2014 Grand Floridian Resort & Villas FAQ: Vacationing in Grand Style!

[Scott MC]

We stayed in Sago Cay last week and we did get the "Goodnight" turndown cards. We did not get one every night (probably 4 out of our 7 nights) but we did get chocolates every night!

One month!!!! In baler's review she did mention that the turn down card are indeed back!

Wheee! Good to know! I know it's just a small touch, but it's so lovely! I wish BC and YC had them. I think the only resorts that do are BWI, GF, and AKL.

I hope you have a great trip and that all of your requests are met .

Thank you! I have a feeling the resort will be pretty full when we are there, so I kept it pretty simple in saying "This building or that one...not first floor." Hopefully, that's vague enough to get the requests met!

 

[Mrsdonaldduck]

Ugh! I hope things improve in SL for our August Stay

ugggg Sue I agree!! We will be there 8/20-8/28. Thank you baler

 

[Mrsdonaldduck]

ugggg Sue I agree!! We will be there 8/20-8/28. Thank you baler

oops hit send to early. thank you Baler31 for all of the information!!!

 

[A Pirates Mom]

Ugh! I hope things improve in SL for our August Stay

Same here! When in August will you be there?

 

[Aurora0427]

Thanks for your honest review. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of SL, either. I feel the same as you in that I thought the lounge was very chaotic with not enough seating to accommodate the number of guests staying there. I also don't like how the lounge is located in the center of the lobby as you enter the SL building. One of the perks of CL (to me) is the ability to relax in the lounge taking in the surroundings, but SL just doesn't have that relaxing atmosphere (at least not to me), partly due to the location of the lounge, IMO. Also, you are right about the concierge desk location. The desk needs to be in a separate area away from the main lounge area so guests have a little privacy to discuss things about their trip, give cc information for dining/tours, etc. As far as the no shoes/no shirt issue, that (unfortunately) goes on in all lounges, including RPC .

I love the GF and will continue to stay there, but like you, I will not book SL again. I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it, but it just isn't for me. For my future GF stays, I will book RPC or outer building GV as I just didn't like SL enough to spend the extra money over GV.

Is SL the club level building outside of the main building? What is RPC?

 

[mickeynut1]

We were originally booked at Poly and booked back in Dec 2013 for Sep 2014. I do not think at the time that we had any discounts. So when we found out about the pool closure in January we knew we had to switch, especially with 5 children in our group. We booked thru AAA...ugh...and my parents who are blessing our families with this trip decided on the GF instead. They were obviously not happy with the price increase and asked AAA if there was anything they could do. AAA said that Disney never gives discounts because of situations like this but my parents insisted that they please try and ask. So supposedly it went to the AAA regional office and they came back and said we could stay at GF for only about $100 extra per room for the whole trip, plus we would get free Memory Maker. They really made it sound like it was a big deal that we got this discount since Disney "never does anything like this". Around this time the Memory Maker package came out that included a room discount plus free MM. I think that they just realized we were eligible for this package and applied that instead...even though it would have been available for us (most likely) anyways. Then in May the RO discounts came out and it was cheaper for us to do that so we then switched our reservation over to that package. So all in all, no we did not get any discount for switching from Poly to GF. We are still paying the GF prices that would have been available to everyone else. Just my thoughts.

I think your parents made a great choice choosing the GF as an alternative to the Poly, even without any extra discount (but glad they were able to get the RO discount ). How nice of them to pay for the trip for everyone. I hope everyone has an amazing time and enjoys the GF .

I thought I read somewhere in these 144 pages about an elevator in the back side of RPC that you could take from your room to the pool (basically so you don't have to take the main elevator and walk through the lobby with your bathing suit). I tried searching, and cannot find it again. Maybe I initially misread the post. Does anyone know if there is an elevator to access RPC other than the gold elevator(s) from the main lobby??

It sounds like a good idea since I imagine it could be awkward coming back from the pool with your family. Everyone will be wet, wearing bathing suits or cover ups and having to walk through such a formal lobby to get the elevator to your room...where many people in the lobby are all dressed up waiting for dinner at one of the restaurants.

I know...#firstworldproblems!

Thanks

I can't help, but I'm sure someone else will be able to answer that for you .

Thank you! I have a feeling the resort will be pretty full when we are there, so I kept it pretty simple in saying "This building or that one...not first floor." Hopefully, that's vague enough to get the requests met!

You're welcome .

Even if the resort is full, I'm sure you will have a Grand time . I also think you have a good chance of getting your requests met since they are simple ones (IMO) to fulfill .

Is SL the club level building outside of the main building? What is RPC?

Yes, SL (Sugar Loaf) is outer building CL and RPC (Royal Palm Club) is main building CL .

 

[Raya]

Are people getting the RO discount for late Oct? My TA said it didn't apply to GF at all... I'd love for her to be wrong.

 

[garada3]

I thought I read somewhere in these 144 pages about an elevator in the back side of RPC that you could take from your room to the pool (basically so you don't have to take the main elevator and walk through the lobby with your bathing suit). I tried searching, and cannot find it again. Maybe I initially misread the post. Does anyone know if there is an elevator to access RPC other than the gold elevator(s) from the main lobby??

It sounds like a good idea since I imagine it could be awkward coming back from the pool with your family. Everyone will be wet, wearing bathing suits or cover ups and having to walk through such a formal lobby to get the elevator to your room...where many people in the lobby are all dressed up waiting for dinner at one of the restaurants.

I know...#firstworldproblems!

Thanks

There is another elevator that accesses RPC. We call it the pool elevator : ) It is located in the "bend" of the hallway on the 3rd and 4th floors between rooms designated garden view and theme park view. It descends into a small hallway located to the left of Gasparilla Island Grill.

This is the same elevator that is used to access the rooms on the second floor and the laundry room.

I also prefer not to travel through the lobby in my coverup : )

 

[garada3]

garada3 - I did not see anything in the cases at either Sandy Cove OR Gasparilla's that looked like sparkling grape juice.

If it were me, I would call PD now and see if this is possible. Or, you know what - I would probably order both apple juice (or another fruit juice) and ginger ale and mix the two for the kids. Maybe see if you can get some maraschino cherries from PD, at least. In fact, they would probably be willing to do a similar thing in the kitchen.

Thank you for checking your photos. I also really appreciate your mixology suggestion - and will follow your advice! The girls will love it!

 

[Ali]

There is an elevator on the back wall by the QS place. You'll need to put your keycard in it we always used that elevator when we stated there.

I thought I read somewhere in these 144 pages about an elevator in the back side of RPC that you could take from your room to the pool (basically so you don't have to take the main elevator and walk through the lobby with your bathing suit). I tried searching, and cannot find it again. Maybe I initially misread the post. Does anyone know if there is an elevator to access RPC other than the gold elevator(s) from the main lobby??

It sounds like a good idea since I imagine it could be awkward coming back from the pool with your family. Everyone will be wet, wearing bathing suits or cover ups and having to walk through such a formal lobby to get the elevator to your room...where many people in the lobby are all dressed up waiting for dinner at one of the restaurants.

I know...#firstworldproblems!

Thanks

 

[Commander Cody]

There is another elevator that accesses RPC. We call it the pool elevator : ) It is located in the "bend" of the hallway on the 3rd and 4th floors between rooms designated garden view and theme park view. It descends into a small hallway located to the left of Gasparilla Island Grill.

This is the same elevator that is used to access the rooms on the second floor and the laundry room.

I also prefer not to travel through the lobby in my coverup : )

Great...thanks.

I assume the "pool" elevator requires a MB to come back up to RPC...just like the gold elevators?

I know this is a real long shot, but does anyone happen to have pics? I can't place where it is (even though you described the location very well). I guess it's just because I never looked for it before.

Thanks again

 

[garada3]

Great...thanks.

I assume the "pool" elevator requires a MB to come back up to RPC...just like the gold elevators?

I know this is a real long shot, but does anyone happen to have pics? I can't place where it is (even though you described the location very well). I guess it's just because I never looked for it before.

Thanks again

We have not been at WDW since the advent of magic bands, but assume that the bands are needed to access the RPC from all elevators just like the old gold key card.

I will miss my gold key

I am sure if someone has a picture they will post it if they can.

 

[Aurora0427]

Yes, SL (Sugar Loaf) is outer building CL and RPC (Royal Palm Club) is main building CL .

Thank you!!!!

 

[pixarmom]

baler, thank you so much for your review! Great detail, and really gave a sense for the atmosphere during your stay. I'm feeling confident our RPC reservation for January is the right decision.

 

[mickeynut1]

Are people getting the RO discount for late Oct? My TA said it didn't apply to GF at all... I'd love for her to be wrong.

According to the website, the GF is included for 25% off select nights 10/4-10/19 and 30% off select nights 10/20-11/7. There are other dates in Nov & Dec, but those are the date ranges for October. Here is the link:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/resort-hotel-rooms/

I plugged in several different dates and while the first few didn't show any availability, 10/24-10/27 showed an outer building GV available, so the GF is included, but the dates might just be very limited. My guess is that a lot of Poly and WL guests have moved over to the GF to avoid the construction and pool closure, therefore, causing less availability at the GF (just my opinion).

Thank you!!!!

You're welcome .

 

[Aurora0427]

According to the website, the GF is included for 25% off select nights 10/4-10/19 and 30% off select nights 10/20-11/7. There are other dates in Nov & Dec, but those are the date ranges for October. Here is the link:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/resort-hotel-rooms/

I plugged in several different dates and while the first few didn't show any availability, 10/24-10/27 showed an outer building GV available, so the GF is included, but the dates might just be very limited. My guess is that a lot of Poly and WL guests have moved over to the GF to avoid the construction and pool closure, therefore, causing less availability at the GF (just my opinion).



You're welcome .

Wow! They have really reduced the discount availability. We did the winter special earlier this year and had plenty of dates/resorts from which to choose! Same thing for Spring 2013. They must have high occupancy this fall.

 

[trishadono]

baler, thank you so much for your review! Great detail, and really gave a sense for the atmosphere during your stay. I'm feeling confident our RPC reservation for January is the right decision.

I'll have pics in August of any updates too to help with your decision making.

Hi again Pixarmom

 

[BlueSkies]

Crazyhorse: we are there at the same time -- 11/15-22nd! 115 days til our first trip to the world!

Luckily, we won't have to bring the dogbed.

Still

We will be in the world at around the same time too!

We were originally booked at Poly and booked back in Dec 2013 for Sep 2014. I do not think at the time that we had any discounts. So when we found out about the pool closure in January we knew we had to switch, especially with 5 children in our group. We booked thru AAA...ugh...and my parents who are blessing our families with this trip decided on the GF instead. They were obviously not happy with the price increase and asked AAA if there was anything they could do. AAA said that Disney never gives discounts because of situations like this but my parents insisted that they please try and ask. So supposedly it went to the AAA regional office and they came back and said we could stay at GF for only about $100 extra per room for the whole trip, plus we would get free Memory Maker. They really made it sound like it was a big deal that we got this discount since Disney "never does anything like this". Around this time the Memory Maker package came out that included a room discount plus free MM. I think that they just realized we were eligible for this package and applied that instead...even though it would have been available for us (most likely) anyways. Then in May the RO discounts came out and it was cheaper for us to do that so we then switched our reservation over to that package. So all in all, no we did not get any discount for switching from Poly to GF. We are still paying the GF prices that would have been available to everyone else. Just my thoughts.

What a wonderful family trip..what wonderful parents!! Enjoy! There we no "special" discounts to peeps staying a the GF during the construction either.. just the usual BB.. AP.. RO etc...but these were available..and easy it was easy to book a room...lol...I guess there was such an uproar at the WL that the powers that be over there decided to handle things differently??? Or maybe they just thought that given the shorter notice of refurbs that they should do something about it..?? No rhyme or reason as far as I can tell with this stuff...lol.. In any case so glad that you were able to get a RO discount..and able to switch resorts too...

Are people getting the RO discount for late Oct? My TA said it didn't apply to GF at all... I'd love for her to be wrong.

I just checked too...and as MickeyNut said although there is limited availabilty..the GF is included in those dates for a RO discount... I think a call back to your TA is in order!

We have not been at WDW since the advent of magic bands, but assume that the bands are needed to access the RPC from all elevators just like the old gold key card.

I will miss my gold key

I am sure if someone has a picture they will post it if they can.

Even with your MB..you can still request and receive a key card for use during your stay..Although I heard they were discontinuing the gold cards..in favor of just the generic blue ones..on our last stay they were still gold...and linked to all the same info that is in your MDE account... so don't hesitate to ask if you would like one...

~ The pool elevator..which I think was originally called that when there was only one pool..the courtyard pool...and very convenient if you wanted to get to that pool without going thru the main resort areas in swim attire.... and I guess the name stuck..as it is still refered to as that...it is very convenient for getting to Gaspies..and the boat dock....and of course the CY pool...

The entrance / lobby to this area is located right after the windows for the GF Cafe end..and just a bit before the entrance to Gasparillas...It has double doors..and access to any floor in this elevator is keyed access only...

Hope that everyone is having a terrific Thursday... preppy GF gal who just re personalized the MBs for her trip..wont DD and DH be surprised!

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

We'll be at the GF October 18-24 and when the Late Fall Discount was released yesterday I called WDTC and there were no discounts available at the GF for our dates. Boo!

This morning I went online to check again and the website was showing LV available with the discount. I called WDTC right away and was able to upgrade from GV to LV with the discount and saved over $600! Yeah!

 

[BlueSkies]

We'll be at the GF October 18-24 and when the Late Fall Discount was released yesterday I called WDTC and there were no discounts available at the GF for our dates. Boo!

This morning I went online to check again and the website was showing LV available with the discount. I called WDTC right away and was able to upgrade from GV to LV with the discount and saved over $600! Yeah!

Congrats!!! That's terrific!! And what a savings!

The moral of the story is...if at first you don't succeed..try and try again!