Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Exceptional staff, beautiful rooms with theme park views, convenient location near Magic Kingdom, and great resort facilities. Remodeling may cause some inconvenience.

My wife and I are Disney Vacation Club members. We have contracts at Grand Floridian (GF), Bay Lake Towers(BLT) and Copper Creek (CC). We visit WDW at least twice a year for the past 30 years. The accommodations at GF are wonderful; except for the Deluxe Studio in our opinion. Disney missed the mark on these rooms. GF was on our bucket list and we originally could only afford the buy in at Deluxe Studio for the time we wanted; we had not stayed at one and only viewed the model. After the first stay we were disappointed in the poor layout of the living area. The bathroom is great with a walk-in shower and adequate tub. The living area puts the bed up against a wall with only one side to get into bed easily. There is no night stand on one side; we use one of our suitcases as a night stand, I have suggested at least a folding shelf several times. The storage under the bed has two draws, however, the one-night stand on the open side is not functional as the night stand on that side blocks the draw from opening. The fold out bed baffles us; since it seems to be impractical. When folded down with a person in it there is no easy way to walk to the bathroom or exit. You would either must walk on the fold down bed or other bed to get to the exit or bathroom. We would prefer a chest of drawers to the fold down bed; there is a sleep sofa in the room. We are hoping a remedy will be forthcoming in the future. Till then we try for a 1 bedroom at the GF when possible. The newer DVC Deluxe Suites are much better designed so we are pleased. Grand Floridian location is on the monorail route with several boat and bus options to get to Magic Kingdom and Epcot; we really like that. Also allows easy access to Contemporary and Polynesian resorts for their restaurants and shopping. The main building and lobby of the GF is wonderful any time of the year with entertainment and great ambience; Christmas time is wonderful.

I am staying on the WDW property. The day we checked in we had come from a Disney Cruise. We had time before the restaurant opened at our hotel, so I managed to talk my two grandsons in going to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house (an annual tradition). Let me preface this by saying that I am a 74 yo veteran, a WDW passholder and a DVC member. Therefore, I am very much aware of how to get to the Grand Floridian without parking there - and free. However, I get tired and short winded, so I thought a quick trip would be the best. I was prepared to be sent away if parking was an issue. What I was not prepared for was the vitriol that came from the guard. He started by saying, "you people from Shades of Green think you can just come here to park. You have to pay for parking ..." He was truly nasty. I did not think that yelling at grandmothers was a part of his job description. Considering that the Grand Floridian is my DVC home, I was surprised by his attitude. Needless to say, we did not go to the Grand Floridian and will not see the gingerbread house this year (or buy anything!). I am truly disappointed by this interaction. A simple comment like, "Our parking is too crowded today to let anyone in not staying here and this is how you can get to the hotel " - would have have been better. It is not the veteran's fault that Disney decided to treat us as second class vacationers.