April 23 - Disney's Grand Floridian Resort

Image courtesy wikipedia.com

On this day, in 1986, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held as construction began on Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. When making plans for his Florida Project, Walt was all about tying everything together into a coherent whole. So when it came to the hotels that would ring the lake near his Magic Kingdom, he had specific themes in mind for them. Each hotel would be a reflection of one of the lands in the theme park. The first two hotels that opened in 1971, were exactly what he envisioned. The Polynesian resort was an echo of Adventureland and the Contemporary resort mirrored Tomorrowland. A third planned hotel was going to be Asian themed, another shout out to Adventureland and still adhering to Walt’s vision, but as the company’s fortunes faltered throughout the Seventies, those plans kept getting pushed back until they were eventually forgotten altogether. 

Image courtesy wikipedia.com

When the Great Shake-up came in 1984, installing Michael Eisner as CEO, it was quickly decided that another hotel was needed near the Magic Kingdom, but the Asian idea was just as quickly shelved as being too dated. Instead, plans were made for a truly deluxe hotel that would be dated right back to the turn of the twentieth century, making it a reflection of Main Street, USA (albeit a much more affluent version). The Grand Floridian Resort (the Spa part wasn’t added until years later) would evoke the beach playgrounds the likes of the Rockefellers and Duponts enjoyed almost a hundred years earlier.



Three Victorian era beach resorts were studied while designing the Grand Floridian. The most obvious influence is the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California (just across the bay from San Diego) as it also boasts distinctively red tiled roofs and whitewashed walls. The Mount Washington Hotel in Breton Woods, New Hampshire, with less prominent but still bright red roofs, and Florida’s own Belleview Biltmore Hotel in Belleair (which sadly closed in 2009 and was torn down to make way for condominiums in 2015) also shaped the design.

As one of, if not the, premier resorts on Walt Disney World property, the Grand Floridian is beautiful, opulent and just drips the trappings of the upper class. There is almost always someone playing the grand piano in the lobby throughout the day and an orchestra regales guests each evening. The white sand beach area is actually quite famous (it served as the backdrop for the beach club in Hulk Hogan’s 1994 television series Thunder in Paradise). The grand wedding chapel (which can host several weddings a day) is right next door. And it’s home to some of the poshest eateries on property, including Victoria and Albert’s, a AAA Five Diamond restaurant. So why can’t the resort itself seem to get the same five diamond rating? According to the AAA website, the latest issue has something to do with the bathrooms, which is bringing it down to a 4.5 rating overall, and that, don’t get me wrong here, is still excellent. But the real reason the Grand Floridian can’t make it to that coveted five (and I’ve been told this off the record, so take it with a grain of salt) is because the monorail runs through the resort. Apparently that’s a sticking point for the powers that be at the American Automobile Association. If the hotel was off by itself somewhere, bussing guests around like commoners from, say, the All-Star resort, that would be fine. But the fact that there is such a gauche thing as a train station in the hotel and a monorail keeps going by, that is a cardinal sin.