Reviews of Grand Floridian Resort (Deluxe Resort)
Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 11/14/2021
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Not too happy
Pros:
The place is fantasticCons:
But i had a complaint specifically to a house keeper she was too rude with my familyReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 09/11/2021
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
I don’t understand why people say this hotel is so amazing. It’s over priced for the quality of the rooms . Bottom line rooms are like a total of like $1,000 invested and anything above unless your spending $3,000 a night is not amazing either . Rooms aren’t sound blocked at all I can hear everything my neighbors are talking about above us , both rooms next to us . I can hear kids screaming down the hall . Our room doesn’t have a microwave and if you want anything you have to walk to the main building and that includes any waters , snacks or anything of that sort . We spent $1600 a night and our beds weren’t even made once and they didn’t even clean once they actually dont even change the garbages. Balcony wasn’t even clean .
Pros:
Close to magic kingdom that’s literally it .Cons:
Everything’sReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 05/17/2021
Rating: (4) Not Recommended
Disappointed
Pros:
Pretty main building.Cons:
Room was equivalent to a motel 6. Even a hole in the dry wall of the bathroom. Balcony was filthy.Reviewed by Mchipman Review Date: 04/07/2021
Rating: (7) Not Recommended
I just don't get it! We booked a theme park view room at the Contemporary and before our trip, we were moved to the Floridian. I know the Floridian is on a lot of people's bucket list but I never saw the draw. The lobby is breathtaking, the service is fantastic, the monorail is convenient but the rest of the resort is in desperate need of a refurbishment. Our room had fraying fabric on the couch, peeling silicon in the bathroom, and very little storage. Our room was clean but disappointing for the price. The Riviera or the Yacht club have better luxury and are less expensive. The pools are fine but the kids pool is small and crowded. However, for $160 you can rent seating at the pool and that was fantastic for our check in day. The seating came with snacks and caned sodas. The food is good and priced well. Overall I do not see us staying there again.
Pros:
Lobby, service, food, monorail, walking trail Again, the service goes above and beyond to help you and make you feel taken care of.Cons:
Old rooms, overpriced, plain poolsReviewed by ccooney1307 Review Date: 02/17/2021
Rating: (7) Not Recommended
It is definitely beautiful but we didn't feel like it was worth the price tag. Although conveniently located near Magic Kingdom we had quite a long walk to our room from the monorail station, dining, shopping etc. Although its very beautiful and was definitely on our bucket list it's not a place I would recommend to my friends or clients over other resorts
Pros:
beautiful, great pool and kids splash area, awesome dining at Grand Floridian Cafe.Cons:
Very expensive, quick service was very chaotic and messed up our order all four times we ordered from them, we had missing items. May have a really long walk to your room if in an outer building.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/26/2020
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Went to front desk 3 times to try and get our watch bands to open rooms. Unsuccessful 3 times! Finally concierge got the bands to work on the door but some of our party couldn’t access the park!
Pros:
Food was excellent!Cons:
Above & Hotel paint terrible! I mean how many times can u repaint something before it looks terrible!Reviewed by SarahB4 Review Date: 04/19/2019
Rating: (7) Not Recommended
Stayed here in 2013 for a Sonic owners convention with my WHOLE family (11 of us). It was nice, but unless you only want to visit Magic Kingdom and go to the spa, I don’t think it’s worth the money.
It’s a good hotel, but I don’t think it’s any better than a $150-200 per night chain hotel. The decor wasn’t super immersive, there was nothing mind blowing about the room or amenities, and the on site food was just as good as other food around the parks.
It was pretty fantastic to be 5 mins from Magic Kingdom. Also, you could see the fireworks across the lake witch was awesome!
Pros:
Close to MK, dining on site, several pools, SPA!!!Cons:
Expensive, pretty far from all other parksReviewed by TLynch Review Date: 09/26/2018
Rating: (8) Not Recommended
Stayed for one night on the way back home to celebrate our anniversary. Quite expensive.
Pros:
Beautiful property. Great view for the fireworks. Restaurant was good.Cons:
Expected better customer service. Wore the Celebration button and only one person in the hotel acknowledged it. Was surprised.Reviewed by rijndar2 Review Date: 09/11/2018
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
My partner and I decided to spend twenty-three days and nights in Orlando, Florida, to celebrate his retirement and sixtieth birthday and my seventieth birthday. Being no strangers to annual visits to Disney World since 2000 we spent our first sixteen nights at the French Quarter, then four nights at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando to attend the annual Flute Convention, and our last three nights at the Grand Floridian, our first visit to this resort. We even secured the Chefs Table at Victoria and Albert’s for our second night at the Grand Floridian. Scheduling our stay at the Disney World resorts in this way gave us access to the Magical Express service since we travel from the Los Angeles, California, area. We always prefer to use the “red-eye†flight from LAX, and with Magical Express we arrived at the French Quarter by 6:30 AM to check in. The only request we made was for early housekeeping because we are typically exhausted by 2:00 PM and wish to return to a cleaned room. As with all previous visits to Disney World resorts save for one visit to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, our room would not be ready until 4:00 PM.
Neither my partner nor I can sleep aboard an aircraft even if we have been up and busy the entire day. By the time we leave for the airport three hours before flight time, endure a five-hour flight, set our watches three hours forward, and spend an hour riding the Magical Express service to the resort, we are beyond exhausted. Of course it is our choice to make these travel arrangements, but it boggles the imagination that Disney World housekeeping has from 11:00 AM checkout time to turnover a room and cannot give us access to our room any earlier than 4:00 PM. From conversations with housekeeping staff, they must turnover a room within twenty-five minutes but most can do it in twenty minutes when pushed. We have also heard many reports that Disney World has been finding ways to reduce its housekeeping staff. We were even offered a very small monetary incentive to forgo daily housekeeping altogether. Since rooms are generally assigned several weeks prior to a guest’s arrival, no pleading, begging, or “cash under the counter†will get you into your assigned room much before 4:00 PM. When we arrived, fortunately for us we only had to wait thirty minutes before the food court opened at 7:00 AM. My scooter arrived at 8:00 AM as promised and we were off to EPCOT in order to make our way to the Dolphin Resort to pick up our car before 2:00 PM. After a very nice meal at Lobster Buffet we finally received a Text Message saying our room was ready. Across the street from the restaurant is a Publix grocery store where we purchase breakfast items, snacks, and water in a feeble attempt to reduce the food budget. We can purchase a pack of twenty-four bottles of water for the same price Disney World charges for one bottle of water at any of the resorts or parks!
We typically fall into bed very early the first night regardless which resort we stay at. And we try to utilize every opportunity for Early Magic Hour at the assigned park for that day. We have been known to ride on at least half of our favorite attractions during that single hour. But as the park begins to fill with locals and late arrivals the opportunity to ride on other attractions become less and less feasible. It is a terrible mistake not to utilize the Fast-Pass system, but those Fast-Passes must be made far in advance and that requires planning and scheduling. It is worth using Excel to keep a schedule of Early Magic Hours, Late Magic Hours, Fast-Passes, and dining reservations. Rarely can you walk into a restaurant for dinner and expect to be seated without a reservation. By mid-afternoon we have generally covered most of the park, gone on all the rides and visited the attractions we intended, eaten a few snacks, and consumed at least one meal. And every day when we returned to the French Quarter we found our room fresh and clean.
Our suite at the Hyatt Regency was beyond fabulous. We had a very comfortable living room area including a full-sized desk and a 65-inch flat screen TV sitting on a long credenza with ample drawers and shelves. The well-appointed bedroom area included a snack area with a refrigerator, coffee maker, and a wall safe in the large closet. The bathroom had a full-sized tub and shower with safety bars which I require. Even a tub mat was provided. To summarize, the floor space of this suite was at least 2.5 times larger than the floor space of our room at the French quarter, and it cost 2/3 what we paid at the French quarter, even with our pass-holders 25% discount. The Disney experience comes at a very high cost.
The crowning moment of our Orlando celebration came when we arrived at the Grand Floridian. One is generally awe-struck by this majestic structure. We reserved a room on the concierge level with a theme park view, room 4006. As always, our room was not ready, and we were invited to wait in the private lounge area on the fourth floor where there was plenty of food to snack on; and wait. At this time I returned to the third floor to speak to a concierge to request early housekeeping. He asked me at what hour I would like the room cleaned. I told him any time before 2:00 PM because I had to rest, and we had reservations at the Chefs Table the following evening. He assured me that our room would be cleaned before 2:00 PM during our stay. The view of the Magic Kingdom from our balcony on the third floor was exquisite. The fireworks display that evening was visually outstanding, but marred by our neighbors on both sides with their very loud talking and shouting, so the accompanying music was barely audible. The next day we returned to our room fully exhausted at 2:00 PM and found our room as we had left it early that morning: no housekeeping had been done. Nearly in a rage, I stormed down the hall to the speak to the concierges and found three milling around their desks. With a firm and forceful voice I informed these concierges that we were assured our room would be cleaned by 2:00 PM. It was important to us, and not for some silly reason, either. I told them yesterday we have reservations for the Chefs Table, we need to rest, and we needed time to properly prepare our evening clothes. I told them I need to have this room cleaned now! Someone from housekeeping finally arrived to our room 45 minutes later. I requested to speak to a manager at the front desk downstairs. Nearly 30 minutes later the manager of housekeeping met with me. I told him this was not a housekeeping issue; rather, it was an issue with the concierges who "assured" me our room would be cleaned by 2:00 PM. This manager told me our room will be cleaned by 2:00 PM the next day, our last day. Then he wanted to know what I wanted for restitution. I told him I wasn’t looking for restitution. He said that he will speak to his manager and they would decide on some form of restitution. We heard nothing further from hotel management.
Our experience at the Chefs Table was beyond our wildest expectations. There are no words to describe this experience. After this meal it was simply wonderful to have a room just upstairs and be able to fall into bed completely sated, and totally exhausted. The following evening we immensely enjoyed the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony because we had no neighbors to mar the experience. Was the Grand Floridian worth $1000/day? Our room badly needed a facelift: the plumbing for the bathroom sinks had issues, there were no safety bars in the shower, I had to request a tub mat, some of the electrical sockets did not have power, most of the switch and plug plates were lose, there were few drawers in the credenza and they were small, and the carpet was sadly worn throughout and stained in several areas. We were both happy to leave the Grand Floridian and glad our trip to the airport on the Magical Express service was on time and uneventful.
Pros:
Excellent theme park viewCons:
Room and conciergeReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 06/25/2023
Rating: (10) Recommended
we stayed at 3br grand villa (dvc points) for our daughters wedding. it was perfect. we were able to host guests watch the eagles win! and have food in the room for our guests to stop by and relax. The room was mag! and we were able to host fireworks "party".
if you are having a wedding consider this option- also the wedding was great!
