The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has granted permission for Disney Vacation Development to begin selling ownership in the 13th Disney Vacation Club property.
DVC now has regualtory approval to begin selling points at Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. Construction on the project began in 2013, with an expected opening sometime in 2015. The timeshare component is set to include 20 waterfront bungalows along with more traditional villas located in the Tokelau, Tahiti and Rapa Nui buildings on the eastern side of the resort.
The timeshare application cites a total of 8.262 timeshare weeks. With 51 weeks per room, per year available for guest use, this number corresponds to a total of 162 villas at the Polynesian. This number is a bit larger than the expected number of villas at the resort, using DVC's standard methodology of 3 hotel rooms per Two Bedroom lockoff or dedicated villa.
A total of 362 hotel rooms are being coverted to villas; 144 in the Tokelau building, 142 in Tahiti and 76 in Rapa Nui. A mixture of 32 Deluxe Studio villas and 110 Two Bedroom villas (at 3 hotel rooms per villa) equals the 362 Polynesian hotel rooms being converted. Along with the 20 bungalows, this number also matches the 162 units cited on the sales application.
Note that these numbers are purely speculative. In a January 2013 license application for the Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, Disney requested permission to sell all 100 vacation homes. However, the 2008 application for Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort listed only a portion of the total rooms at that Disney Vacation Club property.
Another possible explanation for the 162 vacation homes would be all 142 hotel rooms in the Tahiti building converted to Deluxe Studio villas, along with the 20 bungalows. The 162 vacation home in this Polynesian license application may not represent the resort's full timeshare component. In this scenario, later application(s) would follow for the Tokelau and Rapa Nui villas.
Regardless, point sales at the Polynesian is likely still several months away from beginning. In the case of the Grand Floridian, DVC received its license four months before sales began and nine months before the property opened to guests. Bay Lake Tower's sales did not start until eight months after licensing approval, with a grand opening eighteen months after issuance.
Renovations to the Polynesian's Great Ceremonial House, Nanea Volcano Pool and many other resort amenities are expected to continue well into 2015.
Thanks to Wil Lovato and forum member "TSM III" for information used in this report.
