The Grand Floridian

* This article can also be seen on HubPages (MommaStu). 

In November 2014, we were in Disney for my sister's wedding. She chose three hotels for her guests to stay in: The Grand Floridian, Port Orleans Riverside and Pop Century. 

We pulled up to the valet unloading driveway by the front door. We literally had a car full of stuff. It's never simple (or light) to travel with little ones. We opted to have the valets take care of our luggage and car. This costs $20/day, but we decided to take full advantage of all this Resort had to offer. (You do not have to use the valet services.) This was a luxury we will be using again. It was so nice to just check in without having to lug all of the luggage while simultaneously trying to contain the monsters. 

Stu and the kiddos walked around the lobby. They wanted to check out the life-sized gingerbread house... it's incredible. The sell delicious good out of it. And it smells divine! Yum. 

While my peeps were scoping the place out, I checked us in. I wanted to see where we were in relation to the rest of our family. They had us all in one building, and my parents were with the bride in a completely different building. The bride's room was fairly close to the lobby, so she would not have to travel far in her wedding dress. (They really think of everything.)

Because we were valeting the car, the bellhop offered us a ride to our room. Sweet! Buddy was totally stoked to ride on a Disney golf cart (he's a huge fan of all WDW transportation).

​Our Room

We were in the building furthest away from the lobby. The upside was that we were closest to the Gasparilla Island Grill - that's the cafeteria-style eatery at the GF. 

Our room was on the 4th floor. It was beautiful. It had two double beds, a couch (which I think would have pulled out to a bed), a small desk, small fridge in the dresser (empty, but there's a little store in the lobby where you can buy things like milk or water) and a nicely appointed bathroom. We had a balcony too. Unfortunately for us, we were not facing the Magic Kingdom... if you're lucky enough to score an MK facing room, you will probably have a great view of the nightly fireworks. We had the Monorail track off our balcony. That made Buddy really happy. He spent a fair amount of time out there watching them go by. 

My sister (the bride) and my parents were staying in a building near the main part of the hotel. The move the brides and grooms around at different times and Disney has them separated so there will be no accidental sightings. Anyway, my parents' room didn't have any outdoor space. In place of a balcony was a sitting room with bay windows. As always with Disney, there was a specific purpose for this too... wedding day photos! Mom and Dad had an EXCELLENT view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

One of my favorite things about this hotel was the nightly turn-down service. We didn't realize they did it. So the first night when we came back, it was a fun surprise for the kids (and us) to have the beds ready for night-night and yummy chocolates on the pillows. My monsters got a kick out of it.