Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island to close to make way for new Cars expansion

In this week's episode, Shannon and Peter discuss the surprising news that Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America will close to transform into the new Cars area announced at D23. Other news include new details of the pool and restaurant at the Island Tower at Disney's Polynesian Resort and a new name for the EPCOT Member lounge. N164 My DVC Points is proudly sponsored by: DVC Resale Market - Industry Leader in DVC Resales DVC Rental Store - DVC Point Rentals Monera Financial - Exclusively Financing DVC Contracts Patreon supporters in the My DVC Points VIP Producer Club. More details about the Island Tower Disney Parks Blog revealed more details on the new Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, which is scheduled to open on December 17th. The tower's restaurant will be called the Wailulu Bar & Grill, featuring both indoor and outdoor seating. Disney describes the restaurant as a casual walk-up pool bar with an all-day menu serving lunch and dinner.  Specialty coffee and on-the-go morning pastries will be available for breakfast. The tower will also feature the Cove Pool and a splash pad called Moana’s Voyage with a sculpture of Moana and her raft.  As seen in the blueprints, but now fully defined, the resort will have four tropical terrace gardens. Each terrace garden will feature vibrant artwork, lush foliage and uniquely themed seating areas. Disney also shared that these oases will have picturesque views, including Seven Seas Lagoon for firework viewing. Source: Disney Parks Blog Closure of Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America for new Frontierland attractions Shortly after the D23 announcement of new attractions coming to Walt Disney World, Disney Parks Blog released a concept image of the two new Cars themed attractions. The image and post confirmed Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America would be replaced to make room for the new attractions. Together, these new additions Construction is expected to start sometime next year.  Source: Disney Parks Blog, Blog Mickey  EPCOT DVC lounge renamed The Disney Vacation Club lounge at EPCOT is being rebranded by Disney as Disney Vacation Club ImaginAtrium - A Member Lounge. Currently the closure of the lounge has lasted longer than planned, with no re-opening date announced. Disney has shared that the lounge will receive a new paint scheme, as well as a new exhibit of archival photos.  Source: DVC News Strong July Direct Sales Disney Vacation Club sold a total of 206,000 points in the month of July, and over 109,000 of those points were for Disney's Riviera Resort. Riviera is now 68% sold and 79% of the resort is declared into inventory.  The Villas at Disneyland Hotel came in second with 35,000 points sold, followed by Disney’s Old Key West Resort with just under 27,000 points. The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort continue to lag, with only 6,500 points sold in July. This number is an increase from the last two months, but the resort is only 1.5% sold after 5 months on the market.  Source: DVC News My DVC Points is a fantastic community of DVC members. Our cheerful, respectful, and authentic conversations about Disney Vacation Club are designed to help people make informed and educated decisions about what's best for their families. Please join us in continuing our Facebook group and YouTube channel conversations. It takes an incredible community of DVC members to produce our content. We're always recruiting people to help research, produce, edit, or join our shows to share their stories. Thus far, we've had over 400 DVC members on our shows. If our content has been a blessing to your family, please consider supporting our show through our VIP Producer's Club at Patreon.com and join us for the Patreon After-Party from our live shows. Facebook admins and moderators of the My DVC Points Community Group: Sandy Symianick, Gina Grotsky, Shannon For