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

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Morning All! Thinking of possibly switching to a standard view studio at the VGF for sept. Have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with. First what's going on with the monorail? We'll be there 9-1 to 9-8.

I am traveling with an almost 7 month old and my 13 year old by myself. My goal is to be close to the main building and transportation. What room request should I make? Just be vague and note what I just mentioned above?

Is the walk to the main building to and from the villas long?

Where do you check in at the villas building or main building? We will be arriving via DME.

I've read in a few other threads that some resort gift shops are starting to carry cases of water. Has anyone seen them at the GF? Need bottles of water to make the baby's bottles.

Appreciate the help!

 

[luvlife]

Just about to do online check in and was wondering if there are any standard club level rooms that include a view of the water pageant? I would like to request this but I don't want to request something out of my room category. Thank you all for helping us plan our first stay at RPC

 

[trishadono]

Morning All! Thinking of possibly switching to a standard view studio at the VGF for sept. Have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with. First what's going on with the monorail? We'll be there 9-1 to 9-8.

I am traveling with an almost 7 month old and my 13 year old by myself. My goal is to be close to the main building and transportation. What room request should I make? Just be vague and note what I just mentioned above?

Is the walk to the main building to and from the villas long?

Where do you check in at the villas building or main building? We will be arriving via DME.

I've read in a few other threads that some resort gift shops are starting to carry cases of water. Has anyone seen them at the GF? Need bottles of water to make the baby's bottles.

Appreciate the help!

Are you a dvc member ? The VGF is usually booked solid.

If you can get or already have a vgf room the building isn't that big. It may be helpful to request room near elevator though.

The walk from VGF to main building is not that much different than from any of the regular GF buildings/ short.

It is closer however to Poly if you want to walk there.

I believe you can check in both if arrive during regular hours and only main building if early/late. That has changed many times. There is a DVC thread if needed.

 

[Sue M]

Just about to do online check in and was wondering if there are any standard club level rooms that include a view of the water pageant? I would like to request this but I don't want to request something out of my room category. Thank you all for helping us plan our first stay at RPC

I don't think so, that would be a lagoon or theme park view. But there is a large balcony in RPC on 3rd floor just around the corner from CM desk to your right where you can view it over at Poly. We used it and were the only ones on balcony!
But possibly if you have a beach pool view you may be able to see? Hopefully someone will be able to say for sure.

 

[loveshak22]

Thanks everyone! We should have plenty of time to get to WL for dinner - so maybe we'll play getting there by ear depending on our fancy that day. We have an 8:10 dinner reservation that I'm trying to switch to 7:30...I want to get back by 9:30 to get some cocktails in the lounge!!

 

[luvlife]

I don't think so, that would be a lagoon or theme park view. But there is a large balcony in RPC on 3rd floor just around the corner from CM desk to your right where you can view it over at Poly. We used it and were the only ones on balcony!
But possibly if you have a beach pool view you may be able to see? Hopefully someone will be able to say for sure.

 

[luvlife]

Thank you for your help, I would love to hear any advice anyone has.
I will definitely check out that balcony, great tip

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Thanks everyone! We should have plenty of time to get to WL for dinner - so maybe we'll play getting there by ear depending on our fancy that day. We have an 8:10 dinner reservation that I'm trying to switch to 7:30...I want to get back by 9:30 to get some cocktails in the lounge!![/QUOTE

Is dinner at Artist Point? If yes, I highly recommend the smokey portobello soup as well as the buffalo strip steak (rare).

Tom

 

[trishadono]

Sure miss those pecan rolls!

I have a few minutes free so I am looking at old pics. RPC sure was fun!

 

[trishadono]

I don't even remember this one! It was going home morning and we walked the grounds to say goodbye GF!!

 

[trishadono]

Break over, back to work! Anybody have any nice beach pictures? Mine all have my DH in them so not postable.

 

[loveshak22]

Is dinner at Artist Point? If yes, I highly recommend the smokey portobello soup as well as the buffalo strip steak (rare).

Tom

We love, love AP! But this is actually to finally give WCC a try! I'm not expecting much from a lot of the reviews I've read but I wanted to only try restaurants on this trip that we've never had before. And BBQ adds a little variety to our meals!

 

[KonaKaiTom]

We love, love AP! But this is actually to finally give WCC a try! I'm not expecting much from a lot of the reviews I've read but I wanted to only try restaurants on this trip that we've never had before. And BBQ adds a little variety to our meals!

I travel with a posse of creatures of habit -- the drama that unfolded when I suggested that we try lunch at the buffet in Germany instead of having pizza in Italy was followed by "but we ALWAYS stop in Italy."

Tom

 

[tony609]

This is probably a dumb question but in sugarloaf if yr on an upper flor can u see the castle or fire works from MK?

 

[loveshak22]

I travel with a posse of creatures of habit -- the drama that unfolded when I suggested that we try lunch at the buffet in Germany instead of having pizza in Italy was followed by "but we ALWAYS stop in Italy."

Tom

I tend to be a creature of habit myself! But I think my DH is starting to get a little tired of Disney with "been there done that" so I'm trying to spice it up some - LOL! I have to do what I can to bring him back to the light!

 

[loveshak22]

So...I just had my first not-so-great experience with IPO. I can't say it was bad necessarily, I just was left a little confused!

I turned in my planning form to IPO a few days before my 180-day mark (May 18th). I had V&A's Queen Victoria room on my list as well as Morimoto's. Morimoto's doesn't open until September so they told me they would add it their list and would check on it when reservations opened. They also said they were making some changes to V&A's and so they could not reserve anything yet but would add it to the list to get me a reservation once they opened up. I saw yesterday that V&A's released a new menu. I also happened to snag a BOG ADR on my own so I emailed IPO to let them know not to worry about the BOG or 'Ohana reservations I had requested and I indicated that I saw V&A's had made some new announcements about their menu and could they make reservations yet. They responded and thanked me for letting them know about BOGs and 'Ohana and said that they have not released tables for V&A's for October - December but that they have been booking the Queen Victoria room but that they couldn't book that for me and they gave me the number to call myself. OK - but before they said they would book that for me or else I would have been calling V&A's earlier to try to reserve the Queen Victoria room. When I called today they said there were no reservations available for the Queen Victoria room and they'd put me on the waitlist. I told her the story and she said maybe IPO already booked it for me. She checked and they had made a reservation (good news!) but for the main dining room. She gave me the reservation time and was really nice to answer several of my questions.

I guess I'm just perplexed as to why they said in May they could make the reservation for the Queen Victoria room and today said they couldn't and why they never told me they went ahead and made a reservation for us for 6:45? The woman today said it wouldn't show up in MDE yet because it's a manual process but it should show up in a few weeks. I guess IPO would just assume that I would see the reservation when it popped up...so that's not too big an issue. But if I knew I needed to make the reservation myself then I would have been calling earlier. I don't know that the outcome would have been different, I still may not have been able to get a table in the Queen Victoria room but I guess it would have been less confusing LOL!

I will still say that IPO has been great with everything else! They are extremely responsive to emails and got all my ADRs except BOG at my 180 day mark (I added 'Ohana later). The emails are always friendly. So it could just be that they are making changes at V&A that the IPOs aren't aware of or maybe something changed between May and the email today. I'm still excited I'll be eating at V&As on my birthday

 

[trishadono]

So...I just had my first not-so-great experience with IPO. I can't say it was bad necessarily, I just was left a little confused!

I turned in my planning form to IPO a few days before my 180-day mark (May 18th). I had V&A's Queen Victoria room on my list as well as Morimoto's. Morimoto's doesn't open until September so they told me they would add it their list and would check on it when reservations opened. They also said they were making some changes to V&A's and so they could not reserve anything yet but would add it to the list to get me a reservation once they opened up. I saw yesterday that V&A's released a new menu. I also happened to snag a BOG ADR on my own so I emailed IPO to let them know not to worry about the BOG or 'Ohana reservations I had requested and I indicated that I saw V&A's had made some new announcements about their menu and could they make reservations yet. They responded and thanked me for letting them know about BOGs and 'Ohana and said that they have not released tables for V&A's for October - December but that they have been booking the Queen Victoria room but that they couldn't book that for me and they gave me the number to call myself. OK - but before they said they would book that for me or else I would have been calling V&A's earlier to try to reserve the Queen Victoria room. When I called today they said there were no reservations available for the Queen Victoria room and they'd put me on the waitlist. I told her the story and she said maybe IPO already booked it for me. She checked and they had made a reservation (good news!) but for the main dining room. She gave me the reservation time and was really nice to answer several of my questions.

I guess I'm just perplexed as to why they said in May they could make the reservation for the Queen Victoria room and today said they couldn't and why they never told me they went ahead and made a reservation for us for 6:45? The woman today said it wouldn't show up in MDE yet because it's a manual process but it should show up in a few weeks. I guess IPO would just assume that I would see the reservation when it popped up...so that's not too big an issue. But if I knew I needed to make the reservation myself then I would have been calling earlier. I don't know that the outcome would have been different, I still may not have been able to get a table in the Queen Victoria room but I guess it would have been less confusing LOL!

I will still say that IPO has been great with everything else! They are extremely responsive to emails and got all my ADRs except BOG at my 180 day mark (I added 'Ohana later). The emails are always friendly. So it could just be that they are making changes at V&A that the IPOs aren't aware of or maybe something changed between May and the email today. I'm still excited I'll be eating at V&As on my birthday

So hard to say. My xperience has been either Disney knows what changes are going on and reacts appropriately or not. In fairness the Cms can only do what told or know. However for us frequent visitors we find it frustrating!!!

I was told they didn't have std king rpc rooms yet when we arrived that is exactly what we got.

It depends on who you get. Some are great and know what's going on and others not so much. Then there's the Disney changing their mind /plan problem which makes it hard for us all.

Glad you got a reservation! v&A sounds amazing!!!

 

[loveshak22]

So hard to say. My xperience has been either Disney knows what changes are going on and reacts appropriately or not. In fairness the Cms can only do what told or know. However for us frequent visitors we find it frustrating!!!

I was told they didn't have std king rpc rooms yet when we arrived that is exactly what we got.

It depends on who you get. Some are great and know what's going on and others not so much. Then there's the Disney changing their mind /plan problem which makes it hard for us all.

Glad you got a reservation! v&A sounds amazing!!!

I agree...the more I think about it the more I'm guessing something changed since May...which is very possible! And I'm sure they knew it would be added to the MDE and so didn't need to send me an email. I think I was just a little surprised. At the end of the day I am very excited that I get to experience V&A!

How many more days until your trip??

 

[trishadono]

We arrive 8/12!!! Our flight arrives at 10:15am so we should have a great arrival day!!!

 

[loveshak22]

We arrive 8/12!!! Our flight arrives at 10:15am so we should have a great arrival day!!!

Woo hoo!! Not too much longer