This was a birthday trip for my hubby and I surprised him with a stay at the Grand Cal. The goal of this trip was to take it at a slow and easy pace so we could relax and enjoy instead of running around at a frantic pace like we usually do.
We hopped in the van at 8:30am Phx time this past Sunday and arrived at the Cabazon outlet mall outside Palm Springs at 1pm. After some outlet shopping, we headed to Chino Hills for dinner at my brother-in-law's house. After a very yummy dinner and a nice visit, we finally headed off to Anaheim. We were on Harbor Blvd by about 9pm and my husband was about to pull into the Best Western (where he thought we were staying) and then I told him about his birthday surprise. He got a huge smile on his face when we found out we were staying at the Grand Cal instead and he couldn't believe I was able to keep my secret!
We pulled up to the Grand Cal and decided to valet park (even though it was $12) for the 1st night since we were so tired and didn't want to deal with self-parking. Check-in went very smoothly and we got a king size bed as requested. Thanks to a tip from Tink33, we booked our room through Expedia and got a fantastic rate of $165 per night. When you book through Expedia, your credit card is charged for the full amount by Expedia when you make your reservation (for select rates at some hotels). We had to leave a credit card # with the front desk just to cover incidentals ($6.90 resort fee, any phone calls, room service, etc.). The CM told us that we could switch from valet parking to self-parking (covered by the $6.90 resort fee) at any time.
We headed up to our room #4417 and were very happy to see that our view was of the courtyard and Downtown Disney (when you book with Expedia there is no indication of what kind of view you are getting). The room had the following extras: two robes to use during our stay, coffee maker, ironing board/iron, hair dryer, safe, stocked refrigerator (we peeked in, put didn't use anything), baby playpen/sleeper, magazines, USA today at the door each morning. They turn down the bed each night while you're out for dinner and put chocolates on the nightstand.
After we unpacked and got settled in, we decided to get some sleep since we planned on being at DL prior to the rope drop for breakfast the next morning.
I'll post Monday at DL later on today......
We hopped in the van at 8:30am Phx time this past Sunday and arrived at the Cabazon outlet mall outside Palm Springs at 1pm. After some outlet shopping, we headed to Chino Hills for dinner at my brother-in-law's house. After a very yummy dinner and a nice visit, we finally headed off to Anaheim. We were on Harbor Blvd by about 9pm and my husband was about to pull into the Best Western (where he thought we were staying) and then I told him about his birthday surprise. He got a huge smile on his face when we found out we were staying at the Grand Cal instead and he couldn't believe I was able to keep my secret!
We pulled up to the Grand Cal and decided to valet park (even though it was $12) for the 1st night since we were so tired and didn't want to deal with self-parking. Check-in went very smoothly and we got a king size bed as requested. Thanks to a tip from Tink33, we booked our room through Expedia and got a fantastic rate of $165 per night. When you book through Expedia, your credit card is charged for the full amount by Expedia when you make your reservation (for select rates at some hotels). We had to leave a credit card # with the front desk just to cover incidentals ($6.90 resort fee, any phone calls, room service, etc.). The CM told us that we could switch from valet parking to self-parking (covered by the $6.90 resort fee) at any time.
We headed up to our room #4417 and were very happy to see that our view was of the courtyard and Downtown Disney (when you book with Expedia there is no indication of what kind of view you are getting). The room had the following extras: two robes to use during our stay, coffee maker, ironing board/iron, hair dryer, safe, stocked refrigerator (we peeked in, put didn't use anything), baby playpen/sleeper, magazines, USA today at the door each morning. They turn down the bed each night while you're out for dinner and put chocolates on the nightstand.
After we unpacked and got settled in, we decided to get some sleep since we planned on being at DL prior to the rope drop for breakfast the next morning.I'll post Monday at DL later on today......
