On the way back from Magic Kingdom recently, we decided to take the long way back to the Transportation & Ticket Center via the resort area watercraft. If you’re looking for a more leisurely, and less competitive form of transportation, the resort watercraft will take you from Magic Kingdom to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and then on to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort before heading back to Magic Kingdom. As of right now, the walkway between Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort is closed.

Before this turns into a transportation article, let’s reel it in a bit and start with some photos of the Disney Vacation Club tower currently under construction on the northwest corner of the grounds of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

This first photo is from the ride to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. The vantage point here is less functional than it is fun to show the scale of the tower compared to the Wedding Pavilion. As with any telephoto shot, the subjects are compressed a bit, so the tower isn’t necessarily right on top of the Wedding Pavilion, but it is close.

Here’s a photo from the leg of our journey between Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Since our last update, quite a bit of paint has been applied to the north-facing part of the hotel.

Here’s a closer look at some points of interest, including what we believe will be a lobby with some wonderful views out to the Seven Seas Lagoon, and an elevated alcove that will hopefully be a great spot to watch the nightly fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

And here’s a look at what we think will be an open-air bar, facing toward Magic Kingdom. We’ll have a better look into the bar area once we get back on dry land.

Speaking of dry land, here’s a look at the tower from the watercraft dock. The Tuvalu building can be seen to the left. We stayed in the Tuvalu building back when Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort reopened following an extensive refurbishment to introduce Moana-themed rooms. We’ll walk over to the Tuvalu building next for the best vantage point of the ongoing tower construction.

Here’s a wide view of the construction from the Tuvalu building – a view that roughly aligns with the only piece of concept art released for the project so far.

Before we get a look toward the open-air bar, here’s a look toward the pool. A look at some permits suggested that the pool would have a Moana theme, or at least the splashpad would have some Moana touches.

Here’s a look at the open-air bar, which is still mostly concrete and infrastructure.

We’ll wrap up by taking a look at some previously explored areas like the lobby area, the observation alcove, and some theming elements at the roofline.

Disney has previously announced a late-2024 opening for the Disney Vacation Club tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, and we hope to learn more this summer into the fall.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!