Switching to GF?

[idealady]

We love the Polynesian, but my little princess was hurt there during our last visit and has been talking about the accident alot recently. We're thinking about switching to the GF. Will we be disappointed? Last visit to the GF we got the feeling that our children were not welcome, but its been a while and they've got the new "kid friendly" pool. If we do go for the GF, which rooms are the best?

 

[Scoootch]

No...you will definetly not be dissapointed. The GF is just as kid friendly as everywhere else on WDW property! The pool is comparable and IMO more enjoyable as it doesn't seem to get nearly as crowded IMHO. I don't think there are any bad rooms at GF so enjoy!

 

[MrsTink04]

I agree w/ scoootch. We have stayed at the GF twice. It is my absolute FAVORITE resort. While there, I noticed a lot of children and they all seemed to be very welcomed and enjoying themselves. I don't know why the GF has the reputation of being stuffy or non-kid friendly. Yes, it is a beautiful resort, but IT IS WDW!!! I don't think you would be disappointed with any of the rooms, though we loved our Lagoon/Castle view in the Sago Cay building.

 

[TammiMcMan]

It's Disney, kids are welcome!!!! We've been bringing our children there since they were babies and have never once felt out of place. My youngest DD calls it her princess hotel and is not happy when we stay somewhere else. In fact, it's not vacation until she's sitting out on the balcony eating her grilled cheese from room service. During the week, they have daily activities planned for the kids at the courtyard pool and they had a story time and craft night for children ages 4-7 at the M. Mouse Mercantile store in the main building. There's also the Grand Adventures for Kids, which is an additional charge, but they can have tea with Alice, go on a Pirates Cruise or make a fabulous treat with a GF chef. For dining, you have Gasparilla's Grille which has surprisingly good counter service at a fair price and it's open 24 hours. They also have an arcade in there. Definitely a hotel that caters to children and I wouldn't hesitate to let the theme of the resort scare you off.

For rooms, I like the Sago Cay building for it's quiet. You can pay for a garden room, but request marina view. Very close to the main building, transportation and pools. Another good choice is to ask for a corner room. These are slightly bigger than the standards and include 2 balconies. I would just stay away from dormer rooms as they have the smaller, enclosed balcony due to the pitch of the roof. This site has a layout of the rooms, http://www.the-grahams.net/gf/rooms.html

Tammi

 

[DisneyMomx7]

It's Disney, kids are welcome!!!! We've been bringing our children there since they were babies and have never once felt out of place. My youngest DD calls it her princess hotel and is not happy when we stay somewhere else. In fact, it's not vacation until she's sitting out on the balcony eating her grilled cheese from room service. During the week, they have daily activities planned for the kids at the courtyard pool and they had a story time and craft night for children ages 4-7 at the M. Mouse Mercantile store in the main building. There's also the Grand Adventures for Kids, which is an additional charge, but they can have tea with Alice, go on a Pirates Cruise or make a fabulous treat with a GF chef. For dining, you have Gasparilla's Grille which has surprisingly good counter service at a fair price and it's open 24 hours. They also have an arcade in there. Definitely a hotel that caters to children and I wouldn't hesitate to let the theme of the resort scare you off.

For rooms, I like the Sago Cay building for it's quiet. You can pay for a garden room, but request marina view. Very close to the main building, transportation and pools. Another good choice is to ask for a corner room. These are slightly bigger than the standards and include 2 balconies. I would just stay away from dormer rooms as they have the smaller, enclosed balcony due to the pitch of the roof. This site has a layout of the rooms, http://www.the-grahams.net/gf/rooms.html

Tammi

I agree with EVERYTHING that Tammi said. I wish GF didn't always get the reputation of being "too stuffy" for kids. If you go to the pool on any given day you'll see tons of kids having a ball. My three don't want to stay anywhere else at Disney.

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

We love the Poly AND the GF. We have stayed at both too many times to count and kids are welcomed at both without exception. In fact, we will be at the GF July 1-8 this year!

 

[mirlow]

We stayed at the GF for 6 nights a couple of weeks ago. I never once thought it wasn't kid friendly. My kids did the Adventures in Cooking. Two of them went golfing with their dad at Oak Trail. The other one had tea with Alice. We played at the beach every day. My kids did like the Polynesian pool better. It seemed like the same pool to me. My kids also liked going to the quiet pool to swim. We did the character dinner and breakfast while we were there.
We had a GV room and had a ground floor room in Big Pine Key. It had a very nice view of the quite pool. There was a lot of foot trafic, but I really liked the location by both pools.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

WDW Lifelong Fan - Perhaps will see you there. We'll be at the GF July 1-13. Staying in a lagoon view room (hopefully Sago Cay) for the first time so we won't have to fight the crowds watching the fireworks. We have two little girls (7 and 6) and ds (turning 5).

 

[rcraw45425]

The lagoon rooms in Boca Chica are great too. We had a super view of SPace Mountain, the train Station and Cindy's castle from our balcony