The Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World

Looking out over the grand lobby of the Grand Floridian resort at Walt Disney World from the second level.

I still remember our first visit to the Grand Floridian, which was soon after it opened in 1988. I suppose that every new hotel at Walt Disney World is a big deal, but the opening of the Grand Floridian was a really, really big deal.

Before that time, the hotels at Walt Disney World were just the Contemporary and the Polynesian. Actually, that isn’t true, because there was also the Golf Resort, which was later renamed the Disney Inn and is now used by the United States Military as a resort for their service people. But for whatever reason, we never did go to visit. And there was also the Fort Wilderness Campground, which was where we stayed.

However, after only having just the same few hotels for almost 17 years, suddenly there was another new hotel. And even better, it was a stop on the Monorail line. That made it easy to visit along with the Contemporary and Polynesian.

On our days at the campground when we weren’t going to the parks, we would spend lots of time visiting the hotels, exploring everything we could at each one. We still do that now, but there are many more hotels to explore, so we don’t see quite as much at each one as we used to.

But we do still enjoy stopping by at all the hotels. And it is always nice to see that the Grand Floridian is still grand.

About the shot:
A single RAW exposure, processed in Adobe Lightroom. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: Rokinon 8mm