Latest / Sisters, Sisters: A Mouselets Podcast / 27. A Deep Dive into the Grand Floridian

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27. A Deep Dive into the Grand Floridian · Sisters, Sisters: A Mouselets Podcast

• M2: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Sisters Sisters. I am joined by my sister, Mouselet1 has made her return. M1: Guys, said Valsalto called me up and said, I need you back on the pod. No more guest hosts. M2: I didn't, that's not how it happened. I just said, for what I wanna cover, you are the right person for this episode. It's not always the case. M1: Always the case, but guys in here, welcome back to moi. M2: We have a very exciting episode today because we are starting a new series and that series is a deep dive into all of the history and some of the present day of every single Disney resort. And we are starting with the Grand Floridian and we thought long and hard about what resort to start with. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about why we chose the Grand Floridian to actually start with. M1: So we chose the Grand Floridian because if you don't know, we are DVC owners. We bought into DVC four years ago now and we're gonna talk a little bit about how that happened because it was on a complete whim. It was so crazy that we ended up doing that, but we bought in at the Grand Floridian. So that's our home resort. So we felt like it made the most sense to start there. M2: We were staying, so four years ago on our January of 2022 trip, we were staying at the Wilderness Lodge and the DVC salespeople said, like, ⁓ do you want to see one of the cabins? You can go on a cabin tour. And Melsa1, sucker she is, was like, sure, I would love to see the cabin. ⁓ M1: I mean, I would love to see the cabin. And you know why? Honestly, this woman was that kind of like a temporary makeshift table. She wasn't in like one of the DVC stands. And it just didn't really occur to me that this was going to be a DVC sales thing. I just thought she was like, do you want to see a cabin? And I was like, yeah, I do actually. M2: So we went to go see the cabin. No, sorry, we didn't. We got pulled into a back room that I had a sales pitch from this man. Can I say his name? King Julian, as we call him. If you know, know, I saw King Julian at Universal. King Julian. M1: His name, yeah, Julian, King Julian as we call him, Madagascar reference. Not sorry, to be clear, she saw the character King Juliana Universal, she did not see this man. M2: ⁓ not to be confused with this man who no longer works for DVC. He's he's elsewhere now. Anyway, King Julian pulled us up I was fuming there was a table with four chairs Okay, and then there was a chair in the corner in front of a TV and then there was a chair in the corner There were five of us including Julian I was so furious that we were experiencing the sales pitch that I said I don't need to see it at the table I'll sit on the chair on the side. I Was stewing I was fuming so do you want a drink I said, nope all set Julian M1: In front of a TV, in front of a TV. I don't remember that at all. my god, you are crazy. No, okay, but guys, it was in, well, it was insane because we thought we were seeing the cabin. Also, I'm going to fast forward a little bit so we can close the loop on the cabin. Guys, when this whole sales pitch ended, King Julian was like, okay, bye. And I was like, ⁓ sorry. Can we see the cabin? And he was like, ⁓ M2: I'm like, I'm not buying into DVC and I thought we were seeing the cabin Can we see the cabin? M1: I guess, sure. He had absolutely no idea that this woman had roped us into seeing the cabin. We were not going to be brought to see a cabin at any point in time. M2: and we were brought into the cabin for like three seconds of time. King Julian was the ultimate salesperson. We left and we said, we'll think about it. They're not like pushing, they're not like, it's not like a timeshare presentation that they'll be like, they make you sit there until, we're just like, we'll think about it. And then we thought about it we were like, it's not the right time. ⁓ But then in the... M1: No, but we actually were so enticed. I remember sitting in the hot tub with all the little, yeah, with all the little booklets that they'd given us being like, wait, does this make sense for us to do? Again, we sat in the, we went into the presentation being like, ⁓ my God, I cannot believe we're here. This is so ridiculous. We would never do this. And we did leave the presentation being like, hmm. M2: I... Yeah, I remember sitting at the pool. And we can't possibly get in. We will do an episode of DVC if people are interested. There's so much more to talk about. But in the end, in July of 2023, arrived staying at the Grand, July of 2022, we arrived staying at the Grand Floridian, not with our points, but just we happened to be staying there and we bought in. So. M1: 2022. Yep, and the reason we bought another Grand Floridian is because that's what they were selling at the time. Like, again, we'll talk about this in the way DVC works, but it wasn't actually an intentional choice necessarily. It just kind of was like what was available. But we loved the Grand Floridian and it was kind of like the ultimate dream, at least for me. M2: always our goal growing up like it was just like it was unreachable and we'll talk about that in a minute. But we need to start somewhere with our deep dive. And it felt like this was a really good one because there's a lot of really cool history and lore of this resort. And that's what we're to get into after we get into the news. Wait, I'm sorry. Are you on Matthew Morris and Tick Tock? I'm enticed to see his show. They're selling me. They're selling me. M1: I am on MatthewBorrisd on TikTok. ⁓ you should go see it. He's telling you. M2: If you're on Matthew Morris and TikTok people, you get what I'm saying. If you're not, I'm sorry. ⁓ There is so much Disney news in my opinion that I have thoughts on all of it. I'll start. Frozen reopened with the new animatronics. I saw them in our friend, Taryn at Benchlandia story. They look so much better. I'm very, very, very happy with them. They just look so much better. M1: They look so much better. I don't really care for that ride. As you know, my hot take is that I think that ride is way too much open, dark space that's just like not interesting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think other people that would be like, what? But no, I don't really like that ride very much, but the animatronics were definitely kind of adding to my dislike of that ride because they were so, I don't know. They just didn't, they just. M2: That's not even a heart take. I agree with that. Would you like that ride if it was always a 20 minute wait like Maelstrom was? Cause I would. If that ride was like a 20, 25 minute wait, no more than 25, I would, it's a 30, I'm not doing it, but I would like it more. That's kind of my limit. M1: Yeah, sure, but like... No, 30 now. Sure, but it's always like a 75 minute wait and then there's so much dark space and I'm just kind of like, meh. But I think the animatronics were a big upgrade. That was definitely the right choice. M2: Yes, all right, I'll do the next one also because this is a small piece of news. know, smugglers run is getting that rethemed the new Mandalorian story. So it has a new name, maybe slightly uninspired. It's now called Lenny and Falcon's smugglers run a new mission. M1: Hmm. M2: So I don't know if that's. Well, yeah, I don't know about the name, but that's a little piece of news. All right. Next up, I feel I've a lot of thoughts about this. M1: That name is so dumb. That name is a boo. Okay, the next one. Okay, I have a question on this though. So the piece of news is that Rafiki's Planet Watch has officially closed the whole area. So like the building, the petting zoo outside, the train that takes you out there, that whole thing is closed because Bluey is coming for a Bluey dance party. But I saw something and this was like one TikTok caption or something. M2: A tick tock that the petting zoo is being there all being relocated. M1: Okay, that's not what I saw. I saw something that said the area is being changed to be Australia. M2: Like, like, yes, kind of, but not actually. M1: What does that mean? M2: It is being rethemed to bluey, but they're not making they're not moving the kangaroos there nothing not that I've seen but they are closing the petting zoo permanently So I don't know what they're good M1: Like this person was like, maybe they'll bring a platypus. Like our platypuses, I guess platypuses are native to Australia. That's what this person was saying. M2: ⁓ wouldn't mind- Perry? The affection section petting zoo will be replaced with an Australian animal display. M1: ⁓ so the petting zoo is O. Okay, so maybe there will be a platypus. M2: The new area will be display only, no petting zoo element. All the existing animals which have been in the park since 1998 will be relocated to other zoos or other homes. sick. The conservation station area will be a space for bluey activities. Here's the thing. I think they need... Well, seemingly. No, they're not actually. The veterinarian treatment room, nutrition center, those are all staying. M1: Okay, I'm happy for them. They'll be happy. So are they gutting the building? That's awful because they don't use those, so I don't really love that. But the Australia thing is interesting. I would love to see a platypus. M2: ⁓ Okay, yes, but like, let's think about Africa. Let's think about Asia, tropical America, it's Pandora. And then they're like, you like take a train to get there. I just feel like they're like doing one of those little tiny read themes. It's like, sure, you can bring in an Australian exhibit, but just build me in Australia. If you wanna do that, just build me in Australia. M1: I I agree. I agree. Also, something that I was thinking about is like, at least I'm not super up to date with Disney Junior, I have to say, but I will be like Playhouse Disney back in the day, now Disney Junior. Those shows like kind of cycle fairly frequently. They're not on that long. Like they only really keep them. Right. So Bluey. M2: You will be. That's what I'm saying about Bluey. It's like after that, what are they going to put there? M1: Right, like they're doing a lot for Bluey who's already been on the air for years. How much longer does Bluey have? Like I know it's really popular. M2: And the bluey creator left because he said he felt like he couldn't create a season as good as season four. I just saw that. I don't follow anything bluey. I told you guys I think I tried to listen to it in French or I watched the show in French because people said it's good to learn French. And I was just like, this show sucks for adults. M1: My god. Okay, well we thought Bluey was a boy and she's a girl. M2: Yeah, confusing though. OK, that's the news. A lot to think about there will keep you updated on any other changes. I'm going to just do the kind of another boring one before we get into the meat. The Starlight Parade, the second showing is actually going to go the other direction, so it's going to run from Main Street USA to Frontierland and the second show will run from from Frontierland to Main Street. M1: So we really know nothing about blue. I thought that's always what happened. M2: No, it was running the same loop. You're thinking of like the, you know, the old parades that did that. M1: Hmm. Interesting. Okay. Makes sense, I guess. M2: Yep. All right. The last the biggest piece of news, the magic of Disney Animation, which is the new animation courtyard kind of experience thing coming to Hollywood studios. They've made a couple of big announcements. The first is that the Animation Academy, we haven't even discussed this. The Animation Academy will not have any real animators. Instead, it will have a pre-recorded animation thing, and then it will have Olaf, who is taking an Olaf animatronic, taking the class with you. I feel very poorly about them not having real animators there. Hate that. Yeah. That's the ultimate boo. That's like cheap and ridiculous. How much money could they possibly be saving? ⁓ my God, just pay a couple of animators whatever their salaries are to be there. I just think that's crazy. M1: I agree. I like they're really trying to hype up the fact that we're getting this Olaf animatronic, which in theory is going to be similar to like the roaming animatronic that they created that's in Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong. And I'm like, okay, I mean, I'm sure it will be a cool animatronic. That's nice, but. M2: Yeah, yeah, except. If I want to see an Olaf animatronic, I'll go ride the Frozen ride. Why Olaf? M1: Yeah like or have an Olaf, have an Olaf animatronic because kids love Olaf but ⁓ look I love Olaf. Have an Olaf animatronic if you're, have an Olaf animatronic that like interacts with the animator. I don't know the live animator M2: them. How about like an Oswald animatronic or a Mooshu animatronic? I don't want Olaf or an animatronic. I want a live, I don't mind if there's an animatronic and an animator. I don't want to watch a prerecorded animation thing. They've done the animation academy since Disney Quest at a Hollywood studio, like for 30, 40 years. And now we're going to have to watch a prerecorded thing. It's just like, that's so cheap. I think that's so cheap of them. M1: I just don't want an animatronic. I want a live animator. M2: And they're trying to pretend that they're not. It's embarrassing, guys. It's embarrassing. I'm not gonna like, how much does an animator make? I don't know. feel like it, let's just pretend it's $100,000 and you're paying four people to do it. Okay, that is like a drop in the bucket. That's a drop in the bucket. M1: I agree. I agree. No, I do. And I think that they're really trying to hype up this Olaf animatronic as being like so exciting. And I'm like, okay, guys, no. M2: You don't find? You know why it's because they gave us so many rides like without animatronics that now anytime the Zootopia show they're like, ⁓ guys, we have an animatronic. I'm like, you know what? We had a flick and a hopper animatronic. So congrats. Like I'm furious about it. I'm also furious about this. I am a flick stan. I'm also furious about the second piece of news because they announced the characters that will be featured in the meet and greets and they are Mulan. I like that one. Rapunzel, Chip and Dale, Donald and Daisy, Goofy and Stitch. Okay. M1: Flickstan over there, Flickstan. I haven't seen this one. suck. M2: Chip and Dale already meet in Hollywood Studios and they're roaming. So now they won't be roaming. Donald and Daisy already meet in Hollywood Studios and they're roaming and now they won't be. And Goofy and Max already meet and are roaming. And so now all of those characters just won't be out anymore. Stitch, why? I support Mulan. And Rapunzel, meh. I just feel like Rapunzel should be meeting in Fantasyland. M1: Well, she does meet in fantasy land, but I guess. M2: But I'm just like, okay, if we're talking animation, wow, maybe we should consider, ⁓ I don't know, Oswald? Hello? M1: Okay, okay, I mean, Oswald's Stan over there, but like, no, these are really boring characters. mean, clearly they were like, people wanna meet the whatever that's called, the Fantastic Eight. M2: Well, here's the thing. People probably do want to meet them, but leave them outside. Leave them outside. Mousely Day said they must have a lot of extra Chippendale costumes. I said, I don't think that it's that. M1: They do. They did. It's on for- Okay, it's not that it's definitely not that. M2: I like, I was like, no, think people like to Chip and Dale. Just for me, I'm like, I feel like the only interesting character in that mix. mean, I guess it's good for Stitch to have a meet and greet, but you know, I'm starting to love Stitch. ⁓ I'm just like, I don't need to go inside of a building and meet Donald and Daisy. M1: Yeah, people like to meet them. No, no. Oh, was so short. A tiny boot. No, they clearly, but like they clearly want to have a place to meet those, yeah, like those core characters in every part of the game and you already have theirs in Hollywood. And so they're adding them. M2: In every park. In every park. Yep. as does the giant, a giant Olaf. M1: ⁓ yeah, that Olaf. One of my worst character meet and greets ever. Which you don't remember. I don't understand why you don't remember that, but... M2: haha I just remember he didn't autograph. I don't know. So I mean, guys, we have a lot to cover with a really fun deep dive about the Grand Floridian. So I need to get some pep in my step. Yeah, I got to get to pep myself. No, I'm just like, come on. You're cutting real animators and then you're putting these. I don't know. I should be happy because I think it's great. Like the last time I'm at Mulan was on Main Street. And I'm like, I think this is a better fit. Mulan, you know that there's a lot of cool animation that went into Mulan. Add Mooshu. Hello. But add Simba. M1: Yeah, you need to get your piss up up in yourself because you're sort of in a foul mood. M2: Dumbo, give us someone rare. M1: Simba Simba, I don't think you can meet Simba M2: think when there's a will, there's a way. M1: Can you picture a Simba that you've met or seen anywhere ever? Terrible example. Okay, we need to get into the main topic. M2: I mean, I haven't. All right, guys, we have a lot to talk about. I have a new little transition, so let's get into the main topic, which is a deep dive into the Grand Floridian. And Juan, you wanna discuss the series a little bit? M1: Yes, so we're going to be doing a series where we deep dive into every resort on property. Mouselotu and I have stayed at almost every resort on property, not quite every single one, but we are working on that. But as we said at the top of the episode, we're starting with the Grand Floridian, it's Disney's flagship hotel, it's where we own for DVC, but it wasn't always supposed to be Disney's flagship hotel. It was not one of the original hotels that Disney planned for. M2: And we have stayed there twice now, the Grand. We stayed there. ⁓ The first time was hosted by David's Vacation Club Rentals and the second time was with our DVC points. We'll be staying there in May also. And I did want to kind of just briefly mention the fact that some true Mouselets lore and I know we've discussed it here before is that we used to ride by on the monorail and be like, I actually, to be clear, this is some true Mouselets lore. We never even got off the monorail because I don't think we understood that we were allowed to go in there. M1: Yes. We, no, we thought we were like, ⁓ my gosh, we were like, ogling at the people who stayed there. M2: At like the doorway and we were like, ⁓ like we only went in the contemporary for chef Mickey I don't think we really gathered the fact that we could go inside it same with the Polynesian. We had no idea But we would always go by and we were like there's no world that we could ever ever ever stay there like ever however I'm not gonna say that Graham Flory is not expensive because it is but it's not as expensive as you think honestly if you rent DVC points and one of the reasons that we love working with David's is because literally it is M1: No, we like, we like didn't. Yep. M2: Such a good deal. And yes, Saratoga and Old Key West and Animal Kingdom Lodge, those are going to be your best deals. But David's truly makes it so, so, much more affordable than you would ever think. I mean, you can save 20 to 50 percent on some resorts. So they have a cost calculator on their website. I would just honestly say check it out. Like the prices might surprise you. You can stay in a studio room there for something that's not as crazy a price as you would think. Anything else to add? M1: And I always say when you're looking at the cost calculator on David's, if you're not familiar with the pricing there, you might think that you're looking at the price for like one night or something. And I always say the cost calculator in David's is the full cost of the trip, all taxes and fees included. And it might seem unbelievable to you. And if you don't believe me, go look at it right now and go compare it to the Disney website, because seriously, like it's the full cost of the trip. M2: There's so many times that I was like, wait, it includes tax. We're like, is this actually like, I was like, is this one night? Cause it's actually, it's such a good deal. So if you ever felt like us and you're like, I will never ever, ever be able to stay at the grand, it is still expensive. I'm not going to pretend it's not, but you might be able to if you rent DVC points. But to actually get into the history, as M1 said, it has such a cool history. And I feel like the easiest place to start is one of my favorite things in the world that I talk about all the time. which is the Disney master plan from Are You Yawning On Purpose as a joke? M1: Nope, not as a joke as an actual yawn, know, new mother. M2: In the late 1960s, Disney was developing a master plan and it basically outlined how they would build Walt Disney World because obviously Walt Disney passed in 1966 and Disney was left kind of wrestling with this idea. They hadn't even broken ground of like, how are they going to possibly do this? And so they created this whole master plan and they outlined what was going to come to Walt Disney World, which was very different than Disneyland because Walt Disney World was not just going to be a theme park. So what they said that they would have, and this is from their master plan, a vacation land. So that would be like the theme park, the resort hotels, the motor ins, as they call them, campsites and other like recreational facilities. Then there's the theme park. And then all of these other things like an airport, they were gonna build the city of the future, which was Epcot, a whole huge transportation network, an industrial park where people would actually work. So they had all of these big plans. and was a lot to take on. was way, way, way too much for them to take on to start. So what they said is that they were going to start with phase one of building Walt Disney World and phase one was going to be the entertainment complex, which was basically the resorts and the theme park and the recreation activities. M1: So in January of 1970, and remember Walt Disney World opened in October of 1971, so this was like a year and a half before, the Walt Disney World Preview Center opened and this was the first building to open to the public on Walt Disney World property. It was located right off of I-4 where Disney Springs is now and it was basically a way for the media and for tourists to view progress around the property. And so Disney announced at this preview center that five resorts would be built around the Magic Kingdom, the contemporary. M2: you M1: Polynesian, the Asian resort, the Venetian resort, and the Persian resort. M2: And I have little sound clip from the preview center that I'm gonna roll where you can hear them talk about it. So here we go. So they were announcing these to the public as things that were coming. M1: And all of these resorts, well, especially the ones that you might be questioning and that you aren't as familiar with, they were going to have like this big theme. And we wanted to quickly sort of define what that is. For example, when the Riviera was built, the Riviera really doesn't have a big theme. It's very kind of like subtle, subtle themed is more, yeah. Like they really didn't, they clearly did this on purpose, but they built it as more of like an upscale. M2: It's my biggest beef with the Riviera, actually. M1: resort that just kind of feels like a resort and yes it like M2: Like an ode to Paris, but not like a resort that's in Paris. Or the Riviera, whatever. M1: Yeah, when you think about the, yeah, right. But when you think about the Polynesian, like the Polynesian feels like you're in Polynesia. Like that's what they were attempting to do is make you. M2: Like Wilderness Lodge, it's like you feel like you're in the Wilderness Lodge. Everything around is fully themed. There's these huge lobbies, big theme. I feel like there's there definitely was other, like these ones that Disney has, I mean, the contemporary is kind of different because the vibe is a little bit different. But big theme is my favorite thing about Disney resorts. So. M1: I agree. And Disney is unfortunately kind of moving away from that, but that's a story for another day. So anyways, the contemporary obviously ended up being Bill. We'll cover that another day. Polynesian as well, again, cover that another day. But three of those obviously did not end up being Bill. And that was the Asian resort, the Venetian resort, is based on Venice, and the Persian resort. M2: The Asian resort will be our focus for this kind of beginning piece because the Grand Floridian was later built on that site. But I do just want to mention the Venetian and the Persian. So the Venetian resort would be themed around Venice. Obviously, there are really, really cool plans for it. was going to be located in between the Contemporary Resort and the Transportation and Ticket Center. If you like, I mean, if you just go to Disney, you might not even notice that that plot of land is actually empty. Think about like riding the monorail, you There's nothing to really see there, but they actually did clear that land and they wanted to build on that land. The reason they couldn't was because the soil was just not, you couldn't build on the soil. There were sinkholes and it would have been so expensive. And even to this day, they still do testing on that soil and they're still not able to build on there. They revived the idea for the Venetian in the nineties, but they were going to build a Mediterranean resort yet again canceled. That site absolutely one day will be developed and they will put a monorail station there. ⁓ at some point, probably in our lifetime, but not for a while. Same. I can't wait. I'm excited for it, honestly. The other resort that's not the Asian resort was the Persian and the Persian resort, ⁓ deemed on Persia or Iran, right? It was going to be located up behind kind of Space Mountain, so north of the Contemporary on Bay Lake in the top left corner, basically, of Bay Lake. And today it's the M1: And I can't wait. Literally. I'm excited for it. Breaking news. M2: Boneyard if you want to call it a backstage area where they store a bunch of like old props and stuff ⁓ that site M1: Not to be confused with the boneyard that was at Dino Land. M2: Hmm. Good point. ⁓ It's just like not a site that you would know that much about unless you're like looking at Google Earth and stuff. But the Persian resort was going to be really, really, really intricately themed as well. That, too, has a very interesting story of how it didn't end up happening and the funding. And it was also like politically driven that they didn't build it ⁓ again. It's highly unlikely they would ever develop that site. They were going to expand the monorail and do like a spur track of the monorail, maybe go through Tomorrowland like what Disneyland does there. They're just not gonna do that anymore. So they would develop that site. But the last one, that was the Asian resort. And that was going to be developed on the plot of land between the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian. And today that's where the Grand Floridian sits. So I wanna read briefly what the annual shareholder report, so Disney's annual shareholder report from 1972 said about it. So this is the year after Walt Disney World opened where they were planning to build this resort. Since opening day, the demand for accommodations throughout central Florida has exceeded the supply. I'm laughing thinking of else today. Last episode, I feel like panicking now. On site are two theme resort hotels, the Contemporary and the Polynesian Village operated at near 100 % capacity all year long. Recognizing that the public will always prefer to stay within the Vacation Kingdom site, the company will soon begin architectural work on a third theme resort. M1: I was gonna say, this is giving mouse a day. Pull it together. ⁓ M2: the 500 room Asian hotel. Construction is planned for 1974, but the formal opening to take place late that year. M1: Alright guys, I'm gonna be honest this next part, Melsil2 wrote these bulleted notes for me and I don't know it that well. So I got it, I got it. So the resort would have been a huge square with a center plaza which would have allowed water room, water views for almost all the rooms. That would have been nice because Melsil2 and I were swindled by a water view recently. Story for another day. M2: I'm happy do I want to just keep going. I'm gonna keep running through. ⁓ all right Yeah, we were. We were swindled by a lot of things. Okay. M1: Yeah, yeah, anyways, it would have been Thai themed in terms of its decor and food. Two thirds of his 600 rooms were on the water or in the garden area. M2: A little discrepancy because some things describe it as 600 rooms, some describe it as 500 rooms. I don't know, guys. OK, if you caught that. M1: Okay, guys, don't be splitting hairs. And the remainder were in a 160 foot tower building. There were also going to be 50 suites, an underground convention center, underground, interesting. ⁓ It obviously would have been on the monorail loop and it was far along in development. Actual construction plans were created. There was a local road that was named Asian Way and the old. M2: the road behind where the Asian resort was, just FYI. It wasn't like a local road, it was that road. M1: And the old monorail spiels would mention the resort and that it was going to be built. M2: which I'm rolling now, just has a little delay. Here we go. So again, oh, replayed. Again, the biggest thing to know with these resorts is that Disney was actively sharing about them. The Venetian and the Persian, those were further out, but this Asian resort was coming. So obviously it was not built and why was it not built? So in 1973, there was an oil embargo. If you were around in 1973, you probably remember that. If you weren't, you may never have learned about this. It had many impacts on the entire world, on the United States, but it definitely had an impact on tourism because people felt insecure really about like where they would get gasoline for their cars. They were not driving as much. So tourism dropped really significantly. So Disney resorts, they were at capacity, but remember there were only two Disney resorts. So there was only the Contemporary and there was only the Polynesian and then the Campground. ⁓ Disney had a ton of or I guess not Disney, a lot of like offsite resorts were popping up. There were four over at what's now Disney Springs. Those are still there today. And then there were a ton of other resorts that were being built because so many people were flooding to this area. And so what ended up happening is that a lot of those resorts that were being built, non Disney resorts, ended up not being finished. These like incomplete hotels and they just saw a huge dip in the people staying there. And so what Disney was thinking was like. Yes, our two resorts, the contemporary, the Polynesian art capacity, but do we really want to invest in a 500 slash 600 room, huge, expensive hotel right now when tourism is dropping? And they decided no. And so instead of doing that, because it would have been a risk and the Disney kind of corporate leadership at the time really wasn't like a super big risk taker, they decided to build a smaller resort, smaller in rooms, smaller in size, smaller in theme, the golf resort. The golf resort is was located right by Magic Kingdom, but not on the monorail. It's actually right across from the Polynesian. It's on two golf courses, and it was later renamed the Disney Inn. But you probably know it today as Shades of Green. But in the end, they always hoped that they would get back to developing the Asian resort. They had a literal rectangular plot of land because the Asian resort was supposed to be a rectangle. And it just sat there empty for like well over a decade because they never ended up rebuilding it. M1: Also, if you don't know what Shades of Green is, it is a military resort that Disney has. I had never heard of it until like a couple of years ago. But if you're a military, you can stay there. Anyways, so in the 1980s, Michael Eisner becomes CEO and one of Michael Eisner's initiatives was to build a ton of new resort resorts. But the story says that he wasn't excited about the Asian resort. I don't really know why, but he apparently wasn't. So he instead wanted to build an elegant flagship resort. It was like. He wanted it to be a top of the line hotel and his idea was to have it pay tribute to the kind of grand hotels that you can find in Sarasota or Boca Raton around the turn of the century. And so that is where the idea for the Grand Floridian was born. And they decided, again, this is going to be like this amazing flagship resort. They decided to put it where the Asian resort was going to go because that was like a prime piece of real estate. And so. It actually had a different name at the time. It was the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. It was later renamed in 1997. And here's M2: Can we briefly discuss though, like Michael Eisner not liking the Asian resort? Cause that's how the story goes. And there's obviously no like public documentation of anything else. Do we think he didn't like the Asian theme or do we think that he wanted like a flagship like Sarasota, Florida themed hotel? I feel like he more so just wanted, well I'm not. M1: giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm hoping that he just like had a different idea, you know. M2: Look, I still think they should build that Asian resort. It seems incredible. I feel like people would think that it's similar to the Polynesian, but it's not. It's just like a big themed hotel. It seemed really cool. I just think it's interesting. M1: Yeah, it seems amazing. Something about Michael Eisner is that he is, he was, is, I don't know, sort of like, well yeah, so I guess he's probably still like this. He definitely was a very like proud person who had a lot of big ideas. I could see him being like, ⁓ that idea wasn't one of my ideas, so therefore like, I'm whatever about it, but I have this idea and like my ideas are the best type of vibe rather than like explicitly not liking ⁓ the Asian resort theme, but it is interesting. M2: Still alive. Yeah. It is interesting. M1: So here's an old advertisement for the original resort, again at the time is called the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. Journey back to the... M2: This was from like the original year or two that this was released also. M1: And hopefully I do a better job reading ⁓ than Masladej. Because I did listen to last week's episode. Journey back to the turn of the century to another time and another place, the Grand Floridian Beach Resort, an oasis of elegance that's the first of its kind since the golden age of pleasure travel. Bright white towers and gabled roofs echo the Victorian architectural influence that has come to symbolize Florida's carefree winters and balmy summer nights. and inside the towering five-story grand lobby is capped by three illuminated stained glass domes, glittering chandeliers, and gleaming brasswork. Well, that really sold me, I have to say. M2: At its center, a grandiose gazebo is an ornate aviary for a covey of rare Australian rosy birks, exotic pink parakeets that epitomize the period's Rococo style? Yet nowhere else is more attention paid to thoughtful details than the Grand Floridian's 900 guest rooms and suites. Accommodations are the most luxurious on Disney property. M1: I have no idea what that word means. M2: The Grand Floridian Beach Resort is open now and accepting reservations for single night or longer stays for reservations or information regarding the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. Call 407-828-3111 or see your travel agent. OK, so the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. don't I think that most people don't know that this resort was renamed. And it's so, so, so funny. And this is like I think that we both have like specific things. You could call it a special interest of mine. I am obsessed with the Disney Lakes like too obsessed. Yeah. M1: I don't think you need to read this part. You are, you are, you are too obsessed. Not something I really share the same level of fascination with. M2: ⁓ I love the Disney lakes. You guys maybe have heard me talk about it before. If you don't, I'll give you, I'll recap. I'm happy to talk about it. When Disney World opened, it was the vacation kingdom. And so they wanted to compete with the nearby beaches. And part of the thing that they did was offer all sorts of activities on the water. Sailing, they had a surf machine they tried to build. Swimming in the lakes was a huge component of that. So the contemporary, it had a beach, it had pools, but also at a beach and people would swim in that water. The Polynesian had a beach and it was a huge part of the like culture of the Polynesian. The Grand Floridian beach resort, a huge part of that culture was supposed to, you know, mirror these Floridian resorts from the turn of the century. And so people were able to actually swim in the water. That was super important. A lot of the old original advertisements show people lounging on the beach, swimming in the water and things. They had a really tough time because ⁓ I should say also. And because of that, the pools at the Grand Floridian were maybe not quite as important because swimming in lakes was supposed to be a big part of it. But they came at a tough time because not that long after, in the next decade, you could no longer swim in the Disney lakes. So they built it and you still could. And it was a huge part of the Disney culture. And there was like a big downturn. And then you could no longer swim in the lakes. And so. Now, you know, the beach, it was still open, but like who wants to go lounge on one of those beaches if you can't swim in the water, you know? And now their pools were undersized and they are still to this day, in my opinion. We will. M1: We'll talk about that in a moment. But so because of this, in 1997 it was renamed to what we know now the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, and here's how Disney describes it today. Victorian elegance meets modern sophistication at this lavish Disney Resort Hotel. Unwind outdoors, indulge in a luxurious massage, and watch evening fireworks light up the sky over Cinderella Castle. Just one stop to Magic Kingdom Park on the complimentary resort monorail, This timeless Victorian style Marvel evokes Palm Beach's golden era. So that sort of brings us to today and we're gonna run through like what is at this resort if you are interested in staying there. So the Grand Floridian, like many, almost all deluxe resorts has a bunch of different buildings in it. So there's the main building, which is obviously where like the lobby is, the restaurants are, and there are a bunch of rooms in there as well. But there's also lots of other buildings around. Sago, I don't know how to say that, Sago-kay? Sago-key, okay, Sago-key, Conch-key, Sugarloaf, Boca-chica, Big Pine-key. We say the Big Pine-key and then the Villa's building. So as that alludes to, the Grand Floridian has like regular rooms, like the traditional hotel rooms. It also has DVC and I don't know what year, but they built like an entire building for DVC at some point, which is over. M2: think it's key. We said a big point, Key. M1: on like the side of the Grand Floridian. Melsalutu I think is gonna Google that right now. M2: I'm Googling it because I'm there's it's it's interesting. The Grand Floridian, they they really squeeze that building in. I learned I think I just told you recently, I was like, wait, that building was that new? I knew that there was a beach there, but I didn't like understand how new that building was. That's the big pine building I think that they built. All right, I'm tracking it back, guys. Oh, OK. Well, it wasn't there in 2008 and there was just a big, beautiful beach there. And then, wow, God. M1: Yeah, you didn't know that that building wasn't always there. I knew that. Wow, well, nobody needs a big beautiful beach, because you can't swim in the lakes. M2: 2011 they started building it. ⁓ gosh, I mean it was very clear that they should have developed it, but it know, it does make me kind of sad. ⁓ gosh, it was a really nice beach. M1: Anyways, well you couldn't swim in the lakes. Anyways, that building has like all DVC rooms, but they have transformed some of those other buildings into DVC inventory as well. So there's like various types of villas. And then Grand Floridian, like many deluxe resorts, also has these like very special villas. So some of them are up on like the top floor of the main building. So they have these really cool special vaulted ceilings. I know there's a very special suite that Princess Diana stayed in that is I think colloquially called the Princess Diana Suite. But so they have a lot of these like really special like single type of room categories available as well. M2: Can we talk about the theming in the rooms? Because some of the DVC rooms are Mary Poppins themed and the other rooms are just like generic grand Floridian rooms. that? I think the Mary Poppins rooms are a thousand times better. M1: Victoria, yeah, Victorian themed. ⁓ They're amazing. The Mary Poppins rooms were also very recently redone. I would say that the standard Grand Floridian rooms are probably on the list for needing an update fairly soon. Like they're a little more dated. But so if you've ever seen the Mary Poppins rooms, you would need to stay DVC, aka like rent DVC points probably, to stay in that particular room type or else you would just be in like a standard room. Anyways, Grand Floridian is obviously on the Monorail line. And then it also has boat launches. So there's boat launches that will take you to Magic Kingdom, which is actually more convenient than you would think. We often take the boat. M2: And well, most recently they finally built a little bridge. So now you can walk to Magic Kingdom because for far too long it was like a dead end path over there. And now we will walk it a lot. It's like just a little bit further than you want it to be. It's a little bit like there's one part that it's like, God, if I could just like jump over this tiny bit of, yeah. M1: It's slightly too long. It's slightly too long. The lake really like jags around on an unfortunate way, ⁓ but it is a nice option when whatever, sometimes it makes sense. M2: It almost never makes sense to take the monorail to Magic Kingdom from there. We always take the bow or walk. M1: Sometimes it makes sense to take it to Magic Kingdom. It really never makes sense to take it from Magic Kingdom to the Grand though, because you to go all the way around. M2: Well, you'd go all way around. OK, other things about the Grand Floridian. So we talked about the pools, right? There's two pools when they expanded and they built that whole new area. They didn't build another pool. Massive mistake. M1: which was a mistake. And when they did the same at the Pauley and built the new tower at the Pauley, they did add another pool and that was critical and a critical mistake at Grand Floridian. M2: There's two pools and there's also a splash pad. The splash pad is super cute. It's themed like Alice in Wonderland. A lot of fun. There's one pool. It has a grotto. There's something grotto themed about it. I think it's interesting because it has these red rocks that feel more reminiscent of not. Yeah. I guess that like that must be a thing in like a Springs in Florida. There's a slide. I really like the slide there. People will swim in that pool, but that pool is really more driven by the slide. There's not. M1: Wilderness Lodge. They don't make any sense to me at the ground floor at a N. It's not that big of a pool. M2: And there's not that much seating there. There's kind of a seating shortage actually at the Grand Floridian. Now the other pool is right nearby. It's a zero entry pool, which we love, which just means there's no stairs. You can just walk in. It's, you know, it's simple. There's not any, there's maybe like little fountains in it. There's not a slide or anything. One might say it's the quiet pool, but it's not. There is no quiet pool. M1: When they added, when they started building additional deluxe resorts, like newer ones, they really changed their pool strategy. And if you go to like the beach club, the boardwalk resorts like that, they have their feature pool and then they have tons of quiet pools, which really disperses crowds a lot more. They didn't do that at the monorail resorts and you could feel it. I mean, the pools, unfortunately at Grand Floridian, Polynesian and even contemporary feel a lot more crowded perhaps. Well, that's elite. M2: The target pool is don't insult my target pool at contempt. ⁓ But those are that's the pool stitch. So if you ever kind of are there and you're like, the pools aren't that good or aren't quite as good as you want them to be, it's because of that whole thing with the beach. I will also say the Grand Floridian has many other amenities that are great. Maybe the pools are like one of the weaker things of the Grand. There are 10 dining slash lounge options, which is a ton. M1: which is insane. M2: That's a ton two of them are pool barred. I'm gonna start with those ones There's the beaches pool bar and grill on the courtyard pool bar Those are just you know, your classic poolside bar options, but nice to have there is the grand Floridian cafe This is located in the first floor. ⁓ my god. I missed one. This is located in the first floor. There's 11 guys The first floor of the lobby area. We love the grand Floridian cafe It's the perfect spot to do brunch in my opinion. It is such a good spot to do a simple brunch M1: When they recently redid the menu, the menu used to be really good. Then they redid it like over COVID and it was bad. And now it's really good again. They have this amazing fruit bowl. It's a really good, they have a really good burger. They have like Mickey waffle, a giant Mickey waffle. It's a really good one. And it's very affordable for a sit down, especially a sit down at the Grand Floridian where you would think everything's like very expensive. M2: It was terrible and then now it's good again. Speaking of very expensive, right next to the Grand Floridian Cafe is 1900 Park Fair. This is character dining. They also recently redid it. It has Tiana, Aladdin, Esmeralda, what's her name? Mirada? Mirabel and Cinderella. ⁓ M1: Mirabelle. The theme of it is wishing. That's why all those characters are there. M2: I think the theme is super, super cute. I love the theme. There's a story you all make a wish. I really like how they decorated it. I think the characters are good. I think we shared at some point in an episode of some of the interactions we have with those characters. It was like maybe a weird experience for us. Only it was driven by us completely. ⁓ I don't remember when we talked about that, but someone commented. ⁓ And then there's a buffet. The buffet to me leaves a little bit to be desired. I feel like they need to M1: It was our own fault. M2: have a few more options. ⁓ M1: feels a little sparse. It's pretty expensive and I feel like they could beef it up a little bit when you compare it to other buffet options Disney has, but it is really cute. That restaurant is also really loud though. M2: Yeah, it's loud and it's chaotic. It's fun, but it's it's not maybe my top character dining We should do an episode on that but I do like it because I really like the theme of it Getting into three of the more expensive restaurants that's there. So there's citricose. We've I've never eaten at citricose. There's narcosis I've also never eaten under koozies and there is Victoria and Alberts certainly never eaten there Victoria and Alberts is The top-tier SIG is it Michelle Michelin star? Yeah M1: It's Michelin, it's Michelin starred. M2: It's like $900. It's something insane. It's like a million courses of like the most upscale food. We've never been there. Maybe one day we would do it just to experience it if we felt like covering that for content. ⁓ It is if you want the most luxurious, nice Disney dining experience, you can go to Victorian Alport's. Citricos and Narcoozies, those are both also those are Disney's dining places, but they're they're not quite as upscale. I think they might have casual like a dress code, but nothing crazy. M1: I'm not sure why we've never eaten at those. They're supposed to be amazing. One of them was just recently redone. I don't remember which. I really feel like we should probably go to them. I feel like because they're at the Grand Floridian, we're always like, they're so expensive. But like it's, it's going to be the same as any other signature restaurant. M2: Whoo, I just looked at. It's funny when we were we were just in Disney with Mouselet, a mouse, a mouse, a and I looked at Narcosis and I was like, ⁓ Citricor is one of those. I was like, maybe we would eat here because we were looking for a spot to eat. We ended up eating at Tony's and it was like thirty five dollars for a vegetarian thing. was like. Yeah, we should eat there. We should eat there. But those are so those are five sit down options getting into the one quick service option there. It's Gasparilla Island Grill. M1: Yeah, I don't know what our deal is. Like we need to eat there. M2: It is located in the main building, but you have to walk outside to get there. It's closer to like the Magic Kingdom side. It's kind of tucked away. You might not even really know it's there. One of the things. That's correct. One of the things they're kind of famous for is their chips. I've always heard that that do know that people love their chips? ⁓ yeah, people love their chips, ⁓ but they also have these really good assay custom assay, you know, meatballs that you can get in the morning and they have like a. M1: We didn't know it was there for forever. I know, that's so random. M2: big salad bar in the afternoon. So we'll go there for the acai bowls a lot in the morning. ⁓ I like gasparilla, but I'm not, I don't love gasparilla. I like breakfast. I don't love lunch. Thoughts? yeah. It's okay, but I think it's not amazing. It's fine. Yeah. And then there are three lounge type places. So one of them is the Garden View Lounge, tea room. I don't know if the Garden View Lounge is ever open as a lounge. M1: They have a grilled cheese that I really like, so. It's fine. It's good. It's fine. No, it's fine. M2: They're bringing back afternoon tea at one point it might have been, but they're bringing back afternoon tea there. I really want to do it. I think it's going to be really, really fun. I never did it before COVID. I don't think you did either. Yeah, so that's going to be back. That's the that's the tea offering. There's also two bars and lounges. So the Enchanted Rose, which is on the second story of the main building, and that's themed. It's themed around Beauty and the Beast, but it's very subtle. It's not. M1: video. M2: It's not big theme, it's little theme. It's like woven in. M1: And it's themed after more like the Emma Watson live action version of Beauty and the Beast. So they have little nods to like those characters, which again, makes it more subtle because that was like, you know, a real life thing, not an animated thing. It's very pretty. M2: Yeah, it's very pretty. It's pretty expensive, but it is fun. It is just like it's it's expensive, I think. I feel like every time I go there, I'm like, whoa, but it is good. And then there's a new bar that they just opened up in the main lobby. only has 10 seats. It's called The Perch. It was very controversial when they did it. People had a lot to say ⁓ if they liked it. They didn't. I like it. I think it looks good. I think it's a good upgrade. They've premixed drinks there. Not really my thing. Like they don't do I mean, I don't really like alcohol that much anyway, but like I know that's what people say is like a downside, but I think it's a cool offering, so. M1: And with that, they do have wait staff that now walks around the lobby. So even if you're not sitting at one of the 10 seats at the bar, you can get a drink if you're just lounging in the lobby, which I think is cool and kind of adds to the, I know some people don't like that. I think that adds to the vibe of, again, this supposed to be upscale, old-style hotel. M2: Yeah. I agree. The last thing I'll cover about the Grand Floridian, they have a gym and they have a spa both in the same building. They also some recreation courts like they have tennis and there might be basketball and stuff over there. Pickleball. The gym is it's good. It's definitely not my favorite Disney gym, but it's one of the better one of the better ones. It's right connected to the spot. It's a little bit small, I would say. And then they have the spa, which we've definitely talked on. We could do a whole covering of the spa is fantastic. If you want to go to a spa. That's gonna be one of your only options because they're Saratoga Springs spas permanently closed so M1: Other things that they have. So Grand Floridian also has a lot of stores and some like unique stores. So they have Curious Curious or Clothieres. My gosh, I've never said the name of that store out loud. ⁓ That's going to be sort of like your standard like souvenir store and then M2: you No, no, no, no, no, no. That's the clothing store in the corner by the Garden View Lounge. M1: I thought that was ⁓ Mouse mercantile. M2: That's on the second store with all the Disney stuff. M1: Okay, the ⁓ sorry, ⁓ Mouse Mercantile is gonna be kind of your standard souvenir store. It's bigger than a lot of the souvenir stores at other resorts, but it has like, you know, pins and classic stuff like that. And then the Sandy Cove's Gifts and Sundries is another smaller store downstairs that has some souvenirs, but more like it's where you would go if you wanted to buy like snacks or like the, yeah, those type of things. But then they have these two like very unique, very grand Floridian-y stores. So they have Curious or Clothieres. M2: or medicine. M1: This is like a fancy clothing and bag shop. Like they sell Lily Pulitzer, they sell Kate Spade and Dooney and Burke. It's like very upscale. They sell like some, yeah. It's very bougie. It's the type of store that you would expect to see if you were staying at like, you know, the Ritz-Carlton but Disney themed, which is what the Grand Floridian is supposed to be. M2: They sell Grand Floridian robes. Like, yeah, it's like bougie. It's bougie. Mama and Papa Mouse walk in there and like pretend they're like they pretend they're like rich snobs. Like that's the vibe that they do. I like that store, but they like to like joke around that they're like we don't belong here. That's what they like to say. M1: Me too. Yes. And then there is the Basin store. So if you're familiar with Basin from like Disney Springs, it's the store where you can get like scrubs and soaps. Mama Mouse always must buy multiple bars of soaps when she's there. She always buys a scrub. They have like lip stuff. It's fun because you can go in and like try different things, even if you don't want to buy anything. And again, it just feels very Grand Floridian. Then there are some other notable things that we wanted to talk about at the Grand Floridian. One of them is that Many of the resorts on seven seas lagoon and Bay Lake have boat rentals. So even if you are not Someone who has a boating license you can rent a boat Mouse lit two and I did this at the Grand Floridian if you want to dig up the archives We have a really old YouTube vlog of it We were horrible drivers and the whole entire time we thought that boat patrol was gonna pull us over for no reason We were following every single rule that we were supposed to we did nothing wrong, but you can rent a boat It's a really fun like different thing to do M2: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. M1: ⁓ And then also on the boats they offer fireworks cruises from there, which is also something we've done. That is a really cool experience. If you want like a splurge, we'll have to do an episode on it. Other things, there's beach access where you can see the fireworks. So if for some reason, like you didn't have a ticket to Magic Kingdom or something, you can always park at the GTC, take the monorail over to Grand Floridian and you can watch the fireworks from there. They pipe the music in, which is... M2: think you have a better view from the contemporary Balconies and the Polynesian. M1: or the, you do, the Grand Floridian is the worst of the views. But like if you're eating dinner there, it's, know, could be nice. They have the wedding pavilion. If you're interested in getting married there, they have a wedding pavilion and the whole, I don't know what it's called. It's named after someone, Franx or something, which is the whole like wedding building where you can go and like see things that they have if you have an appointment. And then Grand Floridian has some really cool stuff around the holidays. Some of the bigger holiday like things to see at, M2: Yeah, it's still good. ⁓ yeah, I don't M1: Christmas, not this year, but usually they build a full scale gingerbread house in the lobby that the pastry chefs spend like months working on. You can go and buy gingerbread. It's so good. It's really cool. They always have like little hidden Disney things in it. And then at Easter, have like a chocolate Easter egg decorating contest. Although I don't actually know. Yeah, it's not for guests. I don't actually know who's entering. I guess like cast members or pastry chefs. M2: decorating contest, but it's not for guests. I think it's only I think it's chef. Yeah, the chefs around property maybe I don't know. M1: Yeah. And they're, they're insanely amazing. Like, M2: They're so cool. They're so it's so fun. It is worth going over there to see. M1: Yeah, like they'll turn these big chocolate Easter eggs into characters and scenes from Disney movies. They'll paint them, they'll sculpt them. They're amazing. And that's like super, super unique to the grant. And then of course they also have other like small activities like they have marshmallow roasting there and, you know, various things like that. So gonna now get into sort of our recommendations for like who should stay here and our overall experience and thoughts. ⁓ M2: I think for me, when I look at like where my favorite place to stay is, Wilderness Lodge is my favorite. I love the Grand Floridian. It does feel a little bit like frou-frou-y for me, maybe like a little bit beyond the level that I'm at, perhaps. Like, I don't know if that's, you're laughing, you're smirking. M1: I'm laughing at, because I'm picturing Mama and Papa Mouse going into the store and pretending that they can afford all the things. Yeah. M2: being like, ⁓ let's go back and get the yacht. Like, that's just like, you're there and it's just like, ⁓ like, OK, this is this is where a lot of like a different group of people than I'm used to stay at Disney. Like, there's definitely that feeling when we stayed there in a couple of years ago. We also had like a giant room just by chance, but it was like one of the best trips. It was just so peaceful. It's serene and you don't feel like you're at a Disney Resort. It's like totally transports you in a way. M1: Yes, mean, like waking up in the morning there, it's so beautiful. Like it's such a beautiful resort to look out at. We happen to have a theme park view that one time when we stayed there like three years ago, you're looking out over the lake. I mean, it's, it's gorgeous. I think that many of the resorts around the monorail loop in terms of like the lobby can feel busier because people who are not staying there go there more because you can easily get there like off the monorail when you know, some of the other resorts don't really experience that as much. So that can make it like a little bit more chaotic. And the pools really aren't great. Like when we say they're with our family, we could not get chairs together. Like we were all splitting like three chairs and sitting in different places. Like that part is one of really early. That is definitely one of my least favorite parts of it. But it is a beautiful room. The dining there... M2: Yeah. or we had to stake them out like really early. Yeah. M1: I mean, I have to assume that 11 places to eat is the record of any Disney resort. can't buy a lot, buy a lot. M2: It's gotta be like there's Yeah, the Polynesian has a lot of places, but it doesn't get scratched that it doesn't get close to that I don't think the dining is incredible. M1: No, you can walk so easily to the Polynesian which also has like incredible dining and so much to do. The access to Magic Kingdom is gorgeous to get there and it's so easy. M2: It does share a bus loop with the Polynesian. M1: Yeah, that's a big fat. ⁓ M2: The contemporary also shares with Wilderness Lodge. It's just unacceptable. This is the flagship. Michael Eisner is rolling around well and alive. this is the flagship. That's kind of annoying. It's like, don't... Why are we sharing a bus, right? Clearly, it's because not that many people use the buses, but that's kind of a downer. But in general, it is a beautiful resort. I feel like it's like a once in a lifetime thing. ⁓ M1: really good. M2: If you stay there, the biggest thing I would say is like plan on resort time. Just plan on walking around. They have like lawn games that are out. There'll be like characters that pop around sometimes. The sports courts and stuff are really nice. Even just like lounging on the beach like that area is it's fully fenced off and stuff. There's like Adirondack chairs or something to sit on. It's just like a vibe. It's so relaxing and beautiful. ⁓ It does feel like that kind of once in a lifetime thing that if you can stay there and look, honestly, guys, look at renting points with David's. M1: Yeah. Yeah. M2: you will be surprised it's still expensive, but it's not like as expensive as you think, so. M1: In terms of who should stay there, think, A, yeah, like if you have anything ultra special you're celebrating, especially anything that's like engagement, wedding, honeymoon vibes, like it is the ultimate for that. If you have a little girl who loves princesses or like sort of being like the idea of like being a princess and staying in this grand place and having tea, like it's an amazing vibe for that. I do think it's a good resort for adults because again, it's such easy access to do like. M2: Yeah, agreed. M1: a monorail crawl, like go to different restaurants and lounges and stuff like that. Those would kind of be like groups that I would say it's a good place to stay at. M2: Would you rather stay at the Polynesian, not the tower, but the regular Polynesian or the Grand Floridian? M1: Impossible decision, you know, that's like my heart hardest hardest decision. So why would you ask that? M2: at Contemporary Ed. M1: contemporary is probably my lowest. Contemporary is a vibe. It's like a really good, cool vibe. M2: The contemporary is a vibe. The Grand Floridian is just peaceful and relaxing and it just feels like a vacation in a true vacation way, which is so nice. I think that the Grand is busy, but I don't think it's anything compared to the Polynesian. The foot traffic in the Polynesian kills me. My hot take as someone who visits the Polynesian as a non-guest all the time, my hot take is that it should be more restricted to guests only because it's so busy. and I would be devastated about that change. But like, I think that that like impacts your experience staying there. I don't feel that at the grand. Sure, the lobby can get a little busy, but I don't really feel that same foot traffic there, which is something that I like. M1: Yeah, like when you're watching the fireworks from the beaches of the Grand, again, not as good of a view, but like it's still very peaceful. The Polynesian, especially because the Polynesian has the bungalows that block some of the view, it's like chaos, because so many people go there. Anyways, the Grand Floridian definitely, it just feels very peaceful and it feels very luxurious. Like I, a lot of Disney resorts don't necessarily feel super like luxurious. They feel really nice, but like, I don't know. It's just a different thing. M2: I would agree. I feel like we didn't sell it. M1: Guys, it's amazing. Like if you ever have the chance to stay there, you should stay there. They just redid the lobby. It's gorgeous. The Mary Poppins rooms are... M2: There's like a je ne sais quoi about it. I think that's part of it. It's like you can't describe it, but when you're there, it's just like, wow, I'm staying at the Grand Floridian. I think that's it. M1: It's insane. At night it's beautiful the way that they light it up in the mornings, like on the water. Again, it's so beautiful. It's so peaceful. There's never anybody on that beach if you wanna just like go relax on the beach. It's gorgeous. It's the Grand Floridian. Michael Eisner knew what he was doing, building a flagship hotel and like he succeeded. is unmatched by anything in terms of it's like grandeur. Grandeur? M2: Yeah, it's like compared to the Riviera, which is like the other kind of top tier one, the grand beats it out by a long shot. The last thing that I. I'll end with this thought and we can't even discuss this today. I'm not one to spend extra money on everything on anything, I mean, especially a view, but I do think a water view at the Grand is worth it. M1: No, a million times. Yeah, Riviera's amazing, but no. I agree. I mean, being on the water there, again, we got swindled by a water view, not at the Grand, it was elsewhere. A water view at the Grand is, yeah, but like a legitimate water view at the Grand is so unbelievably gorgeous. I can't even describe it like that. Again, Melsitu and I had an abnormally large room when we stayed there like three years ago, which was just complete and utter chance. But we had like this insane two sided balcony and like. M2: That's true, we did. M1: sitting out there in the mornings was like a core memory at Disney. M2: If we had done that trip right now, we appreciated it then. ⁓ my God, I would be in luxury. M1: We appreciated it then, we would appreciate it even more now. Because we're in our resort like time era now, way more so than we were the three, four summers ago. M2: But we didn't even know, yeah. Yeah. We also stayed in the two bedrooms. We used our own DVC points, stayed in the two bedroom with our whole family. And we'll talk all about DVC type rooms and stuff another time. I trip also, like I just think it's it was such a fun trip, like doing all these activities, popping up to the room and things like it really is. It's just like such a vibe. It's such a vibe. M1: It's such a vibe, it's so convenient. And for someone like Papa Mouselet who doesn't wanna be in the parks 24 seven, the convenience of being able to ditch out of Magic Kingdom and just zip back there is unmatched. Other than by like contempt, yeah, even Epcot. He took the monorail back from Epcot by himself. I'm leaving. ⁓ M2: Even Epcot. Yeah. He said, I'm done. I was worried about him managing that, but I guess it's kind of hard to to go too wrong. M1: I guess. He did it guys, he did it. M2: Anyway, that's our first deep dive on a resort. The Grand Floridian again was just such a good one to start with because it has so much lore. Now when we cover the Polynesian eventually, you know, that also has some of that kind of similar lore. Same with the Contempt, but the Grand is the only the only site that's been developed from those original five monorail resorts other than the two we have. So we'll be doing a bunch more of these. We're gonna cover all the resorts. It's not just that the locks will probably do one of the value or the moderates next Not next week, but you know in a couple of weeks. We'll see once mouse that one feels like coming back Unless you make your permanent return anyway, we have a fun special segment planned today Well, it's not that fun, but it's a tip. It's a tip It's a question. It's a question that we've gotten a lot Because I just got back from a trip where I rented a car going on another trip soon where I'm not renting a car M1: It's not that fun, but it's helpful. M2: So we just kind of wanted to talk, how do you know when you need to rent a car at Disney? We're big car rental people, not everyone is. And so I think we can kind of discuss it and it's really related to like the resorts. I think it comes down to the resorts you're staying at is if you don't need it, but if it's, you're gonna have a better experience if you rent. So. M1: Yeah, again, I think we talked about this actually in the Patreon segment, sitting on the ground talking, but we grew up staying off site, which we've said many times. And so therefore we always rented a car. So we are very used to renting a car. I think other people who maybe grew up always taking the buses are like very, very used to that. We are not. And so we tend to err on the side of taking a car. One main reason I would say is that some resorts, not all, but big resorts like a Port Orleans, Riverside, Old Key West, Taratoga Springs and others have internal bus loops. So rather than getting on the bus at the single bus stop for the resort, like at the main lobby, there's an internal bus loop as well. So you would get on at whatever bus stop is closest to your room, which well convenient, you don't have to like probably walk as far to the main lobby can make the bus trip take a lot longer. M2: Yes. M1: I remember one time when we stayed at Riverside, we were using the bus and we were also we were very confused. And I actually don't even know how long the bus ride took because I remember I fell asleep on the bus because it was taking so long and I was so tired that I literally fell asleep. And it just it really adds time. It really adds time depending on which stop you are. If you're like one of the first or the last one like it it's not ideal. M2: ⁓ and it was confused also. I agree. I think that's like a that's a big piece of it. I despise Ubering. To be honest, I hate Ubering. I hate being in someone else's car. ⁓ Just like I hate Ubering. I would rather take a public bus if I could from the airport and like transfer once than take an Uber. ⁓ But that's one reason for me. You know, when you think of the cost of like an Uber from the airport, it's not going be more than 50 bucks usually. Right. Maybe if you need like an XL. But that's about you know, a rental car is going to be more than that. So you're not going to save money if you're just going from the airport. If you're staying on site, you get free parking at the resort. At one point you didn't, but now you do, and also at the parks. So if you're staying at Saratoga Springs and you have a car, it makes sense to drive to Epcot and to Hollywood Studios and to Animal Kingdom. It may not make sense to drive to Magic Kingdom because you need to go ⁓ to the transportation and ticket center, and then take a tram, and then take the monorail or ferry. So many times, even when we rent a car, for example, I was staying at the boardwalk. we took the bus to Magic. So I was like, I'm not driving and parking at the TTC. It just genuinely doesn't make sense. M1: If you're someone who frequently rents a car, you're probably so used to the TTC like we are, and you may not realize that if you take a bus, the bus brings you right up to the gates of Magic Kingdom. You skip the entire TTC thing. So yes, I would say like basically always, you shouldn't really drive to Magic Kingdom. Bye. M2: Yeah. And then when we were staying at the boardwalk on my past trip, we rented a car because we were going to Universal Studios. That was like the big part of it. But, we were at the boardwalk so we can walk to Hollywood or take a boat. We can walk to Epcot. We're not going to drive to Magic. So we drove to Animal Kingdom. So was like on that trip, it made sense, but it doesn't make sense on every trip, depending on where you are staying. And you definitely don't need it. It's just nice to have. I don't think you need it at the values. Honestly, I don't. M1: No, Disney has transportation for you. I would say something else to think about is for Mouselet 2 and I in particular, at Disney, like time is the biggest currency, right? Like you want to be able to maximize your time. That also includes being able to like maximize your sleep. And if you think about what your park day is going to look like, if you are going to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks and then exit with everybody else, you are going to be waiting for a bus. for probably kind of a long time. Same with if you're gonna do that after Epcot fireworks or a Fantasmic or whatever it may be. And so if you're fine sitting there waiting for that bus, like maybe waiting for multiple rounds of your bus coming, eh, like maybe that's fine. Maybe you have little kids and you don't wanna be spending 45 minutes waiting for a bus. On the flip side, I remember we were staying at Contemporary, was when we were staying at Contemporary recently, we said we're gonna take the bus, I don't even remember what park we were going to, I think Hollywood. We were... gonna wake up and take the bus. We got to the bus station like 40 minutes before early entry and we just missed a bus. The next bus wasn't going to be there for 19 minutes which meant by the time we got on the bus and the bus took us to Hollywood Studios and we got off we were gonna miss early entry. So we ended up just Ubering because it was like this isn't worth it for us to miss early entry because we missed the bus by one minute but you do have to be a lot more generous with your time. You're spending more time waiting for transportation which means less sleeping less time in the parks. For us The convenience of being able to just go to our car and get to where we need to go is nice. M2: It's also just nice like on the checkout day, we could just put our stuff in the car. Like there are pros to having a car like that I just think for us, it's worth the extra money. I mean, we used to book the manager special like a two-door car back in the day, like the cheapest thing now because we have four people and more luggage. We usually book a slightly bigger car. We use Hertz Gold just like we use Hertz. have gold accounts. Makes it super easy. We don't have to wait in any line. Well, we get to cut the lines and then you get to walk straight to the car. Like there's a lot of things that are really nice about it. In fact, on a trip coming up, which I'm not going to go too much, but on a trip coming up, we're not going to rent a car because it doesn't make sense at all. We would literally drive nowhere. And I am lament like I can't I cannot fathom having to Uber from the airport. I hate seriously Ubering from the airport. I'm like queasy thinking about it. I hate. M1: I think this is so unrelatable. Everybody, everybody Ubers. M2: You know who else I'd say, Mouseladel, Mouseladie's sister. I don't like the smell of the pine tree shaped air fresheners. I don't like how fast Uber drivers drive. I might take mirrors. I don't care if it takes me longer, just so I don't have to be on that Uber. M1: What? Okay guys, smells like two-way doobers. I don't mind doobers, but other, wait, I have a couple other reasons, things to think about. If you, there is no, not really transportation resort to resort. So if you are like interested in exploring the resorts or you wanna have like a dinner reservation, you have. M2: I do hate obris, but guys that's ⁓ Exploring though you can't park at the other resorts but dinner reservation yes. M1: Well, you can park at like the values of the moderates, usually. Well, if you wanted to go to like scat cats or something, you typically can park there not always though it's not guaranteed. But yeah, if you have like a dinner reservation at a different resort, it's kind of a pain to get. You have to go to a park and then go to that resort. Like it can be kind of a pain. So that would be a reason to do it. Also, as we recently learned, not all the resorts go to the water parks by a bus, which is like... M2: I mean, I wouldn't give that as a tip per se. And it's because the parking at the water parks is free and so if yeah and I think to get to Blizzard Beach you like have to transfer an animal kingdom or something weird, but it'll go to like Coronado because there's no transportation or there's no like Skyliner or boat to park it'll go to like animal kingdom watch it goes to like anything but it doesn't go to Saratoga I might go to Saratoga, but it doesn't go to like the Polynesian or the contemporary or anything that you can get to a park with something other than a bus it's M1: for everyone. because they don't want people to hack it where they basically like park for free at the water park, go take a bus to contemporary and then walk to Magic Kingdom. It's so crazy. M2: Here's the thing, that's a terrible hack and I can't, it's such a bad hack, seriously. Don't, that just doesn't make sense. If you're staying off site, you should rent a car, there's no question. If you're staying off site, you need to rent a car. If you're trying to Uber to and from the parks, it's just gonna be chaotic. Don't even try these off site shuttle guys. M1: or use an offsite shuttle, do not try and use an offsite shuttle. Look at the time guides for an offsite shuttle and you'll see why you should not use an offsite shuttle. M2: But if you're staying off site, rent a car, you will be happier renting a car at most places, okay? Maybe that's not for everyone, but at most places, you'll be happier renting a car and just accept the fact that you will pay $30 per day to park at the parks and just embrace the fact that you will be having an extra $30. Add $30 to your room charge and call it a day. Don't try to save money by doing any of these weird free parking hacks. Don't use a resort shuttle because those, they're like. We go to Hollywood Studios at 9 and Epcot at 10 and then Magic Kingdom at 11. Like they just they just don't make sense. Didn't make sense. Anything else about cars? I think that's all my thoughts. M1: Yeah, doesn't make sense. Same. M2: All right, let's close out with a pit and peach of the week. I'll start with my pit. I've been eating too many desserts. I've been eating, I've like been eating so much dessert. Something is awry. So that's my pit, because I'm not feeling great about how much dessert I've had recently. M1: You guys, Mousetooth is on like a sugar binge. I also ate a ton of dessert yesterday, but that won't be... Yeah, it's not my... it was okay. It was one day for me. was, it was a... M2: Yeah, but you just had a baby, so that can't be your pet. It's been at least two into three, I think, for me. No more dessert. No dessert tomorrow. M1: see my pit is that my poor Mikla his stomach sometimes hurts and so he's much he cries and it's hard to get him to settle down when his stomach is hurting and it makes me sad for him when he's crying M2: Okay, my peach is, so I live like south of Boston and the south shore got hit with a ton of snow, well over two feet of snow. ⁓ And because of that, I couldn't commute into Boston for my job. I've had an amazing two days. It's been like amazing. And I was like, life is worth living. I was just like, for two days. M1: And that's your peach. Okay, it's cause she got to work from home. She got to work from home. M2: For what? Yeah, I was just like, wait, I think that my pit every week is because I have the most awful commute. And I also not only do I have a bad commute for work, but then I don't ever respect my own rules. Actually, people like put things on my calendar past the time that I'm blocked out, that I'm like, hey, I have to leave at 315 to catch a 333, whatever it is. And they'll schedule a meeting until four. Someone just did it. And I'm like, you know what? I don't set up a meeting for you at 7 a.m. OK, point being everybody getting off this rant. I worked from home Monday and Tuesday and it was amazing. I'm going to Boston tomorrow, but it was amazing. It was. M1: And you're getting a massage seemingly based on you sort of texting your masseuse earlier. I think that was in the sitting on the ground talking part. M2: It was I am I'm getting massage tomorrow. ⁓ Yep To keep the train going of this great week. Yeah, I worked from home and life is amazing. So I Love working from home, I guess M1: ⁓ I mean, I love being home. I'm trying to think of what my specific peach is. I guess my peach is that Mama Mouselet, Papa Mouselet, and Mouselet too came and visited me and Mouselet C and the Micklet over the weekend. And then Mouselet C's family also came that night. And it was just very nice to get to have everybody, what? It was nice to get to have everybody come and see the Micklet and get to hang out with people. M2: beloved sissy. They were an afterthought. All right, guys, let's wrap it up with a fact, a fact of the day. M1: That was, that sounded like you were saying a swear word and I just want to be clear that she was saying fact of the day with a British accent. M2: I would never say that swear word and in that context it makes no sense. M1: it doesn't but it did sound like that so please start because i forgot that we do this segment and i didn't think of why M2: Kick it off. Okay, my fact of the day that Mouselet1, when I told her this said, God, just gonna like beat everyone with this nonstop. No, no, because I posted about it one, I posted one post on Instagram and the same post on TikTok. And then I posted a YouTube video. One thing on every platform. In case you missed it, and I bet many people didn't know that Disney. M1: ⁓ my gosh, yeah, okay, I know what yours is. D-D-D-D- M2: Actually originally had the theme park rights to harry potter. They had a letter of intent signed with jk rowling to develop a small harry potter land They were working on a couple of attractions. It would be in the corner of fantasy land They were going to have a care of magical creatures petting zoo with a hippogriff animatronic they were going to have a defensive against the dark arts like shooting wand game that was kind of like buzz lightyear and jk rowling hated them so much he like hated all these ideas and then disney came back kind of their final attempt to win her over and they proposed a sorcerer hat spinner ride, which honestly M1: That was their best? was sort of their... Yeah. M2: crazy energy from them and she hated it so much and then it all worked, you know, it all worked out that she went to Universal. If you want to learn more about it, you can go watch my long YouTube video, which I think is really cool. Mels, one of you watched it? M1: Not yet. M2: Great, I'm excited to hear what you think. Let's hear your fact. M1: My fact is that lots of pavilions in the World Showcase were supposed to have various rides in them. And one of them was a boat ride in Germany, which was going to take you through the history of Germany. And they actually built the show building for it and like had it prepared where the entrance is. And so still today, what's that? Why can't I think? Beer Garden. Yes, if you go to the Beer Garden restaurant, there's like a giant, giant wall, blank wall mural to the right of it. M2: The Ryan River cruise, ⁓ M1: ⁓ And that was going to be the entrance to yes as mouse let you just said the brine river cruise and I believe that it was canceled because They didn't know how to tell the story of Germany Right. Nope M2: No, no, you're thinking of the attraction in Japan ⁓ that was also themed around World War Two, which the Germany one was not to be clear. ⁓ No, it was canceled because I think they were cheap and ran out of money, didn't have a sponsor. But there was a attraction in Japan they were developing that was in Tokyo, Disney. And when they got to World War Two, the like person narrating it said like, that was a dark time for us. And that's all they said. And Disney was like, I don't know. And so they cut it. M1: Also guys, Mousletoo and I, just, this reminded me of some really random, ⁓ about the time that me and Muscle2 just pranced straight into the beer-guarded restaurant. literally like didn't know that it was a restaurant. Yeah, we just stood in there. We literally just, ⁓ wait, here, perfect. You can use your new sound bit. M2: said, oh, what's this? We walked in and we watched the show for some of it. That was 2018, I think. We like moseyed on in there. New sound bit, play it, roll it. 2018 lore. M1: 2018 lore, Mousetoo and I just pranced right into the beer garden restaurant. Did we not know what it, walk right past those, just said, what's this? We went. It's so insane that we did that. I don't know what we were doing. And someone should have been like, hey girls, what are you doing? M2: Walked right past the hostess. I think we knew what it was. We were just like, ⁓ I've always wanted to see this. So we watched a bit of the show. We looked around, walked around. was crazy. I don't know how we. Sorry, what are you doing, ladies? We would have died. We would have died of embarrassment, so we should have. No, literally, we should have. M1: And we should have. M2: That is all we have though for today guys. This was our first in a new series that we'll be doing. So very excited about that. If you liked this episode, give us a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. If you're listening, either of those, it helps us get seen more, gets more listeners and things. So leave us that five star rating. And then if you're watching on YouTube, us a like, subscribe to our channel. We post every single week on YouTube ⁓ with the podcast. And we also have our deep dives that go up. So lots of fun stuff there. And then if you want... Even more mouse licks. For example, we just 20 minutes today. We talked about a lot of things. You can join our Patreon. We have a sitting on the ground talking segment where we do extended cuts of the podcast. Our Peach Grooglets, close friends access. We have quarterly bonus episodes diving into more of our personal lives, more of the influencer side. Hot takes about Disney, me getting my massage, so many more things. So thank you guys for listening. Texting my masseuse Rose. We will see you. I will see you next week. Joined by someone. M1: texting your masseuse. M2: and you'll find out so get ready.