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

[dalmatian7]

I have only stayed non cl at gf once, at Sago. We loved the view of the lagoon and mono!

Just booked Lys a Disney Institute class and after booking you can book a convention rate for up to 3 nights.

Looking at the map, that is Sago is what I was thinking.

I looked at Disney Institute classes for work. Our franchise has a travel bonus for my position, except you have to "pay to play" and none of the trips really appealed to me, so I told my boss he could just pay the same amount and I would go to WDW for a week instead. I didn't get a response. hehehe.

Enjoy your trip. No matter how far out they are, it just feels so exciting once things are booked.

 

[jcjen519]

i have been looking through this thread getting ready for our june rpc trip but now I'm beginning to regret booking atrium club tpv for our daughter's 1st birthday in november. maybe we should return to rpc

 

[trishadono]

i have been looking through this thread getting ready for our june rpc trip but now I'm beginning to regret booking atrium club tpv for our daughter's 1st birthday in november. maybe we should return to rpc

Thats a hard choice. You get lots more food at GF which you will enjoy soon!! However with a little one having coffee on the balcony and watching and hearing Disney wake up is priceless too. It is nice to watch the fireworks from the room. My dd at one loved watching boats move across the water.

I am different from others in that I feel all have different strengths so I prefer not to stay at any hotel 2 times in a row. My favs are the monorail ones. Your trip is coming up soon. Why not wait until after to decide?

Sounds like you are having a wonderful family time year, enjoy!

 

[grannyminnie]

@grannyminnie , I'm trying to get my head around this.....spend $5K for Disney Class to get $199 rate at GF -- I think, if it was selfish me, I'd just book GF for 6 nights and call it a day.

Tom

Wait, what? You have to pay for the privilege of paying LESS for a room at the GF (or elsewhere)?? Hmmmm, and here I thought Disney was giving me a deal! Altho I do admit that going to a Disney class sounds like fun and not "school", I'm past the point of needing to bulk up my resume!

 

[Minnie's House]

Does anyone know if the studio villas have a dvd player?

 

[followthatmouse]

Does anyone know if the studio villas have a dvd player?

I believe the Villas have Blu-ray players rather than DVD. I could be quite wrong, though.

 

[Dispro1]

We'll be there for the 27-30 ones! I'll have to add it to my plans. Sounds fun!

We check in the 29th!!

 

[MaggiesMomNJ]

Hi! We just switched over the GF Lagoon view Dec 2-8th with the pin code....? I would love to see pics of the view if anyone has them. We haven't been to Disney since 2013 due to my husband's health issues but we were supposed to be at GF last year, so I've read some but it's been a while.

 

[marchingstar]

Home now from our first stay at GF (well, split stay that ended at the GF) and we absolutely loved it! We got pixie dusted with an upgrade from garden to lagoon view, 5th floor in Big Pine. We saw the Electrical Water Pageant one evening, followed shortly by a surprise view of the Star Wars fireworks at HS! We could see spaceship earth from our balcony, but HS is kind of tucked behind the Poly, so we weren't expecting the view at all. What a lovely resort!

 

[PackYourPixieDust]

Congratulations, you will love the GF and October is a wonderful time of year.....just remember, we all stayed at the GF once for the first time, and as we can all tell you, none of us has stayed for the last time -- the GF spoils you for all other resorts.

Tom

Tom, you speak the truth!!! I'm super excited about my 2nd stay this upcoming week!

 

[likesdisney]

What are the room requests available when doing online check in? Getting ahead of myself cause its still 6 months or so away, but looking forward to GF a lot.

 

[likesdisney]

Should have probably said that I'm staying at the Villas in a standard view studio. LOL

 

[Minnie's House]

Should have probably said that I'm staying at the Villas in a standard view studio. LOL

We'll be in a studio in September!

 

[likesdisney]

Have you stayed at GF before? This is my first time staying there.

 

[Minnie's House]

Have you stayed at GF before? This is my first time staying there.

This will be our 1st time too! We can't wait it looks so beautiful

 

[bhyer]

My daughter and I went to Disney World for the first time near the end of January 2015. We said it was a once in a lifetime trip. We stayed at POR in a princess room for the first 8 nights (and that was really nice) but then we moved over to a studio villa at the Grand. Wow!! I was seriously in love. The balcony overlooking the water was such an awesome place to have coffee every morning. The sounds were amazing - boats, the train from the magic kingdom, the music from the entrance to the magic kingdom. We could even see people having their wedding portraits taken at the wedding pavilion if we looked to our right. Now we are planning another trip and despite looking at all the other resorts and telling ourselves we should NOT spend the money on the Grand, well we are spoiled now for any other resort. Totally in love with it. We are thinking of going in May of 2017. Trying to decide if I (old momma bear) can take the heat of that time of year and hoping the Avatar area at Animal Kingdom will be open. My daughter is crazy excited to see that. Last time we stayed at the studio villa by renting points which was awesome but you need to book far in advance and you are locked in. No moving dates. So if the Avatar area isn't open by May, we are just out of luck.
I've been looking at what it would cost to stay in a regular room (not at the Villas) and it seems to be much more expensive than renting points.
By renting points it comes out to about $474 a night (which converted to Canadian is more like $600 a night for us).
Just wondering if anyone would maybe share if they have gotten rooms in the May time period anywhere near the $475 rate.
We were thinking that if we could get a regular room then we aren't so locked in.

 

[bhyer]

Ooops - that banner is OOOOOLD. I'll figure out how to fix it!

 

[Sue M]

Congratulations, you will love the GF and October is a wonderful time of year.....just remember, we all stayed at the GF once for the first time, and as we can all tell you, none of us has stayed for the last time -- the GF spoils you for all other resorts.

Tom

Truth!!

 

[LMO429]

For those of you who have stayed at the Grand recently has the monorail modified schedule impacted your trip at all. I have an 8:25am breakfast at the Magic Kingdom during our trip. If the monorail is on its modified schedule does the Grand has buses running to the MK

In general what time does the boat to the mk start up in the morning????

 

[LovintheLodge]

Getting excited for our first stay here! Arriving two weeks from today!!