Review: Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows is the newest Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World. This Moana-inspired expansion to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort includes 268 new rooms, a new pool, four exclusive tropical garden hideaways, a bar & grill and more. In this post we’ll be reviewing Preferred View Deluxe Studio. Does the Island Tower hold up against the legendary Polynesian Village Resort next door? Keep reading to find out.

Before we get started, this review is by our fearless leader, Len Testa, and put into words by me, Guy Selga.

The thing that Len is looking for when he evaluates a Disney hotel is how well it executes the theme Disney says its supposed to have. For example, if you could change the paint, some picture frames, or some wall art, could the resort be changed into the Beach Club overnight? Meaning, is the theming only skin deep? Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows is the real deal. The Island Tower is well themed and features beautiful carved wood, stonework, and other high quality materials that are noticed as soon as you walk in.

The Island Tower’s lobby is on the smaller side (similar in size to the lobby in Disney’s Riviera Resort), but what is there is fantastic. We were immediately reminded of the lobby at Disney’s Aulani Resort. Both Aulani and Island Tower have open spaces and views of water out the back.

The lobby’s scope and scale aren’t grand, but it fits well with the size of the rest of the Island Tower.

One of our favorite features of the Island Tower are what Len describes as “cutouts,” which are outdoor lounges on the upper floors of the hotel. The Wave Break Terrace is one of these spaces on the 5th floor. Here Island Tower guests can enjoy an exclusive view of the Magic Kingdom and its fireworks spectaculars.

During the day it looks like a lovely place to relax. We’re a fan of the Polynesian-inspired artwork. There are four of these spaces, with lounges on odd number floors looking out over Seven Seas Lagoon and even number floors looking out over a golf course.

Here’s a look at a Preferred View Deluxe Studio room. All of the Island Tower Deluxe Studio rooms include 1 queen bed and 1 queen-sized pull-down. A couch is in place when the pull-down bed is not in use.

We’re a big fan of the pull-down beds in the other Disney resorts that have this feature because of all the space it opens up. Overall we found the room to be spacious, with plenty of room for four adults to stay comfortably.

Deluxe studios include a kitchenette with microwave, mini fridge, dishwasher and coffee maker. Coffee, paper towels, dish cleaning supplies and dishware are also provided.

Since the Island Tower rooms are so spacious, they include a table and seating area with enough room for a few adults, along with a side table that has some storage underneath.

Here’s a look at the dresser and TV area. For charging, we counted 20 power outlets, 5 USB-A outlets and 3 USB-C outlets.

There is a desk area but unfortunately it only includes a backless stool. Most vacationers wont care about this but as someone who works remotely it’s much more comfortable to have a char with a back while I get some work done on my laptop. On the plus side this stool can easily be shoved in a corner in favor of more room to store luggage. Speaking of luggage storage, the area under the bed is open so you can store items.

It’s worth mentioning, we’re not hosted and we paid $1544.63 cash for a single night in this room. So go ahead and subscribe if you like what we do.
Moving on to the bathroom, here you can see there’s one sink and a ton of counter space. There’s also a good amount of storage underneath the sink. A handing barn-style door separates the bathroom from the rest of the room.

Len noted that the lighting wasn’t strong enough, but overall the bathroom was perfectly functional.

Here’s a look at the toilet and shower stalls.

Len reported good water pressure in the spacious shower. Also included are wall mounted body soap, shampoo and conditioner. The shower features an overhead rain showerhead in addition to a handheld showerhead.

Our room had lovely views of the Island Tower Pool area with Polynesian Village Resort in the background.

The way that they’ve set up the balconies in the Island Tower has given them a much more expanded view than other hotels. If we turned slightly to the left we can see the Magic Kingdom, which gave us a nice view of the fireworks.

Moving on to the Polynesian Island Tower pool. This new pool is located between the east facing side of the Island Tower and the west facing side of Polynesian’s Fiji building. We believe the Island Tower Pool looks better in person than it does in photos.

The pool is the first on Walt Disney World Resort property to feature a sun shelf, which comes in at a whopping 45ft by 5ft.

The Island Tower pool is open 7 AM to 11 PM and has a capacity of 65 people. One of Len’s favorite features is that the building is so tall that it blocks the western sun in the afternoon. This is great because there’s ample outdoor seating and a turf lawn area. There are plenty of areas where you can sit outside with a drink and not be in the direct sunlight, which will be nice through most of the year.

Moana’s Voyage is a water play feature located near the Island Tower Pool. This should be fun for the little ones to splash around in.

The Wailulu Bar & Grill is a poolside bar with outdoor seating. The quick service portion serves breakfast 7 AM to 11 AM, and lunch and dinner from 11 AM to 10 PM.

Overall Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows is a great addition to the Disney Vacation Club lineup in Walt Disney World. We were worried that Disney would make everything bland and beige, which seems to be the style with so many modern developments, but that’s not the case here. It’s beautifully done. We found the room to be spacious, clean, open and functional. Also, we loved the public spaces, such as the lounge overlooking Magic Kingdom and Seven Seas Lagoon.

What do you think of Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows? Are you planning on staying here in 2025? Would you rather stay at the original Polynesian Village Resort? Let us know in the comments.

Note: Disney did not sponsor this post, provide a room, and did not pay for, or receive copy approval.