Grand Floridian shouldn’t allow non hotel guests

[eticketplease]

Interesting. Everyone we've been on has been small. But maybe soon they will use 100% large. Next trip is Christmas week, so we'll see if we get a larger boat.

I was thinking it had always been the same for us when staying at PVB and VGF using a small boat but I just remembered during COVID they had a larger one

 

[Genie+]

I noticed they had mostly the bigger boats running 2 weeks ago. Surprisingly that still didn’t help my son who came back to VGF after us and needed to wait for 3rd boat. He regretted not walking. He was only a few people back from boat #2 cutoff. This was a party night.

Thing is that trip ended up a miraculously low crowd week. Touring Plans came back with mostly CL 1-3 across the parks weekdays. As far as impact on GF lobby/dining that week had little issue in the resort, much different than our experience mid-December last year. That was off the charts!

With ticket expenses guests seem to be leaning much harder on mixing in non-park days and activities. Gingerbread House has always been popular. It’s quite possible it’s exploding to a whole new level now. If the resort boats are larger and still backed up during what was a slow week before Thanksgiving, this December might be a worse repeat of what we witnessed last year. Of course there’s the mass exodus from MK early closings. There may also be people do non-park days and running the circuit of monorail resorts and WL, and doing in the evening to catch a free MVMCP fireworks to cap the night.

Let’s see how this month goes. If things are escalating we should hear some grumbling. Popularity ebbs and flows at WDW. Something hits astronomical demand and WDW adjusts by pricing higher or redirecting. Either way it reduces demand, like when they started charging for campfire marshmallows lol. Or started charging 2 credit expensive pre fixe BOG for dinner AND lunch. Or offering $99/day tickets that can only hit all 4 parks once (trying to push guests into EP/AK, out of MK/HS).

 

[hockeydad21]

Let’s see how this month goes. If things are escalating we should hear some grumbling. Popularity ebbs and flows at WDW. Something hits astronomical demand and WDW adjusts by pricing higher or redirecting. Either way it reduces demand, like when they started charging for campfire marshmallows lol. Or started charging 2 credit expensive pre fixe BOG for dinner AND lunch. Or offering $99/day tickets that can only hit all 4 parks once.

I'd kill for a 4 park $99/day ticket right about now...

 

[Genie+]

I'd kill for a 4 park $99/day ticket right about now...

Oh yeah! Last year we were shocked with $800+ 5 day hoppers for trip this time of year. Holy smokes. This year it’s $817.24. About 2% increase 2023 to 2024.
4 day non-hop? $633.13 And then decide if you’d rather leave MK at 6pm or deal with non-party day crowd level 9 to 11. These tickets are rough, oof.

Thought we were smart buying APs but all that did was spend more money taking a 3rd trip

 

[AC168]

A lot of hotels around the world (not so much US) restrict who can go in or what parts of the hotel you are allowed to see if you aren’t staying there.

 

[Boopuff]

I think we can thank all the internet “tipster” people for the “resort hopping” “sneaking into deluxe pools” “ watch the fireworks from the beach”. All suggestions that many people may not have thought about. I can’t wait to see/hear the dust-up when the super fun new Poly Moana splash pad opens! (Maybe wristbands?)

 

[eandt]

I think we can thank all the internet “tipster” people for the “resort hopping” “sneaking into deluxe pools” “ watch the fireworks from the beach”. All suggestions that many people may not have thought about. I can’t wait to see/hear the dust-up when the super fun new Poly Moana splash pad opens! (Maybe wristbands?)

Don’t we already have a super smart version of a wrist band? I csn recall not all that long ago having to tap in at a pool although I don’t recall which resort, poly perhaps

 

[nuhusky123]

All the awesome debate I still think there is a major problem unsolved

A hotel should be a place of refuge. A place you can recharge your batteries. Wdw is a pretty stressful place, lots of stimulation and always lots of people to deal with.

When I get to my hotel I want to put my guards down.

When you get eye twitches because of how busy gf is that just doesn’t fit the bill of relaxing. In anticipation of some responses

1- go to your room
Yes my room is relaxing but you pay top dollar for gf. If all I cared about was the room I’d book old key west or something. When you book gf you pay for the entire resort so why shouldn’t I have every right to expect the entire resort to be relaxing

If Disney is unwilling to to stop non guests from going to gf, I think we need a nuclear option. Remove the gingerbread house. Remove the reasons why people go to gf when they have no other business being there

I think that sucks so I still maintain, block access to only adr and paid hotel guests. If Disney won’t do that, cancel the gingerbread house

 

[DisnEElove]

All the awesome debate I still think there is a major problem unsolved

A hotel should be a place of refuge. A place you can recharge your batteries. Wdw is a pretty stressful place, lots of stimulation and always lots of people to deal with.

When I get to my hotel I want to put my guards down.

When you get eye twitches because of how busy gf is that just doesn’t fit the bill of relaxing. In anticipation of some responses

1- go to your room
Yes my room is relaxing but you pay top dollar for gf. If all I cared about was the room I’d book old key west or something. When you book gf you pay for the entire resort so why shouldn’t I have every right to expect the entire resort to be relaxing

If Disney is unwilling to to stop non guests from going to gf, I think we need a nuclear option. Remove the gingerbread house. Remove the reasons why people go to gf when they have no other business being there

I think that sucks so I still maintain, block access to only adr and paid hotel guests. If Disney won’t do that, cancel the gingerbread house

I certainly appreciate your opinion, although I think visiting the lobby should be permitted as long as they've portioned enough space for hotel guests/ADR on the monorail, fireworks viewing areas, and boats, whether that be to have separate lines or whatever. If they can't secure spaces for us to enjoy too, I brought up earlier the idea of having limited hours for visitors.

They should also lock the room buildings During THE DAY vs only after a certain time at night. Only hotel guests should be able to access with keycard/band. That way you can at least enjoy the room building lobbies for quiet if nothing else. I've seen some YouTube vloggers visit and hang out in the dvc building lobbies as well, noting to watchers that they're more quiet and have room for large parties to enjoy together.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

Holding a large % of ADRs (but not all, obviously, chill out people) for guests staying at those resorts is a sensible policy, which would ameliorate some of the concerns in this thread.

A guest staying at All Star Sports shouldn’t have the same odds as one staying at VGF for getting into Narcoossees. Not sorry if that offends you

 

[Chuck S]

Yes and no

The train may be public but the hotel isn’t. It’s private property. So sure you could argue they could ride the gf. But going inside not required under law

The Hotel Lobby and Restaurants are open to the public, thus is considered a place of public accommodation.

 

[nuhusky123]

The Hotel Lobby and Restaurants are open to the public, thus is considered a place of public accommodation.

No it’s not it’s private property

 

[Chuck S]

Holding a large % of ADRs (but not all, obviously, chill out people) for guests staying at those resorts is a sensible policy, which would ameliorate some of the concerns in this thread.

A guest staying at All Star Sports shouldn’t have the same odds as one staying at VGF for getting into Narcoossees. Not sorry if that offends you

Well, they could go back to the ADR system they had in the 1990s, once you have a confirmed hotel reservation, you could make an ADR anywhere. Not sure that it would solve the propblem, as those with reservations at other Disney resorts could also book them, though. Probably the best way to avoid the crowding would be to not plan a vacation to one of the most popular Vacation destinations in the world during normally busy holiday periods. Even when I was young, before there was a Walt Disney World, the holidays were an extremely busy time at Disneyland, even though we'd usually go one day that time of year for the decorations and Christmas parade.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A lot of hotels around the world (not so much US) restrict who can go in or what parts of the hotel you are allowed to see if you aren’t staying there.

The only ones I've really experienced is either all-inclusive or the gated Hilton in Puerto Rico or for other hotels is just the elevators which require the guest key card to be scanned to go to the guest floors unless there is a restaurant in that floor (common in Vegas but we've had it various other places). But the actual hotel grounds including the lobby? Not really. You can usually explore a decent amount not being a hotel guest. Not sure if Aulani does it still but we went there with a day pass back in 2016.

Not the hotels in Japan, London, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, Jamaica or St. Lucia. Many encourage guests for the purposes of food or other activities including spa. One common one is breakfast wherein guests either have a lesser charge or no charge and non-hotel guests a higher charge or just a charge to begin with. Cancun is mostly all-inclusives and many hotels have wrist bands so they fall along guarded access more of an all-inclusive.

Obviously people have to understand with examples the remoteness or difficulty in getting to said hotel. The places in Europe so far were generally reached by train but our trip next September in Scotland, Wales and England will have more remote/accessible mostly by car which will likely reduce the anticipated traffic flow. In Jamaica on 7 mile beach in Negril you could freely walk to other hotels for dining with many that we saw just sorta open. In St. Lucia we were staying at Sandals which does keep their 9oaces mostly for hotel guests only however we did visit other hotels including one where our tour guide took us down to the one in between the Piton mountains for a drink. Now my sister-in-law and mother-in-law went to Jamaica, didn't stay at Sandals but they joined a couple they had met out and went back to their Sandals for food and drink, that security was lax.

You're right that a hotel even in the U.S. can restrict access but for the conversation here it was about the lobby which isn't something I've yet to experience outside of something gated. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist but it hasn't been "a lot of places"

 

[nuhusky123]

The only ones I've really experienced is either all-inclusive or the gated Hilton in Puerto Rico or for other hotels is just the elevators which require the guest key card to be scanned to go to the guest floors unless there is a restaurant in that floor (common in Vegas but we've had it various other places). But the actual hotel grounds including the lobby? Not really. You can usually explore a decent amount not being a hotel guest. Not sure if Aulani does it still but we went there with a day pass back in 2016.

Not the hotels in Japan, London, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, Jamaica or St. Lucia. Many encourage guests for the purposes of food or other activities including spa. One common one is breakfast wherein guests either have a lesser charge or no charge and non-hotel guests a higher charge or just a charge to begin with. Cancun is mostly all-inclusives and many hotels have wrist bands so they fall along guarded access more of an all-inclusive.

Obviously people have to understand with examples the remoteness or difficulty in getting to said hotel. The places in Europe so far were generally reached by train but our trip next September in Scotland, Wales and England will have more remote/accessible mostly by car which will likely reduce the anticipated traffic flow. In Jamaica on 7 mile beach in Negril you could freely walk to other hotels for dining with many that we saw just sorta open. In St. Lucia we were staying at Sandals which does keep their 9oaces mostly for hotel guests only however we did visit other hotels including one where our tour guide took us down to the one in between the Piton mountains for a drink. Now my sister-in-law and mother-in-law went to Jamaica, didn't stay at Sandals but they joined a couple they had met out and went back to their Sandals for food and drink, that security was lax.

You're right that a hotel even in the U.S. can restrict access but for the conversation here it was about the lobby which isn't something I've yet to experience outside of something gated. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist but it hasn't been "a lot of places"

I can’t think of a single hotel that limits lobby access anywhere in the world. But wdw is also somewhat unique especially any hotel on the monorail loop

These hotels are all self contained within the wdw world property with their own transit system

To get to the hotel in the first place you have to drive for miles and from the point of you entering wdw confines you are hence forth on private property.

I can’t think of any other hotel in the world that sits miles deep on private property, can only be accessed by car and has its own transit network

So although no other hotel limits lobby access anywhere no other hotel is quite like any monorail loop hotel either

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Y’all would hate the likes of me - I visit GF often with no ADR, usually by monorail or foot, sometimes boat. We’ll have dinner at the bar at Citricos or Narcoossee’s, maybe join the mobile wait list at Citricos (which is location based, have to be near the resort for it to work), grab drinks at Enchanted Rose (doesn’t take ADRs). GF is one of my favorite spots for this given the abundant options and flexibility. I’m quite confident Disney enjoys the money I spend there, as do the servers and bartenders we’ve gotten to know over time.

I stay at the monorail resorts the most (including peak holiday times) (mainly Poly and CR, GF less so for various reasons some of which have been noted in this thread) and see the ebbs and flows of transportation and am very used to occasionally needing to zig or zag based on conditions - so I get some of the observations and complaints. Not downplaying anyone’s take here (truly) but some of this chatter just seems like normal holiday monorail resort conditions to me. Not exactly anything new that hasn’t been the case every holiday season for years so I personally see no real issue here or need for change.

But while we’re talking unrealistic nuclear options, I’m calling for an express guest only elevator for CR - those pesky Chef Mickey’s people and mural gawkers clogging the elevators really interfere with my ride to the Club Level floor.

 

[hockeydad21]

The only ones I've really experienced is either all-inclusive or the gated Hilton in Puerto Rico or for other hotels is just the elevators which require the guest key card to be scanned to go to the guest floors unless there is a restaurant in that floor (common in Vegas but we've had it various other places). But the actual hotel grounds including the lobby? Not really. You can usually explore a decent amount not being a hotel guest. Not sure if Aulani does it still but we went there with a day pass back in 2016.

Not the hotels in Japan, London, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, Jamaica or St. Lucia. Many encourage guests for the purposes of food or other activities including spa. One common one is breakfast wherein guests either have a lesser charge or no charge and non-hotel guests a higher charge or just a charge to begin with. Cancun is mostly all-inclusives and many hotels have wrist bands so they fall along guarded access more of an all-inclusive.

Obviously people have to understand with examples the remoteness or difficulty in getting to said hotel. The places in Europe so far were generally reached by train but our trip next September in Scotland, Wales and England will have more remote/accessible mostly by car which will likely reduce the anticipated traffic flow. In Jamaica on 7 mile beach in Negril you could freely walk to other hotels for dining with many that we saw just sorta open. In St. Lucia we were staying at Sandals which does keep their 9oaces mostly for hotel guests only however we did visit other hotels including one where our tour guide took us down to the one in between the Piton mountains for a drink. Now my sister-in-law and mother-in-law went to Jamaica, didn't stay at Sandals but they joined a couple they had met out and went back to their Sandals for food and drink, that security was lax.

You're right that a hotel even in the U.S. can restrict access but for the conversation here it was about the lobby which isn't something I've yet to experience outside of something gated. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist but it hasn't been "a lot of places"

But do any of those places have a giant gingerbread house that’s attracting thousands of non-hotel guests a day? And even if you want ti look outside of the Christmas season, these resorts’ lobbies probably see 1%-5% of the non-guest foot traffic that GF and Poly do. It’s not a fair comparison

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I can’t think of a single hotel that limits lobby access anywhere in the world. But wdw is also somewhat unique especially any hotel on the monorail loop

These hotels are all self contained within the wdw world property with their own transit system

To get to the hotel in the first place you have to drive for miles and from the point of you entering wdw confines you are hence forth on private property.

I can’t think of any other hotel in the world that sits miles deep on private property, can only be accessed by car and has its own transit network

So although no other hotel limits lobby access anywhere no other hotel is quite like any monorail loop hotel either

Um yes Disney has a monorail and the world has trains...of which either the hotel(s) are located in the train station (there's a few with it built around the train that comes through) or right next to it. Disney isn't unique at all if you're talking about transportation that gets you right to the hotel.

You're also talking about a situation that is something made decades ago wherein a company bought up large plots of land.

But I'll say it again the comment was restricting access to parts of the hotel and that a lot of places do this. Well yes but it's usually falling under what I mentioned in my comment, primarily guests rooms that are restricted. Hotel lobbies er not really.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But do any of those places have a giant gingerbread house that’s attracting thousands of non-hotel guests a day? And even if you want ti look outside of the Christmas season, these resorts’ lobbies probably see 1%-5% of the non-guest foot traffic that GF and Poly do. It’s not a fair comparison

This has to be one of the most out there comments of the thread, my apologies but that first comment wowza.

And again the comment was "A lot of hotels around the world (not so much US) restrict who can go in or what parts of the hotel you are allowed to see if you aren’t staying there." true but not the lobbies much at all.

 

[nuhusky123]

Um yes Disney has a monorail and the world has trains...of which either the hotel(s) are located in the train station (there's a few with it built around the train that comes through) or right next to it. Disney isn't unique at all if you're talking about transportation that gets you right to the hotel.

You're also talking about a situation that is something made decades ago wherein a company bought up large plots of land.

But I'll say it again the comment was restricting access to parts of the hotel and that a lot of places do this. Well yes but it's usually falling under what I mentioned in my comment, primarily guests rooms that are restricted. Hotel lobbies er not really.

It is unique though.

Take st pancras hotel. It’s literally over the train station. This is a city hotel with lots of activity about it

To get to the hotel you take 100% public right of ways. You may get there via public transit. At no point prior to get to the hotel must you pass through miles of private land

Total opposite of wdw. Before you set foot on any monorail loop hotel you must first drive in a vehicle for miles through private land