Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Excellent place, my family love it the food was amazing and the view beautiful we really enjoyed we will go again ,was a pleasure to be there , that the kind of experience people are looking for when they go out with their the family fabulous place

We stayed here for 6 nights and I have to say we would not stay here again and disappointed in the service and amenties of this hotel. For the price it is NOT worth it. Basics like a working shower took three days to fix. Coffee maker didnt work again took two days to bring a new one. The dining options are a joke,the quick breakfast cafe is so bad that my five year old didn't want to eat the cinnamon bun it was so dried out and tasteless. The main restaurant was always running behind and couldnt seem to understand seating people. I was waiting for a table with my two kids and the maitre d refused to seat us until my husband was there even though i told him he was walking over from our room at the hotel. Meanwhile the restaurant was empty. Very weird and awkward. Something like would never happen at more upscale hotels like the four seasons. The price point is high for this hotel but the level or service is just not up to par. It is actually only convenient for the magic kingdom not the other parks, so save yourself so money and say elsewhere.

The hotel is great because it is beautiful, it has an amazing location and because you just feel that you're still in a Disney park when you're there. Some specific things that we liked: - The transport to the parks is great as well - monorail, boat or bus - really good. - We also really liked the character breakfast at Park Fare when we booked that, plus the Enchanted Rose cocktail bar was great. - Watching the fireworks from the swimming pool was really cool. - Exploring the other Disney hotels nearby - e.g. the Polynesian with their own bars, restaurants and activities for kids. But - it's expensive and you don't get the hotel experience you might expect for spending this sort of money elsewhere and you don't get exceptional service. Some specific downsides for us: - Room was OK but not great for the money - you just accept it because it's Disney. - Getting a place to eat isn't straightforward and it gets annoying. You have to book everything through the Disney app - you can't just walk down for breakfast for example. If you don't book somewhere, you are left with the island grill place which is not what you want when you are paying this much for a hotel - crappy food and plastic cutlery. The only buffet breakfast option is the character breakfast at $60 each. Then in the evenings, all the dinner slots between 5pm and 7pm (ie when you want to feed your family) seem to disappear really quickly with long wait times for joining the wait list. We spent waaaayy too long generally on this holiday saying, "where are we going to eat tonight" and it was a stress. In my view any 5* hotel has to have a bar and a restaurant available dedicated to hotel guests for you to eat when you want to. The restaurants are available to all Disney guests and you can't rely on being able to get a decent meal when you need to - especially needed after a long day at the parks. One evening we complained about this and the manager got us a table at one of the restaurants. That was fine for that evening but the experience in this area continued. In some ways it's a bit like being at a vacation club with pools and restaurants available, but then you've got no self-catering facilities. The above are annoying, but you're left with an amazing experience anyway because of the good things about it all. You just have to remember the rules for Disney hotels aren't the normal rules.

Great hotel. Had a room with Magic Kingdom view. Beautiful room. Only problem it was in building Sago Cay on 1st floor. They do not block others from walking up and sitting on the grass in front of your private porch to watch the fireworks. So we had strangers sitting right in front of us who did not pay for a Magic Kingdom room and may not even have been guests of the Grand Floridian. Also rooms are not well insulated. You can hear conversations from other rooms and in the hallway.

My husband, great niece & I spent a wonderful week in a Deluxe Club Level Room at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. We were celebrating my 70th birthday & our 10 year old great niece’s first visit to Disney World. We had a large, recently refurbished room on the fourth floor near the Royal Palm Club lounge. This trip was a dream come true for us & an absolute splurge. Our last visit to Disney World was 30 years ago when we took our then 13 year old niece (now the mother of our great niece)! Given that we’re a lot older & have a few health challenges we didn’t have in 1994, we decided to design our trip to make it as easy as possible to spend our energy on enjoying our time there & as little as possible on logistics in coming & going from the parks, getting breakfast, etc. We also wanted to enjoy the beautiful gingerbread house & holiday decor at the Grand Floridian. As such, my criteria for value in planning this trip was on making choices to help make our dreams come true as opposed to focusing on cost. My niece & I are Disney enthusiasts who utilize our Magic Key Cards to visit Disneyland frequently. We were incredibly excited to visit Disney World together! I initially booked a non-discounted package through The Walt Disney Travel Company & rebooked a few months later when a promotional rate was offered that reduced the room rate & upgraded tickets to Park Hoppers. While it was still expensive, this made a nice difference. When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted in the lobby & taken to the Club level check in on the third floor. There was no wait & we were given a delicious alcohol free punch to enjoy. We were taken to our room- #4422, which I had requested for its proximity to the lounge & its beautiful view of the hotel grounds, lagoon & the Magic Kingdom in the distance. It was perfect for us - spacious, beautifully decorated in a whimsically elegant Mary Poppins theme, had 2 queen beds & a sofa, a large nicely appointed bathroom, a balcony that had a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks & super convenient lounge access. It was our very happy home for the next week! The twice daily housekeeping service kept our room clean and well stocked with fresh towels. The concierge staff was helpful, professional & friendly. One thing that’s important to know about the concierge at Disney properties is that while they’ll help with suggestions, directions & whatever they can help with- they can’t get reservations that aren’t available through the Disney World online reservation system. The only way to get reservations for very popular restaurants & events is for the guest or private Disney World travel specialists that can be engaged to handle the arrangements, to make reservations as they become available. That’s 60 days out for most things - dining, tours, etc., but not everything. For example, we wanted to get tickets for a holiday Candlelight Processional dinner package which includes dinner & seating for the beautiful program & tickets for that opened up for sale about a month prior to our Thanksgiving weekend date. We live in San Diego & the reservations open for booking at about 6a.m. Eastern time for most things or 3:00a.m. Pacific time. It sounds pretty extreme to get up in the middle of the night to make reservations for Disney World restaurants, Bibbidi Bobbidi, Animal Kingdom tours, etc., but it absolutely worked out well for us. I am a retired travel manager & didn’t feel comfortable that our trip would mean as much to anyone else as it did to me so I made a list of everything we wanted, set the alarm & started trying to make reservations at about 5:30 Eastern time. This worked well as I was able to book our two Animal Kingdom tours by 5:45 & the “Up Close with Rhinos “ tour quickly sold out. I also needed to move our desired dates around as availability for Cinderella’s Royal Table & Bibbidi, Bobbidi sold out before I could finalize our reservations even though I was online when they opened for booking. It all worked out & we were thrilled with all our arrangements, I’m just sharing this to help avoid disappointment over what can’t be done last minute or via the concierge at the hotel. There was a very nice Disney celebrity family who were also guests & the concierge was not able to get them Sci Fi Dine In or light saber making reservations- I don’t know if they ever got them or not but it didn’t look good the couple of times I was there at the same time. Booking at this hotel in a Club level room was a huge splurge for us & we were so glad we did! We had breakfast there every day & there was a nice variety of fruits, pastries, cereals & some hot items like bacon, sausage, waffles or pancakes, some sort of egg dish. The lounge is beautiful, overlooks the lobby, the service was friendly, efficient & professional. They had mimosas every day with orange juice or a delicious tropical fruit juice & we just loved it! They also put out a nice dessert buffet at night that we enjoyed when we came back from the parks. Mickey ice cream bars & soft drinks were always available & we liked that a lot, too. We were never there to try the evening appetizer service but I’m sure it was nice. The alcoholic beverages they offered throughout the day were all included too. While I can’t say it was “cost effective “ for us to stay on the Club level, we were thrilled with our experience & the convenience, luxury & conviviality it added to our week at the Grand Floridian. A very nice holiday season perk for Club level guests is that you can order gingerbread bread items from the lobby through the concierge & they are delivered to your room the next day! There’s usually a long line when they’re open so it was great to visit the lobby later at night when the gingerbread house was closed for business but everything was so beautiful & not wait in line for the delicious treats. When it was time to check out, it was very seamless, we said a sad goodbye & left our once in a lifetime dream vacation with the most beautiful memories & there wasn’t a single thing we would have changed! As a retired retail travel professional, I fully understand that Disney deluxe resorts are unique & do not offer the same type of service as luxury chains like Four Seasons & Ritz Carlton. However, the Disney Grand Floridian offers features that were invaluable to us such as unbeatable proximity to the Disney World parks, incredible ambiance, a welcoming & convenient Club level, priceless fireworks view from our balcony & the fulfillment of all our dreams for this very special trip! Thanks so much to the outstanding Grand Floridian staff for our magical stay!