Resort Thread Disney's GRAND FLORIDIAN Resort & Spa + Construction Updates!! **LOBBY REFURB STARTED 4/14**

[Three cats]

Those emails have been going out for about two years now. If you go back the past couple of pages, or Page 1, you will see the current status of any construction going on at this time, however, no mention of the lobby as of yet. I will definitely update this thread if anything changes.

Thank you. We just recently made the reservation so I haven’t had a chance to go through the thread yet.

 

[OlliePop27]

Pool update 2/27 at 830 pm…Looks like it will be March

The website still says opening late-February. Unless it opens today, that's obviously not happening. Maybe it will wrap up soon.

 

[mrsap]

The website still says opening late-February. Unless it opens today, that's obviously not happening. Maybe it will wrap up soon.

Someone just posted on FB this morning, around 8:30 am, that the Pool Closed sign is still up. Looks like workers are still present as well.

 

[VH103428]

Courtyard Pool open tomorrow!

 

[VH103428]

Courtyard Pool open tomorrow!

I hate to go back on what I was told yesterday but now the front desk is saying it will not be open today. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[VH103428]

I hate to go back on what I was told yesterday but now the front desk is saying it will not be open today. Sorry for the confusion!

And again I go back…It is open!

 

[mrsap]

COURTYARD POOL IS OPEN!


*Picture found on FB.

 

[VH103428]

Currently here

 

[teamsamant]

Currently here

do the fountains in the pool work?

 

[VH103428]

do the fountains in the pool work?

Not all of them. I don’t think they did any fountain work. The fountains seemed to be the same as they were during my last visit in October.

 

[mrsap]

Here are the latest GF Permits posted on WDWMAGIC.


Grand Floridian
3401 FLORIDIAN WY (GRAND FLORIDIAN MEETING FACILITY) - WW Gay Mechanical Contractor Inc - Mechanical Work

4421 FLORIDIAN WY (GRAND FLORIDIAN BLDG (7) POOL BLDG) - Ferran Services & Contracting Inc - Mechanical Work

4481 FLORIDIAN WY (GRAND FLORIDIAN BEACH POOL EQUIPMENT BLDG) - Ferran Services & Contracting Inc - Mechanical Work (wonder if The Beach Pool area will be closed next?)


Grand Floridian
3401 FLORIDIAN WY (GRAND FLORIDIAN MEETING FACILITY) - Beacon Sales Acquisitions Inc - General Conditions

Grand Floridian
4401 FLORIDIAN WY (GRAND FLORIDIAN MAIN BLDG 4 (1) (RM4001-4430)) - Icarus Exhibits, Inc. - General Construction

I find this one most interesting, as it appears the company mentioned created the Tiana’s Foods Tower for Tiana’s Bayou! What can they be doing at The Grand? (Unless it’s for the Easter Cottage? I don’t see one from last year, but I’ll keep looking.) Could be looking to much into it…

 

[bethclayton]

Just returned late Friday night from a wonderful stay at RPC. It was the first time ever that dh and I went without our kids. Thought I would share a few highlights in case this helps.

Rooms: 4414, resort view, we also had this room in June. Lovely location close to lounge and the back elevator to Gasparilla’s, but quiet, with a great view of the Courtyard Pool, lagoon, and Poly. Dh got extremely sick (stomach bug) on our last night and we could not travel on our scheduled day so we had to add a night. We could not keep our room so moved to 4408, which was Theme Park view, and it was a gorgeous view, but it was rather noisy both outside and inside. The view definitely outweighed that though.

Resort as a whole: Not very crowded, and lovely in every way as usual.

Construction: as posted by others, the only construction seemed to be the roof of the courtyard pool bar.

Club level offerings: food was very good, but I think the selections when we were there in June were slightly better. They are now offering self pour wine and champagne from 4-8 pm (though one day it was available before 3), which we absolutely loved.

Club level service: I hate to say but, to be completely blunt, it seemed that the younger staff spent a lot of time gathered in one spot chatting and belly laughing for literally hours on end while tables went uncleared and unwiped. They were very friendly and more than happy to help if approached. It is entirely possible that the division of labor is such that it was not their responsibility to clear or wipe the tables, but if so, management might want to look into how to better approach this. The lounge was never crowded outside of maybe around 8 am, so finding a table was never an issue. But hours would go by with plates and cups covering multiple empty tables with no one clearing, and when you did find a cleared table, it was often dirty (crumbs, sauces, etc.), leading me to wonder whether it had been cleared by guests. During this time there would easily be 2-3 staff just standing near the food chatting. It seemed that the more middle aged staff were always working hard. I feel badly pointing out age because my own kids are in that same younger age group, but it really was consistent. Again, I may just be misunderstanding the division of labor. Oh, and I needed help from the third floor desk multiple times during our stay and every single person working the desk, “young” and “old” alike, was so helpful, I was really impressed and grateful for their help.

Mousekeeping: Fantastic when we were in 4414, the room was sparkling clean every day, we were really impressed. In 4408, there were poppy seeds all over the bathroom floor near the toilet when we arrived. Of all the places to not have cleaned…

Premier Pass: we got one for MK and one for AK and loved going at our own pace. Would 100% do it again.

May be everyone knew this but us, but I thought I’d mention, there is a decent fireworks view from the 5th floor lounge if weather prevents you from going out to Gasparilla’s. Dh and I were the only ones up there!

Transportation: probably just luck but literally every single time we got to the door there was a monorail already waiting, and the same went for the boat returning from MK.

Overall, we had the absolute best trip and can’t wait to go back. Already booked a BB! RPC had almost no availability so we booked for Sept hoping we can change to a cooler month at some point.

I’d be more than happy to answer questions if anyone has any!

Here is a link to some videos that I took of the lounge, the lobby, the views from RPC, and the fireworks from our room in their entirety if anyone needs a quick fix! https://youtube.com/@bethclayton4900?si=OVrBWLWnu4g_T7VR

 

[Maxie86]

Just returned late Friday night from a wonderful stay at RPC. It was the first time ever that dh and I went without our kids. Thought I would share a few highlights in case this helps.

Rooms: 4414, resort view, we also had this room in June. Lovely location close to lounge and the back elevator to Gasparilla’s, but quiet, with a great view of the Courtyard Pool, lagoon, and Poly. Dh got extremely sick (stomach bug) on our last night and we could not travel on our scheduled day so we had to add a night. We could not keep our room so moved to 4408, which was Theme Park view, and it was a gorgeous view, but it was rather noisy both outside and inside. The view definitely outweighed that though.

Resort as a whole: Not very crowded, and lovely in every way as usual.

Construction: as posted by others, the only construction seemed to be the roof of the courtyard pool bar.

Club level offerings: food was very good, but I think the selections when we were there in June were slightly better. They are now offering self pour wine and champagne from 4-8 pm (though one day it was available before 3), which we absolutely loved.

Club level service: I hate to say but, to be completely blunt, it seemed that the younger staff spent a lot of time gathered in one spot chatting and belly laughing for literally hours on end while tables went uncleared and unwiped. They were very friendly and more than happy to help if approached. It is entirely possible that the division of labor is such that it was not their responsibility to clear or wipe the tables, but if so, management might want to look into how to better approach this. The lounge was never crowded outside of maybe around 8 am, so finding a table was never an issue. But hours would go by with plates and cups covering multiple empty tables with no one clearing, and when you did find a cleared table, it was often dirty (crumbs, sauces, etc.), leading me to wonder whether it had been cleared by guests. During this time there would easily be 2-3 staff just standing near the food chatting. It seemed that the more middle aged staff were always working hard. I feel badly pointing out age because my own kids are in that same younger age group, but it really was consistent. Again, I may just be misunderstanding the division of labor. Oh, and I needed help from the third floor desk multiple times during our stay and every single person working the desk, “young” and “old” alike, was so helpful, I was really impressed and grateful for their help.

Mousekeeping: Fantastic when we were in 4414, the room was sparkling clean every day, we were really impressed. In 4408, there were poppy seeds all over the bathroom floor near the toilet when we arrived. Of all the places to not have cleaned…

Premier Pass: we got one for MK and one for AK and loved going at our own pace. Would 100% do it again.

May be everyone knew this but us, but I thought I’d mention, there is a decent fireworks view from the 5th floor lounge if weather prevents you from going out to Gasparilla’s. Dh and I were the only ones up there!

Transportation: probably just luck but literally every single time we got to the door there was a monorail already waiting, and the same went for the boat returning from MK.

Overall, we had the absolute best trip and can’t wait to go back. Already booked a BB! RPC had almost no availability so we booked for Sept hoping we can change to a cooler month at some point.

I’d be more than happy to answer questions if anyone has any!

Here is a link to some videos that I took of the lounge, the lobby, the views from RPC, and the fireworks from our room in their entirety if anyone needs a quick fix! https://youtube.com/@bethclayton4900?si=OVrBWLWnu4g_T7VR

We also had a very nice stay in RPC mid February. I agree about the younger staff. They were always just standing around talking. Irv and Abdul were doing all the work, when they weren't there it wasn't getting done. Except the last night when a CM from Tower Club was working the RPC lounge, he was the only one cleaning tables...that is not acceptable. I don't think you are misunderstanding the division of labor...in the past even managers cleared tables when needed. I just don't see Disney paying CMs to stand around in a group talking and not working. Talking to guests is acceptable but not to each other.

On a positive note we very much enjoyed our stay. It's been three years since our last stay after staying there two and three times a year for over 20 years. I really missed it and still feel most at home there and can't wait to go back...but only if I can get a BB rate. The grounds were beautiful, I was so impressed with how gorgeous everything looked. Loved the new rooms and lounge setup.

 

[ahcupcake]

Just returned late Friday night from a wonderful stay at RPC. It was the first time ever that dh and I went without our kids. Thought I would share a few highlights in case this helps.

Rooms: 4414, resort view, we also had this room in June. Lovely location close to lounge and the back elevator to Gasparilla’s, but quiet, with a great view of the Courtyard Pool, lagoon, and Poly. Dh got extremely sick (stomach bug) on our last night and we could not travel on our scheduled day so we had to add a night. We could not keep our room so moved to 4408, which was Theme Park view, and it was a gorgeous view, but it was rather noisy both outside and inside. The view definitely outweighed that though.

Resort as a whole: Not very crowded, and lovely in every way as usual.

Construction: as posted by others, the only construction seemed to be the roof of the courtyard pool bar.

Club level offerings: food was very good, but I think the selections when we were there in June were slightly better. They are now offering self pour wine and champagne from 4-8 pm (though one day it was available before 3), which we absolutely loved.

Club level service: I hate to say but, to be completely blunt, it seemed that the younger staff spent a lot of time gathered in one spot chatting and belly laughing for literally hours on end while tables went uncleared and unwiped. They were very friendly and more than happy to help if approached. It is entirely possible that the division of labor is such that it was not their responsibility to clear or wipe the tables, but if so, management might want to look into how to better approach this. The lounge was never crowded outside of maybe around 8 am, so finding a table was never an issue. But hours would go by with plates and cups covering multiple empty tables with no one clearing, and when you did find a cleared table, it was often dirty (crumbs, sauces, etc.), leading me to wonder whether it had been cleared by guests. During this time there would easily be 2-3 staff just standing near the food chatting. It seemed that the more middle aged staff were always working hard. I feel badly pointing out age because my own kids are in that same younger age group, but it really was consistent. Again, I may just be misunderstanding the division of labor. Oh, and I needed help from the third floor desk multiple times during our stay and every single person working the desk, “young” and “old” alike, was so helpful, I was really impressed and grateful for their help.

Mousekeeping: Fantastic when we were in 4414, the room was sparkling clean every day, we were really impressed. In 4408, there were poppy seeds all over the bathroom floor near the toilet when we arrived. Of all the places to not have cleaned…

Premier Pass: we got one for MK and one for AK and loved going at our own pace. Would 100% do it again.

May be everyone knew this but us, but I thought I’d mention, there is a decent fireworks view from the 5th floor lounge if weather prevents you from going out to Gasparilla’s. Dh and I were the only ones up there!

Transportation: probably just luck but literally every single time we got to the door there was a monorail already waiting, and the same went for the boat returning from MK.

Overall, we had the absolute best trip and can’t wait to go back. Already booked a BB! RPC had almost no availability so we booked for Sept hoping we can change to a cooler month at some point.

I’d be more than happy to answer questions if anyone has any!

Here is a link to some videos that I took of the lounge, the lobby, the views from RPC, and the fireworks from our room in their entirety if anyone needs a quick fix! https://youtube.com/@bethclayton4900?si=OVrBWLWnu4g_T7VR

Glad you had a good time and I hope your DH is feeling better.
Sorry to hear that there were stand around do nothing CM's. IMO the ONLY time standing around talking to each other is acceptable is if there aren't any guests and everything is cleaned up.

Good to hear that the wines and champagne are self pour once again

We also had a very nice stay in RPC mid February. I agree about the younger staff. They were always just standing around talking. Irv and Abdul were doing all the work, when they weren't there it wasn't getting done. Except the last night when a CM from Tower Club was working the RPC lounge, he was the only one cleaning tables...that is not acceptable. I don't think you are misunderstanding the division of labor...in the past even managers cleared tables when needed. I just don't see Disney paying CMs to stand around in a group talking and not working. Talking to guests is acceptable but not to each other.

On a positive note we very much enjoyed our stay. It's been three years since our last stay after staying there two and three times a year for over 20 years. I really missed it and still feel most at home there and can't wait to go back...but only if I can get a BB rate. The grounds were beautiful, I was so impressed with how gorgeous everything looked. Loved the new rooms and lounge setup.

Hi @Maxie86

 

[Maxie86]

Glad you had a good time and I hope your DH is feeling better.
Sorry to hear that there were stand around do nothing CM's. IMO the ONLY time standing around talking to each other is acceptable is if there aren't any guests and everything is cleaned up.

Good to hear that the wines and champagne are self pour once again






Hi @Maxie86

Hi ahcupcake. Do you have any trips booked?

 

[gottalovepluto]

@bethclayton @Maxie86 Maybe consider dropping guest services a note regarding the lounge clearing. If it isn’t the job of the chatty CMs, Disney needs to hire someone to handle it on an immediate basis. Guests clear their own plates sometimes? Like- what? At the flagship resort? Oof. My mind is a bit boggled that my stay at CSR CL had a vastly superior lounge cleaning experience. As soon as a party would leave a CM would swoop in, clean it all up and if it was breakfast put out a setting out of rolled up silverware.

 

[mrsap]

@bethclayton @Maxie86
Don’t want to take this thread too off topic, but we had a similar experience with WL CL table clearing. It was pretty bad.

 

[FSU Girl]

@bethclayton @Maxie86
Don’t want to take this thread too off topic, but we had a similar experience with WL CL table clearing. It was pretty bad.

What would happen if a cm was asked about the dirty table?

 

[mrsap]

What would happen if a cm was asked about the dirty table?

Depends. The problem was finding someone to do it. They weren’t out and about like they are at other lounges.

 

[kylenne]

@bethclayton @Maxie86 Maybe consider dropping guest services a note regarding the lounge clearing. If it isn’t the job of the chatty CMs, Disney needs to hire someone to handle it on an immediate basis. Guests clear their own plates sometimes? Like- what? At the flagship resort? Oof. My mind is a bit boggled that my stay at CSR CL had a vastly superior lounge cleaning experience. As soon as a party would leave a CM would swoop in, clean it all up and if it was breakfast put out a setting out of rolled up silverware.

Forgive the pun but that wouldn't even fly in the rinky dink Priority Pass airport lounges, even at those staff is regularly clearing plates.

I try to always side with CMs and cut them slack but with the prices they charge for RPC that really is unacceptable. I would definitely send a polite note to Guest Services.