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I finally got to stay at the new DVC, Grand Floridian.
I gotta say that it's a beautiful resort but being so new is not without a few faults.
I'm sure Mickey will get it all straightened out very soon, so not to worry.
Thought I'd share my stay with you guys.
First off this was obviously not an exchange but used my DVC points.
That is definitely not for the faint of heart because one night cost me almost
half of my yearly allotment of points.
Was it worth it? Hell yah!
I'm glad I was one of first to stay there before it's trampled on by the masses.
We had a 2 bedroom standard view, room 1320. Now it's supposed to not
be a lake view but we did have a view of the Polynesian side of the lake.
So technically although not being a lake view, it has a lake view.
It also has a monorail view which gives you an urban feel to the resort.
First off, Disney just went to the magic band system.
It's a bit Orwelian knowing that Mickey knows your every move.
Well almost every move. Actually I'm not quite sure how much
Mickey knows about you because those little transmitters can probably
track your every move but I tried not to think about it much as it sorta
spoils the magic.
So arrival at Disney is still the usual "Welcome Home" but now the guards
have lists of the guests for not just the hotel but also for dinner reservations.
I had ADR's so I'm not sure what they tell you if you don't have a confirmed
reservation. Disney recently implemented a $10 per guest reservation fee
for all reservations. You must cancel more than 24 hours in advance or you
forfeit your $10 per person. We were 3 so that's $30 each meal if you don't
show up. Could get pricey if you are a party of 10 and people change their
minds. We did have an issue getting to one of our reservations on time so
I called up the Reservation line and they are able to rebook you in the same
restaurant, space available of course for no extra fee but if it's not available,
then say adios to your $30. Personally I think this is wrong. If I am able
to be rebooked for the same night at another Disney restaurant then I should
not be charged the reservation fee. This policy led me to cancel my last days
ADR's and we went off site instead. Sorry Disney but don't take it personal.
I don't like this new strict unilateral policy and will take my meal tickets
elsewhere if this continues. I did see a last minute California Grill opening
one night and was tempted to take it but I passed since it was for 9:50pm
and we were already hungry.
Okay so onto the resort.
The timeshare wing is in building 1 and it's next to the Wedding Pavilion
and the new Senses Spa. I'm not sure why but you'd think with all the money
it costs to stay here that they'd have valet parking in this building but nope,
you gotta hoof it to the parking lot behind the spa. Now normally this isn't
an issue except when you are handicapped. The handicapped parking is also
behind the spa. It's about a short 1 block walk to the building, but that can be
like a marathon for some. They do have little golf carts but they dont' use them.
They will take you out to your car if you beg but will not pick you up and bring
you back to the resort. So I pretty much had to play valet since I was going
with my 87 year old Auntie and didn't want any falls on vacation. This is crazy.
This resort is more than $2000 a night for a 2 bedroom room and there is no
valet. This is the best that Disney has to offer and IMO should have the best
service too. Well it does not and that really needs to change. I will definitely
be writing a letter to the GF manager about this. I already told everyone I
could while there about it and they did say they'd bring it up to the monthly
meeting.
We arrived at 3:50pm and our room was not ready. Okay, no biggie. Check-in
is at 4pm and we are early. There is no check in desk, only a few employees
with tablet computers who enter your info and send you a text when your room
is ready. Well that's how it's supposed to work except I never got the text.
And we were sitting in the lobby. Finally one of the employees came up to us
and asked us who we were and that our room was ready. Didn't you get the text?
Uhhhhh, noooo, I'm sitting right in front of you and I have 3 bars on my phone.
Disney IT sucks again, what else is new.
We had our luggage transferred from Wilderness Lodge. This was a first for me,
using the luggage transfer service. That part went okay once I called the bell service.
Bell hops are usually nice wherever you go so no problems with them.
Around 6pm we get a knock on the door and housekeeping let's themselves in.
I ask them, yes, can I help you? The two ladies giggle and say, turn down service.
I look at my relatives and can't help but laugh. Seriously? Turn down service at 6pm?
I decline politely but now am wondering if they weren't just going into the room to go
into the room. There is no maid service in the DVC units that I'm aware of unless it's
a mistake. They didn't come the next night for turn down service so not sure what
that was about.
The beds and pillows were heavenly. The beds are a little on the tall side.
I'm short so had to sort of take a running start to get on the bed. LOL.
Our room was beautiful. Decorated in turn of the century post war style but
everything was high tech.
We had a TV in the bathroom mirror, two phones in the bedroom and a phone in all
the other rooms, 4 TV's, two showers and two bath tubs. One a stand-alone jacuzzi
tub which looked very inviting although I did not try it out. On the last day the jacuzzi
tub just started turning itself on. At first i couldn't figure out where all the noise was
coming from because it was burst of air coming out of the bubble holes, not a regular
noisy jacuzzi. I called maintenance after turning it off several times. It just kept going
on. The guy comes up and says, yeah we know about it. It has a sensor that when
gets wet does that. Okay, but it's not wet. I didn't use it. Well he goes into this long
discourse about condensation and the sensors etc. I tell him, look I really don't care
because we are leaving but the next guest is definitely going to complain cause it's
noisy as hell and you gotta keep turning it off. It has an electronic sensor in it that
obviously was not working properly. I told management on my way out. I wonder
if it ever got fixed.
So all in all it was a nice stay. Definitely some issues that IMO need to be addressed.
I probably won't return any time soon unless these units hit RCI. It's just too pricey
for the level of service at this point. I found security much tighter at BLT.
Now for some pictures.
I gotta say that it's a beautiful resort but being so new is not without a few faults.
I'm sure Mickey will get it all straightened out very soon, so not to worry.
Thought I'd share my stay with you guys.
First off this was obviously not an exchange but used my DVC points.
That is definitely not for the faint of heart because one night cost me almost
half of my yearly allotment of points.
Was it worth it? Hell yah!
I'm glad I was one of first to stay there before it's trampled on by the masses.
We had a 2 bedroom standard view, room 1320. Now it's supposed to not
be a lake view but we did have a view of the Polynesian side of the lake.
So technically although not being a lake view, it has a lake view.
It also has a monorail view which gives you an urban feel to the resort.
First off, Disney just went to the magic band system.
It's a bit Orwelian knowing that Mickey knows your every move.
Well almost every move. Actually I'm not quite sure how much
Mickey knows about you because those little transmitters can probably
track your every move but I tried not to think about it much as it sorta
spoils the magic.
So arrival at Disney is still the usual "Welcome Home" but now the guards
have lists of the guests for not just the hotel but also for dinner reservations.
I had ADR's so I'm not sure what they tell you if you don't have a confirmed
reservation. Disney recently implemented a $10 per guest reservation fee
for all reservations. You must cancel more than 24 hours in advance or you
forfeit your $10 per person. We were 3 so that's $30 each meal if you don't
show up. Could get pricey if you are a party of 10 and people change their
minds. We did have an issue getting to one of our reservations on time so
I called up the Reservation line and they are able to rebook you in the same
restaurant, space available of course for no extra fee but if it's not available,
then say adios to your $30. Personally I think this is wrong. If I am able
to be rebooked for the same night at another Disney restaurant then I should
not be charged the reservation fee. This policy led me to cancel my last days
ADR's and we went off site instead. Sorry Disney but don't take it personal.
I don't like this new strict unilateral policy and will take my meal tickets
elsewhere if this continues. I did see a last minute California Grill opening
one night and was tempted to take it but I passed since it was for 9:50pm
and we were already hungry.
Okay so onto the resort.
The timeshare wing is in building 1 and it's next to the Wedding Pavilion
and the new Senses Spa. I'm not sure why but you'd think with all the money
it costs to stay here that they'd have valet parking in this building but nope,
you gotta hoof it to the parking lot behind the spa. Now normally this isn't
an issue except when you are handicapped. The handicapped parking is also
behind the spa. It's about a short 1 block walk to the building, but that can be
like a marathon for some. They do have little golf carts but they dont' use them.
They will take you out to your car if you beg but will not pick you up and bring
you back to the resort. So I pretty much had to play valet since I was going
with my 87 year old Auntie and didn't want any falls on vacation. This is crazy.
This resort is more than $2000 a night for a 2 bedroom room and there is no
valet. This is the best that Disney has to offer and IMO should have the best
service too. Well it does not and that really needs to change. I will definitely
be writing a letter to the GF manager about this. I already told everyone I
could while there about it and they did say they'd bring it up to the monthly
meeting.
We arrived at 3:50pm and our room was not ready. Okay, no biggie. Check-in
is at 4pm and we are early. There is no check in desk, only a few employees
with tablet computers who enter your info and send you a text when your room
is ready. Well that's how it's supposed to work except I never got the text.
And we were sitting in the lobby. Finally one of the employees came up to us
and asked us who we were and that our room was ready. Didn't you get the text?
Uhhhhh, noooo, I'm sitting right in front of you and I have 3 bars on my phone.
Disney IT sucks again, what else is new.
We had our luggage transferred from Wilderness Lodge. This was a first for me,
using the luggage transfer service. That part went okay once I called the bell service.
Bell hops are usually nice wherever you go so no problems with them.
Around 6pm we get a knock on the door and housekeeping let's themselves in.
I ask them, yes, can I help you? The two ladies giggle and say, turn down service.
I look at my relatives and can't help but laugh. Seriously? Turn down service at 6pm?
I decline politely but now am wondering if they weren't just going into the room to go
into the room. There is no maid service in the DVC units that I'm aware of unless it's
a mistake. They didn't come the next night for turn down service so not sure what
that was about.
The beds and pillows were heavenly. The beds are a little on the tall side.
I'm short so had to sort of take a running start to get on the bed. LOL.
Our room was beautiful. Decorated in turn of the century post war style but
everything was high tech.
We had a TV in the bathroom mirror, two phones in the bedroom and a phone in all
the other rooms, 4 TV's, two showers and two bath tubs. One a stand-alone jacuzzi
tub which looked very inviting although I did not try it out. On the last day the jacuzzi
tub just started turning itself on. At first i couldn't figure out where all the noise was
coming from because it was burst of air coming out of the bubble holes, not a regular
noisy jacuzzi. I called maintenance after turning it off several times. It just kept going
on. The guy comes up and says, yeah we know about it. It has a sensor that when
gets wet does that. Okay, but it's not wet. I didn't use it. Well he goes into this long
discourse about condensation and the sensors etc. I tell him, look I really don't care
because we are leaving but the next guest is definitely going to complain cause it's
noisy as hell and you gotta keep turning it off. It has an electronic sensor in it that
obviously was not working properly. I told management on my way out. I wonder
if it ever got fixed.
So all in all it was a nice stay. Definitely some issues that IMO need to be addressed.
I probably won't return any time soon unless these units hit RCI. It's just too pricey
for the level of service at this point. I found security much tighter at BLT.
Now for some pictures.
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