The All New Grand Floridian FAQ - MAY 2009

[billnang]

After the 26th, the outer buildings should be ok, and those from the main building will be rerouted to Sugar Loaf with a discount or to CL at a comparable resort such as the Polynesian.
In all honestly, I'd rather have the latter problem.
------------------------------------------------------------

While I see this as a "problem for all of us" Those of us who are getting uprouted from the Main building, aren't taking it very lightly...and I am not getting a discount ..just my money that I paid for the difference in price given back to me...

I upgraded for a reason...
This was supposed to be a "Magical Trip for our Family" a one we went all out for.... Last time able to stay here because of my size family and ages of my children.. unless I wanted 2 rooms.. not happening...

I feel aweful, my hopes and dreams of having this "last time hooray" for my family has fizzled...

I am gonna try to make the most of it.. and Enjoy my stay as it is "FAMILY TIME"

Angela



So to take a

 

[BrianD]

To those with stays coming up at the GF soon, you may want to try the Poly instead. There is no work going on there, except for a little painting on the cross beams on top of the Great Ceremonial House (barely noticable, and no impact to guests). We just got back from there and also we visited the GF to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare one night. Anyway, as has been reported, a good chunk of the second floor was closed off, including the birdcage elevator and those stairs. So everyone who can't or doesn't want to take the stairs is being routed to the concierge elevators. I will just say it made using those elevators quite insane. It took us 15 minutes to get from the second to the first floor. If I had been staying in the Main Building I would have been ticked. Another thing was, with the exception of the elevators and 1900 Park Fare, the lobby itself seemed to be dead. There just wasn't the typical Grand ambiance that is normally there.

Anyway, don't want to discourage folks, but you might want to consider moving resorts, and try the GF once all the work is done.

 

[Scott MC]

It's somewhat sad that so many people are being set up to be unhappy at Disney's "Flagship" resort.
As I've stated before...
1. I never, EVER thought I'd utter the phrase "I'm stuck at the Grand Floridian."
2. I understand that refurbs have to happen, but the GF seems to be going out of it's way to put the entire resort under construction at once. I'm sure their theory is similar to ripping the band-aid off quickly, but unfortunately, a small pocket of people (those traveling this year in July/Aug/Sept. are really being affected by this.

A lot of posters here who are there and are saying that everything is "fine," are staying RPC and really have no need to even look at the outer lodges. I'm not saying that they are not telling the truth, but if I were staying in RPC, I'd have no need to ever leave the main building and wouldn't care if they were painting Boca Chica black.

 

[toodycat]

1. Does anyone know where you can find an online map of GF to be able to figure out which outer buildings are closer to buildings being worked on?

2. For anyone who is currently there or just returned, did you notice if the construction stopped on weekends? DH is trying to estimate a possible rate of progress.

Thanks.

 

[cosmicrays]

I am so sorry to those of you who have to move. I hope you are getting what you want from Disney.

 

[haleofafamily]

Just wanted to say that we were planning on adding nights to our stay in Sept and were going to get 2 rms at GF. I was so excited because we received a really good AP rate.
Anyway after seeing all the pictures and hearing the reports I was really nervous that I would be one of the people that noticed the construction and be bothered by it - whether it was outside or inside.
So we changed resorts and now we are staying in a 2 bdrm villa at OKW which I know we love and paying almost half the cost. Now I am so relieved and looking forward to my trip again. The resort is a big deal to us and this was our best solution. The GF will be there in the future and hopefully we'll get there one day!

 

[Tink rules]

1. Does anyone know where you can find an online map of GF to be able to figure out which outer buildings are closer to buildings being worked on?

2. For anyone who is currently there or just returned, did you notice if the construction stopped on weekends? DH is trying to estimate a possible rate of progress.

Thanks.

http://www.allears.net/acc/grandfmap.jpg

 

[snowwhitenyc]

Toodycat -- here is a map of the GF: http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/grandflomap.htm

Hope this helps you get a sense of areas impacted by construction

For everyone else, I definitely feel badly that the construction is causing so much stress and frustration. I'm not sure that the construction would bother me, but I know that I am not in your shoes. Having recently come back from our dream trip to the GF, I can say that there is so much Disney magic and pixie dust gushing out of that resort, it would take A LOT of construction and destruction to hamper my enjoyment. We didn't deal with construction, but we were there at the end of May during the middle of an absolute monsoon. It poured - poured!!! - buckets almost every day we were there, almost non-stop for many days. We couldn't really get out and explore the resort for the first half of our trip, we just sprinted from building to building in wet shoes. We couldn't swim, there were no movies on the beach, we couldn't watch Wishes from Gaspies. And actually, if given the choice I would take construction over rain any day -- at least the construction doesn't follow you to the parks!! The weather was disappointing, but we didn't let that stop us from having an absolutely amazing vacation. I realize this isn't exactly the same situation, but I guess my point is, perfection is hard to achieve...life is what you make of it!

I also think that, from Disney's point of view, there aren't a lot of other options in terms of minimizing inconvenience of rehabs. If they let the place fall apart, you know people would let them hear it. And if they closed for a month, there would people furious that their trip is ruined because the GF is closed during their one and only time to visit.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Tam1067]

I am sitting in my room in Big Pine Key right now. There has been no inconvenience thus far. As I mentioned before there is a screen hiding some tile work in the main building. There was no tile cutting that I could hear. They were working today. The elevator there is closed but the staircase is open. I saw some scaffolding on a few sets of outside stairs in a few outer buildings but it was not obtrusive. My building has nothing going on that I've noticed. The only construction noise today was just below the monorail
platform. I heard it as we exited the monorail. We heard nothing from either pool. So far the resort is lovely just as I'd hoped.

 

[UK Princess]

I am sitting in my room in Big Pine Key right now. There has been no inconvenience thus far. ........ So far the resort is lovely just as I'd hoped.

Phew things like this really cheer me up. I sympathise with everyone here as ours truly will be the trip of a lifetime as it's our honeymoon and I am staying at the GF no matter what!!! Would just prefer not to need a hard hat and ear defenders!!!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Here are some construction photos, taken this morning as my DD and I strolled around the beautiful grounds here at the GF. Again, the courtyard area is barely impacted.

Lift in front of Boca Chica, we have only seen this raised once while here:


Scaffolding on the end of Conch Key, this is the only work we've seen to this building, this is the end facing the boat dock;


Scaffolding on the MK end of Sago:


Luggage building - you can barely see the boarding between the luggage building on the left, and the main building if you really try, this is from the area near the themed pool:


Here is one of the screens on the second floor of the main building, they are black screens:


I will post some photos of the courtyard area, to show how beautiful it still is, in my next post.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Here is another photo of the second floor, there is a man standing by a screen:


And here is a photo if you pan on around, you can see most of the view is unobstructed:


Here are several shots around the grounds.
End of Sago, nearest Gasparilla's:

SL on left, looking towards main building and Gasparilla's:

Back to Gasparilla's, looking towards the castle:

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Several photos of the courtyard pool area:




I have more photos, but it will take a while to get them uploaded. Probably won't post again until tomorrow.

 

[billnang]

THANK YOU....

Nice pictures...now what it will look like in 2 weeks...who knows...
but pictures are giving us hope!


Now some home that guest service CM call me back!!!
I need to get this finalized!!!
Angela

 

[mmmears]

Several photos of the courtyard pool area:

It looks just like it did earlier this week when we were there. I hardly noticed any of it and we had a great time at the GF! I really think that is "sounds" worse than it really is when you are there. Thanks for posting the beautiful photos -- we were so happy there that we didn't want to leave!

 

[toodycat]

Thanks everyone for the links, photos and kind words. I'm feeling pretty reassured.

 

[debbiemomto4]

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!

 

[brunette8706]

Hi All!

We just got to Maryland tonight also! Hi DebbieMomto4!!! We also, had a great time! It was GREAT meeting Debbiemomto4, AnnieinVA, and Baker375!!! These girls were so very nice, and we just had a great time meeting and conversing with everyone! I believe Julia took a long nap and woke up at nearly 2 a.m. LOL! We also missed BIGONDIS!

The GRAND FLORIDIAN was beautiful! We did get an upgrade to the Lagoon/Magic Kingdom view, it was gorgeous! We did stay in the Boca Chica building. Our rooms was lovely with french doors leading out to a large balcony. Saw the electric parade and fireworks from our balcony. The service and hospitality was EXCELLENT! Yes, we did see a few construction machines on property, but the hotel grounds were so large we really didn't pay any attention to it. One time we went to eat at Gasparilla's and we had to go through a side entrance because the main entrance was closed. This was due to putting in place brand new doors. This was only once though. The pools were beautiful the beach was beautiful and the lobby was breathtaking! They were laying down carpeting on the 2nd floor of the GF, but we really didn't hear nor did we really notice any of that. We were so enthalled with all the other beautiful surroundings! We utilized the pool for a few days and then went to the parks for the other days.

I will try to post pictures tomorrow!

Have a GRAND DAY EVERYONE!

Brunette

 

[k&a&c'smom]

mmmears - I know what you mean, we are enjoying the GF so much, we won't want to leave, either.

I've got some more photos uploaded, here is a couple of the courtyard pool, looking towards SL and the main building:





End of Conch, nearest SL:


SL, looking toward main bldg.:


Other end of SL, near Conch:


Narcoossee's:


I'll upload some of the themed pool later.

 

[BlueSkies]

k&a&c What beautiful pics...thanks for taking the time to post them during your trip!!

Brunette and debbiemomto4 Welcome back! Glad that you enjoyed your trips and that you got to meet up....

mmmears I think that based on what you and Brunette and debbie (and from k&a&c's pics) are saying the refurbishments going on will really not be a problem to those who are going soon...I bet they will all be glad to hear that..

Angela I know this has kind of been a roller coaster for you..I am sure it will all work out in the end..if you do stay in SL I dont think you will be disappointed...this has been our building of choice over the years and we love it! It couldnt be any more conveniently located on the property..right in the middle of everything...courtyard pool right outside the door...and the lounge in the lobby makes it so easy to grab a snack or a drink whether coming or going...sending lots of pixie dust your way!!!