Grand Floridian vs. SSR - please help me choose!

[biggroofy]

Please help me to choose. Party of six - grandparents (66, 70), DW & me, 4-year-old girl and an infant (6-month).

GF - we will get two garden view rooms (any recommendation on buildings?). The Pro for GF is monorail, and we will be dining at Poly/GF restaurants for quite a bit.

SSR - We will get a Two-Bedroom Villa. We stayed in Paddocks in Jan 2007. The grandparents love it, and my 4-year-old loves the pool (and the Donald Duck splash area). BUT, I feel that SSR is a little boring (for me), and I am driver (hate driving to parks).

SSR in-room washer/dryer is a plus, but I heard that GF has washer/dryer in each building?

Any suggestions? We plan to stay in Orlando for about 10-11 days in March 2008. Tentatively we will do a 3/4 night cruise too.

1). 7 night GF or SSR and then 4 night cruise
- Any hectic for getting on our luggages on board (cruise)?
OR
2). GF (4 night) -> 3 night cruise -> SSR (4 night)
- I guess with this we can store luggage in GF/SSR during cruise?
- It might be tough on the day of return - getting up at 5:00am in cruise, but SSR room will not be available until 4pm

 

[BrianD]

I'm partial to the GF, so that gets my vote, for the reasons you want to stay there too, plus we just think it is a great resort. On the other hand, those villas do have their strong points, e.g. full kitchen, washer & dryer.

Also, I would recommend doing all WDW before the cruise. When we got back from our cruise, we were in full relax mode, and we went to the MK that day and could just not get into it.

 

[TammiMcMan]

I sort of like splitting it up, as you did in option 2, but I wouldn't recommend the 3 night cruise. I'd switch that to a 4 night and cut back on a resort night. Having that extra sea day on the cruise makes a huge difference. The 3 night is just not enough time. I agree with Brian about hitting the parks after the cruise. I've heard a lot of people do this, but we were wiped out. We lasted until early afternoon in the park and then all we wanted to do was head back to the resort and rest. If you are going to split, I'd probably divide the first part of vacation between the GF and SSR, then do the 4 night cruise and head home from there. Otherwise, your point is right on about having to wait until 4pm for your SSR villa after being up at 5am for disembarking.

 

[Cinderella]

Tough choice - we've done Poly before the 4 night cruise and Saratoga afterwards. but the 3 nights at the Poly went really quickly before the cruise.

This time we're doing the whole stay at probably the GF before the cruise.

I think it will probably be worth doing GF if you're eating mainly in the Magic Kingdom area. We often find we waste a bomb in taxi fares going to different resorts for dinner because the transporation system takes far too long from resort to resort.

Then again - SSR is very useful for the extra space. If you do choose SSR request a villa closest to the main building and you won't need a car if you don't want to drive.

 

[biggroofy]

Thank you for all the valuable comments

A question regarding luggages - There are six people in my party (including a 4-year-old and an infant), we do have quite a bit of luggages (+ car seat + stroller).

If we do a 7-night WDW resort + 4 night cruise (then head off to airport directly), can we take ALL our luggages on board? Is there any limits?

 

[TammiMcMan]

If we do a 7-night WDW resort + 4 night cruise (then head off to airport directly), can we take ALL our luggages on board? Is there any limits?

Will you be using Disney transportation? If so, you just need to get your luggage to a pick up point (which I believe GF is one of them, not sure about SSR). DCL will handle all your luggage and the next time you see it, it will be sitting outside your stateroom door. When you disembark, porters are available to help you and I'm nearly positive they now have curbside check-in for participating airlines right at the port. You may want to post this question over on the DCL forum. They'll know for sure.

 

[Cinderella]

I don't know what the limit is on the amount of luggage you're allowed to take on the cruise. But, I do know that you can fit quite a bit of stuff beneath the beds. Our cases went under there no problems.

We're planning to take less stuff to WDW this time and just wash it before we leave for the cruise.

 

[biggroofy]

Thank you!

Say we are doing 4 night GF -> 3 night SSR -> 4 night curise

My wife wants to rent a car during the SSR stay. I'm not sure if I will drive to the Port (is that far away)?

We will get two staterooms (tentative Category 5 or 6) - I think for 6 people (4 adults, one kid, one infant) we may have -

4 luggages (26" - 28")
1 stroller
1 car seat
5 carry-ons

 

[disneydance]

Hmm... The ports about a hour a way i belive but i truly dont think you need a car for the SSR but it may be nice w/ driving to the port but i do like the idea of 4 nights at GF then 3 at SSR then at 4 night cruise

 

[Cinderella]

That amount of luggage should fit under your bed. National did used to have a car rental place on disney property for your SSR part. Not sure if they still do, but someone on here will know.

The drive to the port is straightforward enough. But, it would probably be worth checking the cost of renting the car for the extra days whilst on the cruise, plus the parking, against returning the car and getting a transfer.

I like having a car in Disney too, but my husband prefers not to. He hasn't really got used to driving in America yet, and I don't think he likes being a passenger over there either!

 

[biggroofy]

Thank you disneydance & Cinderella!

My wife wants a car because she loves to visit resorts and dine at the restaurants. Also we can drive 5 mins to Goodings and buy milk & juices.

Still not sure whether if I should drive to the Port yet. Looks like I can rent a car from National in Car Care Centre, but cannot return at the Port. Will try Avis, but as Cinderella mentioned, the parking and the extra days might not worth. Maybe I should just rent a car for 2 days while staying in SSR, and take a town car (cheaper for us, and my wife wants to be at the port earlier) to the Port.

A big thanks to TammiMcMan and BrianD, they gave us the insight for this painless split stay. We now can enjoy the monorails while staying at GF, have fun in DTD and the pool at SSR, also wash all our clothings before boarding to the cruise

Now we are targetting on a 1:30pm flight back home on the disembarkment day, hopefully we can be out at the port by 10:00am, and arrive MCO before 11:30am for check-in

 

[Cinderella]

If you are going to use the towncar option to the port I highly recommend Florida Tours. They sponsor the transportation board on here. We used them on our last trip and we're going to use them for the cruise.

They seem to have good deals on vans and limos which would be great for your party size.

 

[ElizabethB]

We rented a car from Thrifty before our cruise. We, too, stayed at SSR before our cruise. We had a dedicated two-bedroom. It was nice since we could gather as a family in the living/dining area and enjoy coffee, cereal, etc. in the a.m. However, all things being equal, I'd probably go with GF. We love it there!

I think you definitely need a car at SSR -- it is really spread out and not close to anything (other than DTD and we drove to that as well, as SSR isn't even that close to DTD).

I think Thrifty and Avis are your best bets for renting a car to drive to Port Canaveral. Thrifty is pretty close to the pier. We got tired of waiting for the complimentary shuttle, so took a cab. It cost around $15. We were on a 7-day cruise, so we dropped the rental car off prior to our cruise and rented another to get us back to the Orlando airport. The drive is very easy.

Enjoy!

 

[biggroofy]

Hello Everyone! Finalized on my trip and booked via Disney today

5 night GF => 2 night SSR => 4 night Cruise => ?

Decided on 5 night GF because of some cooking/tea party appointment that my wife has booked for my 4-year-old girl. Now for the 2 nights in SSR I don't really want to go elsewhere, but simply enjoy SSR facilities and DTD.

Outlet Visit & Shopping - this is what most of us (Canadians) would love to do (assuming CDN remains strong). It was scheduled on the SSR stay, but now I might want to move it to after the cruise (e.g. stay in any Orlando hotels for 2 nights before returning to Canada). Any suggestions? I only know Florida Mall Hotel, is it good?

**** see my other post **** - this is what I have done this morning
1). Booked Disney Cruise Line via Web
2). Called Walt Disney Reservations, and booked Vacation Packages staying at GF (5 nights) with the ZWG code (Magic Your Way Plus Deluxe Dining) etc via Walt Disney Reservations, and also booked a Two Bedroom villa in SSR (Room only)

I was told that I should be receiving an email confirmation for my reservations but it is now over 12 hours and I received nothing. Still waiting for the email .....

 

[biggroofy]

I think you definitely need a car at SSR -- it is really spread out and not close to anything (other than DTD and we drove to that as well, as SSR isn't even that close to DTD).

I think Thrifty and Avis are your best bets for renting a car to drive to Port Canaveral. Thrifty is pretty close to the pier. We got tired of waiting for the complimentary shuttle, so took a cab. It cost around $15. We were on a 7-day cruise, so we dropped the rental car off prior to our cruise and rented another to get us back to the Orlando airport. The drive is very easy.

Enjoy!

Thanks ElizabethB! Any Thrifty/Avis in the WDW area? I only knew National in Car Care Center.

I'm still struggling about car rental. The issue is that we will be checking in SSR on Friday, and check out on Sunday (then directly go to Cruise). No point for renting a car for just one day. If I rent it for two days, better off I should drive to the port and return it there.

Is it possible for me to drop off my family (1 adult, 2 seniors, 2 kids) and luggage at the port, and I return the car by myself? How long will that take (i.e. returning the car, and getting a shuttle/taxi back to the port)?