A Grand Vacation: The 2012 Grand Floridian FAQ!

[davale4]

Well, we did it! We surprised our kids on the last day of school this week- and we told them we are going to Disney this month! It was thee most awesome and magical surprise I have ever planned! ( I can't believe we kept it a secret for so long- I'm so proud of myself! LOL)

I decorated our dining room in Mickey Mouse colored crepe paper, made a big sign, and when I woke them up I told them I had a special last day of school breakfast planned (I made mickey pancakes, and had Donald duck OJ!), and I told them to come downstairs together....

My husband told me when they were on their way, so when he gave me the signal, I began to play "When you Wish Upon a Star"...when they walked into the dining room for their breakfast that morning, I said, "G an R, today is your last day of school, what are you going to do next?!?!" and my daughter yelled, "We're going to Disney World!" (meanwhile my son who is 7 is laughing not realizing what is happening) and I say, "WE ARE! WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD"!!! My daughter , who is 11, breaks down into tears, saying, "We are??? We're going to Disney???" It was thee most awesome moment EV-ER!!!! My son yells, "Did we win the lottery or something???"

I took video and need to find a way to share! It was probably one of the most awesome moments I have ever experienced being a parent. Everyone (besides my silly 7 year old LOL) was crying! It was great! I am so happy I went above and beyond to make it a special surprise!

The kids were so excited to go to school and tell all their friends and teachers about their big surprise, and now we are counting down the days until we go!

Grand Floridian- See Ya Real Soon!!!

How awesome!!! Made me tear up reading it! Have a wonderful trip.

 

[BayGirl22]

i would like an outer building, non cl, boca chica or conch key? i am having a hard time finding balcony pics from boca chica?

If you go just a few pages back I posted a few pics of the room I was in in Boca Chica last month. It was non CL, considered a "Lagoon View" room and we had a pretty good view of MK. Its a corner room with a bit of additional space and 2 balconies, just behind Gasparillas. We were upgraded from a Garden View so its worth asking for if you are not paying for a view.

 

[Sue M]

I know, it will be a happy day when those walls are finally gone!

It sure will!!

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Ok... We have have gone back and forth on staying at YC or GF. We have pretty much decided on GF. MY question is..... I hear that even though being on the monorail For MK is wonderful, transportation to other parks is lacking. I don't think this will be a deal breaker for us by any means, and we will be spending a lot of time at MK but I was wondering what others have experienced.

 

[GaBelle]

Ok... We have have gone back and forth on staying at YC or GF. We have pretty much decided on GF. MY question is..... I hear that even though being on the monorail For MK is wonderful, transportation to other parks is lacking. I don't think this will be a deal breaker for us by any means, and we will be spending a lot of time at MK but I was wondering what others have experienced.

I didn't find bus transportation to be bad. GF shares busses with the WL, but I didn't have any issues.

 

[phyllis1966]

Ok... We have have gone back and forth on staying at YC or GF. We have pretty much decided on GF. MY question is..... I hear that even though being on the monorail For MK is wonderful, transportation to other parks is lacking. I don't think this will be a deal breaker for us by any means, and we will be spending a lot of time at MK but I was wondering what others have experienced.

You are going at my favorite time of year! We always stay at the GF, and have never really had any complaints about the bus or monorail systems, and while we have had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to DHS, we have never waited longer than 10 minutes for the monorail (even that has been rare). The longest wait we have, consistently, is on the day when we visit AK, and we eat at Boma first, so we take the monorail to MK to catch the bus to AKL - it always seems to take FOREVER!

No complaints about transportation while at the GF, though...have fun!

 

[sydneysmom]

Good morning everyone!!! I wanted to post a quick trip report for anyone who's going soon.... we got back on June 8th from the GF and it was AMAZING.

Our trip started off not so great...we had someone at the front desk that must have started their Disney career about 10 minutes before we got there. We booked a king room on the phone when we made our reservation, and he told us at the desk that we had a king room but it wasn't ready. (oh, and we did online checkin and nothing was ready) So we went to the parks, had some fun and headed back.... we were in a room w/ 2 queens. We called downstairs, the moved us to a king room. Except that it had 2 queens. So we called the room person again....she said she would find us a king and would call us back. She finally called back and said they had a room w/ a king. They moved us to Sugar Loaf! It was awesome!! My daughter loved it because it was like 'all the cookies you can eat'. We were on the second floor overlooking the pool. It was a little loud at night, but we loved it. It never seemed to hinder us falling asleep!!

We spent one entire day at the beach pool...for anyone concerned about the construction noise, don't be concerned. You totally forget about the construction when you're at the pool. Really. It's not an issue at all... to be honest, the clanging of the Alice in Wonderland kiddie area was louder than the construction!

The parks were hot and crowded and seemed to get more crowded as the week went on. (which is why we started the last morning at Epcot and left and came to the pool for the rest of the day!)

We ate at Narcoosee's (amazing!!!) and the GF Cafe for breakfast on the grounds. For anyone that is going to the GF Cafe for breakfast, I cannot stress enough how absolutely amazing the citrus pancakes are. I had to take a picture and send it to my mom because I knew she'd appreciate it. They were perhaps the best pancakes in all the land!!

We ate at Be Our Guest for dinner and I wish that we had made another reservation for dinner during our stay.... it was just that terrific. There is so much to see and you feel just like you've stepped into the movie!! Via Napoli was our favorite lunch...so much so that we cancelled San Angel and booked Via Napoli for a second day! 50's Prime Time was our most favorite dinner (outside of Be Our Guest). What an incredibly fun time that was!!!

We had Tropical Storm Andrea join us, and actually didn't know we were having that until my mom texted me to see if we were okay! We were in Epcot w/ ponchos.... the storm kind of cleared the park a little bit.... Rock n Rollercoaster was still over an hour and a half wait, so we didn't get to do that. The best part of that day was at the Wreck it Ralph meet and greet in the Animation dept. There was a service dog w/ a woman in a wheelchair getting their picture. Well, when the dog saw Ralph, he was rolling over, playing, trying to bite Ralph's big hands. It was truly such a beautiful thing to watch the joy that dog had!! It just goes to show you, Disney can bring out the joy in ANYONE!!!

The monorail ran without any issue during our week. The boat was a welcome treat at night back from MK. The buses all ran just fine and we really didn't have much of a wait at all. One morning though, there were 8 Animal Kingdom buses all in a row.... as you can guess, we were heading to Hollywood Studios! All in all, the GF was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. Thanks to everyone here for all your wonderful tips and ideas and sharing your trips... I hope this will help someone who is going to be going to the GF.... it won't disappoint you. It's pure Disney Magic!

 

[mickeynut1]

Good morning everyone!!! I wanted to post a quick trip report for anyone who's going soon.... we got back on June 8th from the GF and it was AMAZING.

Thanks for your report and congrats on the upgrade . Glad you had a great time....the GF is an amazing resort .

 

[Lulu'sMom]

Ok... We have have gone back and forth on staying at YC or GF. We have pretty much decided on GF. MY question is..... I hear that even though being on the monorail For MK is wonderful, transportation to other parks is lacking. I don't think this will be a deal breaker for us by any means, and we will be spending a lot of time at MK but I was wondering what others have experienced.

ITA with everyone else about the bus transportation as we never waited long for a bus!
And IMO, having stayed at these resorts 50+ times, the GF is KING.
Just depends on what kind of vacation experience you are wanting, that's all.

How awesome!!! Made me tear up reading it! Have a wonderful trip.

I know! MagicPrincess, you and your family have a fabulous vacation at the GF! Thank you for sharing your touching story!

Good morning everyone!!! I wanted to post a quick trip report for anyone who's going soon.... we got back on June 8th from the GF and it was AMAZING.

Our trip started off not so great...we had someone at the front desk that must have started their Disney career about 10 minutes before we got there. We booked a king room on the phone when we made our reservation, and he told us at the desk that we had a king room but it wasn't ready. (oh, and we did online checkin and nothing was ready) So we went to the parks, had some fun and headed back.... we were in a room w/ 2 queens. We called downstairs, the moved us to a king room. Except that it had 2 queens. So we called the room person again....she said she would find us a king and would call us back. She finally called back and said they had a room w/ a king. They moved us to Sugar Loaf! It was awesome!! My daughter loved it because it was like 'all the cookies you can eat'. We were on the second floor overlooking the pool. It was a little loud at night, but we loved it. It never seemed to hinder us falling asleep!!

We spent one entire day at the beach pool...for anyone concerned about the construction noise, don't be concerned. You totally forget about the construction when you're at the pool. Really. It's not an issue at all... to be honest, the clanging of the Alice in Wonderland kiddie area was louder than the construction!

The parks were hot and crowded and seemed to get more crowded as the week went on. (which is why we started the last morning at Epcot and left and came to the pool for the rest of the day!)

We ate at Narcoosee's (amazing!!!) and the GF Cafe for breakfast on the grounds. For anyone that is going to the GF Cafe for breakfast, I cannot stress enough how absolutely amazing the citrus pancakes are. I had to take a picture and send it to my mom because I knew she'd appreciate it. They were perhaps the best pancakes in all the land!!

We ate at Be Our Guest for dinner and I wish that we had made another reservation for dinner during our stay.... it was just that terrific. There is so much to see and you feel just like you've stepped into the movie!! Via Napoli was our favorite lunch...so much so that we cancelled San Angel and booked Via Napoli for a second day! 50's Prime Time was our most favorite dinner (outside of Be Our Guest). What an incredibly fun time that was!!!

We had Tropical Storm Andrea join us, and actually didn't know we were having that until my mom texted me to see if we were okay! We were in Epcot w/ ponchos.... the storm kind of cleared the park a little bit.... Rock n Rollercoaster was still over an hour and a half wait, so we didn't get to do that. The best part of that day was at the Wreck it Ralph meet and greet in the Animation dept. There was a service dog w/ a woman in a wheelchair getting their picture. Well, when the dog saw Ralph, he was rolling over, playing, trying to bite Ralph's big hands. It was truly such a beautiful thing to watch the joy that dog had!! It just goes to show you, Disney can bring out the joy in ANYONE!!!

The monorail ran without any issue during our week. The boat was a welcome treat at night back from MK. The buses all ran just fine and we really didn't have much of a wait at all. One morning though, there were 8 Animal Kingdom buses all in a row.... as you can guess, we were heading to Hollywood Studios! All in all, the GF was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. Thanks to everyone here for all your wonderful tips and ideas and sharing your trips... I hope this will help someone who is going to be going to the GF.... it won't disappoint you. It's pure Disney Magic!

Oh! What a start to a great end! So happy you ended up in Sugar Loaf!
And your vacation sounded so magical! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Jennygt]

Do they have the same activities for the kids at both pools? Is there a slide at either pool? Thanks~

 

[dfarner]

Good morning everyone!!! I wanted to post a quick trip report for anyone who's going soon.... we got back on June 8th from the GF and it was AMAZING.

Our trip started off not so great...we had someone at the front desk that must have started their Disney career about 10 minutes before we got there. We booked a king room on the phone when we made our reservation, and he told us at the desk that we had a king room but it wasn't ready. (oh, and we did online checkin and nothing was ready) So we went to the parks, had some fun and headed back.... we were in a room w/ 2 queens. We called downstairs, the moved us to a king room. Except that it had 2 queens. So we called the room person again....she said she would find us a king and would call us back. She finally called back and said they had a room w/ a king. They moved us to Sugar Loaf! It was awesome!! My daughter loved it because it was like 'all the cookies you can eat'. We were on the second floor overlooking the pool. It was a little loud at night, but we loved it. It never seemed to hinder us falling asleep!!

We spent one entire day at the beach pool...for anyone concerned about the construction noise, don't be concerned. You totally forget about the construction when you're at the pool. Really. It's not an issue at all... to be honest, the clanging of the Alice in Wonderland kiddie area was louder than the construction!

The parks were hot and crowded and seemed to get more crowded as the week went on. (which is why we started the last morning at Epcot and left and came to the pool for the rest of the day!)

We ate at Narcoosee's (amazing!!!) and the GF Cafe for breakfast on the grounds. For anyone that is going to the GF Cafe for breakfast, I cannot stress enough how absolutely amazing the citrus pancakes are. I had to take a picture and send it to my mom because I knew she'd appreciate it. They were perhaps the best pancakes in all the land!!

We ate at Be Our Guest for dinner and I wish that we had made another reservation for dinner during our stay.... it was just that terrific. There is so much to see and you feel just like you've stepped into the movie!! Via Napoli was our favorite lunch...so much so that we cancelled San Angel and booked Via Napoli for a second day! 50's Prime Time was our most favorite dinner (outside of Be Our Guest). What an incredibly fun time that was!!!

We had Tropical Storm Andrea join us, and actually didn't know we were having that until my mom texted me to see if we were okay! We were in Epcot w/ ponchos.... the storm kind of cleared the park a little bit.... Rock n Rollercoaster was still over an hour and a half wait, so we didn't get to do that. The best part of that day was at the Wreck it Ralph meet and greet in the Animation dept. There was a service dog w/ a woman in a wheelchair getting their picture. Well, when the dog saw Ralph, he was rolling over, playing, trying to bite Ralph's big hands. It was truly such a beautiful thing to watch the joy that dog had!! It just goes to show you, Disney can bring out the joy in ANYONE!!!

The monorail ran without any issue during our week. The boat was a welcome treat at night back from MK. The buses all ran just fine and we really didn't have much of a wait at all. One morning though, there were 8 Animal Kingdom buses all in a row.... as you can guess, we were heading to Hollywood Studios! All in all, the GF was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. Thanks to everyone here for all your wonderful tips and ideas and sharing your trips... I hope this will help someone who is going to be going to the GF.... it won't disappoint you. It's pure Disney Magic!

Glad you had a great trip! Thanks for the trip report. I have a question about construction. I know you said that noise wasn't an issue, but what about how the construction area looks? There were pictures posted on another site, and it just looks so ugly! I hate to say it, because we have stayed at the Grand and love it. I know the rest of the resort seems to be unaffected by this, but what about the beach pool area? Is it just a sight for sore eyes? And I'm assuming the walls are still up around that area?

 

[Candy Orlando]

Good morning everyone!!! I wanted to post a quick trip report for anyone who's going soon.... we got back on June 8th from the GF and it was AMAZING.

Our trip started off not so great...we had someone at the front desk that must have started their Disney career about 10 minutes before we got there. We booked a king room on the phone when we made our reservation, and he told us at the desk that we had a king room but it wasn't ready. (oh, and we did online checkin and nothing was ready) So we went to the parks, had some fun and headed back.... we were in a room w/ 2 queens. We called downstairs, the moved us to a king room. Except that it had 2 queens. So we called the room person again....she said she would find us a king and would call us back. She finally called back and said they had a room w/ a king. They moved us to Sugar Loaf! It was awesome!! My daughter loved it because it was like 'all the cookies you can eat'. We were on the second floor overlooking the pool. It was a little loud at night, but we loved it. It never seemed to hinder us falling asleep!!

We spent one entire day at the beach pool...for anyone concerned about the construction noise, don't be concerned. You totally forget about the construction when you're at the pool. Really. It's not an issue at all... to be honest, the clanging of the Alice in Wonderland kiddie area was louder than the construction!

The parks were hot and crowded and seemed to get more crowded as the week went on. (which is why we started the last morning at Epcot and left and came to the pool for the rest of the day!)

We ate at Narcoosee's (amazing!!!) and the GF Cafe for breakfast on the grounds. For anyone that is going to the GF Cafe for breakfast, I cannot stress enough how absolutely amazing the citrus pancakes are. I had to take a picture and send it to my mom because I knew she'd appreciate it. They were perhaps the best pancakes in all the land!!

We ate at Be Our Guest for dinner and I wish that we had made another reservation for dinner during our stay.... it was just that terrific. There is so much to see and you feel just like you've stepped into the movie!! Via Napoli was our favorite lunch...so much so that we cancelled San Angel and booked Via Napoli for a second day! 50's Prime Time was our most favorite dinner (outside of Be Our Guest). What an incredibly fun time that was!!!

We had Tropical Storm Andrea join us, and actually didn't know we were having that until my mom texted me to see if we were okay! We were in Epcot w/ ponchos.... the storm kind of cleared the park a little bit.... Rock n Rollercoaster was still over an hour and a half wait, so we didn't get to do that. The best part of that day was at the Wreck it Ralph meet and greet in the Animation dept. There was a service dog w/ a woman in a wheelchair getting their picture. Well, when the dog saw Ralph, he was rolling over, playing, trying to bite Ralph's big hands. It was truly such a beautiful thing to watch the joy that dog had!! It just goes to show you, Disney can bring out the joy in ANYONE!!!

The monorail ran without any issue during our week. The boat was a welcome treat at night back from MK. The buses all ran just fine and we really didn't have much of a wait at all. One morning though, there were 8 Animal Kingdom buses all in a row.... as you can guess, we were heading to Hollywood Studios! All in all, the GF was just as beautiful as we remembered it to be. Thanks to everyone here for all your wonderful tips and ideas and sharing your trips... I hope this will help someone who is going to be going to the GF.... it won't disappoint you. It's pure Disney Magic!

Great trip report! We will be there for a week in Dec. and week in Jan. my family will have to try those citrus pancakes.

 

[cgulls]

Ok... We have have gone back and forth on staying at YC or GF. We have pretty much decided on GF. MY question is..... I hear that even though being on the monorail For MK is wonderful, transportation to other parks is lacking. I don't think this will be a deal breaker for us by any means, and we will be spending a lot of time at MK but I was wondering what others have experienced.

When we were there in April GF shared buses (to AK and HS and for ME to/from MCO) with CR and Poly. We never waited very long either to or from.

To get to Epcot, we took the monorail to the TTC and changed to the Epcot monorail. If we didn't have the 8-year old's little legs with us, we might have walked to the TTC and taken the Ecpot monorail from there.

Cabs are also very easy to find.

YC/BC are obviously fabulous for Epcot and HS because they're walking distance from both. But nothing beats the super short water taxi from MK back to GF!

 

[cgulls]

Do they have the same activities for the kids at both pools? Is there a slide at either pool? Thanks~

Beach Pool has a slide (you can YouTube search for Grand Floridian Beach Pool slide to get see it). Courtyard Pool does not have a slide.

When we were there in April, the only kids' games were at the Courtyard Pool. I suspect this will change (or may already have) when all the beachfront construction walls come down by the Beach Pool.

 

[bdklein]

we might have walked to the TTC and taken the Ecpot monorail from there.

Not the most conventional way to go, but I like to take the boat from the GF to the Poly, and then walk to the TTC for the Epcot monorail.

Cabs are also very easy to find.

When leaving the GF, if no bus in sight, taxi to HS or AK. Time is money. But bus back if no rush.

But nothing beats the super short water taxi from MK back to GF!

100% agree

 

[davale4]

Ever since we stayed at the GF RPC we were spoiled. We have not stayed anywhere else ever since. Last year we went on a Fantasy Cruise and thought it was a good idea to try different deluxe hotels pre and post-cruise. We tried the BWI pre-cruise and lilked it, but didn't LOVE it. Post-cruise we tried the BC CL and we were extremely disappointed. We will not be staying there ever again! Well, this year we have to be in FL for non-disney reasons and we have added our vacation to that, and we are staying at the GF RPC. It will be a total surprice for our DD and DS who love the GF. I told my husband I was not able to book RPC so it will be a surprise for him as well. He said he's happy just being at the Grand. I can't wait to see their faces

 

[mickeynut1]

Ever since we stayed at the GF RPC we were spoiled. We have not stayed anywhere else ever since. Last year we went on a Fantasy Cruise and thought it was a good idea to try different deluxe hotels pre and post-cruise. We tried the BWI pre-cruise and lilked it, but didn't LOVE it. Post-cruise we tried the BC CL and we were extremely disappointed. We will not be staying there ever again! Well, this year we have to be in FL for non-disney reasons and we have added our vacation to that, and we are staying at the GF RPC. It will be a total surprice for our DD and DS who love the GF. I told my husband I was not able to book RPC so it will be a surprise for him as well. He said he's happy just being at the Grand. I can't wait to see their faces

Congrats on booking RPC. I know exactly how you feel. Having stayed WL CL, GF SL, and GF RPC, RPC is my favorite. There are other CLs I want to try, but I'm worried they won't live up to RPC and I won't like them as much.

 

[Tink rules]

Just remember that sometimes the CM's are on the college program... or they may have come from another resort to fill in if needed... always try to understand...

 

[Lulu'sMom]

Congrats on booking RPC. I know exactly how you feel. Having stayed WL CL, GF SL, and GF RPC, RPC is my favorite. There are other CLs I want to try, but I'm worried they won't live up to RPC and I won't like them as much.

The only other one worth trying, in MHO, are the CR CLs. The 14th Tower Club has the best service for a CL on property. The Atrium Club in also nice and is on the same level as the Poly CL which is a tad below the ones you have listed.

Now, if you have the money to blow, you need to try the others so you can say you've done them all. Like me, and I've done them all, some at least 12 times.

But, mickeynut, for someone that hasn't stayed at the others, your insight from the research on these boards, etc, comes out in your posts!

 

[Lulu'sMom]

Just remember that sometimes the CM's are on the college program... or they may have come from another resort to fill in if needed... always try to understand...

You're right, but the bulk of the gold star CL will have their newbies trained AND have someone right be their side.
I had a problem at BC CL last year and this new CM took care of it and didn't miss a beat! You can be sure I told her supervisor and wrote a letter to the GM of the BC.