How to get from GCH to Disneyland

You just have to exit and walk through Downtown Disney and the Esplanade is right there. Pretty short walk!
 
There are two ways to the parks from GCH. Both are not directly off the lobby, rather follow passages marked with signs. They snake a little and include exiting the hotel and walking through exterior hallways. They are both well marked. One leads to DCA and passes the pool and Storytellers Café. The other heads in an opposite direction from the lobby, passes by the main lobby restrooms and exits into Downtown Disney right at Anna & Elsa's Boutique. You then have a short walk through DTD to the security check point and then main esplanade where the main gates to both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure are.

Note: if your room at the Grand is one of the many over the shops of DTD, there is a back staircase that exits DTD much closer to the security check point and esplanade. It's much quicker to exit the hotel here for both parks if this is where your room is within the hotel. It lets out at World of Disney.
 
PS the back staircase is exit only, so to get back into the hotel you'll have to go through the main lobby
 

Follow the herd :)

There's a hallway that goes from the lobby out to Downtown Disney and then you hang right and walk to the entrance. About 1500 feet, or a quarter of a mile. Location of your room may add another 500 feet to this. There's a separate and more direct entrance right into DCA.
 
FYI, from the Grand main elevators to the middle of the Esplanade it is the same walking time using the DTD entrance or entering through DCA then exiting into the esplanade. Have timed both many times. Varying factors will be gate lines at the DCA entrance and/or security checkpoints at the DTD entrance.
 
Note: if your room at the Grand is one of the many over the shops of DTD, there is a back staircase that exits DTD much closer to the security check point and esplanade. It's much quicker to exit the hotel here for both parks if this is where your room is within the hotel. It lets out at World of Disney.

At least as of November, the door is labeled as being alarmed. So I'm not sure that it's still an option, unless you want to leave chaos in your wake - I wasn't going to put it to the test.
 
This map is labeled wrong . Where it says Downtown Disney actually is the lobby of the GCH near the elevators,

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You enter DTD right at the Sephora shop. The secret exit talked about is the emergency stairway opposite rooms X447 and X449 where X is the floor number 3 thru 5. It lets you out at the La Brea Bakery but is locked from the outside so you can`t enter that way
 
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At least as of November, the door is labeled as being alarmed. So I'm not sure that it's still an option, unless you want to leave chaos in your wake - I wasn't going to put it to the test.

We stayed there November 23rd and used the exit. Our bell man specifically gave us the go ahead. I vaguely remember an alarm sign? But there was no alarm that sounded, I know that for sure.
 








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