Grand Californian

[Kramerica]

Hey guys,

Just got back from disneyland for the first time in probably a decade, made it for the 60th anniversary and t was a great time. Love the Disneyland destination, and was especially impressed with California adventure. I had stayed off property, and even though it was a fine hotel and across the street from property, I've decided it's worth it to stay on property from now on.

I just booked a room at grand Californian for late October. The primary reason I'm staying there is how absolutely close it is to everything. That's a pretty awesome perk. But I would like your impressions on the hotel and rooms as well. How are they looking? Is it all looking spiffy or is it in need of a refurb? How are the services there? Food? Just all that general stuff. Does it have the general Disney sheen and shine to it?

Thanks in advance for the detailed responses. ;D

 

[Mukta]

The rooms are simple, but clean. I prefer the themed rooms at the DLH, but the GC rooms are nice too.

Napa Rose and specifically the Chef's counter at Napa Rose is the best restaurant in the whole resort.

Storyteller's Cafe had a fine character breakfast that I enjoyed.

The Hearthstone Lounge has good drinks and good service. I always like hanging there.

Whitewater Snacks is the QS place. I didn't care for it much. Found it ordinary. I would rather eat in some of the places in DtD.

I hope that helps!

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Great points from @Mukta. The rooms are rather basic, in fact, too much so for my tastes. You're paying an exorbitant price for the hotel's location and not for uber deluxe rooms. I've always found the rooms at the Grand Floridian to be much more in line with the price tag, so if you're used to those WDW deluxe resorts, the rooms won't blow you away.

Napa Rose is stellar in every way, and the lounge there makes far better drinks than Hearthstone, which uses the global Disney Parks bar menu (blech).

Whitewater Snacks has some inventive food items for lunch, but it doesn't win out for me over Paradise Garden Grill in DCA or the to-go counter at Ralph Brennan's in DTD.

 

[westie]

I prefer the GC over the other hotels. Its cleaner and nicer that the others. Its proximity to the parks is key. I tend not to eat at the GC. Steakhouse55 and Carthay Circle are my dinner destinations. Hearthstone Lounge is great. They will normally stay open as long as you can stay there (till 1am I believe). Only negative factor was I once booked a "room with a view" ($100. extra) and got a view of a hedge. Since then always got a great view w/o paying extra. Have a great time!

 

[Kramerica]

I prefer the GC over the other hotels. Its cleaner and nicer that the others. Its proximity to the parks is key. I tend not to eat at the GC. Steakhouse55 and Carthay Circle are my dinner destinations. Hearthstone Lounge is great. They will normally stay open as long as you can stay there (till 1am I believe). Only negative factor was I once booked a "room with a view" ($100. extra) and got a view of a hedge. Since then always got a great view w/o paying extra. Have a great time!

Not to derail anything, but maybe you can help answer this one.

I wanna try carthay circle for lunch or dinner. Would you recommend making reservations and how early?

 

[TuffyCatt]

I stayed at the GC two years ago and really enjoyed my time there. We were three adults in a DVC studio room, and we found it comfortable and what we're used to in the studio rooms (our home resort is Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW, and the room layout was pretty much identical). Our balcony overlooked the pool area, which was nice, and we found out we could actually see the Disneyland fireworks at night, which was a cool perk.

I spent a little time exploring the hotel, and it's really impressive how big and winding it is given the space that it's squeezed into. The Arts and Crafts style is lovely, yet simple, and the Grand lobby is impressive (though similar to most of the resort lobbies I've seen at WDW). As I walked around the various nooks and crannies of the hotel, I did enjoy finding the unique decorative elements scattered throughout.

We ate at Napa Rose and it is one of the best meals I've ever had ever. Haven't tried Storyteller's cafe. We found Whitewater snacks to be very convenient for quick on the go breakfasts (we'd often pick up breakfast items from there the day before) - simple muffins and cereal and such, but very convenient. Our park touring style is to get up ridiculously early to do magic mornings and squeeze as much into each day as possible, so having the easy snack option was great.

The pool area is big and very nice with multiple pools. Even in the middle of July it wasn't ridiculously crowded.

One thing we didn't use too terribly often was GC's entrance into California Adventure. I think this mostly has to do with our park touring style, with our goal being to get in first thing in the morning and do as much as possible. At park open, the main entrance seemed to get people in much more quickly (the private entrance is just too small to accommodate the rush of people at park open). However, the private entrance was very nice for going back to the hotel for a break in the middle of the day.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet was one of my absolute favorite aspects of the hotel: The Paradise View Terrace. A public area, located on the 6th floor, it gives a really awesome view of Paradise Pier. You can even watch WOC from it (and they have speakers that play the music), granted from a very great angle. But it offers a unique experience. We found the terrace on our first day and being that it was our first time in Disneyland and we hadn't even been in the parks yet, we were awestruck.

I'm terrible and never finished my trip report from that trip, but I got a good chunk of it done if you're interested in pictures and more of my impressions (link in my signature). Clearly, I'm very verbose and could talk about this all day!

 

[Maryssa*]

The beds at the GC are the comfiest I've EVER slept in.

 

[gsrjedi]

Not to derail anything, but maybe you can help answer this one.

I wanna try carthay circle for lunch or dinner. Would you recommend making reservations and how early?

I've never made reservations for Carthay, always just gone on a whim. You can make reservations 60 days in advance at DLR, so while you don't really need to make them you can if it makes you more comfortable.

 

[westie]

Not to derail anything, but maybe you can help answer this one.

I wanna try carthay circle for lunch or dinner. Would you recommend making reservations and how early?

I would recommend reservations for dinner and ask to be seated outside on the patio that overlooks Buena Vista Street. Do the World of Color package so you get a preferred view. Cheers!

 

[Mouse Trap]

Not to sound like the poor man here, but I just booked a stay at Paradise Pier. I'm mainly just looking for the Disney vibe and walking distance to the parks and easy access to DTD. I don't need anything too fancy, just some Mickey's here and there to get the full experience. Is it a decent deal for what I am looking for? Or is there something terrible I don't know about. I'd love to do Disneyland Hotel but not sure if its worth the extra $100 or so a night for somewhere I'll simply sleep in and spend no more than 3-4 hours in awake.

 

[Gaston's gal]

The GC is a beautiful hotel, although I'm partial to the Disneyland Resort. It is the nicest of the 3, closest to the parks & does have a similar feel to staying at AKL in WDW. You will really enjoy it.

 

[Kramerica]

Not to sound like the poor man here, but I just booked a stay at Paradise Pier. I'm mainly just looking for the Disney vibe and walking distance to the parks and easy access to DTD. I don't need anything too fancy, just some Mickey's here and there to get the full experience. Is it a decent deal for what I am looking for? Or is there something terrible I don't know about. I'd love to do Disneyland Hotel but not sure if its worth the extra $100 or so a night for somewhere I'll simply sleep in and spend no more than 3-4 hours in awake.

I understand the fact that this thread is me asking questions, but I might be able to help you with this. But really, it only comes down to opinion.

First off, you're staying on property at Disneyland. You're not a poor man. Second, as a guy who just got back from Disneyland and stayed off property at the Mariott that's literally right across the street, probably a 7 to 10 minute walk to the gate of Disneyland, it is absolutely, positively, without a doubt worth it in my mind to pay the extra hundred bucks a night to stay on property, even at paradise pier. (My standard room at the Mariott was around 180 bucks a night)

Don't get me wrong. My room was nice. It was big enough. Clean. Up to date. The staff was helpful. It was a pleasant stay. BUT. You still had to walk off property, even if it's just one block. Past the homeless people asking for money, the groups with picket signs trying to talk to you, etc. You leave the warm embrace of Disney. And even though the walk was probably technically shorter-

I'd prefer a ten mile walk on Disney property to a block on public streets.

Plus, it's not ten miles. It's not far at all actually. And as for the hotel itself. It's fun. It's Disney. It's clean. So if I were you, I'd smile. Be happy. And look forward to your trip in which you won't once have to leave the shiny Disney universe.

 

[Professor_Jason]

In my own personal experience the Bellhops at the Grand Californian put luggage in the wrong cars and the Valets loose car keys. The rooms are tiny and you can hear everything your neighbors are doing. I've only had headaches there and we've been going since they opened. Speaking as a local you'd get a better experience at the Disneyland Hotel, sorry to give a bad review

 

[trs518]

We stayed at the Grand Californian last year, in a DVC studio. I agree with many of the reviews that the actual hotel is nothing special. As you mention, the real attraction is where it's located. We stayed on points, so the justification was easy. I'm not sure if I could justify it paying out of pocket.

 

[TuffyCatt]

We stayed at the Grand Californian last year, in a DVC studio. I agree with many of the reviews that the actual hotel is nothing special. As you mention, the real attraction is where it's located. We stayed on points, so the justification was easy. I'm not sure if I could justify it paying out of pocket.

I agree with this 100%. On points, I'd stay there again any day, I really loved it. But, in a month I'm going without the benefit of my parents' DVC points, so I'm staying offsite! It's a great hotel, but geez do they overcharge for it...

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I timed how long it took me to walk from my room door at the GCH to the entrance of Disneyland. 2 minutes.

And again from a night ride on Grizzly River Rapids to my room door. 2 minutes.

That is priceless and I would stay here again in a heartbeat.

 

[PirateFrank]

I'd prefer a ten mile walk on Disney property to a block on public streets.

This! A hundred times over....for both Anaheim and Orlando. I know its very chic around these parts to malign anyone that stays on property - and if you delve into the news and rumors forum here, you'll be acosted and outcast as a fiscally obtuse moron for picking a bed on property vs off property, because there are so many cheap options out on I4 in o-town or all around the orange grove in anaheim. They usually fail to mention those options are filled with Orlando's homeless and vagrants, but thats not the basis of my reasoning. The options in Anaheim, as you mentioned above.

I stay on property, because when Im on vacation, I want *nothing*, absolutely nothing to do with the real world. I don't want to read a paper, the internet, watch TV (except to watch and subsequently think unclean thoughts of Stacey Aswad), or even look at someone not wearing a pair of mickey ears for my entire vacation. I would rather not know what else our moron politicians and leaders are doing to further destroy this country. It's the same reason I spring for stays at nice resorts when I travel to non-mouse destinations. I dont go on vacation to cheap it. I live life frugally enough to be able to afford either being pampered and/or insulated for 1-2 weeks out of the year, with the emphasis on insulated....so I can recharge and have the energy to wade through the filth the other 50-51 weeks of the year. So spending another $100 a night or to pay my annual DVC fees, is *well* worth it. It's a bargain, given what I get out of it.

 

[LdyApxr]

We've stayed at the GC, DH(decades ago), and PP and for us, we prefer the GC. Our kids are older and boys(26 and 17) and do not need themed rooms, location/convenience is our key. The rooms at the GC could stand to be freshened but nothing major that would make us decide against staying there.

Carthay is wonderful whether you are doing a meal or just drinks/apps in the lounge(I recommend the Double Pear Martini). We wanted to try to make DLR this year for the Anniversary celebration but instead we opted for two trips to WDW next year(our first time ever in May and then repeating in Oct).

Years and years ago we stayed off property(2005 and 2006) and it was fine, but you do have to deal with the picketers and the vagrants which we deal with enough at home in the Bay Area and do not want to deal with while on vacation. PP is nice as long as you can stand the surf music without losing your mind but the pool area, while neat on the hotel roof, is not anywhere near our favorite. Also when we stayed in 2008, the fhotel worker's union or something like that was picketing between PP and the GC so just walking across the street was an issue and let me tell you, some of those people were obnoxious, rude and yelling things that had I not been around children, I would have gave them back a piece of my mind because there were little kids around and while I get that they are upset, making children cry is a bully tactic and it angers me.