The All New Grand Floridian FAQ - MAY 2009

[AArbittier]

Has anyone had the opportunity to get the " Arum Manus " ( i think it is called ) massage at the Grand Floridian Spa ? How would you rate it ? It is expensive and i wonder if it is worth it !

 

[janeapplemeadow]

I don't usually pack until the day before I leave.
This time, I'm thinking of bringing about 4-5 pairs of shorts (cargo and dress), 4-5 white t-shirts and 2-3 polo shirts (white also). Other than the "unmentionables," I think that's it. I'm planning on doing laundry about mid-trip. We'll be there for 5 nights, and I think that will be enough.

Scott, I would bring a few extra shirts. I am at the GF as I write this. It is extremely hot here. Heat index the last 3 days has been 100 degrees. I've gone through 2 shirts a day. Make sure you pack LIGHT colored clothes. In the parks with the sun beating down on you, you'll die with any dark colors. As for dress at Citrico's, anything seems to go, but most people had on dress shorts and polos, the women dress shorts or summer dresses, even California Grill diners were dresses very casually.
On another note I know that you were quite concerned about the state of construction at the GF. Don't worry, there was very little to distract from my vacation. There is a very small section in the main building 2nd floor that is screened off, but it didn't bother us at all. There were only a few paint lifts on the back side of Sago Cay. It looks like the SL building has been finished. When I walked around this a.m. there was nothing that detracted from the GF charm.

 

[Scott MC]

Scott, I would bring a few extra shirts. I am at the GF as I write this. It is extremely hot here. Heat index the last 3 days has been 100 degrees. I've gone through 2 shirts a day. Make sure you pack LIGHT colored clothes. In the parks with the sun beating down on you, you'll die with any dark colors. As for dress at Citrico's, anything seems to go, but most people had on dress shorts and polos, the women dress shorts or summer dresses, even California Grill diners were dresses very casually.
On another note I know that you were quite concerned about the state of construction at the GF. Don't worry, there was very little to distract from my vacation. There is a very small section in the main building 2nd floor that is screened off, but it didn't bother us at all. There were only a few paint lifts on the back side of Sago Cay. It looks like the SL building has been finished. When I walked around this a.m. there was nothing that detracted from the GF charm.

THANK YOU!

 

[LJD2143]

Scott, I would bring a few extra shirts. I am at the GF as I write this. It is extremely hot here. Heat index the last 3 days has been 100 degrees. I've gone through 2 shirts a day. Make sure you pack LIGHT colored clothes. In the parks with the sun beating down on you, you'll die with any dark colors. As for dress at Citrico's, anything seems to go, but most people had on dress shorts and polos, the women dress shorts or summer dresses, even California Grill diners were dresses very casually.
On another note I know that you were quite concerned about the state of construction at the GF. Don't worry, there was very little to distract from my vacation. There is a very small section in the main building 2nd floor that is screened off, but it didn't bother us at all. There were only a few paint lifts on the back side of Sago Cay. It looks like the SL building has been finished. When I walked around this a.m. there was nothing that detracted from the GF charm.

Thanks for the live update....
Just what we all needed!

 

[Scott MC]

Now that I know this, I can call back and make my room request much more open. I'm debating simply saying "Upper Floor (my most important request)." and casting my fate to the wind. My ideal building would be Boca Chica, but I don't want my request to be too specific. Is "Upper Floor, Boca Chica" too specific?

In my dream world, I'd say, "Upper floor, Boca Chica, away from construction and not obstructed by pool house"
I don't think I'd be too popular with the CM who assigns the rooms if I wrote all that!

On the same note, to those of you who have been getting all the magical upgrades lately...do you have room requests on your reservation? I'm trying to figure out if this helps or hurts your chances.

 

[MommyGina]

I called my TA today and asked if she could get a straight answer on what construction work is going on at the GF. She was going to call the AAA Disney representative and find out. If I hear anything different, I will let you know.

At this point, I'm glad that I only have 7 days left and I already started putting things in my luggage!

 

[njdiver]

Has anyone ever had the extreme luck of an upgrade from a Value Resort to the GF?

 

[happymommy]

Has anyone ever had the extreme luck of an upgrade from a Value Resort to the GF?

That's a good one!

Now, on my honeymoon, we were at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, and really I hated it there. It was as if no one cared we were on our honeymoon - the staff really was crappy. Matter of fact, the day we left there, we told them we were checking out early as we were not really happy there. Their response was, goodbye.

So we wandered over after two nights to the GF, and asked the front desk how much it was to stay there (we were on a tight budget) and they had a "walk in" rate of $175 (which was way more than we were spending). Next morning, at 9am, we checked into the GF. Got our room, and loved it. Absolutely. It was in September, which was a slow time, so they had that rate, which was great.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I got this email from disney uk

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World Resort.

The staircases in buildings 5 & 7 are being redone. There are cranes in
the area. The Resort is attempting to keep guests away from the
construction area. The construction is taking place on a daily basis
and will be ongoing until at least 8/18/09.

Paula, we look forward to your visit to the Walt Disney World Resort in
September and hope that your stay is magical.

If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact
us.

Please include your full name, E-Mail address, and reservation number if
applicable on all correspondence.

 

[njdiver]

That's a good one!

We hope it is. We were informed by our group leader that our Value Resort was overbooked and that our entire block of rooms has been upgraded to the GF.

 

[Figment1990]

Ok people- here's my promised update:

I LOVE this resort! OMG its beautiful! I am currently loving life as I lounge here in my cabana gazing out over the pool towards the lagoon as a poly-mk boat passes by... If I can afford it we will definitely return here!

When we arrived yesterday am around 10 am the great cm who checked us in asked us if we were celebrities because we had been given an upgrade to a mk view room! He told me not to tell but I couldn't resist sharing as I promised you all I would. We r in boca chica second floor almost center of the building. We can see the main entrance of mk, space mountain, the contemp, wl roof and a little bit of the poly. If we duck and peek thru trees we can see the castle. We weren't in our room last night during wishes so I don't know if we can see it yet. Anyhow to answer the quest about room requests our request was to just be kept away frm the construction. Maybe it was the fact we were there early in the day or maybe it was that I turned down the upgrade on our last trip(gasp) but we r very happy!

We got a full tour of the grounds via golf cart on our way to our room as it was our first time. So I saw first hand the "cranes". There r currently three on the inside ctyd - one by boca, one at the end of conch (which is blue not orange btw!) That we walked "under" getting off the mk boat yest afternoon, and one on the ctyd side of sago. They are also doing a lot of work to the lagoon side of sago. I am going to keep an eye out to see if I see any guests staying there but so far I don't. I saw a ladder by gasparillas but haven't gone in there yet and I saw guys on balconies at the end of conch.

We don't hear ANY construction at all right now from this pool. We had tea yest at 230 and there was a faint bit of noise from the tile work but we could barely notice it over the clink of tea cups and the pianist. Which, btw was soooo lovely to hear in the afternoon as I shopped after tea.

It IS very hot here. I'm so glad we got this cabana and are planning to use evening emh a lot.

Also, we decided not to do rpc this trip and to order morning roomService instead. That was v nice except my mk view balcony is also direct morning sun so I definitely wasn't doing coffee out there today! No worries, I enjoyed the gorgeous room instead. Btw best bed and linens I've had at a disney resort.

Ok that's all for now. Hopefully that helps everyone a little. For those going soon have a magical time!!!

Lisa

 

[Scott MC]

Thank you so much for the update! I'm so excited for your magical upgrade!
In accordance with your report, I just called to make my (final) room request. It now simply says "Upper floor, away from construction." I hope we have the same luck you've had. I also hope that we're not too late in this request and it hasn't fallen into the hands of the room assigner yet.
Enjoy the rest of your stay and keep us posted to your adventures!

 

[njdiver]

Thank you Lisa, for that report. We will be arriving Monday some time after noon. To our astonishment our entire group has been upgraded to the GF. We won't know till check in where we will be staying, but even with the renovations we are still looking forward to our wonderful upgrade. Our daughters will be performing at the Waterside Theartre in DTD on Wednesday. I know mine is anxious to be in the pool. If you see a white fedora with Sea World on the band, that will be me.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Pics from the Walt Disney Suite, taken yesterday

 

[BlueSkies]

Donald Those picstures are beautiful... and that suite is incredible...right down to the pictures on the walls....thank you for posting them....

 

[minniesota]

WOW! Those pics are gorgeous! Thanks for giving us something to dream about.

 

[mmmears]

Donald -- great photos! We got a tour of the suite last week, but I didn't even think to take any photos -- thank you so much for posting. The one surprising thing (I didn't even notice this when we went in there) is that it's missing a nice view of the castle. That's too bad...

 

[Tam1067]

Some updates.

The tile is progressing nicely. Screens have been moved so that the monorail access means if you use the grand staircase, you must go right and then by Citricos to get to the monorail platform. The completed tile is beautiful.

Cranes are working on a few buildings so there are some areas where walkways are closed but it really is not a huge problem.

And I hbe to say that I'm impressed with the management here. We had a leak in our bathroom in our room in Big Pine Key. They had to move us and gave us a beautiful corner room with two balconies in Boca Chica. We have a great view of Space Mountain and the castle.

Last year at the Polynesian we also had a leaking toilet and then had serious problems getting it fixed. The staff here was very quick to respond and then to get us a new and much better room. And we are planning to watch Wishes from the balcony tonight.

 

[mmmears]

Some updates.

The tile is progressing nicely. Screens have been moved so that the monorail access means if you use the grand staircase, you must go right and then by Citricos to get to the monorail platform. The completed tile is beautiful.

Cranes are working on a few buildings so there are some areas where walkways are closed but it really is not a huge problem.

And I hbe to say that I'm impressed with the management here. We had a leak in our bathroom in our room in Big Pine Key. They had to move us and gave us a beautiful corner room with two balconies in Boca Chica. We have a great view of Space Mountain and the castle.

Last year at the Polynesian we also had a leaking toilet and then had serious problems getting it fixed. The staff here was very quick to respond and then to get us a new and much better room. And we are planning to watch Wishes from the balcony tonight.

Thanks for the update! I'm sorry that you had a problem with the bathroom, but I'm so glad that they were quick to move you. Those corner rooms with the 2 balconies in Boca Chica are my favorites! Enjoy watching Wishes from your balcony (you also have a great view of the EWP from the other one ).

 

[Figment1990]

Just a Quick update of what I saw today/tonight. Almost all of the lifts are now around sago (both sides, dh and I took our sea raycer over there to check it out for yall). Ihave still not really seen guests there but it is sorta loud with the power washing. I would think if you're in rpc near sago and r in your room during the day you might hear it- at least you would definitely from your balcony. The scaffolding is still at the end of conch but I didn't see workers and the blue crane is now at sago. They r still working on boca but they've moved from the ctyd side by big pine to near the center entrance still on the pool side. The center entrance was closed this afternoon but open tonight. However parts of the sidewalk r still blocked off. I didn't see the ladder near gasparillas either.

Inside they have made it to the end of one side (above checkin). And the carpet on the first floor behind the right side of the main staircase is pulled up and the area is blocked off. It looks like they will be doing the entire side of the first and second floors (by checkin desk and above) all at once and then moving to the other side. I am going to guess that this will mean that when the main stairs are closed they don't meet fire code for enough stairs and that's why they had to move the rpc guests soon. I do think things r moving quickly. We r thinking of having tea again on sat and if we do I will let u all know if its loud in the lobby area.

Night everyone!