Disney's Grand Californian Hotel

We stayed here in fall of 2007. We had stayed at the Disneyland Hotel the year before. Comparing the two, the DL hotel is MUCH better and alot less money.

When we checked in we had to wait over 4 hours for our room. Their excuse was because it was a Sunday, their busiest day of the week. We requested a King size and got 2 queens. The room wasn't anything that great for the price we paid. The view of the courtyard was a joke! The worse would have to be the maids VERY early in the morning in the hallways talking VERY loud! We were ther for 4 days and some of the trays were there for over 2 days! Also, the hallways were neverending!! For the price DL Hotel is much better, especially if you have kids.

Paid a lot of money for a room with a park view -only room available- which was partially obstructed by a construction site. Asked to have our luggage stowed while we waited for our room and the bell service made us wait over 35 minutes. Storyteller's cafe was nice. Probably the only highlight of the hotel.

Pool was nice, our son loved the water slide, except that there was only ONE poolside service waitress for about 200 guests. Other guests were getting upset with her (poor woman, wasn't her fault) and she said the other waiter was having car problems. So they have a wait staff of TWO serving 200 guests?

The room was not impressive. The amenities were no better than other nearby hotels.

Yes it's close to the parks and Disney shopping -but other hotels have shuttles that get you there just as fast and are much more service oriented than this one.

There is just not the level of excellence here that I expect from a hotel charging these prices. I wouln't recommend it and I certainly wouldn't stay there again.

Disney's Grand Californian is an awesome place to stay during your Disneyland trip. The Craftsman Style Hotel is magnificent. I have stayed there about six times. Check-in can be annoying since rooms may not be ready. We didn't get into our room until after six on our last stay. They will check your bags at the bell stand and you can head to the park or the pool before you get a chance to get checked-in. We prefer the Downtown Disney view vs. the Californian Adventure view since sometimes there is entertainment below and you can enjoy a glass of wine on your balcony. The staff are friendly and helpful. The concierge desk is available to make reservations for dining in the parks. We check-in and go directly to the desk to get our reservation for the Blue Bayou the next day. Rooms are fairly small but nicely decorated. The rates do keep going up and as an annual passholder I really don't see the value since you don't get a better deal than anyone else can get, but we do love the hotel experience. I don't recommend the Concierge Level since it is pricey and there was really no amazing benefits. They really have no motivation to provide added value since the hotel is always full and there is not much competetion and you can sense the "if you don't like it, go somewhere else attitude" once in awhile. I can't help it though, I'm sure I'll go back and they know it.

Hotel room was great. We had a park view, although the novelty of the view for the extra $$ wore off very quickly. All service was friendly and satisfactory except valet parking. There were not enough attendants. Having quick access to the parks and shopping was a big perk. Being able to easily return to your room for necessities or a short nap was a BIG plus. Make reservations for your room and all planned dining early. This will avoid unecessarily long waits.

We plan to return again this year.

We stayed at the Disneyland Grand Californian in December 2005 over Christmas weekend. Even though it was a busy holiday weekend, the hotel was very efficient and the service was excellent. We arrived prior to official check-in time and had to wait for our room to be ready - we waited about an hour over what we were told; however, it was tolerable as we were able to have lunch in the restaurant at the hotel. Our room was facing downtown Disney, and it was great to have such an excellent view. The rooms are just the right size, have good internet access and the bathrooms are modern with good amenities. Everything in the Disneyland Grand Californian is tidy and clean and our visit there was comfortable and relaxed. Highly recommend!