Polynesian Bora Bora Bungalows Review
The Bora Bora Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort are the latest Disney Vacation Club villas, and some of the most expensive rooms at Walt Disney World when you convert their cost in DVC points to real dollars. This review covers my recent stay at the Bora Bora Bungalows, including photos of the rooms, plus the good, the bad, and the ugly (and I’m not just talking the sticker price) of the stay.
To the extent that a hotel room can be controversial, the Polynesian Bungalows are the Rush Limbaugh of hotel rooms. The release of the Disney Vacation Point chart for these villas was met with a strong negative reaction by both DVC owners and non-owners alike, many of whom wondered how these rooms could justify the $2,000+ nightly rate, especially given that a night in bungalow at the Four Seasons in real Bora Bora cost about half as much.
While we are Disney Vacation Club owners, I will be blunt: I could never justify using my points to stay here. A real life little Orange Bird would have to have a perch on the balcony serenading me, while a private showing of the Electrical Water Pageant performed for me at 1 a.m., and Goofy delivered me bottomless Tonga Toast and Dole Whips. Since all of those things are (presumably?) out of the question, I figured I’d never stay here.
However, when our friends invited us to stay with their families at the Bora Bora Bungalows after a previously-scheduled trip was to end, I jumped on the offer as it was probably my only chance to ever stay in them. I mean, I had to do it…in the name of research, right? Well, maybe not, but the bar for convincing myself to extend a Walt Disney World trip is pretty low.
With that background set, let’s take a look at whether my preconceptions were confirmed, or if the Bora Bora Bungalows are worth the splurge, even sans Orange Bird and bottomless Dole Whips…
We already have a separate Polynesian Village Resort Review that discusses the resort and its amenities as a whole, and we also have posts on the Disney Vacation Club Studio Rooms and Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, so I’m going to confine this post exclusively to the experience of staying at the Bungalows. It’s going to be a long post, anyway.
The Bora Bora Bungalows are located over the Seven Seas Lagoon with a beach between the normal boat dock and them, pushing the last unit fairly close to the Ticket & Transportation Center. They are connected to one another and land via boardwalk that is accessible via Magic Band keycard functionality.
It only makes sense to start the review with the highlight of the Bungalows. That’s right, the television in the mirror of the master bathroom. The folks at NASA who invented this are true humanitarians, bringing us one step closer to realizing the ultimate dream of the great visionary, Tim Taylor. What a time to be alive.
For all of you Tim Taylor-wannabes out there, these foreign-looking, box-like devices are known as a washer and dryer. They are how your clothes go from having ketchup and mustard stains and smelling like sweat to being fresh and lilac-scented. Technology these days! (In all seriousness, none of us could figure out how to use the standard powder supplied with the HE washer–we finally just tossed it on top of the clothes and it seemed to work fine.)
Above is the master bedroom. I would say it had a style of ‘refined beach house’ with overall high quality finishing and detail work in the style of the tropics.
It, and the rest of the Bungalow, had a Tommy Bahama Home meets Disney vibe. I mean that it a good way, as the tropical elements were high quality with nods to Disney and well-executed theming. Exactly what I would expect of these rooms.
Since you’re going to spend most of your time in the master bathroom thanks to that glorious television (BYO fridge, unfortunately) here’s a wide fisheye view to get an idea of how the entire space looks.
Like the bedroom, this bathroom was really well done and felt incredibly high-quality.
Here’s the other bedroom, located at the land-facing side of the Bungalow. This room definitely has a more whimsical, colorful tone and looks like it skews younger in terms of style. Our group was torn on the range of colors used here (and in the Studio rooms).
Personally, I like the style, and think the splash of contrasting colors is sufficiently managed and offset with one another so that it doesn’t look gaudy, but does convey a fun retro vibe. Reasonable minds may vary on that. Note the middle surfboard was made by the “7 Seas Surf Co.,” a nice touch.
Adjacent (but not connected) to this bedroom is the other bathroom, with split space for the shower and one sink, and toilet and another sink. Unlike the master bath, this bathroom combines the shower and tub into one.
Moving on, here’s the living room and kitchen with the 180-degree fisheye view. This area is probably the biggest selling point for the Bora Bora Bungalows, and I could see it being a nice spot for a Thanksgiving or extended family type of gathering.
The style and the finishings work well for me in the living room. It has a laid back vibe, which may not be for everyone nor may the retro-inspired island style, but the style is exactly what you’d expect of the Polynesian. The space is well put together, and feels high-quality.
The Electrical Water Pageant art in the pull down bed is a nice touch, and even though I view it as a Walt Disney World staple, it’s not something that receives much attention. Kudos on this.
Outside on the deck, there are these hanging chairs, along with two lounge chairs. The hanging chairs are fun to swing around in for a few minutes, but I found them impractical and uncomfortable for actual relaxation.
Likewise, the plunge pool serves no practical purpose. It’s one of those things that probably works better in photos to market the place than anything else. Once you’re in there for about 2 minutes, you quickly realize that you’re basically sitting in tepid bathwater.
I will admit that by the end of the stay (even with the below negative experience that tainted things to a degree), the Bora Bora Bungalows had won me over. I really liked the style, and it was a fun place to simply be and spend quality time with others while on vacation. A really fun, vibrant “community room” for your party, in a way. It had me daydreaming of the type of cool getaway I could plan with family or friends here. I was ultimately shaken awake from every one of those daydreams by cost.
Ah, cost. The elephant in the room. It’s super easy to enjoy and praise something cool and expensive when you don’t have to pay for it, as was the case here. The Bora Bora Bungalows are really cool. They are also really expensive. From a value for money perspective, the Bora Bora Bungalows simply do not pass muster. In fact, they don’t even come close. They are really cool and very novel in terms of Walt Disney World rooms, but not that cool.
At the end of the day, a substantially cheaper 2-studio arrangement is going to offer a close to comparable experience for a substantially lower cost. If you’re not a Disney Vacation Club member but are itching to stay here (or elsewhere in a DVC room), check out our Tips for Renting Disney Vacation Club Points article.
Of course, all of this is “in my opinion,” but this is a review–it’s inherently “my opinion.” Most people booking the Bora Bora Bungalows are not going to be concerned with value for money. They are going to be the “whales” of the Disney Vacation Club community to whom money–and points–is no issue. The supply (20 bungalows) is low enough and there are enough die hard Disney fans and wealthy individuals to whom money is no issue that the Bora Bora Bungalows can be priced artificially high and still be booked solid.
The people complaining about cost–the “commoners” like me–aren’t the ones who will be paying to stay there in the first place. I would hazard a guess that most of the time, the people wanting to stay here will want to do so because of the novelty of the room or for the status symbol offered by the accommodations. They won’t be interested in the more pragmatic experience of booking two adjacent studio rooms.
To that end, I suppose this review is mostly for the other commoners out there who likely will never stay at the Bora Bora Bungalows, but are curious just the same. Most of those with the resources to stay at the Bora Bora Bungalows probably have already made up their minds one way or the other, but I do hope this review can be useful to those Disney Vacation Club owners with a sizable amount of points, but also some concern for value.
With the good and the bad out of the way, it’s time for the ugly. I normally try to avoid anecdotal experiences in my reviews, but this one is too big to ignore. To put it bluntly, the service we received at the Polynesian during this stay was nothing short of atrocious. What follows is essentially a narrative of what occurred…
We checked in early and our room wasn’t ready yet. No big deal. We provided our phone numbers so we could receive a text once the room was ready. Actual check-in time rolled around with still no word from the front desk–I’ll cut to the chase here because this isn’t the “main” story about poor service (here are some other issues concerning our stay)–finally, after speaking with multiple individuals at the front desk, our Magic Bands were remotely activated for room entry, and we were able to enter the room. Mind you, this is the type of room where you can measure your per minute cost, waiting for the room that should have been ready was slightly frustrating.
That was nothing compared to the next day. At approximately 8 a.m. the water to our–and every other–bungalow went out. We called the front desk as soon as we learned of the issue, and after some incredulity, they tried to troubleshoot the situation over the phone. The water was out–there was nothing to troubleshoot. What did they expect us to say, “oh, so that’s how you turn the handle to make water come out of the faucet? We’ve lived on planet earth for decades, but never realized that!”
The front desk sent someone from maintenance out to the Bungalows, and they quite quickly realized this was an issue affecting all of the Bungalows that would take at least a couple hours to fix. We were not informed of this–we had to proactively go ask the group of managers and maintenance people gathered by the first bungalow.
While asking this group, we also asked if someone could bring us some bottled water so we could brush our teeth and had water to drink. To their credit, the managers immediately acquiesced, and within a few minutes, we saw a Cast Member approaching our bungalow with a case of bottled water.
I want to point out that this Cast Member only had one case of water and that one case was going to our bungalow. None of the other bungalows received bottled water, despite also not having water. That case of bottled water probably cost Disney $2 or less. You’d think it might be a good idea from a guest recovery perspective to deliver a case of water to every bungalow as a token gesture. Most people understand that “stuff happens” from time to time, and it’s the solution–not the problem itself–that defines how guests feel about the situation.
We were still without water for a couple more hours, and at this point, only one person in the Bungalow had showered. Lord of the Flies anarchy was beginning to set in. No further communications had come from anyone at the Polynesian about anything, much less when water would be restored. We walked to front desk and informed them of the situation and our need to shower, asking what they could do. The Cast Member at the front desk spoke with a manager on duty; he came back in a few minutes and provided a room key for a studio that was close to our bungalow and requested that we return the key when we were done using the studio.
This was another nice response, but again, I want to note that it was not a proactive one–if villas were sitting empty where waterless bungalow guests could shower, why not proactively offer their use? Did management at the Polynesian just assume the Bora Bora guests were filthy swine who preferred not to shower before heading to the parks for the day?
Finally, at around 2 p.m., we tested the water (we had been doing this about every 15 minutes) in our bungalow and it was on. No call from the front desk or knock at our door letting us know it had been fixed. Approximately an hour later someone from maintenance came by asking to come in and test our water.
That was our last communication from any Cast Member at the Polynesian that day. No one called or stopped by to apologize, explain the situation, or see what they could do. We joked amongst ourselves that this was because it was really ridiculous of us to expect running water in the first place, as that’s another 40 points per night. (I apologize in a “sorry not sorry” sense for the overly snarkiness of this post, but the whole situation really made my blood boil.)
The next communication came at check-out, when our friend who had booked the room asked to speak with a manager. I was not present for this exchange, but he relayed to me what happened. The DVC owner spoke with the manager on duty of the Polynesian and told the story of the experience to the manager. He indicated that no one from the Polynesian ever came to address the situation, and the manager was very apologetic for that. The manager first offered to not charge them the points for the day of the inconvenience (135 points) and additionally offered extra FastPass+ for everyone in the party on the day of checkout. Per the Disney Vacation Club owner who dealt with the situation, the manager handled this incredibly well and was extremely apologetic. He confirmed that the points were returned to his account (and fully bankable) shortly after his conversation with the manager.
He also inquired with the manager regarding the fog horns heard from the Ticket & Transportation Center, and the manager stated that she was well aware of this and they were actively taking steps to address this in the near future (how was not stated) as they had received numerous complaints about this.
So, you might be thinking, “all’s well that ends well” given that the points were restored to his account for the day we were “inconvenienced.” This all being “okay” is not my view. Management dropped the ball as the situation unfolded, and could have avoided refunding the points had they tried to proactively smooth over the situation. No one asked us how they could accommodate us while our water was out and no one apologized or tried to make the situation right after the fact.
The solution of the Polynesian that day was simply to ignore the problem and hope no one complained. For Disney, which regularly touts The Disney Difference, that would be indefensible and unacceptable at Pop Century. At the Bora Bora Bungalows it was also confounding. You’d think Disney would find it in their own self-interest to make sure its ‘whales’ were treated properly, to keep them coming back and spending big bucks. Were we more passive guests, we wouldn’t have spoken up at all, and just fumed about the situation. If this were my first experience with Disney, it might have been my only experience with Disney, as it’s the kind of thing that would make me not want to return.
At the end of the day, I know this is an anecdote, and might not help in the context of a review because usually stories like this are a one-off. For every negative experience like this, there are probably countless positive ones. It’s also necessary to reiterate that the manager with whom the DVC owner spoke at check-out went handled the situation incredibly well and did a great job. Her handling of the problem was excellent, and she should serve as a reminder that the vast majority of Cast Members at Walt Disney World offer exemplary guest service.
I have read other recent negative experiences during construction at the Polynesian suggesting that recovery efforts aren’t being made concerning known problems until there is a guest complaint. Those other stories plus the number of Cast Members we encountered who failed to proactively address the situation suggests to me this could reflect current policy, making this more than just a one-off anecdote. It’s not as if we encountered one Cast Member having a bad day here. If, in fact, this is the current policy at the Poly, it would make sense why the Cast Members encountered didn’t try to proactively remedy the situation–their hands are tied.
Despite the poor guest service we received and the price of the experience in the back of my mind, I really (really!) enjoyed staying at the Bora Bora Bungalows. I would stop short of whole-heartedly recommending the Bungalows just because the value for money is lacking and I think even in terms of a “splurge,” other Grand Villas will offer a similar amount of enjoyment while costing less. With that said, if points or money is no object to you and you are considering a stay here, I suspect you won’t regret it. Just be sure to speak up if you encounter poor guest service, because if you don’t speak up, there’s a chance nothing will be done to rectify any situation that arises. As construction is close to wrapping up at the Polynesian, hopefully this does not remain true in the future.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? If you’re interested in learning more about hotels, our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page is a good place to start. For where to eat, try out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. If you want to save money on tickets or determine which type you should get, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at unconventional things you should take on your trip. Once you arrive at the parks, our Walt Disney World “Ride Guides” are great for determining what to do and when to do it. For overviews of all of these topics and so much more, the best place to start is our comprehensive Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide to make the most of your experience!
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of the Bora Bora Bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort? Have you had any instances of the Poly dropping the ball in terms of guest service? On the flipside, any exemplary guest service at the Poly? I’d love to hear your takes on the present and future of WDW, so if you have any thoughts, post them in the comments
I would like to say I’m surprised by your experience, but Ive come to believe that if you stay at Disney enough times over the years, you are bound to have one of these experiences. Disney does it’s best to train all its people, but with so many, there are bound to be a few bad apples. Ours was 18 years ago at Caribbean Beach, and we have yet to stay there again.
We checked in with 2 children, having called and verified about 5 times over the weeks before arrival that we would need a crib and refrigerator(for formula) for our baby, only to have neither in our room, which was also not clean, with a dead bug on the bed. Needless to say I was annoyed.
We called the front desk, who promised both asap. After more than an hour with neither I walked to the front desk (a long walk!) to see what was happening. They didnt have a record of the request and put in another. Another 30 min and we had a fridge. 20 more min and we finally had the most broken looking crib Ive ever seen and were told it was the last one in the resort. This is also when housekeeping finally showed up to clean the room.
I really wanted out of this place by now so I walked down, again, and asked if we could have a room change to a different resort at the same price point or close(I was willing to pay the small difference if any) The front desk manager quickly told me that there we no rooms in any Moderate Resorts available at my price point. None. (standard room) We would have to pay for an upgrade or stay in the same room where we were. Sorry. And then she started helping another customer.
I was pretty livid. So I went outside and called the main Disney reservation line and pretended to be on the road to Orlando and wanted to know if they had any of their standard rooms available at their Moderate resorts. The nice woman on the phone told me “Oh yes we have plenty available at all our Moderates, I can book it for you now or you can just do it when you arrive, theres no chance we will sell out tonight.”
I basically stormed back into the lobby and confronted the front desk manager and told her she had lied to me, that if she didn’t get me a manager above her there would be hell to pay, and I wanted out of that hotel as soon as possible. She pretty much turned white and ran off to get someone else. If she had just helped me properly to begin with it would have been fine, but it seemed like she just wanted to ignore me.
Anyway, another woman who I assume was her boss came and told me she would transfer me to whichever Moderate I wanted, we ended up at French Quarter (was it still Dixie Landings then?) with an upgrade to a water-view room, 1 night free and a free meal voucher. This person was trained properly how to handle customer problems, the first wasn’t. Never had a bad resort experience at Disney before or since (little minor stuff of course). We just happened to get a bad apple that time.
My wife and I are DVC members for a few years now. I have to say that half of our stays have had problems similar to what Mike described. We’ve stayed at most of the Disney World. Things like being told our room was ready and then found the room wasn’t ready; not being told that our room was ready; being promised by the front desk to have requested things delivered to our room and no one shows up; telling the front desk manager that a dirty iron deposited tar ruining the shirt I was trying to iron and then having that manager tell me that they would go shopping for a new shirt for me but it might take them a couple of days to secure a comparable new shirt for me. These are just samples but unfortunately the list is much longer. And each time these things happen, if you escalate things, you end up getting a very positive response from the next level manager . But the question is, why do you have raise hell before they treat you in a way that you would expect from a class operation? We still love Disney for many reasons but I do theorize that at every Disney staff meeting they probably all chant this mantra, “Let’s make sure that our Disney guests leave with no money in their pockets!!”
Thanks for the review. I took a tour in 2016 and was struck by how close the bungalows are especially the back decks. I forsee calls to the front desk to report people having “marital relations” in that mini pool at night and not being as sly as they think they are.
We love the Polynesian! Our last visit on our checkout, a cast member asked us if anything was wanted, we asked about a mug we had seen at the gift shop but was out of stock. She checked the back room and none was found. About a week after we got home we received a package…a special tiki mug and box of macadamia nut chocolate covered and a note! We love Disney! My Aunt and Uncle were at Grand Floridian and a staff member literally gave my Aunt her coat to wear to the park! Wow, they are amazing!
On my husbands and my 25th wedding anniversary we stayed at the poly for 7 nights. We had a special rate of $125 a night and in those days that was a good deal. The lobby had all sorts of beautiful birds and as you entered the lob there was gorgeous fish swimming all around the entryway. The service was exquisite and nothing today could top our stay almost 25 years ago. I can’t believe how money hungry Disney has become and out of reach for the common people of today. I would never stay at a Disney hotel today because they have become out of reach. Walt Disney never intended for his dream to be out of reach from people for one to ninety-one as he would say. I have taken my grandchildren to the lands and could not afford to eat except for one visit to an eat in restaurant. This is now for the wealthy and I’m afraid its not getting out of my price range completely. The surroundings and quality has gone down hill and will never meet Walt’s expectations of years ago.
Patricia, I echo your sentiments 100%. Walt would be mortified at how inaccessible WDW has become for the average family. When they built those bungalows in the water blocking the sight lines from the largest beach at the Polynesian resort, I knew we had lost whatever charm was left at the premium resorts. Even the Contemporary resort looks overly crowded and devoid of any Disney magic. Now they put up these cheap looking gondolas with no A/C and stopped adding to the monorail system… and why? It’s too expensive. Give. Me. A. Break. So much for reinvesting in what makes WDW unique and exciting. It’s all to ensure the shareholders get paid. I’m sure our family’s 2013 trip to WDW was our last, which is a shame. Walt would be mortified.
We are not DVC members so paid a hefty price for our week stay in a 2bdm bungalow May 2016. I must say it was worth it to us. We loved every second of our stay right in the middle of the ambiance. Kids watching MK fireworks while splashing around in plunge pool was priceless and memorable. So much space!!! We love everything about the poly and is absolutely our favorite resort. Pools are great and music within the landscaping are fantastic. Dining is great here too. Saying all of that, will we spend that much for a bungalow again? Probably not. It was wonderful but the Grand Floridian Villas have everything on Disney property beat!!! They are truly the most luxurious rooms on WDW property—of course , short of the rooms in Cinderella’s castle that lucky folks get to stay in. The kitchen and baths in the GF villas have won me over. Our favorite rooms. See, I dislike Animal Kingdom Lodge tremendously. We do not even feel like we’re at Disney when staying there. We also enjoy, like you, Tom, just the atmosphere of being at Disney. we just do not get that way out there in no man’s land at AK. So glad Disney has so many choices and so many budget types. If we all had the same preferences, it would be boring. thanks, as always, Tom, for so many helpful reviews!!
Tom Bricker, I love you! Your dry wit makes me laugh. I’m looking forward to reading everything you write. Oh, and thanks for all the information.
We are DVC members as well and have been loyal customers of the brand for nearly 2 decades now. I read your review with interest, as we too had a similar experience with the Polynesian after the addition of DVC accommodations. While staying in a DVC studio (the renovations were taking place at the time), we lost electricity in the middle of the day. Thought it would be restored quickly, never imagined it would be hours. We went to the pool and figured we’d hang out there a few hours, come back to the room to shower and go to a park for the rest of the day and evening, and surely the power would be back on by the time we needed to get ready to go out. Wrong. No power. No lights. No hot water. Time’s money at Disney, and not wanting to waste the rest of the day, we finally showered in a bathroom lit only by a cell phone and with ice cold water. Mind you, we had called repeatedly to the front desk and had gone there as well to speak to someone about the problem, and no one offered any other accommodations, any explanation other than there were other outages, perhaps the construction, and no attempt to at least mitigate the damages. As you said, things happen, but it’s the way the situation is handled that brings customers back instead of bringing them to communicate their negative experience to others. Poor communication from hotel management, poor customer service, and a clear attitude of “we don’t care” is what we got for our points. I never had a similar experience with customer service before at the Poly in years of staying there before DVC. Makes one wonder if that speaks to the DVC addition to the resort with a different level of service, or if perhaps it is a just a change in Disney culture and a reflection of current policy. We recently spent a long weekend at Saratoga Springs after a long break from Disney, and it was a less than stellar experience as well. Room wasn’t ready on arrival, but not surprising since we arrived before check in time. What I did expect, however, was to be notified when it was, considering that we provided a phone number for text messaging as requested. No text was received for hours. Finally went to the front desk to inquire and were told the room was ready after all. When we got to the room, we opened the door to find a large pile of dirty sheets, blanket, etc in the closet. The cast member who came to see what was left in the room was appalled and apologetic and removed the load. She even took pictures of the mess. Nothing remarkable about the rest of the stay at all. Definitely not what we have come to expect from Disney, and not what I expect for the money.
really depressing reading about the problems you had. At Disney. In the most expensive rooms.
I’m still licking my wounds over going to WDW a year or 2 ago. Went to Hollywood studios, used fast pass on the app, then went to Epcot. We couldn’t use fastpass for most of the rest of the day. The people at customer service near the globe a) barely knew english and b) couldn’t care less c) directed us to another place in the park to wait on a long line to use a kiosk (or was it that we started at the kiosks to book fast pass and had to go to customer disservice… I try to block out the experience).
I enjoyed the photographs of these overpriced villas, but I am just too practical to ever spend so much for one night’s accommodations!
If you want to stay in an over-the-water villa without the high pricetag, take a look at Santee State Park in South Carolina. The villas aren’t luxurious, of course, but they are over the water, and you can feel the water slapping up against the pillars as you lie in bed at night. You can step out and fish from your front porch. Obviously it’s a very different experience from Disney, but the villas-over-the-water made me think about them.
One thing Tom didn’t mention, but I suspect from having stayed at Santee: Sharing the decking to reach these cabins has two unexpected issues. First, you may experience a lengthy walk to your cabin, which is fine for those of us who are able-bodied — but people with small children or mobility issues would find these a poor choice. Also, unless you’re at the end of the walkway, lots of people walk past your cabin, which equates to reduced privacy. Not make-or-break issues, but things to consider.
Thanks for the review. We were at WDW for the first time last January. We did not spurge and stayed at ASMo. We decided that our next trip we would splurge and stay at the Poly. I guess I would be one of the commoners who already have a sticker shock for the standard room rates. Do Vacation club rooms have better locations than regular rooms from anyole travel agent? We fell in love with Poly after eating at Ohana and next door to it.
I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to the bungalows the first week of May, 2016 .I paid for a theme park view room and none were available so we were given bungalow 2017 very close to ttc. Yes they are beautiful and yes there is noise from ttc that I personally did not mind. How could i complain when I was paying for a resort room? Well here goes anyhow… I know this may be getting eye rolls from the readers but within the first few hours of our stay there were 2 large bugs in the room bunking with us. I live in Ohio and I’m reasonably sure we don’t grow them that big back home! I was staying with my daughter and her friend and none of us were tackling bug. Even if i was feeling brave he was traveling the loft beams and there was no way I could reach him. I made a call to maintenance and they said they were on there way. Hours later nothing. I called housekeeping and the front desk but no one ever arrived or made any kind of follow up call. I felt awful complaining about anything since it was a gift but had I paid $2200 I would have been very surprised with the level of customer service.
First of all, I love reading your blogs. I realize this review was based on the bungalows. However, after reading I’m a bit concerned about our upcoming stay at Poly. We have long wished to stay at the Poly and with a 30% room discount and a need to fit 5, we decided to splurge a little and stay here for 3 nights. We will then switch to Boardwalk (one of my favs) for the remainder using my moms DVC . Anyway, our anticipation in staying at Poly is growing daily. I’m concerned with the comments about service and construction problems. Do you suggest us changing plans and staying here at a later date when construction is over? Or, were these problems limited to the bungalows?
My parents went with some relatives to tour the resort before picking up my brother, cousin and I from the Magic Kingdom. There was a thunderstorm in the area and the were not giving tours because of the bungalows being out on the water with no lightning rods… My parents did not want to stay there after that.
I am completely NOT surprised by the lack of proactive problem solving by the CMs. This echoes my experience at the Villas of Wilderness Lodge in a 2 bed in February 2014. No water for two days (daytime only). Yes, we got a warning letter less than twenty fours advance notice. It was not okay. Had I known there would be issues like that during our weeklong stay, I would have booked elsewhere. Two little kids and you can’t get the water on at the promised time was a deal killer. I did complain, because it wasn’t alright with me and if guests stay silent on these matters who knows what else they think they can get away with. Eventually they handled it better. I’ve compromised already because we both know deluxe everywhere else has different meaning than deluxe at Disney.
Although this is a review for the experience at the new bungalows, I feel so if its reflective of the steady downfall of customer service at WDW as a whole. In December 2014 we stayed club level, Grand Floridian. While it was my husbands choice due to the close proximity of MK and the monorail, along with the fact we have young children. We were basically dropped off at the check in desk upon arrival, with the Cast Member not being able to honor a room request made 9 months prior. After 30 minutes, you read it right, a shift change occurred. What happened, oh yes, Maritza quickly gave over her duties and left the property. Miraculously the next cast member found us a reasonable room, similar to our request( non-lobby room to avoid the noise, not unreasonable). Did she double check to be sure we had our PIN code set up for Magic Bands? No. Did she double check to see if there was an updated CC linked to our Magic Bands? Why, no. This led to headaches to us, who during our last visit, same hotel, same week, two years prior, had no issues and quite the magical trip you expect. Besides meeting with the front desk manager several times, it was a great inconvenience to our family of four. It seems instead of being proactive when it comes to guests and those who pay their salaries, it’s just easier to throw Fast Passes and hope they will be ever grateful and walk away. We did not just walk away. As someone with a degree in Hospitality Mgt and who has worked in the industry for many years, I was appalled at the new definition of customer service. While I’m sure the DISNEY MAGIC still exists, it’s marred by the terrible first impressions and by those who consider it just a job and a means to an end.
One of the big problems, I think, is that Disney doesn’t seem to promote its best Cast Members to the Deluxe Resorts. A Cast Member could just as easily work at Casey’s Corner as the Grand Floridian. To me, that’s an issue.
We frequently stay at Hyatt properties, and the level of service at Park Hyatt hotels is impeccable. Anyone who defends the service at Disney Deluxes or feels the service was “magical” should try a stay at one of those–or myriad other luxury–hotels.
These definitely will appeal to the high class who want an extravagant location/room for their vacation. However, for me the real miss here is in the design itself. The biggest plus of staying in the over water bungalows in Bora Bora was the direct access into the ocean. These bungalows will never be able to accommodate that and thus their value is really just a nice view in a fancy room. The cool/amazing part of being in the bungalow is Bora Bora is being able to snorkel/swim from your room. A tiny plunge pool is something I guess, but I cannot imagine these will ever be worth their cost.
I don’t think that’s a miss in terms of the design of the bungalows, but in the water itself. In looking at the water below these bungalows, there’s no way I would jump into it.
I agree in general premise that these bungalows are in no way the same because they lack the ability to directly access the water–I just don’t see it as a design flaw.
Thanks for another solid post, Tom. If I was ever able to pull off a stay it would be a significant investment and I would expect near perfection. Your situation, while anecdotal, definitely points out a gap in protocol that could potentially affect anybody. I appreciate the story. Hopefully it makes its way to ears that matter.
We recently stay at the Polynesian (in April). As much as we loved the renovated room and amazing transportation convenience… We won’t be staying there again. We just did not have a great experience. We felt as though cast members weren’t as overly cheery and friendly as at other Disney properties. The girl who checked us in barely spoke to us! We had a similar situation where we experienced subpar service when an issue arose. Our mini fridge wasn’t working (not as bad as no water, by any means). We informed the front desk, they brought another. This one wasn’t working either. We kept complaining (only because we had groceries that would spoil) and hours kept passing with nothing being done, or them telling us to turn the fridge off (apparently it overheated due to where it’s placed in the room?!). They just seemed to lack a sense of urgency, to fix the issue. Eventually, we got another new fridge that worked and they gave us a small credit… Which was nice. But in the moment we were so gosh darn annoyed, which is not how you should feel at Disney!
One question if I may ask?
Is the small tub/pool a hot tub?
Thanks for the review Tom. Love that you cover Disney from all angles especially from the economy to the elite offerings.
No. It is not. A real bummer for sure.
I wasn’t very impressed with Club Level service at the Contemporary when we stayed there (with a room discount, maybe that was why?) For the same price as staying at a bungalow, a Whale group could stay at the Four Seasons and book VIP tours for every day of their trip. If you’re gonna blow that kind of money, might as well get a good ROI.
Totally agree. If I had that kind of money, I would look to the Four Seasons or another hotel before Disney.