My first time at The Grand Hotel in Mackinaw and I thought...

[jodifla]

This reminds me of Disney World! Particularly, the Grand Floridian. (Bet there's a reason for that....)

 

[BuffaloJim]

I think the Grand Floridian is actually based on some hotel in San Diego.

But Mackinac's Grand Hotel is very grand indeed!

 

[Candy Orlando]

The Grand Floridian is inspired by The Hotel Del Coronado. The movie, Some like it Hot, with Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis was filmed there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The Grand Hotel is indeed grand! And the long porch is incredible.

Apparently in addition to the Hotel del Coronado the outside of the Grand Floridian was also modeled after the Mount Washington Hotel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Resort

And here's the del Coronado

 

[Chuck S]

Some exterior design elements were also inspired by the Belleview Biltmore in Belleair, Florida.

 

[BuffaloJim]

Some more information regarding the design of the GF from Jack Spence's blog...

"For inspiration, the design team visited the Bellevue Biltmore in Clearwater, FL, the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI, and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA."

 

[JWG]

Too bad the The Grand Hotel is no longer in the hotel collection you can use DVC points on.

 

[jodifla]

Some more information regarding the design of the GF from Jack Spence's blog...

"For inspiration, the design team visited the Bellevue Biltmore in Clearwater, FL, the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI, and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA."

Thanks for finding this info!

 

[cwdefouw]

Love that place. We stayed there three years in a row in the mid 2000's on the concierge collection. We were SO bummed when they took it off the list.