Is GF really worth it?

[jacksmom]

I had to change our May trip to June. I had Poly GV booked for 5 nights but now not available for my new dates. I am now planning on 6-7 nights. I have the option of WL, Contemporary Garden view, and AKL in addition to GF. I would like a monorail resort but wow GF has a hefty price. Will we be happy for the splurge or should I pick another option? It is me, dh and our just turning 16 yo dd. Please only helpful positive advise, thanks in advance.

 

[teawar]

I’ve stayed at all of those and this would be my ranking:
1. Garden room contemporary (the rooms are huge!). Lots to do at the resort. Love walking to MK.
2. A. Animal Kingdom only with a Savannah view. Bottom of this list if not a Savannah view. The resort is spectacular but the rooms can be a little smallish.
2.B Wilderness Lodge (it’s beautiful and peaceful). You have a boat or bus to places. We usually opt to go here for the price point. Geyser Point restaurant is one of our favorites.
3. GF-Resort is beautiful but it’s not a 5 star. We booked it for Christmas one year and I was just always hoping for more. It was a bucket list. Food choices are great.

Good luck!

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

I don't think its possible for anyone else to tell you whether or not you would be happy at GF. But I can share that we have stayed there several times and always enjoyed the resort immensely

 

[jacksmom]

Thanks for the input, I had my plans set for Poly, now it’s so hard to pick something else!

 

[DLgal]

Is it worth what? What is the price?

It was worth it when I last stayed there for around $350/night. Would it be worth it at $1000/night? No.

But last year we paid almost $1000/night at the Grand Californian and that was worth it. At this point in time, I'd cap GF at about $650/night. It wouldn't be worth more than that to me, right now.

It's a lovely resort. I like the food options and the transportation options to MK are great, but getting to Epcot is kind of a pain and the buses to the other parks share with Poly and that gets annoying too.

I've stayed at all the other resorts you mentioned except AKL (I can't go there, the whole place gives me real bad vibes for some reason). I'd choose GF or Contemporary in your situation.

 

[kylenne]

Thanks for the input, I had my plans set for Poly, now it’s so hard to pick something else!

I hear you. Poly is my “home” resort and favorite by far. I can’t speak to the other resorts you’re looking at, but if it helps any, I had to modify a birthday trip last May that was originally GF/Poly split to GF/YC because Poly had not yet reopened and even the DVC side was unavailable. GF was always a bucket list resort for me ever since it opened when I was a kid and I called it “the princess hotel”. That stay was my first.

Put it this way…I wish I had stayed the full 8 days at the GF. I absolutely fell in love with the resort and it’s a very close second to me now. Admittedly getting pixie dusted into the main building for a milestone birthday very much helped. But it’s an absolutely gorgeous resort, with great onsite food and amenities—I love the feature pool! If you want to splurge for a special treat and your kid is into that sort of thing, you could make a nice time of mom/daughter bonding at the spa for mani pedis. From a practical standpoint that walk to MK is wonderful. The cool thing is the Poly is so close you have easy access to all the food and activities there too. I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. (I wanted a split for our September trip but was overruled by my gf lol so it’s all Poly for us)

 

[MissionMouse]

The fear of missing out, is what Disney is using in their escalation of resort pricing. "Hefty price" is by design. What will you be willing to pay? I can afford their rates and I will pay it once, but Disney will need to deliver value. Sadly, they're not, in fact they have reduced many aspects of their resort operations. I say this after paying a ridiculous room rate at the Poly in December, which was twice the rate it was not that long ago. I would recommend a resort where you do not think it is a hefty price. I would also reframe from a spilt stay (we have done them at least twice in the past) unless you want to try multiple resorts during a single stay, as it does have impact your planning process. I would recommend, if you do not already, to understand the impact of making a split stay as Disney sees them as two short trips versus what we see and call a spilt stay. Overall, relax, select one that fits your budget, and you will be fine with what you select

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I was deeply disappointed when I stayed there a few years back. For the price that I paid, I was shocked at the lack of care of the building in its entirety. The bathroom was never entirely clean -- a single hair stayed in the bathroom from the moment that we walked in to the moment that we left -- and no, the hair was not ours. The walls were dirty and scuffed. The chair rail was terribly scuffed in the hallways. Light fixtures were crooked and hangning from the wall in the cafe... I had really high hopes for staying at Grand Flordian and will not stay there again unless someone else is paying.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We stayed Contemporary Garden Wing about 12 years ago and I didn't love it - we didn't request a specific room/area and we were as far from the tower as you could get. WL was a great resort - the pools/restaurants are great, but the rooms are small - they are really no bigger than your typical Hampton Inn. I have never stayed AKL. We did GF a few years ago and really loved it - the rooms were large and well appointed. I'm not sure we would splurge the money to stay there too regularly, but it was a wonderful experience.

 

[Marthasor]

I love GF and, if costs were equal, I would pick it over the other resorts listed. That being said, if the cost difference is significant, I would definitely consider the other resorts. If your goal is to simply be on the monorail, CR is fine. It is not my favorite resort. It feels very sterile and old - like a concrete airport hangar or office building. I definitely prefer the garden wing over the tower as I find the tower to be quite loud and I do not like the Incredibles theming in the room (though I know garden wing rooms will be re-themed to the Incredibles very soon). WL and AKL are gorgeous resorts, though the rooms will be significantly smaller than CR and GF rooms. If you want to be closer to MK, go with WL. If location doesn't matter, AKL is lovely. If you aren't opposed to using cabs/uber/lyft, I would probably choose WL or AKL and spend the money saved on private transportation to the parks.

 

[sponica]

Given that you had your heart set on the Poly, I wouldn't do the GF. I wouldn't want to be someplace where I would think, I'M SO CLOSE and SO FAR.

I'd do Wilderness Lodge or AKL -Savannah View, because those aren't near enough the Poly for the Poly to actively tease me.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I’ve stayed at all of those and this would be my ranking:
1. Garden room contemporary (the rooms are huge!). Lots to do at the resort. Love walking to MK.
2. A. Animal Kingdom only with a Savannah view. Bottom of this list if not a Savannah view. The resort is spectacular but the rooms can be a little smallish.
2.B Wilderness Lodge (it’s beautiful and peaceful). You have a boat or bus to places. We usually opt to go here for the price point. Geyser Point restaurant is one of our favorites.
3. GF-Resort is beautiful but it’s not a 5 star. We booked it for Christmas one year and I was just always hoping for more. It was a bucket list. Food choices are great.

Good luck!

Interesting. This is our exactly ranking. Well mine. Hubby would put WL #1 and CR #3.
We'd both be fine to never step foot in GF again. Not our cup of tea. Though give the rooms a good remodel and we'd reconsider. I really dislike them currently

 

[DizneyFamof4]

If they were all equal in price than yes I would pick GF. It's funny because we did not think we would like GF until we actually got upgraded to there and it ended up being our favorite deluxe. Where as, we thought we would love POLY and it was just okay, so you never know. Bottom line is that "worth" is different for everyone. We have stayed at all levels and, for us, we can no longer find the "worth" in most of the deluxe resorts at the $$ they're charging.

 

[stinkpickle]

GF isn't really worth it to us, unless we can snag a big discount.

 

[gregskellington]

The hotel rooms at GF are pretty hilarious to me. Some are appointed okay, I've heard, but in general they just look like dated, crappy rooms to me. I don't understand how it's the flagship. (In all fairness, I also hate the theme there)

 

[ktink]

We just returned home from a split stay between BWI and GF. I loved GF but I personally prefer BWI over GF. We paid for waterview at BWI and lagoon view at GF. We were on the Boardwalk and the view was amazing and beautiful. At GF we had a lagoon view of the monorail. It rained a few days while we were there. At BWI once we were in we were under one roof. When we got off the monorail or bus at GF we had to go back out into the rain to get to our building. We booked an AP discount and the main building wasn’t available. Also, our room at BWI was noticeably larger than GF.
I am thankful I got to stay at GF. I have nothing bad to say about the beautiful resort. I do, however, prefer BWI over GF. But I have no regrets about staying at either. Lol

 

[Aurora79]

GF was always my dream resort ever since it was built, so I’m probably pretty biased. Once I finally got to stay there, I can’t imagine staying anywhere else. We almost decided to stay at BC or YC this time due to cost, but I just couldn’t do it. GF just has the restaurants, location, and style that appeals to my family the most. Plus, Poly is a short walk or monorail ride away, so we visit the restaurants there often too.

WL looks too much like Bass Pro for me…which looks like so many of the nicer resorts within 30 minutes of me, so even though it’s pretty, it’s not where I want to stay at Disney.

AKL is ok, but the location for me is a dealbreaker. If you have a car on property, then it may work for you as it is unique.

Contemporary…oh, the Contemporary. To me, it’s nice to visit, but I don’t want to stay there. It smells too much like a musty mall for my tastes.

 

[crzy4dsny]

Is it worth it? That depends on how deep your pockets are. It's all relative to what you consider to be too expensive or not too expensive. Is it worth $900 a night, in the real world absolutely not. But this is Disney and its the Grand Floridian. In my opinion the rooms are old and run down for that price point, they are in need of refurb. We stay at all resort levels, we enjoy the deluxe level resorts the most. We like to be in the $300-$400 AP discount range when at a deluxe. When we stayed at the GF, we had a free 4 night stay, the best rate available at that time was $900 a night. My opinion, it wasn't worth $900 a night. If you can get it in the $500-$600 range then it would be worth it to check off your list.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I’ve stayed at all of those and this would be my ranking:
1. Garden room contemporary (the rooms are huge!). Lots to do at the resort. Love walking to MK.
2. A. Animal Kingdom only with a Savannah view. Bottom of this list if not a Savannah view. The resort is spectacular but the rooms can be a little smallish.
2.B Wilderness Lodge (it’s beautiful and peaceful). You have a boat or bus to places. We usually opt to go here for the price point. Geyser Point restaurant is one of our favorites.
3. GF-Resort is beautiful but it’s not a 5 star. We booked it for Christmas one year and I was just always hoping for more. It was a bucket list. Food choices are great.

Good luck!

I second this ^^^^^ GF is not 5 star at all. I was very very disappointed in our room. Garden View Contemporary room was huge as previous poster said, and very nice. AK is one of my favorite resorts. Have not stayed at WL. GF is last on my list of Deluxes.

 

[sdk1231]

Your question of "value" is a good one. Not being sure of your original price vs your potential new prices, I'll give you my "ranking":

1. I love the GF and the Poly equally, and personally find them to be equal in terms of value. I typically book whichever is cheaper, and that fluctuates. Whichever one I stay at, I regularly boat or walk back and forth between them on the (very pretty walking path) to take advantage of the food options available at both resorts. Food/drink options are stellar at both. Room sizes are roughly equal (biggest on property). Grounds and lobby are equally beautiful, IMO. Fun pool and quiet pools are great at both. Transportation is stellar w/monorail and walking path to the MK, etc. I've taken multi-generational family groups to both, and all ages have loved them universally.

2. Wilderness Lodge is cheaper, smaller rooms. Food options are okay. Transportation is okay - bus or boat to MK. When I stayed there, I felt "cut off" in a way. I missed the monorail/walking path to the MK. I felt sort of weird being in the Disney version of Yosemite National Park while in Florida. It is very pretty in its "lodge" way. Pool is great. I didn't love the resort. (My husband and teens did). I personally wouldn't stay there again unless GF or Poly were out of the question.

3. Contemporary Garden. Even if I could get it really cheap, I probably would not stay there. There's a very little chance of balcony or patio, which is a big downside for me. The Garden buildings are out back behind the main A Frame building. They somewhat resemble cement bunkers. I was recently told that the Contemporary pool is awful, so I went over and looked at it in December. I thought it looked extremely unappealing. On the plus side, very quick walk to the MK and monorail access, lots of food choices.

4. AKL. Stayed there once. Got a great deal on a Savannah View, Club Level. Hated it from the moment I walked in. AKL was just not to my taste. I found it ugly, dark, extremely long walks to everything (including the Club Lounge) and I hated having to bus everywhere. Ugh. I would never stay there again. Maybe if someone offered me a room for free, but otherwise no way. Husband and teens also disliked it. Some people love it though.

One you have not mentioned - Swan / Dolphin. Yes, they're more of a regular Marriott type hotel, but they are right on Crescent Lake by the Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Beach Club. Great pool, amenities, tons of food options, walk to DHS and Epcot, Skyliner, Boats. They get Extended Evening Hours like the rest of the Deluxe properties, and typically run around $200/$300 night. When I think of Deluxe "Value" I can't help but think of those. (When I was hating my AKL stay, I was thinking "Why didn't I just stay at the Dolphin? At least I'd have been on beautiful Crescent Lake with walks to 2 parks and would've saved a ton of money.")