Grand CA-anyone there now/recently? Construction?

[GeneralTso]

Can anyone tell me what the construction situation is this week? (March 20)? We arrive next week and I'm curious where the noise/commotion is. I know the pool is shut down.

I get very vague and non-answers when I call. It's like they don't want you to know!

I've stayed on Disney properties during construction before, and it's not been a problem. They manage it very well. We are paying for a Premium/Theme Park view, so any insight as to where they are working now might help. Thanks in advance!

 

[Nonsuch]

I was at GCH over this past week, returned home Monday (March 20). I'll post photos and more details on the GCH Superthread, but here are a few comments:

• Pool work is ongoing, with many workers grinding and placing random shaped natural stone. Avoid a pool view due to the noise and ugly view. Premium View combines Pool and Park views, but you should only accept a Park view.
• Interior renovation seems isolated to the hotel rooms added during the VGC expansion, ironically the newest rooms are being renovated first. Rooms x218 - x260 is the area being worked on, it appears the higher floors are done. Rooms x5xx, VGC and a few hotel rooms are also done.
• Renovated Park view rooms are likely available 5240 - 5260 (even numbers), however these are the most distant rooms and Goofy's Sky School is very close (louder than pool construction) -- a brand new room might be worth the walk and noise.

 

[tarheelalum]

I walked through the grand yesterday around mid day by the pool area on my way to the Disneyland Hotel. They had some very loud construction going on and that area was sort of blocked off. If I was paying to stay there I'd want a big discount for putting up with that mess. On trip advisor people recently mentioned during the week the water would be shut off from time to time.

 

[okamy]

We were at GCH last week for three nights. We had a "woods view" on the 4th floor overlooking the GCH entrance to DCA. (Our room had not been redone yet but we loved this location.) We didn't notice any sound at all from the construction. The construction only impacted us in 2 ways:

(1) Our first night there (Sunday, March 12), they cut off the water to the guest rooms in the middle of the night - I think it was between about midnight and 5 - don't remember exactly. We were notified of this plan when we checked in and they put complimentary bottles of water in the room that night. This wasn't a problem for us at all.

(2) Although I hadn't anticipated we would have time to swim, the weather was so hot and the parks so crowded that my family did decide to swim one afternoon. We asked at the front desk what we needed to do to access the DLH pool and were directed to a location near the front drive where they used golf carts to shuttle guests back and forth to DLH. It was a very short ride (which my daughters thoroughly enjoyed) and then a lifeguard met us at the DLH shuttle stop and gave us a brief tour of the pools. When we were ready to go back, we went back to the shuttle stop at DLH and the lifeguard there called another golf cart to take us to the GCH. It was all handled very smoothly. If I were planning to swim every day, this might deter me from staying at GCH. But for a one-time thing, it was more of an adventure than a hassle.

 

[StormyCA]

We were there this past Sunday and Monday nights. Courtyard view, 5th floor, near lobby elevators. No discernible construction noise from our room during our mid-day breaks. Construction is being limited to 9 am - 5 pm. We heard noise from the pool area during the day walking to and from the DCA entrance, but you can't hear it from the lobby.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I was there this past Fri - Sun. I could hear the pool construction when I walked by it. My room was right in the lobby on the second floor. It was considered a woods view and overlooked the rounded area next to the Sephora entrance. Monorail would cruise right past the room. If I had kids who needed a nap, I would not have liked this room. The sounds of the lobby (music and people talking) were really loud in the room. It was quieter at night, but yikes for those who want to use their room during the day. Hopefully, the don't bother renting out that room when they begin working on the lobby.

I didn't see and wasn't bothered by any other construction besides the pool area when I walked by it.

We did take the monorail once and the narration still points out the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Everyone in our car groaned and commented about it, lol.

 

[GeneralTso]

Thank you, all. This is very helpful!