The first major written description of the South Seas resort came in the 1967 Florida Project book. Here the hotel is described as "designed for enthusiasts of aquatic sports". True to this description the hotel's lagoons were earmarked for a specific purpose. One lagoon was to be used for swimming, one for boating, and one for "shark diving". The history of the Polynesian Village Resort, and Walt Disney World in general, changed in 1967 when Disney learned that the planned location for their theme park and resorts was largely unbuildable. To rectify this, Disney moved the facilities, and created the Seven Seas Lagoon on the unbuildable land. At this time, the area planned resorts, including the South Seas resort, were moved to the shores of the newly created lagoon.
In 1968, Welton Beckett and Associates was hired by Disney to design and create the hotels for the Florida Project. When the next Florida Project Master Plan in was released in 1969, the resort was referred to as a "Polynesian style resort" which featured a 12 story main building, with elongated wings and smaller buildings to the east and west. In this incarnation of the Polynesian, the resort would form a semi-circle around a lagoon that would have been located approximately where the Ticket and Transportation Center is found today. This version of the Polynesian resort may have been influenced the modern hotels being constructed in the actually Polynesia, specifically in Hawaii.
On April 20, 1969, Disney held a press conference to announce the creation of what would eventually be titled Walt Disney World. Once again the Polynesian Resort was featured. At this time Disney announced that the Polynesian would be one of the resorts "Phase I" resorts along with the Contemporary, Venetian, Asian, and although Persian resorts. Although the resortPolynesian's design was similar to the previously released 1968 version, however the location of the hotel's lagoon's location was now flipped. At this time, Disney also announced that US Steel would be partnering with Disney and Beckett and Associates to build Walt Disney World's hotels using unitized modular construction. The idea behind this new style of construction was that the Polynesian's rooms would be pre-built and then stacked atop one another. The partnership also meant that US Steel would lease the land from Disney, own the hotels, but then license the operation of the hotels back to Disney. This would have allowed Disney to run the hotels, with US Steel financing the construction of the resorts.
According to US Steel's initial plans, the Polynesian was to have 1090 rooms, 250 of which would have their own "private garden patio". The rest of the hotel's rooms would be identical, with every room guaranteed to have a water view. This version of the Polynesian also would have had a South Seas dining room located at the top of the hotel, a diving pool, a fitness center and private bungalows located on the Seven Seas Lagoon.