Grand Floridian

[mostyn17]

Well said TammiMcMan :thewave:

My words exactly!

Travis

 

[sharonk]

If you've always dreamed of staying there, I think you should go for it!

We stayed there for the first time in June and had a wonderful experience. All of our room requests were granted, and we were upgraded to Lagoon View without even asking! : )

All of the cast members we encountered were great. There were a few who were obviously new at their jobs and not extremely knowledgeable, but they were still very nice. We didn't encounter a single snooty CM (or a single snooty guest for that matter!)

I had dreamed my whole life of staying at the GF, and when I booked our trip, I was a little nervous that it wouldn't live up to my dreams, but it was truly magical.

The theme/setting are so peaceful and relaxing. The grounds and pool areas are just stunning.

I'm not sure if we'll be able to afford to stay there again, but I will certainly try!

Good Luck,

Sharon

 

[long4disney]

We have stayed at the GF over 10 times and will never stay at any other resort. It is so beautiful, the restaurants are wonderful, the people who work there always make us feel great. Love when they tell you to have a Grand day!!! We have never seen snobby people there, and a lot of families with children are always running around and having a great time. We always feel so sad to leave our home away from home! Anyone who stays here will have the most magical vacation ever!!! One tip is to call the housekeeping I mean mousekeeping department a day or two before your vacation and confirm your requests with them. We asked for a full size crib for our 1 year old, a fridge to keep her milk in and a microwave to warm it up. When we arrived everything was in place. My children love to come back to our rooms and the mousekeepers usually turn our beds down and tuck their stuffed animals in!!! My son especially loves the chocolates they leave behind!!! They have always gone above and beyond for us. Especially at the 24 hour Gasparilla Grill. We would ask for items that were not on the menu board and they would make them for us with a smile. One night I wanted a BLT so badly they whipped one up for me. Also, my husband wanted some crab cakes that you can only get in the fine dining restaurant, and we asked them at the grill for some and within 10 minutes they had them packed in a to go container for us!!! This is the type of service you get at this wonderful resort!!!

 

[PartyOf5a]

We stayed last August and the GF and it quickly became a family favorite...in fact, it is now my husband's absolute favorite! Hopefully your husband will enjoy it as well. We will be returning for one of our trips next year.

 

[ducklite]

We've stayed there twice. Once was so bad that we had three vacations of problems in one night. We left swearing we'd NEVER go back. Wrote a scathing letter to them about my experiences and they made me a generous offer to try it with them again. We did, and while I don't have any specific complaints (except their valet parking is always ridiculously undrstaffed--bad first impression!) it was still far from being our favorite resort.

We're big BW/BC fans for location, the AKL and Polynesian are our favorites for atmosphere, and all four are considerably less money with better service and much friendlier CM's.

Anne

 

[francie]

hi, i was just doing some research on the gf cl and from your posts i noticed you were less than thrilled with them. can you share the specifics of what happened? of course, i understand completely if you don't want to dredge up painful memories! also, can you give me at least one name of a cm in concierge either in ipo or from the lounge who was at least capable if not altogether the enthusiatic helper one would expect at that level? i want to give a honeymoon room a try for our 30 anniversary and, of course, at those prices i'd like to have some confidence in them! thanks for any help.

 

[francie]

hi, i was just doing some research on the gf cl and from your posts i noticed you were less than thrilled with them. can you share the specifics of what happened? of course, i understand completely if you don't want to dredge up painful memories! also, can you give me at least one name of a cm in concierge either in ipo or from the lounge who was at least capable if not altogether the enthusiatic helper one would expect at that level? i want to give a honeymoon room a try for our 30 anniversary and, of course, at those prices i'd like to have some confidence in them! thanks for any help.

 

[francie]

sorry for the double post. i have dial-up and it's like slow death!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by francie
hi, i was just doing some research on the gf cl and from your posts i noticed you were less than thrilled with them. can you share the specifics of what happened? of course, i understand completely if you don't want to dredge up painful memories! also, can you give me at least one name of a cm in concierge either in ipo or from the lounge who was at least capable if not altogether the enthusiatic helper one would expect at that level? i want to give a honeymoon room a try for our 30 anniversary and, of course, at those prices i'd like to have some confidence in them! thanks for any help.

I don't recall anyone's names. Let's see, we arrived in the pouring rain. No bell services people or valet's to be found, so we dragged our own bags to the front desk to check in, were told rooms are assigned by the concierge staff, not the front desk, so we'd have to go over there to get room assignment. We were told that they would hold our bags there. Dragged our bags to the building, walked in and introduced ourselves, room wasn't ready yet, would be "shortly" and we could wait in the lobby area if we wanted. Asked about them holding bags, were told no, bags have to be held in the main building, and we'd have to drag them back ourselves to check them with bell services. Shortly turned into 3 1/2 hours, we didn't get into the room until after 5:30. On top of that, we inquired a couple times about the room and were answered in a very nasty, snotty way. Around 4:30 I asked if they had a tissue, and was told to get one from my room. Well, if I HAD a room I'd be glad to!

Finally taken to the room and it was handicapped. No bathtub, closet hangbar was so low that the clothes dragged on the floor, etc. We weren't given an option for anything else, just this was our room and they split.

On top of that we hadn't been contacted in advance for PS's or anything, and when we inquired, again they were snotty to us.

Unruly kids were running around like banshees, riding razor scooters int eh lobby area, throwing food from the second floor, CM's wer eoblivious!

There were some other problems that night. The next day we had enough and decided to move to the BW. Called over there and were able to get a room, they said they'd handle it with the GF as far as the "early departure". Fine enough. Called bell services and asked to have our bags moved to the BW, waited almost an hour for someone to show, got a claim check and left.

About 4:00 went to the BW, got room key, bags not there. THey called the GF and were told all bags delivered. BW looked again, bags not there. Called the GF and were told "well, we don't know where they are, maybe taken to wrong resort, figure it out, they aren't our guests anymore."

We had dinner reservations for our anniversary in half an hour at this point.

BW Bell Captain gets BW manager involved, he calls GF. Tells them that they had better locate our bags, now.

GF calls back about half an hour later, found our bags, tells the bell captain to tell us to vcome over and get them! Excuse me????

Bell Captain tells manager who calls the GF again. Tells them to get them to the BW, NOW.

They arrive at the BW about twenty minutes later, manager and bell captain personally deliver them with profuse apologies (it WASN'T their fault!). They also rescheduled our dinner and drove us there in their towncar. BW bent over backwards for us. GF treated us like dirt.

You might want to contact Kristi1357, she had a honeymoon disaster at the GF in one of the honeymoon suites.

Anne

 

[QJ411]

I'm glad everyone is so open about GF. I was really nervous making the ressies for our stay in Dec. We booked conceirge/sugar loaf and we keep getting mixed reviews. Which is good, we hear both sides of the stories...but I just hope it's worth the money.

Anyone else had any good or bad experience w/ GF especially at SL? THANKS!!!

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

Queenie, I agree. I really like hearing both sides.

I now understand that there is no such thing as a perfect vacation. I just have to decide whether or not to react to problems. From these boards I have learned how to handle most situations.

Thanks for sharing,

Lori

 

[QJ411]

Originally posted by pirateofthecarolinas
Queenie, I agree. I really like hearing both sides.

I now understand that there is no such thing as a perfect vacation. I just have to decide whether or not to react to problems. From these boards I have learned how to handle most situations.

Thanks for sharing,

Lori

I agree! I LOVE this board and ALL the wealth of DIS'ers opinions and information!!!

 

[francie]

thanks for the reply, ducklite. from your description it sounds as if you stayed in sugar loaf consierge and indeed, it must have been a nightmare. i should have made myself more clear that i was looking into the main building cl. hope i have better luck.

 

[ducklite]

Yes, we were in Sugarloaf--actually it was Conch at the time. Kristi who I mentioned earlier was in a honeymoon roof main building. My experience was wonderful by comparision.

Anne

 

[Janet2k]

My family had a beautiful vacation in the Grand Floridian's main building last October. I was in a wheelchair, too, so it was an especially tough vacation for me (I was in a lot of pain). But the cast of the entire resort couldn't have been kinder to me had they tried. I wrote about that vacation in detail on the Trip Reports board here on the Dis. If you'd like the link to that trip report, please PM me and I will send it to you (or you can search the Dis for it).

I had a non-concierge stay at the GF at the end of May. That vacation, too, was wonderful. This time I was walking since my leg was on the mend. Again, the staff of the entire resort couldn't have been kinder to my family had they tried. I have a trip report regarding that vacation on the Trip Reports board too (if you'd like the link, please PM me or search the Dis for it).

I will be staying at the Grand Floridian again in October. I just made that reservation the other day. My husband and I will be renewing our vows inside Disney's Wedding Pavilion and we just couldn't see doing so without at least a couple of nights at the Grand. I am really looking forward to that stay. The Grand Floridian is the place where my husband and I fell in love with Walt Disney World. It is only fitting that when we tie the knot again, it will be while staying at the place where the magic all began.