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

[Sue M]

What!! No more Triffle or champagne? I was going to ask you about tour. Guess it won't be so bad skipping CL this time.
Hope someone does the tour and can report back!

 

[MommyGina]

Blue - Welcome home. I too am looking forward to the pictures. No CM's at check in? I used to love when they came out to the Disney Express to meet us. All good things must come to an end.

 

[grannyminnie]

So, that's NO trifle EVER?? It has been my favorite thing in the CL offerings so far...waaaaaah!

 

[BlueSkies]

Thanks for the great review!! Your experience sounds a lot like ours over Easter (at RPC), so I'm glad to hear the food offerings haven't been cutback between then and now. We especially liked the treats at tea time . Can't wait to see your pics! Glad you had a great time.

Thanks so much..I must admit..I was kind of worried..but it really was a nice trip..

What!! No more Triffle or champagne? I was going to ask you about tour. Guess it won't be so bad skipping CL this time.
Hope someone does the tour and can report back!

There is still champagne....I'm so curious about the tour too..another reason to book a future trip!!

Blue - Welcome home. I too am looking forward to the pictures. No CM's at check in? I used to love when they came out to the Disney Express to meet us. All good things must come to an end.

Thanks!!! No more curbsiders at check in..sad but true...that actually is a more recent addition to CL amenities..for years you had to go to the check in desk in the lobby..but..it is a nice one...and now that we have all become accustomed..it will be missed for sure...

So, that's NO trifle EVER?? It has been my favorite thing in the CL offerings so far...waaaaaah!

One if mine too...and I loved the seasonal flavors too..pumpkin in the fall..but the red velvet cupcakes sure were a nice new addition..the icing was a thick creamy cream cheese...yum!!! Glad that you have an new trip to Florida coming up!! ...Hope that you get another trip planned with your sis too! We have a summer trip next...can't wait!

 

[grannyminnie]

I love, love, love red velvet cupcakes and plan to visit the newly opened (today!) Sprinkles in Disney Springs next weekend!!

 

[Maxie86]

Hi BlueSkies Thanks for the report. I have a trip planned this summer too and was a bit worried about all the cutbacks. Glad to hear it's still Grand. I wouldn't mind checking in downstairs if they still had the CL desk but to have to stand in line only to have them find someone to take you upstairs is just wrong!! I will do online check in and hope the MB works on the elevator. I love the triffle and will definitely miss it, but as long as they still have champagne I'm good. The red velvet cupcake sounds good . YUM.

Hi grannyminnie, Yay for a Florida trip, hope you get to visit the Grand.

 

[mmmears]

Hi Blue and Maxie! On our March trip we also had to check in downstairs, but were lucky because at least it wasn't crowded and we didn't have to wait. But I miss the more personal, CL check-in process. Also, the trifle wasn't out at tea time. We had the cupcakes, too. As for the little note at turndown, we did get that along with the chocolates (and it was nicely personalized and signed by our mousekeeper). I'm hoping that they didn't get rid of that permanently. The little touches make a difference.

 

[Avery&Todd]

The only way you would get Main Bldg is if you booked it...or...you got an upgrade.

And just so you know...dormer rooms do have balconies, they are just solid balconies (when sitting you can't see through them).

so I called today and put in my room requests: balcony, Buildings #7 or #5 & no dormer.

Then the reservationist came back and said that my room type (outer building, deluxe room, queen beds) comes with a balcony, so then I specified that I was really looking for floors 2-4 and that I didn't want a 1st or 5th floor. She then said that since my room type was available in all of the buildings was there one that I preferred and I said #7 - she typed a little more and said it wasn't a problem and entered it all in!

now I just have to wait for the next 25 days to go by!!

 

[ToyStory3]

Will be checking in Saturday for our first GF stay!! Cannot wait! Will be staying in Sugarloaf. Will be sure and report back!

 

[ToyStory3]

Hi - So were the cordials removed and are now back at SL?? Thanks

 

[MommyGina]

Will be checking in Saturday for our first GF stay!! Cannot wait! Will be staying in Sugarloaf. Will be sure and report back!

ToyStory3-have a Grand time! I hope you have the magical experience as we did the first time we ever walked into the GF. I took our breath away. It truly is magical. Can't wait to hear how you liked it. Send pictures back!

I'm living the magic through everyone's vacation pics!

 

[Dispro1]

Hi - So were the cordials removed and are now back at SL?? Thanks

Blueskies was in RPC so her experience with CL offerings may be a bit different from yours. SL has for the most part always had the same food/drinks as RPC, so I hope to hear that the cordials are back in SL! I hope you will let us know how things are over at SL, and I hope you have a great trip!! I know you must be excited because I'm checking in May 29th and the anticipation is killing me!

 

[kylaura]

Morning fellow GF fans...

We are recently back from another wonderful GF stay......and I wanted to share some observations from our trip....

~Check in...This has been a subject much in question around here since the change in procedure...well...it definitely has not been ironed out yet.....lobby was busy..no greeters inside.. as.. from what I understand there generally are ?? So we inquired if there was a designated line for CL check in...nope..just stand on any of these lines.....so we waited..a while...not a catastrophe..but not so great either...

~Hotel/lobby/common areas and grounds...The hotel itself grounds included was looking Grand!! The lobby areas looked fresh,clean and tidy... the new carpet is a nice hue of dusty green and very Victorian looking...lots of fresh plantings...and many things in bloom added to the feeling of spring having arrived...

~Rooms..Here again..clean and fresh ...one change that we saw was..no turn down cards along with the chocolates..fortunately...they are still using those yummy creamy Belgian chocolates..but..I always thought the cards were such a nice touch...now in the last year or so..we have seen them come and go..so..maybe they are not gone for good...who knows...

~CL food offerings..oh I know this is a biggie...lol..its always about the food.....breakfast offerings were the SAME as usual..including meats ( fresh turkey and a deli ham)..and cheeses too...I did inquire..and was told that these are back on the breakfast "menu"...there was a nice variety of buns/muffins...cut fruits were cantelope, honeydew, pineapple and watermelon...the usual toasting station..bagels, a few different breads..and one spread besides the traditional butter and cream cheese..no additional spreads..these were discontinued a while back ..unfortunately .. two cold cereals and yogurt too...

Afternoon offerings seem to be the same also..veggies..chips and dips...dome bread sticks and breads..but honestly..we were not really around much in the afternoon...ONE thing that was missing at tea time was the wonderful triffle...but they did add a very delicious red velvet cupcake with a sweet cream cheese icing..yum...

Evening appetizers also seemed to be pretty much the same..two hot appetizers and two or three cold appetizers..and a cold soup...cheese and nut platter..still mixed together...childrens offerings were uncrustables..either corn dogs or chicken nuggets...not both on the same nights...I took some pics which I will post..just trying to organize them first... ...lol..

Desserts...They were ok..pretty much the same as we have seen in the last year or so...about four or 5 different items..fruit tarts, a choclate cake, key lime and chocolate tarts...and banana bread I'm guessing left from tea time..??? The children's area had brownies, cookies..and vanilla frosted cupcakes with a bowl of mickey sprinkles next to them so that the cupcakes could be decorated...this seemed to be popular...and..messy!!

Beverages..Sodas...coke, diet coke, sprite,gingerale and also small bottles of water..the water was always added in the evenings...as for adult beverages..again I will post pics...wines..less brands than before ..some changes I know people are not happy about, champagne..and yes cordials! There was DiSoronno and a few others...updating...Kahlua and Amarula are the other two...Have to look at the pics to be sure..lol..I looked quickly..and snapped a photo...hmmm..maybe another trip is in order..just to jog my memory......Disney logic at work...lol..

Lounge Area ~The lounge itself was busy...especially in the mornings...but food was always replenished as far as we saw...and although we always bus our own tables...I noticed many others did not..but the staff really stayed on top of that..one morning in particular was very busy and I even observed a manager cleaning tables.....

~Monorail..No long waits..and they seemed to be running very regularly..

~Bus service..Also..Running regularly..we even took the bus one afternoon to Disney Springs without much of a wait...... there was also a CM at the bus stop advising folks about the bus schedule..

~Shops..And I will say we did visit them all...lol...which are all generally and continue to be pretty well stocked.. did have some new resort specific merchandise..which was nice to see..

~CMs...As always..were friendly..and helpful...

The resort does seem to be in some transition...some things that we will miss, some not so important...and some new things to enjoy( retro beach party..on certain dates, the Princess Promenade..if you are at the resort one afternoon at about 3:30 I would recommend taking the time to see this...Disney magic at its finest! and the resort tour )...we did not get the time to do the new tour..but are looking forward to doing it another time...

All in all..we enjoyed every bit of our resort time...and while the check in process definitely needs some fine tuning...we really did have a Grand stay!

Hope that you are all having a super Sunday.. GF gal who is busy trying to plan another WDW trip! The only cure for the post Disney blues for sure!

Thanks for the food info! Those meats and cheeses make breakfast convenient.

 

[Avery&Todd]

so I called today and put in my room requests: balcony, Buildings #7 or #5 & no dormer.

Then the reservationist came back and said that my room type (outer building, deluxe room, queen beds) comes with a balcony, so then I specified that I was really looking for floors 2-4 and that I didn't want a 1st or 5th floor. She then said that since my room type was available in all of the buildings was there one that I preferred and I said #7 - she typed a little more and said it wasn't a problem and entered it all in!

now I just have to wait for the next 25 days to go by!!

HA! I realized after I wrote this that I wrote I asked for Building #4 - which is a LIE!! HA!!

I asked for Building #7 "Conch Key" or #5 "Sago Cay" - I did NOT request Building #4 "Main Building" since I didn't pay for a CL room and the only rooms in the Main building are CL..

I'm SUCH a dork, but I wanted to correct myself and make sure everyone was clear that I did NOT request a building I didn't pay for!

It must be all the Disney excitement going through me!!

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Hi @BlueSkies : Nice to see you back -- so, how many days in advance were you packed?

Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking about doing a quick trip just to ride the new Soarin' and Frozen when they open? I'm almost thinking of a 1 day 1 night.

I have issues.

Tom

 

[MommyGina]

KonaKaiTom - A quick trip to the GF and seeing new Soarin' and Frozen is a great idea! I guess I have issues too, because I think it's something you should do.

 

[ToyStory3]

I received the below message today from the Grand Floridian SL when I asked about their evening cordials.

Disney reserves the right to make changes to the offerings at the various Club Lounges based on demand or business needs. Cordials are no longer being offered at the Sugar Loaf Club Lounge, so sadly Disaronno would not be available.

Have a GRAND day!

 

[StefR]

Just back from our Grand Floridian stay in a 1 bedroom concierge. This was our first time there so I can't compare but I thought I'd mention some things for those curious.

-I was under the impression that all outer building CL rooms would be in Sugar Loaf but actually we were put in Boca Chica. As a result, they gave us access to both the main building and Sugar Loaf clubs. Even though it was not as convenient as having a club in our building, it was nice to be able to compare. While I think the main building certainly looked nicer having natural light, etc , the offerings seemed to be the exact same to me. I was expecting breakfast to be sparse but I found the offerings to be plenty plentiful to make a good breakfast and the other treats during the day where a nice bonus. Really enjoyed having the cans of soda that we could easily take with us. (I'm afraid I didn't compare alcoholic beverage offerings so I can't comment on that.)

- Check in was a bit of a disaster with it taking several trips back and forth to get our magic bands to work. The CMs were very nice about it but still annoying to have to traipse back and forth several times with a tired 3 year old.

- Our room was nice but definitely not up to 5 star standards anywhere else. I guess that's the price you pay when you go to Disney but I don't see why a 1 bedroom doesn't have a functioning door so I can close the bedroom off (instead it was an adjoining room door without a handle from the outside which meant I had to keep the door a bit ajar all the time) or why the bathrooms have a super loud motion activated exhaust fan that had to be manually shut off every time.

- We had a dormer room and I felt it was plenty spacious but we didn't use the balcony except to dry our swim clothes. We aren't balcony people though. If balcony is important, it does feel closed in.

- The pool was a highlight - I think my daughter would have been happy to skip the parks altogether and just spend the whole time going down the waterslide til the end of time. It never felt over crowded despite being there on a very hot weekend.

- The princess promenade was really cute and such a nice bonus for staying at the hotel. I personally think they should skip the Disney photographer and just let the kids interact with the princess and prince for those few minutes but either way, it was a nice surprise for my daughter.

- I was surprised how much I enjoyed the boat to MK over the monorail. Maybe b/c we were closer to the boat dock in Boca Chica but it seemed like a much more civilized and enjoyable way to get to and from. Everyone told us to take the monorail there to avoid the extra minutes stopping at the poly but it didn't take long at all so I was happy to use it both ways.

Hope that helps!

 

[grannyminnie]

Hi BlueSkies Thanks for the report. I have a trip planned this summer too and was a bit worried about all the cutbacks. Glad to hear it's still Grand. I wouldn't mind checking in downstairs if they still had the CL desk but to have to stand in line only to have them find someone to take you upstairs is just wrong!! I will do online check in and hope the MB works on the elevator. I love the triffle and will definitely miss it, but as long as they still have champagne I'm good. The red velvet cupcake sounds good . YUM.

Hi grannyminnie, Yay for a Florida trip, hope you get to visit the Grand.

Hi back to you, Maxie!

 

[Dreamin192]

Will be checking in Saturday for our first GF stay!! Cannot wait! Will be staying in Sugarloaf. Will be sure and report back!

We check in at Sugar Loaf on Tuesday! So excited, I hope you have a wonderful trip and that it's just as grand and we hope it will be