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

[pas130]

KCMike and txchick Wonderful pics

DJDisneyKid Nice video. And Congrats!!!

 

[tobin04]

Hi everyone! We check into the Grand on Thursday! This trip snuck up on me. We booked with a bounceback offer while we were there in May. I just really wanted to take my girls to the Christmas Party!

Anyhoo-Last time we stayed RPC, and LOVED it-but it wasn't available!!! So, can you give me suggestions? Do I request a building? Or should I just wing it? We are only staying for 3 nights. My girls are 7 and almost 2. I know we were so spoiled last time, being so close to the monorail and everything else! I'm sure wherever we land will be fine, but would you request a particular building??? We are supposed to have a connecting room with my Mom.

 

[pas130]

Hi everyone! We check into the Grand on Thursday! This trip snuck up on me. We booked with a bounceback offer while we were there in May. I just really wanted to take my girls to the Christmas Party!

Anyhoo-Last time we stayed RPC, and LOVED it-but it wasn't available!!! So, can you give me suggestions? Do I request a building? Or should I just wing it? We are only staying for 3 nights. My girls are 7 and almost 2. I know we were so spoiled last time, being so close to the monorail and everything else! I'm sure wherever we land will be fine, but would you request a particular building??? We are supposed to have a connecting room with my Mom.

I didn't know you were going back! That's fantastic!!!! I think you will be fine anywhere, just because it's not that big of a resort...you are close to everything!!! Are you booked in any particular view??? Enjoy your trip

I made a little change today Shocking, right?? My DH thought I was insane for booking a suite, so now we have 2 Main Building TPV rooms I am OK with it, no sitting area, but we have more beds for all of us, and a TPV Plus I can tell DH I saved more $$$

 

[sjs314]

I didn't know you were going back! That's fantastic!!!! I think you will be fine anywhere, just because it's not that big of a resort...you are close to everything!!! Are you booked in any particular view??? Enjoy your trip

I made a little change today Shocking, right?? My DH thought I was insane for booking a suite, so now we have 2 Main Building TPV rooms I am OK with it, no sitting area, but we have more beds for all of us, and a TPV Plus I can tell DH I saved more $$$

pas- look for me at the highway entrance the day you leave to drive down. Main Bldg TPV that is my dream place to stay at GF Normally I lurk on this thread but I could not resist a reply when I saw your post today.
BTW very shocking indeed that you made a change.

 

[pas130]

pas- look for me at the highway entrance the day you leave to drive down. Main Bldg TPV that is my dream place to stay at GF Normally I lurk on this thread but I could not resist a reply when I saw your post today.
BTW very shocking indeed that you made a change.

Hold a sign up so I can tell my DH to pick you up!!!

 

[eah7]

Hi All,
I confirmed our reservation for 2/28-29 SL CL and I am really excited. I love the YC but I went with my heart and booked the GF. It is our anniversary and my husband says I deserve whatever I want!

Now I have to figure out what and where to eat. We will be off site for several days so I figure I can get a few signatures in if we want. Or we can go to Shula's or Blue Zoo. Lots to do before we get there!!

Now I can confess my deciding factor for GF CL, the afternoon tea and champagne! What a way to celebrate!

Thanks for all of your suggestions and advice!

 

[pixarmom]

I
I made a little change today Shocking, right?? My DH thought I was insane for booking a suite, so now we have 2 Main Building TPV rooms I am OK with it, no sitting area, but we have more beds for all of us, and a TPV Plus I can tell DH I saved more $$$

pas130, when I first saw this, I thought "oh no!" because BWI and GF are such great choices! We're huge fans of BWI CL, and after following this thread, I think we'll love GF. We like to try lots of different resorts, but I usually stick with my first resort choice at Disney and change ADRs instead. For other trips, I'm a resort/hotel changer - just switched our Santa Barbara hotel for our San Francisco to Newport trip in February.

KC Mike, beautiful photo!

And txchick, love the holiday flowers - thanks so much for sharing!

DJ Disney Kid - great video! Fun to see that much of GF in just three minutes! Congratulations on the wedding!

 

[BCV23]

Count us in as another family excited about GF DVC. Looks lovely.

pas130, wonderful plans. Is your daughter excited?


DJ, looking forward to watching your video.

 

[pas130]

Hi All,
I confirmed our reservation for 2/28-29 SL CL and I am really excited. I love the YC but I went with my heart and booked the GF. It is our anniversary and my husband says I deserve whatever I want!

Now I have to figure out what and where to eat. We will be off site for several days so I figure I can get a few signatures in if we want. Or we can go to Shula's or Blue Zoo. Lots to do before we get there!!

Now I can confess my deciding factor for GF CL, the afternoon tea and champagne! What a way to celebrate!

Thanks for all of your suggestions and advice!

You will have a Grand trip!!!

pas130, when I first saw this, I thought "oh no!" because BWI and GF are such great choices! We're huge fans of BWI CL, and after following this thread, I think we'll love GF. We like to try lots of different resorts, but I usually stick with my first resort choice at Disney and change ADRs instead. For other trips, I'm a resort/hotel changer - just switched our Santa Barbara hotel for our San Francisco to Newport trip in February.

I just know you will LOVE GF!!! My DH is trying to get me to do an all Poly trip....but I just CAN'T I need my GF!!!

Count us in as another family excited about GF DVC. Looks lovely.

pas130, wonderful plans. Is your daughter excited?

They are all excited....but my DD5 and DD4 are with daddy and want the Poly all the way...and this morning....HRH was back on the BC

 

[k&a&c'smom]

pas130 - LOL about the change! I think you made a good choice, I'd do the two RPC rooms over the suite, and save the extra for great meals.

Sorry your family has started a mutiny.

BCV23 - I know it is an exciting announcement for your family. Woohoo!

eah7 - Congrats on your GF anniversary trip! We, too, love the afternoon tea and evening champagne in the CL lounge.

We enjoy all the restaurants at the GF, and especially Citricos and Narcoossee's. If you want a quiet, more romantic meal, Citricos is wonderful; Narcoossee's is more noisy, but has a lovely view of the water - nice if you can snag a table near the windows during EWP and/or Wishes!

If you want an all-out fabulous meal, V&A's is the place!

 

[pas130]

pas130 - LOL about the change! I think you made a good choice, I'd do the two RPC rooms over the suite, and save the extra for great meals.

Sorry your family has started a mutiny.

It's really funny. I gave him Vero Beach...you'd think he'd give me the Grand...

 

[eah7]

eah7 - Congrats on your GF anniversary trip! We, too, love the afternoon tea and evening champagne in the CL lounge.

We enjoy all the restaurants at the GF, and especially Citricos and Narcoossee's. If you want a quiet, more romantic meal, Citricos is wonderful; Narcoossee's is more noisy, but has a lovely view of the water - nice if you can snag a table near the windows during EWP and/or Wishes!

If you want an all-out fabulous meal, V&A's is the place![/QUOTE]

Thanks. We ate at Narcoossee's last November and I was unimpressed. DD worked hard to find restaurants she knew would work for her family so we ate there instead of some other places. I am looking at Citricos tho.

I thought about V&A's but I'm not sure I can convince my husband to bring along a sports coat, etc. He is such a spoil sport!

When I confirmed the reservation yesterday, the CM asked if I was ready to make ADR's and I had to confess I wasn't at the point yet! Last year, I had 8 months to plan...this year, 2 1/2 months!

 

[pas130]

No more RPC for 2012....I know the Grand isn't going anywhere....but DH decided no split stay...and we could NOT decide as a family between GF and Poly. So our compromise was BC (which DH says I will change again anyway). So I will keep fingers crossed for a BB, maybe I can talk DH into another F&W getaway . And of course we HAVE to come back when fantasyland is done....so I will still hang here. Cause I love it here, but we will be at BC for our Spring break trip. Saved a bundle (BC was 30% off) and we have LV CL rooms

 

[pixarmom]

No more RPC for 2012....I know the Grand isn't going anywhere....but DH decided no split stay...and we could NOT decide as a family between GF and Poly. So our compromise was BC (which DH says I will change again anyway). So I will keep fingers crossed for a BB, maybe I can talk DH into another F&W getaway . And of course we HAVE to come back when fantasyland is done....so I will still hang here. Cause I love it here, but we will be at BC for our Spring break trip. Saved a bundle (BC was 30% off) and we have LV CL rooms

pas130, the good thing about your resort changes is that you continue to choose resorts that I either know I love or am excited to try! So you just shuffle amongst a whole variety of good choices!

 

[pas130]

pas130, the good thing about your resort changes is that you continue to choose resorts that I either know I love or am excited to try! So you just shuffle amongst a whole variety of good choices!

Too funny. Glad you popped in! k&a&c'smom and BCV23 are BC fans too It was a standoff between DH and I, now we are all excited (I am a wee bit bummed) But the IPO at BC have been good to me. And we can walk to Epcot, which is pretty AWESOME

 

[mariamouse]

Hi all!

Well, we just returned from a magical 4-night stay at the Grand!

We checked in on Friday afternoon and received a complimentary upgrade from garden view to lagoon view! Our room was in Boca Chica and the room # was 8211. Had we actually paid for a LV room, I probably would not have been too happy with this room since it is blocked on the left by a wall that juts out for what I imagine are the theme park view rooms. Straight ahead from our room, we could see the Contemporary/BLT and Space Mtn if we leaned to the very right edge of our balcony. We, of course, were grateful to be in any lagoon view room, but just a heads up for those of you who pay for LV and want a more expansive view from your balcony-- this may not be the room for you. We absolutely loved hearing the train/boat whistles from our room each morning and could even hear the MK rope drop performance clearly as well.

As for the room itself, we were only moderately pleased. We received a 35% discount pin and visited during low season, so we were okay with the room condition for what we paid. That being said, I cannot imagine spending $400+/nt for the room we received. There was very visible tile grout along the edges of the bathroom shower and we did not find the beds particularly comfortable. The bedsheets felt quite stiff and scratchy and the pillows were stiff as well. Thankfully, we received softer down pillows later in our stay after we requested them from the maid. I could not fall asleep the first night because of that stiff pillow! We were so tired every other night of our stay, though, that we were able to sleep well. As for the room furniture, it definitely needs to be replaced ASAP! There were strings of fabric falling on the sides of the bed ottomans, as well as the couch. Unfortunately, our balcony was also very dirty and covered with lots of dead bugs. Obviously WDW cannot control the bug population, but I do think that the balcony should be swept/cleaned in addition to the room. Needless to say, we did not make much use of the balcony, but did enjoy the view from inside our room.

On a more positive note, we were very pleased with the spaciousness of the room and received great turn down service each day. We were greeted with a towel Mickey and towel duck when we arrived in our room for the first time and received chocolates on our beds each night as well. It should be noted, though, that we tipped mousekeeping quite generously each day-- not sure if that helped. As for Boca Chica itself, we loved the central location and I loved walking back into our building each night to that cinnamon scent coming in from the air vents and the lovely Christmas tree in the mini lobby. I was not expecting Christmas music to be playing in the individual buildings, but it was a very pleasant surprise since I love Christmas music.

We did not dine at too many of the GF restaurants, but did enjoy breakfast at Grand Floridian Cafe one morning and afternoon tea at the Garden View Tea Lounge. Both dining experiences were lovely and I would be happy to share further if any of you are curious! The other sit-down restaurants we dined at during our trip were 'Ohana (dinner), Jiko, Le Cellier (lunch), California Grill and Tusker House (lunch) in case you guys are curious about those as well. We enjoyed all of our dining experiences.

As for the GF atmosphere, it was amazing! We visited all of the deluxe resorts during our stay and each of us agreed that the GF is the most impressive at Christmas time. We loved listening to the GF Orchestra play so much that we purchased their Christmas CD in the gift shop. The music played by the pianist was lovely as well. The Christmas trees/garland/gingerbread house were all truly impressive and that vanilla smell when you walk into the lobby is just . Room cleanliness issues aside, we all agreed that we had chosen the perfect resort for our first December trip. The combination of decorations, live music and location just cannot be beat! After the GF, though, I would choose either the WL or BWI for a Christmas stay since those lobby decorations were amazing as well.

Transportation to and from the GF was great. We never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus to/from the DHS or AK. Boat service was also very fast to/from the MK and we did not experience any monorail issues either. The only thing I am still sort of peeved about is Disney's decision to shut down the monorail an hour after regular park closing. We had a 7:30 reservation at California Grill our last night and did not finish dinner until a few minutes after 10 due to a long wait for our table and fairly slow service. The MK closed at 9pm, so we were out of luck. Instead of just hopping on the monorail to go from the CR to GF, we had to walk to the MK and take the boat from there. I was already aware of the new monorail policy from the DIS, but many people in line for the boat with us were expressing their frustration that the GF had not informed them of this and that it was an outrage to have the monorail down when you are paying to have easy access to it. I completely agree with them and wish that Disney would share whether or not this monorail policy is temporary. I certainly hope it is. We were happy, though, to see that the monorail was running during MVMCP (which was incredible, BTW!)

As always, the GF grounds are insanely beautiful and we loved being able to see the castle lit up at night. The weather was great-- in the mid-high 70s every day with the sun out most of the time. We did experience a rainy night and rainy morning on two days of our trip, but neither lasted too long. The pools were never crowded at the GF and we wished that we had more time to take advantage of them in the great weather! DVC construction did not impact our stay at all-- the view from the beach is definitely less stellar because of the walls/cranes, but noise was nonexistent. I mostly feel that the construction is impacting those brides who are getting married at the Wedding Pavilion in the coming months. After seeing the walls on the side of the pavilion and the total lack of a GF view from the entryway, I would not be okay with getting married there.

It is always sad to leave WDW, although I must admit that I much prefer the colder temperatures back home during the holiday season. As impressed as we were by the Christmas decorations and amazing shows, it just never truly felt like Christmas to us while we were there for some reason. I guess we are just not used to being surrounded by palm trees and heat during the holiday season! I think we will stick to our late winter trips in the future, but am still glad that we experienced Christmas time at Disney. I guess it is true, though, that there is no place quite like home for the holidays.

Thank you all so much again for your helpful advice and well wishes prior to our trip! I would be so happy to answer any questions you may have about our GF stay and hopefully will be able to figure out how to upload my pictures on here eventually too. I hope this was helpful!

 

[pas130]

Welcome home mariamouse! Yay for an upgrade, sorry about the bugs...I am glad you enjoyed your trip. My DH says the same thing about the holidays...but I would LOVE to just tour the resorts just once to check out the decor

 

[WDWKOOK]

Here is an AllEars link to the officially announced (VGF) Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/dnews/2011/12/disney_vacation_club_announces.html

Will some "Lagoon Views" be changed to "VGF Views"?

 

[bowbat]

Thanks for your report, mariamouse! You know, we had the same issue with a dirty balcony at BWI. No bugs, but there were some obvious pieces of trash out there, so it clearly had not been cleaned with the room. The next day, however, it was cleaned.

The whole monorail thing is a mess.

Glad you enjoyed your stay overall. Oh, and as a Floridian, let me just say you adapt to the warm Christmases *really* quickly.

 

[pixarmom]

mariamouse, thanks for that very helpful report! It's always good to know about the negative as well as the positive, so that we have realistic expectations when we arrive. Sounds funny, but it always adds to our enjoyment of the trip when we know to expect a few not-so-perfect things. Sounds like a great trip and I LOVE your ADRs - you listed several of our favorites!

If I remember correctly (but maybe I'm not!) you joined the Dis at quite a young age! I mention that because our 11- and 12-year-olds are requesting Dis accounts. Actually, they've been requesting them for some time and have already selected screen names (both are still available - they occasionally ask me to check.) I'd be interested to hear about your participation as a pre-teen and teen!