The **NEW** Grand Floridian FAQ!(MAY 2011)

[mariamouse]

That sounds more realistic.Dredging is nowhere near as drastic as draining but still not a nice experience on your stay at GF

Agreed. Maybe they are creating a pier/dock for the DVC property? I don't know how loud dredging is, but I am sure this means there will be yet another construction crane along the beach...

 

[Jungle Cruiser]

We are staying for 11 nights in Sugar Loaf starting Sept. 26th. Having the Seven Seas Lagoon dredged and not drained is better news. However, I am not going to let any construction spoil my vacation, I will be at the GF so I am happy. Needless to say we will take pictures of what's going on.

k&a&c'smom, no power yet, it may be a few more days at least. BUT we are so lucky that once Irene pulled out the weather is gorgeous in NJ. 75 to 80 degree days and in the low 60's at night, so at least we are comfortable in terms of weather!

Now I just need another KCmike picture tonight to make me smile!

 

[WDWKOOK]

We are staying for 11 nights in Sugar Loaf starting Sept. 26th. Having the Seven Seas Lagoon dredged and not drained is better news. However, I am not going to let any construction spoil my vacation, I will be at the GF so I am happy. Needless to say we will take pictures of what's going on.

k&a&c'smom, no power yet, it may be a few more days at least. BUT we are so lucky that once Irene pulled out the weather is gorgeous in NJ. 75 to 80 degree days and in the low 60's at night, so at least we are comfortable in terms of weather!

Now I just need another KCmike picture tonight to make me smile!

I just have to say that you have a great attitude and I know that you'll have a wonderful vacation no matter what. Looking forward to your photos and I do hope your power is back soon. Thanks for posting under such adverse conditions.

 

[KCmike]

We are staying for 11 nights in Sugar Loaf starting Sept. 26th. Having the Seven Seas Lagoon dredged and not drained is better news. However, I am not going to let any construction spoil my vacation, I will be at the GF so I am happy. Needless to say we will take pictures of what's going on.

k&a&c'smom, no power yet, it may be a few more days at least. BUT we are so lucky that once Irene pulled out the weather is gorgeous in NJ. 75 to 80 degree days and in the low 60's at night, so at least we are comfortable in terms of weather!

Now I just need another KCmike picture tonight to make me smile!

On its way.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Whew! I'm glad to hear it is not quite as horrible as first feared, although I feel for all the brides who will have to move their weddings. I can imagine the angst and disappointment, what a horrible thing to happen so close to the date. And for all those heading to the GF during those weeks, I'll keep my fingers crossed that the impact to the resort will be minimal.

WDWKOOK, thanks for staying on top of the linked thread!

Jungle Cruiser - I'm glad you are not in sweltering heat, at least! I'll be thinking of you and your neighbors, I hope the power is back on soon.

Looking forward to your photos!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Hey yall-
After much deliberation we have a main building (club level) standard room with theme park view room booked.
From your experience, what can we expect from this type of room?
We love the added convenience of club level. And we haven't experienced it before but I think we'll love sitting outside in the morning and evening on our balcony!
We have 2 kids-4 yr old and 3 months (6 months time of trip). We opted for the convenience of main building over the perks of an outer building suite.

What are the chances of being able to upgrade (meaning ask/pay for upgrade) to a main building suite on time of arrival?

Congrats on your GF booking! A main building TPV room will be located over Gasparilla's, overlooking the marina. Very pretty views! Here is a link to page 5 of the previous FAQ thread, minniesota posted some photos of the view (scroll down to post #71): http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2427062&page=5

I can't tell you how likely it is that there will be a suite open when you check in. If you think you will need a suite, my best advice is to book it now, as there is often nothing available in the main building when we check in. (never asked about the suites specifically)

 

[KCmike]

 

[ZacharyW]

Hi again everyone:

It is indeed good to know they are dredging, not draining. I can imagine the sheer logistics of trying to DRAIN something that large.

Does anyone have a map of the room numbers for the main building? I don't even know if it exists... but I thought it might help us in deciding between room shapes. I'm leaning towards the octagonal/turret, while my wife is leaning towards the rectangular.

 

[Jungle Cruiser]

Thanks for tonight's picture KCmike! That's a favorite view of mine. I love to sit on the benches outside Sugar Loaf, (with a snack of course) and look at the marina while the monorail goes by. No dredging or construction noise will take away from that spot!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

ZacharyW - I do not know of a map with room numbers, sorry. However, if you go to the first page of this thread, look at the map of the GF, there is a range of room numbers for the main building.

The second floor has only 9 honeymoon rooms, 4201-4209 (rectangular king deluxe rooms), while the 3rd & 4th floors have rooms 01-30 (the first number of the 4-digit room number is the building, the second the floor, and the last two the room - for some reason, the fifth floor in the main bldg. is designated with a zero). There are 6 octagonal king deluxe rooms, three will end with 21, the other three are on the opposite end of the hallway, so I assume will be rooms 30. The octagonal rooms are located around the lobby atrium, if we haven't mentioned that before - great for proximity to the lounge, and hearing the music in the evening!

HTH!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

10 weeks from today I'll be checking into GF for the first time!!!

When I eat at Citricos and Narcoossee's and they ask... "Are you staying here with us at the Grand Floridian?" I can say, "Yes, yes we are." Lol, I dunno why I enjoy that so much, but I do!!

 

[ldymcbth]

Disney is REALLY making me regret my resort choices for this trip.

I am so bummed that the boats won't be running that week - as of course that's the week we are there. We have 3 small kids going and all are really into the boats and the boats are easier on us as parents - guess we will have to find another way to let them ride boats somewhere.

Excuse my ignorance, but why won't the monorail be available that week either? Will we be able to get the monorail back from MK on MNSSHP Friday night of that week (9/30)?

Will the boat parade still happen?

I wish someone had told us this info when we booked, because we had several choices and ultimately chose GF due to the ease of transportation via boat OR monorail. I feel kind of deceived.

 

[mariamouse]

I am so bummed that the boats won't be running that week - as of course that's the week we are there. We have 3 small kids going and all are really into the boats and the boats are easier on us as parents - guess we will have to find another way to let them ride boats somewhere.

Excuse my ignorance, but why won't the monorail be available that week either? Will we be able to get the monorail back from MK on MNSSHP Friday night of that week (9/30)?

Will the boat parade still happen?

I wish someone had told us this info when we booked, because we had several choices and ultimately chose GF due to the ease of transportation via boat OR monorail. I feel kind of deceived.

The monorail now closes an hour after regular park closing, so the only options during EMH and MNSSHP/MVMCP are now the boat and bus. Given that the boat will not be running during your visit, it looks like your option will only be the bus for MNSSHP... unless, of course, they decide to run the monorail later since the boat will not be running. That seems unlikely, though. I am sorry you are disappointed and I agree that it does feel like the GF is deceiving its already-booked resort guests in not telling them *exactly* what is going on with construction. I'm sure the majority of upcoming non-DIS guests have no idea that any construction is going on! GF CMs should be hearing a lot of complaints in the next few months if the GF does not inform its guests soon about this.

NOT acceptable customer service for the most $ resort on property, IMO.

 

[ldymcbth]

The monorail now closes an hour after regular park closing, so the only options during EMH and MNSSHP/MVMCP are now the boat and bus. Given that the boat will not be running during your visit, it looks like your option will only be the bus for MNSSHP... unless, of course, they decide to run the monorail later since the boat will not be running. That seems unlikely, though. I am sorry you are disappointed and I agree that it does feel like the GF is deceiving its already-booked resort guests in not telling them *exactly* what is going on with construction. I'm sure the majority of upcoming non-DIS guests have no idea that any construction is going on! GF CMs should be hearing a lot of complaints in the next few months if the GF does not inform its guests soon about this.

NOT acceptable customer service for the most $ resort on property, IMO.

Oh heavens. My sister is going to have a FIT when she finds out we will have to take the bus back from MNSSHP. This SUCKS. I know we just happen to hit during the week that's a problem, but you know, it's the week we will be on vacation! If reservations had mentioned this when we booked, we had 3 other weeks we could have traveled, but we chose this one b/c GF was open for us and we thought - yippee!

I agree that this is NOT acceptable customer service when we are paying so much to stay there AND made decisions about resorts based on transportation options and ease of travel.

I guess we will just deal with it.

 

[coopersmom]

The monorail now closes an hour after regular park closing, so the only options during EMH and MNSSHP/MVMCP are now the boat and bus. Given that the boat will not be running during your visit, it looks like your option will only be the bus for MNSSHP... unless, of course, they decide to run the monorail later since the boat will not be running. That seems unlikely, though. I am sorry you are disappointed and I agree that it does feel like the GF is deceiving its already-booked resort guests in not telling them *exactly* what is going on with construction. I'm sure the majority of upcoming non-DIS guests have no idea that any construction is going on! GF CMs should be hearing a lot of complaints in the next few months if the GF does not inform its guests soon about this.

NOT acceptable customer service for the most $ resort on property, IMO.

Has lack of boat transport been confirmed/verified? And, if so, for what dates?

This is incredibly frustrating and I can't believe a hotel of this supposed caliber and undisputed price point isn't going out of its way to proactively inform guests of the construction and how it will, or will not, effect their stay.

 

[mariamouse]

Has lack of boat transport been confirmed/verified? And, if so, for what dates?

This is incredibly frustrating and I can't believe a hotel of this supposed caliber and undisputed price point isn't going out of its way to proactively inform guests of the construction and how it will, or will not, effect their stay.

I am not sure whether or not lack of boat transport has been confirmed for September. I just assumed ldymcbth posted about lack of boat transport since she had seen it announced elsewhere. My apologies if it is running and my post sounds deceiving!

Regardless, I do think that the GF should proactively be informing its guests about everything that IS confirmed and will impact their stays.. i.e. dredging along the beach, construction walls/cranes/noise, shorter monorail hours, etc. Lack of boat transport would just be another nail in the coffin for these resort guests.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

the boats will be fine. as more information has come out.... it looks like all the work will be more of dredging around the wedding pavilion.

i also think i read that the monorail is going to stay open during the ticket events like mnsshp and mvmcp.

 

[mariamouse]

i also think i read that the monorail is going to stay open during the ticket events like mnsshp and mvmcp.

Where did you see that info? I really hope you are correct, but everything else I have read states that the monorail will close an hour after regular park closing even on ticketed party nights.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Where did you see that info? I really hope you are correct, but everything else I have read states that the monorail will close an hour after regular park closing even on ticketed party nights.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2788676

This is the thread that I saw. When I read it--it was new--before all the updates. From what I'm reading now--no one really knows. I knew I had skimmed something the other day.

 

[Jungle Cruiser]

the boats will be fine. as more information has come out.... it looks like all the work will be more of dredging around the wedding pavilion.

i also think i read that the monorail is going to stay open during the ticket events like mnsshp and mvmcp.

Nice to hear! So far in the past 24 hours the rumors have gone from draining Seven Seas Lagoon to dredging part of the lagoon. If the dredging is by the wedding pavillion it really shouldn't affect anyone's stay too much. I do feel badly for the scheduled wedding parties though. I for one am just happy I will be at the GF then, dredging or not!

Maybe we will see you at Narcoossees, we are going on 10/1. A couple of times when we have gone there while we were staying at the GF, we have gotten menus with our name on top to take home! It's a great souvenir, so make sure you check. We almost missed it the first time.