Grand Californian Super Thread

[DmaxHawk]

A thread on MiceChat has WWS closing at 5PM

http://micechat.com/forums/disneyland-resort/111203-whitewater-snacks-new-hours.html

 

[jennym68]

I believe that room is one of the new rooms built as bart of the DVC expansion. Was it a regular hotel room with 2 queen beds? Or was it like a studio villa with a small kitchenette, one bed and foldout sofa?

yes just a regular room with 2 queens and yes thats part of the new wing


one other thing that i forgot to say that was a negative..on the 2nd last night of our stay, we returned to our room close to midnight to find a 'letter' from the hotel along with a glow stick type thingy saying that from midnight to 4am THAT night they were switching off the power to all rooms and to use the glow stick for light!! there would be no use of the alarm clock, or anything requiring power! I couldn't believe this would be the case in a hotel of this standard. And especially to not give any notice! My DH uses CPAP breathing machine when sleeping which of course requires power! I was furious that they felt they could do this without notice or doing it in stages etc..by this time my son was asleep and i didn't want to use the phone so i hiked down to the lobby to find out what was going on. When the CM asked me what room i was in, he looked it up and said 'oh that room isn't affected as its in the new wing, its just the older part of the hotel'. At least we weren't affected but i stil thought it was a terrible way to handle something like that. I am guessing hey must have just told housekeeping to give everyone the letter and glow stick..not sure why!!

 

[jasonk5]

Are they still allowing GCH (or any Disney hotel guest for that matter) into CA park 1 hour early to get FP to WOC? I'm curious as to how it's working now that I'm finally able to go see it.

Thanks

 

[jasonk5]

Hi, i have just returned from a 9 night stay at the GCH.
We were in room 2254 which was SO far away...we were almost at the PPH! We did ask for a change of rooms as the hike back to the lobby etc was just so long, the next day they told us we could move to the inner courtyard where the monorail runs. We actually ended up staying where we were because we at least had a partial view of DCA.

How bad of hike would you say it is from the lobby to the DVC wing? About 3-5 minutes or so? How would you think preschoolers would handle it? I don't mind the walk, but I'm not sure my wife and kids will like it after a day at the parks, or from going to the pool and back all the time. Thanks for the input!!!!

 

[caimakale]

Are they still allowing GCH (or any Disney hotel guest for that matter) into CA park 1 hour early to get FP to WOC? I'm curious as to how it's working now that I'm finally able to go see it.

Thanks

Yes. We were allowed access at 9:00 AM last week. The cast member at the concierge desk told me that even though they were allowing hotel guests in at 9:00, that they were discontinuing allowing anyone on Soarin' before the park opened at 10:00. Contrary to what we were told, Soarin' was open at 9:30.

 

[mmmears]

Yes. We were allowed access at 9:00 AM last week. The cast member at the concierge desk told me that even though they were allowing hotel guests in at 9:00, that they were discontinuing allowing anyone on Soarin' before the park opened at 10:00. Contrary to what we were told, Soarin' was open at 9:30.

Thanks for the current info!

 

[MCSfromWA]

How bad of hike would you say it is from the lobby to the DVC wing? About 3-5 minutes or so? How would you think preschoolers would handle it? I don't mind the walk, but I'm not sure my wife and kids will like it after a day at the parks, or from going to the pool and back all the time. Thanks for the input!!!!

The villas are really close and convenient to everything. Some of the hotel rooms are quite a hike but the villas are really close. It only takes a minute or two to get from the lobby to the villa elevators -- and then the villas are right off the elevator. The pool is just outside the door to the elevators. The entrance to DCA is on the other side of the pools (really close). We have stayed at GCH several times before the villas and we have stayed twice at VGC -- it is so easy!

 

[jennym68]

How bad of hike would you say it is from the lobby to the DVC wing? About 3-5 minutes or so? How would you think preschoolers would handle it? I don't mind the walk, but I'm not sure my wife and kids will like it after a day at the parks, or from going to the pool and back all the time. Thanks for the input!!!!

Well as we had a hotel room, i'm not sure where the villas are in that wing. Our room was almost at the very end of the wing, when i looked out the balcony to the right, the PPH was right there and directly in front of me was mullholland madness. It took probably 4-5 minute to walk to the lobby and we did it multiple times a day with my 4 year old, we got used to it. In relative terms its still very close to the parks! We never had to wait for an elevator, they are excellent.
What i do know is right outside the elevators in that wing is one entrance to the pools so thats really convienient, its directly across from WWS.
I had trouble being able to picture where everything was in relation to each other but once we were there it all became clear.

 

[pearl12970]

Thank you ,Jack.

It was 2100 when we were there, but, they were still fixing food long after that.

Jack

 

[nunzia]

How bad of hike would you say it is from the lobby to the DVC wing? About 3-5 minutes or so? How would you think preschoolers would handle it? I don't mind the walk, but I'm not sure my wife and kids will like it after a day at the parks, or from going to the pool and back all the time. Thanks for the input!!!!

I think the DVC wing is actually closer than many of the older rooms..you exit to the right, along a little outside walkway, go into the new building, take an elevator and there you are. Now..it's a bit farther to Disneyland, but sill not a long hike IMO. The pools are very close to the new wing. Super easy. I've been in much biggger hotels, so really, I don't see the Grand Californian that sprawling. I found the Beach Club took much more time to get around and that parking lot was ridiculous, for instance..I also worked at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.now that was a PIA to get around in.

 

[KCmike]

 

[franandaj]

Anyone who is complaining of the "hikes" at the GCH or VGC has never stayed at the Boardwalk or Kidani!

 

[mmmears]

Anyone who is complaining of the "hikes" at the GCH or VGC has never stayed at the Boardwalk or Kidani!

You can add YC, BC, and AKL to that list!

But I do think that some of the hallways at the GCH do feel never-ending.

 

[Nonsuch]

How bad of hike would you say it is from the lobby to the DVC wing? About 3-5 minutes or so? How would you think preschoolers would handle it? I don't mind the walk, but I'm not sure my wife and kids will like it after a day at the parks, or from going to the pool and back all the time.

The elevators in the new DVC wing are very close to the pools, and that area of the hotel is the least busy. The other elevators are either the main lobby or near Storytellers, both of which seems more exposed.
The new wing is not any farther than some of the old wings, and I like the fact there is no need to double back.

 

[Nonsuch]

I just returned from Disneyland, staying 1 night in a villa and 2 nights in GCH room 5450. This room is in the wing above the World of Disney store, and is the last regular room at the end of a long hallway. The park view was excellent

I also took a video of the view and walking down stairs through Downtown Disney to the Main Gate, in less than 4 minutes
This is one of the closest rooms going to the main gate, but is one the farthest rooms returning.

 

[KCmike]

Private entrance to DCA

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Private entrance to DCA

Isn't that just the most wonderful perk? I would have never imagined that I could walk out of a park and then be standing in my hotel. Sure would never happen at WDW.

 

[funatdisney]

I just love that the park entrance is so close to the pool. When we go swimming, we will swim for a while and then put on a t-shirt and water shoes and head to GRR hop on and then head back to the pool. Makes for an entertaining afternoon.

 

[kailuagirl]

Anyone know if the pool is heated? We are going at the end of November and wondering if we might be able to swim. Thanks!

 

[jennym68]

yes they are heated and the hot tubs are wonderful to warm up in after a swim!