Grand Californian Super Thread

[gottalovepluto]

I am SO SO SO EXCITED. After calling almost every day to group reservations they FINALLY Club Level available to upgrade from the Dapper Day rate. It's still not cheap mind you haha but this has been a bucket list item for me.
It has been a long few months with physical and medical challenges as well as work some days being absolutely overwhelming yet I still give my all , I am really really needing this.

I plan to take advantage of and enjoy every moment.
April 20th can't come soon enough! :happydance:

Congrats!!!

GCH CL is really a special experience. Make sure to work in an afternoon break to enjoy tea time!

 

[sabrecmc]

We are coming back to the GC for a stay May 28-June 2 to celebrate my daughter's 16th birthday. Very excited! Any suggestions for birthday things to do or ask for at the resort?

 

[Pluto468]

We are coming back to the GC for a stay May 28-June 2 to celebrate my daughter's 16th birthday. Very excited! Any suggestions for birthday things to do or ask for at the resort?

Make sure to get a Birthday button. My daughter loved having so many people wish her a happy birthday when we were there. We're celebrating birthdays on our upcming trip and I added a birthday cake to a couple of our dining reservations.

 

[disneyfan95]

Does anyone have a copy of the Grand Californian’s resort activity schedule they could share?

 

[Czardas]

Do the DVC villas have shampoo, conditioner and body wash? Just trying not to pack them if I don’t have too.

 

[SeaDis]

Do the DVC villas have shampoo, conditioner and body wash? Just trying not to pack them if I don’t have too.

Yes, currently, you should have H2O/Disney travel size tubes of: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, & lotion. They don't last long (body wash goes first for us), but you can request more. I usually catch the Mousekeeping cart in the hallway and request more, with some gratuity. Have fun!

 

[nintz]

Hi guys,
Question, Staying at club level in June. One of the perks Disney claims is that a club level rep will reach out to assist with future dining, questions, etc. Can anybody shed some light on this. I'm usually the guy who books 60 days for dining. But if that's an included perk I'm all in. Thanks in advance for the advice

 

[twodogs]

We are here now. Wanted to update on housekeeping. At check in, they mentioned that they are only doing towels and trash every other day but “call if you need anything”. I asked if daily full housekeeping could be requested. She hesitated but did agree that I could ask for that. She said I would have to tell them a time by which we would be out of the room each day ( no problem there). She then didn’t know how to put it in the computer but the CM who has the ipad at check in came over and said she would show her how to do that. I also called housekeeping on check-in evening to request some bedding for the pull out bed, and requested daily service with housekeeping directly. So far, they are 2/2 on cleaning the room. I sure hope more people request full housekeeping so that they will know that this is what consumers expect at this price point.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Hi guys,
Question, Staying at club level in June. One of the perks Disney claims is that a club level rep will reach out to assist with future dining, questions, etc. Can anybody shed some light on this. I'm usually the guy who books 60 days for dining. But if that's an included perk I'm all in. Thanks in advance for the advice

You'll need to call the hotel to see if this is being offered. It was offered preCovid, but I haven't been aware of it returning. In fact, when I stayed club level in the fall, I overheard the concierge staff telling another club level guest that the parks were sold out and there was no way they could get entrance to the park. So, from what I could tell, they couldn't help with anything. You get the lounge access, though, which is nice if you want to eat or drink anything without waiting in a line somewhere.

EDIT: Sorry, my experience was at DLH. I don't know if things are different at the Grand.

 

[Pluto468]

We are here now. Wanted to update on housekeeping. At check in, they mentioned that they are only doing towels and trash every other day but “call if you need anything”. I asked if daily full housekeeping could be requested. She hesitated but did agree that I could ask for that. She said I would have to tell them a time by which we would be out of the room each day ( no problem there). She then didn’t know how to put it in the computer but the CM who has the ipad at check in came over and said she would show her how to do that. I also called housekeeping on check-in evening to request some bedding for the pull out bed, and requested daily service with housekeeping directly. So far, they are 2/2 on cleaning the room. I sure hope more people request full housekeeping so that they will know that this is what consumers expect at this price point.

Thanks for the update! I'll be either at DLH or GC in a couple of weeks and I was wondering how housekeeping is. Good to know daily is available at least at GC if we want it.

 

[twodogs]

Thanks for the update! I'll be either at DLH or GC in a couple of weeks and I was wondering how housekeeping is. Good to know daily is available at least at GC if we want it.

We stayed at the DLH in October, and I was offered the same towels and trash every other day at checkin. I kindly requested full housekeeping every day, and I got it. PLEASE request this so Disney knows this is an expected service that people want to see at this price level of hotels. They will continue to save tons of money by not rehiring housekeepers if everyone just accepts this terrible level of service.

 

[DnA2010]

My apologies if I'm just not seeing it on the boards, but is there any update regarding early hours for on-site guests? Stay booked at GC in Sept

 

[Pluto468]

Nothing yet, un

My apologies if I'm just not seeing it on the boards, but is there any update regarding early hours for on-site guests? Stay booked at GC in Sept

Nothing yet, unfortunately.

 

[AllThingsDisney12]

Does anyone know how to book the 3 bedroom signature suite? Can you do it online? I’ve tried all kinds of random different dates but every single time it keeps telling me to change search or call for availability. Is that just another way of saying there’s no availability?

 

[Shinrai]

I have a question about the GCH gate from DCA.

If we’re in DCA at closing, or if we stay for the late WOC show (which usually ends after closing, I think?), can we use that gate to get back to the hotel, or do they shuffle people to the main entrance?

 

[StormyCA]

Does anyone know how to book the 3 bedroom signature suite? Can you do it online? I’ve tried all kinds of random different dates but every single time it keeps telling me to change search or call for availability. Is that just another way of saying there’s no availability?

My understanding is that they cannot be booked online. You have to call to reserve.

 

[clansac]

I have a question about the GCH gate from DCA.

If we’re in DCA at closing, or if we stay for the late WOC show (which usually ends after closing, I think?), can we use that gate to get back to the hotel, or do they shuffle people to the main entrance?

We've use this gate many times to get back into GCH after closing.

 

[ParkHopper1]

I have a question about the GCH gate from DCA.

If we’re in DCA at closing, or if we stay for the late WOC show (which usually ends after closing, I think?), can we use that gate to get back to the hotel, or do they shuffle people to the main entrance?

That exit is almost always open and available to all...I have only seen it closed once to non GCH guests and that was something like a NYE or other major holiday where a WOC closed out the Park after-hours and even that was a quite a few years ago.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hi guys,
Question, Staying at club level in June. One of the perks Disney claims is that a club level rep will reach out to assist with future dining, questions, etc. Can anybody shed some light on this. I'm usually the guy who books 60 days for dining. But if that's an included perk I'm all in. Thanks in advance for the advice

Nobody reached out to us for our trip last week, I booked it all myself when the 60 day windows opened.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just back from a nice stay at GCH CL, thought I'd share a few thoughts! It was my first trip back to DL since covid fwiw.

GCH in general

• security in the mornings around 8:30-9 was really fast except one day of our Sun-Thurs trip there was about a 15-20 min line to DtD that stretched to the lobby but it moved much faster than I expected. (Sidenote- old school bag checks still?! Was very sad to see that, I love disney world's walk through machines! Security said they tested them but didn't work for Disneyland for some reason )
• Mobile order at Craftsman Grill was a good 25 min wait about half hour before closing after I clicked the "I'm here" button, really regretted I didn't click that thing sooner
• Hotel is still in nice shape, lobby, pools, etc don't seem rundown or outdated. Hot tub at the pool doesn't have nearly enough loungers next to it so if you want a lounge chair near the big hot tub you're going to need an amazing plan to snag some.
• Children everywhere! Don't travel the week before Easter if you aren't cool with getting splashed in the pool hot tub by a dozen+ kids lol. It was waaaay more children under 10 than I've ever seen at GCH but maybe more families are opting for GCH with DLH under construction?
• The convenience was worth it to us for this special occasion trip and then really became worth it after an in-park fall that took out two of my party for the rest of the day (one gashed the back of her head, one badly bruised/scratched/slightly twisted her knee)
• Did you know they can call a nurse who can do basic first aid? I didn't until we told the concierge about the bleeding head (we didn't realize it was bleeding until we got to the hotel) to see about suggestions on where to take her and they offered to call the nurse. Took about 10-15 mins to arrive. She disinfected the wound, wrapped it and advised on the depth of the injury so we could decide to ER or not and told us what to watch for later. She also treated our other injured, disinfecting the wound, providing a bandage and a temporary ice pack. She was only allowed to do very basic things but it was more than we were equipped to do and we really appreciated her analysis of it all. Disney Security came for a report before the nurse arrived and they stayed through the whole thing so it all felt very safe for everyone involved.
• Facemasks for hotel staff became option while we were there. I am NOT saying that's good or bad. Just interesting. Parks still required staff be masked.

GCH CL

• Concierges were very helpful this trip. Let us know about- and called- the nurse, at my request they moved our park reservations from CA Adventure to DL for the next day since our injured party members needed to stick to easy, calm rides. They helped us push back a Storyteller's reservation (a feat, they needed to get hold of the restaurant lead or something) about half an hour after a migraine took another one of us down for a few hours at the end of the trip (it was *rough* trip medical wise but can't blame the Mouse for any of that!)
• Staff inside the CL were excellent, as always! Kind, professional, I've always found them top notch and this was no exception!
• Still love their all day mimosa bar
• gluten free muffin and bagel available on request
• Appetizer offerings were the dark spot on the trip as I found them kinda sad. Skewers, skewers everywhere! And not very good ones. Asian night was delicious (and skewer free lol). I ultimately felt the appetizers lacked creativity and weren't really that good aside from the Asian night. I recently stayed Wilderness Lodge CL at WDW and they managed to put out a variety of main apps for our few days so this shouldn't be an impossible task for Disneyland's Flagship Resort

Will we stay again? Idk. We've been going every couple years for a while pre-covid and staying onsite but GCH is lot of dough, even pricing it without CL. Like it was a lovely way to celebrate our special occasion and wowza were we happy to have such a short walk and concierge help when the medical issues hit- but God willing that much bad luck won't ever hit us again on a trip! We like being in the Disney bubble so I can see us coughing up the dough for on-site but I'm leaning towards DLH unless it's a terribly special occasion again.