the Neverland Club was repainted from black and copper-colored to dark brown, red and yellow. A special tree imported from the state of Hawaii, the “Kukui Nut” tree, was planted outside the back of the Great Ceremonial House in 1997, with a time capsule planted at the base of the tree. 

Lastly, the Polynesian Resort’s transformation concluded in 1998 with the last four longhouses: the Bali Hai (later Tonga), Tahiti (later Aotearoa), Fiji, and Samoa (later Tuvalu) were repainted on their exteriors. On July 25 of the same year, the Great Ceremonial House restaurant Coral Island Café, which opened on the resort’s opening day (October 1, 1971), closed for extensive renovations; it was renamed Kona Café and opened on November 23, 1998, along with minor rehabs and repairs occurring around the resort both for safety reasons and to further enhance its overall feel; these occurred throughout the first half of 1999, concluding that very year.

On October 28,1999, Disney’s Polynesian Resort had one final change in its development: ten of its eleven longhouses were renamed to more accurately reflect a geographical position of the Polynesian islands, excluding Fiji, which stayed the same. The other ten longhouses were renamed as follows: Maori became Rarotonga, Samoa became Tuvalu, Tonga became Hawaii, Moorea became Tahiti, Hawaii became Samoa, Pago Pago became Rapa Nui, Tahiti became Aotearoa, Oahu became Tokelau, Bora Bora became Niue, and Bali Hai became Tonga. 

By this point, Disney’s Polynesian Resort was finally complete. The development it had gone throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s had truly put the resort on a lengthy process that saw it transform from its “infancy” to its final completion by the end of the 20th century and the turn of the New Millennium. However, by the early 2000s, there were some additional finishing touches that made Disney’s Polynesian Resort look just as Walt Disney himself wanted it to be. 

The Nanea Volcano Pool went through lengthy reconstruction to make its volcano feature and the pool itself larger and more appealing, and construction occurred through 2000 until it reached completion by March 2001, when it opened later that month. The suites in the Tonga longhouse had a soft rehab in 2000 in preparation for their upcoming refurbishment in 2005. Other minor tasks the Polynesian Resort went through included an enlargement of the outdoor seating area of Captain Cook’s quick-service restaurant, the repaving of both of its parking lots, the addition of extra lighting at Sunset Pointe, and a fresh paint job at the resort’s monorail station. Throughout 2002, the Polynesian Resort had major rehabs done to all the longhouses and the waterfall feature in its atrium had some repairs to keep the plants hydrated. 2002 was the year the Polynesian Resort had its largest rehab, setting its eventual 2006 refurbishment into motion. In late 2002, the Polynesian Revue show permanently closed to make for a new, story-driven show called the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, also presented from Tuesdays through Saturdays at the Luau Cove. This new entertainment show began in operation on January 4, 2003. The construction of a new bus stop commenced in 2003 (the old one had existed for over three decades) and was completed later that year. 

The Polynesian Resort had some further soft rehabs through 2003, including a fresh paint job for the exterior of the longhouses and the Great Ceremonial House, and all these tasks were finished by 2004. The Polynesian East Pool had a minor rehab of its own until it opened in the middle of 2004, and the Great Ceremonial House had some of its old shopping areas demolished to make way for new ones to be constructed, while also undergoing extensive renovations from early August 2004 to late February 2005. A couple of the new shopping areas opened at the Great Ceremonial House in March 2005, known as BouTiki and Wyland Galleries, and the Moana Mickey’s Arcade was relocated near Captain Cook’s, having remained at the Neverland Club building from 1978 to 2004; Moana Mickey’s Arcade reopened at the Great Ceremonial House in mid-June 2005. 

Later that year, the suites at the Tonga longhouse were refurbished with a new room design that would also be renovated into the other ten longhouses by the following year. By late 2005, the Tonga longhouse reopened with all the suites completed, with an additional suite called the Concierge Suite, and test room designs were temporarily installed at the other longhouses throughout 2005 for further preparation of the final design of the guest rooms. At this point, the Polynesian Resort was ready to undergo one last stage in its entire metamorphosis, complete with one more wave of finishing touches. 

By the start of 2006, the “final renovation” of Disney’s Polynesian Resort commenced, in which all the guest rooms were refurbished to their finest glory and most colorful features yet. Captain Cook’s restaurant also had a refurbishment of its own, with all its services temporarily relocated to the Tangaroa Terrace building until later that year. After a few months of renovations (from early January to late May 2006), the rest of the longhouses finally reopened with the completed guest rooms, with Captain Cook’s reopening shortly after. With its final finishing touch established, and all guest rooms complete, Disney’s Polynesian Resort was truly finished with its overall development. From that point on, it remained in its peaceful state for the rest of the 2000s and through the early 2010s. As the lush, tropical paradise that it was known to be built for, Disney’s Polynesian Resort was destined to remain in its true, luxurious, beautiful form for as long as it lived. 

Until its legacy and the entire resort itself declined during the mid-2010s. On September 17, 2013, Disney’s Vacation Club (DVC) announced its plans to expand Disney’s Polynesian Resort with DVC accommodations and “enhanced” amenities. Disney Vacation Club has a trait of transforming many of Walt Disney World’s famous resorts from gorgeous, appealing, imaginative realms of luxury into lackluster, soulless wastelands. Unfortunately, even Disney’s Polynesian Resort was not immune from this type of disaster. 2013 was the last year of the Polynesian Resort’s lifespan, and the subsequent years saw most of the resort’s features fade away, piece by piece, to be replaced by new additions that did not add to the resort's appeal, but instead diminished it. 

On December 30, 2013, Wyland Galleries closed permanently, followed by the Sunset Pointe being narrowed down to a regular walking path by early January 2014. Later that month, all the longhouses except for Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Tokelau started a massive refurbishment of their guest rooms that removed the South Seas theming and replaced it with a modern, muted interior design that remained that look for the rest of the 2010s. Then, in late February 2014, the Tahiti and Rapa Nui longhouses closed to be converted into DVC units, with the Tokelau longhouse also closing in early March to suffer the same fate. Later that month, two of the Polynesian Resort’s three beaches were reconstructed into one with much less beach space, along with the addition of fences and rock formations along the entire coastline to purposefully block the waves of the Seven Seas Lagoon from washing over the white sand, a dangerous task that also occurred on the third beach (by the Tuvalu longhouse) in June 2016.

This may have caused some mild beach erosion to occur, but the unnecessary changes at the Polynesian Resort did not stop there. Along with the addition of DVC amenities, twenty over-the-water bungalows known as the Bora Bora Bungalows were constructed throughout 2014, and these ugly, uninspired buildings are an eyesore to look at, since they block the view of the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom from many angles. Not only are these bungalows unnecessary, but they also cause a huge amount of water pollution and beach erosion to occur, and cost 3,000 dollars a night, making these expensive, unpleasant buildings end up even more useless; so useless, in fact, that the Bora Bora Bungalows never should have existed.

Another major factor that leads to the Polynesian Resort’s death was renaming of a few of its features and the resort itself; even renaming a resort with a bland title tarnishes its reputation. On May 2, 2014, Disney’s Polynesian Resort was reverted to its original title, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and the Tahiti and Rapa Nui longhouses were renamed back to Moorea and Pago Pago (though the Tahiti and Rapa Nui names remain in spirit). The Neverland Club building closed on April 27, 2014, and was renamed Club Disney on June 16, 2014 (reopening the following day), and later renamed Lilo’s Playhouse five months later, in early November of 2014. 

The Nanea Volcano Pool, which closed on July 26, 2014, was renamed the Lava Pool, demolishing the original volcano-featuring pool in the process and replacing it with a smaller, jagged pool that did not live up to its name. The “snowcapped” authentic volcano that made up the resort’s main pool was torn down and replaced with a rocky, drought-laden mountain feature to compensate for the Lava Pool, but it does not have any “lava” despite its name, just a dusty, basic-looking outcropping. The Lava Pool opened on March 31, 2015, having installed fences around the pool beforehand, and a splash-play area known as the Kiki Tikis Splash Play was established, which looked too rigid and kid-friendly to even consider a worthy addition to the Lava Pool; this addition was pointless and incompetent to the point that it does not feel entertaining enough. The Lava Pool also had a tiny hot tub installed; the Polynesian Resort never really needed a hot tub, as the former Nanea Volcano Pool was heated many times to provide maximum comfort, especially in the cooler months of the year. It is shocking and unbelievable to have a themed pool like the Nanea Volcano Pool stripped of its lava-flowing, snowcapped features and replaced by the dried-up, deserted Lava Pool that totally does not have any entertainment applied to it. 

Two shopping locations at the Great Ceremonial House, Trader Jack’s and Samoa Snacks (that existed from the mid-1990s to early 2014) were also deconstructed and replaced by a single, plain-looking marketplace known as the Moana Mercantile, which opened in August 2014 and does not look like a true shopping area in any form. Captain Cook’s also had a major renovation that drained it of all its color and theming, and once it reopened it looks less like an inviting quick-service restaurant and more like a disorganized, colorless cafeteria that is much more crowded and less guest-friendly compared to its earlier years. 

And of course, the “Kukui Nut” tree and its time capsule, which had been rightfully situated outside the Great Ceremonial House since 1997, were destroyed in early April 2014, adding another victim to the list of former features that made Disney’s Polynesian Resort a popular place of paradise. Even though this special tree had existed for about seventeen years, its destruction was yet another reminder that the resort had lost its magic touch, trashed its former beauty, and discarded everything that made it iconic and famous in the first place. 

More disastrous changes took place at the Polynesian Resort for the rest of 2014, and they did not make the “new” resort look any better, as they only made it even worse in hindsight. The Wyland Galleries, which had been closed since the end of 2013, were demolished and eventually replaced by an outdoor restaurant known as the Pineapple Lanai, which opened on August 30, 2014 and does not have any appealing features, just a simple space where guests can buy expensive Dole Whips; by the looks of it, the Pineapple Lanai seems like it deliberately cut a huge, gaping hole in the Great Ceremonial House. And with the loss of the Wyland Galleries, the Polynesian Resort had another “landmark” of its beautiful past cast aside in favor of an outdoor restaurant that never keeps up with its demand. The Makali Canoe Club Marina was demolished in September 2014 and was replaced by the Seven Seas Marina, which opened in late April 2015. 

Even the resort’s two parking lots were renovated, such as the bus stop areas and main entrance, but also including the parking space beside the Rapa Nui longhouse, which resulted in chopping down many trees and plants in the process. The entire parking lot was enlarged for more space for guests parking their vehicles, but at the cost of destroying more beautiful landscaping during the “reimagining” construction phase. 

All the resort’s public areas were refurbished into less appealing versions of themselves, and the stream that led to the former Nanea Volcano Pool was also destroyed; in its place was a flat space of landscaping with less plants to thrive in the rain and sunshine. On March 30, 2014, the Moana Mickey’s Arcade was permanently closed and destroyed; the bright, entertaining arcade was replaced by a dark, gloomy-looking bar named Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, which opened in early April of 2015. 

Two months after the destruction of Moana Mickey’s Arcade, on May 31, 2014, the beautiful waterfall fountain featured in the Great Ceremonial House’s lobby was drained of all its refreshing water and its plants were completely removed, and a smaller, dried-up version of the “tropical rainforest” was installed in its place. The old waterfall was torn down not for “health and safety reasons” but because of a significant rat infestation that occurred in mid-May 2014. 

The new “waterfall” along with the “reimagined” lobby, opened in December 2014 with a “Maui mascot” statue on top, and the surrounding vicinity was reconstructed into a social space that was not “social” from a certain point of view. The removal of the large, peaceful waterfall that existed since the Polynesian Resort’s birth was another huge blow to the resort’s legacy and its lifespan, and the lobby was now featureless and empty-looking with the smaller fountain only serving as a forgettable piece of wasted potential. Many fishing netted, rattan-lamped chandeliers were installed on the ceiling of the lobby in the Great Ceremonial House, blocking out most of the sunlight and making the entire lobby look even darker than it was before. By that point, the lobby of Disney’s Polynesian Resort was completely barren and disfigured, no longer gorgeous and appealing as it looked in the past. 

The “refurbished” rooms at the first eight longhouses reopened in mid-October 2014, with their muted, “minimalist” interior design totally deprived of its previous South Seas feel. Later that month, Tokelau, Tahiti and Rapa Nui longhouses entered their own refurbishment phase after the completion of their conversion into Deluxe Studios, with a washed out, jaded interior design for the remainder of the 2010s. 

After the reopening of the “modernized” guest rooms, one final change occurred near the end of 2014: the prices of staying in a room at the Polynesian Resort skyrocketed to about $1,000 dollars per night (in 2013 and earlier, the cost was at and below $375 dollars), making Disney’s Polynesian Resort too expensive to stay at, and the prices only increased through 2015 and beyond. (For a financial comparison, the room prices at the Polynesian Resort cost $355 dollars per night in 2009.) This huge price spike never happened before at the once-beautiful resort, as it used to cost way less money from the late 1980s to the early 2010s.

From 1999 to 2013, Disney’s Polynesian Resort was at peace with its inviting, luxurious form, but 2014 brought in too many changes for it to even keep up demand. The Polynesian Resort was dead the moment it was reverted to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort on May 2, 2014, and its legacy was almost fully tarnished. To top off all of this “unnecessary reimagining”, the resort had a brand-new entrance established in the place of its predecessor, complete with its undeserved title and a concrete waterfall that only flowed little water regardless of the weather. With initial construction planning taking place from September to December 2013, it is no wonder that the resort and its legacy would be destroyed by the year 2014. 

The entire “reimagining” of Disney’s Polynesian Resort lasted from the beginning of January 2014 to the end of March 2015, and on April 1, 2015, the dreaded first phase of the DVC “expansion” officially opened, with the Tokelau, Rapa Nui and Tahiti longhouses reopening with their dull looking “Deluxe Studio” guest rooms and pale, sloppy, thatched roofs at their side entrances. Although the resort suffered so many changes throughout 2014, there were even more changes beyond that year that would strip away the rest of the resort’s legacy. 

The beginning of April 2015 was the opening of the first phase of DVC amenities, but with another phase of DVC expansions set to occur in the coming years, this would certainly mean more “destructive changes” happening at the Polynesian Resort. And more destructive changes happened, indeed. On April 15, 2015, two weeks after the opening of the frustrating DVC accommodations, the Polynesian East Pool closed for a lengthy “refurbishment”, but like many of the Polynesian Resort’s former features, it was not a “temporary refurbishment” at all, just another demolition that resulted in another replacement with no significant features. The destruction of the Polynesian East Pool commenced with the draining of all the water from the pool itself, followed by the removal of most of the still-fresh plants from the surrounding vicinity, culminating in almost no palm trees and flowers to spice up the area. The small amenities building with geometrical inlays, which served as a landmark for the East Pool, was demolished soon after, along with the six brown seating structures surrounding the pool; these were all destroyed by the middle of 2015. 

After the destruction of the peaceful Polynesian East Pool, its name was changed to the Oasis Pool, and another bar was constructed, aptly named the Oasis Pool Bar and Grill. The pool itself was rebuilt in a smaller, lopsided formation with fewer seating capacities and refilled with cold water that was a sharp contrast to the heated water of the original East Pool. Throughout the second half of 2015, three dark orange, gray-roofed, thatched, empty-looking structures were constructed in place of the amenities building, and fences were installed around the now shrunken pool, complete with a red-orange, cavernous, thatched entrance that had no South Seas theming whatsoever. The entire construction of the uninspired Oasis Pool lasted through early 2016, until it was completed in mid-March 2016, opening on March 22.

Now that both of its pools were deconstructed and turned into de-themed versions of themselves, Disney’s Polynesian Resort had almost completely lost all traces of its former glory, and it was now left in its soulless, DVC-crippled form from 2016 through the end of the 2010s. To add another insult to injury, the former Neverland Club building, which housed the Lilo’s Playhouse name since November 2014, closed permanently on July 31, 2018, and it is now only used for laundry purposes. Disney Vacation Club may have tried to “expand” the resort’s amenities with “new” features, but all the vacation timeshare programs really did was ruin the Polynesian Resort and its reputation. Disney’s Polynesian Resort may have died in 2014, but the second phase of DVC additions, which began in the early 2020s, would completely spell the resort’s end, since every unnecessary change that occurred in 2014 and beyond further diminished the resort's appeal. 

On August 31, 2020, Disney’s Polynesian Resort closed once again for extensive renovations, and its monorail station (which used to have brown fences with gaps in between to let in the sunlight) was demolished to be replaced by a “new” one that took away from its own reputation. The new monorail station, which reopened on September 8, 2021, featured geometrical inlays, but unlike the longhouses, these inlays were wooden screens that purposely blocked the view of the resort’s main parking lot and surrounding vicinity, and were so thick that almost no sunlight was allowed to light up the entire space. Even though the “new” monorail station had new lights installed, they were largely covered by dark brown fence-like coverings, making the entire area look very dark compared to the original monorail station. The brown wood flooring, which also existed at the Polynesian Resort’s monorail station since the resort’s opening, was torn apart and replaced by gray, dusty concrete that had no splash of color on it. 

In addition to the monorail station being tarnished, the main entrance to the Great Ceremonial House (below the monorail station) was also changed: a thatched roof was installed over the former Disney’s Magical Express bus stop (which closed in January 2022), with thicker geometrical inlays throughout the exterior of the building that darkened the entire entrance along with the same fenced lighting that was established at the monorail station, complete with the same fishing-netted chandeliers that were present in the GCF’s still empty-looking lobby. The entryway leading to the interior of the Great Ceremonial House was also drastically updated, with its Hawaiian-rock inspired path replaced by dark gray and black concrete that has no Hawaiian themes applied to it. 

The roof of the monorail station, which had a brown roof with a glass skylight spanning its length, was dismantled and replaced with a large, thatched roof above it, and the brown roof extending to the front of the Great Ceremonial House was replaced with a dark red one that looked bumpy and ridged that did nothing to accentuate its look and feel. And just when the “makeover” of the Great Ceremonial House could not get any worse, more than half of the iconic crossbeams were deliberately removed from its roof, leaving it with fewer, thinner crossbeams that made the entire roof look uncovered and uninteresting, another blow to the Polynesian Resort’s former legacy. These unfortunate changes lasted from September 2020 to August 2021, with the resort itself reopening on July 19, 2021. 

Although the Great Ceremonial was not the only building that changed into a shadow of its former self, the additional changes at the resort were still not over. In late October 2020, all eleven longhouses closed for another extensive refurbishment to all its guest rooms, with a “new” interior design based on characters from the Moana franchise. While the Tokelau, Rapa Nui, and Tahiti longhouses took on a blue-and-brown design that was just as uninspired as its previous design from less than a decade prior, the other eight longhouses were renovated with a tan, gray and white design that added no theme, color and appeal to their overall appearance. The entirety of this refurbishment lasted from October 24, 2020, to July 18, 2021, and all the guest rooms reopened with their “Moana makeover” on July 19, 2021, along with the rest of the resort. 

This IP-based renovation was unnecessary and the resort’s guest rooms were better off in their themed, luxurious form from 2006 to 2013. After all, the Moana-plastered rooms are neither luxurious nor well-themed. This also ties into the righteous point of view that Disney’s Polynesian Resort, along with Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, should stick to the pinnacle of luxury and themed design, and never be cheapened by established IP. In other words, stripping a resort’s guest rooms off their theming in an attempt to make them more broadly appealing only makes these rooms bland and lifeless. 

Disney Vacation Club did not learn its lesson, however, and on March 16, 2022, it announced that Luau Cove, which had been permanently closed since March 15, 2020, would be demolished and replaced by a ten-story DVC tower that would, in Disney’s own words, “honor the past while furthering the resort’s story.” But it would neither honor the Polynesian Resort’s past, nor further its story. Known as the Island Tower, this “new” addition would kickstart the second wave of DVC accommodations, with a “third” pool and another restaurant to show off its more basic features and amenities. Indeed, this next, unneeded “expansion” began. 

Subsequently, the Luau Cove area was destroyed, and the beach near the Tuvalu longhouse was also demolished, leaving Disney’s Polynesian Resort with only one, fenced-off beach for guests to contend with. Many trees, flowers and other plants were either relocated or destroyed, eradicating even more of the resort’s landscaping in the process. A new parking space was installed at the front of the Island Tower, and it, along with the DVC tower itself, would cause a massive amount of pollution, much like the Bora Bora Bungalows polluting the waters of the Seven Seas Lagoon. 

Construction of the Island Tower continued through the rest of 2022, with the walkway to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa permanently closing, replaced by a longer, more confusing walking path that opened in the second half of 2024. In the later months of 2022, the Kona Café closed for refurbishment and reopened in early November 2022 with a less appealing entrance. More construction on the Island Tower occurred through 2023 and 2024, with the DVC tower itself being painted over with a cream and muddied brown color scheme. The third pool, known as the Cove Pool, features a Moana’s Voyage splash area that once again feels like it was made to capitalize on the established IP that was based on the Moana franchise. 

The interior design of the Island Tower was not good either: all the pale brown, white, gray and beige splashes of color make the DVC building feel less like an inviting hotel and more like a futuristic bundle of concrete. The Wailulu Bar and Grill restaurant pales in comparison to the older restaurants at Disney’s Polynesian Resort such as Ohana and Kona Cafe, with the “new” restaurant instead falling into the same uninspired category as Oasis Bar and Grill and Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto. The terrace gardens, while providing wide views, do not look interesting by overall design and come with the notion of a simple sitting area sticking out of a hole in the wall, making it look like a short-term balcony that the guest rooms already have. Even the guest rooms and penthouse suites themselves have basic layouts, poor paintwork, and jumbled furniture arrangements that make these rooms certainly look even more cramped than the ones in the resort’s eleven longhouses, which used to have a colorful, softer appearance before 2014.

Sadly, even the Polynesian Resort’s longhouses could not protect themselves from further dissatisfying changes, and in early January 2024, the Samoa longhouse got repainted with a  paint job that featured off-white, pale orange, and mud-splashed brown geometrical inlays that deprived the longhouse roof and exterior of its color and overall identity. One by one, the other ten longhouses fell victim to the same fate, lasting through the entirety of 2024 and concluded by mid-December of that year. 

After the Samoa longhouse, which had its red, orange, and white geometrical inlays since 1996, was repainted with this unoriginal exterior design, the Niue longhouse followed suit later in January, and the Hawaii, Rarotonga, and Tonga longhouses were also repainted throughout the early months of 2024. Even the Tangaroa Terrace and Neverland Club building, which had their white, red, orange and yellow exterior designs since 1997, was painted over with the same mud-brown, pale orange and off-white paintwork that decayed the longhouses. But the “de-painting process” did not finish there despite a short hiatus of several months. In fact, it would go on until shortly before the Island Tower’s opening. 

In August 2024, the Tuvalu longhouse, despite having the same white, orange and red inlays since 1998, was also painted over with the horrible pale orange, off-white, and mud-sloshed brown inlays that plagued the previous five longhouses. The Fiji, Tokelau, Rapa Nui, and Aotearoa longhouses then suffered the same process from late August to early December 2024, until the last remaining longhouse, Tahiti, succumbed to the same paint job by the middle of that month. Thus, the appeal and reputation of the resort’s eleven longhouses were completely tarnished, making them uninviting both inside and outside, with the removal of the lights lighting up the inlays prior to 2024 leaving the once stunning “children of the Great Ceremonial House” even more muted  than they were prior to the late 1990s. 

Once the Island Tower (and its accompanying features) was fully constructed, it opened on December 17, 2024, hammering the final nail in the Polynesian Resort’s coffin. What once was a pleasant stretch of freshly cut patches of grass, sturdy palm trees, soft white sand, and an exciting dinner show was now a concrete-laden parking lot, disorienting pathways, and a pollution-bringing DVC tower that offered no themes of the South Pacific that once thrived at the once peaceful, now-crowded resort. The eleven longhouses being repainted with an unattractive exterior design, coupled with the addition of the Island Tower, was all Disney Vacation Club needed to fully put an end to the now nonexistent legacy of the resort that spent three long decades of its lifespan as an inviting, peaceful paradise.

By the beginning of 2025, Disney’s Polynesian Resort had truly lost its magic, and all specks of tropical South Seas asthetics had completely vanished from existence. 2014 was the start of the resort’s major decline in quality, and one decade later, the final few DVC changes eradicated what was left of its true self. The other three resorts of the Magic Kingdom Resort Area had their own legacies tarnished, but no resort at Walt Disney World has suffered so much decline in overall quality as the Polynesian Resort.

Disney’s Polynesian Resort had a lengthy evolution spanning over five decades, and its past will forever be remembered and never be forgotten. It would have its 55th anniversary on October 1, 2026, and its penchant for paradise is forever embedded in memory. Even though bringing back the Polynesian Resort to its prior glory before 2014 would be difficult, it is still a possibility. 1999 to 2013 was the peak of the resort’s beauty and luxury, but the entirety of the Polynesian Resort’s rise and fall is epic and complex as it is. 2025 was the final, crystal clear recognition that Disney’s Polynesian Resort is no more, and the present-day version of the resort could be seen as “Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort 2.0”, but the real, paradise-filled form and shortened title of “Disney’s Polynesian Resort” remains in spirit for all eternity. After all, it is no wonder that Disney’s Polynesian Resort remains a tropical, beautiful paradise by heart.