*The Official VILLAS AT DISNEY'S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA Owners & Lovers Group* - LOBBY REFURB BEGAN 4/14!

[mrsap]

Currently I have a resort studio Lagoon View booked and I am on a waitlist for a Deluxe Studio Lake View. Should I really care if my waitlist is fulfilled? Being on the water is the view the same? Also has the Deluxe Studios also been refurbished or just the Resort Studios? I guess I am just trying to figure out the advantage to one over the other. The pictures of the new Resort Studios look pretty nice. I do want to see the electrical parade hoping it does Lagoon and Lake. Thank you

The Deluxe Studios have also been refurbished!! Here is the 3D Walkthrough HERE.

I mentioned a couple of the differences a couple posts up. Another is the Deluxe Studio has a kitchenette, Resort Studio does not. It did not bother us not having it, although we thought it would. Deluxe has a Full Coffee Pot, Studio has a Keurig single serve. Deluxe has a Murphy Bed for the 2nd sleeper and a small fold down bed for 3rd, Resort has a 2nd queen bed and a fold down couch. Deluxe has a second shower area, Resort does not. To name a few. Page 1 has some additional information and some room views, which might help. Good luck deciding!

 

[CarolynFH]

Thanks for the information. I have a stay coming up and I need milk in my room. I wouldn’t be a DVC owner if I knew the future was beverage coolers instead of mini fridges.

I've read that you can request a refrigerator to replace the beverage cooler, but I'm not sure how often that request is met.

I think that any DVC member who's affected by having a beverage cooler instead of a refrigerator needs to email DVC and tell them. Especially owners of VGF, although my understanding is that beverage coolers are replacing refrigerators in studios in other DVC resorts also.

 

[julie-o]

I’m considering buying direct at VGF. I’m wondering if people have still had trouble booking studios now that VGF2 is open. We’d mostly want studios with an occasional 1 bedroom. Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[sndral]

I’m considering buying direct at VGF. I’m wondering if people have still had trouble booking studios now that VGF2 is open. We’d mostly want studios with an occasional 1 bedroom. Thanks for any thoughts!

I think it’s too soon to really know. Before they converted BPK, VGF had 47 studios total, once it’s sold out BPK will add 202 studios, thus my guess is that the smaller deluxe studios & all larger villas in the original building will still be hard to book - perhaps even more challenging than in the past & that the newly added resort studios in BPK will be comparatively easier to book. But that’s just my idle speculation based on the number of villas in each category/building.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

I've read that you can request a refrigerator to replace the beverage cooler, but I'm not sure how often that request is met.

I think that any DVC member who's affected by having a beverage cooler instead of a refrigerator needs to email DVC and tell them. Especially owners of VGF, although my understanding is that beverage coolers are replacing refrigerators in studios in other DVC resorts also.

Is there a preferred email address to use for comments to DVC? I’d be happy to send along such a request.

Thank you!

 

[CarolynFH]

Is there a preferred email address to use for comments to DVC? I’d be happy to send along such a request.

Thank you!

You can send email via the Contact Us link on the member website, or to dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com.

 

[Nursemanit]

Just got 3 consecutive nights in a SV Deluxe studio for Aug 30-Sept2 today - Stalking works as they were not there this morning. Only a TP view studio for 1 night was available in BPK.

 

[Sandisw]

I’m considering buying direct at VGF. I’m wondering if people have still had trouble booking studios now that VGF2 is open. We’d mostly want studios with an occasional 1 bedroom. Thanks for any thoughts!

It is probably too early to tell how much of an impact it will have because there are still alot of unsold points, but I can say that the deluxe studio SV is gone many nights when the others are available, so I do think that the studios in the main building will be harder to get as we go along.

Not necessarily right at 11 months at 8 am every day of the year, but I bet they won't last as long as they used to. 1 bedrooms, so far, seem to be okay but I never really watched until close to 7 months because we didn't own VGF, but now that we do, and that is what we will be booking, I have started to pay attention.

 

[Mexacajun]

Really excited. Just booked my first stay ever at Grand Floridian. Just booked a 2bdrm the week after Easter. Always wanted to stay here and never thought I would. DVC is making it possible!!

 

[Her Dotness]

Give my love to the penguins fountain.

I was sooooo disappointed that it was surrounded by potted trees when we stayed there in November. Undergoing cleaning and maintenance, but still <pout! pout!>, did they have to do that while we were there?

 

[daisylovesdisney]

Has anyone had success requesting a mini fridge for a BPK room? It will be a huge improvement for our 9 day stay.

Also I think I will amend our room request. Does BPK floors 1-4 have a full balcony for the standard view rooms? It looks like the top floor may not so may just request floors 1-4 (right now I requested highest floor available which I think may backfire on me).

 

[kmc8826]

Give my love to the penguins fountain.

I was sooooo disappointed that it was surrounded by potted trees when we stayed there in November. Undergoing cleaning and maintenance, but still <pout! pout!>, did they have to do that while we were there?

They had the potted plants around it last month (mid July) too. How long does cleaning and maintenance take?

 

[Her Dotness]

They had the potted plants around it last month (mid July) too. How long does cleaning and maintenance take?

Huh. Maybe something went wrong with the plumbing? It is a nearly 10-year-old building.

The fountain had been drained when we were there with people seated inside the surrounding pool doing who knew what. All I observed was two people talking so assumed it was a regular maintenance. Perhaps they were trying instead to figure out how to fix something.

 

[disneyfan150]

Hi guys!

So we are on our way home from a great vacation!! I wanted to give you our thoughts on BPK.

Room is BEAUTIFUL. I love how clean it looks/feels with the flooring as opposed to a full carpet. Beds were comfortable, but pillows still not as good as BWV’s! Lobby is beautifully updated as well. LOVE the lighted bathroom mirror!! (Just a little blinding, though, first thing in the morning!!) Shower is great, love the rain shower head.

Now I don’t like to say anything negative about any of my Disney stays… especially at The Grand, because it’s not only our home resort, but it’s also our FAVORITE resort all around, but here are our dislikes…

1) The Beverage “Cooler”… it did not cool our beverages I think we had too many items and it wasn’t getting cold enough. We asked housekeeping what the lowest temperature it goes down to, and they said 60 degrees!!! I don’t think that’s accurate, especially when we saw videos of others showing the temp. at 34 degrees - but regardless of that, it’s SMALL. We are DVC Members… that “fridge” will not cut it for most families who plan to have morning breakfast and/or even lunches in their room. Our family had 3 different types of milk alone! lol Happened to talk to a Cast Member one night and she asked how we liked the rooms and mentioned the beverage cooler and she said they get a lot of complaints, including letters, regarding them.

2) The garbage. If any of you have stayed at Gran Destino Tower lately, you’re given this split small half recycle, half garbage pail and it’s pretty useless. We personally like to buy a bunch of stuff when staying DVC and we accumulate a bit of trash. The trash was overflowing every day.

(Not my photo, took a screenshot from a video of the garbage/beverage cooler)

View attachment 692683

3) Lack of a table wasn’t a huge issue for us, since we mostly eat out, but it would have been nice to sit and eat breakfast at one. Kids would take turns eating on the little one in front of the couch or DS pulled the desk bench in front of the TV while eating. I would just have mine outside on the balcony, DH just stood and had his every day.

So, those were the main inconveniences of the new rooms for our family. Just wanted to be honest and share. They were not dealbreakers for us, however, we will most likely only stay there if we can’t get VGF 1.

Were you able to drink your milk, or was it too warm? I need cream for morning coffee. Our cooler/fridge is always crammed with water, juice, and some soda.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Has anyone had success requesting a mini fridge for a BPK room? It will be a huge improvement for our 9 day stay.

Also I think I will amend our room request. Does BPK floors 1-4 have a full balcony for the standard view rooms? It looks like the top floor may not so may just request floors 1-4 (right now I requested highest floor available which I think may backfire on me).

Floor 1 is a patio. Not a balcony. Pretty roomy but a standard view

 

[Sandisw]

Has anyone had success requesting a mini fridge for a BPK room? It will be a huge improvement for our 9 day stay.

Also I think I will amend our room request. Does BPK floors 1-4 have a full balcony for the standard view rooms? It looks like the top floor may not so may just request floors 1-4 (right now I requested highest floor available which I think may backfire on me).

We were top floor and had a balcony.

 

[Sandisw]

Were you able to drink your milk, or was it too warm? I need cream for morning coffee. Our cooler/fridge is always crammed with water, juice, and some soda.

They are small and do not hold much. I had to remove the shelves to stack a few things to make it doable. We were there one night only.

We always split stay but have the few things we get for breakfast. We didn’t have room for the drinks.

 

[tidefan]

It is probably too early to tell how much of an impact it will have because there are still alot of unsold points, but I can say that the deluxe studio SV is gone many nights when the others are available, so I do think that the studios in the main building will be harder to get as we go along.

Not necessarily right at 11 months at 8 am every day of the year, but I bet they won't last as long as they used to. 1 bedrooms, so far, seem to be okay but I never really watched until close to 7 months because we didn't own VGF, but now that we do, and that is what we will be booking, I have started to pay attention.

This is what I was afraid of and why, IMHO, GFV2 should have been a separate HOA. But that’s just me…

 

[DVCsloth]

This is what I was afraid of and why, IMHO, GFV2 should have been a separate HOA. But that’s just me…

I agree that they should have made it a separate association or at least made the new resort studios slightly less points wise. I believe they felt they needed to include the original VGF in order to help sell BPK. I think it would be a much harder sell if they did it as a separate association.

 

[Sandisw]

I agree that they should have made it a separate association or at least made the new resort studios slightly less points wise. I believe they felt they needed to include the original VGF in order to help sell BPK. I think it would be a much harder sell if they did it as a separate association.

I think that and it was probably easier given the short turn around and permits, etc to just make it part of VGF.

And, given that there are already some slight drawbacks over the current studios..like the beverage cooler..and no split bath, I definitely think it needed to have the original VGF room sizes to sell

We only bought because it included the larger ones. And having not been given the connecting studios..which I knew aren’t guaranteed but still..it means I’d rather just get deluxe studios instead and not worry about it.