Catching up on episodes: Grand Floridian vs Grand Californian Reviews

[rchristiansen]

So I'm catching up on episodes from the last part of this year and recently heard Pete's reviews of the Grand Floridian and Grand Californian. I was really surprised by both reviews because we actually had the exact opposite experiences.

We went to GF summer of 2009 and, while it was nice there was nothing remarkable. Nothing special at check-in just a "Oh yeah, that's right here are your anniversary pins", no offers to take us on a golf cart to our room in pouring rain, no hellos in the lobby. They were not rude at the GF, just nothing special.

The service at Grand Californian was outstanding! We went there in January 2010, and I was blown away by the service! From the minute we got out of our rental car it began ---our room was not ready right away and my husband had some business issues he had to address. So my daughter and I waited in the lobby. Bell services held our luggage and also let us rummage through it a couple times when we needed stuff. While were waiting for my husband, my daughter and I just were sitting at a table and a cast member brought her crayons and an activity packet! Then we explored around the pool area and EVERY cast member greeted us. I then went to the concierge to ask them if there was another way to find out if our was room ready because my iphone was ready to die. Their response: "Do you want me to charge your phone for you??" Amazing! In fact, every cast member we encountered throughout Disneyland blew away the service we ever got at WDW.

So why do you think there was such different experiences? Do you think the GF really improved that much from 2009 to 2010 and that the Grand Californian went downhill since January? Do you think it's because we had our daughter with me? Does the time of year matter?

I just found it so strange that we had the exact opposite experiences --- what do you think?

 

[Gigi22]

There's the good day-bad day factor, and randomness, as well. You could have hit the A Team at Grand Cal.

IMHO, it is very hard to base a review on one visit alone, although in one visit it is certainly possible to identify broad performance issues at a hotel. It seems to me that you would need to visit multiple times during the year to get a really accurate picture--what we get from one visit is more a "snapshot" of the hotels' performance at a particular time.

That said, anyone here willing to volunteer to make repeat visits to the two hotels, to check the theory? Big grin here!

 

[sayhello]

There's the good day-bad day factor, and randomness, as well. You could have hit the A Team at Grand Cal.

IMHO, it is very hard to base a review on one visit alone, although in one visit it is certainly possible to identify broad performance issues at a hotel. It seems to me that you would need to visit multiple times during the year to get a really accurate picture--what we get from one visit is more a "snapshot" of the hotels' performance at a particular time.

That said, anyone here willing to volunteer to make repeat visits to the two hotels, to check the theory? Big grin here!

I'm willing, if someone wants to foot the bill!

Sayhello