Grand Californian

[DLgal]

The vacation booking system indicated I could make park reservations today. Logged in, saw the reservation button was enabled, clicked in … and the only date that's available is Oct. 6, five days before we check in (Oct. 11) and six days before our first park day (Oct. 12). So strange!

Admittedly, we are more than 120 days out. By my calculation, we shouldn’t be able to make reservations until June 14. The only reason I tried is because the system clearly said/still says June 8. Anyone else having “issues” with their park reservation date tied to a Grand vacation stay?

The system let's you make reservations ahead of your arrival date. Not everyone is traveling from far away and with multi day tickets people may use a few days ahead of checkin on a longer ticket. For example, we are locals checking in July 2 for 3 nights but bought a 5 day hopper and were planning to go 2 days before we check in because a 5 day hopper is a better value than a 3 day one.

 

[_yoko_]

Hi! I booked a club level room at the end of June. Has anyone stayed there yet that can give a report? I am second guessing my choice now.. we are traveling from out of state so it’s already a super expensive adventure. Thanks!

I also booked a club level room at the end of June. I've been in the past and it has been super convenient. With the challenges with mobile food ordering, I like the peace of mind that there is food available when we need it vs having to plan and wait.
If there is anyone who has visited since Club opened, I'd love to see pictures, food and if anything has changed from pre-COVID to determine value of club level vs standardroom.

 

[gpjacobs]

G

The system let's you make reservations ahead of your arrival date. Not everyone is traveling from far away and with multi day tickets people may use a few days ahead of checkin on a longer ticket. For example, we are locals checking in July 2 for 3 nights but bought a 5 day hopper and were planning to go 2 days before we check in because a 5 day hopper is a better value than a 3 day one.

Good point!

 

[stagemomto3]

There have been two reports of bed bugs at the Grand Californian on the Facebook group this week. Anyone here have problems with this? The room numbers are 3242 and 5516. We are staying in a 2 bedroom villa at the end of June, and I'm a bit worried. I'm hoping it's isolated and they are taking care of it, but both people reported that their complaints were essentially brushed off.

 

[Nonsuch]

There have been two reports of bed bugs at the Grand Californian on the Facebook group this week. Anyone here have problems with this? The room numbers are 3242 and 5516. We are staying in a 2 bedroom villa at the end of June, and I'm a bit worried. I'm hoping it's isolated and they are taking care of it, but both people reported that their complaints were essentially brushed off.

3242 is a regular hotel room facing Goofy's Sky School, 5516 is a studio villa facing Redwood Creek -- your 2-bedroom will not be one of those.
I have no information about the current cases, but a couple years ago I did see a beagle being walked through GCH (a breed often used to detect bedbugs).

 

[stagemomto3]

3242 is a regular hotel room facing Goofy's Sky School, 5516 is a studio villa facing Redwood Creek -- your 2-bedroom will not be one of those.
I have no information about the current cases, but a couple years ago I did see a beagle being walked through GCH (a breed often used to detect bedbugs).

Thanks! That makes me feel a bit better!

 

[Evita_W]

Frankly, at $800 per night, I expect better service than that. Usually the front desk is amazing. I am not a demanding guest and rarely ask for anything from hotel staff, but if I couldn't get clearly available reservations, I would expect the staff to make whatever calls they needed to make to get reservations that were supposed to be an added perk of staying there. You get a pretty standard Marriott-type room at the hotel, so it really should be making up for it in service, not just throwing their hands up and directing you to a regular ticket booth.

Definitely should expect better than that. We have stayed at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel on days that reservations at Knott's were sold out and they offered to make reservations for the day for us. We already had reservations, but it was nice to know they had some set aside for the hotel guests and that the front desk would assist. And this from a room that was under $100 for the night.

 

[squirrels17]

Now that the valet is reopen, does anyone know if they're offering EV charging with it again?

In case anyone is wondering, the answer is yes.

Pretty smooth check-in process today - doing the online check in helps somewhat but you still have to wait in line (15-20 minutes for us) to officially check in and get your keys. ~Half of the groups of lounge chairs at the pool had umbrellas, and you’re gonna wish you had one But if you’re patient and wait for one to open up, ask a cast member with an iPad so they can switch you! 2:45 and still waiting for our room, but at least in the shade now

 

[_yoko_]

There have been two reports of bed bugs at the Grand Californian on the Facebook group this week. Anyone here have problems with this? The room numbers are 3242 and 5516. We are staying in a 2 bedroom villa at the end of June, and I'm a bit worried. I'm hoping it's isolated and they are taking care of it, but both people reported that their complaints were essentially brushed off.

Whatfcebook group did you see that report? Curious

 

[stagemomto3]

Whatfcebook group did you see that report? Curious

The “Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa” group. There are several pictures of the bedbug carnage as well as the stories.

 

[MouseOfCards]

We purchased park hopper tickets and chose DL for our first park for an upcoming visit. Can we use the DCA entrance from GCH in the morning, or need to go through DTD first?

 

[Malcon10t]

We purchased park hopper tickets and chose DL for our first park for an upcoming visit. Can we use the DCA entrance from GCH in the morning, or need to go through DTD first?

Since you are entering DL first, you will need to go thru DTD. Your ticket won't allow for entry into DCA until 1pm. We even used the main gates on our first entry for DCA as it was much faster than the DCA gate at the hotel.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Since you are entering DL first, you will need to go thru DTD. Your ticket won't allow for entry into DCA until 1pm. We even used the main gates on our first entry for DCA as it was much faster than the DCA gate at the hotel.

We found the GCH entrance to be very fast, and we didn’t get into line until around 8am. The line stretched back to storytellers when we got in line, and we were still in the park in just over 5 minutes. I remember that entry point being slooooow pre-pandemic, but it looked to be moving quickly when we walked by so we hopped in. Since we were coming from Craftsman, it would have taken way more time to go around to the DTD entrance. I think that entry is worth using if you are planning on going to Pixar Pier, Soaring, or anything on that side of the park as for your first attraction.

 

[Malcon10t]

On June 4th, we had a large group. 7 went and got in line at the DCA entrance at 730a. Our group of 7 wanted Starbucks, so we hit Starbucks first, then hit the line heading into DCA from the front gate. We beat them in by about 20 mins because the main gate opened earlier than the DCA gate.

On the 5th, we all just used the front gate.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

On June 4th, we had a large group. 7 went and got in line at the DCA entrance at 730a. Our group of 7 wanted Starbucks, so we hit Starbucks first, then hit the line heading into DCA from the front gate. We beat them in by about 20 mins because the main gate opened earlier than the DCA gate.

On the 5th, we all just used the front gate.

I think it just depends on the day and what time you plan on getting in line. We used the gate on the 6th and I am pretty positive they opened the same time as the front gate that day. We didn’t plan on using that gate because when we walked by to go to Craftsman at about 7:15 on the 4th and 5th, there were no cast members present and getting ready to open the gate. But when we walked by on the 6th to go to Craftsman, they had CMs at all 4 entry points and all the security personnel and temp takers were in place and had already let through as many people as they could through security to the gate. They started letting people through that gate and into the park at 8ish when we were finished with breakfast and we got into the park about 5 minutes after getting into line. We were 1 of only 3-4 groups of people on Pixar Pier for about 15 minutes.

 

[tankgirl!]

Yikes! That's scary info about bedbugs. I really hope it isn't a widespread problem at GCH. Our trip isn't for a few months, but if anyone hears additional info about cases and/or GCH's response, I'd be grateful. Thanks!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Yikes! That's scary info about bedbugs. I really hope it isn't a widespread problem at GCH. Our trip isn't for a few months, but if anyone hears additional info about cases and/or GCH's response, I'd be grateful. Thanks!

Very scary about the bedbugs. I'm a freak about those--even my kids know how to check. I wonder if tweeting to Disney about it would help them take the matter more seriously?

 

[twodogs]

I know that they are not using the full resort, but has anyone been assigned a King room with the pull out chair and the day bed since reopening? We love that room type so our teens don’t have to share a bed, but I know they didn’t have many of them pre-COVID.

 

[BayouQueen]

Does anyone know if there is room service available now at GCH? I've searched this thread, but didn't see anything recent.

 

[DizMe]

The “Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa” group. There are several pictures of the bedbug carnage as well as the stories.

Ew!! I haven't heard of bedbug troubles in several years. You never want that issue, but right at reopening is a shame.

I visited the FB site above and joined. While there, I saw this interesting piece of information: "...Guests staying at Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, or Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, can all scan QR codes from their in-room TVs to access the links to restaurant delivery web pages and order food and beverages that can be delivered to the Disneyland Resort hotel lobbies." People reported that they ordered from La Brea and Jazz Kitchen, but you can order from any DTD restaurant. It's delivered to Guest Services in the lobby and they call/text when it's there. Pretty neat! They did say the menu was somewhat limited but better than the mobile order in the parks.