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

[MommyGina]

Sad to hear about Gasparilla's not living up to the high standards as before. The manager should know that there are problems. Issues can't be fixed if management doesn't know. I talked to the manager in the past in Gasparilla's. He was very nice and helpful. My food was cold too. (Many years back). He apologized and replaced my food. He said he was not aware of the issue, and thanks for bringing to his attention.

 

[Aurora0427]

They sent me a very detailed survey and I gave lots of specific feedback about GG. Hopefully it'll get to the right person.

 

[Aurora0427]

Sad to hear about Gasparilla's not living up to the high standards as before. The manager should know that there are problems. Issues can't be fixed if management doesn't know. I talked to the manager in the past in Gasparilla's. He was very nice and helpful. My food was cold too. (Many years back). He apologized and replaced my food. He said he was not aware of the issue, and thanks for bringing to his attention.

It's way more than just cold food. My biggest complaint was the slimmed down menu.

 

[trishadono]

We are finally arriving at he Grand this afternoon. Super excited for our first stay. Fingers crossed the flight goes smooth! I will be sure to share some pics with everyone this week

Cant wait to hear updates!

 

[trishadono]

@trishadono...so happy to meet you!!! As beautiful as your pic and I wish we had more time for a cocktail in SL...next time!!!

And...thanks for all the tips you've been giving me over the last few days!!

You must be having a good time since we haven't heard from you in a while! Enjoy your last full day at The Grand

 

[grannyminnie]

Trish, can you link me to your latest pictures please? I looked several pages back but missed them.

 

[loveshak22]

You must be having a good time since we haven't heard from you in a while! Enjoy your last full day at The Grand

Trish - we have been having fun. And then when back from the parks I've been too tired to get on my phone LOL!

We are spending our last night relaxing in the resort. We were supposed to spend the night at DHS for OL and Fantasmic but it was so humid and crowded, then it started to rain and I was done. I loved the new FP system, except at DHS...horrible. We had a FP to TSMM and the FP line was 30 minutes and wrapped around to where the old Jack Sparrow show was. Really? I asked the CM and he said, 'well, it's better than 90.' He said it jokingly but we decided to skip the ride.

We did Star Tours with a FP and the standby was showing like 10 minutes but the FP line was 10 people long outside the FP scanner still. I asked if standby was quicker and they said no, but we waited at least 10 minutes...and that really didn't bother me too much since I know with FP you can still have some wait time, but I'm not doing 30 minutes for a FP wait LOL!

Anyway, enough about that! I will say that the CMs at SL have been fabulous! And the texting service has been amazing!! I've used it for all sorts of questions, FP changes and my 4th FP...fabulous service!!

One big annoyance - my SIL sent me flowers here for my birthday and they were delivered here on my birthday but they didn't make it over to my room for 2 full days, after returning the call I received about them and asking CL staff twice. I can't take them home with me and she really didn't need to send them, but she did and that was sweet so it would have been nice had they walked them over to our room on my actual birthday to enjoy for the rest of the week here. And, to add to that, it's not like anyone even said Happy Birthday at breakfast or ay our spa check in...LOL! My husband has been spoiled in the past, on his birthdays at other resorts he's gotten a call from Mickey on the voicemail, chocolate, and a card. On my birthday I only got a happy birthday at V&As and my birthday flowers not delivered to my room. I know not to expect anything from Disney but the two times I came with my hubby he always got a little something but, again, that wasn't so much a biggie as I'm making it sound LOL!

I'll try to write a fuller report about our GRAND stay when I'm back this weekend!!

I don't know if I've said it but hugs and thanks to everyone on here for all the help and info over my many, many months of planning!!

Oh - and I'll second @branv that GGs was horrible when I went. There was hardly anything on the menu and I got the flatbread pizza and it was really inedible. I should have complained but didn't. Maybe I'll email when I get home.

 

[loveshak22]

When we were driving out of the resort yesterday, at the entrance it looked like they were starting to replace the flowers with poinsettias.

There are lots of beautiful poinsettas at the entrance to the main building. I don't know if I noticed them elsewhere? They are beautiful!!

 

[McKelly]

Is the tree up yet??

 

[loveshak22]

Is the tree up yet??

Is the tree in the lobby or out front? Sad to say, but I didn't notice one if it is there. The gingerbread house is up but we haven't been back to the lobby since Monday so it may have gone up? I'll look in the morning as we leave.

We were at WL last Saturday and I was hoping their tree would have been up, but it was not.

 

[Sue M]

We were there 10/24-11/2 and felt the same about Gasparilla Grill. We felt like they really leaned out the menu- not very many choices and what they had was not great. I get that the QS restaurants aren't the focus at the deluxe resorts, but when we were there in December 2014, we felt it was better. We used to think Roaring Foarks at WL was the worst, but GG is now our least favorite. We ended up eating at the restaurant by the pool several times instead.

We only went to Gaspys once in August, the day after our (Poly) arrival it closed for renos. So we got 1 meal in. Aug 2014 we were there 2 weeks & it was good. I thought the Aug 2015 renos had to do with improving kitchen, doesn't sound like it :-(

 

[mandy200587]

Our meals were hit or miss at Gaspy's. I felt like in year's past I had been able to get fries but I don't remember that for sure. Fruit selection was down. Didn't see as many cupcake choices either. The pizza was bad compared to captain cooks and pinocchio's(sp?)

 

[branv]

Is the tree up yet??

I didn't notice it in the lobby last night at dinner. But our building lost power for a bit in the middle of the night, so maybe the elves were putting it up, turned it on and blew the circuits

 

[McKelly]

I didn't notice it in the lobby last night at dinner. But our building lost power for a bit in the middle of the night, so maybe the elves were putting it up, turned it on and blew the circuits

Oh, funny. Are you in the main building?

 

[branv]

Our meals were hit or miss at Gaspy's. I felt like in year's past I had been able to get fries but I don't remember that for sure. Fruit selection was down. Didn't see as many cupcake choices either. The pizza was bad compared to captain cooks and pinocchio's(sp?)

Blargh, the pizza! That was one of the things I got. I know the score with pizza: I expect frozen pizza to taste like frozen pizza, Dominoes to taste like Dominoes, etc. I didn't expect this to be anything but food court pizza. But blaaaaaarghh. It was beyond nasty. I ate about 3 bites and tossed it.

However, we've now had breakfast and dinner as the Grill, and it was nice. My eggs Benedict was a little overcooked, but tasted good. My shrimp and grits last night were delish! DHs steak was good, and cooked exactly medium rare (which seems to be darn near impossible for other places to get right lately).

We had two of the most bizarre CM encounters at MK. As in, not just "having a bad day" but, "this person realllly should not be interfacing with others" encounter. Beyond that, our experiences with CMs have been good, and at GF they've been largely amazing. Truly. Even other guests have been super friendly and helpful. Even at the parade!

On a side note: one thing that surprised me about the GF is how busy the lobby had been in the evenings. Then I remembered just how many restaurants it has, plus free dining, plus the gingerbread house, and I wondered if it's always such an active place regardless of those things?

 

[branv]

Oh, funny. Are you in the main building?

We're in Boca Chica.

 

[McKelly]

We're in Boca Chica.

That's the building I requested!

 

[Aurora0427]

On a side note: one thing that surprised me about the GF is how busy the lobby had been in the evenings. Then I remembered just how many restaurants it has, plus free dining, plus the gingerbread house, and I wondered if it's always such an active place regardless of those things?

The lobby is usually busy, but it's MUCH busier once the gingerbread house goes up, and people love taking photos by the tree and listening to the band sing Christmas carols. It'll get even crazier once the tree goes up. We were there in December 2014 and October 2015, and by comparison the lobby in October felt empty!

 

[trishadono]

Trish, can you link me to your latest pictures please? I looked several pages back but missed them.

Gingerbread house :
http://www.disboards.com/threads/di...tion-questions.3336950/page-226#post-54726782

and treats for sale
http://www.disboards.com/threads/di...tion-questions.3336950/page-227#post-54736699

 

[mandy200587]

Blargh, the pizza! That was one of the things I got. I know the score with pizza: I expect frozen pizza to taste like frozen pizza, Dominoes to taste like Dominoes, etc. I didn't expect this to be anything but food court pizza. But blaaaaaarghh. It was beyond nasty. I ate about 3 bites and tossed it.

However, we've now had breakfast and dinner as the Grill, and it was nice. My eggs Benedict was a little overcooked, but tasted good. My shrimp and grits last night were delish! DHs steak was good, and cooked exactly medium rare (which seems to be darn near impossible for other places to get right lately).

We had two of the most bizarre CM encounters at MK. As in, not just "having a bad day" but, "this person realllly should not be interfacing with others" encounter. Beyond that, our experiences with CMs have been good, and at GF they've been largely amazing. Truly. Even other guests have been super friendly and helpful. Even at the parade!

On a side note: one thing that surprised me about the GF is how busy the lobby had been in the evenings. Then I remembered just how many restaurants it has, plus free dining, plus the gingerbread house, and I wondered if it's always such an active place regardless of those things?

That pizza was just bad. I've never went through so much gum to kill the taste ever, I think it had an extra taste of garlic or something but it was bad. It made hunt brothers pizza look like gold.