Hi All!
My DH and I spend 9 days of wonderfulness at the World, staying at the Grand Floridian. We have a lot to celebrate this year - my DH's bday was the 7th of June - we'll be celebrating our 5th year Anniversary this year - we honeymooned at the World with a few magical days at the Grand Floridian so going back was like a 2nd honeymoon - and like everyone dealing with so much b/c of the economy and just life, we were rejoicing that we have gotten through so much together. We really wanted to "do it up" this trip - we decided to endulge after we took advantage of the buy 4 get 3 free deal. (On a personal note, we'll be moving this year and trying to start a family again and it could be pricey and we might even adopt, so we may not have the opportunity or the extra moola to take a trip like this again for a very very long time.) We upgraded to Deluxe Dining to take advantage of some Signature Dining experiences, and we made ressies for the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We had the Park Hopper tickets for the entire length of our stay. So here it is ... Our trip report!!!
Our intenion was to head out by 5 a.m. on Saturday June 6th. We are 5 hours away, from our door to the door of the Magic Kingdom! And our plan was on day one to stay at the resort and take advantage of it. We were delayed by an hour b/c it was pouring!! And we had to pack the car and I didn't want everything...and us...soaked! We ended up leaving about 6:30 a.m. For the trip, we usually watch Disney movies, but this time, we downloaded some Disney Podcasts and that was a really fun way to kill time on our way down. The drive was easy - 95 was good for change! ha ha and just before we pulled into the World, my DH started playing Disney tunes from my ipod. I was already fighting back tears just by seeing the big sign welcoming us to Walt Disney World, but as we pulled into the Grand Floridian, he sent me over the emotional edge by playing Steve Tyrell's "When You Wish Upon a Star", and the tears started then!! While my husband parked the car (TIP: we alwasy self park. The bell hops have to take the luggage for you but we save like $10/day by parking our self), I snapped some pics of the front of our "home" for the next week!
We checked in and we were told that our room wasn't going to be ready for a while and they have this text message service so that you can do what you want to do and they will text you when the room is ready. You already have your Keys to the Kingdom cards so we headed to lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe. We did not have an ADR and were able to walk right in. (TIP: If you want to grab a meal that is at a resort, but easy to access the MK still b/c on the monorail, then head here if you do not have ADR's. Easy to walk in and great food). The food was amazing! French Onion Soup, the Cobb Salad and Lemon Cheese cake! YUMMY!! It was absolutely storming like mad outside so we were not able to use the pool like we had originally hoped. So we hit the shops! I got a new camera case and we got some bath supplies at the White Basin and we got the text that our room is ready. This is where things didn't go as perfectly as I had hopped as I referenced in a previous post, but in the end, we were upgraded to a concerige room in building 6, Sugar Loaf. It was a king bedroom on the first floor and it was huge in comparrison to the room they previously gave us on room 5. This is the view from our building. (TIP: if staying at the GF, although the best views are from higher floors, some of the higher floor rooms are "dormer" rooms so the ceiling is lower and they are smaller. Also, building 6 is great location - easy to get to main building and the quiet pool.)
We would have seen this out our balcony but there is a privacy fence so you can sit on your balcony with more privacy from the pool.
And here's our first Mickey to welcome us to our new room!
We unpacked and did some more exploring of the resort since it had stopped raining for a bit.
The beach area:
The fun pool!
The water slide at the fun pool:
You can watch the monorails go by when at the fun pool!
My DH and I spend 9 days of wonderfulness at the World, staying at the Grand Floridian. We have a lot to celebrate this year - my DH's bday was the 7th of June - we'll be celebrating our 5th year Anniversary this year - we honeymooned at the World with a few magical days at the Grand Floridian so going back was like a 2nd honeymoon - and like everyone dealing with so much b/c of the economy and just life, we were rejoicing that we have gotten through so much together. We really wanted to "do it up" this trip - we decided to endulge after we took advantage of the buy 4 get 3 free deal. (On a personal note, we'll be moving this year and trying to start a family again and it could be pricey and we might even adopt, so we may not have the opportunity or the extra moola to take a trip like this again for a very very long time.) We upgraded to Deluxe Dining to take advantage of some Signature Dining experiences, and we made ressies for the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We had the Park Hopper tickets for the entire length of our stay. So here it is ... Our trip report!!!
Our intenion was to head out by 5 a.m. on Saturday June 6th. We are 5 hours away, from our door to the door of the Magic Kingdom! And our plan was on day one to stay at the resort and take advantage of it. We were delayed by an hour b/c it was pouring!! And we had to pack the car and I didn't want everything...and us...soaked! We ended up leaving about 6:30 a.m. For the trip, we usually watch Disney movies, but this time, we downloaded some Disney Podcasts and that was a really fun way to kill time on our way down. The drive was easy - 95 was good for change! ha ha and just before we pulled into the World, my DH started playing Disney tunes from my ipod. I was already fighting back tears just by seeing the big sign welcoming us to Walt Disney World, but as we pulled into the Grand Floridian, he sent me over the emotional edge by playing Steve Tyrell's "When You Wish Upon a Star", and the tears started then!! While my husband parked the car (TIP: we alwasy self park. The bell hops have to take the luggage for you but we save like $10/day by parking our self), I snapped some pics of the front of our "home" for the next week!
We checked in and we were told that our room wasn't going to be ready for a while and they have this text message service so that you can do what you want to do and they will text you when the room is ready. You already have your Keys to the Kingdom cards so we headed to lunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe. We did not have an ADR and were able to walk right in. (TIP: If you want to grab a meal that is at a resort, but easy to access the MK still b/c on the monorail, then head here if you do not have ADR's. Easy to walk in and great food). The food was amazing! French Onion Soup, the Cobb Salad and Lemon Cheese cake! YUMMY!! It was absolutely storming like mad outside so we were not able to use the pool like we had originally hoped. So we hit the shops! I got a new camera case and we got some bath supplies at the White Basin and we got the text that our room is ready. This is where things didn't go as perfectly as I had hopped as I referenced in a previous post, but in the end, we were upgraded to a concerige room in building 6, Sugar Loaf. It was a king bedroom on the first floor and it was huge in comparrison to the room they previously gave us on room 5. This is the view from our building. (TIP: if staying at the GF, although the best views are from higher floors, some of the higher floor rooms are "dormer" rooms so the ceiling is lower and they are smaller. Also, building 6 is great location - easy to get to main building and the quiet pool.)
We would have seen this out our balcony but there is a privacy fence so you can sit on your balcony with more privacy from the pool.
And here's our first Mickey to welcome us to our new room!
We unpacked and did some more exploring of the resort since it had stopped raining for a bit.
The beach area:
The fun pool!
The water slide at the fun pool:
You can watch the monorails go by when at the fun pool!
