GF construction walls and WDW generic email response

[The V Gang]

We missed our annual WDW vacation and I am going through serious withdrawal. We usually go in April but tried November last year (2011). Enjoyed the dry, spring weather in Florida much better than the fall so we decided to only return in the spring and since we couldn't swing two vacations in 6 months we have to wait 18 months till our April 2013 trip. Fast forward many, many months and we are just about 6 months away from our next visit (woohoo). We are booked at AOA bt I really want to do a spilt stay and spend our second half of vaca at the GF (my fave). I refuse to shell out GF dollars for views of construction walls though so I'm trying to figure out when the walls will come down. It's alot harder to get a straight answer than I thought it would be. I emailed guest relations and got the following response:
"Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort.

We appreciate your interest, the Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
refurbishments through December 2012.

At this time there is no construction schedule for April 2013."

Absolutely no help and completely generic - thanks Disney!

I called and spoke to someone at the GF today (after holding for 32 minutes to speak to a guest relations rep....thx again Disney). She was very nice but didn't have any additional info.

Totally disappointed. I'm nervous about going ahead and booking only to find out the walls will still be there when we arrive.

Help!

 

[dansdad]

Even though that was a very generic response, it appears to be correct. According to the Official GF FAQ Thread, all of the rehabs will be done by the end of this year except for the Spa. The Spa is scheduled to be completed "early" 2013.


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2932607

 

[minnie mum]

dansdad had the right idea- go to the folks who will know the answer. In this case the GF resort thread. If you call Disney- even if you call a "resort", the person on the other end of the line will be a CM in a call center that could be hundreds or even thousands of miles from WDW. They don't know anything more than what is on the binder of info or the computer screen in front of them. And even then they get the info wrong half the time.

When in doubt, I'll usually take Disboard info over CM info most of the time.

 

[sndral]

Some of the construction walls are to shield the GF from the not yet officially announced GFDVC timeshare - so when you get the GF construction schedule, it is of no help in figuring out when the timeshare unit will be done and all the walls are down.
It's sort of funny - my imagined dialogue - innocent guests ask CM 'see that monster building rising over the construction wall over there? When will that be done?'
CM responds 'There is no officially announced building over there, hence there is no construction schedule to reveal.'

 

[BCV23]

LOL that was true about BLT for most of its construction but in the case of the GF, DVC announced some months ago (seems close to a year already) that villas would be built at the GF with an expected completion date of late 2013 IIRC. It is true that the villas aren't on sale yet nor have we seem photos of the villa decor.

The walls by that construction shouldn't impact most guests though. At least that seemed to be most people's reaction during the first months of DVC construction. YMMV.

 

[The V Gang]

The walls would be a deal breaker for us as we spend most of the morning/early afternoon by the themed pool. The children love playing in the sand and we love the view. Since atmosphere is important to us (especially when paying GF prices) we want to make sure the walls will be down. Do you think they will take them down once the exterior DVC construction is complete?

 

[Wild4Walt]

The other thing to consider is best laid plans sometimes have monkey wrenches thrown in them - that's the big reason Disney will not make a more solid comment.

If they tell you it's doing to be all done in March, but something comes up and for some reason the walls are still up during your stay then Disney get's complaints that they ruined your perfect vacation.

If it's a deal breaker, then I wouldn't plan for that resort this time around. If you still want to do a split stay I'd personally look at one of the other deluxe resorts.

 

[pixie08]

I would check the GF thread, they might know.

 

[Butterflygirl35]

Most of the construction (other than spa and DVC) should be done.
No word yet on beach walls coming done, we are all hoping and waiting....

 

[rock_doctor]

I would stay some place else. The building would have to be completely finished before they remove the construction walls. If it isn't then you would have guests swinging by to take a look and getting in the way of the crews or at least being in an area where there is no security to keep an eye on the building. One guest with an issue gets into the building they could do millions of dollars of damage.

 

[baler31]

The walls would be a deal breaker for us as we spend most of the morning/early afternoon by the themed pool. The children love playing in the sand and we love the view. Since atmosphere is important to us (especially when paying GF prices) we want to make sure the walls will be down. Do you think they will take them down once the exterior DVC construction is complete?

The walls for DVC will still be there in April 2013. This will impact the view and beach area around the beach pool. If this will impact your enjoyment of the resort you need to book another resort. All the other refurbs barring a Revolution style power outage should be done.

 

[BCV23]

As others have said, the DVC building will certainly have some kind of fence/barrier around it until it is very close to opening.

However, none of knows when the walls that are currently surrounding the activity pool will come down. You would think once the beach area is finished, those walls could come down??? But maybe the beach area won't be completed until the end of the project.

I agree with others. If the walls will bother you, book elsewhere. You can always watch the GF FAQ. You can bet those of us who frequent that thread will be chatting about the latest GF news. If the beach walls come down before your trip and you can live with whatever barriers remain at the villas, then you can change. Happy planning!

 

[BCV23]

All the other refurbs barring a Revolution style power outage should be done.