Is Grand Floridian Worth it?

[BriLovesDisney]

Hello all!

We are planning a college graduation trip to Disney for next December. We booked the GF using a BB offer and got a lagoon view. None of us have ever stayed at the GF before but it's always been a resort we've wanted to stay at, especially for a special occasion.

However, we could save almost $1000 by switching to AKL standard view. We've stayed at AKL before in a savannah view and enjoyed it.

For those of you who have stayed at the GF could you share some of your experiences? Is it worth it? What are the pros and cons of the resort? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[dansdad]

Is it worth the money? In our opinion, no. Will we stay there again? Heck yeah!! It's awesome and we like to spoil ourselves every once in a while.

 

[Hopefully]

How do you define worth?

 

[Hoodie]

Stayed once. That was enough. Wouldn't go back. Too pricey for what it is.

 

[FSU Girl]

In my opinion no, I won't be going back. I don't like going outside the main hotel to get to my room, it made it feel cheap to me and I was spending a lot. Getting to Magic Kingdom is nice because it's the next stop, but leaving you're the last stop and to get to the TTC to change to Epcot can take a while since you have to stop twice before getting there.

I love Animal Kingdom Lodge and would definitely stay there again.

 

[bluejasmine]

To me HECK yes! The location, the view, the dining, the beautiful rooms, the ambiance... To me AKL is far from everything, at a monorail resort you get not only the best views hands down but you get the convenience of the monorail which really makes taking a mid day break from the parks super easy.. Oth
If you plan to stay the majority of your time in the parks and not at your resort relaxing, dining or swimming then I say no its not worth it.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

In my opinion, no. I think it is the least convenient of the monorail resorts because with Contemporary, you can walk to Magic Kingdom, are the first stop when you take the monorail from MK, and the TTC is the first stop for you if you want to switch to go to Epcot. With Poly, you are two stops away from Magic Kingdom and able to walk to the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail. With GF, you are one stop away from MK but two away from TTC. IT's also a larger resort and you can bet pretty far from the main building. Not a big deal for me if I'm staying at Caribbean Beach or POR, but not that magical for the price I pay at Grand Floridian, in my opinion. And, while the theme is beautiful, I don't think it is any more beautiful than Yacht Club, Beach Club, or Boardwalk and I find the themes at Poly and Wilderness Lodge to be more fun. In fact, the only deluxe resort that I think it out-themes is Contemporary. So, while it is beautiful and somewhat convenient, I don't think it is any better than the other deluxe resorts and since it is often more expensive than the others, nah. Not worth it to me.

 

[daannzzz]

We stayed once back in 1998 and got a Magic Kingdom Club discount making our lagoon view room, with tax, about $325 per night. I am not a fan of the decor that was in the rooms at the time so that was not a plus. I do visit the GF on most every trip. That being said I think it is fun to be able to do it once in a lifetime unless you have the money and can afford it and reallylike the atmosphere there. It is a personal choice and many people, like myself, prefer the look and feel of other Disney resorts so don't choose the GF. I also think the prices are to high for what it is. So the combo of price and atmosphere don't do it for me but I understand it is other peoples favorite. If you really want to do it I think you should.

 

[buzznina]

GF is our families favorite resort, location, bigger/brighter rooms than AKL, we had a view of the castle from our Boca Chica LV room, Great lobby and restaurants. We really like resorts that we can walk outside compared to walking down some very loooong hallways and we can walk around the grounds to see all the great work that WDW puts into their resorts. But like dansdad mentioned, if we go back, it is because we will be splurging and not because of worth. We pretty much feel this way about all the deluxe resorts though, for us, we really cannot say they are worth it. Not sure how many days you are staying, but have you thought of a split stay?

 

[Deb & Bill]

We have our fourth stay at the GF coming up in May. We like the furnishings in the villas and hotel rooms and the entire atmosphere there.

 

[kiford]

Value is subjective so that's something no one other than you can answer. We do like GF but we like other resorts too (AKL being one of them).

GF is convenient to MK. Usually we take the boat over and back. We like to stay in Conch Key which is close to the pier. It's also convenient to the monorail, but we don't use that as much as the buses and boat. It's close to Victoria & Albert's which we always go to every trip. When staying at other resorts, it means that we have to take a taxi to get to V&A since I'm not taking a bus wearing a fancy dress and high heeled shoes so it's a bit more inconvenient, but not terribly so. It's reasonably close to other dining that we go to: Kona Cafe, GF Cafe (where it's usually quite easy to get breakfast even without an ADR), Citricos, California Grill. The pool isn't spectacular but it's nice and rarely busy. Rooms are quite large, and we normally have no problem getting a room with a king bed. DH always likes to shop in the men's store there so we end up at GF no matter where we stay so it's convenient to then just drop items off at the room after purchase. I'm not as keen on the style and theming though I do think it's well done and pretty; DH likes the style.

So for us it's worth it although we don't do it every time. We normally spend most of our time in Epcot and HS so the Boardwalk area is a bit more convenient for us and has access to more dining options. We alternate who gets to choose the resort (my favourite is BWI followed by BC but DH's is the GF) and then it's based on availability. Sometimes the one who picks chooses based on our intended plans for dining, touring, etc. and, thus, which location will work best. In 2016 we mutually decided on AKL because we think the resort is beautiful, we like Jiko, Victoria Falls and Boma and it was several years since were were last there. The rooms are much smaller which I didn't like so much and transportation is marginally less convenient but we were doing a totally go-with-the-flow touring so a few extra minutes at the bus stop wasn't an issue and I can live with a slightly smaller room.

It all depends on what is most important to you in terms of cost, location, amenities, and personal preference in order to determine worth.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

How do you define worth?

Location, transportation options, amenities, room space and quality, overall feel of the resort. We don't swim so pools don't matter to us.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

To me HECK yes! The location, the view, the dining, the beautiful rooms, the ambiance... To me AKL is far from everything, at a monorail resort you get not only the best views hands down but you get the convenience of the monorail which really makes taking a mid day break from the parks super easy.. Oth
If you plan to stay the majority of your time in the parks and not at your resort relaxing, dining or swimming then I say no its not worth it.

We do plan to spend most of our time at the parks, as we always do. We don't swim, but we definitely love the dining at GF. We've never stayed at a monorail resort before, so that is one thing that is making us really want to stay there!

 

[LYSE]

None of the Deluxes are "worth" it.

However if you've always wondered what it would be like to stay there go ahead and do it, the location is hard to beat...the buses suck though (we use a car)

Interested in saving money? Rent DVC...that IMO brings the resort to a reasonable price...I would NEVER pay anything close to rack rates again.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

We stayed once back in 1998 and got a Magic Kingdom Club discount making our lagoon view room, with tax, about $325 per night. I am not a fan of the decor that was in the rooms at the time so that was not a plus. I do visit the GF on most every trip. That being said I think it is fun to be able to do it once in a lifetime unless you have the money and can afford it and reallylike the atmosphere there. It is a personal choice and many people, like myself, prefer the look and feel of other Disney resorts so don't choose the GF. I also think the prices are to high for what it is. So the combo of price and atmosphere don't do it for me but I understand it is other peoples favorite. If you really want to do it I think you should.

Thanks! I'm not sure what the price per night is but we are saving roughly 1800 overall. It definitely would be a once in a lifetime trip to stay there.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

None of the Deluxes are "worth" it.

However if you've always wondered what it would be like to stay there go ahead and do it, the location is hard to beat...the buses suck though (we use a car)

Do the buses take a long time? Although we drive down we don't like driving to and from the parks.

 

[LYSE]

Do the buses take a long time? Although we drive down we don't like driving to and from the parks.

The buses are shared, one morning we waited 90+ minutes as 3 busses skipped us because they filled up at Wilderness lodge.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

GF is our families favorite resort, location, bigger/brighter rooms than AKL, we had a view of the castle from our Boca Chica LV room, Great lobby and restaurants. We really like resorts that we can walk outside compared to walking down some very loooong hallways and we can walk around the grounds to see all the great work that WDW puts into their resorts. But like dansdad mentioned, if we go back, it is because we will be splurging and not because of worth. We pretty much feel this way about all the deluxe resorts though, for us, we really cannot say they are worth it. Not sure how many days you are staying, but have you thought of a split stay?

Thanks for the response We are staying 7 nights. We were hoping to have a castle view from a LV but I wasn't sure if any of them offered that. I haven't thought about a split stay, but that might be something to look at.

 

[mco65]

Love it! It's on the monorail... nothing more be said.. IMO.

Still, I don't see it happening for us again anytime soon. Its just too cost prohibitive. But i still think its a must do, at least once!

 

[BriLovesDisney]

The buses are shared, one morning we waited 90+ minutes as 3 busses skipped us because they filled up at Wilderness lodge.

Was not aware that they were shared. Thank you!