The *NEW* Grand Floridian Resort and Spa FAQ thread (Nov 2007)

[Lives4Disney]

Please some help here. I am taking my wife on a surprise trip to WDW in the next two weeks. Is the lobby under construction or not. Did they take the marble out and replace it with something else. We are going to be at the GF the week of the 18th, and don't want to spend this kind of money if we can't use the lobby. Please someone, anyone......

It isn't under construction at this point. They took out the old tile last month and put in carpet (which reports say looks very nice) temporarily until some special order marble tile arrives from Italy. I believe somebody posted that would happen in May. You should be fine!!!! ENJOY!

Mr. Mike....ya it is hard to say. The main building is so convenient and the atmosphere is lovely IMO. I have not seen a one bedrm suite in an outer lodge, so I don't know. If it was absolutely beautiful I might be tempted. There is a beautiful one bedroom suite in the main building -that only sleeps 4 though. It has the vaulted ceilings and just seems so charming and cosy. I'd love that one. I am sorry - can't be of help. Too many wonderful choices.

Lives4Disney

 

[triplefigs]

Denise, I am glad you got into the CR like you originally wanted for your kids. We REALLY like the YC....(kind of the same as BC ) I would have to say it's our second favorite resort. You'll make it back to the GF one of these days! Maybe you and Mr. Triplefigs should take a trip and stay there - just the two of you.

Well, my 40th b'day is next year... Might have to mention it a few times!

 

[Lives4Disney]

Well, my 40th b'day is next year... Might have to mention it a few times!

Go for it!!!

Does anybody know that email to WDW guest services????? I have a friend that just got back from WDW and stayed at CBR & would love to follow up on some issues that she discussed with a manager when she was there. I need to talk her into splurging for the GF on her next trip. I am almost there.

THANKS,

Lives4Disney

 

[arbonnette]

I know it has been said, but I am still at the GF now and the lobby looks great. I am told June is the projected time for replacement of the tile ... That is all the info. I have about that ...

So I have been following the room assignment discussion and I have to say, I had never made a room request at any Disney resort before. On this trip, I requested a castle view in RPC, but it was noted on my reservation as a TP view, and that IS what I got. So even though I was a bit disappointed to not see the castle, I do have a great view and it IS TP because I can see Space Mountain clear as day. Also, we are super close to the lounge (right around the corner). Didn't ask for that, only asked for castle, but the room was decorated and all for my DD and I didn't have the true desire to ask for a different room and it all worked out because of the proximity to the lounge.

Never, you should have said Hi to Praline. I would have felt weird too, but I am sure she would have thought it was great to see somebody from on here!

We tried to book the bounceback offer for Sept., but no RPC, and my mom is now convinced she cannot stay anywhere else So we are booking the week after Thanksgiving. My DD will be in kindergarten, still young enough to miss school! I am excited already and I am not even back home yet. We have two more days here, then back to Louisiana!

I have to keep up with this thread daily or I get totally lost!
I need to add a new ticker! Another GF-loving family has been made.
- Andrea

 

[NeverSayNever]

Evening Everyone!

Mr Mike... Oh you are so right... listening to the band in the lounge is so great. One evening I was there and talking with one of the CM's and the piano player was doing a tune from Phantom of the Opera (one of my favorties) it was glorious! I could not believe all the lush sounds I was hearing from just a piano. Yikes, only two trips to Disney, one RPC (by luck and magic) and now I've become an addict... someone help me!

JPN4265... Having jsut arrived home this past Tuesday 2/5 I will attest the lobby is still gorgeous not under construction... even if it has only carpet. Honestly if you did not know different you would think it was perfect... (it is...except we know about the marble...).

Wishes and Lives4... Yup... I think you have figured it out! Can you believe the odds of that happening... checking in at the same exact time??


The CM's in RPC were awesome! They saved our trip a couple of times as we had to make some quick juggling of our days and they did wonders with are ADR's doing, undoing and redoing... it saved me so much time, headaches etc etc... and I doubt we would have gotten to 1900PF without them. I am pretty sure I spke with Vonnie (Sp?) one evening.. chit chat stuff... do you recall if she is from NJ?


IrisBud... I think we all want your lucky rabbitsfoot... WOW... that is an awesome string of rooms.


Triplefigs... Ya know, I have found whatever makes my kids happy inevitable makes me a happy camper... I am sure you will have a great time! BTW, I hope your son is doing well.

WerFamily... I am so anticipating your review and the for who it is... As Lives4 mentioned, will you be able to post at all while there?

Arbonnette... Glad to see that I am not the only one on missing Kindergarten... We actually did book the bounceback for Sept... SL... I am hoping maybe something would open up in RPC. And dare I say I am trying to convine DP that we need to go again in April for a couple of days... (shorter trips seem to work bettter for us) I really want to try YC... I keep hearing/reading good things but... GF does seem to have my heart and well $'s... Please someone point my to the GF Anonymous Group...

More pics...


I thought I would include this one from our balcony as it shows a little bit more of the walkway etc befor the actually marina starts... maybe gives a better perspective.

And, for fun more fireworks... the firworks the night of the P&P party were awesome.

Best,

 

[Lives4Disney]

Never, I love your pics. I love that view. It's my favorite.

Yes, Vonnie is from NJ. I talked to her on the phone a couple times last week and she said the place was really quiet. The RPC concierge CMs & the lounge CMs always make our stays special. Um...just wait until Praline gets back and discovers you saw her and didn't say "hey!".

Well, I found the email to guest relations for my friend. SHe had a hideous stay at CBR - first time there and it's her last....of course her room request wasn't met. Her main issue was horrid housekeeping - the room was filthy so she switched rroms and it was better but not clean.

I didn't even see any bounce back offers in our RPC room in Nov. I bet they don't discount rpc.

Arbonnette, keep enjoying your time there. Soak it all in.

Lives4Disney

 

[werfamily]

Yes, it's getting close! We will have a laptop with us, and I will try to post at least once.

One non-GF question for you all...we're big shoppers, and I've heard many of you mention that you had your purchased shipped back to the GF. Can you also just have them ship things home for you? Is it a huge hassle?

 

[BCV23]

Yes, it's getting close! We will have a laptop with us, and I will try to post at least once.

One non-GF question for you all...we're big shoppers, and I've heard many of you mention that you had your purchased shipped back to the GF. Can you also just have them ship things home for you? Is it a huge hassle?

It is so simple. I always choose that route instead of room delivery. Just tell the CM when you purchase that you wish to ship home. You'll get another form to fill out. You will pay no FL taxes which can easily offset the delivery cost. I have always chosen the cheapest delivery option. Delivery has always been quite fast in my experience. Faster than the estimate. Shipping is sooo much easier and WDW does a fantastic job packing even the most fragile items.

 

[praline3001]

Hi everyone!!! We just got back. Its 12:30 at night and we are BEAT!
I have sore muscles in places I didn't know muscles exsisted!!!!!
We loved loved loved the grand. We had a wonderful magical time.
I will post lots of pics and stuff after I sleep for the next 3 days strait.
A few quick updates for those leaving soon

1. the courtyard pool opened up on Thursday night.

2. Conch Key had a water pipe burst and some of the rooms flooded.... luckily not ours but some did flood. They cleaned it up really quick and were redecorating the rooms from carpet up. Surprisingly they did it around the guest so we weren't put out very bad at all... except the first night when they were dragging out carpet at 11:30PM AACKKK ... but the guy nicely explained when I opened my door if they didn't get the carpet out ASAP it would start smelling REALLY bad.... being through Katrina I knew the smell and understood so no problems....

I will post more later but I was soooo happy with the grand... could not have been happier. The people there were so friendly and kind. One night after the parks I was trying to carry/drag my DD back to the room and one of the guys who worked there took pity on me and picked her up and carried her to the room for me

Now I am off to bed to sleep for at least 36 hours

 

[praline3001]

Welcome to all our new friends that have just come the thread... there is a wealth of information here.... certainly I have learned a lot!

DVC Mary... Hope everything went well and you are now enjoying Disney!

Bama... Have a great time!!!

WerFamily... Can't believe your down to 10 days COOL! I have to say, our first experience to Disney and GF was 9/07... Check-in for us was smooth and I asked where our room was and they showed me the map and I kinda made a face... I wasn't sure (for some reason in my mind I thought it would be best to be in Sago)... they then offered us a room in Sago with a Marina view, although it had not been refurbished yet... We went with that... until we got to the room and I discovered our view was blocked by 2 trees... (the room itself was gorgeous... I liked it better then the rehab rooms) I called and they were wonderful and moved us back to a room in Conch which still had a marina view and was very nice. (we had only reserved GV... but I think these were the marina views that are considered GV). So not a repeat guest... CM's that were trying please us.

I guess my point is, if you ask at check in were you are and it doesn't seem to be what you have your heart set on... politely ask again...what do you have to risk... they say sorry, we can do that.

Also, I agree, although the information may or may not be available to the assigners I don't think they look back in detail on a guests history. How could they have the time? Yes, some maybe flagged for different reasons but to do that for every repeat guest... doesn't seem possible or realistic based on what I have seen/know.

Ok, so for the inquiring minds... Hmmm.. Let's just say when we were waiting to check in a family came up behind us who had the most beautiful Princess Jasmine. We had a sentence or two of brief "Is this the line" kinda of chat. While waiting I then realized who it was... and although I wanted to say something... I didn't... I thought it might be rude... not appropriate... not sure what the right term is but at the same time I really wanted to say Hi... I am Never and are you and I know you from... So there's my little story. What would you have done or how would you feel if? I did find the odds of that happening rather remarkable though...

Thanks for the kind words on the pix... am uploading more tonight, not sure that I have any other GF ones, but will see.

Best,

PS... Wer Family... Just saw your post above... For what it is worth I did have some specific requests on room location etc. for our first visit. Maybe I am in the minority but I think if you follow these boards or similiar a lot of 1st timers do put in requests.

Hey I think I know who you are now too!!!
You should have said something
My DD went from Jasmine to a pirate to cindy to looking like a homeless person by the last day

 

[Tink rules]

Yes, it's getting close! We will have a laptop with us, and I will try to post at least once.

One non-GF question for you all...we're big shoppers, and I've heard many of you mention that you had your purchased shipped back to the GF. Can you also just have them ship things home for you? Is it a huge hassle?

Another option for you is to call either Mousekeeping or Guest Service/concierge and have them send you up a box and tape - they will take it to the front desk and ship it for you. I've also heard that you can either take it to one of the shops or Guest Concierge and they will pack it for you - also they cover it if anything breaks...

I've done the self packing... maybe will try the other next time!!!

Good luck!

 

[Nicole721]

I can't wait for our return trip to the GF this August!

The pic of the fireworks off the balcony reminds me of our last trip. We had PERFECT seats for Illuminations but it started to pour so we high-tailed it to the monorail. Of course, by the time we got back to the hotel, it was dry out. So, we hammocked for awhile and went shopping a bit before going back to our room in BPK.

I was looking at the pool (we had a "garden view" room, but we had a perfect view of the pool) because there was a just-married couple walking around and all the sudden I hear fireworks. No idea where they were coming from, but it was SUCH a magical moment. And they lasted FOREVER!

I wish I took pics of it, but I was videotaping instead.

Remembering it makes me want to watch the tape again!

 

[Aliceacc]

All you GF experts:

My sister, her husband and their 3 daughters are staying at the GF, garden view, in July. Her kids are 13, 8 and 6.

Are there any rooms or buildings she should specifically request or avoid?

Any other things a first timer might not know that would make a difference?

 

[whogirl'smom]

Really looking forward to Praline's report after she gets settled in! I've been trying to keep up with this thread every day, and it is keeping me so excited for our trip--it's killing me to wait 10 months. I keep thinking we'll go all out commando during our 2 days/3 nights at Pop, just to get most things done, so I can lounge around the GF the next 3!

For the above poster, everybody here has been so great to be detailed about their roomviews, but I know it's hard to read through 100 pages! It seems like any garden view is a good view except those few rooms on the back of Sago that look at the convention center. I like the veterans' advice to look at the map when you are assigned your room, and if you don't care for the location, politely ask if they have a different room. Knowing this will keep me from obsessing over whether I get a room request or not; hopefully it will help your sister, too!

 

[Aliceacc]

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

Good Morning All, Does anyone know if you can request a late check out, what time it is and if there is an additional charge for it? TIA

 

[HockeyMomR]

Good Morning All, Does anyone know if you can request a late check out, what time it is and if there is an additional charge for it? TIA

Yes, you can request a 1:00 checkout time. This would be free, any later time you would be charged. I am not sure of the price. Request early, we did not receive our request last July; I believe requests are only taken the day before checkout as early as 7:00 AM and only a certain number of early checkout requests are granted. Good Luck!

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

Yes, you can request a 1:00 checkout time. This would be free, any later time you would be charged. I am not sure of the price. Request early, we did not receive our request last July; I believe requests are only taken the day before checkout as early as 7:00 AM and only a certain number of early checkout requests are granted. Good Luck!

Thanks HockeyMom, I will be sure to get there at that time to request this.

 

[Lives4Disney]

Thanks HockeyMom, Do you think I should call and have them add it to my reservation as a request or do it at check in? Sorry for the all the questions.

Not Hockeymom here, but we have only had it granted ONCE and that was til noon only.....our CM friend even made the call down to the front desk and pleaded our case for us (we are "magical, repeat guests, etc ), lol....they are hardnosed about late check outs!!!

I believe you should request it at check in at the front desk and they have told us to call down the day before and verify that they can grant the late check out.

Praline!!! Welcome back!!! Thanks for checking in! Can't wait to hear more details about your trip when you're rested up...maybe about Tuesday haha. I think they just got done fixing a water main in Conch...or something big like that in Conch actually a few weeks ago.

Happy day,

Lives4Disney

 

[CoachBagFanatic]

Not Hockeymom here, but we have only had it granted ONCE and that was til noon only.....our CM friend even made the call down to the front desk and pleaded our case for us (we are "magical, repeat guests, etc ), lol....they are hardnosed about late check outs!!!

I believe you should request it at check in at the front desk and they have told us to call down the day before and verify that they can grant the late check out.

Praline!!! Welcome back!!! Thanks for checking in! Can't wait to hear more details about your trip when you're rested up...maybe about Tuesday haha. I think they just got done fixing a water main in Conch...or something big like that in Conch actually a few weeks ago.

Happy day,

Lives4Disney

Thanks Lives4Disney, We are staying SLC so I guess I should request it when we check in with them?