(2014-2020) Disney's GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA + VILLAS Information & Questions

[mrs moon]

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The 1st one is a zoomed in pic of the bottom. This is the view from SL FYI.

This section there is space to move around. Dd usually finds here SPOT here. I'll be in the pool

Thank you so much for the pictures

 

[Rachel GB]

No, I do not think you are overacting. I am sure there will be extra foot traffic. The salon isn't huge so maybe that will help a tiny bit. It does make sense with 1900 Park Fare and the Princess Promenade to have princess offerings, but I imagine it will mostly be overflow from MK so people can just jump on the monorail rather than bus to DS.

Thanks for your reply! Hopefully it won’t affect us as guests TOO much!

 

[mrsap]

May I ask, for those who have rented a cabana here, is there a strict 6 person limit? Do you get wristbands? We would have five adults and two kids. Don’t know if I want to take a chance if seven is not permitted. Thanks!!

 

[ninafeliz]

May I ask, for those who have rented a cabana here, is there a strict 6 person limit? Do you get wristbands? We would have five adults and two kids. Don’t know if I want to take a chance if seven is not permitted. Thanks!!

we didn't get wristbands, but it was like 3 yrs ago so that could have changed. Not sure about the 6 max, sorry! When I rented one the other day for our upcoming stay I think they asked me if there were 6 of us, and there are, but they might have just been making small talk. They didn't ask in such a way that it was obvious they were marking down the number of people for the cabana, at least. Is there a max of 6 listed somewhere online?

 

[mrsap]

we didn't get wristbands, but it was like 3 yrs ago so that could have changed. Not sure about the 6 max, sorry! When I rented one the other day for our upcoming stay I think they asked me if there were 6 of us, and there are, but they might have just been making small talk. They didn't ask in such a way that it was obvious they were marking down the number of people for the cabana, at least. Is there a max of 6 listed somewhere online?

My friend, who we travel with, called to get information.
When they asked her how many people, she said seven. The CM told her that it was a limit of six and that if we had seven people she would have to pay for another cabana to accommodate the extra person! They also mentioned wristbands and that if they don’t have a wristband they would be able come in.

 

[ninafeliz]

May I ask, for those who have rented a cabana here, is there a strict 6 person limit? Do you get wristbands? We would have five adults and two kids. Don’t know if I want to take a chance if seven is not permitted. Thanks!!

I was curious, so I went to the Disney website to see what it said about cabanas. Under recreation and then cabanas, it lists the GF and CR cabanas, and amenities included with each. Then, under the "know before you go" section there is this bullet point:

• Guests must be staying at any Walt Disney World Resort hotel and will need to present a MagicBand at time of cabana check-in.

If this is actually true it's new, I know you used to have to be staying at the resort the cabana is at. I'm kind of doubting it's accurate, but to me that sentence is pretty clear that you don't have to be at that resort to rent a cabana. I wonder if it's just really poor wording? If you don't have to be a guest at that resort getting the new YC and BC cabanas could be pretty tough!

It also doesn't say anything that I saw about the number of guests that can be in a cabana on the site.

ETA on further exploration the Oasis Patios at the Poly are listed under the Pools at the Polynesian Resort section of recreation, hidden under the Oasis pool info, and they do say can accommodate up to 6 guests. for those I think it shouldn't really matter, since they are spread out and pretty open, and I don't know how much they enforce that since you pretty much just show up and claim the one with your name on it the day of.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

I was curious, so I went to the Disney website to see what it said about cabanas. Under recreation and then cabanas, it lists the GF and CR cabanas, and amenities included with each. Then, under the "know before you go" section there is this bullet point:

• Guests must be staying at any Walt Disney World Resort hotel and will need to present a MagicBand at time of cabana check-in.

If this is actually true it's new, I know you used to have to be staying at the resort the cabana is at. I'm kind of doubting it's accurate, but to me that sentence is pretty clear that you don't have to be at that resort to rent a cabana. I wonder if it's just really poor wording? If you don't have to be a guest at that resort getting the new YC and BC cabanas could be pretty tough!

It also doesn't say anything that I saw about the number of guests that can be in a cabana on the site.

YC and BC are probably one of the ones that almost always has someone checking MB to even get into the pool,so I’m willing to bet YC and BC will be strictly for those guests.

 

[ninafeliz]

YC and BC are probably one of the ones that almost always has someone checking MB to even get into the pool,so I’m willing to bet YC and BC will be strictly for those guests.

Yeah, that's true. But if you really didn't have to be a YC/ BC guest but only a WDW resort guest to rent a cabana that wouldn't matter. They would scan your band when you showed up for the cabana rental, and you would be legit with any WDW resort stay, and I presume then you would either get a SAB wristband or a cabana Wristband. So you wouldn't just be trying to stroll through the entrance checkpoints. I don't think this is true, but if it were then this would be the exception to the must be YC/BC guest to use SAB rule.

 

[mrsap]

Yeah, that's true. But if you really didn't have to be a YC/ BC guest but only a WDW resort guest to rent a cabana that wouldn't matter. They would scan your band when you showed up for the cabana rental, and you would be legit with any WDW resort stay, and I presume then you would either get a SAB wristband or a cabana Wristband. So you wouldn't just be trying to stroll through the entrance checkpoints. I don't think this is true, but if it were then this would be the exception to the must be YC/BC guest to use SAB rule.

BC is pretty strict with the pool, we had to have our bands scanned every time we walked back into the area. DVC members can’t even pool hop there (if not staying there), so not sure if there will be the same rules for BC cabanas. My guess is it will be updated once BC cabanas are complete.

 

[ninafeliz]

BC is pretty strict with the pool, we had to have our bands scanned every time we walked back into the area. DVC members can’t even pool hop there (if not staying there), so not sure if there will be the same rules for BC cabanas. My guess is it will be updated once BC cabanas are complete.

I just got off the phone with DSS, I was curious. The CM had to put me on hold to look for her info on the YC/BC cabanas, since they are so new. She found it, and there are the instructions to them that a guest renting one of the cabanas has to be a guest of the YC/BC and they need to confirm that. However, and this was news to me, she said that any WDW resort guest can rent a cabana at the GF or CR! I didn't ask about the Patios at the Poly, she mentioned them as she was discussing how things are changing in that department so rules could be changing as well (meaning that it could be relatively new that any WDW guest can rent them). She said that she imagines that once they update the cabanas section to include the YC/BC there will probably be a new bullet point saying that you must be a YC/BC guest to rent one of those cabanas. I'm assuming that they won't be added to the website for quite some time, since Disney isn't known for keeping it very up to date.

It also just dawned on me that I should have asked her about the 6 guest maximum, and what if you had 5 kids, since it wouldn't really matter to me and then we would at least know the official response (from one CM at least!). Sorry

 

[mrsap]

I just got off the phone with DSS, I was curious. The CM had to put me on hold to look for her info on the YC/BC cabanas, since they are so new. She found it, and there are the instructions to them that a guest renting one of the cabanas has to be a guest of the YC/BC and they need to confirm that. However, and this was news to me, she said that any WDW resort guest can rent a cabana at the GF or CR! I didn't ask about the Patios at the Poly, she mentioned them as she was discussing how things are changing in that department so rules could be changing as well (meaning that it could be relatively new that any WDW guest can rent them). She said that she imagines that once they update the cabanas section to include the YC/BC there will probably be a new bullet point saying that you must be a YC/BC guest to rent one of those cabanas. I'm assuming that they won't be added to the website for quite some time, since Disney isn't known for keeping it very up to date.

It also just dawned on me that I should have asked her about the 6 guest maximum, and what if you had 5 kids, since it wouldn't really matter to me and then we would at least know the official response (from one CM at least!). Sorry

Yeah I figured that! It’s good you got clarity!! She did call back and somebody else mentioned that most likely not everybody will be in the cabana at once so they don’t think it’s an issue. We went ahead and booked it!!

 

[ninafeliz]

Yeah I figured that! It’s good you got clarity!! She did call back and somebody else mentioned that most likely not everybody will be in the cabana at once so they don’t think it’s an issue. We went ahead and booked it!!

If it's 7, and they are your immediate family, I would hope you would be ok. I just think they don't want a party of teens or a drunk bachelor party or something trying to cram 15 people in there. I guess it's a lot of money to gamble on, but I would be pretty annoyed if they gave me a problem with being one over and the one is my actual child, and not someone off site or something! There's plenty of room for that. I know a rules a rule, but come on...

 

[mrsap]

If it's 7, and they are your immediate family, I would hope you would be ok. I just think they don't want a party of teens or a drunk bachelor party or something trying to cram 15 people in there. I guess it's a lot of money to gamble on, but I would be pretty annoyed if they gave me a problem with being one over and the one is my actual child, and not someone off site or something! There's plenty of room for that. I know a rules a rule, but come on...

Definitely! But I’m sure my kids will be swimming most of the time, so I’m not really worried. The only time they’d probably even come in the cabana is for a drink or snack!!

 

[WishesQueen]

May I ask, for those who have rented a cabana here, is there a strict 6 person limit? Do you get wristbands? We would have five adults and two kids. Don’t know if I want to take a chance if seven is not permitted. Thanks!!

I can only tell you about my experiences but we NEVER, NEVER had a problem. We even had friends from Florida visit us while we were at the pool. We of course checked with the Cabana attendant and they were fine with it. We definitely tipped them well that day, but honestly the men and kids were in the pool the entire time. We went to get lunch ourselves, the only thing attendant got for us were drinks at the bar.

We rent cabanas every year (10 years at least) and even when its just the 5 us. There are many many families that are there with more than 6. Just take good care of your attendant

 

[mrsap]

I can only tell you about my experiences but we NEVER, NEVER had a problem. We even had friends from Florida visit us while we were at the pool. We of course checked with the Cabana attendant and they were fine with it. We definitely tipped them well that day, but honestly the men and kids were in the pool the entire time. We went to get lunch ourselves, the only thing attendant got for us were drinks at the bar.

We rent cabanas every year (10 years at least) and even when its just the 5 us. There are many many families that are there with more than 6. Just take good care of your attendant

Thanks for your reply! That’s good to know!!

 

[ahcupcake]

I just got off the phone with DSS, I was curious. The CM had to put me on hold to look for her info on the YC/BC cabanas, since they are so new. She found it, and there are the instructions to them that a guest renting one of the cabanas has to be a guest of the YC/BC and they need to confirm that. However, and this was news to me, she said that any WDW resort guest can rent a cabana at the GF or CR! I didn't ask about the Patios at the Poly, she mentioned them as she was discussing how things are changing in that department so rules could be changing as well (meaning that it could be relatively new that any WDW guest can rent them). She said that she imagines that once they update the cabanas section to include the YC/BC there will probably be a new bullet point saying that you must be a YC/BC guest to rent one of those cabanas. I'm assuming that they won't be added to the website for quite some time, since Disney isn't known for keeping it very up to date.

It also just dawned on me that I should have asked her about the 6 guest maximum, and what if you had 5 kids, since it wouldn't really matter to me and then we would at least know the official response (from one CM at least!). Sorry

I don't like the idea of someone staying at resort X renting a cabana at GF or CR, that would be taking away amenities from the guests staying at those resorts.
Plus wouldn't that be considered pool hopping which is a Disney NO NO......

 

[ninafeliz]

I don't like the idea of someone staying at resort X renting a cabana at GF or CR, that would be taking away amenities from the guests staying at those resorts.
Plus wouldn't that be considered pool hopping which is a Disney NO NO......

I don’t like it either. I will say at the GF the cabanas seemed to often be rented when we were there and in our 2 stays at the CR we maybe saw one of them rented once. Honestly, I wouldn’t want a cabana at a different resort pool, with the possible exception of the YC/BC if I were at the BWI or GF if I were at the Poly. I want to be able to run to the room or Lounge for snacks, things I forgot, a break if it’s an all day rental, etc. I don’t want to schlep all of our stuff to another resort pool. Same reason I probably wouldn’t ever pool hop even if it were allowed.

However, in this case, it seems as if Disney is allowing “pool hopping” for this one exception, it is just expensive and not well known. I don’t know how many people who pool hop sneakily would pay $300 to do it legitimately.

 

[WishesQueen]

I don't like the idea of someone staying at resort X renting a cabana at GF or CR, that would be taking away amenities from the guests staying at those resorts.
Plus wouldn't that be considered pool hopping which is a Disney NO NO......

I don't care for it either, their so hard to book in the Summer months!!

 

[goofygal531]

ETA on further exploration the Oasis Patios at the Poly are listed under the Pools at the Polynesian Resort section of recreation, hidden under the Oasis pool info, and they do say can accommodate up to 6 guests. for those I think it shouldn't really matter, since they are spread out and pretty open, and I don't know how much they enforce that since you pretty much just show up and claim the one with your name on it the day of.

When I called to reserve an Oasis Patio last month, I was shocked when ask if I was a guest of the WDW Resort. I stated I will be a guest of the Poly Resort, and was told it didn’t matter. As long as I was staying at ANY WDW resort. I don’t really like this new policy. It opens the door to pool hopping.

 

[dansdad]

I don’t really like this new policy. It opens the door to pool hopping.

It's not new. That's been the policy since they started renting the Cabanas.