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Refurbishment coming to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort lobby
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Disney's Grand Floridian Lobby Renovation Update: New Bar Now Taking Shape
Disney's Grand Floridian Lobby Renovation Update: New Bar Now Taking Shape
Disney's Grand Floridian Lobby Renovation Update: New Bar Now Taking Shape
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Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Looks like the work is starting to pick up now, I'd guess this opens with the refreshed lobby by the Holidays?
Tip Top Club Resident
Member
I'm hoping so for our stay in December. Although if they do have everything in the lobby ready to go by the Holidays I feel like they sort of jumped the gun on announcing there wouldn't be a gingerbread house this year.
Tuvalu
Premium Member
Having been in the lobby this week I can confirm there is absolutely no room for a gingerbread house in that space anymore. I even question if there will be room for the towering Christmas tree.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
The gingerbread house is not coming back. There is no where to put it with that monstrosity of an eye-sore now in the lobby.
mattpeto
Well-Known Member
I really do give credence to this theory.
It's possible it will return somewhere else on property. I hope.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Again, the footprint of the bar is exactly the same as the birdcage dais. This does not mean that it won't feel larger because of the greater total volume it occupies, but there is essentially zero change to the amount of floor space available for both the Christmas tree and the gingerbread house.
Tip Top Club Resident
Member
This has been my biggest fear all along (with the announcement of the bar) that there won't be enough room in an already crowded lobby during the holidays.
Tip Top Club Resident
Member
Yeah from what I can tell from the photos it's a smaller footprint than I was expecting; this is good to know!
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
I cant wait for them to post the new cast member costumes for the bird cage bartenders..
Tuvalu
Premium Member
The birdcage dais did not have barstools or people 2-3 deep surrounding it on regular basis. And if there is “floor space” for the gingerbread house proper, there is not enough for the roped queue area for the huge volume of guests waiting to purchase items from the gingerbread house.
But what do I know? I’ve only been a resort guest at the GF for the past 25 years and have watched that formerly uncrowded lobby (even during the early years of the gingerbread house) become overrun with huge numbers of people during the holiday seasons of Christmas and Easter.
Biff215
Well-Known Member
Did they say the gingerbread house will never return? I just assumed it was just this year due to the construction. Even if the bar is open in November, there wouldn’t be enough time to also construct the gingerbread house. Just hard to imagine they’d abandon this moneymaker unless they truly have to.
And for what it’s worth I’m no fan of the bar in the lobby. It’s not like the GF didn’t have a lounge or multiple other venues serving alcohol. This one feels forced.
And for what it’s worth I’m no fan of the bar in the lobby. It’s not like the GF didn’t have a lounge or multiple other venues serving alcohol. This one feels forced.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
We really have no idea how popular the bar will be, but I made that exact concession a couple of pages ago. Its popularity and how much additional traffic it generates will be the deciding factors in whether or not the current holiday setup can persist. I only brought up floor space because it seemed that would be all you could reasonably be commenting on. I took your statement to mean that seeing it in person had convinced you nothing else would fit, but your contention now seems to be that it would be a problem no matter the size because of the additional bar traffic, which you could have automatically concluded on announcement. As far as the floorplan goes, the bar stools on the sides are irrelevant because there used to be long planters attached to the dais that blocked traffic flow anyway, with the dais often flanked by large tables or other furniture. Only the stools at the front of the bar will occupy some amount of physical space that was previously free.
Yes, many of us have been staying there for a long time and have seen the change.
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MouseEarsMom33
Well-Known Member
The GF gets really busy during the holidays. With the tower at the Poly, the monorail could become a real problem during the the Christmas season. I see them moving the Gingerbread house somewhere else on property.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think what's genuinely at risk of leaving is the ability to purchase goods from the gingerbread house. There will likely continue to be a gingerbread display of some sort regardless of whether or not they feel traffic flow allows for the current queue situation to persist.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
They can sell gingerbread cocktails from the birdcage bar. Done!
Maybe, as a culture, we can wean ourselves off of the idea the giant gingerbread house, which aren't gingerbread houses.
They're a wooden frame, that is, a wooden house onto which gingerbread slabs are glued.
IOW, they're fake.
In the place of giant slabs of gingerbread glues to a wooden house, perhaps the chefs could make actual breadbox-sized gingerbread houses that stand on their own as just gingerbread and no other supports as shortcuts.
Put a dozen of them decorated in different ways around the lobby.
Thank-you for listening to my Ted Talk. Please join me in two month in which I blather on that (almost) all the topiaries aren't really topiaries.
They're a wooden frame, that is, a wooden house onto which gingerbread slabs are glued.
IOW, they're fake.
In the place of giant slabs of gingerbread glues to a wooden house, perhaps the chefs could make actual breadbox-sized gingerbread houses that stand on their own as just gingerbread and no other supports as shortcuts.
Put a dozen of them decorated in different ways around the lobby.
Thank-you for listening to my Ted Talk. Please join me in two month in which I blather on that (almost) all the topiaries aren't really topiaries.