Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa — Hotel in Bay Lake

The iconic and timeless Victorian-style Grand Floridian Resort & Spa takes pride of place moments from the Magic Kingdom and on the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon. It's a beautiful, sedate and stunning home-from-home.||||With arguably some of the most fantastic views of Happily Ever After, and an elegant, relaxing theme, this really is a beautiful place to stay when visiting Walt Disney World.||||Arrival:||We arrived as a resort-transfer guest from the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, the resort next door, after a rather bad experience, so our hopes were high for our final night in the USA. We arrived at the vehicle entrance and presented our Magic Band, but unfortunately it would not work (we'd shortly find out why at check in). Security waved us in after a quick name check, and we made our way to find a car parking space, of which there was plenty available.||||Much the same as at the Polynesian, Bell Services were ready to greet us as we exited our vehicle in front of the building entrance. They assisted us in lifting our luggage out of the boot (trunk) and onto a trolley. We were directed inside where we were greeted with a Cast Member to complete the check in process and, again, unfortunately our resort transfer had not yet been completed. It took a few minutes for the Cast Member to make a call and locate our booking, but once she had, the process was effortless. Just the addition of a credit card, a scan of a Magic Band and issue of a room key & map and we were on our way.||||We headed outside to give Bell Services our room number, and they informed us our luggage would be sent to the room shortly. Next we walked the shot distance to the car to park it before heading to the room on foot.||||Resort:||The Grand Floridian is nothing short of stunning. It has an elegant, fresh and clean charm, and always (in my experience) a much calmer, sedate feel to it. Whilst there are children present, it definitely feels a much more adult space, which makes for a nice change from the rest of Disney World. With fountains, flowers and open greenery, with the most fantastic lake views, it's an incredibly relaxed resort to explore on those baking hot Floridian afternoons.||||The main atrium, at time of our visit, was under renovations, so the left hand side is, sadly, surrounded by a rather unsightly construction wall. It almost perfectly cuts through the middle of the open lobby space - a large, open, multi story central hub for the resort. With an ornate glass and metal elevator and the most wonderful piano music being played live by a Cast Member, in addition to that signature scent, this really does feel premium when you enter.||||Resort Studio - Theme Park View:||We'd booked a Resort Studio - Theme Park View - as mentioned, this was a reservation transfer from the Island Tower due to our unsatisfactory experience the night before, so this was all handled by the Guest Experience Manager on the ground. We headed towards Building 9 - Big Pine Key, a moments walk from the main atrium, but set in it's own building.||||Entering the building, we could tell instantly that the quality and charm followed on over to this building - everything was perfectly presented. A miniature atrium with separate corridors / wings leading off of it, and a couple of elevators, with plenty of vases and flowers decorated the open space. We took a left down the corridor and headed to our room.||||Walking in, we were immediately pleased with what we saw - a nice, bright, airy room with two full size beds - a far cry from our previous night at the Polynesian Island Tower. The room had PLENTY of space to wander, with a large, inviting sliding window/door onto the patio.||To the right hand side was the bathroom facilities and toilet - in their own, separate space. There were matching "his and hers" sinks and a large, full width wall sized mirror, with the shower-over-bath & toilet in a separate room. I still have the same issue with the toilet being in a separate space to the sinks - it seems unsanitary - but this is a step up from the last room. The bath was a fair size, and the shower had really good water pressure. ||||Back in the room was a large dressing table with mirror on the wall, with a lovely little stool to sit on and prepare yourself for the day. To the right was a locked door into the next room (we were not here with others, so this remained locked throughout the stay), followed by the large chest of draws beneath the TV. This had a ton of room for clothing - more than sufficient for what we needed. There was also a huge double wardrobe with hangers, so no need to cram everything into this unit.||||The two beds were full Queen size (USA) and had a really nice feeing set of bedding and the comfiest pillows I've experienced across all of WDW property (And plenty of them too). A large green rug was set underneath both beds, with a shared bedside cabinet / night stand in-between each. There was also a shelf on the wall by each bedside too, with charging/power outlets.||||The large sliding door to the balcony space allowed in lots of natural light, which was a blessing. It did have a set of thick curtains, and also a veil, so you had varying options when it came to privacy and lighting. Two heavy set metal seats and a table adorned the space, leaving lots of room to walk around. The view is the biggest selling point - a clear, unobstructed view of Cinderella Castle over at the Magic Kingdom awaits anyone staying on this side of the building. The Seven Seas Lagoon is directly next to the balcony too, providing the most relaxing space I've experienced at Disney to date. The boats glide back and forth all day, shuttling passengers to and from the Grand Floridian & Polynesian resorts and the Magic Kingdom. We also had some greenery and small trees/bushes outside to the right of the balcony, offering a bit of privacy too. At no point did we feel overlooked by those passing on the boats - in fact, we waved at the passengers on many occasions!||||One thing - bring bug spray! We were badly bitten and wish we'd packed it. It's to be expected when relaxing by the water in Orlando though, so that one is on us!||||Happily Ever After:||I've been fortunate to see the nighttime spectacular from a bunch of different locations across property, but this one, hands down is my favorite. It offers the most beautiful view, from relative ground level and a sense of serenity. As with all Magic Kingdom area resorts, the soundtrack is streamed live to the TV, so watching the fireworks and lights is a beautiful experience. Whilst the fireworks are in the distance, they really do feel incredibly close to you throughout the entire show. It does get rather loud though, but this is to be expected what with the location being so close to the park.||||Final Thoughts:||The Grand Floridian is a stunning resort, close to the Magic Kingdom. The theme is not overtly Disney, and offers a more premium, relaxed feeling to your stay. The facilities are beautiful and the grounds are heavenly. This, for me, is my new "bliss" resort to stay in and I cannot...

The iconic and timeless Victorian-style Grand Floridian Resort & Spa takes pride of place moments from the Magic Kingdom and on the edge of the Seven Seas Lagoon. It's a beautiful, sedate and stunning home-from-home.||With arguably some of the most fantastic views of Happily Ever After, and an elegant, relaxing theme, this really is a beautiful place to stay when visiting Walt Disney World.||Arrival:|We arrived as a resort-transfer guest from the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, the resort next door, after a rather bad experience, so our hopes were high for our final night in the USA. We arrived at the vehicle entrance and presented our Magic Band, but unfortunately it would not work (we'd shortly find out why at check in). Security waved us in after a quick name check, and we made our way to find a car parking space, of which there was plenty available.||Much the same as at the Polynesian, Bell Services were ready to greet us as we exited our vehicle in front of the building entrance. They assisted us in lifting our luggage out of the boot (trunk) and onto a trolley. We were directed inside where we were greeted with a Cast Member to complete the check in process and, again, unfortunately our resort transfer had not yet been completed. It took a few minutes for the Cast Member to make a call and locate our booking, but once she had, the process was effortless. Just the addition of a credit card, a scan of a Magic Band and issue of a room key & map and we were on our way.||We headed outside to give Bell Services our room number, and they informed us our luggage would be sent to the room shortly. Next we walked the shot distance to the car to park it before heading to the room on foot.||Resort:|The Grand Floridian is nothing short of stunning. It has an elegant, fresh and clean charm, and always (in my experience) a much calmer, sedate feel to it. Whilst there are children present, it definitely feels a much more adult space, which makes for a nice change from the rest of Disney World. With fountains, flowers and open greenery, with the most fantastic lake views, it's an incredibly relaxed resort to explore on those baking hot Floridian afternoons.||The main atrium, at time of our visit, was under renovations, so the left hand side is, sadly, surrounded by a rather unsightly construction wall. It almost perfectly cuts through the middle of the open lobby space - a large, open, multi story central hub for the resort. With an ornate glass and metal elevator and the most wonderful piano music being played live by a Cast Member, in addition to that signature scent, this really does feel premium when you enter.||Resort Studio - Theme Park View:|We'd booked a Resort Studio - Theme Park View - as mentioned, this was a reservation transfer from the Island Tower due to our unsatisfactory experience the night before, so this was all handled by the Guest Experience Manager on the ground. We headed towards Building 9 - Big Pine Key, a moments walk from the main atrium, but set in it's own building.||Entering the building, we could tell instantly that the quality and charm followed on over to this building - everything was perfectly presented. A miniature atrium with separate corridors / wings leading off of it, and a couple of elevators, with plenty of vases and flowers decorated the open space. We took a left down the corridor and headed to our room.||Walking in, we were immediately pleased with what we saw - a nice, bright, airy room with two full size beds - a far cry from our previous night at the Polynesian Island Tower. The room had PLENTY of space to wander, with a large, inviting sliding window/door onto the patio.|To the right hand side was the bathroom facilities and toilet - in their own, separate space. There were matching "his and hers" sinks and a large, full width wall sized mirror, with the shower-over-bath & toilet in a separate room. I still have the same issue with the toilet being in a separate space to the sinks - it seems unsanitary - but this is a step up from the last room. The bath was a fair size, and the shower had really good water pressure. ||Back in the room was a large dressing table with mirror on the wall, with a lovely little stool to sit on and prepare yourself for the day. To the right was a locked door into the next room (we were not here with others, so this remained locked throughout the stay), followed by the large chest of draws beneath the TV. This had a ton of room for clothing - more than sufficient for what we needed. There was also a huge double wardrobe with hangers, so no need to cram everything into this unit.||The two beds were full Queen size (USA) and had a really nice feeing set of bedding and the comfiest pillows I've experienced across all of WDW property (And plenty of them too). A large green rug was set underneath both beds, with a shared bedside cabinet / night stand in-between each. There was also a shelf on the wall by each bedside too, with charging/power outlets.||The large sliding door to the balcony space allowed in lots of natural light, which was a blessing. It did have a set of thick curtains, and also a veil, so you had varying options when it came to privacy and lighting. Two heavy set metal seats and a table adorned the space, leaving lots of room to walk around. The view is the biggest selling point - a clear, unobstructed view of Cinderella Castle over at the Magic Kingdom awaits anyone staying on this side of the building. The Seven Seas Lagoon is directly next to the balcony too, providing the most relaxing space I've experienced at Disney to date. The boats glide back and forth all day, shuttling passengers to and from the Grand Floridian & Polynesian resorts and the Magic Kingdom. We also had some greenery and small trees/bushes outside to the right of the balcony, offering a bit of privacy too. At no point did we feel overlooked by those passing on the boats - in fact, we waved at the passengers on many occasions!||One thing - bring bug spray! We were badly bitten and wish we'd packed it. It's to be expected when relaxing by the water in Orlando though, so that one is on us!||Happily Ever After:|I've been fortunate to see the nighttime spectacular from a bunch of different locations across property, but this one, hands down is my favorite. It offers the most beautiful view, from relative ground level and a sense of serenity. As with all Magic Kingdom area resorts, the soundtrack is streamed live to the TV, so watching the fireworks and lights is a beautiful experience. Whilst the fireworks are in the distance, they really do feel incredibly close to you throughout the entire show. It does get rather loud though, but this is to be expected what with the location being so close to the park.||Final Thoughts:|The Grand Floridian is a stunning resort, close to the Magic Kingdom. The theme is not overtly Disney, and offers a more premium, relaxed feeling to your stay. The facilities are beautiful and the grounds are heavenly. This, for me, is my new "bliss" resort to stay in and I cannot...

We stayed at this hotel in September 2024 for almost a week. Our reservations were all over the place because we kept changing the dates (adding additional days) and wanting to try club level. When we checked in, what we had had us moving rooms over 5x and we were trying to see what could be done to keep only 1-2 rooms. All that was offered was to fully downgrade the entire experience or pay over 1k a night to upgrade. Neither were viable options. We ended up sitting at the front desk after 10+ hours of travel for well over and hour and a half, trying to figure this out. We ended up just taking the downgraded room and had to give up our club lever. This was just the start to the trip. ||The second day, we spoke with the front desk about the awful time we had and they said they'd give us dinner credit. What they didn't tell us was that expired within one day. ||We had eaten at the cafe for dinner and they had these amazing gluten free rolls. I was craving them that day and asked the front counter to see if I could just take a few rolls to go. I was told no. They "don't do carry out". All I wanted was bread. The manager was so dismissive of us and didn't even offer to let us come sit to order rolls. We were fine paying for them, but the answer was a hard and fast nope. ||We had breakfast at 1900 ParkFare Sunday morning. I had a reservation for 11:15 and wasn't seated until 11:43. I was told to "wait over there" then "no, over here, sorry. Oh, no, sorry, I didn't mean there, over here." Then the worst happened. We have food allergies and have to be very, very careful. We were given the menu for the allergies and talked to the chef who came out to see us. There were chocolate muffins that were allergy friendly. We specifically asked about pea protein being in the muffin, as its one of our allergies. We were told no, its safe, over 3x. We ate a little bit of them, but were still unsure. We wanted to be extra, extra sure, and had the ipad of ingredients. ||pea protein was listed in the top. Right there. After being assured we were safe. We pulled out the epi-pen and sat there. The manager rushed over to check on us, gave us water (we asked for no ice and were given ice...) and gave us her card. Katie told us that the meal was "on us". ||...we had eaten soup and muffins. We had barely gotten to eat, so yes, it makes sense it would be "on us" when we hadn't even gotten to enjoy the meal. ||We rushed back to the room, feeling sick. ||That was it. No one at any point came to check on us, call, make sure we didn't need emergency services, or anything. At this point, I wanted to switch hotels. I even contacted the number on the card Katie gave us and reached out. I got no follow up.||We had received an email asking "how are we doing" and I responded to a one question "survey" that only allowed you to type 500 characters and asked no other questions that this was one of the worst experiences. Had this been a Double Tree or something, I could understand, but for an expensive, flag ship hotel, it was like we didn't matter at all, weren't special, and got mediocre treatment. ||After i submitted that, we got a phone call about 30 min later. We spoke to the night manager and I told him all that was going on. They upgraded us to club level for the rest of the trip, which was super nice but...||Even that had issues. ||One positive note I'll add was the staff in the club food area were incredibly kind, friendly, and understanding. They seemed to have been told about us. Unfortunately, because we got sick, we weren't able to use our park tickets or even go into the parks at all. We ended up spending the next 6 days in the hotel room.||Other issues include: ||-House keeping coming to clean at 9am (same time the parks open, but not everyone goes to the park for rope drop...)||-House keeping not coming at all||-House keeping coming 5x throughout the day even though we didn't need anything and were still in the room||-The "best of the best" (club level) rooms are located in the main building, which means very echoing, loud sounds from downstairs lobby (so many screaming kids) at all hours||- Pool music playing LOUDLY from 10-10. Its not even Disney music. While laying in bed, ill, I thought I was at some circus in the 50s. ||-Disney+ isn't even available to watch||-Screen projecting blocking YouTube so we couldn't even watch our own shows ||-Extremely limited TV options (~20 channels at best) ||-Waiting for our luggage from bell hop on the first night. They did NOT tell us they couldn't leave it in the room. We had gone to dinner after the events at the front desk, and wanted to go right to bed, but there were no suitcases waiting. We had to call, wait 15 min for them to call us back, and then another 15 for them to bring them up. Apparently they can't leave them in the room and we needed to be present, but we were not told this and would have made other arrangements. ||-Paying $40 to valet park "all day" at 8pm. No nightly discount?||-Being told by the lead, Billy, at the club level area that they'd help refund the tickets we weren't able to use. They would "get that taken care of and give us a call to confirm" and we never heard back (seems to be a theme for them). Had to ask someone else the next day for some help with this. They did end up extending our tickets out 2 years, but would not refund them. So we have 2 years to possibly return, but I'm not sure if we will ever be able to come back... ||||One very positive note: ||The chef George is AMAZING. He went well out of his way to make sure we could eat well and asked us every night what we could stomach and what we would like. He went out of his way over and over and over again to make us special, safe meals for our allergies (we have multiple allergies). George was the highlight of the trip and the day each day. One night he made us HIS OWN special ratatouille recipe. It was AMAZING. Its not on any menu, but if you see/find George, ask him to make it, if you can. The best meal we had in a very long time. He even added fish from one of the fancier restaurants, just to make sure we had protein. Truly an amazing guy. ||||All that to say, a big issue we had with this place was the cost. Had we been paying $150-250 a night, there wouldn't have been an issue. But at $700/night for 8 nights? This treatment was ridiculous. We were not taken care of, cared about, looked in on after a HUGE issue on their part, were stuck in a hotel room for a week, and had a miserable time. It was nice of them to bump us up to club level, but that only happened because i left a one-sentence review on the "survey" and got a phone call and told them we wanted to change hotels. Beyond terrible experience. Will never, EVER come back...