Changes

===Pre-opening (1966-1971)===

The genesis of what would eventually become Disney's Polynesian Resort began in 1966, as Disney was working on their master plan for the Florida Project. As part of the plans for their expansion into Florida, Disney envisioned a series of "destination" that guests would stay at while vising Disney property. In these early concepts, Disney planned on creating a "South Seas" themed resort, which was to be located east of the Magic Kingdom, unconnected to Bay Lake. This early version of the "South Seas Island" hotel would have featured three main lagoons, each of which served as a hub for a series of canals. The resorts restaurants would have been located on the shore's of these lagoons, with the main restaurant sitting atop a large pier.

The next glimpse of the South Seas hotel came on October 27, 1966 when Walt Disney filmed his EPCOT film. Although the resort itself had not changed, it was now shown as being located on the shores of an extended Bay Lake. Although now a waterside resort, this incarnation of the South Seas retained the lagoons seen in the 1966 plan.

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 Persian resorts. Although the Polynesian'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.