Grand Californian - Theme Park View?

[luckytso]

Hi,

We are going to Grand Californian around this Xmas time. I was told by the front desk at GC that there are different views when you request the theme park view, i.e. paradise pier, grizzly something, etc.

We have never been to Disneyland, can someone tell me which view will be the best to request, especially around Xmas time?

Thanks for any input you can provide.

 

[challada]

Grand Californian is literally built attached to the CA park, so beware of view rooms in my opinion. The hotel is ajacent to a major corner (grizzly mountain) w/much traffic, has a monorail that runs through this same area of rooms, etc. If you want a view of the CA park, certainly request, but realize, there will be constant noise. You might be better w/a paradise pier view as that section is somewhat more distant from the park and I bet the ferris wheel looks awesome at xmas.

 

[ADisneyPrincess]

I stayed in a park view room in January and loved it! We were on the 4th floor overlooking Grizzly Peak and the monorail. With the door closed you could not hear a sound from the park, it was amazing! Open the door and you hear people yelling, music playing. I loved being able to see the monorail go by, people would wave. DCA closes earlier than DL so nights were very peaceful. We would open the door and look at the deserted park, very nice.

I don't know which view would be better at Christmas, but I really enjoyed the Grizzly Peak view.

 

[luckytso]

Thanks so much for the info. Have a great weekend.

 

[LuvTigger]

I agree that there are many types of theme-park views. When I first got into my room, I wasn't happy, but when I really looked at everything, I loved it! We were on the 4th floor, near the end of the wing on the right. (I'll see if I can find the room number.) Looking straight out from our balcony was the pool, and Grizzly Peak was right behind the other wing of the hotel. Turning right, we could see the Sun Wheel. We actually had a view of just about everything! I think the rooms directly facing DCA would be great.

As we walked around the resort, BF and I commented that we probably would've enjoyed the view from just about any room!

 

[luckytso]

thanks for all your responses.

Can someonel tell me if any of these "theme park view" rooms are close the elevator? Is there such combination? Thanks

 

[LuvTigger]

I can tell you that the room I was in was not very close to an elevator, but it was a very quiet location. It really didn't take that long to walk to the elevator though, I'd say a minute or two at most.

I THINK the ones I mentioned that face straight out to the pool area and the Sun Wheel area of DCA are rooms that are entered from the atrium lobby area and are pretty close to the elevators. That might be nice during the holidays, if it's anything like WL at WDW, I would imagine that they would set up a huge Xmas tree to fill up the atrium lobby!

Oh, and there is a nice big staircase, but it only goes up to the 3rd floor. Our room was on the 4th floor, so we had to take the elevator. (We learned during the hotel tour that this is for fire-code reasons because it's a wood staircase.)

If I can find my map from when I stayed there, I'll post more.

Btw, I forgot to mention...if you get a chance, try and take the hotel tour, it really was a highlight of our stay there. It's free, and at the time we were there (last October), it was at around 2 p.m. every day. I think it lasted about an hour. They also have storytelling around the fireplace too. And, there is a fireplace outside, which I don't think a lot of people know about. Apparently people order drinks at the lounge (I can't remember the exact name, I think it was Hearthstone something-or-other) and walk right outside and sit by the fireplace.

I can go on and on about that place, let us know when your plans are firm and we can give you more tips!

 

[luckytso]

LuvTigger,

Thanks for all the tips. We plan to be there for 3 nights, checking in on 12/23, and checking out on 12/26. I requested the room with a queen and bunk beds. I have a 4 yo and a 1 yo. We have been to WDW several times, but never to Disneyland.

My brother lives only half an hour away from Disneyland and he has never been there. He believes that once you have been to WDW, Disneyland is no comparison to it. After reading all the threads here, I am not sure if my brother's opionion is correct. We decided to splurge to stay at GC, rather than his house, for 3 nights just to see if this will make it a little special for the kids.

Do you have any other tips for our trip? Thanks.

 

[jlima]

In March we had a room with a courtyard view that was only 4 doors from the elevator. We could see the monorail when it went by, and we could see the fireworks in DL from our room. I thought it was a perfect location.

In July we had a courtyard room on the same courtyard but on the other side of it. It was a TREMENDOUS walk to the elevator, and no fireworks view. But for the time we were in the room I don't think we missed out that much.

We had the bunkbed room both times. There's a pack-n-play that comes with the room that may work better for your 1 yo. It's a great room!

Tip - call Disney Reservations periodically & check the rates for your days, to see if the rates go down; I did on our July trip and the AP rate for GC went down about $60/night in a week, between the time I made the res and when I called 3 days before our trip. If the rates are lower ask them to re-rate your existing reservation. It worked for us.

Tell your brother that DL is the park that Walt built, and if he gives it a chance he'll find it's a better park than the MK!

 

[LuvTigger]

luckytso,

I guess the WDW and DL comparison will always be the "great debate," but personally, I think of them as two separate entities with their own personalities and identities. I've been to both, and while I love WDW and would go there every year if I could (I live in Hawaii, which makes it costly), I still love going to DL and usually go there when I can't make it to WDW.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with GC either. I'm a WL lover, and I completely fell in love with GC when we stayed there! We spent lots of time just looking around the hotel. When you go there, you might want to ask Guest Services if they've come up with a Hidden Mickey clue list. I know the hotel is filled with them (they cover a couple during the tour), but when I asked for a list they said, "not yet, but they might be working on it."

Also, if you can squeeze it in, we really enjoyed eating at Storyteller's Cafe. We had the breakfast buffet one day (character breakfast with Pluto, Chip, and Dale) and dinner another. They have a dinner buffet, which looked really good, but we wanted a light dinner so we ordered off the menu. The corn chowder was excellent!! If you're looking for a good character meal, I've heard great things about Goofy's Kitchen. Whitewater snacks has an excellent breakfast sandwich, for less than $5! They don't actually call it a sandwich, but it's a huge biscuit with eggs, bacon, and cheese.

The other thing I think is different about DL is the DD there. I love WDW's DD, but DL's is very different. Also, I actually prefer the restaurants in DL's DD. For some reason, practically every restaurant we tried in WDW's DD really disappointed us, except for Portabello Yacht Club. At DL, it was quite the opposite! Just about everything we tried was excellent!

And along the lines of Jlima's comment, there are many people who will tell you that DL is somehow (unexplainably) more magical than MK is!

 

[matterhorngirl]

We were going to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel on November 9. It costed $10 for my room.

 

[luckytso]

Can other people get that too? What a rate!!!!

 

[scanmom]

That can't be right!!! If you somehow got ANY room for $10.00, please let us in on your secret!!! We would love to get in on that!!!