Grosvenor

[chuckd]

Has anyone ever stayed here? I found a really good deal for the dates we are going to be at WDW and was wondering if it is a good place. also is it well within walking distance to Downtown Disney?

Any info would be great

Thanks

 

[nicholas]

When I was there during Hurricane Jeanne and had to add a night to my reservations, the only hotel we could find "on property" was the Grosvenor. It was a decent place. Not as nice as staying at one of the Disney resorts, but not a complete dump. If all you plan on doing is using the hotel as a place to sleep and spending the vast majority of your time at the parks, it will be fine. Didn't use the bus service they offer, so not sure about that. We just walked to DTD (about a 5 minute walk) and then used the bus service from there.

 

[mikesenger]

I've stayed at the Grosvenor the last two times i went to WDW. I don't spend a lot of time in the room, but it is nice to be that close. at the end of the day you can take any bus to downtown disney, and walk back to the hotel, and its much faster than taking the resort bus.

Ask for a disney view room and you can see the fireworks from pleasure island, epcot, and fantasmic from your window at nite.

 

[Siege898]

i stayed at wyndam palace which uses the same bus service as the grosvenor. IT IS DREADFUL! youll be lucky if you get to a park within an hour! they come every 30 mins then they have to stop at all of the downtown disney hotels (headache). anyway, if u wish to get to the parks, do what miksenger said, walk to downtown disney and get a bus, however downtown disney does not offer buses straight to the parks so you can always walk to saratoga springs to catch a bus that WILL go straight to the parks

 

[cm1988]

Bring your wooden shoes

Has anyone ever stayed here? I found a really good deal for the dates we are going to be at WDW and was wondering if it is a good place. also is it well within walking distance to Downtown Disney?

Any info would be great

Thanks

I haven't stayed at the Grosvenor, but walked through quite a bit of it recently at a conference. I was surprised how old and battered it seemed! Much need for paint, fresh carpeting, and fixing of nicks and dents everywhere. The only part of the hotel that seemed recently renovated was the Disney shop.

Plus the theming of the Grosvenor is a little strange. Originally, it was constructed as the "Royal Dutch Americana Resort". There were windmill phones in all of the rooms (since removed, I've been told) but the windmill pool is still there.

As others have said, the location is convenient to the Marketplace and P.I., but really, I'd consider staying at someplace like Port Orleans Riverside if a similar rate were available. PO has a boat to Downtown Disney, and busses direct to the parks.

 

[MKCP 1985]

The Grosvenor is a notch below most other Disney affiliated properties, but is a pretty cheap place to stay and very convenient to Downtown Disney. Five minutes is a generous allowance of time to walk from the hotel to the entrance.

I stayed there for a couple of nights in October of 2003 and agree with the assessment of peeling paint and mildewed outdoor carpet in the outside corridors as well as the assessment that it is not a dump and a decent place for the right price. The rooms themselves are mostly clean enough and quiet enough.

My bottom line: If the rate is in the under $80 per night range, it will do. Anything more and you'd do just as well to find a newer, cleaner hotel off property IMO.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Stayed there a few years ago. We got stuck in Orlando after a big snowstorm (Boy, was it rough...) I agree with the previous comments. Compared to a moderate, it wasn't as fun as Disney property, but for us, we were just happy to have a few extra days so we didn't mind the resort's small flaws. As I recall, the view in the morning from outside of our room was kind of nice. The pool and room were clean, the service (free newspaper and coffee in the rooms?) and parking were decent. After shopping, we walked from DD, and it was easy enough. I'm pretty sure they have a character breakfast at the resort. We did take the bus to the MK. IT took a while waiting for the bus. We got back to the hotel a different way. I think we ate dinner at a resort that night, so we took a bus from there to DD and walked back. The resort does get the e-night, but not early entry.

 

[Master Yoda]

Nearly all the hotels on <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:Street w:st=<st1:address w:st="on">Hotel Plaza Blvd</st1:address></st1:Street> fall into the fair to OK category. Every one I’ve been in needed work and the bus service the parks is very bad. I would stay in a value resort before one on HPB.

 

[Notnif]

I have stayed at the Grovesnor a ton of times. Some rooms have refrigerators in them so you can ask them about that. The tower rooms in the middle have awesome views of the Market Place and Downtown Disney. The shopping plaza is just up the street a bit and has places to buy food.

 

[Jordan's Mom]

I have stayed there three times -- the last (and I do mean LAST) time was this summer for two nights. I booked it through Priceline, so it was definitely a price based decision. We were going to Sea World this particular trip, so I can't comment on Disney transportation. However, it was a distinctly unpleasant experience. The carpet and bedspreads were stained and gross; the bathroom wasn't very clean either. On the first day, the air conditioning went out (they said it was the whole property) and stayed out for about 4 hours. Since this trip was in July, you can imagine how much fun THAT was! We had breakfast one morning at Baskervilles -- the service was awful and the food was barely warm, including the coffee. The TV remote didn't work, and it was a real hassle to get them to give us new batteries. All I can say is, we spent as little time as possible in the room.

You should be able to get into All Star or Pop Century for between $15 and $25 more per night depending on special rates available to you (not sure where you're located, so that makes a difference). If I had the choice, I would not stay there if there were another option. I'll never stay off property again, personally.

By the way, I stayed in the Tower on my honeymoon way back in 1987, and it was really nice back then.

 

[conntom]

I have been staying at the Grosvenor Resort for 18 years and no
it's not the best Hotel but it's a good one. I like the food and the
people that work there. If you have something wrong in your room
go to the front desk iam sure they will help you. If you can get a
room in the tower there a little better.I hope you have a good time.
You can try www.GrosvenorResort.com I will at the
Grosvenor Resort on Sunday Dec 5 for the week.



:xmas:

 

[raven]

I used to stay at Grosvenor all the time. It is a great resort with very good theme park transportation. What is REALLY nice about it is that it is right across the street from Downtown Disney. I was able to go shopping after the parks closed or even the day I left. Sometimes I just walked around there after the parks were closed to make the day longer. I'd stay at Grosvenor again in a heartbeat. :wave:

 

[Number_6]

I've stayed at the Grosvenor on almost every family vacation. I've only had a problem once, and that was last February, but it was resolved quickly and without much hassle. As far as the busses go, the Grosvenor is the last resort on Hotel Plaza Blvd to get the bus for pick-up and drop-off, so getting to the parks, actually is not bad, because the bus will go straight to the parks after picking you up. Coming back is another matter, but if you can handle waiting a little longer then its not bad. And if you aren't too tired, there is a path that leads from the Wyndham(first hotel dropped off) right over to the Grosvenor, which I have taken before. As people have mentioned before, getting a tower room, Disney view, is excellent for seeing the fireworks at Epcot and PI. I've stayed at three Disney owned resorts and the last one, All-Star Sports, I had problems with for the first couple of nights since my AC didn't work, and in the middle of the night, when I was thirsty because of the non-functioning AC, I couldn't get a drink because the food court shut down at midnight. The Grosvenor on the other hand, has a 24 hour cafe in the lobby with a variety of drinks, snacks, sandwiches and even pizza. Twice a week at breakfast, Goofy comes in dressed as Sherlock Holmes to get pictures with the kids and Pluto shows up as well. My daughter loves their buffet and I've now been there so many times that one of the chefs and a few of the servers know me, so they feel like family. Heck, one of the servers there has been there since way back before it was the Grosvenor, so even after I hadn't been to Orlando for 10 or so years, there was still familiarity after all that time. It may not be the best hotel out there, but it certainly isn't bad.

 

[wannab@dis]

I've never stayed at the Grosvenor, but I just checked their rates. Unless you find a GREAT discount there, it looks like the rates are very comparable to Pop Century or All Stars. Plus, if you find a discount code for the value or moderates, it would probably be cheaper or the same to stay on property. We've stayed at the value resorts for the last 4 visits and our average per night charge has been about $55. Two times (and next week) we got $49 rooms!

Watch for discounts on mousesavers.com -- they are pretty good and you get the plus of staying on property!

 

[conntom]

I stayed at the All Stars Movies if your a family it's ok but if your by yourself
I would not go back there is no Bar and no night life you have to go to PI
for that. The food at the All Stars is bad to me very bad and it was a long
walk to your room I would not go back.

 

[Moonshadow1]

My experience with the Gos. was the same as Jordan's Mom except for the ac problem. Also we had dinner at Baskervilles and it was so so at best, with lousey service. I would try somewhere else.

 

[SafariGuy]

I've only stayed at the nearby Wyndahm (which was nice, aside from the bus situation), but I feel I should clarify the frequent comment that Downtown Disney is just across the street from these hotels. What's really a 5-minute walk across the street is the Marketplace with all the shops & the bus stop. If you're mainly interested in Pleasure Island or the West Side however (where Cirque, Virgin Mega store, etc. are located), then you've got a longer 10-20 minute walk on your hands.

The bus stop at the Marketplace is just across the street, so that's convenient for catching a bus somewhere else. I believe buses from there do go to the waterparks, though not the main parks (MK, Epcot, etc.)

 

[krazyjon]

Don't do it

I stayed at the Grosvenor this Memorial Day. We had no choice as it was a last-minute trip, and the "values" were all booked. The grunginess of this place cannot be over-stated. The whole outside needed a serious pressure washing. The elevator is microscopic and terrribly slow, and the room was musty.
Additionally, and perhaps worse, is the shuttle. It's the LAST stop on the DTD resort bus loop. This means that by the time it arrives in the morning, it's already full, and in the evening you're the last group dropped off! Do I need to mention the A/C's on the buses didn't work? Nice.
To add a little icing to the cake, they have this neat little unadvertised "convenience" fee they put on your room ($7/night) just to cover some little add-ons you'll never use. Very deceptive.
Three pieces of advice: Don't do it, don't do it, DON'T DO IT.

 

[ToTBellHop]

As far as normal (non-Disney) hotels go, the Grosvenor is fine. I can't help but feel that if I were a more relaxed vacationer, I would have had a better time. If you don't feel the need to be in the parks as much as possible, perhaps the transportation won't be too annoying, but since I'm the kinda guy that wants to be in the parks from open till close, the crappy transportation system annoyed me. Besides taking forever, the busses stop in the middle of the bus parking lots at the parks, which really sucks in the summer, due to the rain. A lot of the drivers are jerks and for some reason expect people to wait out in the rain for them. Several times, I would be waiting under the roofs over the disney stops, see our bus arrive, start running out and the bus driver would only stay there for about 20 seconds and leave without me--it was extremely frustrating. If nothing else, I'd rather stay at a Disney Resort for the transportation.

 

[Pippa]

I've been thinking of booking this hotel for our next trip, but after reading this I think I'll save up a bit more to stay on-site again. I would hate to get there and be dissappointed.