Could an Abandoned Restaurant Finally Make a Comeback at Disney World’s Most Popular Resort?

There’s a shocking number of abandoned buildings all around Walt Disney World. Restaurants, rides, shows, shops, and other spaces around the parks and the resort hotels that WDW has mothballed for one reason or another, often because they are out of the way. In other cases, there’s no good reason for the closure, as the spots sit in high-traffic location and could be hugely popular.

The subject of today’s post sits at the intersection of the two. It’s in what has arguably become Walt Disney World’s most popular ‘destination’ resort, a hotel that is badly in need of more capacity to meet the needs of both overnight guests and daily visitors. That hotel, unsurprisingly, is Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. This is “unsurprisingly” to regular readers of DTB because we’ve been lamenting this problem for a while now.

The good news is that it’s possible our complaints will finally be addressed, as Walt Disney World has filed two construction permits for Tangaroa Terrace, a long-dormant dining venue at the Poly, which could signal its comeback. This post makes the case for its return, why we think it’s an inevitability at some point, potential concepts for the location, and why it might make sense for Imagineering to shift around a few restaurants in the Great Ceremonial House.

Let’s start with the Polynesian’s dining problems. This has been a complaint since at least the Island Tower was first announced as replacing the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show. Even before then, the Poly had problems with the crowds it drew relative to its infrastructure to support them.

In the last few years, that issue has been exacerbated by the new Island Tower. This DVC property is essentially wedged between the existing Great Ceremonial House at the Poly and the Grand Floridian, right next door to Disney’s Wedding Pavilion.

Island Tower added 260 guest rooms to the Polynesian, in a variety of room and view types. It’s also worth noting that, as the name suggests, the Island Tower is a tower. At 10 stories tall, it’s one of the tallest structures in the Seven Seas Lagoon skyline, behind only Bay Lake Tower and the A-frame of Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which are 15 stories each.

Unlike those resorts, Island Tower inexplicably does not have a rooftop restaurant or lounge.

I will never understand Disney’s decision to not have a rooftop restaurant at the Island Tower. Originally announced in March 2022 as Walt Disney World was just starting to see post-reopening ‘revenge travel’ kick into high gear, it is the ultimate exemplar of the Bob Chapek-era shortsightedness.

The Island Tower was conceived of as a stopgap, feeding the DVC beast with inventory to sell until Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge could be resumed. It was designed on a dime, with the clear intent of Disney investing as little upfront as possible. This was a massive mistake.

For one thing, the Polynesian is the fan-favorite Walt Disney World resort. It’s not the actual flagship (that’s its next-door neighbor, the Grand Floridian), but it’s the #1 resort in the hearts of fans. Of course, that’s why it was chosen for the expansion. Even a phoned-in tower would sell like hotcakes by leeching off the goodwill of the Poly.

This is also why phoning in the Island Tower was a massive mistake! Walt Disney World had one crack at utilizing that real estate between the Polynesian and Grand Floridian, and they wasted it on the Island Tower. Don’t get us wrong, we enjoy staying here, but it could’ve been so much more.

Spending just a bit more upfront on a more impressive and amenity-rich resort, including but not limited to a marquee rooftop restaurant, would’ve paid for itself many times over. A Signature Dining Experience doubling as a character breakfast with big views of the Seven Seas Lagoon and Magic Kingdom could have surpassed California Grill and Topolino’s Terrace, both of which are incredibly popular. It would’ve been a license to print money.

Equally important, it’s precisely what the Poly badly needed. Despite its Deluxe status, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort does not have a fine dining option. Meanwhile, the Grand Floridian has two ‘standard’ Signature Restaurants plus Victoria & Albert’s.

One of the biggest ‘infrastructure’ problems at the Poly is fireworks viewing (don’t let the empty chairs fool you–this area would be slammed only a few hours later). This has been an issue for the last several years, and one that has only gotten worse even as Walt Disney World has cracked down on access to the beach and resort as a whole. The problem is that the Poly is ‘porous,’ so there will always be visitors watching from the beach. It’s unavoidable.

Adding the Island Tower further burdens the already overburdened infrastructure of the resort with those aforementioned 260 guest rooms, which are both higher capacity and occupancy than the existing resort. Having a rooftop deck would’ve helped solve that issue when it comes to fireworks viewing from the Polynesian, maybe even offloading some of the existing stress on the beach.

There were several regrettable, risk-averse decisions that Walt Disney World made in the post-reopening era, and value-engineering the Island Tower to be as inexpensive as possible to construct is on the same wavelength as building CommuniCore Hall as opposed to the multi-level festival center with its own rooftop deck. But I digress.

Unfortunately, there is no going back to the drawing board to add a rooftop restaurant or fireworks viewing at Island Tower. Thankfully, there is a way to help address the Poly’s infrastructure woes!

Enter Tangaroa Terrace, which is a stout building on the opposite side of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort from Island Tower. Tangaroa Terrace is located over by the monorail tracks and near-ish the bus stops, a short walk from the Great Ceremonial House en route to the TTC. Although Tangaroa Terrace closed way back in 1996, the building was still used after that for group events and, more notably, the Neverland Club and Lilo’s Playhouse until 2018.

Tangaroa Terrace now serves as a space for Cast Members, including storage, and offices for both housekeeping and security. It probably serves more back-of-house purposes than that; those are just the ones of which I’m aware. As you might recall, Tangaroa Terrace ranked highly on our list of Abandoned Areas at Walt Disney World That Need New Life.

Up until now, that was purely wishful thinking. Merely me playing Armchair Imagineer or Theme Park Tycoon.

However, two new Notice of Commencement construction permits filed recently by Walt Disney World suggest something might be on the horizon for this long-forgotten space. The permits are simply for the catch-all general construction, which doesn’t really tell us anything about the nature of the work.

One is assigned to Keenan Hopkins Schmidt & Stowell, which specializes in interiors and has done a lot of work in and around Walt Disney World, particularly at Disney Springs. The contractor on the second permit is New Horizon Construction Services, which has handled several resort refurbishments.

Both permits have extended expirations of December 31, 2027. This is as opposed to the default one-year expiration, reflecting a purposeful extension that could be indicative of a lengthier (and by extension bigger) project. That’s one reason for bullishness that Tangaroa Terrace is being prepped for guest-facing use in the future.

Conversely, it’s also notable that these permits were filed by the Facility Asset Management (FAM) team within Walt Disney World, as opposed to Walt Disney Imagineering. FAM usually just handles projects to extend the life of an asset, whereas an Imagineering-led project is creative at the core, resulting in substantive changes. Meaning that if this were a restaurant reimagining, it would involve Imagineering instead of FAM. That’s one reason for bearishness.

Another reason to reduce your expectations is that Tangaroa Terrace had quiet interior work relatively recently in order to make it a more suitable home for Cast Member offices. If FAM is on this project instead of Imagineering and work was already done on offices, it should stand to reason that Tangaroa Terrace has no guest-facing future, right?

I wouldn’t bet on that. For one thing, projects of this nature often start out with FAM doing foundational work, and then evolve to involve Walt Disney Imagineering on the creative side of the table.

On top of that, there are two different contractors involved, both of which have done meatier projects at Walt Disney World and beyond. I have a hard time envisioning FAM involving both of these contractors for a light refresh to office space, which doesn’t really need much help in the first place since it was just redone.

To that point, it is incredibly common for one hand to not know what the other is doing with Walt Disney World projects. There have been many times when routine refurbishments are carried out pursuant to a set schedule on spaces that are subsequently overhauled.

This wouldn’t be an instance of that, at least not in the typical sense. However, it could be the case that one internal group set up camp in this space and improved it for their offices, only to have a decision from on high come down that the space is going to be utilized for guest-facing purposes.

Given the recent leadership changes throughout Walt Disney World and Parks & Resorts as a whole in the last ~6 months, this wouldn’t surprise me in the least. Not only did Josh D’Amaro rise from Parks Chair to CEO, but Thomas Mazloum moved up to Parks Chair, and Joe Schott became the new Walt Disney World President. That’s enough of a shakeup to result in Disney going a different direction with this space.

I could also see nostalgic Imagineers salivating at the prospect of putting Tangaroa Terrace to use, and finally having the internal power to get it greenlit. There’s also the fact that a lot of construction is occurring around the Poly right now; an approval on a new future use for Tangaroa Terrace could’ve come as part of that.

Obviously, we don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes or why these two permits have been filed. It might be absolutely inconsequential; late 2027 could come and go with zero updates on this.

All I’m suggesting is that I do not believe there’s anything conclusive to this being a back-of-house project. To the contrary, there are enough small signals here suggesting to me that Tangaroa Terrace will be put to use in a guest-facing capacity.

My perspective is that Tangaroa Terrace absolutely should be revived. Given the popularity of literally every dining option at the Polynesian and how the Great Ceremonial House is bursting at the seams with demand and crowds, having Tangaroa Terrace as a release valve on the other side of the resort makes sense.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort has far more dining demand today than it did back in 1996. Even in the absence of these construction permits, my take would’ve been that Tangaroa Terrace returning at some point is an inevitability. That’s doubly true given how much effort has been spent on reinvigorating the resort restaurant roster in the last few years. (The latest example of which, Hurly-Burly at BoardWalk, just opened this week.)

As for what should fill the former Tangaroa Terrace space, there are several options. In response to our previous articles about the Poly’s capacity woes, we’ve seen several readers suggest a Spirit of Aloha Luau Dinner Show revival. I’m guessing that if you polled fans, this would be the #1 wish list entry. I’m not necessarily averse to this, although it would not be my first choice. I also highly doubt it’ll ever happen, so there’s that.

Another possibility is cloning Disney’s first-ever Moana-themed restaurant, Wayfinders’ Table, which debuted last year in Adventureland at Hong Kong Disneyland. That was previously Tahitian Terrace, and it serves South Asian cuisine in a restaurant space modeled after a bai or house found in Belau, one of the great architectural traditions of Micronesia. Having an elevated counter service concept over here would relieve demand on Capt. Cook’s, which would be valuable. Also not high on my wish list, and strikes me as unlikely.

Turning to more likely proposals, a highly logical choice would be the following the Topolino’s Terrace blueprint and building the restaurant that should’ve been on the rooftop of Island Tower, except on the ground in Tangaroa Terrace. This would be a hybrid character dining experience featuring Moana in the morning, and Signature Dining Experience in the evening. This would be a slam dunk, and my #2 choice for the space.

As for my #1 pick, allow me to once again put on my Armchair Imagineering hat and propose a bold and potentially controversial idea: move ‘Ohana to Tangaroa Terrace.

Hear me out. The reason you move ‘Ohana as opposed to opening a brand-new concept here is because ‘Ohana already has name cachet, and this location is a bit out of the way from the Great Ceremonial House. It would benefit from an established restaurant in this space, and ‘Ohana would continue to do big business out here.

Making that move would then free up the second floor space of the GCH currently occupied by ‘Ohana and Tambu Lounge. Once the move happens, those venues could be closed and completely reconfigured into a combination Signature Restaurant and lounge. It would also allow for the reallocation of that space to better suit the needs of the resort (larger lounge, smaller restaurant).

If Walt Disney World is really thinking boldly, it could be a three-phase project. The new ‘Ohana could open at Tangaroa Terrace, followed by a temporary counter service restaurant coming online in the current ‘Ohana space while Capt. Cook’s closes for expansion on the lower level. Once that’s finished, the upper level could be redone as a Signature Restaurant and lounge.

Since we’re already playing Theme Park Tycoon here, I could also see it making sense to move Trader Sam’s out to Tangaroa Terrace, and expand Capt. Cook’s into that. That also strikes me as a good idea, but it’s not quite as comprehensive as moving ‘Ohana out of the GCH.

While relocating ‘Ohana is a bold idea that might ruffle the feathers of fans who have nostalgia and sentimentality for the location, it’s not as if ‘Ohana is an opening day original dating back to 1971. It opened in 1995, replacing Papeete Bay Verandah.

This actually has the potential to be another full-circle ‘what’s old is new again’ moment, with Walt Disney World bringing back Papeete Bay Verandah, which was originally an elegant restaurant serving Polynesian cuisine and offering a revue-style experience with live dancers and singers providing entertainment. Papeete Bay Verandah was also home to Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast, featuring Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale dressed in Hawaiian attire.

Walt Disney World bringing back both Papeete Bay Verandah and Minnie’s Menehune Breakfast in what’s currently the ‘Ohana space strikes me as the ‘everyone wins’ scenario. It wouldn’t be a fully-fledged Spirit of Aloha, but it would check some of those boxes. It would also give the Poly its badly-needed Signature Restaurant, and a flagship character meal.

Meanwhile, ‘Ohana would continue to be as popular as ever, and moving it out to Tangaroa Terrace would offload some of the crowds it draws to a different area of the resort. With a more sophisticated and adult dining experience in the Great Ceremonial House, the lobby would be at least slightly less chaotic in the evenings. All of this feels like a good move to mitigate some of the Poly’s problems. Not as good as building a rooftop restaurant on the Island Tower, but that ship has sailed. Thanks, Chapek!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Do you think Walt Disney World will transform Tangaroa Terrace into a new restaurant? Think that’s why the permits were filed, or is there a more mundane explanation? If this venue is to be revived and reimagined, what would you like to see it become? Do you agree or disagree with our choices? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!