Grand Floridian Villas Beach Pool Refurbishment

Anyone seen the dates for the GF Beach Pool refurbishment? The only dates I could find was Nov. 20, 2017 to Feb. 26, 2018. However, we are staying April 6-15, 2018 and just received an email from Disney saying the pool and bar will be closed during our stay. Have the dates changed or been extended? Thanks.

Just bumping- hope you get a reply. We are booked for an August trip.

Is the slide pool key for you? Could you change resorts if so?

You should be fine. Appreciate the bump. No. We can’t change. DVC points. Just infuriating when you spend so much $$$ to stay at a place like GF, they expect you to plan months in advance and then after you have done what they want, they announce something that affects your vacation (which are anything but cheap). Why refurbish a pool in the months when most people will use it? The alternative is a smaller pool that will be overcrowded. Exasperating when room alone has cost me $5000 for the week to crowd around one pool. Poor form Disney. Could have gone to the Caribbean for that and next spring break I will. Sigh…because I know they could care less and already have my $$$.

Anyone that has recently stayed (or currently staying) at the Grand Floridian know if the Beach Pool refurbishment has begun? Anyone know what exactly is being done? Photos of what the area under refurbishment looks like would be appreciated. Thanks.

The Beach Pool is the smaller pool. It’s the one with the water slide. We have only stayed at GF once, and spent our time in the Courtyard Pool. The Beach Pool was more crowded.

Thanks for your reply. Do you know if construction has started on the Beach Pool yet?

I don’t.

Was just there this weekend and the one pool was being worked on. If you’re on the monorail, it’s the one nearest the Poly that was empty and being painted.

Thanks. Hope it didn’t look bad. Will be there in April at the Villas and don’t want to have to look at a walled off pool under construction every time we leave the room. Takes away some of the magic. Fingers crossed it will be done quickly. Appreciate your response.

Not at all. Barely noticeable.

And really, IMO, Disney does construction better than anyone. I don’t find their walls take away from the magic.

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Has any body tried to ask the front desk for access to the poly pool - since the main GF pool that has the slide is closed?

It’s been pretty cold the past week… Nobody was swimming while I was there

We are staying at GF last week of March and were disheartened to be informed that Beach Pool will be closed. From what I have read they were supposed to start in Nov and be done by end of Feb but then it got delayed to a Jan start. I don’t think official completion date has been set. Our Disney Planner said she wouldn’t be shocked if they finished early for the Spring Break crowd, but I’m not overly optimistic. I haven’t received a clear answer on use of another pool as dispensation. Interested in what anyone else learns.

I’m interested as well since it affects our vacation too. In the past I have read that Disney will let you use another resorts pool (probably Polynesian) or give access to one of the water parks. I’m surprised that they don’t have a completion date. If it takes the same length of time as originally scheduled it should be done around April 9 or 10. If you hear anything please let me know. Thanks.

telane – Possibly good news for you, not so much for me - this is what my Disney Planner reported back to me re: pool:

“I just got off the phone with Disney and their calendar shows that the pool will still be under renovation when you are there. estimated date of opening is April 6. You will still have access to the courtyard pool, which is actually the larger pool, and the kids play area which is a big fountain area. She did advise me that you can always ask when you check in about whether you could go to the Polynesian and use their pool. She said it’s really up to the resort, they don’t have anything on their records showing that they are offering that pool hopping option.”

Appreciate the news. Hopefully they will be able to finish sooner. It has been my limited experience that they finish most refurbishment projects sooner rather than later (although others with more knowledge on this site may be able to contradict that). If it is closed during your stay let them know that one of the reasons you stayed on site is because their resorts have water slides, which is now not available to you. (Had you known you would have booked a different resort.) I would be surprised if they didn’t compensate you some how (not financially but maybe in a way I mentioned in my previuos post - access to a monorail resort pool w/ waterslide and/or access to a water park for a day or two). Good luck. Let’s hope they finish early. I’ll keep checking different sites periodically and if I get wind of a reopening date I’ll post it here.

Good News dbaker1720. Beach Pool should be open by the end of the month. See below link:

It was closed a few weeks ago when we were there. The Courtyard pool is decent sized - the resort and parks were really crowded but the pool was not. (But it wasn’t the best time of year and not overly hot, either.) We were OK without the beach pool but I was still disappointed to miss out on it given the price we paid!

Thanks - that makes my day! Hope the report is accurate. Have a great day!