WDW Resorts - Update & Rumor Thread

[shiekra38]

The redone McDonalds on WDW propert is now open:

E-ticket McDonalds

 

[BigHouseFootball]

Gotta love the stationary bikes to light up the arches...and work off that quarter pounder!

 

[Nick]

Question: In Disney's hotel room's, do the HDMI ports work for something like a Roku, or are they programmed not to work? I know many hotels i've been to are like this, but I can't remember about Disney. I'm gonna be doing a couple days over July 4th at one of their hotels just for the sake of it (obviously the parks aren't open, i know) and i'm highly interested in if i'll be able to stream from there or not.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Question: In Disney's hotel room's, do the HDMI ports work for something like a Roku, or are they programmed not to work? I know many hotels i've been to are like this, but I can't remember about Disney. I'm gonna be doing a couple days over July 4th at one of their hotels just for the sake of it (obviously the parks aren't open, i know) and i'm highly interested in if i'll be able to stream from there or not.

I believe they work, I know someone who got sick during a trip and was in the room for a few days and ordered a Fire TV stick and it worked.

 

[HandsomePete]

Barf.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

The rooms, I don't mind.

 

[belloq87]

Par for the course. At least it's basically in-theme with the resort already, in comparison to, say, putting BEAUTY AND THE BEAST stuff in a Florida-themed hotel.

 

[Andysol]

Par for the course. At least it's basically in-theme with the resort already, in comparison to, say, putting BEAUTY AND THE BEAST stuff in a Florida-themed hotel.

Yeah- it's even better considering Moana wasn't based on a particular Polynesian island but a bit of a mishmash of them all. I like the move a lot, actually.

For me, the more Moana and Tiana they can thematically shoehorn into places, the better.

 

[Scott W.]

I've never stayed at the Poly but I've heard of a few people severely disappointed by the rooms when they stayed so it seems like this is a welcome update.

But undercurrent of this news is that Disney are starting to feel a bit more optimistic about the future by starting to invest and take advantage of the Covid situation.

 

[Grabnar]

I've never stayed at the Poly but I've heard of a few people severely disappointed by the rooms when they stayed so it seems like this is a welcome update.

But undercurrent of this news is that Disney are starting to feel a bit more optimistic about the future by starting to invest and take advantage of the Covid situation.

Based off of what I'm hearing from my plant construction/pipefitting friends they're already starting to see construction project prices inch back upwards. Not sure if that'll hold true for hotel/theme park construction, but I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is trying to lock in prices on a few relatively small projects that they've had in the pipeline just in case prices do keep climbing. They're hedging their bets; I don't think it's necessarily optimism as much as it is opportunism.

 

[HandsomePete]

The rooms were due to be renovated, so it’s not surprising that they’d just bite the bullet when demand was low. I guess the real tell will be if they keep opening other resorts or push those back as well.

10 months to do fewer than 500 rooms is definitely slow, so there’s also the benefit of spreading the cash flow out over a longer period than a normal refurb. They probably also stopped working on whatever rooms they were doing back in March (I don’t recall... I think one of the All Stars?) so even less money than usual is being spent.

 

[Mad Dog]

Based off of what I'm hearing from my plant construction/pipefitting friends they're already starting to see construction project prices inch back upwards. Not sure if that'll hold true for hotel/theme park construction, but I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is trying to lock in prices on a few relatively small projects that they've had in the pipeline just in case prices do keep climbing. They're hedging their bets; I don't think it's necessarily optimism as much as it is opportunism.

Anecdote wise, similar here. I have two nephews that have two fairly large construction companies that work on big, private and government, projects. They're busy as all hell.

 

[GAcoaster]

I've never stayed at the Poly but I've heard of a few people severely disappointed by the rooms when they stayed so it seems like this is a welcome update.

Poly was built by US Steel in conjunction with Disney using the same technology as the Contemporary with the prefab steel shell rooms slid into the steel framework. The original buildings were all built this way, and later ones were stick built, which is why they were just gutted and rehabbed internally for the DVC buildings. Those original buildings are all suffering plumbing issues (Contemporary has the same problems) so it's going to take a bit of work to "fix" things. The real issue Poly and Contemporary both have is the rooms are small because the standards of what guests expect in rooms has changed a great deal in 50 years. Those rooms were like a standard motel room of the time and are now hopelessly too small and can't be expanded easily short of demolition. The only thing they really have going for them is location, otherwise they'd be low end value resort rooms based on size and amenities.

 

[Disneyhead]

The rooms were due to be renovated, so it’s not surprising that they’d just bite the bullet when demand was low. I guess the real tell will be if they keep opening other resorts or push those back as well.

10 months to do fewer than 500 rooms is definitely slow, so there’s also the benefit of spreading the cash flow out over a longer period than a normal refurb. They probably also stopped working on whatever rooms they were doing back in March (I don’t recall... I think one of the All Stars?) so even less money than usual is being spent.

My guess is this won't even really start until after Oct. 1st when the new fiscal year starts.

 

[GAcoaster]

October is when the Poly Monorail station is scheduled to close, so October 1st seems to be a go!

 

[GAcoaster]

Here's an article on the the original construction of the Poly and the modular rooms: WDW Construction: Polynesian Village Resort - Imagineering Disney -

 

[Teebin]

Those rooms were like a standard motel room of the time and are now hopelessly too small and can't be expanded easily short of demolition.

Just wizzing by on the monorail I always thought the whole place had a 1970’s esthetic using only off-the-shelf lumber sizes. Hokey. Imagine if Animal Kingdom was themed to such a standard! I never knew the rooms were hinky too. Eew.

 

[HandsomePete]

The real issue Poly and Contemporary both have is the rooms are small because the standards of what guests expect in rooms has changed a great deal in 50 years. Those rooms were like a standard motel room of the time and are now hopelessly too small and can't be expanded easily short of demolition. The only thing they really have going for them is location, otherwise they'd be low end value resort rooms based on size and amenities.

Poly has the third-largest rooms on property and Contemporary is barely second-largest behind GF.

400+ square feet is well above average for a hotel room. The variance in room size between Disney's MK resorts and Ritz/4S is driven entirely by the bathroom as true five-star resorts have five fixture bathrooms (two sinks, toilet, separate shower and tub).

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I remember like maybe 1 1/2 - 2 years ago I was talking with my Disney source and we were going to stay at Poly and he said to wait until its upgraded, which at the time seemed to indicate that was more imminent. This was definitely in 2018, so I bet they've had plans for awhile for either a Moana update or an update regardless.

 

[GAcoaster]

Poly has the third-largest rooms on property and Contemporary is barely second-largest behind GF.

400+ square feet is well above average for a hotel room. The variance in room size between Disney's MK resorts and Ritz/4S is driven entirely by the bathroom as true five-star resorts have five fixture bathrooms (two sinks, toilet, separate shower and tub).

People today want suites with separate bedrooms and sitting areas rather than one room. They want family suites so parents and kids can have separate areas. This is why Art of Animation is suites. Especially when you're paying top dollar like the Poly charges, you want a room to match the price. It's hard to justify the price they are charging when you can stay at a Marriott down the road and get a suite for less money.