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

[Cluelyss]

We were there I think it was Jan 25. They didn't have any desserts and said that was the last party until March.

Thanks. We will be there late March, so hopefully back by then!!

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

Can I carry the luggage- homesick for the resort and the sun!

 

[WishesQueen]

Hello my Grand Friends !!! Just checking in, it seems awfully quiet here!!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Hello my Grand Friends !!! Just checking in, it seems awfully quiet here!!

It has been VERY quiet......

I have been busy making my general itinerary for our trip Aug 16-26. I had to make a few changes after the announcement of Pandora and ROL. We usually only do one day in AK but now I have added a night visit as well which has caused some issues/questions....

We have booked our trip thru a TA with a deeply discounted room and tickets. The ticket is an 8 day PH with a bonus admission to a waterpark or mini-golf. They do not offer a discounted 9 day PH. So....now we need a 9 day PH. I read over on the theme parks ticket thread with ROBO that one can add days on to a ticket at guest services at the parks or at most resorts and they will usually bridge the price difference between the gate price of the ticket you have and the gate price of the ticket you want. My ticket is not available for purchase at the gate because of the one admission to a water park bonus feature. ROBO could not answer with certainty if the ticket could be bridged without losing the discount given the deep discount/ticket type. Has any one here ever added days on to one of these special TA tickets? Would love to hear any experiences

I am working on my final picks for dining and such. So excited!! Thinking of trying GF Cafe for the first time since it is so convenient.

 

[fsupharm77]

It has been VERY quiet......

I have been busy making my general itinerary for our trip Aug 16-26. I had to make a few changes after the announcement of Pandora and ROL. We usually only do one day in AK but now I have added a night visit as well which has caused some issues/questions....

We have booked our trip thru a TA with a deeply discounted room and tickets. The ticket is an 8 day PH with a bonus admission to a waterpark or mini-golf. They do not offer a discounted 9 day PH. So....now we need a 9 day PH. I read over on the theme parks ticket thread with ROBO that one can add days on to a ticket at guest services at the parks or at most resorts and they will usually bridge the price difference between the gate price of the ticket you have and the gate price of the ticket you want. My ticket is not available for purchase at the gate because of the one admission to a water park bonus feature. ROBO could not answer with certainty if the ticket could be bridged without losing the discount given the deep discount/ticket type. Has any one here ever added days on to one of these special TA tickets? Would love to hear any experiences

I am working on my final picks for dining and such. So excited!! Thinking of trying GF Cafe for the first time since it is so convenient.

My wife was able to add a day to her TA rate ticket in 2012. Sorry I don't have more recent info. If I remember correctly we were at Epcot and ended up going to the guest relations all the way to right because they couldn't figure it out at the ticket booth.

 

[Minnie Mouse2789]

GF Cafe was not my favorite...

 

[trishadono]

It has been VERY quiet......

I have been busy making my general itinerary for our trip Aug 16-26. I had to make a few changes after the announcement of Pandora and ROL. We usually only do one day in AK but now I have added a night visit as well which has caused some issues/questions....

We have booked our trip thru a TA with a deeply discounted room and tickets. The ticket is an 8 day PH with a bonus admission to a waterpark or mini-golf. They do not offer a discounted 9 day PH. So....now we need a 9 day PH. I read over on the theme parks ticket thread with ROBO that one can add days on to a ticket at guest services at the parks or at most resorts and they will usually bridge the price difference between the gate price of the ticket you have and the gate price of the ticket you want. My ticket is not available for purchase at the gate because of the one admission to a water park bonus feature. ROBO could not answer with certainty if the ticket could be bridged without losing the discount given the deep discount/ticket type. Has any one here ever added days on to one of these special TA tickets? Would love to hear any experiences

I am working on my final picks for dining and such. So excited!! Thinking of trying GF Cafe for the first time since it is so convenient.

Gf cafe I have had mixed results. I had a few bad experiences ( rally long wait for food) but in the last 3 years no issues and enjoyed it.

However I prefer Kona cafe at poly which is also easy to get to. Some people go there for tonga toast on the morning if you like banana stuffed French toast, try it!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have booked our trip thru a TA with a deeply discounted room and tickets. The ticket is an 8 day PH with a bonus admission to a waterpark or mini-golf. They do not offer a discounted 9 day PH. So....now we need a 9 day PH. I read over on the theme parks ticket thread with ROBO that one can add days on to a ticket at guest services at the parks or at most resorts and they will usually bridge the price difference between the gate price of the ticket you have and the gate price of the ticket you want. My ticket is not available for purchase at the gate because of the one admission to a water park bonus feature. ROBO could not answer with certainty if the ticket could be bridged without losing the discount given the deep discount/ticket type. Has any one here ever added days on to one of these special TA tickets? Would love to hear any experiences

All I know about those discounted TA tickets is that if they are convention tickets then you won't be able to upgrade them. They will say whether or not they are convention tickets in your MDE account.

I am working on my final picks for dining and such. So excited!! Thinking of trying GF Cafe for the first time since it is so convenient.

We had breakfast at the GF Cafe in December. The service was slow. My french toast was absolutely amazing but my husband's pancakes were hard as a rock. The waiter never came back to check to see if our food was okay and my husband had to track down someone to find our waiter. He quickly got fresh pancakes after that but it really ruined the meal for him.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

All I know about those discounted TA tickets is that if they are convention tickets then you won't be able to upgrade them. They will say whether or not they are convention tickets in your MDE account.

In my MDE account it says :

8-Day w/ PH + 1 FUN
Tickets: Park Hopper
Age: 10 and older

SO...........hopefully these can be upgraded to a 9-day PH plus the one FUN entry AND not lose the discount??

We had breakfast at the GF Cafe in December. The service was slow. My french toast was absolutely amazing but my husband's pancakes were hard as a rock. The waiter never came back to check to see if our food was okay and my husband had to track down someone to find our waiter. He quickly got fresh pancakes after that but it really ruined the meal for him.

We are considering eating here on arrival day around 5:45ish for dinner before heading to MK. Maybe we should nix this and go to The Wave which we LOVE

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Gf cafe I have had mixed results. I had a few bad experiences ( rally long wait for food) but in the last 3 years no issues and enjoyed it.

However I prefer Kona cafe at poly which is also easy to get to. Some people go there for tonga toast on the morning if you like banana stuffed French toast, try it!

I am planning a ressie for dinner at Kona one night. The menu looks interesting and I have read good things about their allergy menu here. Back when I could eat gluten, I LOVED the tonga toast and it was a must-do at either Kona or CC. Now, I just have to put it out of my mind and avoid Kona and CC at breakfast time because it is heartbreaking for me

I might try the Wave breakfast one day because I have heard great things about their gluten free sweet potato pancakes

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

GF Cafe was not my favorite...

Was your bad experience for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Was it the food or the service?

 

[WishesQueen]

Morning all!! Nice to see everyone, way too quiet around here!!

Forgot to quote, but I read lots about the GF Cafe & Kona. We usually visit both every trip with it being so quick and easy to get to but never for breakfast. My kids are older and sleep in, my DH and I usually save all our vacation eating for lunch, dinner and snacks . With that being said, we have always had a great meal at both restaurants. GF Cafe is a little on the boring side, but for the first night after a day of traveling and trying to get a park in and unpacking its a welcome location and a warm meal when your just to tired to move. The kids love the steak and lobster burger. My DH and love the wine and beer choices and the staff is ALWAYS so friendly too. As for Kona, The kids love the sushi, the wings, noodles etc etc. Hope this helps.

As for visiting AK, we never really go over there, but Pandora opening is definitely making me look over our plans.

 

[bumbershoot]

I hate to even go into it because I'm sure I'll get a ton of posters telling me that I should have been happy I was at Disney despite any issues with the room. But since you asked.....

We are also a family of 4 and love the queen deluxe but couldn't get one. Our daughter is 14 months so we could do the king. We booked a king deluxe requesting we not be placed in one of the 2nd floor rooms. We ended up being placed in one which we knew could happen. So that was disappointing but fine. We tried to change but couldn't. We wanted extra space because our daughter won't sleep if she can see us. We knew what we booked though so we accepted the room.

Bottom line the room smelled when we walked in, like it Hadn't been used in awhile. Musty? There were stickers all over the side of the tub which made me think it had not been cleaned. The tub jets looked gross and our 7 year old would not bathe in it. When we got ready for bed we found a dirty napkin and a bunch of crumbs under the covers. I called and was told they would send someone to clean in the morning. Okay. I was annoyed but what could we do? Kids were already asleep. We went to bed.

130am the entire family is woken up to drilling? LOUD Carpet cleaning? This noise was LOUD. We were across from a cast member only room and when we opened our door saw several extension cords running in/out of that open door. We still don't know what it was. We called again and were told they would figure it out. Heard talking in the hall and the noise stopped. Got everyone back to sleep and got back on our bed (we didn't want to sleep under the sheets) and the noise starts again. We called again and the noise stopped for good. It was hard settling our daughter down of course. With a one year old we couldn't risk the noise again. In the morning I called and asked to be switched to any other room not on that hall and we were given a standard main building room on the 4th floor which was great. Disney handled things fairly well while we were there. we have also been contacted since returning and we feel the situation was handled appropriately.

Ugh. I can't stay in a musty place. I would have had to go right back to the front desk.

Good to know there's another kid out there that doesn't like icky bathrooms. The one time we stayed at my dad's my kid (3 at the time) had to be carried into the bathroom and nearly held over or on the toilet to do his business because he didn't want to touch anything in there. Neither did I, actually!

Should this happen in the future go to the front desk. Hitting "front desk" on the phone gets you to an offsite call center and they have limited options.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We are considering eating here on arrival day around 5:45ish for dinner before heading to MK. Maybe we should nix this and go to The Wave which we LOVE

We hopped on the monorail and had a delicious dinner at the Wave during our December trip.

 

[BabyFu18]

It has been VERY quiet......

I have been busy making my general itinerary for our trip Aug 16-26. I had to make a few changes after the announcement of Pandora and ROL. We usually only do one day in AK but now I have added a night visit as well which has caused some issues/questions....

We have booked our trip thru a TA with a deeply discounted room and tickets. The ticket is an 8 day PH with a bonus admission to a waterpark or mini-golf. They do not offer a discounted 9 day PH. So....now we need a 9 day PH. I read over on the theme parks ticket thread with ROBO that one can add days on to a ticket at guest services at the parks or at most resorts and they will usually bridge the price difference between the gate price of the ticket you have and the gate price of the ticket you want. My ticket is not available for purchase at the gate because of the one admission to a water park bonus feature. ROBO could not answer with certainty if the ticket could be bridged without losing the discount given the deep discount/ticket type. Has any one here ever added days on to one of these special TA tickets? Would love to hear any experiences

I am working on my final picks for dining and such. So excited!! Thinking of trying GF Cafe for the first time since it is so convenient.

Hey I just wanted to add my thoughts pn GF Cafe, we ate there last year for the first time, one night it was storming so bad we didn't want to leave the hotel, but we had a really nice experience I am gluten free (as well as other allergies) and my meal was great and the chef was great and made me whatever I wanted but the rest of my party without allergies also enjoyed their meals and it is a super convenient location when your staying at the resort. I also love Kona though, we ate their last year as well and they too were great with my allergies, it was delicious and very easy to get to with just a hop on the monorail!

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Hey I just wanted to add my thoughts pn GF Cafe, we ate there last year for the first time, one night it was storming so bad we didn't want to leave the hotel, but we had a really nice experience I am gluten free (as well as other allergies) and my meal was great and the chef was great and made me whatever I wanted but the rest of my party without allergies also enjoyed their meals and it is a super convenient location when your staying at the resort. I also love Kona though, we ate their last year as well and they too were great with my allergies, it was delicious and very easy to get to with just a hop on the monorail!

Thank you so much for the info! I was just diagnosed with NCGS this summer so this will be my first trip to WDW since going gluten free. My DD15 has lots of allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, bananas) so I am familiar with how great dining at Disney is with allergies but we have never tried GF Cafe. It has made planning for this trip....more challenging. With me gluten free(and I have an egg yolk intolerance), DD15's allergies, and my DD18 is a picky eater in general.......let's just say I am obsessed with looking over menus!

 

[Sarah28]

Afternoon fellow GF lovers! We're heading back to WDW from the UK next Saturday to celebrate our first wedding anniversary - can't believe on this day last year we were checking into the GF for our Disney Wedding / honeymoon and we were pixie dusted upon check in to a TPV room! It really was a dream come true

Well for this trip we decided to change it up and stay at the Poly as we've always wanted to stay there too, but we will definitely be spending a lot of time at the GF still seeing as we will still be so close - we have ADRs at GFC for breakfast (just like our first 'married' breakfast last year) and we're also doing the Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Lounge which will be a first for my husband, so I hope he likes it as much as I did last year! I'm also hoping to stock up on some bits from Basin White too - just love everything about the GF! Just wanted to share my excitement even though we're not staying there this time, I will still enjoy being back at the GF!

 

[BabyFu18]

Thank you so much for the info! I was just diagnosed with NCGS this summer so this will be my first trip to WDW since going gluten free. My DD15 has lots of allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, bananas) so I am familiar with how great dining at Disney is with allergies but we have never tried GF Cafe. It has made planning for this trip....more challenging. With me gluten free(and I have an egg yolk intolerance), DD15's allergies, and my DD18 is a picky eater in general.......let's just say I am obsessed with looking over menus!

I totally understand, I don't have celiac either but a few years ago I was diagnosed with an anaphylactic reaction to gluten/wheat, it really came out of left field for me because I thought my reactions were from other anaphylactic allergies (food dyes) and it took awhile to pinpoint gluten as the issue but once we did I haven't had any gluten or wheat since. It can be a big adjustment to have to make quickly I know. I'm like you though I constantly look at menus when I'm traveling planning, the rest of my group doesn't have allergies, but I look at menus to make sure everyone has at least a couple of options I know they would eat! Most places we've tried, we love and everyone can get something they've enjoyed. If you are new to GF and you miss battered and fried food you have to try Raglan Road they will make pretty much any of their hand battered dishes in a GF batter and dedicated fryer for you. This year will be my fifth time to Disney since my allergy diagnosis and I've been fine, I'm sure you guys will find plenty of variety for food and snacks!

It looks like we will be at the Grand Floridian just a couple days after you in August 2017!

 

[BabyFu18]

Afternoon fellow GF lovers! We're heading back to WDW from the UK next Saturday to celebrate our first wedding anniversary - can't believe on this day last year we were checking into the GF for our Disney Wedding / honeymoon and we were pixie dusted upon check in to a TPV room! It really was a dream come true

Well for this trip we decided to change it up and stay at the Poly as we've always wanted to stay there too, but we will definitely be spending a lot of time at the GF still seeing as we will still be so close - we have ADRs at GFC for breakfast (just like our first 'married' breakfast last year) and we're also doing the Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Lounge which will be a first for my husband, so I hope he likes it as much as I did last year! I'm also hoping to stock up on some bits from Basin White too - just love everything about the GF! Just wanted to share my excitement even though we're not staying there this time, I will still enjoy being back at the GF!

Have fun on your upcoming trip, the Polynesian is great too I'm sure you'll enjoy it! I just wanted to say I love your dress in your profile picture so pretty!

 

[WishesQueen]

Afternoon fellow GF lovers! We're heading back to WDW from the UK next Saturday to celebrate our first wedding anniversary - can't believe on this day last year we were checking into the GF for our Disney Wedding / honeymoon and we were pixie dusted upon check in to a TPV room! It really was a dream come true

Well for this trip we decided to change it up and stay at the Poly as we've always wanted to stay there too, but we will definitely be spending a lot of time at the GF still seeing as we will still be so close - we have ADRs at GFC for breakfast (just like our first 'married' breakfast last year) and we're also doing the Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Lounge which will be a first for my husband, so I hope he likes it as much as I did last year! I'm also hoping to stock up on some bits from Basin White too - just love everything about the GF! Just wanted to share my excitement even though we're not staying there this time, I will still enjoy being back at the GF!

Happy Anniversary!!! So excited for you guys!! My DH and I had our honeymoon there too 25 years ago. We go every year but this year will be only the second time for my anniversary. I informed my DH I am thinking this is something we should do every year. The Poly is great too, nice and close.

I agree with BabyFu18, your dress is gorgeous. Have fun planning and packing it will be here before you know it!!