Good morning from Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, where there is a new entrance in use! While we’ve been discussing the new entrance for some 19 months at this point, construction has been going on since this Summer. Walt Disney World officially announced the new entrance back in June. Now, the new entrance is in use by guests, and we made it out to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort this morning to take a look!
New Entrance Now Open at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
The new entrance provides a more appealing approach to the Great Ceremonial House (main lobby). Whereas the old entrance would approach the main lobby from the side, this new entrance provides a straight-on approach to the redesigned main building.
While there is still plenty of construction work to do before the heavy equipment can move out, this is a significant milestone for the resort. As far as guest traffic is concerned, I don’t think anything else will change. Next on the agenda for crews is to retrofit the old entrance to the resort to become a bus-only entrance. Disney will also reconfigure the current bus area to allow for easier traffic flow.
We’ll start our photo tour of the new entrance by checking out the current state of the old entrance. As you can see below, the old entrance is now blocked off to both guest traffic and bus traffic. All vehicular traffic has been redirected to the new main entrance for the time being.
Signage informs guests that the bus pick-up/drop-off area has been relocated to the porte cochere for the time being.
Some new landscaping in the area mirrors the roofline of the porte cochere.
Ok, with the old entrance and bus logistics out of the way, let’s take a look at the new entrance! We’ll start with a look at the updated digital map, showing the new entrance at the corner of Seven Seas Drive and Floridian Way.
The new entrance has a themed guard shack. The rest of the area remains a construction zone due to ongoing, extensive roadway work at and around the nearby intersection. There is still plenty of work to be done, with Disney anticipating another year of work.
The only way to access the new entrance is via the westbound Seven Seas Drive. It’s not a bi-directional entrance like the old entrance used to be. From there, guests turn north toward the porte cochere. If you’d like to valet, you can continue onto the porte cochere, otherwise, you’ll turn right to the parking lot.
Here’s a look at the process in photos, starting from Seven Seas Drive and heading toward the porte cochere as described above.
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!
