GF experts please help!

[Tinky]

I "think" we have decided on the GF for our next adventure. Seeing it on the Travel Channel the other night really helped make up our minds. DS (5) said he wanted to go "that new hotel and not the Polynesian" next time. The rooms look much bigger than the rooms at the Poly. Anyway...
We need help deciding what to request.... we're looking for a lagoon view room with a great view of Cinderella's Castle. Really dont care if its concierge or not. Tried to read through the FAQ's but it really got confusing after a while.
Help please

 

[eeyorekjs7]

If you want to see Cinderella's castle, your best bet is to book a lagoon view room. Realize though, that a castle view is NOT guaranteed and there are many lagoon view rooms that overlook the Poly. You should call the Grand Floridian Front Desk directly 5 days prior to arrival to request the castle view and then call again the day before your arrival to make the request again. It wouldn't hurt to also mention it at check-in. They will do what they can, but remember that most guests request a castle view and some will not get it. The best rooms are in Bldg. 5, Sago Cay and Bldg 7, Conch Key. All of the lagoon view rooms in those 2 buildings are views of the castle although there are a few with trees blocking only part of the view. Bldg. 8, Boca Chica and Bldg. 9, Big Pine Key also have some nice views of the castle. Hope this helps.

If I remember correctly, the GF rooms are about 20 square feet smaller than the rooms at the Poly, but are newly renovated and beautiful. You will be very happy with them.

 

[kbeverina]

We stayed at both last Christmas and the Poly rooms are noticeably larger than the GF rooms. We loved both resorts, they each have their own atmosphere of course. We had a lagoon view room, but honestly all we saw were trees. Our room was facing the Poly, but we had to walk to the far right corner of the balcony to peer around the trees to see the Electric Water Pageant at night. I probably would not pay for lagoon view there again since I'm not one who's brave enough to go back and ask for a room switch if I don't like the view (and I did request Magic Kingdom view). I promised Cali I'd post pictures of our view, oh, almost a year ago--I have to get on that!

 

[Wolverine]

book your room....lv w/magic kindom view and ask for bocha chica or big pine key..you should be fine

 

[imbe@aol.com]

Originally posted by Tinky
I "think" we have decided on the GF for our next adventure. Seeing it on the Travel Channel the other night really helped make up our minds. DS (5) said he wanted to go "that new hotel and not the Polynesian" next time. The rooms look much bigger than the rooms at the Poly. Anyway...
We need help deciding what to request.... we're looking for a lagoon view room with a great view of Cinderella's Castle. Really dont care if its concierge or not. Tried to read through the FAQ's but it really got confusing after a while.
Help please

I believe the GF's rooms *are* bigger than at the Poly - I've stayed at both, and to ME, they sure seem to be. For a good shot at a MK view room, ask for Boca Chica - that is my fav. non concierge bldg with, imho, the best views.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I believe Judi is pretty much correct. I was told by the Polynesian concierge that the rooms were 381 square feet when I stayed there, after questioning if they were really 409. The Grand Floridian's rooms are 400 square feet.

 

[Janet2k]

Everyone has given great advice in this thread. I just thought I'd mention that I've had castle views from Conch Key (that's my favorite GF building). I've had a castle view from the main building, too, but Conch's view is better, in my humble opinion (it's closer to the castle than the main building is).

Since the topic of room sizes came up, I just went to the DVC website and found the approximate room sizes for the GF and the Poly:

GF..........340 - 400 sq. ft.
Poly........391 - 483 sq. ft.

 

[freediverdude]

Well I've always heard that the Polynesian and Contemporary rooms were somewhere in the range of 390-410, and that the GF rooms were around 420. But in any case, with a difference of only 20 sq. feet either way, I doubt that most people could tell an appreciable difference between the two if the rooms were empty. I think the size and placement of the furniture makes a lot of difference in how big the room seems. The Contemporary rooms seem just huge, and somewhat the same goes for the Polynesian, because the furniture in those rooms is less large and imposing. Especially in the Contemporary, because of the theme, the furniture is very minimalist and futuristic, and makes it look like there's a lot more room. I guess my meandering point is, all of these monorail resort rooms are pretty big as far as hotel rooms go, and I certainly wouldn't quibble over 20 feet here and there.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

20 feet does make a difference if you happen to need a crib set up in your room.

 

[justhat]

I too would like to request a MK lagoon view room at the GF for my upcoming trip. All of your suggestions were great, except that it seems like every building was listed! Does anyone know which building has the most MK lagoon view rooms? We need 2 rooms and so we'd like them to be in the same buildng but I'm afraid that if we request a building that doesn't have many MK views available, we wnt get one at all. Thanks.

 

[freediverdude]

Well from seeing and staying in the Contemporary rooms, there is plenty, and I mean PLENTY LOL of room in the slightly smaller Contemporary or Polynesian rooms for a crib. In these rooms you could have 6 adults, two in each bed and two on the floor, and still have room to move a crib around, these rooms are so large (not that you're allowed to do that according to Disney, but it would work). I'm sorry, but 20 extra feet in the GF rooms versus the CR or Poly rooms doesn't make the difference between being able to get a crib in there or not. Now if you were talking the All-Stars versus the monorail resorts, then yes, the All-Stars might be kind of tight for a crib.

 

[Mom 2 3 suns]

We just got back from the GF and stayed in the Boca Chica, room 8222 second floor overlooking the pool and the main building. It was so beautiful...so many of the rooms facing the water had trees in front of them, and besides the castle looks pretty small from the GF...you can see it so much better from the Cont. just my 2 cents worth....

 

[DeeCeeSW]

I never said the 20 feet would make a difference in order to "fit" a crib in the room. I was talking about my personal preference of having the extra 20 feet being that I would also have a crib in the room. We all have our priorities and mine just happens to be size, LOL. That's room size, y'all.

 

[freediverdude]

Well maybe some people should be staying at the Doubletree guest suites in Downtown Disney then, where they would have a whole other room to put their crib in LOL

 

[DeeCeeSW]

DGS is too low brow for me. But make sure you post your trip report after your next stay there!