Disney's Polynesian Dreams

It's time for some beach time, and that usually includes Florida, Hawaii, or California. I've always had an urge to stay at Disney's Polynesian Resort ever since it was The Polynesian Village back in the 70s when Walt Disney World first opened. Difficult to justify the prices when the real beach resorts can be booked for less than half- even in pricey Hawaii or even very close to the price point of  Aulani at Ko O'lina. Guess that leads to more Polynesian dreams...

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Disney's Aulani Resort at Ko Olina

The Ko Olina beaches must be one of the most beautiful stretches of sand in Oahu, if not in all of the Hawaiian islands! It is here that the Walt Disney Company has wisely chosen to build a new Vacation Club resort.

My wife and I were at Ko Olina just a couple of years ago. The beach was fairly secluded, undiscovered by most tourists but known to the locals- and we were blessed to be staying with a local who loved the area and knew it would be the perfect place for a day's getaway. We'll see how long this area will stay feeling intimate. (Search "Ko Olina" on this blog for some photos.)

From looking at this skyview, it is clear that this will be a magnificent property!

The following tour of the resort is all based on the delicate renderings done by the famous Disney Imagineers. Joe Rohde, the genius behind the lush and detailed Animal Kingdom theme park, has the much coveted role of leading the design for the project. If it is anything as beautiful as his previous work or even slightly resembles Walt Disney World's Polynesian Resort, we are in for a treat.


Let's begin our tour with the rooms themselves. As you can see from the renderings above, the rooms at Aulani will have all the modern amenities required by today's demanding travelers with the charm of the island's culture.

A view of the lobby shows the incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail. In some ways reminiscient of Florida's Animal Kingdom Lodge, its an appropriately grand scale. But who comes to a lovely place like Hawaii to stay indoors? Let's go outside through the doors seen below.

Needless to say, the pool and surrounding gardens will be the showpiece of the resort. Of course, the gorgeous stretch of beach on Disney's 21 acres will give the manmade pools some fierce competition.


Being Hawaii, land is at a premium as with any island property. Therefore, as you can see in the rendering below, the resort will mainly consist of a series of towers. This enables a Disney to provide guests with over 350 rooms and more than 450 timeshares. And the requisite convention center, mini water park complete with a lazy river, and other outdoors attractions.

Since this is a family resort, activities for children will also abound beyond what is offered at the pools. Games, crafts, and storytelling are sure to please. To please adults needing a little time alone, babysitting services will be readily available.

Should some adults need to create a storybook ending all there own, weddings in the gardens overlooking the Pacific can be arranged as well! (There is also an existing and quite beautiful chapel on the Ko Olina grounds right next door to the Disney property.)

Come 2011, Disney's Aulani Resort will be the place to go! Hawaii in any form has always held me fascinated, so I know it will be difficult not to be dreaming of some time away at Disney's small piece of paradise.

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Ko Olina Update

Thanks to my friend Len, here are a few picture updates of the construction of Disney's Ko Olina resort on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. As you can see, they are just starting to some degree. Yet we have all seen how quickly construction crews move when they have to!

This new Vacation site is on a gorgeous piece of land- one I've seen with my own eyes and posted about long before it was Disney property. (You can search the blog for an old post or two.) Let's hope this all comes together really fast and well!

Polynesian Village Plans

All this talk of Disney building at the Ko O'lina resort area got me thinking about Disney's original hotel plans for Florida. The Contemporary Resort was first named "Tempo Bay", with the second planned resort, the "Polynesian Village" forming the first two resorts to be built. This seldom seen piece of art shows a high-rise project instead of the warmer, lower, more island friendly feel of what the public found on the property in 1971.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Hawaiian Paradise at Disney's Ko Olina

Now this is what I call a Vacation Club Resort worthy of the Disney name. And this is the concept art I referenced but couldn't find a couple of months back. Disney's Ko Olina Resort- just beautiful. 

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company)

Hilton Head or Disney's Private Carolina Island

Last month, thanks to a recent promotion with our cel phone company and some free hotel space, my wife and I were able to get away for a few days to Charleston and Hilton Head, South Carolina. Vero Beach could have worked but South Carolina won out.


Being quite aware of the Walt Disney Company's Vacation Club offerings, I was curious to check out their timeshare property at Hilton Head Island, so we spent about an hour stopping to take photos and ask some questions. When we saw the small Bambi and Thumper topiary (actually fake topiary) and the "Year of a Million Dreams" banner, we knew we were at the right place. We checked in at the registration desk upstairs at the main building. It is a very small area with a tiny lobby and slightly larger library/den. Our hostess was nice enough to provide a map to the island and the property, a copy of the latest newsletter, and the offer to explore without being escorted- the nicest surprise of all.

Hilton Head Island is comprised of mostly resort properties with just about every piece of beachfront property developed. Large, well-known companies specialize in providing amenities associated with any luxury resort: golf, tennis, spas, pools, restaurants, shopping. Disney is no exception, although their roster falls short in comparison. Walking the Disney grounds, it became very clear that the property was pleasant and well maintained but not nearly as nice as many of the surrounding resorts.

The biggest difference: although it may not be immediately obvious to a reader of the promotional materials provided, the primary piece of property, the one where the vacation homes are located, is not beachfront or even across the street from it! In fact, although the Disney resort is on (its own) Longview Island in Shelter Cove Harbour, the complex sits in Broad Creek and its marsh.

Sure, it is beautiful to look at with the area's live oaks and pines, but where's the swimming beach? Follow that 1.5 mile bike path between the main lodging area to Disney's Beach House on the sand. The path runs under Highway 287. To be fair, a shuttle service is available, but at Vacation Club pricing, beachfront should be the order of the day.

Replacing the beach for 31 main buildings of accommodations are one medium-sized but well themed pool and a horseshoe pit with a nearby snack bar and small shop. No tennis or golf. I was expecting something as nice as the Wilderness Lodge or at least the Sarasota Springs Resort in Florida. Instead, everything here was very low key with nothing grand to be found.


We did find the usual and expected nice touches of theme, found here particularly in the signage. (Although a sign referencing "Michael and Michael" now seems to poke a bit of fun at Eisner's grand plans with Mr. Ovitz.) The vacation home buildings were very well done. The gardens were nice but not much more than adequate. A bit of character merchandise and a small collection of pins could be purchased in the shop, and Walt Disney World Resort paper cups were used in the snack shops. Cast members were friendly, smiling quite a bit, enjoying conversation with the guests.

After our walk around, we drove to the Beach House and were slightly more impressed. The main house was well appointed in a nautical theme. The outdoor pool was of decent size with a fountain play area sporting a beach ball theme. A small snack shop and a deck side bar rounded out the offerings with promises of a weekly shrimp roast. The sand was before us but mostly hidden by lots of trees affording privacy to members.





We spoke with a vacation club member who, with a slight smile and sigh, told us it was difficult but not impossible to use his vacation club points to get here due to the popularity of Hilton Head, but he much preferred Disney's Vero Beach resort. I can only hope that property is beachfront. I am sure that once word gets out that Disney's Hilton Head Island resort is not on the sand and has no golf or tennis, it will be much easier to book time there.

To sum it up, this was one of the first times we were glad not to be "on the property". In a strange way, I was happy to discover that our longtime decision not to purchase was a wise one, leaving our options open for staying at a variety of destinations. However, if Disney's Ko Olina turns out terrific, we may have to reconsider! 

(Most photos copyright Mark Taft. Couple of photos copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Paradise Found in Hawaii- With or Without Disney

The snapshot above is one of several lagoons on the beautiful island of O'ahu, Hawaii. This is the Ko O'lina resort area beach, where the Walt Disney Company will soon be opening their newest resort. A stunning location! Wide expanses of quiet beach and incredibly beautiful water gives this a charm not soon forgotten.

The wedding chapel is in view turning the other direction from the focus of the earlier shot. Apparently is there quite a waiting list to be wed here. The green grass and stunning palms gives a slight idea of the lush gardens that are found around the few existing hotels at Ko O'lina- along with shark pools, man-made reefs, fountains and statuary. It's all lovely- and expensive. Yet, it did it's job as my wife and I didn't want to leave.

The new Disney resort may not be quite as beautful and relatively low key as the Polynesian Village Resort in Florida due to the proposed high rise section, but that is balanced out by one small piece of information: It's found in Hawaii, not Central Florida. Paradise found, indeed!

(Photographs copyright Mark Taft.)