On June 23, 2022, Disney Vacation Club, a well-known timeshare ownership program, launched its villa expansion at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The Resort Studio, a new DVC accommodation type, and 200 DVC rooms were introduced during this development. In addition, the existing rooms have also undergone a thorough renovation.
The new Resort Studio suite design is exclusive to the property and distinct from the standard Studio Villas offered by the Disney Vacation Club, which typically sleeps four to five people. Unlike Studio Villas, Resort Studios don’t feature kitchenettes, although visitors can ask for a microwave installed in their room.
Although the Resort Studios don’t include a kitchenette, they are among the most beautiful accommodations at Walt Disney World. The décor raises the Grand Floridian’s already high bar for luxury. The apartments provide a contemporary interpretation of the property’s original Victorian theming with vibrant, flowery patterns and Mary Poppins movie references.
“The inspiration for the rooms and for most things at the Grand that you’ve been seeing lately with the reopening of Citricos is that we continue to bring in that garden feel,” says Shawn Moore, resorts portfolio design manager for Walt Disney Imagineering. “We brought the Victorian garden from the exterior to the interior, so it’s really those embellished gardens that you feel, and the natural tie for this room was bringing in Mary Poppins because of the film’s architectural scenes, the garden feeling—and we already have the penguin fountain in the DVC lobby.”
These new suites have artwork that depicts Mary Poppins swooping into Cherry Tree Lane, penguin parades, and silhouettes of umbrellas, penguins, and other fictional characters on the furniture in the rooms.
The Big Pine Key building of the resort houses the Resort Studios, once conventional hotel rooms.
“We really focused on bringing that outdoor feeling to the inside and then also making it lighter and brighter so it has more of that summer day feeling where you really want to sit on the patio and relax, and it’s also really relaxing when you come back from the parks,” Moore says, noting that other recent resort room refreshes, like the Incredibles-themed room update at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and a Moana-inspired enhancement to rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, have all made the rooms significantly brighter. “All of our most recent rehabs have taken that general strategy to make them a bit brighter so that when you come back to the room, you feel refreshed.”
Resort Studios at the Grand Floridian Resort will draw visitors searching for two queen beds rather than the queen and couch bed offered in the traditional DVC studio villa. In addition to its cheerful and upbeat design, these enormously roomy apartments will be excellent lodging choices for members. They also include plenty of closet and drawer space.
Along with these revisions and upgrades, the Citricos restaurant just reopened with a makeover inspired by Mary Poppins Returns. In addition, on June 28, the well-known Grand Floridian restaurant Victoria & Alberts reopened.
Visit the Disney Vacation Club website to learn more.
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