Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

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! Read less

This place is really beautiful and it truly is a reflection of an era long gone with the Victorian age. This is Disney so you know the facilities and the grounds are gonna be top notch. The staff was very nice, helpful, and courteous. You did not pas a staff member who did not at least greet you with a hello, or how is your morning? The restaurants here are Disney as well, it's really kinda hit or miss with their restaurants, the cafe was very good, decent selection, but was a mild 54 degrees it felt like, even the staff wore jackets etc. Would I stay here again, well maybe. The price is for a luxury hotel, but falls just short of a true five-star luxury hotel. Overall a good experience. ** Side note, some ducks frequent the pool with the guests. These ducks will poop in the pool right beside you, so just be warned. Read less

If i had a hotel reservation, I’d have walked out. Thread-bare, mismatched, dated furniture in the lobby, rooms are possibly better? I’ve stayed in most upscale WDW resorts over the last 30 years, never here because it’s never appealed to me. For no other reason than the Victorian vibe. Had a reservation at Narcoosee tonight. While this review may not be fair since I didn’t see a room, I can’t even imagine paying the premium price to lodge here. Narcoosee— great location, sent my appetizer back and didn’t bother with an entree. Atmosphere was very cute, on the water with fantastic view of MK fireworks. However, would never consider it upscale dining. As others have said, no table cloths , and to me really felt like a cute breakfast option rather than fine dining for dinner. In the future, the whole place is a hard pass for me. Read less

Just don’t go with any expectations of escaping the cold north and enjoying morning coffee or evening wine on your balcony. Solo traveler and they stuck me in the only room on property with no balcony. Felt like a prison. Truly awful experience. Front desk told me too bad - it’s the only room available. They could have cared less. Doesn’t matter what you pay or what they advertise! No balcony for you! But here, enjoy bench seating for 27. Read less