The DVC section is a new feature of Disneyana. I thought I would make the first post in the section with a report on our first Disney Vacation Club (DVC) trip which included a stay at Disney’s The Grand Floridian. We last visited Disney World twenty years ago and one of the highlights was a character breakfast at The Grand Floridian. We always wanted to go back and thanks to joining DVC we finally did. We will be writing about our journey to becoming DVC members in future posts.
Our visit to GF was the third part of our DVC trip and prior we spent the day in the Magic Kingdom. It was beautiful day (temperature in the mid 80’s) so we decided to walk on the Grand Floridian Walkway. Staying at the GF does give several options. It took about 15 minutes, and apart from one person coming towards us, we had the walk to ourselves. It was very exciting approaching and seeing the buildings grow larger as we approached.
We finally arrived at the main building and entered The Grand Lobby. The resident pianist was playing and it is definitely a breathtaking lobby.
It was fairly quiet and after a short wait we met the concierge who booked us is, updated our wristbands (we loved the wristbands) for the new hotel and directed us to the DVC Villas at The Grand Floridian. There is a covered walkway from the main building to the DVC Villas. We were greeted by the wonderful Mary Poppin’s Penguins cascading fountain in the lobby.
We had a booked a Deluxe Studio with a lake view and our room was to be on the sixth floor. We had been spoiled in our previous two days which had been at The Polynesian with a lake view across to the Magic Kingdom, so we were not sure what to expect. I think if we had not had such a lovely room at The Polynesian we would be have been overjoyed at our room and view – we were staying The Grand Floridian. But I think the room was just a little bit down from the The Polynesian and the view was lovely but it was not the Magic Kingdom. Our view included the wonderful Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower.
The room included a bathroom with a lock off toilet, a kitchenette with sink, microwave, fridge and a coffee percolator. The room is able to sleep 5 people with a Queen size sleeper sofa and a single pull down bed. The room was very clean, and we had an ample supply of coffee, tea and Disney bathroom accessories. We called for our luggage which arrived swiftly and then we headed off to the Magic Kingdom for the evening to watch the fireworks.
The Grand Floridian is a beautiful hotel in a fabulous location. There is access to great restaurants, bars and activities (see The Grand Floridian Recreation Activities Board below).
Our rating: 8 out of 10.
