The All New Grand Floridian FAQ - MAY 2009

[roomthreeseventeen]

admittedly, I always though you Disney nuts were... well... NUTS.
Then I had kids and realized how amazing Disney World is for children and how family-friendly it is for parents.
So, seriously, thanks to all you Nuts for all this valuable information.
This place is an unbelievable resource and with our upcoming Disney trip, I've been reading/lurking for weeks now.

Here's my question:
We are visiting the GF in late Feb.
We are not booked for any of these Club Level/Concierge/Royal Palm/etc services.
We're just a regular family with a Garden View room.

So am I missing out on the real fun of the GF? Should I be trying to do something more and upgrade to RP/Club/Concierge/Main Building/etc?

You might want to call WDW and ask about a pin code... when I did that, they offered to upgrade me to CL for free.

 

[UrbanHippie]

admittedly, I always though you Disney nuts were... well... NUTS.

Here's my question:
We are visiting the GF in late Feb.
We are not booked for any of these Club Level/Concierge/Royal Palm/etc services.
We're just a regular family with a Garden View room.

So am I missing out on the real fun of the GF? Should I be trying to do something more and upgrade to RP/Club/Concierge/Main Building/etc?

Hi GoofDad -

As far as I can tell from my research, the rooms in Sugar Loaf are no better than "regular" rooms (and in fact, are in some ways worse in terms of view b/c the building seems sandwiched bt the pool and another building). Boca Chica seems to have the best view locations. All the rooms (except deluxe & tower) are the same size, regardless of whether you are club/concierge or not.

There are only two real differences, as far as I was able to tell:
1. You get to use a concierge to help you make reservations, plan your itinerary. As you can do this yourself just as easily from your computer on the Disney website (they all use the same system, from what I was told by the concierge), this is not a good reason in my opinion to shell out extra $$

2. There is a lounge, open from morning till late in the evening, that offers free continental breakfast, nibbles during the day, snacks (hot and cold) in the evening, and a bunch of desserts after 8pm. There are free beverages - water, milk, juice, beer, wine - available.

We are paying about $75 extra per night for the Sugar Loaf level. I ran the numbers and figured it was worth it for our family of 4: free breakfast, snacks, drinks, a beer at night, etc.

I think at rack rates SL is $175 more per night; for me, that doesn't even come close.

Other misc. benefits of SL: easier check-in, the feeling that you are special.

I think Disney has been fabulously smart by making its least attractive (location-wise for views) building an "elite" one.

As for RPC: it offers the additional benefit of being in the Main Building. You can only get a room in the main building if you go RPC; otherwise you are in one of the other three buildings. The RPC lounge is rumored to be much nicer than the SL, but I also heard that the food is exactly the same in both.

I speak here with no actual personal experience, only many long evenings on the computer! So please pipe up and correct me if I have mangled something.

 

[mmmears]

Hi GoofDad -

As for RPC: it offers the additional benefit of being in the Main Building. You can only get a room in the main building if you go RPC; otherwise you are in one of the other three buildings. The RPC lounge is rumored to be much nicer than the SL, but I also heard that the food is exactly the same in both.

I speak here with no actual personal experience, only many long evenings on the computer! So please pipe up and correct me if I have mangled something.

You're correct. The lounge in RPC is much larger and it overlooks the main lobby, so it has a different "feel" to it, with live music drifting up during the evening hours. Food service is identical. You use the same IPO office. And standard rooms are the same no matter what building you are in.

SL is a convenient location for the boat dock, the courtyard pool, and the quick-service place, not to mention it's the closest to the main lobby.

 

[Goofdad]

Thanks for the info.
We've already made all of our dinner reservations, so being a "regular" GF guest should be just fine for us.

it's insane how much I've got the Disney bug right now.
Seeing all these pictures of the GF is only making it worse.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for the info.
We've already made all of our dinner reservations, so being a "regular" GF guest should be just fine for us.

it's insane how much I've got the Disney bug right now.
Seeing all these pictures of the GF is only making it worse.

Trust me, there are plenty of us here who totally understand! Since you have all your reservations made, you really would miss out on a good part of the "extras." I think you'll like your "regular" room just fine. We've stayed LV, RPC, and SL and honestly enjoyed the GF each time!

 

[minniesota]

Trust me, there are plenty of us here who totally understand! Since you have all your reservations made, you really would miss out on a good part of the "extras." I think you'll like your "regular" room just fine. We've stayed LV, RPC, and SL and honestly enjoyed the GF each time!

I totally agree. We have stayed in "regular" rooms - GV, LV, TPV - 7 or 8 times and have always loved our experiences at the GF. Once upon a time, I could not have imagined turning over my reservation-making to someone else but we brought a big family group for my parents' 75th birthdays and decided to splurge on a 2-BR suite. IPO was fantastic! They made all our dining reservations and I felt like we had the best table at each restaurant; they got us an Illuminations and Wishes cruise; they arranged for my dad to be "Veteran of the Day" at the flag lowering ceremony and treated my parents like royalty. I guess you could say they really earned our business!
Eight of us had breakfast every morning in the lounge and five of us enjoyed wine, beer and cordials every night so it seemed to pay off for us.

Since then, my DH (not a big Disney guy) won't stay anywhere else and he likes the RPC. That said, I have never paid rack rate so it's not quite as expensive as it could be. When I go with the kids, I am happy as a clam in any room!

Bottom line: any room at the GF is a treat!

 

[BCV23]

With regard to TPV rooms in RPC, aren't there nine on the 5th floor, too? I've never been on the 5th floor so have no clue.

I wonder how those on the 2nd floor are categorized now? Are they still honeymoon rooms?

k&a&c'smom, sorry you had a change in plans but how fun to get an itch to stay at the GF again.

theDISfamily, thanks for sharing.

leane, glad you've got everything settled. The GF will still be there for you another trip.

 

[minniesota]

With regard to TPV rooms in RPC, aren't there nine on the 5th floor, too? I've never been on the 5th floor so have no clue.

I wonder how those on the 2nd floor are categorized now? Are they still honeymoon rooms?

k&a&c'smom, sorry you had a change in plans but how fun to get an itch to stay at the GF again.

theDISfamily, thanks for sharing.

leane, glad you've got everything settled. The GF will still be there for you another trip.

Actually, the 5th floor in RPC holds the Presidential (Grand) Suite with its 5 balconies and the Vice Presidential (Victorian) Suite which is a 1 BR suite in one of the turrets with 4 balconies and panoramic views. Several 1 and 2 bedroom suites make up the rest of the rooms on the 5th floor.

The rooms on the 2nd floor are booked as Deluxe King RPC. You can request a turret suite if you book this category. I would love to try one of those rooms sometime!

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Sorry if this has been asked previously, I have found different answers on several sites:

In the gv rooms is there a "mini bar" or an empty small refrigerator for our use? Last time we where there, it was a mini bar, but didn't know if it changed since all the other resorts seem to offer the mini fridge.

Thanks so much, mky

 

[mmmears]

Sorry if this has been asked previously, I have found different answers on several sites:

In the gv rooms is there a "mini bar" or an empty small refrigerator for our use? Last time we where there, it was a mini bar, but didn't know if it changed since all the other resorts seem to offer the mini fridge.

Thanks so much, mky

All the rooms now have an empty mini-frig now!

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Thanks again, mmmears! Speedy answer. And the response I wanted.

mky

 

[mmmears]

Thanks again, mmmears! Speedy answer. And the response I wanted.

mky

You're welcome and glad I could help. I also prefer the empty refrigerators.

 

[BCV23]

Actually, the 5th floor in RPC holds the Presidential (Grand) Suite with its 5 balconies and the Vice Presidential (Victorian) Suite which is a 1 BR suite in one of the turrets with 4 balconies and panoramic views. Several 1 and 2 bedroom suites make up the rest of the rooms on the 5th floor.

The rooms on the 2nd floor are booked as Deluxe King RPC. You can request a turret suite if you book this category. I would love to try one of those rooms sometime!

Thanks, minniesota. I knew there were some suites on the 5th but not that all were suites. Do you specifically know what is above 01-09?

Hi, mkymouse4ever. Good to see you.

 

[minniesota]

Thanks, minniesota. I knew there were some suites on the 5th but not that all were suites. Do you specifically know what is above 01-09?

Hi, mkymouse4ever. Good to see you.

The roofline on that side of the main building actually allows for only 4 floors so there is nothing above 4401 - 4409 - except the red roof!

 

[BCV23]

The roofline on that side of the main building actually allows for only 4 floors so there is nothing above 4401 - 4409 - except the red roof!

Thanks, again. That's so funny. I was picturing dormers up there!

 

[leane]

So after 6 attempts to contact the IPO at the Poly I decided for $900 a night... I shouldn't be trying this hard to chase them down. So what did I do?? I got back on the phone looking for a CL room. I am back at the GF.

They had standard club level and standard club level TPV.
I asked if the TPV was in the main building and she said no there are no tpv in RPC. It didn't say TPV outer lodge .. I am confused where is the TPV room CL? an outer lodge? Not SL right?

We are right now in a Standard Room RPC. I was lucky enough to get 2 more nights in BCV ... there hasn't been availability for 2 months forme to add days, this morning bam... all open

 

[minniesota]

So after 6 attempts to contact the IPO at the Poly I decided for $900 a night... I shouldn't be trying this hard to chase them down. So what did I do?? I got back on the phone looking for a CL room. I am back at the GF.

They had standard club level and standard club level TPV.
I asked if the TPV was in the main building and she said no there are no tpv in RPC. It didn't say TPV outer lodge .. I am confused where is the TPV room CL? an outer lodge? Not SL right?

We are right now in a Standard Room RPC. I was lucky enough to get 2 more nights in BCV ... there hasn't been availability for 2 months forme to add days, this morning bam... all open

Another clueless CM... Standard Club Level TPV is in the main building. You would be on the 3rd or 4th floor with a castle view. Standard Room RPC would have courtyard/pool view or beach/Poly view. The Gf only recently added the TPV category to its RPC standard room category (maybe Oct. or Nov.) Certainly, the CMs should have gotten the message by now!

 

[bethclayton]

i'm getting so confused reading some recent posts.

ok, long story short... when we first booked almost a year ago, we booked 2 deluxe queen RPC rooms. then, the buy 4 get 3 free promo came up and our travel agent was unable to get us the deal so we went directly through disney and canceled the TA ressie. disney (WDTC, i guess) did not have any deluxe rooms available, so we went with two standard RPC rooms. i was fine with this because i knew the deluxe rooms did not have any castle views and i figured that with standard we'd have a shot at a castle view. because i wanted to have at least a shot at the castle view, i never tried to get the deluxe rooms back.

now i am seeing that TPV is bookable in RPC? so this means we will have no chance of a castle view at all with our standard view (which i realize was only a chance, but a chance is still a chance, right?)??? if so, i admit i'm a bit upset; if i knew we'd have zero chance, i would have just kept trying to get our deluxe rooms back, even if it meant calling all the time.

please help me understand if this is correct!

if so, what is the window of time to make changes without a penalty? if we won't incur a fee (we are 37 days out), then i guess we will try to see if we can get TPV or the deluxe rooms back. i'm sure we'll be SOL, because RPC for that promo sold out the day it was released, but i guess it would be worth a shot.

 

[mmmears]

I think that you are correct -- unless you get lucky and get upgraded to a TPV.

I doubt there would be any penalty (except the change in $$$) if you want to upgrade your reservation.

Hope this helps!

 

[leane]

Another clueless CM... Standard Club Level TPV is in the main building. You would be on the 3rd or 4th floor with a castle view. Standard Room RPC would have courtyard/pool view or beach/Poly view. The Gf only recently added the TPV category to its RPC standard room category (maybe Oct. or Nov.) Certainly, the CMs should have gotten the message by now!

ggggrrr I knew I was right! And when I called back it was gone, of course.

I have (in my 1 million calls) at times given up hung up and tried a new one as suggested. It worked a couple of times.

It is pretty sad when the customer knows more than the employee ... i bet some DIS'ers would rock as CM's

I want to become a travel agent now, specialize in Disney