Is the Grand Floridian "worth it"

[grimley1968]

Originally Posted by blackacex2

Poly isn't an option because it's even more money than the GF and the contemporary garden view room doesn't appeal to my wife.

Our dates would be something like Sat-Wednesday at Grand Floridian, and Wednesday-Saturday at the Swan and Dolphin.

Here is the cost breakdown:

GF Garden View Spring Room Offer 4/13-4/17 $1,953

Swan 4/17-4/20- AAA rate + 1 night free starwood points= $476

Total- $2,249 for 7 nights or $347 per night

Another option would be 4/13-4/14 at the Swan and 4/14-4/20 at the boardwalk villas for $1,984. Total $283 per night

Finally, we could stay all 7 nights at the Swan for $1,428 or $204 (that includes the resort fee)

I just looked at the Disney website, and for non-discounted rooms at GF and Poly, the Poly is less expensive than GF, though both are quite expensive. For the Poly to be more expensive than GF, the only way would be some kind of unevenly-applied discount, and you'd have to be getting a much bigger discount percentage on GF than on Poly. I'd check out the Poly again, making sure to select a standard (garden) view room.

But having said that, I'd stick with one place for the week. I've had to do split stays in the past, and I've always hated having to switch resorts mid-week. A lot of time is wasted in the process of moving. The Swan probably wouldn't be a bad place to be for a week.

[blackacex2]

Wow the GF is a very divisive place! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the bwv. Maybe we will just stay in a studio at bwv (6 nights at $1,900 direct through Disney) instead of the grand Floridian for 4 nights and swan for 3.

Ahhh decisions!

[ford91exploder]

Originally Posted by blackacex2

We are leaning toward that 1 bedroom at boardwalk, but we would be renting DVC points and it is contingent on getting a standard vs preferred view. Waiting to hear back from someone about it right now.

A choice between a outbuilding at GF vs 1 BR any view, Take the 1 BR far more comfortable than the GF outbuilding, I would only stay in the GF main building especially during winter season.

[ford91exploder]

Poly is a much more popular resort and it has great pools and amenities, The GF is more on the order of a grand hotel and has amenities that one would expect at a grand hotel i.e. high end retail. GF is where celebs and people with Money with a bold face capital M.

You would never see Stitch at the GF, (they don't let his type in ) Mary Poppins yes

I've been there I like it, I've also been to the Del Coronado in California which is where Disney got the idea for the place. But to me the GF just seems like another 5 star hotel - not DISNEY if you know what I mean. The Poly on the other hand just exudes Disney atmosphere. (And has Stitch) which is important for DW.

Originally Posted by grimley1968

I just looked at the Disney website, and for non-discounted rooms at GF and Poly, the Poly is less expensive than GF, though both are quite expensive. For the Poly to be more expensive than GF, the only way would be some kind of unevenly-applied discount, and you'd have to be getting a much bigger discount percentage on GF than on Poly. I'd check out the Poly again, making sure to select a standard (garden) view room.

But having said that, I'd stick with one place for the week. I've had to do split stays in the past, and I've always hated having to switch resorts mid-week. A lot of time is wasted in the process of moving. The Swan probably wouldn't be a bad place to be for a week.

[Missyrose]

OP, what happened to being happy at Bonnet Creek while you saved up for DVC?

[bethclayton]

i am surprised to see a few other people feel the same way that i do... that the GF main building is a great place to stay, but the outer buildings, less so. i can't really explain it other than to say i felt cast off in the outer buildings or something. i have wondered if the problem is that we stayed in RPC on our first visit, and an outer building the next time. all i know is that i just did not like staying in the outer building at all. dh and i both agree that any time we can swing main building, that is our first choice in all of disney. but if not, then we would prefer not to stay at the GF at all.

[blackacex2]

I've decided against purchasing DVC, too much of a cash outlay for us and we don't have a significant amount of savings to begin with. As for bonnet creek, we've done it 3 years in a row and we just need to try something new.

It's a bit of a splurge, but this will be a great chance to see some of the best DVC has to offer and decide if it's worth the extra money vs bonnet creek etc.

We're currently contemplating 5 nights in a 1 bedroom preferred view at BWV Sat-Thurs for $2,101 ($11 a point) and then a quick night stay at the Swan to cap everything off ($250 for one night and one night free with starwood points)

I think that will make for a pretty incredible trip. No, it's not staying at bonnet creek for $580 for six nights, but if all we ever look at is cost we will never do anything else because it's always going to be way cheaper than just about any other option

[Cadyrose]

I maybe going against the grain but we loved it.

We went in December for a short 3 night/4 day trip to celebrate the holidays. We were in Conch Key-garden view on the first floor (ended up being a marina view).

I understand the stuffy feeling cause I thought we didn't belong there when we did 1900 park in August of 2011. But GF is the epitome of a holiday hotel in WDW so when we got a room discount, we couldn't pass it down.

First my husband and I are far from rich. We both work in schools (I'm a SpEd aide and he's a custodian). We work overtime and extra jobs just to afford our splurges to Disney. That being said, not once did we feel treated any different and in fact we thought the GF staff went above and beyond for our trip.

We were celebrating our daughter's 9th birthday as well and we got an in room surprise with each child receiving a stuffed animal, balloons, a signed card plus coloring books and crayons. The next day we came back to a special delivery of a heart shaped chocolate box that said Happy Birthday in gold lettering and was filled with M&M type chocolates....but better!

We were close to the boat dock and it was so great just jumping on to either head to MK or coming back. Honestly the coming back was better after a long day in the parks cause we were in our room in under 10 minutes of arriving at the dock to leave MK.

And since it was a short trip we did MK on our last day (flight was at 8pm) and got to make the most of our park time rather than factor in time waiting for a bus than the travel. We easily got an extra 30-40 minutes on the park before heading back for ME.

Would we do it everytime? No and definitely not without a decent room discount. But we would without hesitation go back and thought it was fabulous. We just need to finish trying out other resorts like my much awaited Poly!

[dana278]

I stayed at the GF a few times when I was younger and I remember loving it. However, when I started researching for my upcoming trip (first in about 15 years) I started with the GF and wrote them off almost immediately simply based on their room decor. Everything just looks so outdated. I would have no problem splurging and paying to stay there again if the rooms were remodeled and refreshed.

[2belles'mom]

We just returned from a terribly disappointing stay at the GF. We had wanted to stay there for many years, and finally did this trip. I soooo wish we had stayed the entire time at AKL!

The biggest problem is the construction of the villas, and other contstruction. The Garden pool was gutted, so no access, no hot tubs. Worse, the beach pool was a little concrete patch surrounded by construction panelling and construction--no view of the beach, the lagoon, etc. Just noise and mess. Terrible beyond description! The spa was also closed.

Beyond that, the service was horrible, the worst I have ever had at a Disney Resort!

If you really want to go, save it for a different trip, when construction is finished. You will at least have a pretty property.

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We just stayed there one night and we were not impressed. The room decor was old victorian. The phone in the bathroom was from the 1970's. We stayed using DVC points and glad we did not pay cash.

What you to remember is it worth paying the high price to have some place to sleep since most of the time you will be out and about.

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

If we are talking worth.....we did not find it worth it when we stayed at YC(not the BWV but within the same area). Swan and Dolphin are right next door with the same bus service, more eateries, same location within walking/boating to Epcot and DHS and for much less money.

I am not a fan of split stays as we prefer to unpack and chill until the sad day of repacking before the plane trip home. IF I were to do a split stay, it would make more sense to split between an Epcot area resort and a MK area resort. That being said, GF is more costly than the Poly. Were you comparing garden views at both resorts or were some categories or discounts not offered for your dates? Poly is by far our favorite resort.

If you do end up doing a BWV/Swalphin split, I would start at the Swalphin and end at BWV because it will be hard to go from a larger space to a smaller space AND you can finish up your laundry at BWV so that you are not taking home dirty clothes.

JMTC

[Robbi]

Originally Posted by blackacex2

Thanks for the great responses. We are really considering it! Just had a offer to possibly stay at a 1 bedroom at boardwalk villas for 6 nights for a little less money than 4 nights at the GF, so now it's even harder to decide!

Take the offer! Our home resort is BWV and we love it!

The GF, in my opinion, is only worth it if you stay Royal Palm Court in the main building. And really, that's not worth the money either but you're in the main building where the action is, LOL.

[blackacex2]

I can't seem to find any poly prices that are not around $500 a night anywhere on the Disney website. It's just too darn expensive for us. We also priced out the 1 bedroom bwv preferred view and decided even at $11 a point $432 a night is too expensive when bonnet creek is across the street and has larger rooms for about $90 a night.

We are right now considering 2 nights at swan and 5 at bonnet creek 1 bedroom. That will save us $1,600 vs bwv 1 bedroom. I love disney a whole lot, but for $1,600 I'll drive to the resorts and hang out and take the 3 minute drive back to bonnet creek. For $1,600 I can buy a pro level dslr camera and lenses to capture our memories.

We considered old key west because renting points there is quite affordable for a studio, but without having visited it we just don't know for sure if we would like it better than wyndham bonnet creek 1 bedroom. Saratoga springs is an option too but I really don't know what to make of SSR, the place seems almost off-site

[2belles'mom]

We have stayed at Bonnet Creek twice (for the same reasons you are considering...just couldn't swallow the price difference!) and loved it. It really is quite beautiful. We were there for New Year's 2010, and from the hot tub we saw the fireworks from MK, HS and Epcot! It was amazing.