Now for my review on our room this time. As most of you all know, I'm one of the biggest Grand Californian Fan Boys out there. I LOVE this place. I love the merchandise, love the robes (the old ones are much better than what they offer now though and Amy and I each have one of our own), love the architecture, love the proximity to everything, love the views, love the balconies, love the restaurants and drinking establishments, love the pools, love the service, love, love, love it. That being said...my room this trip had some serious issues. I was SOOO happy to get what I consider one of the best room locations in the entire resort. Right over the DCA entrance from the Grand. To me, this room location simply CANNOT be beat. You get fireworks views for
Disneyland, you get to look INTO the Grizzly Peak area of DCA, you are literally SECONDS from entering the park after leaving your room, close proximity to Napa, Storytellers, and the Pools, it’s just the perfect location.
Before I dig too deep into my issues with the room I thought it would be good to frame up where I’ve stayed before and the general condition of each of those rooms.
I've had several different views over the years. For our first trip in 2010, we were right over world of Disney on the 3rd or 4th floor. The Down Town Disney view and the fireworks view was pretty great for our first trip.
Our room on this trip was perfect, nothing out of place, worn, etc. Just perfect experience all around.
Location: 3 out of 5
View: 3 out of 5
Room Condition: 5 out of 5
For our 2011, trip, we managed to get a 3rd floor view into DCA over on the Paradise Pier side. We looked directly at Goofy’s Sky School. It was a pretty unique vantage point, and afforded close proximity to the 6th floor WOC viewing deck as well as a great photo opportunity of myself and Katherine on Goofy's as taken from our balcony.
Location: 3.5 out of 5
View: 4 out of 5
Room Condition: 5 out of 5
For our third trip, in May 2013, we had a room location which I'd probably say was one of the least remarkable ones to date. We were in the wing over the shops in Downtown Disney, however we were facing inward and looking into the Brisa Courtyard. We had a great monorail view, but outside of that, all we had to look at was the other rooms of the hotel.
Pretty disappointing. One fault I will point out though, was one of the sinks was slow draining. I called and had them come up, and it was fixed by facilities while we were in the park
Location: 2 out of 5
View: 1.5 out of 5
Room Condition: 4 out of 5
For our fourth trip in February of 2014, we had a great location, and a decent view. We were tucked into the corner of the wing above Napa and were facing into the hotel. Great view of the pool and Mickey's Fun Wheel of DOOM. Would have been even better if we were a few floors up, but regardless, I LOVE the room and the location could not be beat. Room condition: Superb as always.
Location: 5 out of 5
View: 3 out of 5
Room Condition: 5 out of 5
We'll skip my next few trips as they were solo and as such I stayed offsite, but Amy and I made a trip out in September of 2014 to celebrate her birthday and attend Dapper Days. This time, we had an Accessible room. These rooms appear to be in the same locations on each floor. The room configuration was pretty different than our usual bunk-bed rooms. The bathroom was completely separate from the rest of the room. Whereas with every other visit, the double vanity is open to the rest of the room with only the water closet and shower being behind a door, this configuration had everything behind a wide door. The room also had a sofa, coffee table, and King size bed (I believe it was a King) instead of the bunk beds and Queen we normally get. The room was located in a corner facing the valet area with remarkable views of not a whole lot. Room condition: GREAT! Everything seemed very NEW and recently updated.
Location: 2 out of 5
View: 1 out of 5
Room Condition: 5 out of 5
This brings us to our family trip of October 2014. We again had a Brisa Courtyard room right next to the monorail. The view... pretty meh. The location... pretty good. One thing we noticed on this trip was a water stain on the ceiling over by the wall partition to the bathroom sink area. Obviously there was a leak in one of the rooms above and the damage to rooms below had NOT been addressed. This was the first time the quality of the room had really been less than great. It unfortunately was NOT to be the last.
Location: 3.5 out of 5
View: 1 out of 5
Room Condition: 3 out of 5
And finally, my most recent visit and stay at the Grand. This was to be my ideal room location, ideal view, but the condition... horrible. We'll start with the location and view. We were directly over the entrance to DCA facing into
Grizzly peak. The view was GREAT. Only elevation and a few rooms closer to the monorail could have made it better. The location was unbeatable. I LOVE this wing, and I'd stay in it every time if I could. Best location in the entire resort in my opinion.
OK, here's where this is going to get ugly. Condition of the room.... furniture... in shambles. One of the first things we go to do is pull out the trundle to get Victoria settled. The pull is completely missing from one side. Here's a few pics of what it looked like and is supposed to look like. I realize this hardware is expensive and they probably didn't order a whole lot of spares, but still... unacceptable for a room at the Flagship of Disney's DLR.
Next up... the refrigerator cabinet.... it couldn't be closed...
The hinges were completely blown out on it. These are easily replaceable as they are your standard flush-fitting hinges available for replacement from any cabinet hardware company. COMPLETELY unacceptable.
Next up... peeling wallpaper. Here's one pic, but there was peeling wallpaper in multiple locations in the room. UNACCEPTABLE at the grand.
Next up... missing trim rings on the bathroom hardware... Again.. Disney better have ordered a surplus of Hardware, but to completely leave something like this is just horrible. Go grab a new piece of hardware even if it doesn't match. Nobody will notice if the style is SLIGHTLY off... they'll notice the missing hardware pieces though.
Next up... There were sticky spots on the carpet. Presumption was bubble gun solution, but who knows.
Lastly... Katherine found suckers jammed between the mattress and the frame on the top bunk... lots and lots of suckers. Thankfully, all the suckers were still in their wrappers, but man... what a poor deal. Mousekeeping clearly didn't do a good job when cleaning the room, or completely neglected to change the bedding on the top bunk from the last patron. UNACCEPTABLE.
Location: 5 out of 5
View: 4.5 out of 5
Room Condition: 1 out of 5
All of this in a room with a rack rate in excess of $500/night. So disappointed. Will we be back? ABSOLUTELY. Was this an experience which has made me very critical of how the hotel is being maintained and what I feel is a trend with Disney of lack of maintenance because of their monopoly on the experience. The Grand is still our Californian Home away from home but the Disneyland Hotel is looking just a little bit more attractive these days.
