Lives4Disney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2004
Well, let me start by saying we never thought the Grand Floridian appealed to us until we stayed at the Poly in August (didn't thrill us) and happened to go wonder around the GF main building a bit. We decided that we would try and stay at the GF next time.
I was soooo excited when we planned a last minute trip to WDW for Thanksgiving and I happened to check my computer and the Grand Floridian main building concierge came up available for 4 or our nights!! I snatched it up and just couldn't wait.
Well, we checked in - awkwardly - on 11/23. We arrived at about 8pm and were just in awe of the pretty decorations and lights. We went to the valet station and let them know we were there to check into the RPC. They first told us to go over to the front desk and pointed the way. Well... I had received a call a couple days earlier from Denny telling me the check-in procedure. He told me that it would happen upstairs on the 3rd floor, someone would be called down to escort us up. I mentioned this to the gentleman at valet and he called up on his headset after asking us our name. Apparently there was a problem - couldn't find our reservation or something - so as he is talking about us like we weren't there, I dug out my paperwork and tried to show him my name and confirmation number. He paid me no attention, just seemed to be listening to his headset. (I am getting a bit of a panic feeling at this point) All of a sudden, a lady shows up to escort us. OK, at least it worked out. Don't know what happend, but we were on our way up. She deposited us at Travis's desk. He gives us a bit of info and hands us our 5 keys. Then he says.... "Should I request a roll-a-way for the 5th person?" I am like WHAT????? I told him that I signed up for a room with 2 queens and a day bed. I don't want a roll away. I didn't even think a rollaway was an issue. didn't know they did that at Disney!!! He says they do. Great. We want a manager. They have had my $652 deposit for over a month. I told them 5 people, names and ages. I want my correct room. Kathy the manager told us that they were booked to capacity and that the rollaway is the best they can do for the night. Maybe we could move the next day. We were miffed about the move so they took the first night off our bill. (yay, but I REALLY wanted my good room that I was counting on and after travelling all day, wanted to get settled. It is very hard with luggage for 5 people. Very disappointed)
We told them we had 9pm ps at Chef Mickeys and my girls really didn't want to miss this. Travis took our luggage claim check and said he would have our luggage sent up and the rollaway set up while we were at dinner. Great. We went to drop our carryons off in our SMALL room. This room was so small. It was the smallest deluxe room I have ever seen. It only had the two beds, a chair and a 1/2 armoir thing with only a couple of drawers in it. It certainly couldn't hold clothes for more than one or two people. We didn't even know where they thought they would put the rollaway. We were going to dinner. It was their problem. Didn't know where they would put our 10 suitcases,either. Really no room. We went on our merry way to Chef mickeys and walked to the MK after. Had a blast. The crowd was gone for the night. We stayed til midnight, took a wonderful boat ride back to the GF to collapse for the night.
When we arrived in our room, the rollaway was vertical. (OH MY GOSH!!!) There was NO luggage brought into our room. NOTHING was done. This is 12:30 am. Our little girls slept in their clothes that night because our luggage ( after 3 calls) did not arrive until 1:15 am. We were not happy campers. I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 am. It was hard to fall asleep at that time, because they were now vacuuming the lobby. It was very noisy. We never saw Travis, no one could tell us WHY the luggage wasn't brought up or the bed set up. No explanations or appologies ever. I was so mad I couldn't sleep well.
The next morning I called the concierge to check about our move. Yes there was a great room available, magic kingdom view on the 3rd floor. (4302) I spoke with Mejay who was actually willing to help work things out for me. I told her I didn't want to be without my luggage from check out to check in to the new room. That was what they planned on having happen. I said NO WAY. My daughters and I were going to the Disney Princess Tea party and I didn't want to be stuck in nice clothes for the afternoon and them in their itchy, scratchy princess gowns for hours. I also mentioned we would probably all need naps after the fiasco with Travis the night before. She worked it out so that when the room was ready we moved in - took our luggage directly from the small room to the new room. It would have been nice if she suggested the procedure for the more convenient move, but she at least let me have my way. It just gets aggravating having to fuss for everything. That's not me and not what I want to do on vacation!!
That was when the magic started. The room was very nice - much larger than the original room. It was decorated differently, in subtle rose/beige tones. The view was wonderful. Housekeeping was wonderful, too. On Thanksgiving they made two towel animals - a turkey and a pilgrim. My kids got a real kick out of that. We have always stayed in a deluxe resort and never got this treat. They were great about extra towels, soaps etc. Always friendly and nice, too. The offerings were different. For breakfast they had a cheese tray and actually cold ham and turkey. Lots of danish, croissants, cereal. The lounge staff was terrific. So nice. We never were afraid to ask for soda or anything we needed. My 14 yr old son asked if they had rootbeer. They didn't, but the next day they gave him his own 6 pack!! We tipped her really well. That turned out to be a very expensive 6 pack, but the thought was so sweet. The tea party was FABULOUS. I was thinking it was pretty expensive, but it was FABULOUS!!! My girls were enchanted. The Rose Petal princess is so talented. My 8 year old is vision impaired (RP) and uses a white cane. As we stood in line to check in, the manager told me they would switch the place cards around as to give her the best view. I thought that was very kind. I didn't ask, they just offered. We LOVED the GF. Except the concierge staff.
They were useless and rude. Another time we were getting on the elevator and one (concierge person) was escorting a family off. Here we are with a child in a stroller, my daughter with her cane, and this concierge person literally let the elevator door close on the stroller!! Rude. My sister has been a concierge at a Ritz Carleton hotel for several years. These Disney concierge don't even compare to a real concierge. It is my opinion only, I am sure I will get boo hooed for it, but that has been my experience. Every other GF CM (other than concierge and acutally bell services) was so very friendly and helpful. I was amazed. I always had the impression that this would be a stuffy resort but we were very pleasantly surprised.
I would definitely stay there again. I loved the decor and the feel of the place. For many years I didn't think I would, but it is lovely. I now have an opinion on the extra person in the room issue. Why not? If the most expensive Disney resort will do it when it suits them, why not a family that needs to do it? The "fire code" issue seems to be baloney. The room they stuck us in with 5 people was very tight. If I didn't fuss about wanting the daybed room, they would have left us in this smaller room for 4 nights. They put the rollaway in the only place it seemed to fit - right toward the hallway to the door! I wouldn't do it, because I like my space, but there seems to be a lot of people with an issue with families having an extra person in the room. To each his own.....
I would stay concierge again, too. Not for the concierge staff by any means, but for the convenience of the breakfast and the nice evening/bedtime snacks available. My kids enjoyed that. Also, we rented a boat on Thanksgiving and that was very fun for all of us. The staff at the marina was very nice and helpful, too. The view from 4302 is fantastic. The castle is staight ahead. We watched wishes a couple of nights from the balcony. Just great!!
I am sure I am leaving out something, but... I need to hit the laundry. We then moved to the CR 14th floor - a one bedroom MK suite. I will tell that story later. OH! I know what.... The "daybed" isn't quite a twin size bed. It is narrower and shorter. My 14 year old had to use it, as the girls slept together in the queen. It was OK for him this year, but next stay. I don't think so. That is an important factor when you book a room they say sleeps 5. It really sleeps 4 1/2. Keep that in mind. Also, the TVs are so tiny. You open up this armoir which could probably hold a 35 inch tv and it is really a maybe 19/21 inch tv. I would expect more for the money. I would definitely try and get a code or an AP rate when we stay there again. It isn't worth full price!! But it was overall an enjoyable stay.
I was soooo excited when we planned a last minute trip to WDW for Thanksgiving and I happened to check my computer and the Grand Floridian main building concierge came up available for 4 or our nights!! I snatched it up and just couldn't wait.
Well, we checked in - awkwardly - on 11/23. We arrived at about 8pm and were just in awe of the pretty decorations and lights. We went to the valet station and let them know we were there to check into the RPC. They first told us to go over to the front desk and pointed the way. Well... I had received a call a couple days earlier from Denny telling me the check-in procedure. He told me that it would happen upstairs on the 3rd floor, someone would be called down to escort us up. I mentioned this to the gentleman at valet and he called up on his headset after asking us our name. Apparently there was a problem - couldn't find our reservation or something - so as he is talking about us like we weren't there, I dug out my paperwork and tried to show him my name and confirmation number. He paid me no attention, just seemed to be listening to his headset. (I am getting a bit of a panic feeling at this point) All of a sudden, a lady shows up to escort us. OK, at least it worked out. Don't know what happend, but we were on our way up. She deposited us at Travis's desk. He gives us a bit of info and hands us our 5 keys. Then he says.... "Should I request a roll-a-way for the 5th person?" I am like WHAT????? I told him that I signed up for a room with 2 queens and a day bed. I don't want a roll away. I didn't even think a rollaway was an issue. didn't know they did that at Disney!!! He says they do. Great. We want a manager. They have had my $652 deposit for over a month. I told them 5 people, names and ages. I want my correct room. Kathy the manager told us that they were booked to capacity and that the rollaway is the best they can do for the night. Maybe we could move the next day. We were miffed about the move so they took the first night off our bill. (yay, but I REALLY wanted my good room that I was counting on and after travelling all day, wanted to get settled. It is very hard with luggage for 5 people. Very disappointed)
We told them we had 9pm ps at Chef Mickeys and my girls really didn't want to miss this. Travis took our luggage claim check and said he would have our luggage sent up and the rollaway set up while we were at dinner. Great. We went to drop our carryons off in our SMALL room. This room was so small. It was the smallest deluxe room I have ever seen. It only had the two beds, a chair and a 1/2 armoir thing with only a couple of drawers in it. It certainly couldn't hold clothes for more than one or two people. We didn't even know where they thought they would put the rollaway. We were going to dinner. It was their problem. Didn't know where they would put our 10 suitcases,either. Really no room. We went on our merry way to Chef mickeys and walked to the MK after. Had a blast. The crowd was gone for the night. We stayed til midnight, took a wonderful boat ride back to the GF to collapse for the night.
When we arrived in our room, the rollaway was vertical. (OH MY GOSH!!!) There was NO luggage brought into our room. NOTHING was done. This is 12:30 am. Our little girls slept in their clothes that night because our luggage ( after 3 calls) did not arrive until 1:15 am. We were not happy campers. I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 am. It was hard to fall asleep at that time, because they were now vacuuming the lobby. It was very noisy. We never saw Travis, no one could tell us WHY the luggage wasn't brought up or the bed set up. No explanations or appologies ever. I was so mad I couldn't sleep well.
The next morning I called the concierge to check about our move. Yes there was a great room available, magic kingdom view on the 3rd floor. (4302) I spoke with Mejay who was actually willing to help work things out for me. I told her I didn't want to be without my luggage from check out to check in to the new room. That was what they planned on having happen. I said NO WAY. My daughters and I were going to the Disney Princess Tea party and I didn't want to be stuck in nice clothes for the afternoon and them in their itchy, scratchy princess gowns for hours. I also mentioned we would probably all need naps after the fiasco with Travis the night before. She worked it out so that when the room was ready we moved in - took our luggage directly from the small room to the new room. It would have been nice if she suggested the procedure for the more convenient move, but she at least let me have my way. It just gets aggravating having to fuss for everything. That's not me and not what I want to do on vacation!!
That was when the magic started. The room was very nice - much larger than the original room. It was decorated differently, in subtle rose/beige tones. The view was wonderful. Housekeeping was wonderful, too. On Thanksgiving they made two towel animals - a turkey and a pilgrim. My kids got a real kick out of that. We have always stayed in a deluxe resort and never got this treat. They were great about extra towels, soaps etc. Always friendly and nice, too. The offerings were different. For breakfast they had a cheese tray and actually cold ham and turkey. Lots of danish, croissants, cereal. The lounge staff was terrific. So nice. We never were afraid to ask for soda or anything we needed. My 14 yr old son asked if they had rootbeer. They didn't, but the next day they gave him his own 6 pack!! We tipped her really well. That turned out to be a very expensive 6 pack, but the thought was so sweet. The tea party was FABULOUS. I was thinking it was pretty expensive, but it was FABULOUS!!! My girls were enchanted. The Rose Petal princess is so talented. My 8 year old is vision impaired (RP) and uses a white cane. As we stood in line to check in, the manager told me they would switch the place cards around as to give her the best view. I thought that was very kind. I didn't ask, they just offered. We LOVED the GF. Except the concierge staff.
They were useless and rude. Another time we were getting on the elevator and one (concierge person) was escorting a family off. Here we are with a child in a stroller, my daughter with her cane, and this concierge person literally let the elevator door close on the stroller!! Rude. My sister has been a concierge at a Ritz Carleton hotel for several years. These Disney concierge don't even compare to a real concierge. It is my opinion only, I am sure I will get boo hooed for it, but that has been my experience. Every other GF CM (other than concierge and acutally bell services) was so very friendly and helpful. I was amazed. I always had the impression that this would be a stuffy resort but we were very pleasantly surprised. I would definitely stay there again. I loved the decor and the feel of the place. For many years I didn't think I would, but it is lovely. I now have an opinion on the extra person in the room issue. Why not? If the most expensive Disney resort will do it when it suits them, why not a family that needs to do it? The "fire code" issue seems to be baloney. The room they stuck us in with 5 people was very tight. If I didn't fuss about wanting the daybed room, they would have left us in this smaller room for 4 nights. They put the rollaway in the only place it seemed to fit - right toward the hallway to the door! I wouldn't do it, because I like my space, but there seems to be a lot of people with an issue with families having an extra person in the room. To each his own.....
I would stay concierge again, too. Not for the concierge staff by any means, but for the convenience of the breakfast and the nice evening/bedtime snacks available. My kids enjoyed that. Also, we rented a boat on Thanksgiving and that was very fun for all of us. The staff at the marina was very nice and helpful, too. The view from 4302 is fantastic. The castle is staight ahead. We watched wishes a couple of nights from the balcony. Just great!!
I am sure I am leaving out something, but... I need to hit the laundry. We then moved to the CR 14th floor - a one bedroom MK suite. I will tell that story later. OH! I know what.... The "daybed" isn't quite a twin size bed. It is narrower and shorter. My 14 year old had to use it, as the girls slept together in the queen. It was OK for him this year, but next stay. I don't think so. That is an important factor when you book a room they say sleeps 5. It really sleeps 4 1/2. Keep that in mind. Also, the TVs are so tiny. You open up this armoir which could probably hold a 35 inch tv and it is really a maybe 19/21 inch tv. I would expect more for the money. I would definitely try and get a code or an AP rate when we stay there again. It isn't worth full price!! But it was overall an enjoyable stay.
