This is the review I did for the biddingfortravel.com website (priceline) after my June 01 stay. There are reviews from other people located at that site. I really enjoyed the stay there. We also like to be near Downtown Disney.
Review follows:
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I placed two separate bids for 5 nights each to maximize the bonus money. We were willing to change hotels if we were given a different hotel for our second 5 night stay. Luckily we were accepted at the Grosvenor for both bid dates (6/10-6/15/01 & 6/15-6/20/01).
Check in was a breeze. I had confirmed my reservation prior to leaving home, notified them of our late arrival, and mentioned both reservation numbers. We arrived around 7pm Sunday night. My room was preassigned but when I mentioned my second reservation the desk clerk found me a room available for the entire 10 night stay so I wouldn't have to change rooms. We opted not to use the $7/day valet parking but did agree to pay $1/day for the safe key. After finding out my laptop wouldn't fit I returned the safe key to the front desk. This hotel also had no resort fee.
My best description of The Grosvenor is to imagine a tower hotel with motel wings on each side. It was compact and didn't require a great deal of walking to get to the lobby, pool, restaurants, or bus transportation. Our favorite Disney resort is the Contemporary for just that reason.
The lobby was in excellent shape and was always clean. This area also contained a lobby bar, Crumpets Café (food court style), a guest services counter where you could arrange transportation and make dinner reservations, and a Disney shop where you could buy souvenirs, pick up park maps, buy park tickets including length of stay passes, & e-night tickets. One of the great advantages to this hotel was participation in park early entry & e-nights.
Our room was located on the 3rd floor in the East Wing overlooking the parking lot. Room view is not important to me so I was satisfied. Our room was large with 2 double beds, chest with TV & VCP plus drawers underneath, dresser with drawers, and a desk we used for dining. The sink was outside the enclosed shower & toilet. The sink area could be closed off from the rest of the room with sliding mirrored doors. The safe was in the cabinet under the sink and the refrigerator was next to the sink. The refrigerator was a great extra bonus. It was counter height and held lots of drinks, sandwich foods, milk, and had room for water bottles in the freezer section. We also had an iron and ironing board, hair dryer, coffee maker with coffee & tea supplies, shampoo & body lotion.
Our room was the last room on the East Wing of the building. This was a great advantage since we only had neighbors on one side. Traffic to the elevator didn't pass our room so it was very quiet. We were a quick walk down the stairs to the parking lot and pool. We never had a problem finding a parking place. The 3rd floor was lobby level in the hotel section of the building. We only had to walk around the motel L' and walk thru the lobby to get to the bus transportation out front. The bus transportation was almost equal to Disneys. The buses ran about every 30 minutes 1 hour before park opening and 2 hours after closing. This also included early entry. We only do 1 day of early entry and that's at the Magic Kingdom. We were able to catch the bus at 7am and made the 7:30 early opening. Once you figured the schedule out the transportation worked well. If I remember correctly they pick up at the hotel on the hour & half hour and pick up in the parks on the quarter hours. There was one big advantage over Disney buses, these seats were like regular charter buses with upholstered seats. What comfort after a day in the parks! The two exceptions were the Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney buses. After 9am, the Animal Kingdom bus ran hourly and the DD bus ran every 30 minutes beginning at 6pm and only picked up at a stop near Pleasure Island. We opted to drive on the day we went to Animal Kingdom and on the days we went to Disney Quest. Downtown Disney Market Place was a very short walk from the hotel so we walked when we were going to that area. I was disappointed to learn Disney no longer provides boat transportation from Market Place to West Side. The CM told me Disney wanted to entice more people into their stores instead of bypassing them. That could be true or it could be another cost-cutting move.
The hotel has two pools, a children's pool, a spa, tennis courts, playground, small basketball court, shuffleboard court, and sand volleyball court. They provided pool towels and any of the needed sports equipment. There was a pool bar with drinks (alcoholic & non) and light meals. There was also a pool store with suntan lotion and like supplies. I spent most mornings at the pool while my son slept late. It was mostly deserted until about 11am. I didn't think it was overcrowded at any time of day. Since we go to WDW so often we only spend about 6 hours at the parks on most days. I spent a lot of time at the pool and around the resort. They also had a laundry room on each wing. It cost $2.00/load - $2.50 for double loader to wash and $2.00 to dry.
My child is too old but I picked up a flyer at the desk for their "Kid's Night Out" program. It runs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. Cost is $25 for 6pm to 9pm or $35 for 6pm to 11pm. It includes dinner, games, arts & crafts, movies, swimming, & more. This program is for kids' age 4 to 12 years old.
We had several PS for sit down meals (more about that later) but most of our meals were eaten in our room. We did eat in Crumpets twice and thought the food was good. It was a little pricey but no more so than a Disney resort. You could also buy packs of sliced meat & cheese you could use to make your own sandwiches. We never got around to eating in the restaurant (Baskervilles). They had a Murder Mystery dinner I wanted to attend but we didn't make it back to the hotel in time. There was also a bar upstairs but we sat in the lobby bar and people watched. We did order from room service. We both thought the food and service was good. They have a character breakfast with Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 8:30am to 10:30am. We didn't make that one either but if I remember correctly it was only $9.95 for adults and around $5.95 for kids.
All in all we really liked this hotel and would try Priceline again in the hopes of getting this great resort for way less than we usually pay at the Disney resorts.
