Momof2Disneyboys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
Hello!
My family and I just got back Sunday from 2 nights at the Grand Floridian Sugarloaf Club Level and 5 nights at the Polynesian, standard room. So I thought I would offer up my thoughts and opinions on both. With lots of pics too!
As far as Disney Deluxe resorts we have stayed at: The Boardwalk Inn and really liked it. The Beach Club and didn't have such a great experience. And the Polynesian Club Level and it was our most absolute favorite ever!!
I will start with the GF since that's where we started out. We arrived on Sunday December 9th. We had an early flight into Orlando and were taking the ME bus to the GF. We walked through an empty ME line and up to the front and stood there for less than about 3 minutes and then were escorted to a waiting bus. It was about half full. A few more people loaded after us and we were on our way in about 10 minutes. The driver then informed us that the bus would be making 4 stops and the GF would be last. This was the start of many long bus rides and resorts sharing the buses for us. I'm not even sure how long the ME bus ride was. The stops at the WL & Poly went quickly, but we were at the CT for what seemed like forever.
When we finally got to the GF it was about 10:30am. We were met by a CM who was then going to escort us to the Sugarloaf building which is the outer club level building. She also had a Bellman load our luggage onto a cart and was going to store it. She then informed us that our room was not ready. (This seems to be a theme for us with the Deluxe resorts. When we used to stay Moderate our rooms were ready early every single time.) Well, we had arrived from PA and were all in jeans. I informed her that we were going to head to a park since our room wasn't ready and we would need to change first, so I didn't want them to take our luggage away just yet. She looked at me confused. I found it hard to believe that we were the first people to ever need to change clothes if the room wasn't ready. So I asked her where we should go. We were still standing outside the front entrance at this point. She pointed to the right of the main building and said there are changing rooms back there. So I grabbed what we each needed and we headed back. I didn't know that she meant the changing rooms out by the pool! So that took forever, since there was no direct route to them and the way she directed us was out and around the main building and we had to follow the fence and couldn't get across before it ended.
So we got that all taken care of and she then proceeded to take us through the main building, pointing out features along the way. And out the back and over to the Sugarloaf building. She told us to wait at a table in the lounge and she went and got our keys and packet and said that we would get a text later when the room was ready. I told her I had made some room requests and asked if they were noted. They were not. Which is odd since they should have been on my ressie, plus I had talked to IPO via email about them. So she informed the CM at the CL desk of my requests of 3rd floor, daybed, and marina view.
We headed off to AK. I got a text at about 3:30 saying our room was ready! It was room 6315. We were pleased when we got back to find that all our requests were met!! After going back down to get a second set of room keys because the first ones didn't work. They said it was a computer glitch. The room itself was very nice. Bright and clean. The balcony was nice and good sized and the view was beautiful.
Mousekeeping was great. No complaints there. As was turndown service. All the CM's were very friendly.
Club Level was nice, but noisy. The food was about the same as we had experienced at the Poly in 2011, with a few differences. I would say that the Poly puts on a better evening/appetizer service, but the GF wins for desserts/snacks. They had the best sugar cookies and very good chocolate covered strawberries! When you walked out of our room it overlooked down into the lounge. So we got a lot of noise from that. People talking and carrying on and it echoed right up into the room. I could always hear forks banging off of plates. And one night there was a very loud bang in the middle of the night. Still not sure what that was. So I didn't get a lot of sleep there. If we ever returned I would ask for a room down one of the halls and away from the lounge. One evening we saw a very large family all demanding drink after drink from the poor CL CM. She would give them each 2 at a time and they kept her running back and forth. They were very loud and obnoxious. I wonder if there is ever a point where the CM's will shut them off??
Transportation was not the best. The GF always shared buses with the Poly and at least one other resort, either the CT and/or the WL. It is kind of ridiculous that the most expensive resorts have the longest bus rides. The ride to/from DTD was the worst. And AK and DHS weren't far behind. We never did use the boats. The monorail was good for the most part. Other than a few holdups and the night it was closed completely.
Had no real meals there because Gasparilla's was still closed.
The courtyard pool that was supposed to open back up in mid December was still closed and still is now. And is now said to open in the spring. They never once worked on it when we were there. So no construction noise there. The beach pool was open and it is very nice. But not quiet by any means. Between all the DVC construction noise and the noise that now comes from the Alice in Wonderland water play area for the kids, it is quite noisy there.
They had a movie screen set up each night right outside the courtyard pool construction walls. The kids enjoyed it! There was pin trading and mario cart from 6-7 and then a movie at 7.
The lobby was just as beautiful as always. Although much more crowded than usual due to the gingerbread house and the holidays I suppose. They even had a photopass photographer set up by the giant Christmas tree in the center of the lobby. Very nice. All the shops and restaurants were busy all the time.
Overall it was a nice little stay I guess. Would have been much better if the pool and food court were open. And if we had been able to sleep a little better! We have visited the GF several times in the past and even spent a few hours out on the beach there just relaxing one evening on our Aug 2011 trip. I loved the atmosphere then. So peaceful and elegant and tranquil. With there being absolutely no beach access right now and all the construction at the DVC, I didn't feel that the atmosphere was even close to being the same. Plus the new water play structure. I'm sure some of that peaceful atmosphere will be back one day when they are done with all the construction, but I'm not sure it will ever be the same as it was before. I'm glad we got to stay there and give it a try, I'm not sure if we will stay there again in the future though. DH did not love it at all. I liked it a lot more than him. But for us, nothing tops the Poly!
One more thing I will add When we were getting ready to move to the Poly my DH called down to arrange for Bell Services to come up and help us with our luggage. They asked if we were taking the ME bus or a cab or what. He said we were moving to the Poly, but we didn't want to send our luggage separately, and asked if there was anyway to get us over there with our luggage. She told him no, that WDW could transport our luggage and it would be to the Poly by 1:00 or 2:00. He said that we didn't want to do that, so we would just need help down to the front and we would get a cab. When the Bellman came up he asked us if we needed to go out to the ME bus stop and we said actually we are moving over to the Poly and needed to go down and have someone call us a cab. And he said well I can just take you over there on my golf cart if you want!! So that very nice man made himself a very generous tip that day!
Guess that's it. Let me know if you have any questions! I have LOTS of pics of the GF to share. And will also be doing my Poly review here too!
My family and I just got back Sunday from 2 nights at the Grand Floridian Sugarloaf Club Level and 5 nights at the Polynesian, standard room. So I thought I would offer up my thoughts and opinions on both. With lots of pics too!
As far as Disney Deluxe resorts we have stayed at: The Boardwalk Inn and really liked it. The Beach Club and didn't have such a great experience. And the Polynesian Club Level and it was our most absolute favorite ever!!
I will start with the GF since that's where we started out. We arrived on Sunday December 9th. We had an early flight into Orlando and were taking the ME bus to the GF. We walked through an empty ME line and up to the front and stood there for less than about 3 minutes and then were escorted to a waiting bus. It was about half full. A few more people loaded after us and we were on our way in about 10 minutes. The driver then informed us that the bus would be making 4 stops and the GF would be last. This was the start of many long bus rides and resorts sharing the buses for us. I'm not even sure how long the ME bus ride was. The stops at the WL & Poly went quickly, but we were at the CT for what seemed like forever.
When we finally got to the GF it was about 10:30am. We were met by a CM who was then going to escort us to the Sugarloaf building which is the outer club level building. She also had a Bellman load our luggage onto a cart and was going to store it. She then informed us that our room was not ready. (This seems to be a theme for us with the Deluxe resorts. When we used to stay Moderate our rooms were ready early every single time.) Well, we had arrived from PA and were all in jeans. I informed her that we were going to head to a park since our room wasn't ready and we would need to change first, so I didn't want them to take our luggage away just yet. She looked at me confused. I found it hard to believe that we were the first people to ever need to change clothes if the room wasn't ready. So I asked her where we should go. We were still standing outside the front entrance at this point. She pointed to the right of the main building and said there are changing rooms back there. So I grabbed what we each needed and we headed back. I didn't know that she meant the changing rooms out by the pool! So that took forever, since there was no direct route to them and the way she directed us was out and around the main building and we had to follow the fence and couldn't get across before it ended.
So we got that all taken care of and she then proceeded to take us through the main building, pointing out features along the way. And out the back and over to the Sugarloaf building. She told us to wait at a table in the lounge and she went and got our keys and packet and said that we would get a text later when the room was ready. I told her I had made some room requests and asked if they were noted. They were not. Which is odd since they should have been on my ressie, plus I had talked to IPO via email about them. So she informed the CM at the CL desk of my requests of 3rd floor, daybed, and marina view.
We headed off to AK. I got a text at about 3:30 saying our room was ready! It was room 6315. We were pleased when we got back to find that all our requests were met!! After going back down to get a second set of room keys because the first ones didn't work. They said it was a computer glitch. The room itself was very nice. Bright and clean. The balcony was nice and good sized and the view was beautiful.
Mousekeeping was great. No complaints there. As was turndown service. All the CM's were very friendly.
Club Level was nice, but noisy. The food was about the same as we had experienced at the Poly in 2011, with a few differences. I would say that the Poly puts on a better evening/appetizer service, but the GF wins for desserts/snacks. They had the best sugar cookies and very good chocolate covered strawberries! When you walked out of our room it overlooked down into the lounge. So we got a lot of noise from that. People talking and carrying on and it echoed right up into the room. I could always hear forks banging off of plates. And one night there was a very loud bang in the middle of the night. Still not sure what that was. So I didn't get a lot of sleep there. If we ever returned I would ask for a room down one of the halls and away from the lounge. One evening we saw a very large family all demanding drink after drink from the poor CL CM. She would give them each 2 at a time and they kept her running back and forth. They were very loud and obnoxious. I wonder if there is ever a point where the CM's will shut them off??
Transportation was not the best. The GF always shared buses with the Poly and at least one other resort, either the CT and/or the WL. It is kind of ridiculous that the most expensive resorts have the longest bus rides. The ride to/from DTD was the worst. And AK and DHS weren't far behind. We never did use the boats. The monorail was good for the most part. Other than a few holdups and the night it was closed completely.
Had no real meals there because Gasparilla's was still closed.
The courtyard pool that was supposed to open back up in mid December was still closed and still is now. And is now said to open in the spring. They never once worked on it when we were there. So no construction noise there. The beach pool was open and it is very nice. But not quiet by any means. Between all the DVC construction noise and the noise that now comes from the Alice in Wonderland water play area for the kids, it is quite noisy there.
They had a movie screen set up each night right outside the courtyard pool construction walls. The kids enjoyed it! There was pin trading and mario cart from 6-7 and then a movie at 7.
The lobby was just as beautiful as always. Although much more crowded than usual due to the gingerbread house and the holidays I suppose. They even had a photopass photographer set up by the giant Christmas tree in the center of the lobby. Very nice. All the shops and restaurants were busy all the time.
Overall it was a nice little stay I guess. Would have been much better if the pool and food court were open. And if we had been able to sleep a little better! We have visited the GF several times in the past and even spent a few hours out on the beach there just relaxing one evening on our Aug 2011 trip. I loved the atmosphere then. So peaceful and elegant and tranquil. With there being absolutely no beach access right now and all the construction at the DVC, I didn't feel that the atmosphere was even close to being the same. Plus the new water play structure. I'm sure some of that peaceful atmosphere will be back one day when they are done with all the construction, but I'm not sure it will ever be the same as it was before. I'm glad we got to stay there and give it a try, I'm not sure if we will stay there again in the future though. DH did not love it at all. I liked it a lot more than him. But for us, nothing tops the Poly!
One more thing I will add When we were getting ready to move to the Poly my DH called down to arrange for Bell Services to come up and help us with our luggage. They asked if we were taking the ME bus or a cab or what. He said we were moving to the Poly, but we didn't want to send our luggage separately, and asked if there was anyway to get us over there with our luggage. She told him no, that WDW could transport our luggage and it would be to the Poly by 1:00 or 2:00. He said that we didn't want to do that, so we would just need help down to the front and we would get a cab. When the Bellman came up he asked us if we needed to go out to the ME bus stop and we said actually we are moving over to the Poly and needed to go down and have someone call us a cab. And he said well I can just take you over there on my golf cart if you want!! So that very nice man made himself a very generous tip that day!
Guess that's it. Let me know if you have any questions! I have LOTS of pics of the GF to share. And will also be doing my Poly review here too!
I hope it was helpful. 
We might consider renting a car next time. We have never wanted to do that, but I'm thinking it might come to that...
I think it might have been much faster to just walk into the restrooms by 1900 PF and change. 
I remember you looking at me funny and saying we're leaving!! 
