Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Room Location was great overlooking water with fireworks in full view every night. Room had couch on same wall as tv so not used when watching TV no chair so bed it was. Club level food and drink plentiful but staff standing around smiling but only removing dirty plates would be nice if they went around asking guests if they would like a beverage. Courtyard pool was nice but hot tub was not hot. Very expensive...one and done.

We visited from 12/26-1/2. During our stay, we were made to change hotels from Waldorf Astoria to Grand Floridian (GF) because Disney changed the Lightning Lane Premier Pass process; unbeknownst to us, it was now limited to those staying at Disney resorts. Waldorf is listed as a Disney resort, but apparently it isn't one that allows for the premier pass. As a result, we spent two days of our trip waiting in exorbitant lines, then substantially increased our nightly rate to stay at the GF. We told GF we were making the change for access to premier passes, but when we went to purchase the premier pass, it was sold out and no one at the hotel told us of that risk. We wasted a day of our trip moving hotels for no reason. We are not rich people, but we like to travel and save up for luxury experiences. We have stayed at many luxury resorts, but this was the absolute worst. There is zero exclusivity at GF and it is crawling with people who are not guests at the hotel. Disney is already overstimulating and exhausting; it doesn't help to fight crowds even after returning to your "luxury" resort. My daughter lost her Apple watch and it was stolen (turned off) in a flash; I'm guessing this was not a resort guest and reflects that opening your resort to that many people creates risks like this for your paying guests. We had trouble getting dining reservations at our own resort, so we ate at the grab and go a few times, which was filthy. The tables were never clean and there were bugs crawling and flying around the enclosed pastry display case (we reported this and no one did anything about it). There was black hair in my coffee (I'm blond). For the reservations we were able to score at other restaurants, we found the service to be unbelievably poor. The fireworks on NYE were understandable, but we were woken the night prior to unnecessary midnight fireworks and the night after to the Electrical Water Pageant at 11pm. Three nights in a row of our young children being woken in the middle of the night caused severe exhaustion. This was our children's Christmas gift and it was ruined by GF. That's not to mention that the new Premier Pass cost and limitations excludes too many, for those who are not wealthy, the cost mixed with boarding limitations makes it unattainable for most. Gross for a place that is built for children.

Of course this is a lovely hotel with excellent choice of restaurants, beautiful lobby and stunning victorian decor. I have stayed here before the refurbishment and we were in one of the nearby buildings about 5 minutes walk to the main hotel building, our room had a very nice view and the choice of toiletries in bathroom was excellent. If possible however do request not to be put into an adjoining room as then the noise from next room travels quite fast and we unfortunately had a family with kids next door - you can hear the conversations through the walls. I recommend you try to dine at Victoria & Alberts as it's a beautiful restaurant and one of the very few away from screaming kids.

We stayed in a top level room in the Conch building at the Grand Floridian, so the ceilings were high, and we had a great balcony view of the resort. The bathrooms were really nice! The Mary Poppins overlay in the room is super cute and a nice update they made to the resort.

We stayed at the Grand Floridian 20 years ago when my husband and I got married and it was spectacular. We returned with our 4 children and although the hotel still looks exactly the same, certain things have definitely changed which has taken away from the 5 star class. The rooms were perfect and were exceptionally clean. However check in was mess. The lady checking us in did not programme the cards correctly so we couldn’t get into our rooms. It took us a further 2 attempts at the front reception before the problem was rectified. Then the reception and 1st floor of the main hotel were constantly in chaos. It has become far too commercialised and you definitely don’t feel like you are staying at a 5 star resort. You in actual fact feel as if you are in another Disney park.