The *New* Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Frequently Asked Questions (FEB2004) Part 2

[Jen66]

Channing~ That is hysterical! I'm sure your youngest will have a great time, but maybe you should just take her to the museums! Of course, my kids love the Museum of Science and Industry, just not as much as Disney!
So, you guys leave in just a few days! Yeah for you.
By the way, your chocolate plate sounds perfect! I think that I will do something very similar as our "welcome to Disney" surprise. I knew I wanted the choc strawberries, and I think a white chocolate figurine and some dark chocolates for DH and I will be perfect additions! There, if I just "borrow" your ideas, I will not have to deal with the unimaginative and unhappy CMs

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Thank you for your responses. I will have my TA be sure to add the request for the refrigerators.

What are you guys talking about with the chocolates? Sounds like something I want to do for the other families. Oh, What about the chocolate mousse filled slipper? I remember seeing pictures and I was unimpressed with the one at CRT, but thought the one at GF really seemed nice. Of course I dismissed the idea of it as I never thought I would be at the GF other than to pass through on the monorail...

What building can you suggest for us? I am thinking Big Pine Key--is that Lagoon View or just MK view? I thought I read that they assign rooms at check in...can that be right? I thought rooms were assigned in advance. How difficult is it to get the rooms you request?

 

[jaycns]

Jen, it was a painful phone call, LOL. I know exactly what you mean by "presence" ....that's kind of what I wanted. Something with some WOW factor. I really got very little in the way of help and suggestions from the CM. If I hadn't ordered or seen things I would have hung up totally clueless and without placing an order.

What I did wind up with was a white chocolate Goofy on a platter with 10 tuxedo strawberries and an assortment of truffles and I told them it's DH's bday and could they do something "Happy Birthday" on it, which I bet they do in that rice/sugar paper stuff. I also ordered a Bday cake for DD - a tinkerbelle cake that I am letting them go wild with. I don't want the regular grocery store bday cake (although those are good, too ) I just wanted something really cool - again with some oomph and WOW.

Be persistant with them. I got disconnected twice and they don't volunteer any creative ideas at all.

Good luck!!!!!

Channing

When I called in about my son's birthday cake I had the same sort of experience. They didn't have many ideas. But I was prepared with my own. It took a few days for them to check and see if the pastry chefs would be able/willing to do what I wanted. And YES they are!! I was looking for something other then "flat cake" here too. I mean we can go to the local grocery store for that. My son's cake will have a special one of kind created snorkeling Pluto figure on it and be an under the sea themed cake with hidden Mickey heads scattered throughout.

Yes, the cake will not be a bargin...but I know it will be spectacular! I am so looking forward to it!!

What direction did you give them for the Tink cake? Have you ever seen that Tink figure made of chocolate that Janet2K posted? I cannot remember where she posted it now...and my search is not working right...but you should take a look at that! It is truly amazing!

 

[mr.mike]

How can that be true, though? I thought someone else had reported that the Main Building was LAST on the refurb schedule??!! Based on how long the renovations at the Poly took, I don't see how, quite frankly, even ONE of the buildings at the GF is complete

:

honestly, I was very surprised. Its amazing how fast they must be working. I was just hoping there wasn't going to be any work going on while we were there and really hoping we wouldnt have to be moved. But they said he expects those rooms to be done before we arrive.

 

[TammiMcMan]

What building can you suggest for us? I am thinking Big Pine Key--is that Lagoon View or just MK view? I thought I read that they assign rooms at check in...can that be right? I thought rooms were assigned in advance. How difficult is it to get the rooms you request?

Big Pine Key is a good choice. It has amazing lagoon views and it's in a convenient location. I'm pretty sure that any MK views from here would be pretty limited.

Standard room assignments are dependent on how busy they are. If the resort is full, then it's usually handled by a room assignor ahead of time. Also, if you have a medical request, then those rooms are blocked in advance. Otherwise, when you physically arrive at the resort, the CM will pull up your reservation, look at your requests and then look at the current available inventory. If they don't have a room available that fits your request, you can take another room, or offer to wait until something else opens up. Perhaps they gave the current guest a late check-out, or housekeeping just hasn't turned over the room yet. The sooner you arrive at the resort for check-in, usually the more room options you'll have.

 

[Lives4Disney]

When I called in about my son's birthday cake I had the same sort of experience. They didn't have many ideas. But I was prepared with my own. It took a few days for them to check and see if the pastry chefs would be able/willing to do what I wanted. And YES they are!! I was looking for something other then "flat cake" here too. I mean we can go to the local grocery store for that. My son's cake will have a special one of kind created snorkeling Pluto figure on it and be an under the sea themed cake with hidden Mickey heads scattered throughout.

Yes, the cake will not be a bargin...but I know it will be spectacular! I am so looking forward to it!!

What direction did you give them for the Tink cake? Have you ever seen that Tink figure made of chocolate that Janet2K posted? I cannot remember where she posted it now...and my search is not working right...but you should take a look at that! It is truly amazing!

Your cake sounds absolutely fabulous.

I know one of the chefs and decorators. I asked to speak with her after I couldn't get anywhere with the order taker CM. I KNOW she is wonderful and really creative & I think has fun with these projects. She did a gorgeous cake last Christmas Eve for my younger daughter's bday. Unfortunately she is off til Friday. Almost every suggestion I had was met with silence. DD's absolute fave is Eeyore, but they don't do Eeyore. I could order it from the grocery store, but Disney doesn't do Eeyore. Go figure. Then I asked for Tink and her fairy friends - from the book DD read and loved and they sell in WDW parks for about 2 years now. They have never heard of her friends. OK. They could screen print a pic of Tink on the cake for an extra $20. Boring - no go. Well, we will all be surprised at how it turns out. I bet they'll do a lovely job because the decorators are awesome & left to their own devices it will turn out spectacular. I will take pics.

The chocolates are ordered from private dining. The number is 407-824-2474 and I know it by heart because they kept disconnecting me. The truffles are dark chocolate, the dipped strawberries can be done to look like choc tuxedos or in white to look like little brides.

Happy planning,

Lives4Disney

 

[triplefigs]

Channing,

I am soooooo jealous! I hope you have a great trip! We actually were supposed to be at WDW right now for the kids' b'day, but we cancelled and booked Sept for the 40% off. I think it would be so much fun to celebrate their b'day at WDW. Maybe next year...

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I never dreamed I would be joining you over here, but...we are AKL refugees who have been switched to the GF. After planning our vacation (3 families) since last July, I find myself seriously lacking in much info on GF. I hope you don't mind if I post my questions, as I am finding the 5,000+ responses a bit much to read through.

We will be staying Lagoon View, 3 rooms. There are 10 of us altogether including 2 two year olds and an adult who has some mobility issues. The plan is to do mornings at the parks, then chill at the resort. We have dinner reservations for 4 out of the 7 nights.

I thought that all of the deluxes have refrigerators. Is that not true at GF? If I request one, will there be a fee?

How much of a wait can I anticipate for the monorail first thing in the morning? Being the last stop before MK, is it hard to get on? We will be there end of July.

I am hearing that the transportation to AK and MGM is slow, and long. Is this true, and what are the strategies?

We usually dress pretty casually on vacation. Seeing the pictures, it seems like we should "dress up" just to walk around. Is this the case?

Are robes provided in the standard rooms? Can we get kid sized robes?

I think that is it for now. Any wisdom is welcome!

TIA

You dont need to dress up, the resort isnt that stuffy.
I dont believe they do the kids robes anymore.
I have never had an issue with the buses from the GF sometimes they share with the WL and other monorail resort. I also will have a car with us and I plan on using that to AK and BB. I also have a diamond pass.
I would definetly made adrs for all my nights and then cancel if I dont need them that way if you wanna eat at a table service you can.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

I have been checking on other ADR's to be closer to GF rather than AKL. WE have dinner planned at Boma for one night, but it seems like it will be a bit of a haul to get there. So, I want to change to O'hana, but can't get a decent time. With the 2 babes we are not interested in 9PM dinners, although I would be fine with that...

 

[WickedWench]

Does anyone have any photos of what the refurbished rooms will look like?

 

[BCV23]

BCV, gosh! I am happy about driving too. We used to do it once a year, but it's been a LONG time- I think we prefer IN vs going ALL the way down IL....at least once we cross into IN we feel like we are getting somewhere, lol. That first part of the drive is the pits.....KY, TN, GA are pretty.....then you get to FL with all those "We Bare ALL" billboard signs Not ready to explain those, lol......I have to say that we really do enjoy the trip & have fun with it, too. We used to always make it to Chattanooga for the first nt, but we won't be leaving til Friday afternoon about 3 pm so not sure where that will put us about 11 pm. Sat will be a big driving day and I booked the Sheraton Safari to just pass out for that night and check into the GF Sunday. That is wild that you drove all that alone! Can't imagine that!!!! Was that a crazy act of WDW desperation??Lives4Disney

LOL, no not desperation. I wanted to get our daughter's powerchair down to WDW but we didn't want to risk taking on an airline. I also really had an itch to drive. Since it was the holidays we had lots of time. It was our longest WDW trip. I was gone 13 nights, 14 days. I drove down 57 and stayed in Nashville. That was 8 hours including a nice long lunch break. Arrived at BCV the next night and then picked my family up at the airport the next morning. One more night at BCV so everyone could try it and then we moved to SL for 12/24 to 1/1 and then back to BCV for a couple more nights.

Anyway I had a ball. I still would love to do it again but it was pretty hard convincing my husband the first time.

I would probably drive once a year if the rest of the family enjoyed it.

WickedWench, no pictures yet.

 

[CastleLight]

I just talked to IPO and was told the rooms in RPC (not the suites, just the rooms) are scheduled to be rehabbed by the time we get there in mid-august!!! They said everything is moving smoothly so unless something unexpected happens we will be the new rooms!!

Yeah! I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be in one of these rooms next week!

 

[francie]

hi all, does anyone know if all the deluxe consierge rooms in the main gf bldg. have king beds. are there any deluxes with 2 queens? thanks in advance

 

[TammiMcMan]

hi all, does anyone know if all the deluxe consierge rooms in the main gf bldg. have king beds. are there any deluxes with 2 queens? thanks in advance

The only deluxes that have kings, are the honeymoon suites. All the others do have the 2 queen beds and accommodate 4.

 

[lynr]

Wow! IPO has come a long way. I emailed them about our December stay around 5 PM and I already had a response. I responded to that email and within 5 mins Calvin sent me a reply. Now that is service.

 

[princessesrule4]

Wow! IPO has come a long way. I emailed them about our December stay around 5 PM and I already had a response. I responded to that email and within 5 mins Calvin sent me a reply. Now that is service.

Calvin is so great - always very efficient and thorough in his responses,calls and emails!!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

Wow! IPO has come a long way. I emailed them about our December stay around 5 PM and I already had a response. I responded to that email and within 5 mins Calvin sent me a reply. Now that is service.

Calvin is great! He has been so amazing and I cant thank him enough for all the help. Hes been awesome.

 

[Lives4Disney]

I wonder if Calvin is the only one in IPO?? He also responded to my emails and really quickly, too.

I am glad the IPO has improved. When it was bad it was BAD & it really gave a shabby first impression of the GF. So happy they do seem to have gotten it together over there.

We leave Friday afternoon.....my overpacking has begun. I am so horrible at packing and I really wanted to pack light this time. I am thinking w/ the heat we will go out, swim, go out.....need two outfits ea/day....with 5 of us that is close to 50 outfits packed.

Lives4Disney

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Does anyone have the # for me to contact a non "concierge" level concierge? We will be in a standard room and I would like to contact the concierge before I travel if that is possible.

Thank you.

PS Good luck with that packing, Channing!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I would just call the resort and ask to be connected to the lobby concierge
407-824-3000