Grand Floridian GV - which building and/or view should I request

[RayRing]

A couple of months ago, I made a reservation for 5 nights (garden view), for early December, at the Grand Floridian, using the Annual Passholder best rate program.

I would like to add a building and/or view request to the reservation.

I am looking for suggestions on which building I should request, and if there are any additional requests I should make.

I have read a number of posts, but haven't been able to determine which building would offer the chance at the best views, most convenience, etc....


More Background......

When I made the reservation a couple of months ago, I couldn't decide between a Garden View or a Lagoon View.

Of course I would have preferred a Lagoon View, but it will already be a stretch to stay at the GF and I thought the extra $300+ marginal increase for the Lagoon View, would be better spent on other aspects of the vacation.

I also read that some individuals had gotten LV's that did not live up to their expectations.

I will be traveling with my DW, DS5, and DD4. I know they would love to see the MK from the room. However, I would have been disappointed if we had paid for a LV and didn't get a great view of the MK. I also think that we will be at the parks during most of the times that there will be fireworks at the MK, although I am sure that the castle is spectacular, especially at night.

I also thought that maybe, just maybe, I might be upgraded to a LV, upon check in. After all, I thought I was traveling at a slower time of the year.

Now, having said all that, I started having second thoughts about my decision. Was $300 so much, when compared to the total cost of vacation. Also, we are DVC members, and the chances of us staying at a resort on the monorail in the near future are pretty small.

So I call Disney, and learned that there are NO LV's available the first week of December. I would also guess that If I could change reservations now, it wouldn't be $300 more, because I am inside the 60 window for the Best Rate program.

I don't know what any of the above means, other than to share my thoughts, my plans, and what early December is shaping up like, as far as hotel reservations and possible crowds.

Ray.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I think you'll love the GF in GV, in any case. As far as views, I've been in Big Pine Key for all of my garden views, and they were fine...just some landscaping and the pool house. I don't know what the other buildings offer. You might get some pool views from Boca Chica or Conch Key, not sure. I know from Sago you'd have a marina view. I liked the quiet of our GV room in Big Pine, but I don't have the experience to compare them to GVs from other buildings. Somehow, whenever we booked garden, we just always seemed to end up in Big Pine!

I think you'll feel the magic of the GF with or without the LV, so no worries It's a beautiful resort and very relaxing and fun.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

My favorite GV rooms are in Sago Cay, marina side. They are so quiet and peaceful and really close to Gasparillas to refill your mug. You can see the castle and fireworks from the marina, they have tables and chairs and its really quite nice. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[tlbwriter]

I don't think there are any bad views from anywhere in the GF! We were in Boca Chica with a lagoon view last year, and we did have a view of the castle. You couldn't see it from the room; you had to step out on the balcony and look a little to the left. I know other buildings have more direct views, but this was no problem for us. We also had a wonderful view of the electric water parade, which DD (5) absolutely loved.

Here's the view from our room:

 

[MikeD]

Ray: having stayed at the GF every year since '99 in December I would have to say ANY room at GF will work. For the first time last year we had Lagoon View corner room at Boca Chica. The room was a little bigger since it was a corner room and it was the best room we have stayed yet. Having said that I can't justify the increase in price - do you stand on the balcony and stare at the castle for an extended period of time? We didn't. It We were upgraded last year for free and that's the only time I think I would do it. It was a nice touch but I can't remember us staring out at the castle. We enjoyed the extra space than the view of the castle.

Mike

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Just a different experience here...but I did stare out at the castle Maybe because I'm a single mom and my son was about four when we had the direct castle view from a top floor one year...but after he'd go to bed, I'd get comfy in my chair on the balcony and just relax out there. I also loved being able to see the castle from one of the beds...it was almost surreal being able to glance in the direction of the window at any time and see that sight!

But again, we've loved our GV stays just as much

 

[tlbwriter]

We stared at the castle, we watched the fireworks from our room, and we enjoyed the electric water parade. We really enjoyed our view. Someone who spends more time in the parks (especially evenings) obviously wouldn't get as much out of it.

 

[lark]

Ray -- here are two thoughts for you. I've heard -- totally nonscientific and nobody has confirmed it other than through experience -- that the best chance you have of getting at upgrade at the GF is by not putting any requests on your reservation. If you put a request on, they will try to accomodate that request instead of giving you an upgrade -- at least, that's how the logic goes. So if LV is really what you're hoping for, and it's sold out, then I would say don't make a request and be really nice to the CM when you check in.

The downside of doing this is that you forego your opportunity to make a request for a specific GV room. The bottom line, though, is that this is no big deal at the GF, since there are no parking lot rooms and all of the GV rooms are basically the same.

I have the same dilemma as you. I also have a GV reserved, and I don't know what to do. Every time I've had a GV there and not made any requests, I've been upgraded to LV, but that may have been luck. On the other hand, there are a handful of GV rooms I would be disappointed with -- specifically, the lower floor rooms in Big Pine Key and Boca Chica that face directly toward the pool/cabana building. All other things being equal, my preference for garden view would be Sago Key. So that's the dilemma -- do I request Sago Key and potentially hurt my chances of an upgrade? Or do I just request what I want?

Ultimately, I think I'm just going to make no requests (other than nonsmoking) and hope.

 

[Mulan'sMom]

We just returned from the GF. We stayed in Conch Key on the thrid floor - had a great view of the pool and Narcossees and the Contemporary across the lagoon. Really, it is only a matter of steps to Gasparilla's, where you can pull up a chair on the patio in the evening and catch the fireworks over the castle. It's also only a few steps to the boat dock to watch the electrical water parade at 9:15 (bring your bug spray!)

 

[lark]

We just returned from the GF. We stayed in Conch Key on the thrid floor - had a great view of the pool and Narcossees and the Contemporary across the lagoon. Really, it is only a matter of steps to Gasparilla's, where you can pull up a chair on the patio in the evening and catch the fireworks over the castle. It's also only a few steps to the boat dock to watch the electrical water parade at 9:15 (bring your bug spray!)

That's a good point -- you can find a great view of the pageant or fireworks very easily just by taking a few steps outside your building. We like to take a towel or blanket and just sit out on the grass in between Boca Chica and the water.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

We usually get the lagoon view, but the garden views are wonderful! We've had a marina view in Conch Key and a monorail view in Sago Cay.

Honestly, all the garden views are very nice. Enjoy your stay!

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Our last two trips to the GF, July and September of this year, we had GV rooms and really enjoyed them.

In July, we were in the Conch Key building in room #7301 I think. Great view of the Marina and the setting sun.

In September we were in Boca Chica in room 8232. Great view of the Quiet pool and the scenic main building.

Here is the link to the map. http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/grandflomap.htm

Good Luck!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We've had two lagoon view rooms at GF - one at Big Pine Key where you had to step out on the balcony and look to the left to see the castle, and a spectacular view from Sago Cay with a direct view of the castle. We could lay in bed and see it. However, believe it or not, my kids (once the novelty of seeing the castle from the room wore off) missed going down to Gasparilla's to watch the fireworks so I don't think I'd spend the extra money for a lagoon view again.

 

[Snurk71]

I wouldn't count too much on an upgrade during December, even early December. The past couple of years the GF has been at 90+% capacity the first couple of weeks of December (according to different CMs). So it's doubtful that there will be lots of extra rooms they'll have available to fill up. From the sounds of it, most of the lagoons are taken with reservations too. You still might get one, but it's not as likely as other times of the year (early October, for example) when the resort is at 30% capacity.

Regarding garden views, we've had mutliple garden views in Big Pine, Boca Chica, and Big Pine (we've not wanted Sago Cay - too far away from the pools for us and we drive so being closest to the bus stop isn't an advantage to us). No bad views in Conch or Boca Chica in our opinion. Big Pine has some "not as good" views on the 2nd and 3rd floors in the middle of the building. You basically look out onto the roof of the quiet pool building. We like the location of Big Pine the best though (closest to pools and main building).

The view doesn't really matter to us though. We look out to see if it's sunny or cloudy and that's about it.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

If I were to get a GV room, I'd request Conch Key, or Sago Cay, Marina view. It's just so pretty and peaceful at night.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Snurk,

That's a great point about the resorts being at capacity in early December...solves the mystery of why we've never gotten an upgrade at GF (we've usually gone in early to mid December and/ or April/ March). I have read about LV upgrades and wondered, well, I can't imagine it possible to be any nicer to the CMs??? What's going wrong?

 

[Snurk71]

You know, now that I think about it they might have been closer to 100% last December. They had actually oversold concierge. We saw a concierge CM taking guests into Big Pine for a couple of nights before their room in the main building opened up - explaining to them that they would still have access to the lounge, etc.

We were upgraded to marina view in Mar99 (it was a middle category back then - between GV and LV) and to LV (facing the Poly, not MK) back in Dec99 - before the word got out about December being a good time to go. No upgrades for us in December since then.

I would think if they're tracking our stays they would see that we stay at GF GV every year and they might try to upgrade us one of these years to try to get us hooked on an higher category of room. But not so far.