The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is a Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, forming the villa component of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on the shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon. It brought Disney Vacation Club to Disney's flagship hotel, combining a purpose-built villa building with, from 2022, converted Resort Studios in the Big Pine Key building, all sharing the Grand Floridian's restaurants, pools and monorail station.
History
The Villas opened on October 23, 2013, in a new six-storey building constructed beside the main Grand Floridian, twenty-five years after the hotel itself. The development was the twelfth Disney Vacation Club resort and continued a pattern, begun with Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, of adding dedicated villa buildings to the established monorail-loop hotels, where member demand for Magic Kingdom-area accommodation was strongest.
The property expanded significantly in 2022 without new construction. Disney converted the existing Big Pine Key hotel building, one of the Grand Floridian's lodge buildings close to the main house, into approximately 200 Resort Studios, a new accommodation category for Disney Vacation Club. Sales of points for the expanded resort began in March 2022, and the Big Pine Key studios welcomed their first guests on June 20, 2022. Both buildings belong to the same condominium association, so owners at the resort may book either the original villas or the Resort Studios under the same home-resort priority.
Theming and layout
The Villas share the Grand Floridian's Victorian seaside theme, modelled on the grand Florida beach hotels of the late 19th century. The original villa building matches the main resort's white walls, red gabled roofs and ornate verandas, and is linked to the main house by a covered walkway. Its lobby is a smaller echo of the Grand Floridian's famous atrium, with a fountain, fresh flowers and, as a whimsical detail, penguin figures in tribute to Mary Poppins.
Inside, the styling is lighter and fresher than the main hotel's traditional rooms, with pastel tones, floral accents and Mary Poppins-inspired artwork appearing in later refurbishments. The original building contains Deluxe Studios and One- and Two-Bedroom Villas, including lock-off combinations, and Three-Bedroom Grand Villas. The Big Pine Key Resort Studios are a different proposition: larger, hotel-style rooms sleeping up to five guests in two queen beds and a day bed, with a beverage cooler rather than the kitchenette found in a Deluxe Studio, a distinction that matters to members planning longer stays. Views across both buildings take in the lagoon, the resort's courtyards and, from some rooms, the Magic Kingdom.
Dining and amenities
The Villas have no dedicated restaurant; guests use the Grand Floridian's dining, a short walk away. That choice includes the signature restaurants Victoria & Albert's, Cítricos and Narcoossee's, the Grand Floridian Cafe, the 1900 Park Fare character dining location, the Enchanted Rose lounge and the Gasparilla Island Grill quick-service restaurant, as well as in-room dining. The Senses spa, in its own building near the Villas, serves the whole resort.
Recreation includes the Villas' own quieter leisure pool area, with a children's water play structure themed to Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter, alongside the main resort's Beach Pool and Courtyard Pool and its sandy lagoon beach. Transport is a particular strength: the Grand Floridian has its own station on the Resort Monorail loop, one stop from the Magic Kingdom, as well as boat launches across the lagoon and a walking path to the Magic Kingdom. Buses serve Disney Springs and the other parks. There is no Disney Skyliner station in the Magic Kingdom area, so monorail, boat and bus are the resort's connections.
See also
- Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney Vacation Club
- Disney's Contemporary Resort
- Magic Kingdom
- Disney Springs