Stayed at the GF and was very dissapointed maybe should have stayed at the poly

[Race4fun]

We were very excited to be going to the Grand Floridian. It was a vacation we had saved and saved for. Before staying there , we stayed at the Orlando Marriott Resort and Convention center, and I will say I would stay there again in a heartbeat rather than the GF. I will say check in was fine, our room was ready early, we had arrived at 8:30 in the morning. I will say I was dissaponted in the rooms. They were large and roomy, but were also in need of repair. Not worth the money at all! I spend over 500 a night and didn't feel like it was worth it. I loved being by the monorail, but other than that I don't think I would go stay again. Even my kids agreed they were disapointed with the hotel. The rooms have a motion detector for your AC so be sure to have them overide it or you come back hot from the parks to a hot room. The food was ok and the Character breakfasts were fun, but I just can justfy spending that much money when I had stayed at the Marriott that only charged me 218 with AAA and I felt like a queen and I was sad to leave it!!!!!
The bathroom had a hole in the wall were someone had opened the door to the room too fast and the ceiling fan covers were missing. All in all not a very pleasing room to look at, maybe we will try the Polynesian or just stay at the marriott.

BTW no towel animals but I thought maybe out of the 5 days we were there I would get something, but alas no......

 

[DawnCt1]

I agree. Disney hotels, especially in recent years have been resting on their laurels. The location is great but I have stayed in great hotels in Hawaii for less than half of that, and that to me is the ultimate location. Did you complain about the problems you encountered?

 

[TammiMcMan]

It's disappointing to spend any amount of money and feel like it just wasn't worth it. Can I ask what building you were staying in? If memory serves me correct, the last rehab done at the GF was back in 2000, so maybe they are overdue. It was awesome that your room was ready though. That was almost like getting an extra day (which probably would have been better, if you felt happier with your room). Did you ask to be moved or are you going to followup now that you've returned?

As for the towel animals, I think those talented enough to make them are working at other Disney resorts. In many stays at the GF, I've only seen one.

Tammi

 

[gepetto]

did you ask to be moved to a different room?

 

[3lilprincesses]

sorry to hear your room was so disappointing. did you try to switch rooms? we were there last jan. and our room was beautiful, and immaculate. i guess some rooms take more of a beating then others. i agree with you that the location is great, and it is so nice to be right on the monorail.

hope your vacation was a good one, despite your disappointment in GF!

 

[Race4fun]

No I didn't complain or asked to be moved. I saw how busy it was and the kids wanted to get to the parks. We stayed at the Boca Chica Building. It was fairly quiet though at night which was nice.

I probably should have complained but I didn't want to ruin anything for the kids, but once we got home they said mommy, not to hurt your feelings but I liked the first hotel better than the Grand Floridian, I told them it was fine and they didn't hurt my feelings because I felt the same way.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

That is a bummer...I am sorry that happened to you! I know the feeling of paying a lot of money and then being disappointed. Oh well, you know for next time! I hope you had a great vacation anyway, and that you will give another WDW hotel a try.

 

[stingmom]

We stayed at Poly in April, and it was not worth the money for that either. The shower head was very low (DH is 6'2" and had to bend WAY down to get his head under) and had green calcification ALL over it. The room was smaller than the CR ones we are used to. Coffee maker is in the bathroom, inches from the toiket, no counter space in room and very limited drawer space if you enjoy unpacking and staying a while. There are NO hot tubs at Poly either. We will save our bucks and are tyring out WL in July.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Sorry to hear about your disappointing trip. We've never had any problems when we stayed there and last year we were lucky enough to have our room ready really early! We've never had any towel animals by the mousekeepers were nice enough to rearrange the kids stuffed animals into cute positions. What building did you stay in? Did you ask to be moved and make management know about the problems you encountered? How did they respond. Again, sorry you didn't enjoy your stay at the GF.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Sorry you were disappointed with your room. I would have called the front desk and asked to switch. (I have done that - in Hawaii, also) The Poly also has those motion detector ACs. We were miserable there in August!!

I happen to love the GF. Maybe I have been lucky with my rooms. I just know that if I get a room I am not satisfied with, I speak to someone about it. I know what those rooms cost and for that money I want to be thrilled with the accomodations.

BTW, we have stayed over 30 visits in the Disney deluxe resorts - probably months worth of time through the years - and only received a towel animal once - Thanksgiving at the GF. Sometimes the way people report these towel animals occuring on the DIS it can make a guest expect to receive one when actually it is pretty rare. They aren't THAT great. They are kind of cute but it shouldn't make or break a vacation, but a crummy room can.

Hope you spoke to a manager when you were there so the room can be repaired. I wouldn't have stayed in it, though!!

Lives4Disney

 

[noseybuddy]

We were very excited to be going to the Grand Floridian. It was a vacation we had saved and saved for. Before staying there , we stayed at the Orlando Marriott Resort and Convention center, and I will say I would stay there again in a heartbeat rather than the GF. I will say check in was fine, our room was ready early, we had arrived at 8:30 in the morning. I will say I was dissaponted in the rooms. They were large and roomy, but were also in need of repair. Not worth the money at all! I spend over 500 a night and didn't feel like it was worth it. I loved being by the monorail, but other than that I don't think I would go stay again. Even my kids agreed they were disapointed with the hotel. The rooms have a motion detector for your AC so be sure to have them overide it or you come back hot from the parks to a hot room. The food was ok and the Character breakfasts were fun, but I just can justfy spending that much money when I had stayed at the Marriott that only charged me 218 with AAA and I felt like a queen and I was sad to leave it!!!!!
The bathroom had a hole in the wall were someone had opened the door to the room too fast and the ceiling fan covers were missing. All in all not a very pleasing room to look at, maybe we will try the Polynesian or just stay at the marriott.

BTW no towel animals but I thought maybe out of the 5 days we were there I would get something, but alas no......

sorry double post..... website has been really slow

 

[noseybuddy]

We were very excited to be going to the Grand Floridian. It was a vacation we had saved and saved for. Before staying there , we stayed at the Orlando Marriott Resort and Convention center, and I will say I would stay there again in a heartbeat rather than the GF. I will say check in was fine, our room was ready early, we had arrived at 8:30 in the morning. I will say I was dissaponted in the rooms. They were large and roomy, but were also in need of repair. Not worth the money at all! I spend over 500 a night and didn't feel like it was worth it. I loved being by the monorail, but other than that I don't think I would go stay again. Even my kids agreed they were disapointed with the hotel. The rooms have a motion detector for your AC so be sure to have them overide it or you come back hot from the parks to a hot room. The food was ok and the Character breakfasts were fun, but I just can justfy spending that much money when I had stayed at the Marriott that only charged me 218 with AAA and I felt like a queen and I was sad to leave it!!!!!
The bathroom had a hole in the wall were someone had opened the door to the room too fast and the ceiling fan covers were missing. All in all not a very pleasing room to look at, maybe we will try the Polynesian or just stay at the marriott.

BTW no towel animals but I thought maybe out of the 5 days we were there I would get something, but alas no......

I feel the same way. I was very disappointed with the GF. We stayed there August of 2002. When we checked in and went to our room, it was dirty, food laying around and clothes laying around that were left behind. Went to the CM and got another room. This one had been cleaned but still not clean enough for me. We were there for a week. Each day when we came back from the parks it looked like all the maid did was make the beds and give clean towels. So I started to leave little things laying around on the floor, in the sleeping area and the bathroom. Well I am sad to say that the maid failed the test. The things left on the floor were never picked up until the day before we left and we were there a week. The lobby of our building was always dirty also. The little food place, can't think of the name wasn't that clean either. Always seemed to be dirty tables. I was very dissappoited with this hotel and I know I would never stay there again, unless I was staying for free and I don't think that will ever happen. Oh, and I forgot the new pool wasn't clean either. There were always bird feathers in it. After a couple of days of walking over to the new pool, thinking it would be clean by now, we finally gave up and just went to the big pool, which was always clean.

 

[CarolA]

This is why I won't stay there again... Disney wants to charge 5 Star Resort prices, but not give 5 star service or accomodations! (They also lost a star with one of the rating services just because of this)

If you want luxury in Orlando, try the Ritz!

 

[scanne]

BTW no towel animals but I thought maybe out of the 5 days we were there I would get something, but alas no......

OK, not to start a riot, but why do people care so much about towel animals? I mean, they're cute and all, but in all honesty, that is not what mousekeeping is paid to do. The only time I ever got a towel animal was on my Carnival Cruise in 1999.

Don't flame me, just pointing out a truth.

BTW, we've stayed at the GF twice, and I paid rack rate one time - for our honeymoon, lagoon view room, over $400 a night. The second time we stayed there we got an AP rate of $199. I would never pay rack rate to stay there again, but I would stay there again. Maybe its slated to be rehabbed soon?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Sorry to hear of your experience.

We have stayed at GF in excess of 40 times and never had a bad experience. Our service, accommodations, food, CMs have always been excellent.

I agree with other posters....please contact the GM at the GF and let them know of your experiences.

We also have had in excess of 50 great trips to the POLY which were alway wonderful!

 

[Race4fun]

Who would I contact or where would I call? Does anyone know?

 

[arazamataz]

We have not been to GF in years. We stay at BC & YC and always have great rooms. This trip we are staying at Universal Portifino . Great rooms and staff treat you like gold!

 

[Cinderella37]

The last time we stayed (in 2003) we had the same experience with horrible housekeeping, etc. You can contact someone, but we talked to three different people at the resort while we were there and got nowhere, so good luck. I basically told them to give me a vacuum and I'd run it since the maid obviously wasn't. We spent 11 days in a dirty room and they claimed they couldn't move us because the resort was too busy - truthfully I don't think it would've mattered. The housekeeping and upkeep at the GF has been faltering for a while now. Check out how many lights are burned out on the main building (or least were in 2003 and 2004).

I sent a letter to the GM (I don't know if it's still the same individual - it was Kent Mitchell I believe) but never received a response from him. I got a call from Guest Services though, so I'd go that route. I think complaints are handled through the Guest Services department now. There's an email link on the WDW web site. It's sad the GF has gotten to this point - it used to be fabulous.

 

[Joann]

Just to comment on the housekeeping not being payed for the towel animals.... not sure if its the same all levels of resorts in disney but the towel animals at POP are premade, I seen a lady catch up with housekeeper and said something to her and she reached in her cart and pulled out a bag full of them and let her pick 2 to take, so it is no time off their back in making them because they don't make them for you they have a bag of them, no clue why only some get them and others don't less it is because some are better tippers then others

 

[Sammie]

I love the Grand, but will totally agree the rooms are due for a rehab. Carpets in the hallways are dirty and worn and rooms are just as mentioned. Worn.

As to the towel animals, have to agree with the previous poster, it's not something I would even mention. If you get them, fine, if not, you did not pay for them.

The other complaints are legitimate and I would definitely go to the website, click on Contact Us and send a complaint.