Hello Everybody,
We just got back from 7 nights at the GF. It was our first stay ever and the first trip to WDW for our 18 month old Alex. Overall, we certainly had a "Grand" time and would likely return to stay at the GF in the future.
We did have a few "hicups" at the GF however. The first being our room. DW had requested no down pillows or bedding and no perfume cleaners in the room and requested a room near the monorail station. (We were in a GV room so we knew we would not be in the main building.) When we checked in we had a nice room at Sago on the marina side. Great view. But it was a single king bed and we had requested two queens. (Due to medical issues with my son, he can't really sleep in a crib, so we wanted two queens.) The front desk said they would move us and send someone to take us to our new rooms. The CM showed up and gave us our new keys, pointed out the new building on the map and left. So, we wandered around and found our new room in Big Pine which was great since it was closer to the monorail station.
They gave us a dormer room up on the 5th floor. While this was a fine room too, it was significantly smaller (no day bed). We had six bags plus carry on bags and stroller and couldn't see fitting comfortably in that room. Reluctantly we asked for another change which the front desk gave us, but gave us a little flak for it...saying that we should have let them know our preferences. I wasn't aware that I had tell them I wanted a standard two queen GV room when that's exactly what I had reserved in the first place.
Anyway, the third room was the charm. 3rd floor, Big Pine, looking towards the pool...except our view was more like the side of the next building over. But it was still a nice view anyway and the room was exactly what we had expexted in the first place.
Housekeeping left alot to be desired. No towel animals all week. Missing towels, missing wash cloths. They would occasionally take our robes out and not replace them. Some nights they day bed would be made up (we never asked for that) some nights it would not be. We had bed rails requested for one of the queens. Sometimes the bed rails would be taken out, some nights they would not be. Hotel cups and mugs would often not be replaced.
Frankly, I had better housekeeping service at the Value resorts everytime I have stayed there. We talked to someone about it (and the fact that it took 3-5 minutes to get hot water running in the room every day) and they said that was not acceptable and gave us a $100 room credit. We thought that was more than fair and left the matter closed. We did stop tipping the housekeeper halfway through the trip after the housekeeping manager made it clear that we do NOT have to tip.
Now, that sounds like alot of complaining...and maybe it is....but honestly, we had a great time and really loved the GF. We had alot of good CM interaction while we stayed there. The band took a short break inbetween songs to talk to us and our son. The Photo Pass people on 2nd floor in the lobby were really great and loved our son too. Richard the doorman was a real treat too. It was these nice CM interactions, the location, and the beautiful surroundings, that make the Deluxe Resort stand out from the Value Resort. I will likely stay in Value resorts again of course, but I do see the difference in the Deluxe. I don't think I would stay in a Deluxe every time I went down....but I am sure glad I did get to experience it.
By the way, dinner at Narcoosee's was fantastic. Loved it. Loved our server, loved the food, loved the location, loved watching "Wishes" out on the deck. It was probably our best meal of the trip. Gasperialla's was small. Very small compared to a food court in a value resort. But they had great, fresh baked items for breakfast.
Thanks for the help from everyone in this thread. We had a "grand" time!
Eric
For me anyway.
They are all pricier than the standard GV or LV or TPV rooms.
..but it's the same..top floor Lodge Tower room = no balcony....but they have nice high vaulted ceilings. In June, though, I would want a balcony. I would miss it if it were summer time.
Thanks again.
which i really can't afford right now.. So i decided to look at the GF and low and behold they have some GV with the 4/3 deal avail! that being said:
