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

[Lives4Disney]

I have read about the cakes & goodies you can order for birthday celebrations, but I was wondering if GF does any free celebrations? We are going in Dec. & I mentioned to my Travel Agent that my b-day is at the end of Nov. & since I really don't want to order myself a cake, I wondered if any of you have experienced any 'free' magic at GF? Thanks!

I celebrated my 40th bday at the GF last summer and felt like an idiot ordering myself a bday cake and planning my own fun but that's the only sure fire way to make sure the magic happens. There is really no rhyme or reason to who gets the freebies and who doesn't. My DH is not the WDW (or any vacation) planner so it was up to me to make my own fun, and hey....it was the BEST birthday I have ever had in my life!!! I made sure it was going to be a good one!

If you stay concierge and IPO knows about bdays they are very likely to do something special for you but you still can't COUNT on it. They may have balloons and a signed character card delivered to you or even a choc Mickey and treats, but not guaranteed unless you order and pay for it. At the GF restaurants, if they know it's your bday they will personalize a menu for you and may give you a fabulous special bday dessert - Citricos did this for me and I hear Narcoosees will too. At 1900 they make you wear a tiara and give you a special cute placemat and huge cupcake/candle dessert. Make sure you get a bday button from guest services and wear it! Surprises will more likely come your way.

I have found that sometimes those little bday notations just somehow do not make it to the final destination. Twice we have checked into Disney resorts (not concierge and not GF) on exact bdays and it was noted with CRO when I made my ressie because they were my kids' bdays and NOTHING happened. Good thing I had ordered goodies prior to check in.

Happy planning & have a wonderful bday!

Lives4Disney

 

[honeypot36]

I got the AAA rate and I had to choose that or the free dining plan.

Oh, I hate making decisions!!

Can you get the AAA for RPC rooms and Sugarloaf concierge too?

thanks again.

 

[Suzanne74]

I'm here - I am FINALLY here!

My husband, dd6 and I will be staying at the Grand Floridian from 11/24 to 11/29. Right after Thanksgiving to get us in the christmas spirit. I am so so so excited. I toured GF a long time ago but never at Christmas and DH and DD have never been there. I can't wait to see DD's face when she sees the tree and gingerbread house. Of all the free dining we have done, we have yet to eat at one of their restaurants. That will change this time. We are doing Park Faire our first night, Narcossee's on DH and I's date night (while DD is at her favorite Neverland Club) and then I have DD in the cooking class the morning we are going to do MVMCP while DH and I get head,back, shoulder massages! This is going to be a real treat for us. I can't wait!!

I honestly don't care what kind of location or view we get (although I know dd would love a monorail view) but I am hoping to get a newly remodeled room. Does anyone have the projected dates on that and when it will be completed??

Thanks all - it is good to be here!

 

[Suzanne74]

Hi, I just booked GF for Nov. 24 - Dec. 1 garden view room. Can anyone suggest a specific area I should try to ask for and why? I have a six yr. old daughter if that helps any. I'm soooo excited to be staying at GF. This is also our first trip to Disney. Thanks.

Hello - we will be there the same time as you - except leaving on the 29th We have a 6yr old dd. Hope to see you there

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I second eating at Narcooses. I am eating there is Sept and cant wait.

 

[grannyminnie]

Hello all! A new GF "recruit" here...I've recently switched from the Poly to the GF and it'll be my first time there. I am sooooo excited and am just soaking up all this helpful info!!

 

[WoodysRoundup]

Thanks again to everyone for such great info. here!

After reading the most recent posts, I went back and put our dates in for May and the Theme Park View option did not come up again for RPC. Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, I swear I saw that the first time. Maybe I misread? Sorry for any confusion.

Does anyone know if the Sugarloaf rooms facing the marina offer any views of the MK or fireworks? If not, is it easy enough to walk outside to the marina to see them?

Good morning to all!

 

[Lives4Disney]

honeypot - yes there are AAA RPC and SL rooms. It seems WDW has really cut down on the number & dates they are discounted, though.

Suzanne - GREAT!! We will be there 11/16 - 11/26. So, I supposed you are going to the 11/25 MVMCP?? We are planning to but every one we've gone to has been disappointingly packed and crowded so maybe we will decide to do something else. My daughters both LOVE love the cooking "class"......my older daughter is 11 now and too old, though. Time flies. She wants me to cancel her BBB apptment at the castle, too. I haven't made that move yet because I figure she MAY change her mind.

We are trying Narcoosees for the first time during that trip!! Glad to hear you like it, Kelly. Heatherlynn talked so highly of it and how it's not all just seafood - she convinced me to try it.

Grannyminnie - You'll love the GF. I have stayed at both Poly & GF and GF is so much better.

WoodysRoundup SL is pretty much perpendicular to the castle so the rooms facing toward the marina on the end toward the lagoon may offer a slight Wishes view from the balcony if you lean way out and look right. Not too convenient. It is REALLY easy to walk out of SL to the marina and view them. There is a sidewalk right outside the SL door that runs along the marina to Gasparillas. You can grab a seat outside and have perfect Wishes viewing from there & they play the music, too.

Happy planning!!

Lives4Disney

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Just popping in to say hi!! and 4 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[grannyminnie]

Lives4Disney, I am getting more and more excited about being there! After many trips to WDW, I only this year realized my "dream" of staying at the Poly, and loved it! Never, ever thought we would be staying at the Grand but thanks to a AAA discount (and hopefully more of a discount in the next few weeks), it is less than the Poly. I'm lovin' that! I am in planning mode big time to make the most of our visit (my sis and I). Wouldn't it be fun to have some bakery goods delivered to the room, and not tell me sister that I had ordered them?? Make her think that the GF treated all it's visitors that way! And then she'd never want to stay anywhere else...

 

[Alicnwondrln]

Just popping in to say hi!! and 4 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great time and I hope you have a magical trip.

 

[heatherlynn444]

Just popping in to say hi!! and 4 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how exciting! hope you have a blast!

channing-now that I have hyped up narcoossees so much for you I REALLY hope you like it! lol

 

[Suzanne74]

Suzanne - GREAT!! We will be there 11/16 - 11/26. So, I supposed you are going to the 11/25 MVMCP?? We are planning to but every one we've gone to has been disappointingly packed and crowded so maybe we will decide to do something else.

No, we are going on the Tues the 27th. I figured it would be less crowded and then dd can do the cooking class in the morning and possibly the tea party since we won't go anywhere before the party. I loved MNSSHP so I am looking forward to MVMCP.

 

[Lives4Disney]

No, we are going on the Tues the 27th. I figured it would be less crowded and then dd can do the cooking class in the morning and possibly the tea party since we won't go anywhere before the party. I loved MNSSHP so I am looking forward to MVMCP.

OK, oh ya, duh to me ....I am stuck on my own vacay dates where there is only the ONE Xmas party during the 10 days we're there (except 11/16 and we don't arrive til evening so it's a nogo).....you'll probably have better crowd luck with that Tues party than the one we would have to attend on 11/25. The tea party is another favorite but that cooking class they wanted to repeat several times during the same stay.

Heatherlynn, I'm sure it will be great!!

Cinderumbrella, have a WONDERFUL time!!!! I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

Grannyminnie - I hope you and your sister love the GF. Ya, those bakery goodies are scrumptious! I need to think about ordering some treats for my Nov stay. Probably some gingerbread somethings. (LOVE their gingerbread! I didn't the first time I tried it, it is different from normal gingerbread but it grew on me!! ) Enjoy!!

Happy planning,

Lives4Disney

 

[kkproulx]

Our first visit to WDW and we're staying at the GF!!! We had reservations at the Poly and when the codes came out I tried to see if I could save some money. Nothing was availble with the Poly but was told that I could switch resorts. I was a little leary and the CM said that I could switch to the GF and save $846! I flipped out! I asked what the catch was and she said there was no catch. WOOHOO! I am truly excited except I went from a MK view at the Poly to a GV at the GF. Is that good? I put a request in for the Sago Cay building, hoping that maybe I'll get a good view. I know that any view will be good, but my DD5 was so looking forward to the castle view. I told her that we could see the castle from the beach when we were there. We won't be spending ALL the time in the resort anyway.

Anyway, I just thought I'd pop in and say hi to everyone. Great info on these threads to someone who knows NOTHING about any of the resorts at WDW! I've spent day and night since changing resorts reading these boards. I'm going in sane planning and reworking our ADR's. It finally stopped raining here so I'm going to go outside and work in the yard and give my sore butt a break from sitting at my desk! LOL

 

[Twingle]

We're back! We actually got home early Monday morning, but with school starting tomorrow and being away from the kids for three days, I had house stuff to do.

We were upgraded - we were in room 4430, and the room was just lovely. The whole resort is beautiful, the grounds and the lobby were extremely impressive. I thought the decorating was beautiful, I really liked how they incorporated so many hidden Mickey's (and Minnie's, and Donald's, and Daisy's and Goofy's!) into the wallpaper, carpet, and bedspreads. We enjoyed our stay at the GF, it was absolutely worth the ten years of hinting that I gave my DH to stay there!

I was really surprised at what the conceige (sp?) level was like. We were given the keys to our room and told to just use the "special" elevator to access our rooms. We never spoke with any conceige (again, sp?) staff member - not the whole weekend. Although we saw several and said hello, we were not acknowledged, or worse, twice we were asked if we knew we were on the conceige level floors. Maybe we didn't look like we belonged? I know that there were other guests that were given a tour of some type, maybe there wasn't a staff member available when we checked in and therefore no one knew who we were? I'm not sure.

That being said, we enjoyed the food offerings Saturday morning, Saturday mid-day (the tea and scones were to die for) and the appetizers Sunday afternoon. The turn down service was a nice touch, I especially enjoyed the little cards that were with the chocolates wishing you sweet dreams. The view from our room was great, my DH and I enjoyed watching the monorail come by, and we could just see Epcot in the distance.

We ordered tuxedo strawberries and a white chocolate Mickey from Private Dining, they were delicious. The Mickey was huge, I was not anticipating it being that large, and I also wasn't aware that it was solid chocolate, not just a shell.

We had very good luck with the buses, I think the longest we waited was at Downtown Disney coming back to the room, about a 20 minute wait. When we went to Downtown Disney and to MGM, it was much shorter, not even 10 minutes each time. The monorails were very good as well, most of the time there was a monorail there when we were heading to MK or Epcot.

A nice touch at check-in was we were given Anniversary pins and I was given a green carnation. I was also very happy to find out that they sell the tea that was served, I think it's called "Garden View"? And, my parents sent us a wine and cheese basket from Disney Florist, and the staff at the gift shop on the main floor (sorry, don't remember the name, maybe the Mercantile?) wrapped the wine glasses for me so they wouldn't be broken on the plane.

We enjoyed our stay at the GF very much, although I know it was definately a one time thing for us, I am so glad we stayed there. If you'd like, I'll share pictures once I have them on the computer.

Thanks for all your help everyone, I really appreciated it!

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Twingle, It sounds like you had a wonderful time. I would love to see some pictures of your trip. Did you get to eat at any of the restaurants in the GF? Thanks!

 

[wall6363]

Where on line were you able to use the visa code? I have not been able to find any areas where they ask for a code.

Thankks

It was under special offers. It didn't ask for a code but it came up differently then an reg reservation. I believe there was a block when booking that said special offer. I already had booked another resort by phone with the offer and called and had it switched.

wall

 

[wall6363]

BCV23- Thank You. I guess I can live with the bad coffee. After reading my orginal post I was so excited I actually forgot I can get a nice bottle and find a spot any night for wishes. Kinda forgot I would be there for 6 nights, not just dinner.:yay


Lives4disney,

Wow- Such great advice. Thank You. There is a ton of information on this thread. I am only about 1/2 way through and read most of Sunday and Monday evenings.


Thanks Everyone,


Wall

 

[grannyminnie]

Twingle, you said you were upgraded...had you not booked concierge? If not, you sure were lucky, but I don't get why you were looked at as if you didn't belong?