The All New Grand Floridian FAQ - MAY 2009

[heatherlynn444]

Just got back from the Grand Floridian RPC CL. It was a wonderful trip! Everything was perfect there. The check-in was a breeze - they met our ME bus. We had 2 rooms - one under my sister's name and one under mine. Hers was ready at 11 Am so we checked-in in her room.
I added park hopper to our tickets at that time with no problem. Later they called my cell when my room was ready and all we did was enter it when we arrived back from Epcot.
The food was great and the construction did not interfere at all. Tile work is being done but done unobtrusively I feel. The music is wonderful at night. Everything is so clean also - compared to the Hard Rock Hotel where we stayed for 3 days after The Grand Floridian ( yes this was a huge mistake because nothing can compare with the GFCL). My kids kept saying they wanted to go back to the GF.
We also met with 2 disers at Mizners!! Baker375 and Brunette8706.
Had a great time!

glad you had a good trip! we have said many times if we ever do a split stay we have to do the GF last because nothing compares and would be like downgrading lol!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Royal Palm Club, Magic Kingdom view:

 

[BlueSkies]

Donald What beautiful pics...did you d a split stay BLT/GF??

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Donald What beautiful pics...did you d a split stay BLT/GF??

Yep, we stayed at BLT (MK view) for a night and then moved to GF RPC. We were almost sad to leave BLT, but GF exceeded our expectations yet again.

We've always loved Royal Palm Club, and this MK view is absolutely perfect (we don't even miss the BLT view at all). The CM's here are fabulous as always, and we already can't wait to return to GF (we haven't even left yet - we have another week to go)!

The drilling in the lobby has been pretty loud, but it's not going to spoil anything for us. It's usually done by the evening, so we can enjoy the band and pianist. And of course, there's all the noises we can hear from our room...relaxing music, boats, the MK train whistle, EWP at night, we can even hear the music from SpectroMagic and Wishes! The one noise that's missing is the Haunted Mansion wolf howl, and that's been gone for a few years - I wonder why it stopped?

We liked BLT a lot, but nothing can ever top GF. That's why we won't buy DVC unless they add it to GF (or maybe Poly).

 

[Scott MC]

Brunette8706...
Did you pay for your upgrade or was pixie dust sprinkled?

You hate to set up false expectations, but it sounds like people are getting upgraded left and right!

 

[billnang]

Thanks for all your concerns about my trip being turned upside down...

They did offer me a awesome upgrade to a 1 bedroom suite... and we did accept it... but after thinking it through alittle more, I called back and declined it and just took our money back... The woman who was helpng me was very helpful..
So we are going back to the SL building.. I am still a bit sad we will not be in the Main building as those view were getting set in my head!!! LOL

So everything happens for a reason in my book , and that money we got back is going towards passes to sea world and extra dining and surprises we have planned and possibly a weekend trip to Maine after our trip to Disney...

So, we are happy to say we will be at SL in 2 weeks!!!!

LOVE the pictures and all the kind thoughts here and PM'd to me!!!

This trip should still be as awesome for my DH and children as I had planned....

I ordered a custom made dress and some costumes.. and they arrived yesterday and my little girl was so excited and the outfits are amazing and I hope we have some pixie dust sprinkled our way too...

Anyone going in 2 weeks.. see you there!!!

Angela

 

[mmmears]

Angela -- sounds like you're making the best of things! We have stayed in SL and in RPC, one time each, and I can honestly say that they are both very nice. SL is in some ways even more conveniently located, since it's closer to the boat dock and the pools. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

DonaldDoleWhip -- thanks for the photos! Looks like you have a room right about where ours was -- what a lovely view -- enjoy it! And your photos are WAY better than mine.

 

[BlueSkies]

Doanld Enjoy the rest of your trip! And thanks for posting those beautiful pics! I am a CR fan and would like to stay in BLT sometime too...but I agree there is nothing like the GF!!!


Angela I am sure you will love staying in SL...and it sounds like you have your extra funds ear marked for good use!!! I bet the next two weeks will fly by!!

HI mmmears!!!

 

[Tam1067]

Update here.

We were at the beach pool today. They were using a jackhammer near the monorail station, actually between the monorail and the luggage house. It was audible but not distracting as I was able to fall asleep through it .

Also the fact that they're working on Sunday shows Disney is doing it's best to move quickly.

And no one in my family commented so it really will not ruin your trip.

 

[scanne]

Hi!!!

I have some questions and I know there are so many of you that are able to answer them. Thanks in advance!!!

OK, here goes:

1. I booked RPC on the Disney website. There was no where (that I could find) to enter my request of a MK view. Should I email IPO or call WDW Travel Co. to add the request?

2. Are the food offerings out all day long or only at certain times? For example, if we grab some stuff for breakfast then go to a park and return around 1pm, will there be snacks or anything, or does the food come out at set times - 7am - 9am; 10am - 12pm; 1pm - 3pm, etc.

3. Would you add any of the Dining plans to a RPC stay? I wouldn't add DXDDP - I think that would be WAY over the top with food. But how about the regular plan? Can I also have your reasons as to why/why not?

4. Will I be able to arrange with IPO some "magical" surprises for my DH? This trip will be our 10 year anniversary. I know I can call the GF bakery for cakes/strawberries/slipper desserts and I can order items from the Disney Florist, but I was wondering if I send items to IPO ahead of time, if they're able to set things up in the room after we check in.

Even though this trip is 10+ months away, I am getting SOOOOO excited. I'm trying to figure out how to add a couple of nights as well - hoping for a pin code or a special deal from Disney (or a winning lottery ticket - ).

Thanks for all of your help! I love this thread!!!

 

[jkstewart1800]

Just wanted to check back in with everyone. It sounded like the drinks at Mitzners was awesome... I can't beleive I fell asleep

I wanted to let you all know that we TOO got an MK view upgrade. We ended up in Boca Chica 5th floor with an MK view (pixie dust).

We had many other pixie dust moments too. At one point we used our fastpasses to go on Pooh and the CM told us just to put them back in our pocket so we could go again!!!

It really was a great vacation! I wrote a mini trip report on my blog http://juliakstewartsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/long-and-short-of-it.html

I am sure I left out a whole bunch of things... oh well, I can always go back and edit!

I enjoy hearing everyone's updates... except for the jack hammer part

 

[simplymama]

Hi!!!

I have some questions and I know there are so many of you that are able to answer them. Thanks in advance!!!

OK, here goes:

1. I booked RPC on the Disney website. There was no where (that I could find) to enter my request of a MK view. Should I email IPO or call WDW Travel Co. to add the request?

2. Are the food offerings out all day long or only at certain times? For example, if we grab some stuff for breakfast then go to a park and return around 1pm, will there be snacks or anything, or does the food come out at set times - 7am - 9am; 10am - 12pm; 1pm - 3pm, etc.

3. Would you add any of the Dining plans to a RPC stay? I wouldn't add DXDDP - I think that would be WAY over the top with food. But how about the regular plan? Can I also have your reasons as to why/why not?

4. Will I be able to arrange with IPO some "magical" surprises for my DH? This trip will be our 10 year anniversary. I know I can call the GF bakery for cakes/strawberries/slipper desserts and I can order items from the Disney Florist, but I was wondering if I send items to IPO ahead of time, if they're able to set things up in the room after we check in.

Even though this trip is 10+ months away, I am getting SOOOOO excited. I'm trying to figure out how to add a couple of nights as well - hoping for a pin code or a special deal from Disney (or a winning lottery ticket - ).

Thanks for all of your help! I love this thread!!!

1) I'd probably email IPO and ask them to place the room request for you.

2)While there are set times for the food offerings, there isn't much time where there is nothing out. Usually always some cookies at minimum. I'm not sure of the exact times, but there is breakfast, than a lunch snack, then tea time, then dinner offerings, then desserts and cordials. There are always drinks etc. available.

3)While there are plenty of food offerings, unless you are a light eater, you will still need to probably buy some meals. We enjoy having dinner out each night. You'd have to do the math of the places you like to eat and see if you will make out ahead with the meal plan. We did do the Deluxe Dining plan this past trip in June, but that's because we went all out for our children, with a bunch of character meals and a few of them were two credits each. It was a bit much with the club level offerings. It was tough to get dessrt down right after a big meal, but we still made out ahead dollar wise with the plan, and I can assure you we were never hungry.

This time we aren't doing the dining plan, and are just going to pay out of pocket for our dinners and see how that goes as we are only doing one character meal, and the rest our just nice sit down type dinner places.

4) I'm not certain about your last request. I would think they would try to help you out with it though. Certainly can't hurt to ask.

Have fun counting down.

 

[Carol'sDisney]

When you e-mail IPO with a request, do they respond via e-mail fairly quickly or at all? We switched to SL CL just a couple of weeks ago (trip is 9/24-10/1) and I have spoken to IPO twice. I e-mailed them with a request for a copy of our itinerary (along with room location request and child's bathrobe request), but I haven't heard back from them yet. Should I be worried?

 

[brunette8706]

Brunette8706...
Did you pay for your upgrade or was pixie dust sprinkled?

You hate to set up false expectations, but it sounds like people are getting upgraded left and right!

*********

Hi! Oh I guess it was a little bit of pixie dust. lol! We all had a great tiime!

 

[mmmears]

When you e-mail IPO with a request, do they respond via e-mail fairly quickly or at all? We switched to SL CL just a couple of weeks ago (trip is 9/24-10/1) and I have spoken to IPO twice. I e-mailed them with a request for a copy of our itinerary (along with room location request and child's bathrobe request), but I haven't heard back from them yet. Should I be worried?

If you send an email, you usually get an instant automated response that says you should hear from them within 24 hours. If you didn't get this auto reply, your email may not have gone through. Sometimes I just call them instead of emailing them, since that way you know that you are getting through to them.

 

[bgreen82]

one day ill stay there

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Did anybody find out what happened to Brooke - I was thoroughly enjoying her trip report and then it vanished. I know people on this thread expressed concern and wondered if anybody had heard anything - hope she is OK.

Is anybody able to tell me what items they have for children in the Resort Gift Shop that have the GF logo on?

 

[jackglick]

Well we got the call Saturday night to move from RPC. We were so disappointed. We at first moved to a different hotel and then moved back to Sugar Loaf. We know it won't be the wow that we anticipated but we will still be staying at the GF. We have a cabana booked for 1/2 day of our stay. We are hoping that the construction won't take away from relaxing by the pool.

billnang - I have a questions. Were you told you couldn't call the Wdisney number and can only call the 407-248-1727 number? We called the Wdisney number and were told they were not permitted to discuss our reservations any longer.

 

[MA pigletfan]

HI All


Our honeymoon is coming up quick..and I hadn't been on this thread in a while..I do apologize in advance if this was answered already pages ago..but does anyone know when the rehab should be done?? We arrive at the GF RPC on October 23rd..I would be so sad to not be able to stay there on our honeymoon.
thanks for the info...
Sidenote: we have stayed at sugarloaf before, and LOVED it..this was just a special treat for our honeymoon that we have had in the works since March

 

[Figment1990]

Actually, about 46 hours to be precise! I'm trying very hard to stay focused here at work but I'm of the walls!!!!

I'm finding the recently posted pictures very encouraging. Now with my luck, I will get my Big Pine Key courtyard view room request and end up staring at the "lift" in front of Boca Chica!

Anyhow, I feel really bad that they are moving so many of you out of RPC. That must be so frustrating for you. I would love to stay in SL CL and you are welcome to transfer me your reservation! (sorry, I know it's not a laughing matter). I realize it's not the same, but I bet it will be wonderful and magical too. And again, I realize it's not the same, but if the Poly CL is available for your time and you really wanted RPC because of transportation convenience, the Poly is very convenient for traveling to MK AND Epcot... IMHO, it's the most convenient of them because of the tiki-torch walkways along the beach to the TTC....

On my way into work today, as I was driving past several road detours and road crews and buildings being worked on, I realized how numb I've become to this sort of thing. In fact, I was at the mall this weekend and barely noticed the storefronts that were boarded up with "coming soon' signs on it. And I've been to Disney and walked past "this space is being renovated for your future enjoyment" signs numerous times. In fact, we were at the Wilderness Lodge 2 years ago when they drained and worked on the pool. We were in a courtyard view room, overlooking the work and still didn't really notice it. In fact, we fell in love with the room location and request it every time now.

For those of us who aren't/weren't staying RPC, I hope our stays aren't impacted too much. From what it sounds like now, the only building that will have significant and loud work done will be Sago Cay and maybe they will end up closing that building during the time. Fortunately SC isn't in the middle of the resort either.... Also, I will post my experience later this week, when we get there to keep everyone up to date.

Good luck to everyone going soon, or there now. At least we will be in disney and not or