(2014-2020) Disney's GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA + VILLAS Information & Questions

[pas130]

I am not an annual pass holder right now, but if I could get an AP discount at the GF for our trip in November then I'd buy the pass. We usually only go to Disney every 2-3 years so the pass doesn't make sense, but I may go again next year with my parents. However, even for 2 trips the pass doesn't make sense unless I could get a room discount with it this trip. I call every couple weeks when I see rooms open up at the GF for our week, but so far nothing.

I'd love to get lucky and find 30% off a room in the main building and then switch one ticket package to an AP, which will help if we do go next year. My 45 day mark was last week and I was hoping to see a lot of people cancel and rooms open up. Several rooms did open up but the only AP discount was for the 2 bedroom suite. That's not really a deal for us at $1,500 a night!!

I'm thankful to have Sugarloaf with the 30% not to mention not having to get 2 rooms since it's just DH and I. Honestly if we got RPC I may never leave the main building. Not even for F&w...maybe for MK though

 

[Sue M]

AP :-(. I'm pretty upset about new AP rates too. It's costing $81 more for each regular AP. So for me & Daughter $180 more for renewal. Big deal, it now comes with photopass. You don't need photo pass on each family members ticket. I'd rather they kept price down and left the photo pass as an option. I don't want photo pass.
And for a family of 4 this will add $320 to cost of APs, ugh.
I get it, we're paying for all this park expansion, but this raise in tickets is excessive. IMO.

TIW- won't be getting that anymore. But will be cutting down TS dining.

Ugh . Not happy with this. Next year prob won't renew AP.

I know parking & valet went up too. I'm afraid to see what they do to resort rates and dining costs. Universal is beginning to look pretty good

 

[grannyminnie]

AP :-(. I'm pretty upset about new AP rates too. It's costing $81 more for each regular AP. So for me & Daughter $180 more for renewal. Big deal, it now comes with photopass. You don't need photo pass on each family members ticket. I'd rather they kept price down and left the photo pass as an option. I don't want photo pass.
And for a family of 4 this will add $320 to cost of APs, ugh.
I get it, we're paying for all this park expansion, but this raise in tickets is excessive. IMO.

TIW- won't be getting that anymore. But will be cutting down TS dining.

Ugh . Not happy with this. Next year prob won't renew AP.

I know parking & valet went up too. I'm afraid to see what they do to resort rates and dining costs. Universal is beginning to look pretty good

We don't get APs so this doesn't affect me, however as the ticket prices continue to rise, DL is looking cheaper! lol I know their prices rose recently too, but at Dapper Day, their hotel rates are fabulous (50% off!) and you can purchase affordable tickets too. This is not for everybody, especially given the restricted dates, but it sure is tempting to me and my sis!!

 

[loveshak22]

Did you see this article about tiered ticket prices? http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/tiered-pricing-coming-to-the-u-s-disney-theme-parks/

I don't know how I feel about this? If they use a tiered structure to decrease prices during low seasons to try to shift crowds around I guess that's a plus for people who can travel during those seasons. But if they use it as an excuse to raise already extremely high prices for busy seasons then that's kind of ridiculous given current prices. Also, their strategy for shifting crowds to lower seasons is already working. I mean, hotels and ADRs seem to be booked year round for the most part. I've already seen huge increases in crowds at the end of January. And the September we went was moderate (definitely not low) crowds as well. Now we're going the week before Thanksgiving in anticipation of lower crowds but given the fact that few RO discounts were released and most hotels still seem to be booked and ADRs and FP+ are near impossible to get, I'm not expecting low crowds. I can't even imagine if they incentivize "low" seasons with lower ticket prices as well. I'm sure that will effectively create even less of a chance of going to Disney without fighting good sized crowds.

 

[Dispro1]

Have a safe trip! Good luck getting everything done you need to, you've accomplished half just giving the dog a bath if it was anything like mine use to be.

Dispro- Have a GRAND trip!!

I'm glad I did APs this year, because I think the price is out of my league now (7 total and 5 of us will be Disney adults in 2016)

Hello there my friend!



Thanks for that info TJA ..that's quite a significant savings....



Sounds wonderful........I personally think that Boca Chica is the nicest all around outer building...great views both water and garden...proximity to pool, boat dock..and Narcoosees...yum...lol...Thanks for sharing your experience there...

~Last but certainly not least.....................

Dispro Safe travels!!! Have a wonderful trip!!!!!!!!!!

Hope that all of my fellow GF fans are having a magical Monday!

Thanks for the nice send-off!! I'm still not completely packed, but I feel like I have a pretty good head start I can't say that I'm not nervous about getting everything done, but I know that at 4:15pm, whatever is done is done and whatever is not isn't going to be because it's time to go to the airport! I should be sending some GF pictures your way soon!

 

[pas130]

Thanks for the nice send-off!! I'm still not completely packed, but I feel like I have a pretty good head start I can't say that I'm not nervous about getting everything done, but I know that at 4:15pm, whatever is done is done and whatever is not isn't going to be because it's time to go to the airport! I should be sending some GF pictures your way soon!

Yay!!

 

[Music City Mama]

AP :-(. I'm pretty upset about new AP rates too. It's costing $81 more for each regular AP. So for me & Daughter $180 more for renewal. Big deal, it now comes with photopass. You don't need photo pass on each family members ticket. I'd rather they kept price down and left the photo pass as an option. I don't want photo pass.
And for a family of 4 this will add $320 to cost of APs, ugh.
I get it, we're paying for all this park expansion, but this raise in tickets is excessive. IMO.

TIW- won't be getting that anymore. But will be cutting down TS dining.

Ugh . Not happy with this. Next year prob won't renew AP.

I know parking & valet went up too. I'm afraid to see what they do to resort rates and dining costs. Universal is beginning to look pretty good

I won't need to buy APs again until 2017 (current APs are good through our June 2016 trip), so it will be even more expensive by then, but I totally agree about your point that while PhotoPass is included, not everyone wants/needs that. First of all, I don't even get that every trip anyway, and more importantly to your point, if you were to to get PhotoPass/Memory Maker, you'd only need for one family member to have it, but now I'm basically getting charged for it on 4 family members' tickets. Ridiculous.

Did you see this article about tiered ticket prices? http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/tiered-pricing-coming-to-the-u-s-disney-theme-parks/

I don't know how I feel about this? If they use a tiered structure to decrease prices during low seasons to try to shift crowds around I guess that's a plus for people who can travel during those seasons. But if they use it as an excuse to raise already extremely high prices for busy seasons then that's kind of ridiculous given current prices. Also, their strategy for shifting crowds to lower seasons is already working. I mean, hotels and ADRs seem to be booked year round for the most part. I've already seen huge increases in crowds at the end of January. And the September we went was moderate (definitely not low) crowds as well. Now we're going the week before Thanksgiving in anticipation of lower crowds but given the fact that few RO discounts were released and most hotels still seem to be booked and ADRs and FP+ are near impossible to get, I'm not expecting low crowds. I can't even imagine if they incentivize "low" seasons with lower ticket prices as well. I'm sure that will effectively create even less of a chance of going to Disney without fighting good sized crowds.

I'm not sure how they can track this if you can purchase your tickets in advance -- how will they know when you're going to use them? Maybe just on packages or people who purchase at the gate? Like you said, they already charge higher nightly rates at the resorts during busy seasons, they have less discounts available, and they add peak season surcharges to some types of dining. If they were to then charger higher ticket prices during that time, that would be crazy.

Of all of the changes I've seen made over the years, this increase in APs and TIW (and the potential of the substantial increase in or possibly even tiered MYW tickets), this is the one I've seen the most people upset about -- even the most faithful customers.

Well, at least I've got the GF to look forward to next month!

 

[loveshak22]

I won't need to buy APs again until 2017 (current APs are good through our June 2016 trip), so it will be even more expensive by then, but I totally agree about your point that while PhotoPass is included, not everyone wants/needs that. First of all, I don't even get that every trip anyway, and more importantly to your point, if you were to to get PhotoPass/Memory Maker, you'd only need for one family member to have it, but now I'm basically getting charged for it on 4 family members' tickets. Ridiculous.



I'm not sure how they can track this if you can purchase your tickets in advance -- how will they know when you're going to use them? Maybe just on packages or people who purchase at the gate? Like you said, they already charge higher nightly rates at the resorts during busy seasons, they have less discounts available, and they add peak season surcharges to some types of dining. If they were to then charger higher ticket prices during that time, that would be crazy.

Of all of the changes I've seen made over the years, this increase in APs and TIW (and the potential of the substantial increase in or possibly even tiered MYW tickets), this is the one I've seen the most people upset about -- even the most faithful customers.

Well, at least I've got the GF to look forward to next month!

No clue! The article says that's how it's done in Disney Paris so it sounds like they have some way to control the tickets. Maybe you won't be able to buy in advance and use them anytime but can only use them in approved months - so Blue tickets are good for January- February and September so if you buy them in advance you can only use them those months?

My DH doesn't usually think twice about Disney "politics" (for lack of a better word), but last night he randomly said, "Did you see that Disney is getting some negative attention in the press because of how expensive they've gotten?" I didn't ask him where he read that but I just laughed and said, "you don't need to tell me." But I should have asked him where he read that. He usually checks out several news sites a day but he isn't ever looking for Disney news so there must have been an article in the mainstream media. I'll go look for it.

 

[loveshak22]

My DH probably saw an article similar to this one: http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/05/news/companies/disneyland-disney-world-passes/

I saw the posts about the AP price increasing but wow - over $1,000 at DL for the pass with no blackout dates!! Ouch!!

 

[trishadono]

Thanks for the nice send-off!! I'm still not completely packed, but I feel like I have a pretty good head start I can't say that I'm not nervous about getting everything done, but I know that at 4:15pm, whatever is done is done and whatever is not isn't going to be because it's time to go to the airport! I should be sending some GF pictures your way soon!

Did you purposely not pack until late so to "forget" something and have to go to the mall you love so much???

Have some nice fall fun at the World!

 

[Music City Mama]

No clue! The article says that's how it's done in Disney Paris so it sounds like they have some way to control the tickets. Maybe you won't be able to buy in advance and use them anytime but can only use them in approved months - so Blue tickets are good for January- February and September so if you buy them in advance you can only use them those months?

My DH doesn't usually think twice about Disney "politics" (for lack of a better word), but last night he randomly said, "Did you see that Disney is getting some negative attention in the press because of how expensive they've gotten?" I didn't ask him where he read that but I just laughed and said, "you don't need to tell me." But I should have asked him where he read that. He usually checks out several news sites a day but he isn't ever looking for Disney news so there must have been an article in the mainstream media. I'll go look for it.

Ahhhhh, I see how that could possibly work. Well, I'm not going to polish up on it too much because it might not even come to fruition. Also, I had to laugh at: I didn't ask him where he read that but I just laughed and said, "you don't need to tell me." That sounds like a conversation that would go down between DH and me!

 

[Sue M]

Did you see this article about tiered ticket prices? http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/tiered-pricing-coming-to-the-u-s-disney-theme-parks/

I don't know how I feel about this? If they use a tiered structure to decrease prices during low seasons to try to shift crowds around I guess that's a plus for people who can travel during those seasons. But if they use it as an excuse to raise already extremely high prices for busy seasons then that's kind of ridiculous given current prices. Also, their strategy for shifting crowds to lower seasons is already working. I mean, hotels and ADRs seem to be booked year round for the most part. I've already seen huge increases in crowds at the end of January. And the September we went was moderate (definitely not low) crowds as well. Now we're going the week before Thanksgiving in anticipation of lower crowds but given the fact that few RO discounts were released and most hotels still seem to be booked and ADRs and FP+ are near impossible to get, I'm not expecting low crowds. I can't even imagine if they incentivize "low" seasons with lower ticket prices as well. I'm sure that will effectively create even less of a chance of going to Disney without fighting good sized crowds.

Yeah, I wouldn't bet on them lowering price, only raising prices during high seasons like they did with resort rate seasons, and then weekend rate.
Sad they are pricing people out of the market. All the while having parks half empty because of construction.
They are late to the party with park upgrades. One only has to walk thru Universal to see they've out done Disney in technology in rides. Now Disney is trying to catch up. They already have record profits, don't know why they have to price goudge more

 

[grannyminnie]

Yeah, I wouldn't bet on them lowering price, only raising prices during high seasons like they did with resort rate seasons, and then weekend rate.
Sad they are pricing people out of the market. All the while having parks half empty because of construction.
They are late to the party with park upgrades. One only has to walk thru Universal to see they've out done Disney in technology in rides. Now Disney is trying to catch up. They already have record profits, don't know why they have to price goudge more

Biting the hand that feeds them, I call it!

 

[MommyGina]

Hi GF Friends! I must be losing my mind. Did this thread change places again? So glad to see that many have trips planned to the GF. Still no trips planned in our future, but one can always hope!

Have a magical day!

 

[princessap]

Thank you….

 

[VbChristy]

Yeah, I wouldn't bet on them lowering price, only raising prices during high seasons like they did with resort rate seasons, and then weekend rate.
Sad they are pricing people out of the market. All the while having parks half empty because of construction.
They are late to the party with park upgrades. One only has to walk thru Universal to see they've out done Disney in technology in rides. Now Disney is trying to catch up. They already have record profits, don't know why they have to price goudge more

I was at an event last night and a rep from universal said they are spending 10 billion dollars in add'l expansion at Universal. They are going to take over Disney...

I had a thought about tickets last night. If I can find an extra $700 I can pre buy my tickets for 2017. We will likely need a 4 day kid ticket then and a 4 day adult ticket. I have to decide if I need a park hopper. My DH has an AP for this next year and my son is free for our next trip since he will be just under 3.
So I can prebuy 2017 and it will cost less. If they do tiered ticketing, I don't think they can deny those that have already purchased them... Hmmmm...

 

[Dispro1]

Good morning from the lovely GF!! Here are some of those pictures that I promised
And from the pool yesterday...
And Wishes from the balcony last night...

 

[dina7]

Dispro 1, what building are you staying in, Sugarloaf? Enjoy every minute!

 

[TJA]

Good morning from the lovely GF!! Here are some of those pictures that I promisedView attachment 127570View attachment 127571
And from the pool yesterday...View attachment 127574
And Wishes from the balcony last night...View attachment 127575

Yay!! You're there! Thanks so much for posting the pictures. Please remind me of what type of room you have. We are standard room RPC in March and I'm trying to get a grip on what view to request or if I should just let it fall into their hands. This will be our first RPC stay . Can't wait to read all about your stay!!

 

[mexi]

Good morning from the lovely GF!!

Thank you for sharing those beautiful photos. Have a great time!