Phase One - Grand Floridian Day One
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Our flight is scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon. My sister-in-law picks us up around 10 in the morning. It is a rainy and windy morning. We've gotten several inches of rain overnight and the rain is continuing this morning. There has also been some wind damage and street flooding. Except for the one car off the road (looks like it might have hydroplaned) that we pass by, our journey to the airport is uneventful.
With plenty of time before our flight, we go through a rather lengthy line to check our bags and head off to security. There are three security lines. One for those who are prequalified; a second for expedited (the group we expect to be in); and a third for everyone else. When we get to the first checkpoint, Gene is pointed off to the left. As I begin to follow him, I am stopped and told I am not eligible to go through that checkpoint - that Gene has been randomly chosen as prequalified but I have not been. Gene is quite a way through when he realizes I am not following him. When I tell him I'm not allowed to, he exits the line and opts to go through the other checkpoint with me. Still, due to his prequalified status, he is not required to remove his shoes or sweatshirt while I must do both.
Once through security, we stop at a restaurant for a nice, relaxed lunch. Still, we are at our gate quite early. Even so, the time passes quickly and we are soon aboard. Front row isn't as problematic as I had expected though this row would still not be my choice when booking future flights.
We land right around 5:30 but taxi quite a long while before we reach our gate. Since we had not used the Magical Express luggage tags, we head to baggage claim to retrieve our bags which is a faster process than I might have expected. I pull out my Magic Band and we cross over from A side to B side in order to check in with Magical Express. At the second Magical Express checkpoint, the person states I am slated to go to the Contemporary. Nope - we're going to Grand Floridian. I have to give him my reservation number. He does something in the computer and gives me a printed Magical Express boarding pass. Regardless of destination, we would have been on the same bus any way. We stand on line for 10-15 minutes before being boarded on the bus. Once on board, we sit another 15-20 minutes before setting off. The Grand Floridian is the second of four scheduled stops.
Since we are staying at the villas, I sort of expected that someone at the front entrance would drive us over in one of the carts but, no, we're told we can follow the walkway on over. When we ask about help with our luggage, we're told they can put it in storage and, after we complete check-in, we can call and they will bring it over. Thanks, but no thanks. It is now after 7 p.m. so our room must be ready and we don't want to hang out there waiting for luggage. So.......we drag our bags along with us. We are quickly checked in and the woman checking us in says there is nothing in the system about the Contemporary and the man at the airport didn't know what he was talking about. Still, there must have been something about the Contemporary as that's what our Magical Express luggage tags had said and is the reason we didn't use them. We are assigned to a standard view studio on the 4th floor.
The room is spacious but there are some features that make this room less than grand. We have a roomy outdoor patio. Gene is particularly impressed with the patio doors. The edge of our patio is just feet away from the monorail line. We can see, the Poly, part of the lagoon, the wedding chapel and the spa from here. If we go to the end of the patio and look the other way, we have a clear view of the Grand Floridian monorail station. Inside, we have a very roomy bathroom which is well appointed with Kohler fixtures. The tv screen in the bathroom mirror is a pretty cool feature. However, there is only one sink though there is plenty of room for two. The bathtub does not include a soap dish. The only place to put a bar of soap down is at the end of the tub where there is a small, flat rim - the rest of the edge of the tub slopes inward into the tub. While the extra adjustable handheld shower head would be a great plus for showering a child - the water pressure is quite low which is a definite minus. There is a generous sized refrigerator but a rather small and seemingly quite inexpensive microwave. The bed is queen size and adequate but there is only one bed table and the other side of the bed is mere inches from the wall forcing a kind of sideways shuffle to get into and out of bed. There is a pull out couch and a generous sized table with two chairs. Additionally, there is a pulldown bed enclosed in what would normally be a dresser. I'm sure a child would enjoy this cozy bed. While all of this creates a good deal of sleeping space, there is a definite problem here. There is no storage space!! The entire bedroom area has two very small drawers located in the one bedside table. The coffee tables do have a shelf below but who wants to pile clothes in this location?? The closet is on the small size and really does not have adequate space for hanging clothes especially since it contains two robes, ironing board, iron, portable crib and don't forget about gaining access to the safe which is also small. The closet does contain four cubby holes within built in shelving on the left. Seriously??!! This is the only place to put all your clothes? Also, since the shelf across the top contains bedding and pillow items for the other sleeping options, this also can't be used for clothing storage. And to use the cubbies, I needed to move extra toilet tissue and Kleenex stored here to the top shelf. I will say that, while the location is great, I would have to give this room a B- or C+.
After dropping our bags, we head to the monorail station and are soon disembarking at the Contemporary. Our destination is Top of the World. I'm pleased to see the BLT flatbread is back on the menu so we order that. Still hungry, we order sliders. These were much better the last time we were there. Amy is our server and she takes great care of us!! We venture outside to view Hallowishes and then hang out a while more before returning to our room. We spend a little while out on our patio watching the monorails come through before turning in for the night.
