Grand Californian Questions UPDATE - added itinerary link

[Lizzim]

I have booked a trip to California at the end of September and I managed to book a studio at GCV for 4 nights during our stay

A few questions:

Are there washers/dryers available for free use like there are at WDW?

Is there anywhere that you can rent little boats like at WDW?

We fly in on a Saturday and our reservation at GCV starts on the Sunday.
Should we check in early and head to the parks on the Sunday morning or will it be horribly busy due to the weekend?

 

[DebbieB]

I have booked a trip to California at the end of September and I managed to book a studio at GCV for 4 nights during our stay

A few questions:

Are there washers/dryers available for free use like there are at WDW?

Is there anywhere that you can rent little boats like at WDW?

We fly in on a Saturday and our reservation at GCV starts on the Sunday.
Should we check in early and head to the parks on the Sunday morning or will it be horribly busy due to the weekend?

There are washer/dryers in the DVC section, not sure if they are free.

I don't think there's a lake at DL with boats, except for the paddle boats in the Rivers of America.

I went the end of September a couple of years ago, it wasn't busy at all. Going Sept 22 to 28 this year!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

The laundry room is located on the first floor of the villas. I believe the machines do require quarters but they are free to DVC so either go to concierge or the front desk and they will provide you with the tokens (or quarters) to do your laundry.

And if you are there early on Sunday I'd say to go in.

 

[Lizzim]

There are washer/dryers in the DVC section, not sure if they are free.

I don't think there's a lake at DL with boats, except for the paddle boats in the Rivers of America.

I went the end of September a couple of years ago, it wasn't busy at all. Going Sept 22 to 28 this year!

We are at GCV 23 - 27 Sept

 

[Disney Princess]

Sunday is normally a MM at Disneyland park, so if you are there on Saturday, for sure get up the next morning, get checked in, and go early. You can accomplish so much in that extra hour.

Have fun!

 

[Lizzim]

Well we fly into LAX on the Saturday evening so should we book a hotel near Disneyland so we can check into GCV early then head to the parks? We are from the UK so will probably be awake super early due to the time difference!

How early do Disneyland hours get announced? Not as far out as WDW hours I guess?

 

[RweTHEREyet]

There is a charge to use the laundry machines, but if you go to the front desk, they will give you tokens to use, so no cost for DVC members.

The VGC resort is just beautiful. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[boiseflyfisher]

It will be fairly busy at the end of September since the Halloween decorations will be out, but it won't be horrible. My advice is to get up and go check in early. Bell services will hold your bag until your villa is ready. Only once has our villa been ready before 4pm, so you might as well enjoy your day. I'm guessing that the park will open at 8am(just a guess for the weekend), so you will want to be at the gate for early entry at 7am. Early entry is fantastic! You can get a lot accomplished in that hour. You should be able to take advantage of it again on Tuesday and Thursday during your trip.

 

[DebbieB]

We lucked out on our stay in May that our studio was ready by 9:30am. My friend went out a day before me and stayed at PP. She checked in at 7:00am and asked for a park view, we got the coveted 6504. I was flying out that morning and was shocked when I was connecting in Phoenix when I got a call from her saying our room was ready.

 

[CruznLexi]

No lake thing to do we were there just a few weeks ago and came off the Wonder. From the ship we got there before 11am. Our room was ready about 2pm.

 

[Lizzim]

Thanks, so does anyone have a recommendation for a non Disney hotel that we could stay at on the Saturday night?

Would prefer not to pay too much as we will pretty much just be sleeping there.

Also, I posted my preliminary itinerary over on the California board - if anyone has any comments I have popped a link here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2898825

Thanks again

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

BOATLOADS of hotels nearby.

Howard Johnson is very highly rated and not badly priced.
Fairfield Inn is DIRECTLY across the street from the parks
CandyCane Inn gets GREAT reviews

There's one of all of your major American Chains... Marriott Courtyard, Marriott, Shearton, Hilton etc...

This park is VERY different from WDW and these hotels are all within walking distance of WDW. Personally I have stayed at the following

1. Residence Inn
2. Hilton Garden Inn
3. Hampton Inn
4. Shearton Park
5. Homewood suites.


#1 is a little old and beat up, but good location. #5 is a little far.
I would go back to any of them.

 

[Lizzim]

BOATLOADS of hotels nearby.

Howard Johnson is very highly rated and not badly priced.
Fairfield Inn is DIRECTLY across the street from the parks
CandyCane Inn gets GREAT reviews

There's one of all of your major American Chains... Marriott Courtyard, Marriott, Shearton, Hilton etc...

This park is VERY different from WDW and these hotels are all within walking distance of WDW. Personally I have stayed at the following

1. Residence Inn
2. Hilton Garden Inn
3. Hampton Inn
4. Shearton Park
5. Homewood suites.


#1 is a little old and beat up, but good location. #5 is a little far.
I would go back to any of them.

We have been to Disneyland Paris - where the two parks are side by side - I gather that California is similar in that sense but all the hotels appear to be closer than they are in Paris.

Will give some of them a look - the Hilton Garden Inn looks a reasonable price for our dates and I might have a few hotel points I could use

 

[Cinderpamela]

We have stayed at both Sheratons -"Sheraton Anaheim"(has a dedicated shuttle) and the "Sheraton Park" both are really nice(DH has Sheraton Points). But there are far closer hotels that friends of ours have really liked. One is the Fairwood, the other one is the Candy Cane.
We have also stayed at the Ramada Maingate when we were just looking for a clean inexpensive room for one night.

Here is a great map that gives a visual on where these resorts are in respect to the pedestrian entrance:
http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

 

[taaren]

Thanks, so does anyone have a recommendation for a non Disney hotel that we could stay at on the Saturday night?

Would prefer not to pay too much as we will pretty much just be sleeping there.

Also, I posted my preliminary itinerary over on the California board - if anyone has any comments I have popped a link here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2898825

Thanks again

Cheapest way to go would be to either Hotwire or Priceline whatever the minimum * you're willing to stay in for that night for either Anaheim North or South.

We're going in June, similarly arriving on a Sunday, I booked a 1 bedroom at the Marriott Suites since we have 6 people for Saturday night just so we can be there/get our keys for MM first thing Sunday morning which will be extra important due to Carsland opening. If you're not going into the park Saturday night its okay to stay a little farther away, the convention center hotels (Hilton, Marriott, etc) are usually decently priced though I've stayed at the Meridian Best Western the next town over, about 4 miles away in Orange to get a $60 rate for a decent room when we knew we'd be moving closer.