A Grand Vacation: The 2012 Grand Floridian FAQ!

[cgulls]

When we were at GF last week, we could see on the DVC building that many of the sliding glass doors had been installed on the new building. So, progress.

 

[pixie921]

The article was interesting. I did definitely pick up a tone of bitterness towards the GF, and its guests. Strange. I do have to say, though, that we stayed in an RPC room last April that faced the Beach Pool, and it was really aggravating to have the jackhammering start first thing in the morning. Made it hard to enjoy the balcony. I agree that some kind of rate reduction/goodwill gesture might've been something Disney should've been considering during this time, but if bookings are still up, I suppose there is no incentive for them to do it.

 

[bluejasmine]

God that article was ridiculous! I can't believe they published that! That whole bit about GF being full of ppl who can't afford to stay but you can fit in with your $40 LV bought at your neighborhood purse party there really ticked me off! I mean bitter & jealous much? I have only been able to afford to stay at GF one time & it was absolutely amazing!!

I can't always afford to stay deluxe but if there is a pretty decent discount we do! I've stayed GF CL, Poly CL 2x, CR CL, BC CL b/c my husband prefers this, he has a very very laborous job so he likes to be pampered on vacation & we not only use discounts but save all yr long for these trips, & splurge very little at home in fact we go out to eat MAYBE once a week a lot of times not any!

This Sept we will be at WL wish I could afford CL but we are lucky we are even going, I lost my job back in Aug & became a Disney TA working from home plus my mom wanted to do something nice for us so I'm very grateful & I certainly took offense to that snarky, bitter, extremely obnoxious article!!

Ok down off my soap box I go!! Lol

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[thisismyusername]

Yikes. Is that noise going on all day long? We have a cabana reservation in early June at the Beach Club pool. I'm kind of rethinking it if the pool's that noisy--I think we'd be better off headed over to the Courtyard pool instead and saving the $125 on the cabana. WWYD?

 

[phyllis1966]

Yikes. Is that noise going on all day long? We have a cabana reservation in early June at the Beach Club pool. I'm kind of rethinking it if the pool's that noisy--I think we'd be better off headed over to the Courtyard pool instead and saving the $125 on the cabana. WWYD?

On our trip this past October, we sprang for a cabana for the first time ever, and we loved it! It will be a new tradition for us. However, the construction is so close that I really don't think it would be money well spent to rent a cabana at this time - not with that amount of noise.

 

[BayGirl22]

I totally agree- I thought the same exact thing when I read the article- very snarky and sarcastic.
I can't wait- 60 days!!!

I guess people here don't read EasyWDW on a regular basis? Josh's style is very snarky, that's part of his charm. He's a Disney fan but does point out the ironies and the negative points. Given that I follow him I didn't read his GF comments as negative, just as a joking comment. He jokes a lot about the deluxes in general, but also compliments them. I agree with his points about the transportation, it really should be smooth when you are paying for a deluxe.

Not everyone is into that kind of humor and reviewing style, but he has many loyal followers. And he seems to keep stopping by the GF and talking about it, which means he likes it there.

ETA: Its not an article or formal review, its more like a blog post, so read in that context - one individual's opinion.

 

[MagicPrincess]

No I don't read it on a daily basis. I've been to the GF before so I know what to expect. Perhaps someone who is still on the fence and stumbles across his article may get the wrong impression not knowing he is being sarcastic.

 

[MagicPrincess]

I do agree with him about the transportation.

 

[sydneysmom]

No I don't read it on a daily basis. I've been to the GF before so I know what to expect. Perhaps someone who is still on the fence and stumbles across his article may get the wrong impression not knowing he is being sarcastic.

I agree with you on this one... if you read the people's comments below, people are kind of like "oh, I'd never go there, it's all snooty and pretentious". Well, if you've never been and you read an article like this, it immediately puts a bad taste in your mouth for this resort. But that's okay.... it's not for everyone. And while he might be joking around, if you're writing for "the masses", you kind of have to expect that someone other than a regular might read your article.

 

[cgulls]

God that article was ridiculous! I can't believe they published that! That whole bit about GF being full of ppl who can't afford to stay but you can fit in with your $40 LV bought at your neighborhood purse party there really ticked me off! I mean bitter & jealous much? I have only been able to afford to stay at GF one time & it was absolutely amazing!!

I can't always afford to stay deluxe but if there is a pretty decent discount we do! I've stayed GF CL, Poly CL 2x, CR CL, BC CL b/c my husband prefers this, he has a very very laborous job so he likes to be pampered on vacation & we not only use discounts but save all yr long for these trips, & splurge very little at home in fact we go out to eat MAYBE once a week a lot of times not any!

This Sept we will be at WL wish I could afford CL but we are lucky we are even going, I lost my job back in Aug & became a Disney TA working from home plus my mom wanted to do something nice for us so I'm very grateful & I certainly took offense to that snarky, bitter, extremely obnoxious article!!

Ok down off my soap box I go!! Lol

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

There is no "they" who published that. It's his own blog. Josh is snarky but he's not bitter. If you look through lots of his other posts, he's really funny. If he's not describing you, there's no need to take it personally. And as a TA, surely you can see and share with your clients the good and the bad of WDW resorts.

His site really does have some very cool reviews and photos. And in 2010 he rated the GF as the best overall Deluxe resort at WDW.

http://www.easywdw.com/category/disneybest/bestresorts/

 

[baler31]

There is no "they" who published that. It's his own blog. Josh is snarky but he's not bitter. If you look through lots of his other posts, he's really funny. If he's not describing you, there's no need to take it personally. And as a TA, surely you can see and share with your clients the good and the bad of WDW resorts.

His site really does have some very cool reviews and photos. And in 2010 he rated the GF as the best overall Deluxe resort at WDW.

http://www.easywdw.com/category/disneybest/bestresorts/

This. He is a very nice in person. My kids tweeted him and he took time to meet up with them in the park and take photos (as did Kenny the Pirate) the tone is just his style and most of his statements have a bit of truth to them though they are designed to inflame.

We love the GF and I don't take his statements personally. Although I do agree about the transportation. Even the boat transportation has been very spotty and slow lately.

We took an unplanned trip two weeks ago when my husband had to leave our spring break for a business crisis.

We decided to go to Disney instead (we have AP;s) and save that trip with him for summer. We booked our trip and arrived in Disney two days later. We enjoyed GF just as much but did not like the new courtyard pool. The monorails and boats were very slow this trip and we have been several times over Christmas so we understand busy times.

Just to give hope to everyone looking for ADR's we got every reservation we wanted the day before (I assume they were cancellations) with no problems.

I will see if I have any worthy photos to post. I took one photo of the construction are only because it looked like a water feature that would connect to the beach pool and I had not heard anything about that.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

There is no "they" who published that. It's his own blog. Josh is snarky but he's not bitter. If you look through lots of his other posts, he's really funny. If he's not describing you, there's no need to take it personally. And as a TA, surely you can see and share with your clients the good and the bad of WDW resorts.

His site really does have some very cool reviews and photos. And in 2010 he rated the GF as the best overall Deluxe resort at WDW.

http://www.easywdw.com/category/disneybest/bestresorts/

Josh is a raving lunatic who is almost always smashed on scotch! Just look at the logo on his blog! Avoid his advice or you will have VACATION RUINED AND MEMORIES LOST.

 

[GaBelle]

Josh is a raving lunatic who is almost always smashed on scotch! Just look at the logo on his blog! Avoid his advice or you will have VACATION RUINED AND MEMORIES LOST.

I think that's a bit much.

As a PP said, Josh is a blogger with tons of fans- and I most definitely am one of them. I love his snarky comments. I LOLd at his GF piece.
Josh, if you read this, I got your back lovey!

 

[BayGirl22]

I think that's a bit much.

As a PP said, Josh is a blogger with tons of fans- and I most definitely am one of them. I love his snarky comments. I LOLd at his GF piece.
Josh, if you read this, I got your back lovey!

For a moment I thought I was the only Josh fan on the board. And yes, his actual reviews of the GF are very positive. I didn't chose to stay at the GF (going for a conference) but reading his review convinced me I was going to the perfect place. How can you not make a snarky comment after taking that noisy video?

Anyway, since many here aren't familiar with the site thought I'd point out two handy tools he just released, both free:
Cheat Sheets for touring each park that are so simple even an anti-planner can follow them: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/
Super fast loading simple website with line times and FP return times: http://www.easywdw.com/waits

 

[jecon]

I just received an email from my Travel Agent that was sent to her from the Concierge Itinerary Planning Office. My ADR day is on Sunday. Do concierges have more pull in getting ADR's for concierge guests? Wondering if if makes a difference.

Unfortunately NO in my experience. that's my only gripe about CL

 

[thisismyusername]

On our trip this past October, we sprang for a cabana for the first time ever, and we loved it! It will be a new tradition for us. However, the construction is so close that I really don't think it would be money well spent to rent a cabana at this time - not with that amount of noise.

Thanks! I wonder if anyone who's been there now or recently has any thoughts? Does that noise go on all day long? I hate to cancel based upon one blog post from one day, but, on the same hand, I don't want to regret $125 either...

 

[MagicPrincess]

Unfortunately NO in my experience. that's my only gripe about CL

Same here! I asked the other day if they were able to make a difficult ADR for us, and unfortunately they couldn't. Bummer!

 

[pezaddict231]

Really? I felt when we stayed Club level that they really did have some extra pull. They got everything we wanted at the times we wanted. We even had a bunch of large group reservations and it was not a problem. Even when we had changes it wasn't an issue. We were also able to get an illuminations cruise which I have never been able to get even calling right at the time the lines opened on our ADR day. We had a great experience using IPO.

 

[kohler2009]

Unfortunately NO in my experience. that's my only gripe about CL

Thanks! After much back and forth, I decided to let them do our ADR's. I keep telling myself it will beat getting up at 5:45am on Sunday. Fingers crossed!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[kohler2009]

Really? I felt when we stayed Club level that they really did have some extra pull. They got everything we wanted at the times we wanted. We even had a bunch of large group reservations and it was not a problem. Even when we had changes it wasn't an issue. We were also able to get an illuminations cruise which I have never been able to get even calling right at the time the lines opened on our ADR day. We had a great experience using IPO.

This is great to hear! I am really hoping they come through for us. I was pretty excited when they made me a reservation at T-Rex for the last day of my trip when I called earlier this week. Anxiously waiting to see the results on Sunday!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards