Walt Disney World’s newest resort offering isn’t overtly Disney – and that’s on purpose. “When you come here and you look in this Island Tower , Disney is not number one,” Kama Hopkins , a Hawaiian cultural advisor from Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa , told USA TODAY during a media preview of the new addition to Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. “It's our different cultures that are number one.
” Hopkins, who is Native Hawaiian, was among the cultural advisors that Disney Imagineers worked closely with while creating the newest Disney Vacation Club property, which is like Disney's version of timeshares but also open to non-DVC members. USA TODAY was invited to be among the first guests. Here’s what we found.
Something old, something new The Polynesian Village Resort was one of Disney World’s original resort hotels and remains one of its most iconic and beloved. It’s known for its longhouse buildings that feel plucked out of the Pacific. Beside them, the more modern Island Tower visibly stands out, but guests may not realize the idea behind it is as old as the rest of the resort.
“When we start doing something like this, especially in a location that's so close to Magic Kingdom, we do a lot of research into what the Imagineers in the past had thought about what this should be. And went all the way back to the mid-60s and the first plans that were developed when Walt was still alive,” said David Stofcik, executive architect at Walt Disney Imagi.
