Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 3 TO MAY 11, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on May 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING

As I posted yesterday, the current forecast is that Free Dining will come out for Disney Visa holders on May 1, and for the general public on May 7–not May 5.

But this is a forecast, not carved in stone.  To keep up with what actually happens–in case, for example, it does come out May 5!–I suggest doing two things:

• First, sign up for email notification about free dining from my friends at Destinations in Florida.  Click this link, fill out the form, reply to the confirmatory email, and you are set!
• Second, check this thread (click “last page”) every morning.  If things happens sooner than expected, you’ll find out quickly there–any news will show up right after 7a eastern.

Word is that the Brazilian deal will include the following eligible arrival dates, and thus so too might the general public deal:

• 8/31 to 10/03
• 10/26 to 11/1
• 11/9 to 11/20 and
• 12/12 to 12/23

Treat these as forecasts, too.  General public offers are often hairier than Brazilian ones. The US offer may be the same; it may be only for the late August-early October dates; it may be for all these basic date blocks, but with slightly different start or end dates; or it may be something entirely different.

For the best FAQ on free dining you’ll ever read, see this.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Two different sources have told me that while September Free Dining will open for Disney Visa on May 21, Free Dining offers will open to the general public on May 7, not May 5 as many–including me!–have forecast.

See this for more!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, see this.

 PHOTO TOUR OF A ROOM AT DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT

Of the many room types at the Grand Floridian, the most common has two queens and a sofa that flips into a bed. (Click any of these photos to enlarge them.  They don’t get better–just bigger…)

As at all the deluxe resort standard rooms, the room opens from a hallway…

…and has closets on one side and the bath on the other.

One side of the closet has a safe, shoe rack, and spare bedding…

…and the other side has robes, the luggage rack and the ironing board. All Grand Floridian rooms have robes (in some of my stays here, they were on the beds) and turn-down service–not just the concierge rooms, as at other deluxes.

The bath is graceful–note the wood floor and overall color scheme…

…and comes with a collection of toiletries.

Note the wall covering. The main sleeping space in the room is painted, but this area and the entry has lightly figured wallpaper.

More wall covering, and the only “Disney” theming in the room–an Alice in Wonderland reference.

Here’s the toilet and tub/shower, in their own space…

…and (from an earlier stay with the room layout reversed) the shower curtain, which picks up the same figuring and colors as the wallpaper in nearby spaces.

Back in the main area of the room, you’ll find two queens and a desk on one side.

The bed side from the back.

A closer view of one of the queen beds.

Between the two beds is this bedside table, more French Regency than Victorian, that reminds me of Madame Wardrobe from Beauty and the Beast. There’s powerpoints on top…

…as well as a couple of good-sized (for a bedside table) storage drawers, handy as the room is a bit short on dresser drawer space.

The final item on  this side of the room is this desk, with more powerpoints on top.

Underneath it is a table that rolls out, out-handy as a typing-height area for your laptop, or a dining or game-playing platform.

The other side of the room has a couch, and a dresser with a TV on top and mini-fridge inside.

The dresser with TV above.

The deeper center of the dresser holds the mini-fridge…

…and the narrowed wings hold narrow drawers, four on each side.

The overall design of the dresser is more interesting than would be a more rectangular design, but less useful, because of the drawer space lost to the mini-fridge. This makes the extra storage space in Madame Wardrobe between the beds that much more important.

On the positive side, there’s six surface power points on the dresser, three on each side, making a total of 10+ easily accessible charging places in the room.

Also on this side is a couch.

The couch flips over into a fifth sleeping spot. I measured the mattress as 6′ by 32″, with just an inch more clear between the arms for feetsies.  The cushion is 4″ deep, and I found it quite comfortable.

At the closet end of this side of the room you will find either a connecting door, or, if one is not present, this easy chair.

At the other end of the room you’ll find the windows and either a balcony or patio. Here’s the outer and inner curtains…

…and here’s the view from one of my rooms–this one a first floor room at the end of Boca Chica, facing Narcoossees and the path to the boat dock.

Another of my rooms here had a theme park view, with off-center views of the evening fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

Here’s a patio, from one of my stays here…

…and a balcony, from another.

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA

This review continues here.

PAGES IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT

• Overview and summary of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
• Theming and accommodations at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
• A photo tour of a standard room at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
• Amenities at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
• Dining at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
• The pools at at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA

Our most recent stay in July 2016 confirms that Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort is the fifth best deluxe resort at Walt Disney World for first time family visitors.

You can have a wonderful visit at any Walt Disney World resort hotel.

However, this site recommends that first time visitors to Walt Disney World who can afford it should stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, a deluxe resort, and that those who can’t should stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, a value resort.

(It also suggests that first time visitors should avoid the moderate resorts, while noting that these resorts are wonderful for visits after the first. See this for why.)

Compared to other Walt Disney World owned and operated resorts, the deluxe resorts are distinguished by having (on average) the most amenities, nicest views, best dining options, best transport options, largest rooms, best service, and highest prices.

Among the deluxe resorts, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, a monorail resort, has a lot of positives.

It is the third most convenient of the Disney World resorts, bested only by the Contemporary and the Polynesian.  The quality of dining at the resort is unparalleled. The overall architecture, and its associated Victorian detailing, is as delightful as is to be found at Walt Disney World.  Standard rooms–at ~440 square feet–are bigger than those at any other Disney-owned resort except for the rooms in the newer part of the Polynesian.

Its Disney Vacation Club offering, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, is also marvelous.

On the other hand, it has perhaps the least kid appeal of any Disney-owned resort at Walt Disney World.

It’s the only Disney World resort with a restaurant (Victoria and Albert’s) that does not allow younger kids, and the only Disney World resort whose largest, most central pool (the Courtyard Pool) is not also the pool designed to most appeal to kids.

The kid-appealing pool, the Beach Pool, with waterfalls and a slide, is smaller and isolated on the south side of the resort.

The architecture and Victorian detailing, delightful to adults, will have no special appeal to most kids.  And the public-space decorating scheme–the floors, walls, public furniture, paintings and such–will have little appeal to kids either.

Adults will recognize the decoration as typical of international high-end hotels that do not wish to risk for even a moment appearing stylish.  Those with comfortable elderly aunts will recognize the decor as well.

Guest rooms have just ended a refurb cycle which has made them much less fussy than before. This paradoxically broadens their appeal while losing a bit of the sharpness of the Victorian theming. All in, for most guests the simpler rooms are an improvement.

It’s not that kids aren’t welcome; kids are completely welcome (well, not at Victoria and Albert’s) and will have a ball here.  Rather, it’s that there’s next to nothing about the architecture, detailing, and grounds of Disney’s Grand Victorian Resort and Spa that reinforces that welcome and makes the resort feel kid-appealing.

(See this for much more on resort distinctions by price class–value, moderate, deluxe, etc.)

[Read more →]

Disney announced yesterday that starting next week, once people have used their initial three FastPass+, they will be able to get additional FastPass+ one at a time via park kiosks.

These additional FastPass+ can be on any FastPass+ ride with available capacity. This means they can be re-rides of rides already done on FastPass+ earlier, and, at the tiered parks, on additional Tier 1 rides.

This can be in the same park, or another park–effectively adding FastPass+ to park-hopping.

We need to see a bit how this will work–I’ll be in the parks the weekend of May 3rd so will have some firsthand experience to report on.

But it’s hard to see that this will much matter.

The rides for which demand is highest will likely rarely be available, so in most cases, most times of the year, the additional FastPass+ will be for great but not headliner rides where, without these changes, standby lines would have been OK anyway.

If the result is more people seeing these rides per hour, then their standby waits will go up, making these additional FastPass+ more valuable. For example, it may end being wise to target 4th and following FastPass+ at the Magic Kingdom to Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Pirates.  Even before the change, standby waits had already gone up at these with their new reservability on FastPass+; we may see even more of this. Josh has a great discussion of this and the overall change here.

This change also diminishes the value of FastPass+ for evening events. Other than Main Street Electrical parade–where a FastPass+ also positions you well for Celebrate the Magic, and puts you in the right neighborhood for Wishes–these were already low value FastPass+. Under the new policy, it seems that having evening entertainment as one of your three initial FastPass+ will basically shut you out from getting more.

More to come as we all learn more about how this works and what the resultant implications are. In the meantime, the best way to get around the limitations of FastPass+ remains simply throwing vast amounts of money at it.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!