Ok, so here are a few more photos from my recent DL visit. I stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel on the front end of my trip for one night, with DCA & DL that evening and the next day... then did the work portion of my trip... followed by 2 nights in the new DVC Villas at the Grand Californian Hotel. I had a studio, with a theme park view room. I was on the 4th floor (of 5), and looked directly out into Paradise Pier. Immediately below me was the DVC BBQ deck on the ground floor, with two amazing grills available to use for DVC members. The Mulholland Madness roller coaster (to be rethemed to Goofy's Sky School later in 2010), was directly to my right as I stood on my balcony. Right in front was the Jumpin' Jelly Fish attraction with the Mickey's Fun Wheel and Malliboomer behind that. Off to the left just a bit was the Golden Zephyr and Paradise Bay (where the new World of Color show will be) with California Screamin' and Toy Story Midway Mania directly beyond the bay - and directly to the left of me was the construction site for the new Ariel's Undersea Adventure Little Mermaid ride to open in 2011. Here's a view out of my window, followed by some general resort photos.
This is Mickey's Fun Wheel and the Golden Zephyr
The BBQ deck, just feet away from the perimeter wall of the DCA park (Mulholland Madness is just behind the fence... I could hear it VERY WELL from my room when the sliding door was open!)
My room was right up there in the top... looking up from the pathway walking from the bbq deck around to the pool deck - the DVC Member World of Color Viewing Platform is atop the red portion of the building. Not sure how it will work, but it sure looks to be a cool, exclusive option. Members will only be able to use it while staying at VGC... not while staying at the other DL hotels on points
Here's a pic of the tree inside the Great Hall (lobby) of the hotel
Looking down at the new Mariposa pool (from the elevator lobby on my floor) that was added with the new DVC wing
Some pool complex photos...
The original pool
The slide, with the new DVC wing behind it. The new wing used to be an "event lawn"
A close-up of the new pool & jacuzzi. The jacuzzi is about 2.5x the size of the original jacuzzi. Quite choice too. I was in it several times. Reminds me how much I want one here at home. Beyond the pool you can see the new Cabanas that can be rented. They are quite choice, by the way. If you have the means and want to spend a full day at the pool, they can be rented for something like $200 or was it $250 for 8 hours. I believe it was $150 for 4 hours.
You get designated deck chairs outside, plus a couch, chairs, table, stocked refrigerator, ceiling fan and flat screen HD tv inside.
All I could say was "WOW" when I saw them up close.
here's a view of the "connection point" - where they added on to the hotel. It's an L shaped addition, with the short end of the L being the new DVC wing, and the long end regular hotel rooms.
Here's the corner of the L, and notice how the balconies are closer together for the regular hotel rooms on one side, and the more expansive windows and less frequent balconies for the villas on the DVC side
Here's a pic of the giant fireplace inside the lobby. There's another one on the outside as well with an intimate little patio and rocking chairs. Makes for a nice place to sit and enjoy a drink or conversation. I didn't get one of the outdoor fp, since a group of women were doing yoga in front of it when I wanted to snap a pic, oh well... use your imaginations
Here's a view of the main entrance to the hotel, with the Porte Cachere for dropping off luggage or utilizing the Valet Parking. Valet Parking puts vehicles below the new wing in the underground parking garage... self parking means parking across the street and then walking back. It's only a 2 minute walk though (depending on the traffic light) It was designed in the ARTS & CRAFTS stylings of that design movement from the early 20th century very, very popular throughout So. Cal - and was designed by the same architect who designed the Wilderness Lodge. They both feel quite similar inside, and as such, are considered sister hotels. This was the first Disney designed hotel at the
Disneyland resort - the other two, not so as I mentioned in a previous post back in the 190s page range
A few of the room...
And then, on Saturday morning the World of
Disney store was having their own version of a Black Friday kind of sale for AP holders (me) and DVC members (also me). They were having discounts of up to 50% on select merchandise, and lots of other doorbuster type stuff for 30-50% off. The doors were slated to open at 6:30 am. I braved the crowds to be one of the first 1,000 in line for a free gift. Not something I enjoyed doing, but with Christmas coming up I wasn't sure if I'd find anything to add to under the tree or not. I learned afterward that there were over 2,000 people in line that morning, and the first couple lined up at 3 am. Craziness! This photo was taken from where I stood in line before they opened the doors. The queue was wrapping quite a bit. I arrived downstairs to get in line around 6:10ish, and when I approached the door and got my wristband for my free gift (just a little Vinylmation figure, nothing overly exciting) I was told that I was in the upper 700's in line.
For those of you who have not yet been to the DL resort, the Grand Californian straddles the edge of Disney's California Adventure park (it's actually billed as being INSIDE the park), and has it's own private entrance into that park. It also straddles Downtown Disney - so much so, that a portion of DTD is actually the lower floor of the hotel, with rooms up above. Here are some views of the DTD with the hotel rooms above... and the DTD entrance directly into the hotel
Once you pass through the DTD entrance into the hotel complex, there is an outdoor courtyard (used for private parties, receptions, etc), above which the OBA passes as it continues on its' route to the DTD station
I will post a few more shots in a while.