Tell me your great stories about the GF

[PghDisney]

*smiles seeing party of 5* . . .so you ended up choosing GF as well, I remember you struggling with the decision between GF and Poly concierge as well, and worrying about all the threads both pro and con at the time. I wish you a wonderful trip (as well as wishing Me one) . . .I will keep my fingers crossed for us both.

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

Thank you all for your wonderful responses. I, too was getting a little worried that things had really changed at the GF, but from the sounds of these posts, our trip will be just as magical as I'm hoping it will be!

PGHdisney- I'll make sure and give you a trip report of the SL when I get back from my August vacation!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We just got home from seven nights in Sugar Loaf. It was very special and we really enjoyed our stay there. The CMs were friendly and helpful. The snacks were tasty (the oatmeal raisin cookies were exceptional) and there was nothing like a cold glass of lemonade after returning from the parks each afternoon. The quiet pool was right outside our door and very convenient. We didn't use the other pool because it was extremely crowded. Our room was perfect (we were on the second floor on the end near the stairs). Only saw a few people in PJs at breakfast (reading the newspaper in their robes and PJs while drinking coffee or juice).

The only thing I missed? My DVC washer and dryer. I came home with three suitcases full of wet, dirty clothes. It rained every day about 3PM or 8PM.

If we got another FTP deal, we'd do it again.

 

[BowlingAriel]

Ok, I might have a new favorite hotel now.

We just got back from GF RPC. What a beautiful resort.

EVERYONE was soo friendly, smiles and hello's or good mornings.

The towels were plush - we were in RPC room 4504 looking straight out the Marina to Cinderella's castle. We watched the fireworks twice.
Our room had 2 queens and a day bed. Plenty of space. The grounds were so pretty.

The quiet pool was very big. The girls (15 & 12) were not impressed with the slide pool. Said the slide was "lame" and the pool too small. SO they went back to the other pool.

If you are staying more than a couple days I HIGHLY reccommend the Marina pkg. Its $199 plus tax. Unlimited use of the Mice, Pontoons, Hobie Cat. The girls were in heaven. There is no time limit. You can be out for 10 minutes or 75. We went all the way over to Wilderness Lodge / River Country. Some people are crazy drivers but the marine patrol are right there.

There were 2 things I was disappointed with
(1) the the RPC did not have water bottles available to take to the park with you, only those Liter glass bottles.
(2) Monorail wait time was forever it seemed like. I don't remember ever having to wait that long before.

Have a Magical time to those going soon, and to those that have a wait - its worth it.

I am looking at our school calendar now to see when we have time off so we can book the GF again.

Michelle

 

[Deb & Bill]

I have to agree with the towels. I have never seen a hotel towel quite that big or quite that fluffy. When I wrapped it around my head after washing my hair, it was hard to keep my head upright; it was so heavy.

As for the monorail, we only had to wait once. They seemed to magically appear when we got up to the platform. We got to ride up front at least seven or eight times in one week.

 

[BowlingAriel]

DEB & BILL,

I see that you stayed Sugar Loaf which is the other Concierge. We were at RPC, we were wondering if the towels were like that in the whole hotel or just the concierge?

The other thing that impressed me, was each morning there was a basket of linens out side each room's door. There were not any of those annoying Maid carts you have manuever around.

Oh yeah and the hamper. WHOA!! Like is said, I think we might have a new favortie hotel.

 

[boomer626]

Deb & Bill,

Glad to hear you had at great stay at SL. Wondering if you could answer a couple questions. We're going in September.

1 - How late was the lounge open/offerings available in the evenings?

2 - Sounds like doing laundry was a problem. Were the machines not available/working or just inconvenient?

Thanks!

 

[beatlebailey]

on my first trip to WDW i was lucky to be able to stay castle view at the GF. i fell in love with the hotel the first time i walked into that wonderful lobby with the birds and piano playing wish apon a star since then its not a trip to disney without at least a stop at the GF. i was there two weeks ago with my aunt kosmo who posts here and i cant wait to go back in sep. the down side to the GF is once you stay there you always want to go back. if for nothing else but to listen to the piano.

 

[phyllis1966]

I agree that the only bad thing about the GF, IMHO, is that I never want to go anywhere else now. But there are other lovely resorts, I tell myself. But you don't know what other treasures you may find in these other resorts, I tell myself. Well, I'm still pretty new at this whole Disney thing, so I've got lots of time to try to convince myself to try staying somewhere else !

 

[Eeyore18]

This is a great thread! We are staying at the GF for the first time in two weeks. Reading all the posts has me very excited! We stayed at the Poly two years ago, and thought we would try another hotel on the monorail. We plan on enjoying the hotel and the pool this time. We have a PS for the 1900 Park Faire with Cinderella the first night. How is the buffet and the characters there? Does anyone know how much the refillable mugs are? Are they worth it? Thanks!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Boomer626: The snacks were available until about 7PM. Sometimes a bit later. I'm used to DVC accomodations where I have a washer and dryer of my own. I did not find the washer and dryer in Sugar Loaf. May have been there, may have not. We brought enough clothes to last the entire trip.

BowlingAriel: I loved the baskets, too. But thought they were mighty inconvenient for the staff. One afternoon, one of the housekeepers was taking a cart of them out of the building and they fell off. They just aren't flat to stack.

Eeyore18: We ate at 1900 PF for dinner and the buffet was pretty good, not as good as I remember in the past, though. It seemed a little skimpy compared to years ago. They used to have all the dessert items on a separate table near the line. Now it is part of the line. But the prime rib and bread pudding with vanilla sauce was still great. Cindy and crew completed the room in record time and did not hang around each table overly long. We had refillable mugs in the selfserve bar in the room. They were $10.95 each. You could also get them at Gasparilla's.

We loved the GF (I had promised my husband if he gave up smoking we could use the money we saved to stay there). And I would do it again. Just not use my DVC points.

And the spa treatments were great. Kelly was wonderful.

 

[DisneyChick02]

I've stayed at the Grand once, and will eventually go back when I have time and $$ to really do it up, but let me tell you about my experience b/c it was very, very special. I love telling this story and its one of my most special Disney memories- sorry its so long!

First off, this was about 9 years ago,and we went to celebrate my 14th birthday in May. Let me give you some background on my family at the time before I go further- my father was between jobs, I had lost 3 people close to me (my nana in January, a friend from elementary school and my friend's father 1 day apart in March) and also had 2 others close to my family diagnosed with very advanced cancer. On top of that, as is typical of middle school relationships, in the midst of this drama my best friend of 5 years decided I was no longer "cool enough" to hang out with, leaving me with few friends to get through this awful experience. It was a very, very bad time and although my parents did not know it I was very depressed as well. All that awful stuff aside, in April my parents won a contest at my school which gave us 15,000 to spend in travel however we'd like. My wish- Disney World for my birthday.

Despite several phone calls stating that the Grand was sold out, my mom finally got ahold of someone who said that the Grand did have availability, and we booked a concierge room. We got down to FL and having always stayed off property at MOWC (at the time they still had concierge so we were regulars on that floor) we were naively thinking all the rooms in the hotel were in the main buidling. Of course our room wasn't, and we weren't thrilled with the room even though it was nice (good lagoon view, but disappointing location overall- we really wanted to be in the tower). My dad called back up to the front desk and mentioned our displeasure, and without any problems they put us right up in the main building.

Concierge was marvelous, and everyone we ran into was just so friendly and so "disney." At the time my favorite restaurant at Disney was San Angel Inn in Mexico, so that's where we planned on going for my birthday dinner. My mom called them and asked for a birthday cake, which they said it would be taken care of, so she figured dinner would be all set. According to my mom, my dad and her called the concierge the day of my birthday (they happen to be in the parks and didn't want to lug him around) and asked them if they would please get a Winnie the Pooh (my favorite) in our room to surprise me when we got back as it was my birthday. Of course there was NO problem doing this, so my parents figured they'd have a pooh bear waiting for me when I got back that night after our birthday dinner.

Well, our birthday dinner was slightly disappointing- the food was okay, service okay, but no cake ever materialized. Of course I tried to hide my disappointment b/c I know Disney was "The" birthday present for me, but my parents were very upset b/c like any parent given everything we had gone through they wanted the birthday to be perfect, they had called and arranged it, everything- and no cake or happy birthday wishes were ever mentioned. So I told my parents it was no big deal and we went back to the hotel, but I was upset- it was just another thing that didn't go right in a bad year.

When we got back I opened the door to our room and just stared. Then I started getting all excited- my parents had no clue why until they got to the door- when we got into the room there was the pooh bear my parents had requested sitting on one of our chairs- along with a birthday cake, a dozen mickey mouse balloons, a HUGE signed birthday card from Minnie Mouse (which I still have), and a note from our room hostess wishing me a happy birthday. I figured my parents had planned all this- they said all they did was ask for the pooh bear, and they had no idea the Grand would do anything else. My mother was practically in tears when she saw everything, and I was in tears the day we left.

While since then I've stayed at every deluxe at Disney aside from the AKL, my experience at the Grand is still my favorite story to tell about the Disney magic and totally "saving" an otherwise horrendous year for me. I've had awesome times at Disney since then, but this epitomizes "Disney" in my mind.

 

[packy]

On our first trip to Disney in 1996, we went to 1900 Park Fare
for a character dinner. Mickey and Minnie at the time. About halfway through dinner, Mickey came by our table. I mentioned that our youngest DS (about 1 month shy of three) wasn't eating his dinner. Next thing I know, Mickey has picked up a fork and begins to feed him. Mickey stayed for about five minutes feeding him a balanced dinner a fork full at a time. Watching Mickey feed him was like watching a baby bird with it's mouth wide open waiting for the mother to stuff in a worm. This was truly a magical Disney moment at the GF and one I will never forget.