For those who have stayed at the Grand Californian what are your thoughts and preferences regarding rooms?

[APH]

I’m curious to know previous guests feel about noise, views, location etc and if they have preferences based on their previous stays.

 

[DizMe]

I always book a standard room if available. For me, there isn't any view at GCH worth the extra price, and often the view rooms come with long walks to get to/from the elevators. I don't spend much time in the room and most of the views are good anyway.

The most important factor for me is location. I want to be near an elevator. I also like the 3rd floor because it has its own little lobby.

I would stay away from the DVC wing (they do assign regular rooms there) as it's a long walk and an unpleasant location IMO. It tends to be noisier and you can get a room that gives you maintenance noise, loud music, etc after hours from DCA.

 

[OlliePop27]

I always book a standard room if available. For me, there isn't any view at GCH worth the extra price, and often the view rooms come with long walks to get to/from the elevators. I don't spend much time in the room and most of the views are good anyway.

The most important factor for me is location. I want to be near an elevator. I also like the 3rd floor because it has its own little lobby.

I would stay away from the DVC wing (they do assign regular rooms there) as it's a long walk and an unpleasant location IMO. It tends to be noisier and you can get a room that gives you maintenance noise, loud music, etc after hours from DCA.

Agreed. We were put in Room 3248 - a partial view room in the DVC wing, but not a DVC room. It's about as far away as possible from the lobby and park entrances. It also has some noise because it overlooks Goofy's Sky School. I will say that we ended up enjoying the room, largely because of the new DCA entrance immediately below this area. This is a massive convenience if staying in this area. You can enter here for DCA, or also to head towards DL later in the day. I would have booked standard view, but none were available at the time of our reservation.

 

[DizMe]

Agreed. We were put in Room 3248 - a partial view room in the DVC wing, but not a DVC room. It's about as far away as possible from the lobby and park entrances. It also has some noise because it overlooks Goofy's Sky School. I will say that we ended up enjoying the room, largely because of the new DCA entrance immediately below this area. This is a massive convenience if staying in this area. You can enter here for DCA, or also to head towards DL later in the day. I would have booked standard view, but none were available at the time of our reservation.

Oh, I forgot about the access to the new entrance! I've never used it but I'm going tomorrow so I'll check it out. That definitely would be a perk.

 

[DLgal]

I always book a standard room if available. For me, there isn't any view at GCH worth the extra price, and often the view rooms come with long walks to get to/from the elevators. I don't spend much time in the room and most of the views are good anyway.

The most important factor for me is location. I want to be near an elevator. I also like the 3rd floor because it has its own little lobby.

I would stay away from the DVC wing (they do assign regular rooms there) as it's a long walk and an unpleasant location IMO. It tends to be noisier and you can get a room that gives you maintenance noise, loud music, etc after hours from DCA.

I agree with all of this.

My favorite is also Standard View. Next favorite is Courtyard View. I really don't like any of the others.

 

[YodaRulz]

We stayed in a standard room facing Disneyland Drive, which overlooks the entry to the hotel this past August. Can't remember the number but it was like 251 but on the 3rd floor. It was super quiet with no noise and the view was actually really nice. The vending machines and elevators are close by, but not too close to get all the noise. It was a bit of a walk to get in line for security as the new entrance wasn't open yet.

I am actually heading back this week and can update again based on what we get this time.

 

[StormyCA]

Standard, always. I've occasionally stayed Woods/Courtyard but only when the price was right or we were offered a free upgrade.

I've stayed in theme park view once. It simply wasn't worth it for the amount of time we spent in the room.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I enjoy sitting on the balcony either as a break during a park day or to relax on our non-park days (like our arrival and check out days). Because of this, I prefer the woods/courtyard view. It feels very peaceful but still Disney, especially when we can see the monorail going past. If I'm doing a fast trip where I'm not going to spend much time in the room, then I stay at one of the off-site hotels near the crosswalk at Harbor. I rarely get to stay at GCH, so if I do, then I'm going to make sure I spend time in the hotel and enjoying that as part of the experience.

 

[DizMe]

I enjoy sitting on the balcony either as a break during a park day or to relax on our non-park days (like our arrival and check out days). Because of this, I prefer the woods/courtyard view. It feels very peaceful but still Disney, especially when we can see the monorail going past. If I'm doing a fast trip where I'm not going to spend much time in the room, then I stay at one of the off-site hotels near the crosswalk at Harbor. I rarely get to stay at GCH, so if I do, then I'm going to make sure I spend time in the hotel and enjoying that as part of the experience.

I agree with this. I almost always stay at GCH and love spending time in the hotel. I just don't spend much time in the room and rarely use the balcony.

But when I used to go with my kids (the youngest are in college now), they LOVED the courtyard rooms because of the monorail! I have to say that it's a very cool thing to see it quietly slide by your room.

 

[OneThree]

Have never stayed in a Standard room so I cannot comment on those but…

• DTD View - nice room with the daybed which was nice since we have two kids. Larger, I assume, balcony that was right above Sephora I believe, just to the left of the DTD entrance from the Grand if you were looking back at security. We go the room at a pretty good discount. Can’t say I would pay otherwise. I mean DTD is cool and all but still. Room was quiet except for one night where they were repairing lighting or something in DTD. The cherry picker backed up up about every two minutes so “beep, beep, beep” beginning at about 3:00 AM
• Woods/Courtyard - this was the room our last stay. It was nice, partial view of the theme park and I liked being able to sit on the balcony and listen to the Grizzly Peak area music.

Only stayed twice but have never had to wait for an elevator and never found the walk to/from either room an issue. There are some long hallways at the Grand through!

 

[ComeToSocialize]

I’ve always booked just standard view, except one time I booked theme park view. It was a REALLY long walk to the lobby/park entrances and actually made us realize we never want theme park view again. It seems like standard usually gets us a pretty short walk to the entrances, which is what we care about the most.

I usually ask at checkin if they can give us a room close to the parks/lobby. Any other tricks people have to get shorter walks?

 

[ParkHopper1]

So they book weaaaaaay more standard rooms which are the ones that overlook the front of the hotel than they actually have in inventory...so it is typical to get upgraded to woods/courtyard views but no guarantee.

My favorites are the Courtyard view with the monorail...nice and quite and love seeing the monorail. Hate the noise of the pool and DTD so neither of those appeals to me and all of the park views has been "meh" at best and not worth the gamble and price. I did have one room once overlooking Goffy's Sky Scholl and Paradise Bay which was cool but my gawd it was not worth the hike.

My room requests now are standard room near Napa Rose or main elevator if possible but would be fine if I am looking at the driveway because the value of GCH to me is proximity and accesability.

Now, PPH...that hotel is worth splurging for a Park view...best view of all three resorts hotels IMO.