Grand Floridian Questions

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We are DVC members who usually stay at the BWV. Decided to stretch out our AP's for one more trip this New Year's. We reserved two lagoon view rooms at the GF a while back. We have never stayed at the GF before. Pre DVC we always stayed at the Poly or the BC.

Is there any special area of the resort that we should request to be in? Is there anything about the GF that we should know before we get there so that we can be prepared?

HBC

 

[DisneyNotes]

The Grand Floridian is beautiful! We love it. To prepare myself, I always check the refurbish and closure list. I believe the Gasparilla Grill will be closed until sometime in November. (we'll be there in November, too!) My favorite thing at GF? the lovely, music filled lobby. Make sure you plan time to soak up the ambiance during your stay.

 

[pearljim]

I surprised my DW with a 25th wedding anniversary trip to WDW and the GF - had a wonderful 4th floor lagoon view room at a great rate (I think the CM in CRO got me an "off the books" deal!).

When we got to the room, my DW's first remark was "I thought we'd be in the main building." That has become a great catch phrase for us over the years.

So, I'd make sure that you decide whether the main building/lobby or one of the "out building" is the best for you.

Enjoy!!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Lagoon view doesn't necessarily mean that you'll see the castle. Some of the views are in the other direction, so you'd be looking at the old Discovery Island, the Poly and Spaceship Earth in the distance. Depending on what view you'd like, here is the breakdown of the buildings:

Sago Cay ~ close to the main building, but a further walk to the pools and boat launch. The views from here are either going to be the MK or the marina (with the MK being to the left). It's probably one of the quietest buildings. Next is Conch Key ~ closest to the boat launch, but furthest from the pools and main building. You'll get either the MK view here or the marina (with the MK now being to the right). This is another quiet building. Boca Chica ~ close to the pools and the main building. Views are going to be of Discovery Island. Big Pine Key ~ close to the pools and the main building, with views of Discovery Island or the Polynesian. The top 2 floors here are smoking optional rooms. The Main building and Sugar Loaf contain only concierge rooms, honeymoon rooms and suites.

Here's a nice website on the GF showing room layouts and the resort layout ~ GF

Tammi

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Thank you so much for your responses. Is it possible to request a particular view or building and if so, how do you go about doing that? (Is there more to do than calling CRO and having them put the request on the reservation?).

HBC

 

[TammiMcMan]

You can definitely have requests noted on your reservation. Just list them in order of priority. You are already paying for a lagoon view room, but it couldn't hurt to be a little more detailed. I know that in the past, it was recommended that you fax your request to the attention of the room assignor at the resort 3 days before your arrival. I've seen other posts that now say this no longer works and it's best to call CRO and have it put on your reservation. You mentioned that you have 2 rooms. Assuming that you need them either adjoining or connecting, I would put the request in like this,
1. Adjoining (or connecting) rooms
2. Building request
3. MK view

When you check in, just go over your requests again at the front desk. Unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed and if you are going at a busy time of year, then that does affect availability. That's why I suggest listing your needs by priority.

Hope that helps.

Tammi

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Tammi,

Thank you again. You have been a great help.

Any good spots to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks? I'm assuming that the MK will be closed because of crowds but maybe there will be a good place at the GF. We will be there in the morning but none of us want to stay there for the whole day.

HBC

 

[TammiMcMan]

HBC,

If you get an MK view, the best place might just be from your own balcony with a bottle of champagne! Other than that, there's the area around Gasparilla's Grill and the boat dock. I'm guessing that these spots are going to be pretty crowded though. Did you look into a Wishes cruise? That's probably pretty popular on NYE, but it might be worth asking about. You take out one of the pontoon boats and cruise the lake for a little while, then drop anchor to view the fireworks. You can also arrange to have desserts, drinks, etc. on the boat. Of course top of the line would be taking the Grand I out for a spin, but I can't even imagine what that cost would be.

Tammi

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by TammiMcMan
Did you look into a Wishes cruise? That's probably pretty popular on NYE, but it might be worth asking about.

Thanks again Tammi. We are doing a Wishes Cruise on 12/29. We have done a couple of Illuminations Cruises but never a Wishes Cruise before.

Maybe we should just work on getting a MK view listed as a request for our rooms and hope for the best.

New Year's at the Grand Floridian should be fun. Finished our PS today for all of our meals. Now we just have to work on those room requests.

HBC

 

[Cinderella37]

You can also make PS for Narcoossee's and watch the fireworks from the veranda. Only guests who are dining at Narcoossee's are permitted on the veranda to view the fireworks - they station a manager at one door and a guard at the other. We love to watch the 4th of July fireworks from there and the food is delicious too.

 

[wdarling]

i would suggest requesting a corner room in either the boca chica or the big pine key. those rooms have the best castle shot when u have lagoon view. asking for a corner room means u get 2 balconies and more space for no extra charge. if u can try for a room on an upper level. i just find them to provide even a greater view of the world!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Originally posted by Cinderella37
You can also make PS for Narcoossee's and watch the fireworks from the veranda. Only guests who are dining at Narcoossee's are permitted on the veranda to view the fireworks

We did make PS for Narcoossee's for one of our nights we are there but New Year's Eve has a fixed price of over $100.00 per person and with four kids, we decided against it. I'm glad to hear about the veranda and look forward to that.

HBC