Grand Floridian Construction

[Saad]

What does the current construction at the Grand Floridian look like? We are going in June and wondering - will the whole property be boarded up? Where can we see what's the current progress vs what's pending?

 

[vivigrace611]

Construction at GF is largely contained. All that's left is the lobby located in the main building. The outer buildings will not be affected as they are finished.

It was supposed to be done last fall but they were so far behind they paused it because they didn't want to interfere with the amazing holiday decor that the Grand Floridian is known for. So they stopped and have yet to restart.

What might affect you: Our Disney Travel Agent was there three weeks ago and talked to some Cast Members. They anticipate restarting "any day". So you might anticipate seeing and hearing construction while in the main building (staying Club-level, lobby, shops) if they start up again.

I've been working with a Disney TA who frequently stays at the resorts herself and gets the scoop on things like this. Hence, I felt comfortable booking at the GF over the Poly, which is impacted by DVC construction in a bigger way.

If you want to stay Deluxe, GF outer building is still a great option IMHO.

 

[kylenne]

Hence, I felt comfortable booking at the GF over the Poly, which is impacted by DVC construction in a bigger way.

The Poly DVC construction is a total nonissue for the overwhelming majority of guests. You would quite literally not even know there was construction happening unless you are in the standard rooms on that side of the resort, which is basically Aotearoa, one side of Fiji and a few in Tuvalu. All the other guest buildings are clear on the the other side of the resort. Nothing is cut off to Poly guests due to the construction except the walkway to the GF, which is obviously an issue for GF guests too.

Source: I stayed at the Poly for 7 nights last summer, in what was then Pool/Marina View when we booked but is now considered water view. We were in the Samoa building and had zero impact to our stay. People’s fears about this are totally unfounded.

 

[vivigrace611]

I'm an edge case, unfortunately. I wanted to book theme park view two connecting rooms. TPV are only in Aotearoa and Tuvalu. Because of DVC tower, Aotearoa is likely no longer considered prime theme park view. The pool to DVC will be located right in front of it.

With limited inventory in Tuvalu, my TA wasn't confident I could get the right views and/or connecting. Alternatively, I could shell out $8K more on Club-level to get over to the Hawaii building. At the point, I switched gears to the GF.

I'm just glad I had nuanced knowledge about the situation before I spent a bunch of money on a resort not knowing what I was getting.