Just back from Sugar Loaf concierge at the GF

[*123JOANNA123*]

We had a wonderful week at the GF over a week ago (spent another week at the beach in Naples, so I'm only back to work now).

The GF is a wonderful hotel- so beautiful and it's location with the kids was great- we got into the MK early (8 or 9am) walked on every ride, then were back at the pool by 11am. We had quite a bit of rain, so it was great to be able to get back and dry off.

GF was lovely, the concierge lounge was nice and overall the staff were pleasant, courteous and helpful. There were a couple who were a little whiney (I really don't care to hear that you've been rostered to work the Friday before your cousins wedding even though you asked to work the Thursday). I also overheard some CM's laughing about an email (that I hope hadn't been sent by a previous guests). They were really sneering about it- I just found it a little unprofessional. I got to meet Clarke from planning who was a real sweetie and soo nice.

Food- Breakfast was great- bagels, croissants, cereal boxes, muffins, danishes, coffee, tea juice, milk.

Lunch- spinach and artichoke dip, goat cheese and pepper dip, hummous, breadsticks, cookies, chocolate brownies, fruit platter

Afternoon tea- Cookies, trifle, warm scones, fruit tartlets, chocolate brownies.

Evening- Smoked duck breast, stuffed chicken, dips (as mentioned before), crudites, fruit platter, marinated vegetables.

The food was nice, but it got a little boring when you're there for 7 days- you really wouldn't notice if you were only there a couple of days.

Mousekeeping were nothing special- we asked to have our rooms made up early and they usually complied, but sometimes we'd get back at 3 or 4 and they hadn't been done. On the other hand, turndown seemed to be really early- like 4.30-5pm- usually when you were back in your room getting ready to go out for the evening- not a big deal to me, but I know some people really like the turndown service and thought I'd mention it. Also, if you expect more from mousekeeping than fresh towels and your bed made up, you may be disappointed.

We ate at Citrico's and Narcoosee's and both were wonderful. The hotel was fully booked out, but I didn't find it crowded at all- there was always plenty of space around the pool, lots of towels and loungers. There were 500 interns from PriceWaterhouseCoopers there for a couple of days and judging by the noise one night, I'd say they could give the cheerleaders at Allstars a run for their money

Overall, a great stay- I'm including the negative bits just to be objective (I know how detail orientated most trip planners are, so it's best to give the story warts and all), but nothing ruined my trip. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to get a trip report posted at the weekend,

Joanna

 

[claudia]

Thanks for posting about SugarLoaf. We are going in December and I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay for the most part. Many of the posts that I have read on this board and others were not to0 "uplifting" and I was seriously considering changing our room....now I feel relieved.

 

[magicmouse2]

The food offerings sound much nicer than the 'crackers and cheese' that I read about
Glad you enjoyed your stay
We arrive on September 21st. Do you go to the main building to check in or right to the Sugar Loaf Buildng ? We will be having luggage transferred from OKW.
Oh and was the room nice ?

 

[Janet2k]

*123JOANNA123*, welcome home! And I'm glad that you had a lovely time at the GF. Thanks for writing about the good and the not so good. It's always nice to hear a fellow Diser’s honest opinion. By the way, where was your room located, what was its view, etc.? Will you be posting any photos from your trip?

 

[PghDisney]

Thank you very much for this post, we go to GF-SL this sunday, the 31st (hard to believe so few days), our first time in concierge so I have been watching the various posts with interest to see what to expect. For one the food offerings sound to be much more than I expected . . . I mean quality, not quantity . . . *chuckles* . . .that was a 100+ post topic before . . . but duck, trifles, tea, scones etc. will definately go a long way to making one feel pampered after a long day at the parks . . . and I promise as well a report, and yes, will try to take some pictures while there . . . btw, what room did you have, what view? . . . marina or garden, what floor? . . . I am interested how you liked the rooms . . . and again thank you again for the wonderful post.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Welcome back! Glad you enjoyed your stay.

I'm tempted to stay at the GF SLC next January. It sounds like recently many people have been having great stays there. What view did your room have? Did you like it?

 

[TammiMcMan]

Wonderfully objective review of the GF. Did you notice if the Cafe is open for dinner? I really miss that being an option for dining after 3pm.

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

(cali-d, Janet, Pgh-disney)
We stayed in (I think) rooms 6226 and 6228 on the second floor, right at the end of the building overlooking the courtyard at the Narcoosee's end. We had connecting rooms, one had two queens and one had a kingsize (6226, I think). I'll recheck those room numbers with dh.

The rooms were great- nice balconies and plenty of space. They were decorated in cameo(?) theme- there were small illustrations of tinkerbell and the fairies from sleeping beauty (among others) on the bedspreads and the wallpaper in the bathroom and vanity area was of topiary Mickey, Donald and Goofy bushes. I have some photos of the room on my digital, which I'll try to get posted- or I can email them to someone if they pm me their email addy (don't have them hosted anywhere right now).

(Magicmouse)
When we arrived (at around 7.45pm), we were dropped off across the road from the main entrance. The guy coming to meet us was nabbed by another car which arrived at the same time, so we had to wait a while to get our bags moved. I decided to go ahead and check in without the bags and crossed the road and proceeded into the main entrance. I was stopped by the bellcaptain who knew my name and said that they were expecting us! He took us directly to the concierge lounge where we were all checked in.

(Tammi)
The cafe was definitely not open for dinner- we ate lunch there and really enjoyed it. They are rehabbing the exterior of the cafe, so the windows are all covered in sheeting and the veranda is boarded off. Maybe when the rehab is finished, they'll open it up for dinner. You are very limited for evening dining- you either go way upmarket at Citrico's and Narcoosee's or eat fast food at the Gasparilla Grill- you are right- they need that sort of cafe option for a casual meal.

Claudia and PGH- have a great stay at the GF- I'm so jealous and would love to be back there!

Joanna

 

[cinmell]

Thank you for posting about your stay, I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation.

 

[ducklite]

Joanna--Glad you had a great trip! It sounds like some of the problems that were being experienced are slowly being corrected.

The "little problems" you describe are the things that make me crazy though It just seems that the "Flagship" resort would be a little more on the ball with housekeeping, available valet/bell services staff (first impressions count a LOT!), and "stage presence" of the staff.

I agree with you that the rooms are large and spacious I"ve always had the Alice Theme, someday maybe I'll stay there and request a room with the cameo theme though

Anne

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

Anne- I totally see what you are saying- my mother, who was staying with us, doesn't exactly have the Disney rose colored specs that I have. She was on a constant "for a 4 * resort, you would think that....." loop. You are so right that there really shouldn't be any 'little problems' when you stay in a resort of that calibre.

BTW- in reference to our previous restaurant discussions, I'll be hopefully posting some restaurant overviews some time over at the weekend. We ate at Citrico's, Narcoosee's, Chefs de France, California Grill, Flying Fish, Sci-Fi dine in and Brown Derby!

 

[ducklite]

Great! Can't wait to read them!

Anne

 

[Janet2k]

Originally posted by *123JOANNA123*

I decided to go ahead and check in without the bags and crossed the road and proceeded into the main entrance. I was stopped by the bellcaptain who knew my name and said that they were expecting us! He took us directly to the concierge lounge where we were all checked in.

They are rehabbing the exterior of the cafe, so the windows are all covered in sheeting and the veranda is boarded off.

Joanna

WOW! In all my GF stays, I have always had to check-in at the Front Desk, I have never been greeted by a concierge CM or been escorted up to the RPC lounge. I am IMPRESSED (I hope this is now the norm for the GF -- they must be trying to keep up with the Animal Kingdom Lodge ).

In regards to the veranda being boarded up, can you not walk on the veranda all the way to Gasparilla Grill? Any idea when the veranda will be unboarded? I will be at the GF in October and was looking forward to sitting outside on the veranda in my wheelchair.

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

That's such a shame that you didn't get the special check-in, Janet- even when we got the upgrade last year, someone came out to take us out to concierge to check in.

I'm not sure if you can walk along the veranda directly outside the cafe or not. I'll have a look at my video and see if I can work it out. To my memory, I think you can still walk underneath the boarding.I would imagine it will be finished by October.

Hope you have a great stay!

 

[GeekChic]

Thank you so much for your review, we're staying at GF in SL for the first time ever next month and we are surprising Dad with concierge as a thank you for all the trips he's given us over the years...I hope it'll be a wonderful surprise for him!

I'm sad to hear that the Cafe is being refurbed (we had our wedding luncheon there almost five years ago) but I realize it has to be done sometime...otherwise things just get more worn out and that's not too 'four star' either...am glad they're keeping things up there!

Thanks again and please post any other details you can remember...

 

[ducklite]

Janet2k--You're not the only one. We also had to check in at the front desk, and then haul our own luggage--they didn't have any bell services people available and we would have had to wait for an "indeterminable period of time" for assistance. We'd also have to find the concierge building on our own, the concierge staff was too busy with "A VIP group" to assist us. And that's the way my concierge visit began at the GF. It didn't get any better

Anne

 

[hookedup]

Joanna -
We too had an overall wonderful stay at the GF (remember we were there at SL during the same time) I love the GF and it will continue to be one of my favorite resorts at WDW.
That being said I don't think that I will stay at the Concierge there again - or at ANY WDW resort again. Having done it a few times I found it not to be worth the extra money. We were at the Swan CL prior to the GF and I found the Swan to have a much better breakfast than at the GF. I don't try to feed my family on concierge food - I love being able to get a cup of coffee and pastry in the morning, some cereal and juice for ds and a bagel for dh - but the fact the Swan's breakfast offerings were much better, more plentiful, etc than the GF just reinforced the fact that I don't think concierge is worth the money. I realize I am not paying a premium just for the food alone but also for the "service" offered.

Regarding service - we were escorted to our building for a concierge check in. The CM's who were in concierge were not great. During our check in process they were having an argument about the fact that one was supposed to have been checking us in but was on the phone and the other one acted really put out by this. It was not a good first impression as I sat there feeling uncomfortable as if I was an inconvenience and causing them to have a conflict.
They were helpful with a few last minute PS's which was nice but the Swan concierge (who works for ANY guest at the Swan, not just Club Level guests) was just as helpful and booked several very last minute hard to get PSs for us.

Since I was at the Swan right prior to our stay at GF it is hard to not compare the two properties. That being said the GF is overall a much more expansive, beautifully themed, magical wonderful place. I would recommend it and will stay there again next year - but I will not book conceirge. I would however pay to upgrade to CL at the Swan again the cost is minimal and although it is not a concierge service like the Disney DLX resorts it is a nice touch.

We love the GF and the CM's there have been great over the years, it is very kid friendly IMO, and I have stayed at all the DLX resorts (except WL and AKL) and some of the moderates so I do have the basis for making a good comparison. To me the GF is like home and I feel so happy just walking around the grounds there.

Glad you had a good stay and a great vacation! Welcome home!

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

Hookedup- you described the attitude I found with some of the CM's to a T. Was it the two dark haired guys? They were the ones I heard sneering about the email, and the guy complaining about his roster was grey haired with glasses (not Boyd, who seems standoffish, but is actually really friendly when you talk to him).

I'm glad you had a great stay- did you see us there?