Let's speculate about Polynesian some more!

How likely do you think the Polynesian tower will be part of a new/old association?

  • 100% new association

    Votes: 113 37.0%
  • 80% new association / 20% current association

    Votes: 64 21.0%
  • 60% new association / 40% current association

    Votes: 28 9.2%
  • 40% new association / 60% current association

    Votes: 17 5.6%
  • 20% new association / 80% current association

    Votes: 32 10.5%
  • 0% new association / 100% current association

    Votes: 51 16.7%

  • Total voters
    305
  • Poll closed .
@intamin
If they buy today they’ll get 2023 points. 2073 points will be their 51st set.
Maybe it’s just because 50 is easier for people to remember then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

51 years, 50 years, 51 years, 43 years who cares if we’re not able to take a trip or have passed away by that point right?
 
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Well PVB resale points are literally flying off the shelf at the moment any way! The resale brokers will be loving this weekend!
 


Wow, many great points are being made in all the various threads, so I thought I would add my $.02.

I fully expected Poly Tower to be a new association, and if yesterday's verbal response holds true, then it is really surprising. Having said that, if this holds true, it doesn't materially change anything for Riviera owners. If you bought directly, your points are still the same. If you bought resale, then nothing has changed. The new Poly Tower points still expire simultaneously with the legacy Poly points. So, it's a head-scratcher but not that huge a deal.

I am also surprised that folks think they'll make different purchasing decisions based on the verbal response given yesterday. I would trust, but verify. If it ain't written from DVC, it's open to interpretation and misunderstanding. Believe the actual contract language, which we don't have.

Lastly, I have a mix of direct and resale points at Riviera, Beach Club, and Old Key West. If this holds true, then it just means that I can use all my points for Poly Tower, which is a good thing.
 
Wow, many great points are being made in all the various threads, so I thought I would add my $.02.

I fully expected Poly Tower to be a new association, and if yesterday's verbal response holds true, then it is really surprising. Having said that, if this holds true, it doesn't materially change anything for Riviera owners. If you bought directly, your points are still the same. If you bought resale, then nothing has changed. The new Poly Tower points still expire simultaneously with the legacy Poly points. So, it's a head-scratcher but not that huge a deal.

I am also surprised that folks think they'll make different purchasing decisions based on the verbal response given yesterday. I would trust, but verify. If it ain't written from DVC, it's open to interpretation and misunderstanding. Believe the actual contract language, which we don't have.

Lastly, I have a mix of direct and resale points at Riviera, Beach Club, and Old Key West. If this holds true, then it just means that I can use all my points for Poly Tower, which is a good thing.
True, I now can basically use all of my resale AUL/AKV points to bump my trips up from a 2BR to a GV so that’s a win. Either way, glad I waited to have the verdict instead of guessing
 
That said, the influx of points at the Tower is my concern. The Tower's point charts should be comparable to RIV, which means more people may try to book the "old" cheaper PVB studios in the longhouses. This competition will surely make it harder to book both SV and LV studios. I'm not liking that it's the same association!
I think it’s super likely that the studios int he new tower will cost the same number of points as the studios in the longhouses. The only exception will be if they have a “theme park view” category, which will be more, and the duo studios will be less. This is based on what happened with VGF2
 


Wow, many great points are being made in all the various threads, so I thought I would add my $.02.

I fully expected Poly Tower to be a new association, and if yesterday's verbal response holds true, then it is really surprising. Having said that, if this holds true, it doesn't materially change anything for Riviera owners. If you bought directly, your points are still the same. If you bought resale, then nothing has changed. The new Poly Tower points still expire simultaneously with the legacy Poly points. So, it's a head-scratcher but not that huge a deal.

I am also surprised that folks think they'll make different purchasing decisions based on the verbal response given yesterday. I would trust, but verify. If it ain't written from DVC, it's open to interpretation and misunderstanding. Believe the actual contract language, which we don't have.

Lastly, I have a mix of direct and resale points at Riviera, Beach Club, and Old Key West. If this holds true, then it just means that I can use all my points for Poly Tower, which is a good thing.
You are correct except that those of us who bought direct RIV under the mislead guide that all resorts moving forward would be under the same restrictions. I agree it changes nothing other than the fact that 4 years in to my new direct ROV points, I feel cheated by the mouse.
 
I had expected it would be a new association. I'm a resale Poly owner and while I was a bit bummed, it didn't exactly break my heart. Now that it seems at least a distinct possibility that it will be part of the current association, it makes sense. It doesn't really betray any of their sales promises to Riviera buyers because it's part of a current association. I suspect that there are two reasons that making it part of the current association is beneficial to them on the sales front.'

(1) the points chart for the larger units will likely be really high. If they don't have many studios in the tower - and it looks like that is the case to a certain extent, buyers who don't have a boatload of cash may shy away. With it being part of the current association, they can say there are 300+ studios bookable.

(2) I wonder how much the taxes/maintenance costs on the new tower are going to be. With the current political environment surrounding Disney, the new tower may be assessed at a higher rate than usual. If they made a new association, those costs need to be split among only those points. By adding it to the current association, they spread it out. Thus, when they are pitching direct sales, they aren't scaring away buyers with really high maintenance fees. So, current owners like myself may benefit from being able to book larger units, I expect we will be paying higher maintenance fees no matter how we choose to use our points

In any case, I suspect they know and have known for a very long time whether it will be part of a new or the current association. Frankly, if i is jointing the current association, leaking the information is likely to help them, The higher the resale price goes prior to launch, the less the difference between resale and direct. That works in their favor.
 
It is extremely strange and totally unexpected that they might try to play a game like this. Weird.
Agree. If they intentionally played sneaky word games in response to a direct question, when they could have easily said it’s not been decided yet or they aren’t ready to announce it… that would be one of the most cynical, customer-hostile things I’ve seen them do. And that’s a fairly high bar at this point.
 
I had expected it would be a new association. I'm a resale Poly owner and while I was a bit bummed, it didn't exactly break my heart. Now that it seems at least a distinct possibility that it will be part of the current association, it makes sense. It doesn't really betray any of their sales promises to Riviera buyers because it's part of a current association. I suspect that there are two reasons that making it part of the current association is beneficial to them on the sales front.'

(1) the points chart for the larger units will likely be really high. If they don't have many studios in the tower - and it looks like that is the case to a certain extent, buyers who don't have a boatload of cash may shy away. With it being part of the current association, they can say there are 300+ studios bookable.

(2) I wonder how much the taxes/maintenance costs on the new tower are going to be. With the current political environment surrounding Disney, the new tower may be assessed at a higher rate than usual. If they made a new association, those costs need to be split among only those points. By adding it to the current association, they spread it out. Thus, when they are pitching direct sales, they aren't scaring away buyers with really high maintenance fees. So, current owners like myself may benefit from being able to book larger units, I expect we will be paying higher maintenance fees no matter how we choose to use our points

In any case, I suspect they know and have known for a very long time whether it will be part of a new or the current association. Frankly, if i is jointing the current association, leaking the information is likely to help them, The higher the resale price goes prior to launch, the less the difference between resale and direct. That works in their favor.
You make some great points and I’m sure it’s some of the many reasons DVD is going to make it the same association. But why leak it? Why not make it a solid, confirmed announcement that’s part of the condo meeting and give their reasoning rather than an after thought to a member question? Either way it would drive up resale and then leave no doubt or argument. Just seems like a silly tactic that makes them look unprepared and sloppy.
 
With Marriott or Westin/Sheraton (aka Vistana), if own resale ownership of deeded weeks it is usually restricted in some ways, similar to the RVA restrictions. Those companies are pretty aggressive at pulling existing owners into presentations (much more than DVC) and trying to sell them more direct ownership. Most savvy owners decline, at which point the salesperson, already knowing what you own, may start getting creative and say that if you buy a large direct purchase they could bring your existing resale ownership "into the system", that making the resale ownership equivalent to a direct purchase. In the DVC world that would be equivalent to taking your resale points (RVA, or other) and make them eligible to book at all resorts, or use for cruises and other stuff like that - the pitch might be "buy 200 direct points and grandfather XXX (don't know what the right number is) points". With other developers, those deals got better over time - at some point you could buy 1 direct Marriott deeded week for $50K+ and they would "grandfather" up to 7 resale weeks (they also had smaller deals involving fewer resale weeks).

We own several Marriott deeded weeks and I spent a over a year strategizing which resale purchased to make, and subsequently closing on those deals before I showed up to a sales presentation having those resale weeks in my back pocket. Similarly, with DVC, if I'm going to knowingly pay ~$200/pt for something that might be worth less than $100/pt if I turn around to sell it, I need to get something in return that I couldn't get elsewhere.
Sorry didn’t meant or ignore this! Thanks for explaining! Although I hate that I’d have to pay more for what most already have and I paid direct, this could be a good option for DVC if they finally concede the restrictions aren’t working and give RIV contracts unrestricted access. They really should just remove them without repercussions if they deem the whole restricted project a failure, but I’m not convinced they do just yet.
 
Guys I really think we should consider the possibility that they are not as in tune with the speculation here on Disboards.

It’s not about what I want, its about lack of precision and specificity.

I wish someone from the post-reception followed up and got specific confirmation as I tried over here with the general manager of VDH.

We didn’t have video but her voice sounded surprised by the reaction, like she was saying, “huh, didn’t think stating the same thing would get such a big applause!”…

That may be, and I certainly am not arguing that they are be imprecise on purpose, but did anyone try to get corroboration from execs during the reception?

Again, the GM of VDH was enthusiastically affirmative when I first asked him, “so being part of the same resort means the same association?” He instantly said yes, and nodded. Thats when I clarified my question by asking, “will a current owner of Poly be able to book “the new Poly tower” at 11mo?” He had a blank look like he wasn’t sure what I was asking him. I elaborated some more and then he emphatically said, “oh no! My personal opinion is that it will be a separate association!” “You are talking about member priveleges and the 7-11mo window!”…“A person can buy/own two houses next to each other”. Then he continued and elaborated that the facilities and infrastructure being put it makes him certain that it will be a separate association. He ended by telling me an analogy of one person can own two separate houses…

So….all that to say, it may be that Poly2 ends up being in the same association as Poly1, but, in the absence of other reports from the meeting in orlando, of members getting confirmation from other execs…i think it is premature to conclude resale restrictions are dead and that there will be the same association for Poly2. Thats just what I think. Tell me what you think of my interaction with the GM of VDH!
Well if he is confused , I really have to wonder about what is really going on and what was actually announced . Why did Disney make this announcement to confuse us ?
 
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Well if he is confused , I really have to wonder about what is really going on and what was actually announced . Why did Disney make this announcement to confuse us ?
You should have heard the live stream. It was pretty funny from the point of view of a disboard nerd 🤓. The execs started off by addressing the top three concerns of members (I only remember the top one which was availability, but it is emblematic). They pushed DCL, Interval Intl, ABD, etc as ways of increasing “availability” (available alternate ways to use our points?).

When members got to ask questions, the first three was about availability! Thats cuz the execs never addressed members’ definition of “availability”!…which was much more focused on resort availability and nothing else. Thats why I think they are clueless about what is controversial on Disboards or DVCFans FB group.

In my view, they are not doing any of this on purpose. My example with the VDH GM was an example of what they assume we are asking when we are asking something altogether different.

I read both the DVCFans and the DVCnews articles. Both well written but wish either would verify with a second independent source. Even another member who went to a different exec during reception.

I am also surprised that folks think they'll make different purchasing decisions based on the verbal response given yesterday. I would trust, but verify.
Agree!
 
Gotta figure the studios will be Standard, Lake, and Theme Park view. S and L will be the same as Poly 1 points chart would also assume. Id say TPV costs will be similar to the bump at VGF, IE anywhere from 4 to 9 points more per night depending on season.

From there they can go pretty hog wild on 1 and 2 br and any 3br GV it might have. No real clue on what those might end up.

Is there also any way to know or confirm yet that studios will still sleep 5 in the tower? Are assuming that based on the floorplans that are out there? If they don't, I could see that driving people to poly 1 for studios vs the tower, but otherwise, I dont see the studios being any harder to get than now really.

I think the situation now is for a a lot of poly owners they are switching to other resorts that have more options for 1br etc and thats why poly is generally fairly easy to get at 7 months. I think the tower will be harder to get for the 1br, 2br etc, but studios will most likely still be fairly easy to get into.
I think we will see a similar dynamic to VGF where people want 150 points for the blue card and to own at their favorite resort, but haven’t really done the math on how many points it will require to stay in a larger room for more than a day or two. I say this as someone who bought 125VGF points and almost immediately realized I needed more like 175-250 after staying once and loving it. So I do think it will put more pressure on studios generally if you get a lot of people with smaller buy-ins. Wouldn’t surprise me if many of the tower studios get sold as FW contracts.

As for the point chart— I don’t think we should assume they will be the same. BPK was a flip of hotel rooms, with fewer kitchenette amenities. This is a new tower (although I think it has an inferior location on the property) with sweeping views. I could see them maybe making standard view the same, but also having some sort of deluxe view (even that doesn’t face the lagoon side) on higher floors, and perhaps Theme Park View could be more than 10 points/night premium over deluxe. I agree that the 2 and 3 bedrooms will be nuts, almost certain setting new records for any WDW association….probably still materially less than the bungalows though. I think DVD has realized there is SOME limit, so I would expect the 2 bedrooms to stay below 100 points a night, except maybe at the holidays?
 
I read both the DVCFans and the DVCnews articles. Both well written but wish either would verify with a second independent source. Even another member who went to a different exec during reception.
Amy from DVCFan wrote this in response to a similar comment in their Facebook group.
 

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I think it’s super likely that the studios int he new tower will cost the same number of points as the studios in the longhouses. The only exception will be if they have a “theme park view” category, which will be more, and the duo studios will be less. This is based on what happened with VGF2
Personally, I think you're right...I think the new studios will also be inferior to the current ones in similar ways to VGF. I think they will also have less bathroom space.
 
I find it funny that many are making plans and purchasing now based on the tower. I'd be waiting to see the points charts and how the project ends up being completed.

The amount of points required to stay at Poly are likely to be absurdly high. Oh, and if at some point they decide to rebalance the bungalows (which they could attempt after Poly sells out), the rest of the resort could see even higher points. It's safe to assume a week in a 2 bedroom will be at least 330 points a night.... unless they play some games with 4 different view types or some such thing....

Given the ambivalence a lot of people have had for Disney's design team lately, I'd also be waiting to see where the quality goes and if it is worth the cost.
 

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