Post #739747 by tikiman2001 on Fri, Mar 20, 2015 8:25 AM

The Polynesian name is about all that came from Walt. Many people say Walt would be upset at the changes but we really have no idea what he would think because we don’t even know what he would have thought about the original resort. After he died the design for the resort had nothing to do with any of the original ideas he had. Once it came time to do the resort the name stayed but the theme was intended to be tropical with some Adventureland influences. That is why the tikis around the resort were taken from the molds used for the Disneyland Tiki room tikis. There was almost no authentic Polynesian Islands representation to the resort when it opened. The most authentic thing to come later was the luau. The only other things that came from Polynesian island designs were the carvings from Oceanic Arts but almost none of those designs were representative of Hawaii so it is ironic that many people thing the Polynesian is a Hawaiian resort. Most of the Hawaiian influence came in the 90’s when they brought over people from the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel to bring in designs from Hawaii. The 90s brought in the stone floor to the lobby and it also brought in ‘Ohana and later Kona Café. Now they are going back to some of the original 70’s Adventureland ideas including a more retro look to the DVC rooms.

I think people sometimes don’t get the intention behind some of the designs at the Polynesian but maybe we just look at it as the Polynesian is just something of its own look and feel. A look and feel that has changed over the years but still tries to give you that happy feeling when you stay there or visit the resort.