Trip Report How did you ever get the kid to like cruising? Sea turtles, mate… sea turtles. Surf n’ Turf 2017

To quote the Jewish Elvis, “Hello Again”. For those interested in a back story leading up to this short and sweet journey towards a series of firsts you can have at it here:
Going for gold, a Disney trip full of firsts!
What turned into the most stressful and ridiculous two day work week, we slept hard and fast to a 04:00 wake up on Wednesday morning. I opted to make breakfast and coffee for the ladies this morning to reduce our number of stops on the way down. I even filled up the night before to make our drive smoother. We cruised through the ATL and soon were filling up in Tifton before 9, half way there! Another 3.5 hours and we were turning on to 192. Lunch was the first order of business and the ladies outvoted me and chose Cracker Barrel. I was hopeful we would hear about our room during lunch but we had not. After lunch we hoped for the best and made for The Grand Floridian and soon we were passing through the gate.

As we pulled into the parking lot we still had not heard if our room was ready so I ran in and checked with the DVC desk. Our room was ready! We parked and made our way to our room.

Up next: What a lobby!

 

[lostpro9het]

Check in was smooth and uneventful. As noted, this was our first stay at VGF and I had a lot of preconceived notions of how the resort would look and feel during our stay. I had visions of a sterile nursing home devoid of color and theming. BOY WAS I WRONG! As soon as we entered the lobby and looked around I was taken back by the amount of detail throughout the entrance. In addition to the details there was complementary water, coffee, tea, and espresso for guests. Since we drank the kool-aid with AKL we were accustom to larger resorts. I was truly surprised how pleasantly small the VGF facility was!

Up next: Our room!

 

[imahistorygeek]

Can you not besmirch the real Elvis....the greatest entertainer is the history of forever.

Elvis rocked the jumpsuit. Neil wore sequins.

 

[imahistorygeek]

I'm not gonna lie. VGF were quite amazing.

I, too, thought it was going to be boring accommodations, but wow, was I surprised.

VGF is the deluxiest of the deluxe resorts. You will soon see why.

Hint: DCL

 

[amjt660]

Following along- the VGF looks awesome

Max

 

[Zipadeelady]

YEAH!!! I've been waiting for your report!

 

[lostpro9het]

Can you not besmirch the real Elvis....the greatest entertainer is the history of forever...

Diamond is the greatest singer/songwriter of any generation. I’ll concede that Elvis was accomplished at holding a guitar and singing others pieces of work…#marriedlifechallenges

As I said, VGF is relatively small and we were at our room in no time!

We were immediately hit with beautiful wood flooring and perfectly colored walls.

Now, immediately to your left you are met with a split bathroom that may have the most convoluted door system ever BUT it did include the same soaps/shampoos that are found on DCL which was a super surprise. We’ve never seen H20 Sea Marine in any other DVC room on property and we’ve stayed at them all, and this includes the Bungalows; so this surprise was very much appreciated! Another surprise we were not expecting was TWO SHOWERS!! I probably don’t have to tell you how nice this when it’s time to get up and get going in the morning.

What ended up being a real hit for the kid was the mirror embedded with a TV screen; she really thought this was fascinating!

Like I said, the door setup in the bathroom felt a little like a psychological test for mice:


Up next: We actually leave the bathroom to enjoy the rest of the studio!

 

[sheriffwoody]

So excited for your report! I'm with you on Elvis...sorry @imahistorygeek . I live an hour from Memphis and so many people here are OBSESSED that it gets a bit annoying.

 

[LadyBelle]

I love that penguin fountain.

My mom loved Elvis. I'm more of a Barry Manilow fan myself...

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

Can you not besmirch the real Elvis....the greatest entertainer is the history of forever.

Elvis rocked the jumpsuit. Neil wore sequins.

Truer Words have never been spoken - Viva EP

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

And sorry for the secondary post -- But no reference to Johnny Cash in this conversation is a travesty . Great Pics tho!

 

[RyPat]

I have a feeling this trip report is going to be So Good, So Good, So Good...

 

[lostpro9het]

I have a feeling this trip report is going to be So Good, So Good, So Good...

 

[lostpro9het]

After oohing and ahhing in the bathroom for a few minutes we made our way to the rest of the studio!

We had a decent view as well!

Up next: A little pool time before Trader Sams

 

[PrincessL]

I'm in! Looks great so far. Beautiful room!

 

[LeighM]

I've been waiting for this trip report! Can't wait to read more

PS - Sorry but there hasn't been an entertainer who can top Elvis during his '69 Comeback Special - who else can make a leather jumpsuit look so good?!

 

[MinnieM123]

I'm really surprised at how lovely the GF DVC turned out to be. (I'm not a DVC member, by the way.) I always sort of thought that DVC accommodations would be somewhat "less than" the quality of the main hotels (regardless of which resort on WDW property). But I think they nailed it on this particular DVC.

Can't wait to read more and see more pictures!

 

[imahistorygeek]

I'm really surprised at how lovely the GF DVC turned out to be. (I'm not a DVC member, by the way.) I always sort of thought that DVC accommodations would be somewhat "less than" the quality of the main hotels (regardless of which resort on WDW property). But I think they nailed it on this particular DVC.

The Grand Floridian is in a class all on its own. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Poly, but in some aspects, they just can't compare.

*cough* VGF points *cough*

 

[lostpro9het]

After taking the in room tour the crew had differing ideas of what to do next. For me, after driving all morning, I just wanted to chill out and do nothing for a bit So I let the ladies know my plan was to hit the pool for a while before dinner. They wanted to check out the GF lobby while getting their Basin on. Apparently bath bombs are pretty important to them. So we parted ways for a short while and I made my way to the DVC pool area. Along the way I couldn’t not take a few more lobby pictures.

I was pretty impressed with their pool as well as their kid area but what blew me away was their beer selection!! While they had maybe 4 on draft they had roughly 50ish different bottled beers on hand!! I started things off with a Kona Longboard then moved to something with a little more kick, the Chimay Belgian Strong.

Soon I was joined by Laura and we relaxed together for a bit until it was getting time for Trader Sams to open. So we gathered our things and made for the room to change. Along the way I noticed the VGF DVC tree. If you have not read previous TRs then this may be new to you but in 2016 DVC planted a tree at each DVC resort to celebrate the 25th anniversary of DVC. It’s a neat idea however I think once this oak grows in a few years they may regret how close they planted it to the walkway and building…time will tell.

Still to come: Getting our Sams on.

 

[RyPat]

I had the Cigar City Jai Alai at Artist's Point last trip... I was a fan of that one