Refurbishment coming to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort lobby

[jah4955]

OK not a cash grab. Its now a part of the monorail bar crawl jump off the monorail, the bar is right there, down a drink, get back on the monorail

maybe that's why they got rid of the monorail carpeting?

 

[Andrew C]

Its now a part of the monorail bar crawl jump off the monorail, the bar is right there, down a drink, get back on the monorail

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

That being said I anticipate the return of the houses.

I expect the return of a gingerbread display - but not one that serves as a working retail shop.

 

[jah4955]

I expect the return of a gingerbread display - but not one that serves as a working retail shop.

why not out of curiosity? The last several times I saw it a line snaked around...they seemed to be making bank, and Grand Floridian is most "gingerbready" resort?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

why not out of curiosity? The last several times I saw it a line snaked around...they seemed to be making bank, and Grand Floridian is most "ginerbready" resort?

Just dealing with building and dismantling it - it’s obviously a large project.

I would think the same line would exist at the perch if you can buy gingerbread items. I mean…. We may see some items appear when the grands Christmas decor goes up!

But we shall see in 2026!

 

[KDM31091]

They also did it so guests would actually go there.

Not everything has to be overflowing with people to be an important part of the park IMO. The Peoplemover for example is rarely overly crowded or full. Does that mean it should be demolished?

You need the filler attractions to balance things and just give the heavy crowds space to spread out and breathe. Otherwise you end up like Hollywood where everything is an hour long wait and miserable. There’s no escape from it.

 

[Chi84]

Not everything has to be overflowing with people to be an important part of the park IMO. The Peoplemover for example is rarely overly crowded or full. Does that mean it should be demolished?

You need the filler attractions to balance things and just give the heavy crowds space to spread out and breathe. Otherwise you end up like Hollywood where everything is an hour long wait and miserable. There’s no escape from it.

But too few people were breathing on RoA and TSI.

I don’t disagree at all but I still think attractions that people enjoy are better for the park.

People at one time enjoyed RoA and TSI but Disney may have decided not enough were continuing to do so to warrant keeping them open.

 

[jah4955]

Not everything has to be overflowing with people to be an important part of the park IMO. The Peoplemover for example is rarely overly crowded or full. Does that mean it should be demolished?

You need the filler attractions to balance things and just give the heavy crowds space to spread out and breathe. Otherwise you end up like Hollywood where everything is an hour long wait and miserable. There’s no escape from it.

The most special parts of my WDW history were the parts that weren't overflowing with people. Full stop.

I speak from first hand experience for the opposite experience as well. No exaggeration on your HS observation (at least when I was last there...did 0 rides because I'm too impatient to wait 60-100++++minutes lol).

But it was even worse not that long ago...., you just reminded me of an out-of-state friend who was about to have their once-in-their-lifetime trip to Orlando w/2 small kids. They asked me about HS. Star Wars/Toy Story/Mickey were all under construction at the same time (meaning no Backlot tour (et. al.), no GMR, no "Honey"). I said that unless you love Star Tours or Muppets, spend an extra day elsewhere. They took my advice.

 

[James Alucobond]

Not everything has to be overflowing with people to be an important part of the park IMO. The Peoplemover for example is rarely overly crowded or full. Does that mean it should be demolished?

You need the filler attractions to balance things and just give the heavy crowds space to spread out and breathe. Otherwise you end up like Hollywood where everything is an hour long wait and miserable. There’s no escape from it.

I don't think the PeopleMover and TSI are comparable. There was a perceived lack of accessibility and a sense of significant time investment associated with the latter that I don't think exists elsewhere in the parks. The most logistically and infrastructurally similar thing I can think of might be Rafiki's Planet Watch. I don't necessarily disagree that those kinds of experiences are pointless, but they're not at all the same as other attractions that just happen to have low wait times and/or don't hit capacity.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The most logistically and infrastructurally similar thing I can think of might be Rafiki's Planet Watch.

why would you say “might be” - what differences do you see?

 

[UNCgolf]

why would you say “might be” - what differences do you see?

The main difference IMO is that Rafiki's Planet Watch would exist (to an extent) even if it wasn't guest facing, because it hosts the veterinary facilities. They could shut down the train and stop letting guests go up there but they still wouldn't be able to just replace it.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The main difference IMO is that Rafiki's Planet Watch would exist (to an extent) even if it wasn't guest facing, because it hosts the veterinary facilities. They could shut down the train and stop letting guests go up there but they still wouldn't be able to just replace it.

It’s outside of the border of the park really - i consider that canal as the border. So yeah - the building would likely stay.

But that’s not the point I was referring to. The post I was quoting was saying the island had no comparison with the closest “might” be the train and planet watch.

I was asking why it “might” be comparable as it seems like the exact same situation.

 

[UNCgolf]

It’s outside of the border of the park really - i consider that canal as the border. So yeah - the building would likely stay.

But that’s not the point I was referring to. The post I was quoting was saying the island had no comparison with the closest “might” be the train and planet watch.

I was asking why it “might” be comparable as it seems like the exact same situation.

I explained why it's not really the same situation -- they can't just replace Rafiki's with something else the way they could replace RoA and TSI. Even if they wanted to do something there and move the vet facilities elsewhere, they'd still need to develop all the landing leading to it first. They wouldn't want guests walking for 10 minutes down an empty path to get to something.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I explained why it's not really the same situation -- they can't just replace Rafiki's with something else the way they could replace RoA and TSI. Even if they wanted to do something there and move the vet facilities elsewhere, they'd still need to develop all the landing leading to it first. They wouldn't want guests walking for 10 minutes down an empty path to get to something.

oh I think I see what you’re saying -
They could develop all that land within the railroad? True.

But of course MK could have developed land beyond big thunder or expanded in Disneyland style.

 

[Tha Realest]

OK not a cash grab. Its now a part of the monorail bar crawl jump off the monorail, the bar is right there, down a drink, get back on the monorail

So we’re clear - I’m decidedly in the “this is totally a cash grab” camp. Some posters have pushed back at this, essentially adopting a definition (or framing) that cash grabs as commonly understood cannot exist. The argument essentially comes down to this notion that the market desires this and Disney is a business which is in the business of making money, and that that somehow justifies this decision.

This view presumes 1) the market/customers have been clamoring for this, and 2) the existing spaces and current bars/restaurants aren’t efficiently or sufficiently meeting this demand elsewhere in the resort, hence the need for this.

By the way, this is one of the conventionally understood definitions of the phrase

 

[Tha Realest]

Continuing the “cash grab” discussion, here’s an example of a material change for the park that some would defend because Disney is in the business of making money and they wanted another merchandise location within Hollywood Studios, aesthetics be damned.

 

[Tha Realest]

And here’s a more recent example of an obvious cash grab that completely threw off the aesthetics and scale of the Haunted Mansion so they could shovel ANBC themed merch in a dedicated space initially adorned with shoddy AI art

 

[UNCgolf]

oh I think I see what you’re saying -
They could develop all that land within the railroad? True.

But of course MK could have developed land beyond big thunder or expanded in Disneyland style.

Sure, the MK didn't have to replace TSI and RoA (and I'd prefer they didn't). It's just a much easier swap than trying to do anything up at Rafiki's would be, since there's so much undeveloped land between it and the rest of the park.

 

[DCBaker]

I know there's no gingerbread house this year, but are we are still getting the big GF Christmas tree?

The tree is up today.

 

[Tuvalu]