Grand Floridian Suite Allegedly Covered in Spider Eggs and Bugs, Door “Literally Falling Off”

in Walt Disney World

Aerial view of the Grand Floridian at Disney World

Credit: Disney

When planning a trip to Walt Disney World, one expects magic, beloved characters, and a vacation experience unlike any other. For the amount it costs the average family to spend a few days at Disney and the reputation that the company has built for its theme parks, a Disney trip shouldn’t include the experience that one guest recently had, especially not while staying at the iconic Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

Walt Disney World features over 25 resorts spread across a variety of tiers, including Deluxe Villas, Deluxe Resort Hotels, Moderate Resort Hotels, Value Resort Hotels, and the Campgrounds. Each tier varies in price point, but the Deluxe Villas and Deluxe Resort Hotels will be one the more expensive end. This tier of hotels includes the Grand Floridian, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Saratoga Springs, BoardWalk Inn, and the Polynesian Village Resort. Many of these hotels also offer Disney Vacation Club (DVC) rooms and suites, specifically for guests using their DVC points to stay.

Disney's Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World
Credit: Disney

Typically, those rooms are more luxurious and more prestigious, both due to their price point and due to the DVC consumers. However, one guest took to Reddit to share their unfortunate experience while staying in a DVC Resort Studio at the Grand Floridian. u/hereinthehub shared pictures to the r/WaltDisneyWorld subReddit with the following caption:

Currently staying in a DVC Resort Studio (Theme Park View) at Grand Floridian with rented points. I thought these rooms were just refurbished and turned into DVC? We have spider eggs all over our balcony (I’m a Floridian, and it looks like they haven’t cleaned out there in months), dead bugs on the windows, our balcony door is quite literally falling off the hinge and slams anytime the wind blows (maintenance said they need to rebuild the entire door frame), and we also found a live Smoky Brown roach in the bathroom. The floor boards are also falling off the walls.

Has anyone else experienced this at GF?
byu/hereinthehub inWaltDisneyWorld

One photo is of the rafters of the balcony, covered in brown spots that are presumably the spider eggs the poster mentioned. The next is an image of a window looking out on their balcony, with allegedly a dead bug caught on the screen. The final two images show cracks in between the door and the wall and the floor baseboards and the wall. There is no image of the reported roach the guest found.

Several of the comments urged the guest to call the front desk and let them know, “Call the front desk and demand a new room. That’s unacceptable, especially given the cost (points, cash or otherwise),” stated one comment. Another comment chimed in, saying that “DVC is not a premium experience,” despite the premium pricing.

DVC Sign
Credit: DVCFan.com

Unfortunately, there were a few other comments that shared similar issues, also within Grand Floridian. “We stayed at the Grand Floridian and it was just like this,” said u/wombatcreasy. “Everything seemed like it was poorly maintained, with walls missing paint, and broken stuff in the room and Numerous used bandaids stuck to the furniture. For me, it wasn’t worth the cost to stay there. That hotel is way more magical from the monorail than staying there.”

u/Advanced_Law_539 shared their experience, saying, “We were in one of the non-DVC rooms theme park view. Remodeled room on third floor. Roaches coming from behind the TV. Mold in the shower. Housekeeping/front desk said no where to move us that wasn’t a down grader. Used to be our favorite resort, but we will not be back.”

Grand Floridian Resort, exterior aerial shot
Credit: Disney

The resort has been under some heavy refurbishment over the last year, which is still underway. The guest does confirm that they believe they’re staying in a renovated room/building. To be fair to Disney World, it is located in Orlando, Florida, a place known for roaches and bugs, and with the guest’s room presumably right off the water (according to one of the photos), that location may be more prone to bugs due to its nearness to the water of Bay Lake.

However, guests definitely don’t expect to be dealing with bugs, roaches, or building problems while enjoying an expensive, heavily planned vacation. This isn’t the first report of a Disney hotel allegedly having bugs or other issues, although Disney does typically strive to maintain standards of cleanliness and safety within its hotels. If you experience anything similar to the experience shared above, be sure to let the front desk know so they can assist you and get help to deal with the problems.

Have you ever encountered unfortunate issues while staying at a Disney hotel? Share your experience with us in the comments below!

Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal Disney Parks experience. No two Guest experiences are alike, and the opinions expressed in this story do not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.

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