The All New Grand Floridian FAQ - MAY 2009

[mousefan1972]

I don't think I saw it on here, however I may have missed it so I apologize if this is old news. I saw on the transportation board that Southwest airlines is now participating in RAC (resort airline check in) at the GF, as of yesterday! This is great news, especially since we'll be at the GF next month and are flying SW. I'm very happy that we'll be able to check our bags at the resort and not have to lug them to MCO.

 

[TammiMcMan]

oh, I thought that I read somewhere that the dormer rooms do not include a daybed?
hmmmmm....

Nope, some of the dormers definitely have daybeds. They're usually the corner units, which are slightly larger .

 

[MommyGina]

We probably would have stayed in the dormer room if there was a day bed. I don't remember if it was a corner room or not. Anyway, I couldn't stand to hear my two fighting trying to sleep in the same bed! They can find enough to fight about!

I have requested that we have two queens and a daybed - not a dormer room, in SL.

 

[em36]

My family and I will be staying at the GF in the Sugarloaf building at the end of May. We have never stayed onsite before and my husband and I are so excited. We are trying to surprise our two daughters ages 11 and 7. Anyway, we have made 9:20am breakfast reservations at Akershus and I have no idea what time we should leave the GF. We have never been to Epcot so this trip will be filled with firsts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[johnsonet]

My family and I will be staying at the GF in the Sugarloaf building at the end of May. We have never stayed onsite before and my husband and I are so excited. We are trying to surprise our two daughters ages 11 and 7. Anyway, we have made 9:20am breakfast reservations at Akershus and I have no idea what time we should leave the GF. We have never been to Epcot so this trip will be filled with firsts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!

Disney recommends allowing an hour to get from your resort to most dining locations. GF to Akershus - I would definitely take that advice! Monorail to Ticket & Transportation Center, switch monorails, monorail to Epcot, walk through turnstiles and all the way to Norway. I would be at the monorail platform at GF around 8:15am that day! Better early than late, in my opinion.
Have a wonderful trip! You must be so excited!

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I don't think I saw it on here, however I may have missed it so I apologize if this is old news. I saw on the transportation board that Southwest airlines is now participating in RAC (resort airline check in) at the GF, as of yesterday! This is great news, especially since we'll be at the GF next month and are flying SW. I'm very happy that we'll be able to check our bags at the resort and not have to lug them to MCO.

I saw this as well and I am as we are also flying Southwest for our stay at the GF. It is such a load off of my mind to be able to check our bags at the hotel as opposed to the security lines at MCO.

 

[knitdiva]

Hi all!
I need your opinion on something. I have the possibility to attend a conference (work related) at the GF this summer. Great room rate! Meetings in the am only. Would be going with DH and DS(6) and half-sister (10).
I'm sure I will love the GF but will the kids? How is the pool for them? We would do mostly water parks having been to WDW many times already.
Not sure how I will react to having to go learn at a conference while I could be playing at WDW....I'll manage.
So GF for kids? Pros and cons?

Thanks!

 

[johnsonet]

Hi all!
I need your opinion on something. I have the possibility to attend a conference (work related) at the GF this summer. Great room rate! Meetings in the am only. Would be going with DH and DS(6) and half-sister (10).
I'm sure I will love the GF but will the kids? How is the pool for them? We would do mostly water parks having been to WDW many times already.
Not sure how I will react to having to go learn at a conference while I could be playing at WDW....I'll manage.
So GF for kids? Pros and cons?

Thanks!

Oh yes! The kids will love it, I'm sure! 2 pools (the "quiet" courtyard pool and the themed pool w/ slide, waterfall and zero entry), poolside games, beach (no swimming though), boat and monorail to MK... Sea Raycers at the marina plus arcade area at Gasparilla Grill (and nearby Poly and Contemporary arcades ) What's not to like? The resort is beautiful and the rooms are spacious.
Hope you go and have a great time. The GF is gorgeous!

 

[pezaddict231]

I saw this as well and I am as we are also flying Southwest for our stay at the GF. It is such a load off of my mind to be able to check our bags at the hotel as opposed to the security lines at MCO.

I don't think I saw it on here, however I may have missed it so I apologize if this is old news. I saw on the transportation board that Southwest airlines is now participating in RAC (resort airline check in) at the GF, as of yesterday! This is great news, especially since we'll be at the GF next month and are flying SW. I'm very happy that we'll be able to check our bags at the resort and not have to lug them to MCO.

Just wanted to share our experience using RAC to spare anyone else from the stress we had. We used the onsite airline check at the GF in June. The RAC staff did not really seem to know what they were doing and the batteries in the scale weren't working properly which should have tipped us off. Concerned it might be cutting it too close, we had even asked them if our luggage would make it onto the flight and they said yes. Well, our luggage never made it onto our flight and when we called there was no one at the desk since they close at 1 pm and no one could tell us anything about what happened to our luggage. We waited around at the airport for another hour and a half for the next flight to come in and luckily our luggage was on that flight. We would have been much better off just bringing the luggage to the airport ourselves.

I'm sure many people have used the service with no problems. If you do want to use it, I would recommend leaving your luggage with them the day before. We dropped our luggage off about 4 hours before our flight. The RAC staff does not work for Disney, it's a separate company. The staff at the GF did try their best to find out what had happened so it's not the GF's fault and we had an awesome stay there but it was a far less than magical way to end our trip.

We can't wait to stay at the GF in August, but my DF won't ever let us use the RAC again.

 

[em36]

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!

Disney recommends allowing an hour to get from your resort to most dining locations. GF to Akershus - I would definitely take that advice! Monorail to Ticket & Transportation Center, switch monorails, monorail to Epcot, walk through turnstiles and all the way to Norway. I would be at the monorail platform at GF around 8:15am that day! Better early than late, in my opinion.
Have a wonderful trip! You must be so excited!

Thank you so much for the info. I love this site and all of the expert tips and info. We will definitly be at the GF monorail at least an hour early.

 

[johnsonet]

Thank you so much for the info. I love this site and all of the expert tips and info. We will definitly be at the GF monorail at least an hour early.

You're very welcome Your family is going to have SO much fun

 

[heatherlynn444]

ok confession time. My mom and I booked a 5 night stay CL at the BWI last week...we were there 3 nights then switched to the GF RPC! I REALLY wanted to like something else (something cheaper basically) but I just didn't and I cant help it!! it was my 6th time staying RPC> we had a great turret king room for 2 wonderful nights!! now trying to figure out when I can go back...

 

[k&a&c'smom]

em36 - I second johnsonet's advice, at least an hour to get to Epcot's World Showcase for a dining reservation.

Enjoy your trip planning!

pezaddict231 - sorry to hear about your bad experience with RAC. Most of the reviews I've read have been extremely positive, it's too bad you had such a hard time.

knitdiva - Welcome to the FAQ! The GF is wonderful for kids, how great that your company is booking their meetings there!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Here's my GF photo for the day, I'm longing for sun here in the cold!

 

[poohgirl6]

ok confession time. My mom and I booked a 5 night stay CL at the BWI last week...we were there 3 nights then switched to the GF RPC! I REALLY wanted to like something else (something cheaper basically) but I just didn't and I cant help it!! it was my 6th time staying RPC> we had a great turret king room for 2 wonderful nights!! now trying to figure out when I can go back...

Heather, I have a question for you and I hope you don't mind me asking. How did you go exactly about changing your reservation once you were already checked in at BWI? Did you contact GF or tel the BWI CL staffers? I have been in a similar situation before (disappointed with my current hotel, and longing to transfer to an old favorite one) but wasn't sure exactly how to proceed to change. TIA for responding.

 

[heatherlynn444]

Heather, I have a question for you and I hope you don't mind me asking. How did you go exactly about changing your reservation once you were already checked in at BWI? Did you contact GF or tel the BWI CL staffers? I have been in a similar situation before (disappointed with my current hotel, and longing to transfer to an old favorite one) but wasn't sure exactly how to proceed to change. TIA for responding.

no problem, I had to go through the BWI manager, who contacted the GF manager, and then we paid the difference in the price of the room since we had already paid for our whole trip. we "checked out" of BWI and then just checked in to the GF and they had our reservation in the system that the manager made for me.

 

[poohgirl6]

no problem, I had to go through the BWI manager, who contacted the GF manager, and then we paid the difference in the price of the room since we had already paid for our whole trip. we "checked out" of BWI and then just checked in to the GF and they had our reservation in the system that the manager made for me.

Thanks for the quick reply Sounds easy enough. I guess I was always concerned about not being able to transfer a PIN or discount code at that point. Glad you made the switch and once again enjoyed your favorite resort.

 

[pezaddict231]

Thanks k&a&c'smom! It was so strange, and the weirder thing is it happened to me a few years ago too at the CR. The luggage was on the next flight that time too. So I don't know if maybe JetBlue loads their planes earlier or what. I'm glad to hear that most people have a good experience.

 

[Tam1067]

Heather--I have to say that I pushed my DH to try an Epcot resort, but we just haven't been able to make the switch after falling in love with the monorail area in general and the GF in particular--so we've got two more stays booked at the GF later this year. When you have a chance, I'd like to hear what was disappointing about the BWI. I keep thinking that we should try the Epcot area, but after hearing about your switch mid-trip, I'm wondering if I should just forget that notion altogether!

 

[heatherlynn444]

Thanks for the quick reply Sounds easy enough. I guess I was always concerned about not being able to transfer a PIN or discount code at that point. Glad you made the switch and once again enjoyed your favorite resort.

well I think it also depends on availibility, what manager you talk to, where you are switching too/from. Seems Disney has a lot of things that change depending on who you talk too! I am just glad it all worked out fine!

Heather--I have to say that I pushed my DH to try an Epcot resort, but we just haven't been able to make the switch after falling in love with the monorail area in general and the GF in particular--so we've got two more stays booked at the GF later this year. When you have a chance, I'd like to hear what was disappointing about the BWI. I keep thinking that we should try the Epcot area, but after hearing about your switch mid-trip, I'm wondering if I should just forget that notion altogether!

haha. we really really tried. I loved the proximity of the BWI to EPCOT and DHS, we walked there instead of driving/using buses. The room was nice and clean, our view was not so desirable though. Also, the lounge was super small and we had to eat in the room a lot. We also didn't like how in order to get to the CL rooms you have to pass by a CM working at a desk, in this skinny hallway and I wasn't a huge fan of that, or the fact that there was a desk IN the lounge with a worker. they also were out of certain foods two or three times when I asked.
we love how personable all the CM"S are at the GF, everyone talks to you and smiles. the CM;'s who work the CL floor also put out the food and it seems theyw ere always runing late, rushing around putting things out and therefore had no time to chat or be friendly with the guests. No one was unkind to us, we just really missed home!