Just Back from GF!!! Awesome!!! Any ?'s

[disneyw/kids]

Just back from our 9 night stay at the GF. We have stayed at WL, AKL, and Poly and this is the 1st time our requests were all fullfilled and I was so happy. We arrived around 7 pm on sat night and were sure that we would be stuck with no requests granted but we were so wrong thank goodness. I was traveling with my mother in law and mom and 2 daughters ages 4 and 2. We booked 2 garden view rooms and I had faxed my requests a couple of days before hand just asking if we could have rooms in the same building. When we checked in I asked, they are in the same building right? THe CM said you have connecting rooms. I nearaly passed out I was so excited. This would make our trip so much easier because my DD would want to sleep with the grandmothers and then my husband arrived later in the week and she would want to sleep with him. Little did I know at the time how invaluable having connecting rooms would be. The building was Sago Cay which I think does not get that much discussion about like the other buildings do, but we loved the location and the view. We had a garden view, but we could see the monorail from our balcony and had a view of the lagoon. No castle but the kids loved watching the monorail go by. And we were so close the the Grill that was open 24 hr for food and snacks so it was great and convenient.

However, on our 3rd day my whole family got a horrible stomach virus and were sick for 2 days including the kids. This was were the connecting rooms were awesome because my mom and mom in law (who were also sick) could help me with the sick kids and myself. Housekeeping was so nice and understanding. I have a 2 yr old who off course could not really give me much warning before getting sick so we did mess up the bed often. We would just call housekeeping and they came with there yellow biohazard bags and gloves and changed the linen for us. We felt horrible or I would of done it myselft but i could bearly move with out getting sick. We did tip heavily, but they were super nice about the situation. And being able to see the monorail helped us still feel like we were at disney. My 4 year old asked "mommy are we still at disney word" since we were in the room for 2 days bless her heart. By the way our room numbers were 5526 and 5524

But thankfully we had a 9 night stay with one set of grandparents the first part of the week and the other set the last part of the week. My husband came down for the last 4 nights and by that time we were all feeling much better. The only thing we missed were the osborne lights but we did get to go to MVMCP the first night and the Candlelight Processional which were both great.

We ate at all the restaurants at the GF and loved them all. Such a great experience. Watching the wishes fireworks from Narcossess deck was the highlight of our stay at the GF.

We had a great trip, stomach virus and all, but we even had bad luck on the way home this morning to atlanta, we hit something in the road that destroyed our back tire only an hour into our trip. So my husband had change the tire on the side of I-75 with all the trucks going by so fast but we made it home safe. Thank you for all the posts that helped me plan my trip. I would love to answer any questions for those of you still in the planning process.

 

[disneyw/kids]

Wanted to add that we had a continuing reservation due to availabity of the AP rates and they did not make us change rooms we just went down to the desk and got new keys. For those of you who ask about if they make you change rooms or not.

 

[mjmcca]

i Had a similar experience when my daughter was sick at one of the value resorts. It was late at least 8 pm and i had only called to have them bring linen so I could change the bed. Two people came and remade the bed and were very nice about it. I tipped them of course. I love Disney service!

 

[DeterminedOne]

I agree with you GF is awesome. We stayed there for the first time recently and all I can say is WOW! We were in Big Pine Key with an unbelivable view of MK. I've read the posts about the golf carts and how they are annoying. We encountered a lot of them, but it didn't bother us. One guy even gave us a ride to to the main building. To me the carts signified some kind of work being done. I couldn't complain about that. I also agree with your comment about housekeeping. They were great! For the first EVER we left a tip, that's just how impressed we were. In fact, all the staff were great! I loved the way they always wished us a GRAND day!

 

[disneyw/kids]

I agree about the golf carts, I did notice them but only because I had read the post here about how they ruined someones trip. I agree that it made me feel like they were working to up keep the hotel and bring luggage back and forth, they were also cleaning the windows while i was there but what do you expect. I look pass all that.

 

[lvmymcky]

So glad you had an awesome time. DH and I honeymooned at DW the first week of Dec. and stayed at the GF and had a wonderful time. We pretty much made up our minds that when we come back to DW we are only going to stay at the GF. As for the carts all over, it didn't even phase us. I kinda wished they had one waiting by the docks so we can ride them to our bldgs after a tiring day at Magic Kingdom

 

[lmhall2000]

We are going in January...hopefully...of all the restaurants....are there any not misses? We thought about doing Park Faire for breakfast..but is it better at night...and if we could only do one GF restaurant (Citrico's Narcoossee's) with 3 kids 9, 6,5 which do you think has a better atmosphere menu for a family? Thanks!!!
Tara

 

[DeterminedOne]

We are going in January...hopefully...of all the restaurants....are there any not misses? We thought about doing Park Faire for breakfast..but is it better at night...and if we could only do one GF restaurant (Citrico's Narcoossee's) with 3 kids 9, 6,5 which do you think has a better atmosphere menu for a family? Thanks!!!
Tara

Narcoosee's ... don't waste your money! JMO!
1900 Park Fare for breakfast was great! Try to get there when they first open. The character interaction was perfect, food was delicious. I couldn't get enough of the bacon and they have an omlette station.

 

[disneyw/kids]

If you have girls do the cinderella dinner at 1900 park fare my daughters love it, but breakfast there is good also. We took both girls to Narcoseses(?) and I felt like even though it was a nice restaurant there were a lot of kids there also and they were all well behaved, we had a view of the castle so that entertained my daughter. The waiter was great because he brought their food fast and brought ice cream for them so we could finish our meal without even asking. Also, if you can catch the wishes fireworks show from the deck it is not to be missed. They pipe in the music.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I totally agree with you. We always stay at GF and always request Sago Cay. We've always had a garden view with a view of the marina. It's so quiet and peaceful, yet so close to Gasparilla's. We love to watch the fireworks from either the boat deck or in front of Gasparilla's. Did you happen to notice the family of ducks that wander around the marina - my kids loved them! This July we are going for an 11 night lagoon stay and are still hoping we get Sago Cay. Glad you had a wonderful time (even with the sickness) at your first time at GF. SO many people think GF is not for kids and I couldn't disagree more. We loved 1900 Park Fare Breakfast and Cinderella's Gala Feast. This year I'm going to take my girls (7 and 6) to the afternoon tea for the first time. Did you try the Pirate Cruise or WOnderland Tea Party? They're two things that my kids love. I can't say enough good things about GF and Sago Cay!

 

[kpossible]

I'm glad that you had a great time especially being sick. I'm just curious because of my friends who have been to Disney in the last year or so, three different famlies (different trips) had family members who had "stomach viruses" or food poisoning at Disney. They came back saying the trip was great except so and so was sick w/a stomach bug. I find that odd. I have three kids who pick up every cold(they have had 4 each already this year and we wash our hands alot) but stomach illnesses are far and few between. There has to be a reason is it the food, the pool water, or that stomach viruses are passed around more at a place like disney (kind of like what happens on cruise ships)? Not to dampen anyones day thinking about that but I would be very upset if we went to Disney and ended up spending a few days with stomach problems. Any thoughts?

 

[disneyw/kids]

We did not go to the pool so I know for a fact that we did not get sick from the pool water. My 2 year old got sick first on Tues morning and we arrived the sat prior. Then the rest of us got sick exactly 24 hr later. I asked my 4 year old teacher today if any one had a stomach bug in class and she said no one had been out sick. So being that my 2 yr old got sick first I know we got it from her, usually we get stuff from the 4 year old first but I don't think this was the case so I do think that maybe we picked it up in the park. I have had food poisining before and this was defientley a stomach virus not from food. I think that with the amount of people at disney and kids from different parts of the country we are probably exposed to sooo much we don't even want to know. This is my 5 trip in the last 4 yr and the first time anyone has been sick while on vacation so I just say i guess this time we had bad luck.

 

[kpossible]

glad to know all your other trips were sick free. It must have been so hard for you to see your kids so sick on their big trip. I would feel so bad if we went to Disney and my girls got sick.