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

[princessesrule4]

So glad you had such a wonderful and special time for your birthday trip! I loved your pictures! What a cute family you all are! So excited for you that you got the Walt Disney Suite - how amazing! It is beautiful and so is the Grand 1. The CM's at RPC are so great! You have gotten us really excited about our October trip- we can't wait to return! The girls looked adorable in their Bibbidi Bobbidi pix. My DD loved her visit there and can't wait to go back. She has an appointment before the MNSSH party! Thanks again for the pix and report. And I thought you looked great in your crown - I got roped into wearing one for a few hours during my 40th last month there. You only live once right!

 

[Lives4Disney]

Hi, thanks for all the nice comments. Yes we did live like royalty for a few days!! The girls sure did love their twin sleigh beds - they were like princess beds with super plushy mattresses and pillows and heavy comforters. Sorry some of the pics are so dark. All the rooms were super sunny and bright so that must have effected my camera. The best pics were taken at night. I really enjoyed the fact that the suite was so comfy and homey. It had down stuffed furniture and pillows and personal photos and little curiosities. It wasn't hotelly at all, very comfortable. I could live there. The flowers were all real in every room. I was so surprised by the red roses in all the towels. Beautiful touch! It was honestly a trip of a lifetime and I am so overwhelmed and thankful to the terrific CMs that pulled it off for us. They are so special.

Our first night in that suite we blew off going to the MK because the girls wanted to soak in that huge tub and play and watch the bathroom TV. The robes (there were 4) were super thick and plush inside and smooth fabric outside. We cleaned up, put on our PJs and robes, ordered room service pizza and blasted our Disney Princess CD thru the whole suite.

Denise - you are too kind. I am the most unphotogenic person so I never never never let people take my pic (OK, is that vain??!!) I decided since it was my bday I would let pics be taken, LOL. They took a lot, but I only like one or two....

Lyn - I am really glad you got that fireworks cruise. I bet your friends will love that. You all will have fun memories for years. I am really glad to hear IPO got their act together. I met some of them and they are super people, don't know what was up with IPO earlier. Hey! I didn't know the WD Suite was on the travel channel...If you see it's on again PM me!! I would love to relive the dream.

The G1 thing was funny because my DH didn't know I booked it until we arrived.....He kept asking me what do I want for my bday and I just assured him the trip was enough and I have it covered.. ..We saw some boats decorated for bday cruises with balloons and I just said "Wow, wouldn't that be fun??" and he agreed so I spilled it. He was a bit stunned because he thought it was over $1K, but when I told him what it was he was fine with it. We all had a fun time on the G1 and the weather was beautiful, sorry not too many pics, but it was only an hour and part of that was watching Wishes out in front and eating the cake & drinking champagne in the galley, and honestly, I didn't know what all to photo - it is pretty small!! Nice, but small. They told us they would be taking this boat back in the near future and exchanging it for a larger one!! Janet2K may luck out with that.

At Citricos, my DH gave me a folded note with a sweet message and inside were two hand made coupons for 2 weekends off for me - no mommy duties these weekends. He takes over and I am FREE!!!! Besides the WD Suite, that is my other most fabulous bday gift. He is a super sweetie to me.

Happy planning to all of you that are going soon!!! I am trying to figure out WHEN I can sneak in another trip to the GF. Probably not til spring break or maybe, just maybe we can take a little quickie trip in January for Jojo's bday....Shhhh....DH doesn't know the direction of my thoughts (I bet he can guess, though!)

Take care,

Lives4Disney

 

[WDWINJUNE!]

Thanks so much for sharing the pics. You look beautiful and have a beautiful family as well I loved all the pics, they are all great! Looks like you had an amazing trip..thanks again for sharing!

Laura

 

[irisbud]

So glad you had a great trip, Lives. You deserve all of the extra magic, esp. after your fiasco at the YC. Now I can't wait for December...

 

[TammiMcMan]

Channing, welcome home and thanks for the pictures. You have a beautiful family and they all look so happy. What a magical upgrade. Must be something with those 40th birthdays. A few years ago, when just DH and I went to the GF to celebrate ours, they had upgraded us to a turret honeymoon suite. I love to hear the "magical" stories.

Were you able to find out anything about the cabana rentals beyond September?

 

[PolyAddict]

Subcribing...I honestly thought I had a long time ago.

Great Pic's Channing!!! Happy B-day!!! Unless we change our minds this trip, we will be staying GF November 2007 or maybe summer. The kids high school is not giving the full week of for Thanksgiving anymore and I don't like taking them out of school. I am doing it this year because we already have our hearts set and alot of planning in this one. So we may change our yearly to July or August. UGH!!! We are gonna melt!!!

 

[BCV23]

What a great trip you had Channing!

Was your son along and seving as the official photographer? I agree with everyone...you have a beautiful family and you all look so happy.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Subcribing...I honestly thought I had a long time ago.

Great Pic's Channing!!! Happy B-day!!! Unless we change our minds this trip, we will be staying GF November 2007 or maybe summer. The kids high school is not giving the full week of for Thanksgiving anymore and I don't like taking them out of school. I am doing it this year because we already have our hearts set and alot of planning in this one. So we may change our yearly to July or August. UGH!!! We are gonna melt!!!

Hi! My son's high school didn't even give him Wednesday before Thanksgiving off last year. My grade school girls get that whole week off!! I wish they would get it together with the vacation dates.....This year he at least does get Wed off. Don't change your minds!!! Stay at the GF. Every time I try another resort just to break it up I end up disappointed and wondering why I did that to myself. The GF is the BEST - nothing compares - the CMs, housekeepers, service, beauty.....pools...everything is so wonderful.

I was actually VERY happy and very surprised with how decent the July weather was compared to the end of August. We have been to WDW a couple times always the middle to end of August and I literally walked outside and melted. Not so on this July trip. The rain did cool the temp down and the evenings were really lovely and perfectly comfortable. I can't say the same for August rain or eves. If we do find ourselves doing another summer trip, I prefer July over August.....don't know if maybe we were just lucky or what, but it was much better than our August weather. Now, here we are in northern IL, dealing with 95+ temps!! I want to go to FL to cool down.

BCV - No, my son didn't come this time. This is the first vacation he has ever missed! The waiter at Citricos took that pic Denise posted and the first mate took the one on G1. My son was a bit bummed when he found out all the extras that came with this trip!! He said he won't ever miss another WDW trip again, LOL. He is almost 16 and chose to stay with family friends that have his buddy (of 15 yrs) as their son. He still had a great time, but I am sorry he missed this trip.....I was secretly a bit happy that he chose to stay home (he can sometimes really be a drag - it's a tough age ) but it took several days for me to stop missing him and so many things reminded me of him. We saw Darth Vadar (sp?) and some storm troopers on the Star Tours ride and the girls got their pic taken with them - THAT really bummed him out!!

Tammi - Thanks! OK, I dropped the ball on the cabana issue.....sorry guys. I am ashamed to admit it. I was just over the moon and not thinking about anything but the present. When the girls and I were down at the pool, the only cabana rented was the original one - there is still that other that MickeyMac told us about that does not have the wood furniture. I wound up cancelling our own cabana time because we were just enjoying the room and parks & didn't think we needed to be tied down to several hours at the pool. SORRY!!

Lives4Disney

 

[johnsonet]

Our first night in that suite we blew off going to the MK because the girls wanted to soak in that huge tub and play and watch the bathroom TV. The robes (there were 4) were super thick and plush inside and smooth fabric outside. We cleaned up, put on our PJs and robes, ordered room service pizza and blasted our Disney Princess CD thru the whole suite.

I Love it!!
Your pictures are wonderful. What a beautiful family. Glad you had so much Disney Magic

 

[Cinderella Fan]

I spoke with Barb last Sunday regarding the continuance of the cabana rentals. She mentioned that sales were good, and there are "plans in the works to make all 4 of the cabanas into rentals". As of now, only 2 of the cabanas are available for rentail, the other are on a FCFS basis. She also mentioned that these rentals WILL continue after September.

I was able to take some pics....

 

[theostwalts]

We have RPC booked for 11/26-12/02. We have a MYW package with dining. We will probably go again next year for halloween so I have considered getting APs and DDE. If a code comes out for that time for Nov. can I get an AP and change around our reservations? I know that concierge books up well in advance, so if we are going to go next year I would have to book at rack rate and hope for a code. Do codes usually apply to all rooms including concierge?

Thanks

 

[CastleLight]

Hi all. So, after doing LOTS of research, I thought I completely understood my options for a honeymoon room (or for that matter any room in the RPC). After getting lots of wonderful tips from this board, I booked my 2007 honeymoon for a 2nd floor honeymoon room with balcony and MK view (or so I thought). The CRO woman who took my initial reservation told me I booked code BP.

I received my confirmation in the mail today and it doesn't specify honeymoon room and the view says "variable". I called right away to confirm my room and was told that the MK view was not guaranteed - and in fact there are balcony honeymoon rooms on the monorail side of the resort. When I pushed the issue, the CRO agent went so far as to tell me that she stayed in a RPC honeymoon balcony room and she was on the other side of the building from the MK. And to make matters worse, she said that all RPC rooms are smoking optional!! There are no non-smoking rooms in RPC?! I told her that this was so completley different from what I was told originally, that I would appreciate it if she would be so kind as to verify with a supervisor. She put me on hold (although I could still hear her - maybe they communicate via e-mail?) and told me that guest relations confirmed that the balcony honeymoon rooms are on all sides of the main building.

I called back not 30 minutes later and was told that all honeymoon rooms - octagon and bacony - face the MK.

Now I'm worried and confused. Please help!

 

[hmp2z]

I know for a fact that not all octagon honeymoon rooms face the MK, because we've stayed in one that didn't. It was lagoon view, and we could see the Poly & Wedding Pavilion, but not the MK. This particular suite was directly above M Mouse Mercantile, on the 3rd floor.
Cheers!
Heather W

 

[TammiMcMan]

Now I'm worried and confused. Please help!

I think I mentioned you in another post about the two different choices for the honeymoon suites. There are 9 or 10 located on the 2nd floor of the main building. All have balconies, all have jacuzzi tubs, all are the same size as a standard room, all are in the same exact side of the building (marina, over Gasparillas Grill) and all have a castle view. Then there are the 6 octoganal shaped honeymoon suites. They are located on the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors of the main building. All have oversized tubs, all are nearly double the size of a standard room, all are on the same side of the building (pretty positive it's the theme pool side), just on opposite ends and all have no balcony. Three have panoramic views from the wedding gazebo around to the castle. Three have panoramic views from the monorail to the beach. You cannot reserve a specific style, but you can put in a request. As to the smoking optional, I believe that's true of all the suites, which the honeymoon rooms are coded as a suite. We have stayed in non-smoking at the RPC, so they must have both for their standard concierge rooms.

You would think that the CM's who work in the travel section of Disney would be familiar with the resorts, but unfortunately they aren't. This isn't the first time that I've heard reports of them giving completely inaccurate information.

If you have your reservation in the system, you should get in touch with the IPO department of the GF. These are the folks who will take care of your ADR's and anything else that you need. Your best bet is to put your specific room request in with them. I believe it's entered into a different system that the concierge room assignor looks at just prior to your arrival.

If you want to see the turret style honeymoon suite, you can go here. Just click on the picture link on the right hand side of the page and pictures 1-8 are the turret style. For the regular honeymoon suites located on the 2nd floor, click here and scroll down to "other guest rooms".

 

[CastleLight]

Thanks, Tammi. I so appreciate all the knowledge you share on this board. I just can't understand how the CRO agents can be so misinformed.

 

[lynr]

We have RPC booked for 11/26-12/02. We have a MYW package with dining. We will probably go again next year for halloween so I have considered getting APs and DDE. If a code comes out for that time for Nov. can I get an AP and change around our reservations? I know that concierge books up well in advance, so if we are going to go next year I would have to book at rack rate and hope for a code. Do codes usually apply to all rooms including concierge?
Thanks

I know that AAA discounts apply to all rooms and I got an AP discount one year at the Yacht Club Concierge.

You are so lucky to have a concierge room for this time frame. I have been trying to get atleast SL since February for 11/30 -12/10 and nothing is available.

Lyn

 

[irisbud]

I must have gotten really lucky, or maybe just my stay is so short ... Only 2 days at GF RPC (December 3 and 4) then 2 days at AKL (BF is not sure about GF, but I told him he would like it...or else ) I was able to get the room on the first try about a month ago when I decided we were NOT spending 4 days at AKL (which I'm sure is very nice). Well, actually it was the second try. First, they booked me in Sugar Loaf, calling it Lodge Concierge and insisting it was the Main Building. Thank goodness for the DIS or I would have been more than a little upset (though my wallet wouldn't have been, and I'm sure SL would have been just fine!)

 

[TammiMcMan]

Thanks, Tammi. I so appreciate all the knowledge you share on this board. I just can't understand how the CRO agents can be so misinformed.

I'm pretty sure that they're a call center group and maybe not even located in the state of Florida. Their information is probably limited to their own personal knowledge of WDW (if they have any) and what's available to them on their computer screen.

First, they booked me in Sugar Loaf, calling it Lodge Concierge and insisting it was the Main Building. Thank goodness for the DIS or I would have been more than a little upset.

That happened to me many years ago, before I found the DIS. I had stayed in the main building before and knew what I wanted. I was not a happy camper when I found out about the move to Sugar Loaf and by then, I couldn't do anything about it. Way back in 2000, Mr. Chas Rosenthal from the GF and I started out as friends trying to fix it, but it ended up badly . Georgina Susann or Susann Georgina was the GM back then and she wouldn't even take my phone calls. I'm sure there's a file on me somewhere within the Disney corporate archives ::cop: .

 

[theostwalts]

I know that AAA discounts apply to all rooms and I got an AP discount one year at the Yacht Club Concierge.

You are so lucky to have a concierge room for this time frame. I have been trying to get atleast SL since February for 11/30 -12/10 and nothing is available.

Lyn

Wow!! I just looked at the date on our confirmation and it was January 24th when I booked it. Glad we did not wait any longer. I know these rooms go fast so that is why I was wondering if you book one and have an AP if they will apply the code to the room. I did a search of "concierge" in the code section and found alot of good info.

 

[CastleLight]

I'm pretty sure that they're a call center group and maybe not even located in the state of Florida. Their information is probably limited to their own personal knowledge of WDW (if they have any) and what's available to them on their computer screen.

That happened to me many years ago, before I found the DIS. I had stayed in the main building before and knew what I wanted. I was not a happy camper when I found out about the move to Sugar Loaf and by then, I couldn't do anything about it. Way back in 2000, Mr. Chas Rosenthal from the GF and I started out as friends trying to fix it, but it ended up badly . Georgina Susann or Susann Georgina was the GM back then and she wouldn't even take my phone calls. I'm sure there's a file on me somewhere within the Disney corporate archives ::cop: .

Wow!!! I think its terrible that I as the resort guest aka paying customer can't tell from the printed confirmation what type of room I have booked. Theoretically, what you described above could happen to any of us. I don't know why the confirmation doesn't indicate what is booked, i.e., RPC, and what is requested i.e., balcony honeymoon room, non-smoking.
Oh well. Thanks again.