Sorry for for the late report but its been crazy since we got back! And also sorry for writing a novel!
Me 46, twin daughters age 16 (birthday trip) and my niece 29 (birthday) stayed in SL 8/5-13. This was our first SL stay. We have stayed RPC and CR atrium club in the past. I heard many negative reviews on her about SL. Honestly I'm very picky and have high expectations and was a little concerned going in. We had booked Poly CL but changed to GF SL and I'm SO glad we did. I just don't think we are Poly people. When we went there to eat at Kona it was so packed and kids running everywhere. My twins looked at me and said I'm so happy we are at the Grand! Nothing against the Poly but we just prefer the atmosphere of the GF. Here are my trip observations:
1. Room 6304 it was a 3rd floor dormer room and I instantly wanted to move (because of the closed in balcony) with a resort view and no tree in the way. We stayed because my daughters loved the tall ceilings. They thought it made the room seem so much bigger and we only used the balcony for laying suits on the chairs to dry. They also thought it was a huge plus not having anyone above us and hearing foot traffic. We were also the second to last room in the hall and never heard a peep all week. I would definitely request this room again.
2. SL or RCP. IF it were the holidays (late November or month of December) I would want to stay in RCP for for the decor and atmosphere. For the summer months I would pick SL for closeness to the pool and running back for drinks.
3. On the boards I heard so many complaints on the SL CM and lounge service. Honestly, my only complains were the RUDE guests!!! I found that the food was plentiful and refilled quickly. There were Mickey waffles on 2 of the mornings and Chef with muscles and something else one night. May have been other chef nights but I wasn't there for them. The tables were quickly cleaned off and plenty of very friendly staff. There were small water bottles out on the desk the whole week and at night they were in the refrigerator with the sodas. One night about 10:15 one of my twins went down to the lounge to grab some water. She said a mom was knocking on the "kitchen" door demanding a CM to bring out desserts for her kids because when they were down earlier they didn't want dessert but now they were in the room crying for it!!! There was similar attitudes like that throughout the week and we were disgusted by it. Just because you can afford to stay CL doesn't mean your kids don't have to follow the times or you are free to treat the staff like your hired help! Ok off my soapbox. I found the staff more than willing to go out of their way for those that treated them with respect and courtesy.
4. Adult beverages were out on a table in the evening and a CM served them. However, all you had to do at anytime of the day was ask and you could get whatever you wanted. They were more than happy to fill plastic glasses with wine or beer for the pool. I never felt weird about repeatedly asking for wine or champagne at anytime of the day.
5. Housekeeping was great. Never came back to a dirty room. Turn down service was missed one night, but besides that was very good.
6. We rented a cabana for a 1/2 day and would do it again. My kids loved it! We ordered food from private dining and from the Beach Pool bar. Service was good and I have no complaints. Other than our cabana day we didn't go to the Beach pool. It was smaller crowded and noisy. We liked the main pool right outside of SL.
7. Transportation by boat to MK was good and sometimes faster than by monorail during late MK hours. We didn't experience any monorail issues. Bus transportation from DS back to GF on a Saturday night was so long. But an Uber wouldn't have been any faster because of the huge amount of traffic. We did see the Minnie SUV driving on our way to AK.
8. Almost forgot!!!! We were met by a CM after getting off the bus and was escorted to SL to check in and our room was ready at 10:30am
9. We did the Tomorrow Land Dessert party and I would recommend it. The sectioned off area provided a perfect view of the castle lights and there was tons of space. My kids were sprawled out with no one near.
10. We also did the Early Morning Magic. TOTALLY worth it! You get PP, WP and 7DMT. That day they also opened the Carousel, SW, TC. We rode all 2 times, rope dropped SM and BL went back for breakfast. I had FP for Splash, BTMR and HM and we were out of MK by 12:30 and back at the Grand at the pool! (We went back that night.) After breakfast the Cms brought out full sized puffed pastries with Mickey head sprinkles and sang! We were so full so we all split one and boxed up the other 2 that we hadn't touched. We walked out and gifted them to a family who was so excited to get them.
11. We also did the Africa Trek Safari. One of my girls liked it one didn't. We went on the 9:30 safari and it was still so hot! For over $800 wasn't worth it for us. I enjoyed it but would have rather have done it in cool temps.
12. Dining... we weren't on a dining plan but I have the TIW card. We are foodies and only did TS meals (besides poolside dining). Here are our opinions:
Grand Floridian Cafe - Lunch. 4th time here food was great but service a bit slow.
Grand Floridian Beach Pool - Lobster sliders and a chicken sandwich both excellent
California Grill - Dinner. Atmosphere and experience good. Not a fan of the menu. Sushi was awful! (we are big sushi eaters) The steak and flatbread were good, but my kids
requested to not ever go back. Great rooftop view of HEA fireworks.
Via Napoli - Lunch one of our favs. Service was a bit slow. Kids want to go back next year.
La Hacienda - Big Mexican food lovers. We wouldn't go back. Didn't even care for the drinks. Service was SO slow.
Teppan Edo - 4th time here. One of the best and service was great.
Sci-Fi - Lunch - 2nd time here. One daughter likes it. the other prefers Brown Derby. I am a huge Brown Derby fan, but the setting at SCi-FI is fun if you don't mind sitting
behind people in you are dining with
Narcoosees - Dinner - 2nd or 3rd time here and will go back for sure. Food and service very good. Great view of HEA
Kona Cafe - Dinner - 2nd time here and won't go back. Food subpar but the service was outstanding.
Boathouse - Dinner - food and service outstanding and large portions
BOG - Dinner - I must admit I was going for the experience but was surprised that the food was also good. Service outstanding.
13. Parks - DS was a 1/2 day for us and I see it that way for a while. Looking forward to TS Land, but not interested in Star Wars. We had FP for ST, TS and TOT. We took the bus from GF and got there 10 minutes prior to open and was easily one of the first on RRRC. Got off and then rode it again. Rode TOT 2xs. On TS my one daughter's laser didn't work. We told them out of courtesy as we were getting out and walked away. They ran after us and insisted we ride again and then also gave us a multi-experience FP which we used for GMR (It was its last day open and the lines were long). A great magical moment. .
AK in the summer is a 1/2 day for us as well. We had FP for FOP at 9:40. Got there 10 minutes before opening and rode Everest 3xs in a row with only 5 min waits. We had a FP for Dinosaur but it broke and didn't reopen. We never used the additional FP we were given. We also had a FP for KRR. Also saw Tough to be a Bug. On a different day after the Wild Africa Trek, we had a FP for Pandora River ride and one for Dinosaur. Dinosaur broke again and we never rode it this trip. I didn't enjoy the heat at AK or the crowds. I prefer AK in less humid and cooler months. When the weather is nice its more pleasant to enjoy all that AK has to offer The day we had a FP for FOP the standby wait was 295 minutes!!! Personally I feel insane. There isn't anything I would wait in line for 295 minutes in 108 heat index to experience!
We were able to do and see everything we wanted to do at EPCOT multiple times. We went 3 different days. Two days we stayed through lunchtime and once we went for the evening. We did the EMH that night. TT was so crowded we had FP for it twice they wanted to ride it again. We walked up to the Single Rider line and asked how long was the wait. The CM asked by girls how old they were and made them promise not to text and drive and sent us through the FP line. That is just one of the MANY magical moments we had. Some of the others at EPCOT: serenading happy birthday in Mexico, singing and a full size dessert in Italy, full size desserts for all four of us and Chef hats at Teppan Edo, complimentary slushies at the Coke place in Future World, several times when the girls went to buy water they were told the water bottles were on Mickey!
MK is always my favorite! We went 3xs as well, but never stayed an entire day. The magical moments there were many and out of blue like at Epcot. Complimentary ice cream, water, balloon and FP multi experience. As I mentioned earlier I will do the EMM again its so worth the money! We also did an EMH one night. We were able to get additional FP for everything we wanted. I liked HEA but miss Wishes.
14. Summer trip... We have been in late September, October, November, December and in February. I was dreading the summer because of crowds and heat. First of all crowds were not bad like I had thought. Heat well it was HOT! But going at opening coming back to hotel to swim and going back at night worked out great. I can stay in a park all day but not in the heat. We brought cooling towels and one of the girls bought a fan/mister (definitely recommend the Disney one). I packed dresses for the whole trip. The only day I wore shorts was on the safari because it was required. The day I was in shorts I was much hotter than I had been in dresses. I didn't have an issue with getting on/off any rides. Luckily don't have thigh rubbing together issues so dresses were perfect! We are already planning another August trip next year!!
99% of the rudeness I saw were from guests. If you were nice and polite to the CMs they went out of their way for you. One thing I noticed at the Grand that I didn't like at all was the DVC guests hanging beach towels from the balcony to dry...it looked awful!
Obviously these are only my opinions and different strokes for different folks. Bottom line is if you are considering GF DO IT. If you are planning a trip there ENJOY!