- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 2,598
I just returned on Saturday from 8 nights at the GF. We originally were booked at the AKL, but after a two night stay at the GF in August (Mission Space Preview), my wife asked to stay there again for the long vacation. It was our first time at the GF in a standard room. We had a garden view room overlooking the quiet pool on the 4the floor of the Boca Chica building. The location was great. While we had a less than average stay at the GF RPC a couple of years back, we realized that the GF is in a class of its own at WDW.
We had flawless service, wonderful room amenities that are standard to all guests. Those upgraded toiletries that Samantha Browne shows on Great Hotels are standard in all rooms, the robes, nightly turndown, mini-bars, and a free refrigerator in the room were all very nice. I did miss the size of the CR rooms (they are a full 40 square feet smaller at the GF, and it shows) but we still had plenty of room.
The transportation is excellent. My SIL was staying in the BWV, and we they had long bus rides from every park because the bust stopped at 5 hotels. The GF was the second or third stop back from all of the parks, and last to be picked up, so we always had a short trip to whatever park we were going to. The trip to Epcot was the longest. With transfers it took us up to 40 minutes to get from our room to the Epcot gate. Still, monorail transportation is part of the fun of WDW, so we always enjoyed the ride.
Usually we try to eat at all of the restaurants at the hotel we stay at, but we dont care for Citricos, and Victoria and Alberts is (donning flame retardant suit) overrated, so we just had a good meal at Narcoosees, a couple of light lunches at Gasparilla Grill and some great lunches and breakfasts at the Grand Floridian Café. I really wish they would open up the café for dinner at the GF. Like the Concourse Steakhouse at the CR or Kona Café at the Poly, the GF needs a casual dining venue for dinner that offers a little more than cheeseburgers and hot dogs. One waitress said she though they are going to open for dinner after the exterior renovations are done, though I dont see what one has to do with another. **Just to clarify, the exterior of the Café was being renovated. It wasnt an eyesore, there wasnt any noise detectable from your room (or even the pool for that matter), and it doesnt affect the view of any hotel room.**
The GF quiet pool, which has always been a big draw for us with its size and the beauty of the landscaping around it, has been made even better by the addition of the new theme pool. That pool draws enough people to relieve the former crowds at the quiet pool (though Id venture a guess that the quiet pool is more popular than the theme pool; probably due to its location). On hot days in the middle of the afternoon, the pool always had chairs available right next to the pool. Nothing was very crowded this week, despite the FTP scare, the parks were as empty as Ive seen them since the week after 9/11; that carried over to the recreation at the hotel and the transportation. Ill never again go during the busy season. I like the place nice and empty!
A few random thoughts:
While taking the boat to the Poly, we noticed that the work is still ongoing at the Poly Hawaii longhouse. One interesting note is that the banister rails on the balconies of the Poly have all been painted white. It may have been a primer coat, but it sure looked like a finish coat from a distance. I like the way it looked. It really lightened up the building.
The deck boards for the dock at the poly were all replaced on Friday of last week. The deck now has a staggered outside edge as opposed to the straight lines it formerly had.
The observation deck by the California Grill is open and available to anyone. I even asked a manager and he told me he was never aware of the decks being closed.
The parks were EMPTY. The longest wait was for Space Mountain on our first Saturday. We waited 8 minutes. Everything else was walk-on to the pre-show. Mission Space was walk-on on every time we went to it; we were there for the first time at 12:00 on Saturday and even then there was no line. Back at the MK, even the Astro-Orbiters had no line; Ive never seen that before.
The AK is too damn hot! That place needs some sit down restaurants and a few more in-door attractions so that it can stay open later and relieve the heat for the guests. People parade out of there by lunch and I think its because of the heat. I really enjoy the park, but it is a ghost town after lunch. That may be due to the worst food of any Disney park, or it may be due to the intense heat of the place. Either way, it needs to be addressed.
I went to Blizzard Beach for the first time, and while I liked it, I prefer Typhoon Lagoon. The lazy river and wave pool at TL are much better, and Summit Plummet is fun once, but I dont like turning my trunks into a Speedo© if I dont have to!
There are some nice things about the GF that a lot of people wont notice but that I found to be exceptional from a quality standpoint. Among them are the solid core wood doors in the rooms with wood frames as opposed to hollow metal frames. Likewise the molding, trim and cabinetry are of a higher standard at the GF. Dimmer switches were used for the reading lights, marble bathrooms as opposed to tile, etc. There were just a lot of nice details that the BWV (which was the only place I had to directly compare it to since my SIL was there) didnt have.
If you have any questions, Ill try to answer them.
We had flawless service, wonderful room amenities that are standard to all guests. Those upgraded toiletries that Samantha Browne shows on Great Hotels are standard in all rooms, the robes, nightly turndown, mini-bars, and a free refrigerator in the room were all very nice. I did miss the size of the CR rooms (they are a full 40 square feet smaller at the GF, and it shows) but we still had plenty of room.
The transportation is excellent. My SIL was staying in the BWV, and we they had long bus rides from every park because the bust stopped at 5 hotels. The GF was the second or third stop back from all of the parks, and last to be picked up, so we always had a short trip to whatever park we were going to. The trip to Epcot was the longest. With transfers it took us up to 40 minutes to get from our room to the Epcot gate. Still, monorail transportation is part of the fun of WDW, so we always enjoyed the ride.
Usually we try to eat at all of the restaurants at the hotel we stay at, but we dont care for Citricos, and Victoria and Alberts is (donning flame retardant suit) overrated, so we just had a good meal at Narcoosees, a couple of light lunches at Gasparilla Grill and some great lunches and breakfasts at the Grand Floridian Café. I really wish they would open up the café for dinner at the GF. Like the Concourse Steakhouse at the CR or Kona Café at the Poly, the GF needs a casual dining venue for dinner that offers a little more than cheeseburgers and hot dogs. One waitress said she though they are going to open for dinner after the exterior renovations are done, though I dont see what one has to do with another. **Just to clarify, the exterior of the Café was being renovated. It wasnt an eyesore, there wasnt any noise detectable from your room (or even the pool for that matter), and it doesnt affect the view of any hotel room.**
The GF quiet pool, which has always been a big draw for us with its size and the beauty of the landscaping around it, has been made even better by the addition of the new theme pool. That pool draws enough people to relieve the former crowds at the quiet pool (though Id venture a guess that the quiet pool is more popular than the theme pool; probably due to its location). On hot days in the middle of the afternoon, the pool always had chairs available right next to the pool. Nothing was very crowded this week, despite the FTP scare, the parks were as empty as Ive seen them since the week after 9/11; that carried over to the recreation at the hotel and the transportation. Ill never again go during the busy season. I like the place nice and empty!
A few random thoughts:
While taking the boat to the Poly, we noticed that the work is still ongoing at the Poly Hawaii longhouse. One interesting note is that the banister rails on the balconies of the Poly have all been painted white. It may have been a primer coat, but it sure looked like a finish coat from a distance. I like the way it looked. It really lightened up the building.
The deck boards for the dock at the poly were all replaced on Friday of last week. The deck now has a staggered outside edge as opposed to the straight lines it formerly had.
The observation deck by the California Grill is open and available to anyone. I even asked a manager and he told me he was never aware of the decks being closed.
The parks were EMPTY. The longest wait was for Space Mountain on our first Saturday. We waited 8 minutes. Everything else was walk-on to the pre-show. Mission Space was walk-on on every time we went to it; we were there for the first time at 12:00 on Saturday and even then there was no line. Back at the MK, even the Astro-Orbiters had no line; Ive never seen that before.
The AK is too damn hot! That place needs some sit down restaurants and a few more in-door attractions so that it can stay open later and relieve the heat for the guests. People parade out of there by lunch and I think its because of the heat. I really enjoy the park, but it is a ghost town after lunch. That may be due to the worst food of any Disney park, or it may be due to the intense heat of the place. Either way, it needs to be addressed.
I went to Blizzard Beach for the first time, and while I liked it, I prefer Typhoon Lagoon. The lazy river and wave pool at TL are much better, and Summit Plummet is fun once, but I dont like turning my trunks into a Speedo© if I dont have to!
There are some nice things about the GF that a lot of people wont notice but that I found to be exceptional from a quality standpoint. Among them are the solid core wood doors in the rooms with wood frames as opposed to hollow metal frames. Likewise the molding, trim and cabinetry are of a higher standard at the GF. Dimmer switches were used for the reading lights, marble bathrooms as opposed to tile, etc. There were just a lot of nice details that the BWV (which was the only place I had to directly compare it to since my SIL was there) didnt have.
If you have any questions, Ill try to answer them.
