Hey all - so we just stayed at four different DVC hotels in a week from 12/13-12/20. I definitely have a lot of thoughts on these for sure, as they were all my first experience staying at them.
1. Animal Kingdom Lodge (1 BR - Kidani)
2. Polynesian (Studio)
3. Old Key West (1 BR - Home resort)
4. Grand Floridian (1 BR)
As the title states, these are some thoughts about Grand Floridian exclusively. I’ll make some posts about the other resorts as time allows. Background - my wife and I have watched I think every episode of the DVC Show on YT. It’s great and informative and definitely thankful that something like this exists. Neither of us have ever stayed at GF before so we definitely wanted to take the opportunity to do so, as this year was our 5 year wedding anniversary. Like a little treat of sorts.
1. The outside is of course beautiful. Inside the lobby is quite lovely, especially during the holidays. It’s definitely a little ‘stuffy’ as I think PW has mentioned. That’s really up to you personally and up for interpretation. I mean, imagine if you have to wear the Mary Poppins getup vs wearing a lei and Hawaiian shirt at Poly.
2. However, you’re not staying in the lobby. You’re going to your room. Mine was a 1 Bedroom, Lake View. Definitely not cheap (40-something points - equivalent to a few nights at Poly). Staying here, as a DVC member, is a bit different than we imagined. I didn’t realize how far away the DVC building is from the rest. It’s far enough that I wish I had had a bicycle to get back and forth with. This wouldn’t be an issue really, if not for a few things:
- It’s an outdoor corridor to get back and forth from, and it down poured one of the nights.
- It was really chilly out, and while I’m fine, the food I had to get for my family wasn’t.
3. This sort of goes back to what someone on the show was saying (Jackie maybe?) - there needs to be SOMETHING there for DVC owners at the DVC portion. A quick service, a shop, SOMETHING. If you’re staying there and your wife says to you “I sure would like a pastry or Mickey bar” this is a 45 minute excursion. Not asking for a table service, full stop restaurant, but can we something akin to what a regular Hilton or most other hotels have?
4. The room at FIRST GLANCE was nice. In the same style as some of the other resorts but just with nicer things. Nicer moulding. Nicer cabinets. Nicer fridge. Bedroom was spacious. Bathroom and tub were nice. We had a Lake View room, and that was nice as well.
Upon further inspection while staying....
5. This was probably the worst room we had in our entire stay.
- PW mentioned about a water ring on the coffee table when he stayed there. Pete - I see your one ring and raise you four on the dining room table. (Sorry, wouldn’t let me link the photo above).
- The fridge door was thisclose to falling off the hinges. You had to pick up the door to fully close it.
- The dishwasher was rusted inside with some sort of soap film all through it. It creaks when you open and close it and is definitely not suitable.
- This trundle bed should have had the warning that Riviera’s got. It had a rail on it that folds down, except the screws on both ends of it were completely loose and as such basically useless. I didn’t trust this bed and we had my two year old sleep in the King bed.
- The rug in the main room slips all over the floor. When it does, you see all of the dirt that has probably been there since who knows when.
- Where are all of the outlets? Man, there’s a lack of them here and is definitely noticeable vs all of the other resorts we stayed at.
- The cable wire was sticking out and running to the TV. Just not a good look. It looked like if my wife wanted me to hang the TV in our living room and gave me an hour to do it.
- At night, the cabinets looked okay. When the sun came up and was shining through our not-so-clean patio doors, you could see every single paint job done to them. While white paint was used, the patches seemed to be semi-gloss while the cabinets were eggshell. Again, not a good look.
- There was a dirty washcloth hanging in the shower from the last guest, on the clothesline which also wasn’t retracted.
- The switches on the jacuzzi tub were all broken.
6. The quick service (Gasparilla Grill) was nice. Definitely was one of the best we’ve been to (this was for breakfast and for also late night). The food costs there were SIGNIFICANTLY lower than what I was expecting. I would be a little hesitant though to call it ‘quick.’ Evening/late night was a 30 minute wait on food-to-go (just 20$ worth of food, nothing crazy). Also not a lot of people in there at the time either. Next morning’s breakfast was around a 30-40 minute wait.
7. Staff was nice and friendly. The DVC staff was especially nice. We didn’t have any run-ins (thankfully) like PW had on his stay.
8. All of these things being said, this is probably the last time that we’ll ever stay there. The amount of points that it costs vs what you can get in other resorts - that cost/value ratio isn’t there for me. It may be for you, and hey that’s great. My thought is that you are paying a lot for the outside of building - not the inside.
What are your thoughts? I truly do not mean to sound like Petty Roosevelt, but this being the deluxe, flagship Disney resort and with the cost involved, I feel they should be scrutinized rightly along with it. Also if you made it this far, whatever your own thoughts are on this or your own reflections, thanks for reading and hanging with me :0)
1. Animal Kingdom Lodge (1 BR - Kidani)
2. Polynesian (Studio)
3. Old Key West (1 BR - Home resort)
4. Grand Floridian (1 BR)
As the title states, these are some thoughts about Grand Floridian exclusively. I’ll make some posts about the other resorts as time allows. Background - my wife and I have watched I think every episode of the DVC Show on YT. It’s great and informative and definitely thankful that something like this exists. Neither of us have ever stayed at GF before so we definitely wanted to take the opportunity to do so, as this year was our 5 year wedding anniversary. Like a little treat of sorts.
1. The outside is of course beautiful. Inside the lobby is quite lovely, especially during the holidays. It’s definitely a little ‘stuffy’ as I think PW has mentioned. That’s really up to you personally and up for interpretation. I mean, imagine if you have to wear the Mary Poppins getup vs wearing a lei and Hawaiian shirt at Poly.
2. However, you’re not staying in the lobby. You’re going to your room. Mine was a 1 Bedroom, Lake View. Definitely not cheap (40-something points - equivalent to a few nights at Poly). Staying here, as a DVC member, is a bit different than we imagined. I didn’t realize how far away the DVC building is from the rest. It’s far enough that I wish I had had a bicycle to get back and forth with. This wouldn’t be an issue really, if not for a few things:
- It’s an outdoor corridor to get back and forth from, and it down poured one of the nights.
- It was really chilly out, and while I’m fine, the food I had to get for my family wasn’t.
3. This sort of goes back to what someone on the show was saying (Jackie maybe?) - there needs to be SOMETHING there for DVC owners at the DVC portion. A quick service, a shop, SOMETHING. If you’re staying there and your wife says to you “I sure would like a pastry or Mickey bar” this is a 45 minute excursion. Not asking for a table service, full stop restaurant, but can we something akin to what a regular Hilton or most other hotels have?
4. The room at FIRST GLANCE was nice. In the same style as some of the other resorts but just with nicer things. Nicer moulding. Nicer cabinets. Nicer fridge. Bedroom was spacious. Bathroom and tub were nice. We had a Lake View room, and that was nice as well.
Upon further inspection while staying....
5. This was probably the worst room we had in our entire stay.
- PW mentioned about a water ring on the coffee table when he stayed there. Pete - I see your one ring and raise you four on the dining room table. (Sorry, wouldn’t let me link the photo above).
- The fridge door was thisclose to falling off the hinges. You had to pick up the door to fully close it.
- The dishwasher was rusted inside with some sort of soap film all through it. It creaks when you open and close it and is definitely not suitable.
- This trundle bed should have had the warning that Riviera’s got. It had a rail on it that folds down, except the screws on both ends of it were completely loose and as such basically useless. I didn’t trust this bed and we had my two year old sleep in the King bed.
- The rug in the main room slips all over the floor. When it does, you see all of the dirt that has probably been there since who knows when.
- Where are all of the outlets? Man, there’s a lack of them here and is definitely noticeable vs all of the other resorts we stayed at.
- The cable wire was sticking out and running to the TV. Just not a good look. It looked like if my wife wanted me to hang the TV in our living room and gave me an hour to do it.
- At night, the cabinets looked okay. When the sun came up and was shining through our not-so-clean patio doors, you could see every single paint job done to them. While white paint was used, the patches seemed to be semi-gloss while the cabinets were eggshell. Again, not a good look.
- There was a dirty washcloth hanging in the shower from the last guest, on the clothesline which also wasn’t retracted.
- The switches on the jacuzzi tub were all broken.
6. The quick service (Gasparilla Grill) was nice. Definitely was one of the best we’ve been to (this was for breakfast and for also late night). The food costs there were SIGNIFICANTLY lower than what I was expecting. I would be a little hesitant though to call it ‘quick.’ Evening/late night was a 30 minute wait on food-to-go (just 20$ worth of food, nothing crazy). Also not a lot of people in there at the time either. Next morning’s breakfast was around a 30-40 minute wait.
7. Staff was nice and friendly. The DVC staff was especially nice. We didn’t have any run-ins (thankfully) like PW had on his stay.
8. All of these things being said, this is probably the last time that we’ll ever stay there. The amount of points that it costs vs what you can get in other resorts - that cost/value ratio isn’t there for me. It may be for you, and hey that’s great. My thought is that you are paying a lot for the outside of building - not the inside.
What are your thoughts? I truly do not mean to sound like Petty Roosevelt, but this being the deluxe, flagship Disney resort and with the cost involved, I feel they should be scrutinized rightly along with it. Also if you made it this far, whatever your own thoughts are on this or your own reflections, thanks for reading and hanging with me :0)
