Grand Californian
Hotel |
Reviewer's Name: |
Jason Beloro |
Reviewer's Email Address: |
jbeloro@home.com |
Rate / Night (for your stay): |
~$395/night |
Date(s) of Stay: |
2/9/01-2/11-01 |
Accommodation Used: |
Standard Room / Studio |
Accommodations Review: |
The room was nice, being your standard layout room. We had
a king bed and it was very comfortable, as were the pillows.
The room had a desk, couch, and a coffee table. Of course
there was an armoire with a snack bar/refrigerator, TV and a
DVD player. The concierge lounge offered DVDs to borrow. The
DVD collection featured only their animated movies. They had
duplicate copies of many titles, just in case, but their
collection is not very extensive. The bathroom was nice. A
sliding door can be used for privacy. There was also various
toiletries and a coffee maker - but no coffee. That's OK
because we would just go to the concierge lounge for coffee.
There was also a turn-down service and they left some Disney character
foil-wrapped chocolates. The first night, they also
left a "plant your own Sequoia Tree" kit. That was pretty
cool. The balcony also had a small table and two chairs.
|
Why Did you Select This Resort for your Stay? |
Why not? You gotta stay at the new hotel when you're going
to the new park! |
Room # and Location Description: |
Room #608 - Top floor across the concierge lounge. The
view is of the new DCA park. Straight out of the balcony you
can see the Sun Wheel and California Screamin'. If you look to
the left of the balcony you can see the Grizzly River Run.
Also looking down and to the left is the pool. |
Room Location Pros & Cons: |
Pros: Fabulous view. Its cool to be able to walk into the
room and see the park through your balcony door. The view at
night is even better. Cons: The room is on the opposite side
of the elevators. Maybe that's not a con since you get to walk
around and admire the hotel from the top. |
Check-In / Check-Out Comments: |
Check-In was in the concierge lounge. We arrived at noon
and of course the room wasn't ready but they were very accommodating
by checking us in already and stowed our luggage
for us. We were also able to purchase our Park-Hopper tickets
at the lounge. We also enjoyed a soft drink and ate some fruit
before going down to the park. They offered to give us a pager
to let us know when the room would be ready. We turned it down
and decided to come back up a few hours later. We came back at
3:30pm and the room was ready and our luggage was waiting for
us in the room.
Check-Out was a different story. We still
wanted to go to the parks for the day even though we had to
check out. We went to the concierge lounge and told them that
we wanted to check out and have them hold our luggage for
the day while we were at the parks. Since our car was valet
parked, they offered to take our luggage from our room, call
up the car to put the luggage in the car and repark the car.
We thought that was great and even stayed to hear the
concierge host make the necessary calls. We then spent the
rest of the day in the parks and we came back to the hotel at
about 10pm. We dropped by the concierge lounge to say bye and
grab a cup of coffee for the road (we live in San Diego). The
concierge host (Manuel), walked us down to the front and I had
the car called up from valet. Well, we were too busy saying
goodbye to Manuel that we forgot to check for our luggage. We
were already headed south on I-5 and just passed Santa Ana
(10-15 minutes away) when we checked to make sure we had our
luggage... ...the back was EMPTY! They didn't put our luggage
in the car, so we turned around and went back to the hotel. We
went to bell services when we got back and they still had our
bags. Fortunately, they didn't put it in the wrong car. So,
bell services was very apologetic but they blamed concierge
for not making the proper calls. I guess its understandable
since the hotel and its employees are fairly new. I knew our
check out process was too good to be true.
|
WDW Transportation Comments: |
Did not use. Despite what your Accommodations page says,
there is no monorail stop at the hotel. The monorail does go
through the hotel, but it does not stop there. (Editor's
note: The accommodations page has been edited to clarify
that the closest stop is at Downtown Disney. At no time,
though, did the accommodations page state that there was
a monorail stop at the Grand Californian, merely that monorail
service was available -- which it is, to all resort guests.)
There is a
special entry that takes you straight in to DCA and brings you
in front of Grizzly River Run. If you head left, you can go to
Soarin' Over Califonia. There is also another gate that takes
you into Downtown Disney. We used this gate to walk to
Disneyland from the hotel.
|
Restaurant / Lounge Review: |
We ate lunch at the Storyteller's Cafe and it
wasn't very crowded, so we expected service to be very good.
Unfortunately, our server only checked up on us once. It took
a long time for us to get our check. The food was very good. I
had ribs and my girlfriend had pasta. Both were delicious.
|
Pool Description / Comments: |
The weather was cloudy all weekend. We did see a handful
of people at the pool through the weekend, but we didn't try
it out. The Redwood Slide looks very fun. |
What Suggestions Would you Give Anyone that is Considering
This Resort? |
If your budget allows for it, I suggest trying the
concierge level at least once. The concierge hosts are very
friendly and believe in the "Disney Magic" experience. Its
nice to be pampered every so often. Also, the location of the
hotel in the resort can't be beat. The hotel is new, which
means the facilities are in great working condition, and is an
immediate pro compared to the other hotels. I suggest doing a
price comparison of the three hotels and weighing out the pros
and cons for each hotel. I hope you'll come to the conclusion
that its worth going to the Grand Californian for ~$80
more. |
Other Comments: |
The concierge rate also includes breakfast in the morning
and wine & cheese in the afternoon. Both are very good and
give a good mix to the food offered at the resorts. A hearty
breakfast can call for a small lunch. The late afternoon wine
& cheese can allow for a small break and a late dinner.
The overall experience was excellent and most recommended to
anyone considering this
resort. |
