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

[loveshak22]

Congrats on your first GF stay! There are photos of the toiletries on the first page, in the "Guest Rooms" post (#3, I think?). I'll see if I can find it. The bottles are about the same size as most upscale resort shampoos, etc.

The shampoo and conditioner are quick thick and goes a long way. My DD and I have very thick hair, I use about 1/3 bottle per wash, she uses about 1/2. But, if you find it isn't enough you can call housekeeping and ask for more, they are happy to provide it.

ETA: found the photo, you can see the bottles of toiletries to the right of the sinks, near the tissues. I have close ups, but they are of the older type bottles, these are the new ones (I think!). HTH!

Thanks so much!!! That helps a lot and they definitely look bigger than the normal hotel sized toiletries. I recently stayed at an Omni and their bottles were about 1/4 of the size in your picture. I think they had the smallest bottles ever! I had a stack of 4 empty bottles after every shower!

Is that the coffee maker in the left hand side of the picture? It seems odd to have a coffee maker in the bathroom?? Or did I read that the vanity is separate from the bathroom at GF?

 

[BlueSkies]

trishadono - thanks for posting all those pics. I'm glad you had a great time. Sometimes I think that SL doesn't get the "love" it deserves because people keep comparing it to RPC. We've stayed in both, and while RPC was very nice, I also like SL.

I am in agreement with you on that mmm..We truly are fans of both CL..and SL definitely does not get the "love" that it deserves..It's really such a lovely building...so centrally located on the property...and I happen to enjoy the convenience of the lounge being located right in the resort lobby...and while it does not have the spaciousness of RPC..or the ambiance of overlooking the GF lobby which includes being able to enjoy the live music provided nightly by the GF Society Orchestra or the wonderful pianists..It really does have a charm of its own... JMO..and apparently yours too!

~ By comparison..while the lounges are distinctly different....the services ( IPO, texting service) , amenities ( toiletries, bathrobes etc) and food and drink ( including wine, beer and soft drinks.. ) offerings are exactly the same! (one exception was for the short time that there was a carving station..that was available in RPC only...and from what I understand this was due to space limitations in SL) ... And..the rooms rates in SL are significantly lower than those in RPC..and while not inexpensive...you are definitely getting more "bang for you buck" in SL ... also..many of the CMs..both lounge and desk personnel rotate between both CLs....so there are always lots of familiar faces even if you switch it up from time to time....

Thanks!! You'll be there soon!!!

It'll be our first time at GF in November so I can't wait to hear how your experience is for your first trip!

I can not wait to hear what you think after you first GF stay....I know that you will not be disappointed!

Thanks so much!!! That helps a lot and they definitely look bigger than the normal hotel sized toiletries. I recently stayed at an Omni and their bottles were about 1/4 of the size in your picture. I think they had the smallest bottles ever! I had a stack of 4 empty bottles after every shower!

Is that the coffee maker in the left hand side of the picture? It seems odd to have a coffee maker in the bathroom?? Or did I read that the vanity is separate from the bathroom at GF?

The bathroom area is two separate areas..one is a vanity area ..and the other room separated by a door has the shower and commode....The vanity area is where the coffee maker is located...although I have always thought that it is an odd place for it ...lol.....and would be better placed on the dresser in the main area of the room...

Dug out a bottle of sea marine shampoo..and sea marine collagen conditioner too... reading the bottle now.... ...lol...both are 37 ml.. which is 1.25 fl ounces...HTH too...

k&a&c'smom So good to have you back! And let me say a picture is worth a thousand words...thanks for whipping that toiletries pic right up.... ..I see that you are already getting the hang of the new boards!

Trish Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures! I especially enjoyed the food pics! ...lol...Did I spy a Disney "Where's Mickey" Vera in one of those pics.......Gotta love those VB bags!

 

[loveshak22]

I am in agreement with you on that mmm..We truly are fans of both CL..and SL definitely does not get the "love" that it deserves..It's really such a lovely building...so centrally located on the property...and I happen to enjoy the convenience of the lounge being located right in the resort lobby...and while it does not have the spaciousness of RPC..or the ambiance of overlooking the GF lobby which includes being able to enjoy the live music provided nightly by the GF Society Orchestra or the wonderful pianists..It really does have a charm of its own... JMO..and apparently yours too!

~ By comparison..while the lounges are distinctly different....the services ( IPO, texting service) , amenities ( toiletries, bathrobes etc) and food and drink ( including wine, beer and soft drinks.. ) offerings are exactly the same! (one exception was for the short time that there was a carving station..that was available in RPC only...and from what I understand this was due to space limitations in SL) ... And..the rooms rates in SL are significantly lower than those in RPC..and while not inexpensive...you are definitely getting more "bang for you buck" in SL ... also..many of the CMs..both lounge and desk personnel rotate between both CLs....so there are always lots of familiar faces even if you switch it up from time to time....



I can not wait to hear what you think after you first GF stay....I know that you will not be disappointed!



The bathroom area is two separate areas..one is a vanity area ..and the other room separated by a door has the shower and commode....The vanity area is where the coffee maker is located...although I have always thought that it is an odd place for it ...lol.....and would be better placed on the dresser in the main area of the room...

Dug out a bottle of sea marine shampoo..and sea marine collagen conditioner too... reading the bottle now.... ...lol...both are 37 ml.. which is 1.25 fl ounces...HTH too...

k&a&c'smom So good to have you back! And let me say a picture is worth a thousand words...thanks for whipping that toiletries pic right up.... ..I see that you are already getting the hang of the new boards!

Trish Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures! I especially enjoyed the food pics! ...lol...Did I spy a Disney "Where's Mickey" Vera in one of those pics.......Gotta love those VB bags!

Thanks @BlueSkies - that is helpful!! That's a good size shampoo/conditioner and I'll ask for a couple extras just in case!!

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's a little odd to put the coffeemaker in the vanity! I mean at least it's separated from the toilet and shower...but...it still seems like there'd be a better space LOL!!

All this talk about SL is exciting! And I will definitely share my first-timers experience!! Maybe I'll take some fun pics and post on my trip as a 'guess where I am now' for all the experts to figure out hahaha!!

It's kind of funny that I'm talking as if I'm leaving next week...but November will be here soon!

 

[mmmears]

I am in agreement with you on that mmm..We truly are fans of both CL..and SL definitely does not get the "love" that it deserves..It's really such a lovely building...so centrally located on the property...and I happen to enjoy the convenience of the lounge being located right in the resort lobby...and while it does not have the spaciousness of RPC..or the ambiance of overlooking the GF lobby which includes being able to enjoy the live music provided nightly by the GF Society Orchestra or the wonderful pianists..It really does have a charm of its own... JMO..and apparently yours too!

~ By comparison..while the lounges are distinctly different....the services ( IPO, texting service) , amenities ( toiletries, bathrobes etc) and food and drink ( including wine, beer and soft drinks.. ) offerings are exactly the same! (one exception was for the short time that there was a carving station..that was available in RPC only...and from what I understand this was due to space limitations in SL) ... And..the rooms rates in SL are significantly lower than those in RPC..and while not inexpensive...you are definitely getting more "bang for you buck" in SL ... also..many of the CMs..both lounge and desk personnel rotate between both CLs....so there are always lots of familiar faces even if you switch it up from time to time....

And I think that staying in SL is much more convenient if you are planning to spend a lot of time at the swimming pools, too. The lobby ambiance is what makes RPC special for me.

loveshak22 -- my daughter has very long hair and we frequently need to ask for an extra bottle or two of the shampoo & conditioner. And you are right, November is just around the corner!

 

[Sue M]

If you notice the wine glasses above that was amount given in glass. However for to go/plastic they were more generous. Also, if someone asked to "top it off" they did without any problems. All in all I loved the "bar" set up. Very nice!

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Love the pics! It was fun texting! We leave Saturday for Poly! Where does the time go?
I think I like the self serve bar option better. It was still self serve last Aug.

 

[loveshak22]

And I think that staying in SL is much more convenient if you are planning to spend a lot of time at the swimming pools, too. The lobby ambiance is what makes RPC special for me.

loveshak22 -- my daughter has very long hair and we frequently need to ask for an extra bottle or two of the shampoo & conditioner. And you are right, November is just around the corner!

Thanks for the heads up @mmmears! Tick tock, tick tock!!

 

[loveshak22]

If I close my eyes, I could probably believe I was in FL right now...It's not raining and humidity is 95%!! Ugh!

I could pretend this metro was a monorail and I can almost believe I'm there (except the monorail smells much better)!!

 

[mickeynut1]

Hi! We'll be arriving at the Grand on Sunday.

Have a great trip .

MickeyNut I have a feeling the you are going to have a collection of those new Disney Haviana flip flops! lol....

You know me too well .

We arrive on there the 3rd-12th.

I'm beyond excited, I can't believe we're really staying at GF!

Have a great time! You're going to love the GF .

Ah, glad to hear I'm not the only one! lol It will take me some time to get the hang of things, I am not on Facebook or Twitter, so all the "likes", etc. have thrown me a bit. Along with the "alerts" at the top of the page - not sure I get it. The whole page feels cluttered to me now, I need to see if there is still the ability to turn off the sigs, until I get acclimated. ??

I'm not a Facebook or Twitter person, either.....really have no desire to have either of those....the Dis is time consuming enough for me (sometimes I don't have enough time to read/post here...lol), so there's no way I'd keep up with FB or Twitter too. As far as the "alerts", that's just a message for you that someone either quoted you or "liked" your post .

And I think that staying in SL is much more convenient if you are planning to spend a lot of time at the swimming pools, too. The lobby ambiance is what makes RPC special for me.

I agree about SL.....very convenient for spending a lot of time at the pool, but I also agree about RPC.....nothing quiet beats the ambiance of that lounge .

 

[trishadono]

I have some better pics of the walkway from gf to poly but they keep coming up "too large". Anyways, these are from the walkway and the view from there is so nice.

 

[Ismo]

View attachment 118134 View attachment 118126 View attachment 118127 View attachment 118128 View attachment 118129 View attachment 118130 I have some better pics of the walkway from gf to poly but they keep coming up "too large". Anyways, these are from the walkway and the view from there is so nice.

Looks beautiful! I plan on doing this walk at least once for some Tonga toast! Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Ismo]

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/08/walt-disney-world-monorail-hours.html

Here is the current Monorail schedule...This is my first time staying at a monorail resort since 1995, so I'm not sure how it works.

If I need to get to MK for an 8am ADR on Friday the 4th, I'm guessing I can't take the monorail, is that right?

Would I take the monorail to ticket and transportation then get a bus? Or should I get a monorail to the Contemporary and then walk?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Circusgirl]

View attachment 118134 View attachment 118126 View attachment 118127 View attachment 118128 View attachment 118129 View attachment 118130 I have some better pics of the walkway from gf to poly but they keep coming up "too large". Anyways, these are from the walkway and the view from there is so nice.

Thanks for the pictures Trish!

My photo files are too large for loading directly into posts. I have to put them in my Flickr account and then post from there, selecting a smaller size file for posting.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your SL stay so much and hope you got some much needed relaxing time!

I am back from a fun and totally exhausting trip to the D23 Expo and will be pretty much doing my laundry and putting everything back in the suitcase for my trip to Florida.

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Looks beautiful! I plan on doing this walk at least once for some Tonga toast! Thanks for sharing the pics.

Tonga Toast -- aka, heaven on a plate. I'm not sure I can make it two more months without that gem. Nor, Narcoossee's!

Tom

 

[loveshak22]

View attachment 118134 View attachment 118126 View attachment 118127 View attachment 118128 View attachment 118129 View attachment 118130 I have some better pics of the walkway from gf to poly but they keep coming up "too large". Anyways, these are from the walkway and the view from there is so nice.

Did you look to see how well the path was lit at night??

And find any alligators or couples smooching in the grass along the way - LOL!!

 

[loveshak22]

Did you look to see how well the path was lit at night??

And find any alligators or couples smooching in the grass along the way - LOL!!

I should have crafted that sentence better because it could be read as if I was asking if there were alligators smooching in the grass OR couples smooching in the grass! Both would be a fun sight but alligators smooching would definitely be noteworthy!

 

[mlunsford]

Thanks so much for all the pics, they have made my day I am getting so excited for our first stay.

 

[trishadono]

I should have crafted that sentence better because it could be read as if I was asking if there were alligators smooching in the grass OR couples smooching in the grass! Both would be a fun sight but alligators smooching would definitely be noteworthy!

I didn't walk it in the night this trip but have in the past and I did walk the gf grounds at night. I never have aproblem with lighting.

Did anyone notice in the first pic the light poles are white for gf then switch to brown for poly??

We have always enjoyed the path!!

However!! From poly to gf you pick up the path past the marina and it's pretty easy to find. From gf it's a little tricky to find. Dd and I have had to walk "the walk of grass shame" many times. Let me try to explain.

If you walk from main building at gf towards VGF and follow the path on the right side of the building and follow the path around and towards poly you realize you can see the correct path about 20 feet away towards the water. So you cut across the grass!!!

To get on the correct start you need to cut through beach pool area to the beach. Take the path that runs along VGF on the water side, that leads directly to poly.

Eh? Cutting across the grass isn't that big a deal, eventually they will make us a path!!

 

[trishadono]

The bus times are handy!!


love the detail on the cart!

Some last night photos! What a surprise that I could see the fireworks

 

[trishadono]

 

[trishadono]

Taking ds to college in the morning! Glad you have appreciated the photos and hope you like these too!

The last batch we were waiting for the monorail but saw the boat arrive so we ran down and caught that instead. Love that time of night! My fav