The Good, The Bad (not much) and the ugly (you know who you are!)
Background: We are a disneyworld fanatic family, we go there about once a year and love it. We have been to Disneyland a few times, but not since the late 90's when they were building California. My 18 year old ds and I kind of made up excuses to get a two night, three day stay at the happiest place on earth. Yes, we visited my parents in Palm Springs, yes we checked out some colleges, but come on, who is kidding who?
Lodging: Grand Californian: I'll give it 4/5 stars. Very nice, reminded me of a cross between Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Room: large, well furnished, okay beds, pool and facilities: looked nice (way too cold to swim for us!) We got a AAA discount rate but as it is the beginning of spring break, still very pricey, over $300 for no view room. everything was fine but... something was missing. That attitude, so glad you are here, welcome back Disney feeling you get at the world was missing. No one was unfriendly or rude (except one, will come back to that) but no one seemed to be "on stage." I found this throughout the parks as well... more later.
Meals: We are huge foodies. First night was Steakhouse 55. 5/5 Delcious steak, very nice service, really enjoyed this. I seldom eat at steak restaurants because hubby is such a good steak chef, but these were really good. Expensive, but good.
Napa Rose was fantastic. 5/5 Don't miss if you love great food with unique preparation. We started with their hot rock appetizer (shrimp, chicken and ribs) Fantastic... don't miss out on this one. Son had yellowtail... perfectly prepared, a plate cleaner. I had squash ravioli with truffles because it sounded unique... it was delicious,,, fantastic. Their wines by the bottle list was really good, their wine by the glass list had some good wines, but the prices were very high, especially for grocery store type wines like La Crema chard for $12 a glass.
Parks:
Land: Had a great time here. Haven't been since 1999, things have certainly
changed and improved. Hands down pirates of the caribbean is better here, as is space mountain... so much smoother than in Florida. I won't bore you will all details, but we did our favorites, the lines were little to non-existent. We went before opening each day, and got everything done we wanted by lunch. Then had time to relax and redo favorites. The only fast pass really needed was for Indiana Jones. We noticed most people came to the parks around 10:30 a.m. or later. This makes no sense to me as then they will have to wait in lines... oh well.
California: Eh.... love soaring, same as in Florida. This did need a fast pass. Also did tower of terror (bettter in Florida) and various assorted smaller attractions. I am glad to see they are working on major improvements... right now there is really not much there. I did really like the monster's inc ride as I love that movie... KITTY! And toy story was fun, but again the same as Florida, although Florida has much better waiting area with much more to see.
Overall, we hit the parks hard, very hard, and did everything we wanted. What we noticed is although it is similar to the world, it is its own entity. I don't really feel like the cast members in California really play the part. Yes, the Haunted Mansion guys are dressed in costume, but they just do their job, not "play along" if you will. I rode the train around the park (one of my favorites!) and was sitting by where the conductor holds on on the running board. He spent the whole time talking to, I assume, a co-worker off duty about stupid things guests do, like recently someone either let their child fall off the train, or almost fell off. Interesting, but should he be talking about this in front of other guests? There were two women working the California entrance from the hotel (I went back and forth a lot... lesson... don't sit in the front seat of splash mountain with very large men sitting behind you when it is quite chilly out!) Anyway, everytime I went through, they would scan my ticket, but keep talking to each other and never acknowledge me... weird.
But the one encounter that really bothered me was when we were leaving. We had checked our bags at bell services to get the last few hours of Disney before leaving. When I came back to the stand to retrieve our stuff, the girl at the desk said "Where would you like these shipped?" Now my brain had been space mountained maybe one too many times, but I said "I'm sorry, I don't understand your question." See, I wasn't shipping anything anywhere, and I am very literal. I just wanted my bags! I thought maybe she had me confused with someone who was actually shipping their stuff home UPS, I know some people do that. Maybe she thought I was being snippy (which I wasn't) but she seemed to get a little panty wad and said "Bus? Car? Valet? Taxi? Walking?" I said "There's no reason to get angry, I just want my bags here." and pointed to the floor in front of me. She was steamed!!! So I walked around the corner to wait for my bags, and she proceeded to talk about this crazy problem customer she just dealt with... yeah, that would be me. I peaked around the corner again and looked at her, and she did have the decency to look a little chagrined. I just don't have much tolerance for bad customer service. I own a store, and workers with this kind of attitude (and we have had a few) don't stay working for us. It hurts everyone.
Anyway, I was upset, and not feeling so great about the last impression left at the Californian. My son has found a college he really likes nearby, and I had forseen many stays here over the next few years. Now I was rethinking... but just like in a Disney movie... there is a happy ending.
So we go out to retrieve our car from valet. An older gentleman comes up and jumps out. He says "cool car, and may I say you don't look anything like the person I thought would be driving this!" (I'm a midwest soccer mom kind of gal.) We rented a cobalt blue convertible mustang for fun, and it was FUN. He then tried to put our large suitcases in the trunk, which is like solving a puzzle, but we knew how to do it because we had been doing it all week. So ds picks up the bags, jiggers them around and voila! I hand the valet guy a five, and he tries to hand it to son and says he should get the tip. We laugh and give it back to him. Ahhh, now that is Disney.
Background: We are a disneyworld fanatic family, we go there about once a year and love it. We have been to Disneyland a few times, but not since the late 90's when they were building California. My 18 year old ds and I kind of made up excuses to get a two night, three day stay at the happiest place on earth. Yes, we visited my parents in Palm Springs, yes we checked out some colleges, but come on, who is kidding who?
Lodging: Grand Californian: I'll give it 4/5 stars. Very nice, reminded me of a cross between Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Room: large, well furnished, okay beds, pool and facilities: looked nice (way too cold to swim for us!) We got a AAA discount rate but as it is the beginning of spring break, still very pricey, over $300 for no view room. everything was fine but... something was missing. That attitude, so glad you are here, welcome back Disney feeling you get at the world was missing. No one was unfriendly or rude (except one, will come back to that) but no one seemed to be "on stage." I found this throughout the parks as well... more later.
Meals: We are huge foodies. First night was Steakhouse 55. 5/5 Delcious steak, very nice service, really enjoyed this. I seldom eat at steak restaurants because hubby is such a good steak chef, but these were really good. Expensive, but good.
Napa Rose was fantastic. 5/5 Don't miss if you love great food with unique preparation. We started with their hot rock appetizer (shrimp, chicken and ribs) Fantastic... don't miss out on this one. Son had yellowtail... perfectly prepared, a plate cleaner. I had squash ravioli with truffles because it sounded unique... it was delicious,,, fantastic. Their wines by the bottle list was really good, their wine by the glass list had some good wines, but the prices were very high, especially for grocery store type wines like La Crema chard for $12 a glass.
Parks:
Land: Had a great time here. Haven't been since 1999, things have certainly
changed and improved. Hands down pirates of the caribbean is better here, as is space mountain... so much smoother than in Florida. I won't bore you will all details, but we did our favorites, the lines were little to non-existent. We went before opening each day, and got everything done we wanted by lunch. Then had time to relax and redo favorites. The only fast pass really needed was for Indiana Jones. We noticed most people came to the parks around 10:30 a.m. or later. This makes no sense to me as then they will have to wait in lines... oh well.
California: Eh.... love soaring, same as in Florida. This did need a fast pass. Also did tower of terror (bettter in Florida) and various assorted smaller attractions. I am glad to see they are working on major improvements... right now there is really not much there. I did really like the monster's inc ride as I love that movie... KITTY! And toy story was fun, but again the same as Florida, although Florida has much better waiting area with much more to see.
Overall, we hit the parks hard, very hard, and did everything we wanted. What we noticed is although it is similar to the world, it is its own entity. I don't really feel like the cast members in California really play the part. Yes, the Haunted Mansion guys are dressed in costume, but they just do their job, not "play along" if you will. I rode the train around the park (one of my favorites!) and was sitting by where the conductor holds on on the running board. He spent the whole time talking to, I assume, a co-worker off duty about stupid things guests do, like recently someone either let their child fall off the train, or almost fell off. Interesting, but should he be talking about this in front of other guests? There were two women working the California entrance from the hotel (I went back and forth a lot... lesson... don't sit in the front seat of splash mountain with very large men sitting behind you when it is quite chilly out!) Anyway, everytime I went through, they would scan my ticket, but keep talking to each other and never acknowledge me... weird.
But the one encounter that really bothered me was when we were leaving. We had checked our bags at bell services to get the last few hours of Disney before leaving. When I came back to the stand to retrieve our stuff, the girl at the desk said "Where would you like these shipped?" Now my brain had been space mountained maybe one too many times, but I said "I'm sorry, I don't understand your question." See, I wasn't shipping anything anywhere, and I am very literal. I just wanted my bags! I thought maybe she had me confused with someone who was actually shipping their stuff home UPS, I know some people do that. Maybe she thought I was being snippy (which I wasn't) but she seemed to get a little panty wad and said "Bus? Car? Valet? Taxi? Walking?" I said "There's no reason to get angry, I just want my bags here." and pointed to the floor in front of me. She was steamed!!! So I walked around the corner to wait for my bags, and she proceeded to talk about this crazy problem customer she just dealt with... yeah, that would be me. I peaked around the corner again and looked at her, and she did have the decency to look a little chagrined. I just don't have much tolerance for bad customer service. I own a store, and workers with this kind of attitude (and we have had a few) don't stay working for us. It hurts everyone.
Anyway, I was upset, and not feeling so great about the last impression left at the Californian. My son has found a college he really likes nearby, and I had forseen many stays here over the next few years. Now I was rethinking... but just like in a Disney movie... there is a happy ending.
So we go out to retrieve our car from valet. An older gentleman comes up and jumps out. He says "cool car, and may I say you don't look anything like the person I thought would be driving this!" (I'm a midwest soccer mom kind of gal.) We rented a cobalt blue convertible mustang for fun, and it was FUN. He then tried to put our large suitcases in the trunk, which is like solving a puzzle, but we knew how to do it because we had been doing it all week. So ds picks up the bags, jiggers them around and voila! I hand the valet guy a five, and he tries to hand it to son and says he should get the tip. We laugh and give it back to him. Ahhh, now that is Disney.
