New Developments in Polynesian Monorail Refurbishment

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort has seen a resort-wide refurbishment over the past several months.  We have new details on the arrival experience construction at the resort.

Refurbishment Recap

Over the past several months we have shared updates on numerous refurbishments at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.  On the regular room side of the resort, guest rooms now have a Moana theme.  Despite initial skepticism, guest feedback seems to be positive on this update.  

In addition to the Moana theme, resort work continues on the club level suites and lounges in the Hawaii building.  Some of these rooms have opened to guests in the last few weeks.  

When Disney World reopened last summer after the Covid-19 pandemic closure, only the DVC side of the resort was opened.  The DVC side of the resort features three buildings of the Polynesian resort that were converted from regular rooms to DVC studio villas in 2015.  The resort also added DVC bungalows.

We reported last month on the start of the DVC refurbishment.  At the time it looked like this was only going to be a soft goods overhaul.  Many guests over the years have complained about the pull out sofas in the Polynesian DVC rooms.  It did not appear that this round was going to bring any major changes to the furniture in the rooms. 

However, Murphy beds were indeed installed which received overwhelmingly positive feedback as well. This refurbishment is still taking place on the DVC side.

Not all of the new changes at the resort have been positive. The reopening of the popular restaurant Ohana has been a bumpy ride with initial changes to the menu. Updates can be found here and here.

New Developments on Arrival Experience

The monorail had not been accessible at the resort for over a year as the platform continued to be rebuilt and changes were made to the Great Ceremonial House.  Over the last month, work has pretty much occurred around the clock on this project to get it ready for opening.  The old monorail platform was demolished as seen in the picture above and the new platform is being rebuilt from scratch.     

Flooring on the widened platform is finished, the A-frame roof is on, and all of the decorative panels are added as seen in the concept art below.  Over the past week, we have confirmation that testing had been taking place at the new monorail platform. Monorails periodically stopped at the resort on the Magic Kingdom loop. Cast members tested security gates as well. An opening date seemed imminent. 

As of this morning, we have confirmation that the Polynesian monorail is open to guests! Exciting news!

With crowds expected to build towards October, this project being completed in time for 50th Anniversary Celebration is great news! Having multiple transportation options is one of the many benefits of this flagship resort.

Guests of the Polynesian have had to adjust their transportation plans with the monorail platform closed.  Depending on their destination, guests could walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center, take a boat from the resort, or walk to the Grand Floridian.

Are you heading to the Polynesian for the 50th Anniversary Celebration?  Are you excited about a possible return of the monorail access?  What was your preferred way of travel during the platform closure?  Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook!