First Time Stay At Grand Floridian. What Do I Ask For?

[manooly]

Hello All! My family and I will be traveling to Disney World in mid August and staying at the Grand Floridian for the first time (10 day trip!). We are very excited for sure! The last few years we have stayed at the Beach Club Resort and it has turned into our favorite resort by far. We love the mornings when we just walk right into Epcot and taking the boats and walking home from Hollywood Studios and strolling the Boardwalk. We've been told that you really need to try/experience the Grand Floridian though. We've only gone in mid to late August because of travel sports and school here in upstate New York. During this time of year is when I'm able to get a great deal on some of the deluxe resorts (we honestly would not be able to afford to stay deluxe without this deal!). I'm basically able to get the GF for the same price as the Beach/Yacht/Poly/AK resorts so figured this was the year to try Disney's flagship resort....the Grand Floridian. Now I've only done a little research and see the all the rooms have a full balcony. What other tips/suggestions do you have for me to ask for or to do? I'm not afraid to stop by the front desk at check-in and see if I can get any of my requests taken care of. By being polite and calm I've been able to get many requests taken care of before. I believe my official reservation is for a basic Garden View but was wondering if I should try for a different view, maybe an upper floor? How about the food choices around the resort? We are not really fancy people but do enjoy treating ourselves to the finer things once in a while for sure! How about monorail or Disney transportation from the resort to the parks? Where to walk around when we arrive since arrival day is the most exciting day for us and we don't have park passes that day. We would love to walk the Boardwalk when we arrived at the Beach Club. That was one of our favorite things to do. Anyways, I'll stop blabbering now. Please respond with any tips or suggestions to make our stay at the Grand Floridian the best yet! I look forward to any and all comments this great community has to offer.

Thanks for your time!

- manooly

 

[focusondisney]

I’d suggest you read some of the Grand Floridian thread. You can get lots of information there. Personally, I don’t like to give request suggestions. What is important to me might not make any difference to you. You have to figure out what is important to you & then make that your first request. One thing I wouldn’t recommend is requesting a different category than you booked. That’s just setting yourself up for disappointment. One suggestion for your first night is take the monorail & visit the other resorts. You could even take a boat from the Contemporary to Wilderness Lodge & check that out. GF has movies at night too if that interests you.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...ort-spa-villas-information-questions.3336950/

 

[Babsy]

Look online at the dormer room balconies vs regular balconies. You may want to request one type or the other. Pretty much all rooms at the GF are great! There are a few that have a view that are less nice than others, but none that are terrible. So requests can be like near the main building, near or far from the elevator, ground floor or upper floor - all personal preferences. No rooms are distant form anything major. The Gf is one place where we can relax re room requests a bit, because, IMO, the rooms are pretty much all good!!

Arrival day is a good time to check out the resort and find everything. There is a beautiful walkway to the Poly where you can check out the amenities over there as well. The monorail will connect you to the CR. There is a great little boat that takes you to the MK and Poly that is a fun ride in itself. If you want you can ride the monorail to the CR and then take a boat to FW and/or WL. Watching the MK fireworks from the area in front of Gasparilla Grill is a great way to end the evening!

Enjoy the GF!!!!!

 

[Nancyg56]

The GRand is awesome! I love the outer buildings and have never paid for a specific view. My favorite tiem of day is early mornign when the sun is coming up in the East, the walkways are tranquil at that time.

I also hesitate to give advice because what matters to me may not to you. Head over to the Grand thread and you will get a lot of info just reading the posts.

 

[Rob Troxel]

Conch Key is a great location. Close to the boat launch to the Magic Kingdom - close to the main lobby - close to Gasparilla's for your morning coffee and walk. Ask for front of building room higher up.
PS i hear the occupancy is not 100% at GF. Could it be they are reached a pricing resistance level? Maybe some deals to be had there

 

[trishadono]

Hello All! My family and I will be traveling to Disney World in mid August and staying at the Grand Floridian for the first time (10 day trip!). We are very excited for sure! The last few years we have stayed at the Beach Club Resort and it has turned into our favorite resort by far. We love the mornings when we just walk right into Epcot and taking the boats and walking home from Hollywood Studios and strolling the Boardwalk. We've been told that you really need to try/experience the Grand Floridian though. We've only gone in mid to late August because of travel sports and school here in upstate New York. During this time of year is when I'm able to get a great deal on some of the deluxe resorts (we honestly would not be able to afford to stay deluxe without this deal!). I'm basically able to get the GF for the same price as the Beach/Yacht/Poly/AK resorts so figured this was the year to try Disney's flagship resort....the Grand Floridian. Now I've only done a little research and see the all the rooms have a full balcony. What other tips/suggestions do you have for me to ask for or to do? I'm not afraid to stop by the front desk at check-in and see if I can get any of my requests taken care of. By being polite and calm I've been able to get many requests taken care of before. I believe my official reservation is for a basic Garden View but was wondering if I should try for a different view, maybe an upper floor? How about the food choices around the resort? We are not really fancy people but do enjoy treating ourselves to the finer things once in a while for sure! How about monorail or Disney transportation from the resort to the parks? Where to walk around when we arrive since arrival day is the most exciting day for us and we don't have park passes that day. We would love to walk the Boardwalk when we arrived at the Beach Club. That was one of our favorite things to do. Anyways, I'll stop blabbering now. Please respond with any tips or suggestions to make our stay at the Grand Floridian the best yet! I look forward to any and all comments this great community has to offer.

Thanks for your time!

- manooly

I agree with others room options are all pretty good. If you get to room and something just doesn't work for you (view, balcony size, noisy) don't touch anything and ask to be moved. I did that once because ds bday and he was sad we 1st floor and not a true balcony so I asked to be moved. Otherwise I wouldn't have .

Food. Lots of options: casual GGGs has quick food that is obvious but the pools both have their own menus too.

How about a snack / light meal in the evening? Narcoossees, Citricos have bar areas and mizners has a light menu too.

Room service is always a treat too!

 

[mickeynut1]

Look online at the dormer room balconies vs regular balconies. You may want to request one type or the other. Pretty much all rooms at the GF are great! There are a few that have a view that are less nice than others, but none that are terrible. So requests can be like near the main building, near or far from the elevator, ground floor or upper floor - all personal preferences. No rooms are distant form anything major. The Gf is one place where we can relax re room requests a bit, because, IMO, the rooms are pretty much all good!!

Arrival day is a good time to check out the resort and find everything. There is a beautiful walkway to the Poly where you can check out the amenities over there as well. The monorail will connect you to the CR. There is a great little boat that takes you to the MK and Poly that is a fun ride in itself. If you want you can ride the monorail to the CR and then take a boat to FW and/or WL. Watching the MK fireworks from the area in front of Gasparilla Grill is a great way to end the evening!

Enjoy the GF!!!!!

I agree with everything here

My favorite tiem of day is early mornign when the sun is coming up in the East, the walkways are tranquil at that time.

I agree, the grounds are so calm and relaxing that early in the morning .

 

[Nancyg56]

Conch Key is a great location. Close to the boat launch to the Magic Kingdom - close to the main lobby - close to Gasparilla's for your morning coffee and walk. Ask for front of building room higher up.
PS i hear the occupancy is not 100% at GF. Could it be they are reached a pricing resistance level? Maybe some deals to be had there

Conch Key is my favorite location

 

[MomOTwins]

Pack a pool bag carry on so you can go for a swim before your luggage arrives from the Magical Express! The pool is great.

 

[Sue M]

Our fav garden views is around Courtyard pool. Unlike BC/YC garden view can be pool or marina view. We love Big Pine Key and Boca Chica. I like upper floor but not dormer room!
For arrival day I echo packing a bathing suit in carry on. There are change rooms at the Beach Pool. Explore GF lobby! It’s so pretty. Lots of shops too. Have a look around Gaspys their QS. We love lunch at the Beach Pool Grille. Crab cakes! Other things you can do is walk over to Poly to explore, grab a Dole Whip. Hop on monorail to go look around CR. Then you can walk to the back of CR to their dock and hop on a boat to WL or Ft W! Plenty of stuff to do.