May 18th, Part 1
Today we would be checking out of the
Disneyland Hotel and checking into the Grand Californian!
But first, we needed sustenance! During the planning stages, I had looked at all of the breakfast choices around here that didn't require park admission and landed on Catal in Downtown Disney. I had never eaten there but from what I read on Yelp and Trip Advisor, it looked decent enough to give it a try.
Rob had been asking for a picture of his girls at this sign the entire week now so we finally obliged him.
We had set out much later than usual so we did not whisk through security like we normally did.
Once through, we headed for Catal while everyone else headed for the parks.
We were seated outside on the upstairs balcony area, perfect!
We had great views of people coming and going. Sadly no Wi-Fi. Actually, I ended up hopping onto Ballast Point Wi-Fi after refreshing it five times but it didn't show up for Rob and Kira at all.
I had noticed that there were tons of CM's and plaids hovering over near Black Tap for some reason. Something big was going on. I will let you know what it was all for in the next chapter.
We had great service and the food came pretty fast!
Mine...
This is Kira's breakfast. She had ordered sausages with it but the server had come around about 10 minutes earlier saying that they were out of sausages. We asked what else she could have and the server mentioned ham. As soon as she said that, I was like "You have ham????"
LOL! It wasn't on the menu anywhere but Kira are I were delighted and we both got a side of ham.
The funny thing was, when Kira's meal came, it had sausages on it
Rob's...
And my delicious side of ham!! Kira ate her ham and then stole some of mine!! We are ham girls.
Our meals were fantastic!!! It was WAY better than Steakhouse 55 and much cheaper too!
Since we were right there, we walked over to the Grand to check-in. I was in my happy place because this is my favourite hotel ever! Mind you, I haven't stayed at Aulani and there's several at WDW that give this one a run for its' money but yeah, the Grand was built for me
I had stayed here before but Rob and Kira hadn't had the pleasure yet and I hadn't stayed here since they redid the rooms so I wanted to experience that.
So gorgeous!!
The check-in line was long but it went pretty fast.
I've always had very friendly check-in Cast Members and today was no exception.
The awesome news was that our room was ready so we headed up to the 4th floor (ahhh, that does makes sense!
) and our room was just off of the lobby.
Here's a whole crap load of photos of our room for your viewing pleasure.
A couple of critters watched over us as we slept.
And despite reserving a standard room, this was our view...
Nice view eh?
I was expecting a room overlooking the front of the hotel so this was a great surprise! Love the art work.
So, here's my thoughts on our room. I LOVE the refurbished rooms, so bright and airy but still sticking to the arts & crafts theme of this gorgeous hotel. The TV was nice and big, which was a welcome difference from the small TV's at the DLH. I love the new bathrooms, the granite tops everywhere, love the hooks at the entrance.
Just based on sight, these rooms are way better than the ones at the Disneyland Hotel. However, after having spent a night there, we were quite glad that we had spent the previous week at the DLH.
While you can't beat the location of this hotel, the rooms were not as efficient for us as a family as the rooms over at the DLH.
The bathroom area with the shower and toilet was TINY! It was hard to change in there. I kept hitting my elbows and arms on everything. There were no hooks or any place to hang anything either in this room or near the sinks. There was no place to hang a wet swimsuit or a cover up and there were no robes in the closet at all.
The DLH had that extra place for Kira and I to do our hair and stuff. This room had a desk but when you sat down, you couldn't see the mirror so we did our hair at the sink, which wasn't convenient with three of us getting ready at the same time, or even just two of us.
The fridge was much smaller here, although fine for one night, it definitely wouldn't have fit all of our snacks and drinks. The room itself was noticeably smaller too.
On the plus side, there were more outlets and USB plugs here and the lightning was amazing!
And yet, once again...a cheap $10 Conair hair dryer!
While it didn't bother us, there was no bath tub. I know there are some rooms here that have them and you can request them but it's not a guarantee so if you have a child who needs a bath tub, this might be a concern.
So, while the Disneyland Hotel worked better for us as a family, if it was just me and Rob, I would 100% stay here again.