Our family of 4 spent the first week of May 2012 at the Grand Floridian at Disney and loved it.

While it is no doubt an expensive hotel it was the most convenient location especially if you have two little girls (5 and 2) that get tired quite quickly. The monorail got to Magic Kingdom within 3 or 4 minutes on most occasions. Getting to the other parks was also very easy using the monorail and the complimentary bus service. The longest it took us to get anywhere was 30 to 40 minutes.

The room was not the biggest but adequate for our purposes. It was clean, neat and we did not have to wait for it to cleaned at any point. The only issue we had in the room was the intermittent wi-fi signal. Although it was free I would have paid a nominal fee for a more stable signal.

The service at the resort was very good and we did not have to wait very long for any request.

In short a great hotel for our first Disney experience.

This resort is absolutely beautiful! The design is simply gorgeous. An individual plays the piano at the center of the hotel, and leaves everyone memorized with beautiful music from Disney movies. The live band that plays there is amazing as well! This is such a romantic hotel, it has the Beauty and the Beast ambiance to it with beautiful fresh roses and flowers at every turn. This hotel will make you fall in love with love. Even if you are with family this hotel will make your heart melt. There is so much magic in this hotel, it will give you so many memorable moments.

My daughter and I spent a "girl's" week at this lovely hotel the week before Halloween 2012. My daughter is 24 years old, and our first visit to The Grand Floridian was when she was four years old. Our family loved it on our first visit, and we are never dissappointed after all these years. Our first step into the lobby when we arrive is still thrilling. And each evening as we return to the peace and quiet of our room we have that wonderful feeling of "being home", being safe and so very comfortable after a long day out and about Disney. We never have that "I can't sleep well" experience here. The beds are very comfy with snuggly bedding and the hotel is wonderfully quiet all around. The bathrooms have a vanity room with two sinks, a large vanity and even a hamper. Towels are abundant and very clean and absorbant. There is a modern two cup coffee maker and extra coffee is always available just by asking one of the housekeepers. No plastic glasses and the coffee mugs are a heavy ceramic. The toilet and bath/shower is a separate room with a door that closes and a fan the works!! The housekeepers are constantly busy. The hotel is immacculantly clean, and beautifully appointed with warm colors and comfortable furniture. There are huge vases of fresh flowers everywhere and on the tables in the restaurants. Every shop is neat and well stocked. The staff is very professional and always friendly. But most of all they are available to answer questions and give you a hand no matter what their position is in the hotel. They don't wait until you look lost or in need of something. They approach you and ask if you need help. The food in the restaurants and the cafe is wonderful. As with all of Disney, it is very smart to make reservations at sit down restaurants before you leave home. At the Grand Floridian you can eat cafe style, up scale dinning and even 5 star dinning at their exclusive Victoria and Alberts. Men need to take a pair of long pants and dress shoes to have meals in certain restaurants. It is a deluxe hotel so there is in-room dining and a salon, and while it is being refurbished at this point, there is a spa. One pool is being refurbished but the other pool has a fun childrens splash and play pool and a pool for swimming with cabanas and food service. Another wonderful treat is that there are little nooks and crannies and patios to sit with a drink or coffee or just a moment to sit with the kids. In fact, they even have small screens with cartoons playing in the main lobby for the kids if they need to be entertained while grown ups tend to reservations or activities. Each room also has a wonderful porch for a quiet moment with early morning coffee while the kids are still asleep. You really have to stay there more than once to take advantage of all the marvelous little aspects of this hotel. Being on the monorail that takes you to the Magic Kingdom is just a fantasitc feature that you will appreciate once you experience Disney. Finally, this is not a budget hotel. It also isn't a hotel for kids who enjoy racing around the halls or playing ball in the lobby. Most kids are too tired in the evening for that and are ready to head for the parks in the morning! It is a refined atmosphere, but it is always filled with kids who enjoy dinner with the family and don't mind sharing space with adults. I can assure you that little girls really, really love the Princess Tea they have in the tea room....and so do Moms!! And of course the character breakfasts are really fun and very filling. It is the perfect hotel for getting away with your family if you want an elegant but very comfortable home away from home.

Let me first start by saying that we had a good trip, and people at the parks and restaurants provided excellent customer service. Having attended 3 Disney Institute lectures over the past 10 years, this is what I expected.
Now on to the hotel. This is supposed to be the "crown jewel" of the Disney resort and a "five star" experience. This was not our experience at the Grand Floridian. Housekeeping left a lot to be desired. Several days they didn't come until 4pm. By that point, our 3 year old was napping after a long day at the park, and there was no way we were letting housekeeping in. The cleanliness of the rooms was marginal, and I have included a picture of the mold on the fire sprinkler in the bathroom. Rooms are dated, especially bathrooms.
Concierge service is weak at best. They cannot or are unwilling to help with park arrangements. Several times upon making requests, we were told "nothing we can do about it". In addition, they are doing a lot of renovations all at the same time(pool, arcade, spa) which we were not notified about in advance. Food is "institutional" at best at most of the restaurants, and expensive(as is everything else).
While this is not a terrible place, and in the grand scheme of things it is "fine", based on the price tag and the hype, it did not meet our expectations.