Is GC worth the extra expense?

[Disney Tennis Lover]

I am planning a late July trip to Disneyland with my DH, DS15, DS13, and DS11. For our five-night trip, it will cost us an extra $500 to stay at the Grand Californian over Paradise Pier. Is GC worth the extra cost? I would love some opinions!

 

[blackjackdelta]

I am planning a late July trip to Disneyland with my DH, DS15, DS13, and DS11. For our five-night trip, it will cost us an extra $500 to stay at the Grand Californian over Paradise Pier. Is GC worth the extra cost? I would love some opinions!

Worth it is a bad term since I do not know what you like or dislike but the GCH and GCV are worth it to us.
Please read the GCH Superthread may give you a better idea.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2396588

Jack

 

[MartinaC]

I am planning a late July trip to Disneyland with my DH, DS15, DS13, and DS11. For our five-night trip, it will cost us an extra $500 to stay at the Grand Californian over Paradise Pier. Is GC worth the extra cost? I would love some opinions!

We had the same question. We are going to be there for five nights in late July too. 24 thru the 29. We came across the same question. After reading up and a lot of thought we decided to book the Grand Californian. Here is why.
Everytime we go to disney (either land or world) we have always wanted to stay as close to the parks as possible. But, the Grand Californian and the Grand Floridian have always been way above our price range. This was finally a chance to get to stay in one of those hotels with very little extra money paid. Check back at christmas time and you will probably find that there will be a huge difference in price between both hotels.
Also, having nightly turn down service is a added bonus. I am currently trying to find out if Grand Californian has a fireworks viewing area? I thought I read somewhere that you could watch them from a pool area. But, I haven't had luck finding the post. I think that as you do research you will find that it will be worth the money just to have the little extra's that come with the Grand.
Good luck with the planning.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We had the same question. We are going to be there for five nights in late July too. 24 thru the 29. We came across the same question. After reading up and a lot of thought we decided to book the Grand Californian. Here is why.
Everytime we go to disney (either land or world) we have always wanted to stay as close to the parks as possible. But, the Grand Californian and the Grand Floridian have always been way above our price range. This was finally a chance to get to stay in one of those hotels with very little extra money paid. Check back at christmas time and you will probably find that there will be a huge difference in price between both hotels.
Also, having nightly turn down service is a added bonus. I am currently trying to find out if Grand Californian has a fireworks viewing area? I thought I read somewhere that you could watch them from a pool area. But, I haven't had luck finding the post. I think that as you do research you will find that it will be worth the money just to have the little extra's that come with the Grand.
Good luck with the planning.

There is no specific viewing area (GCH). You see the fire works from a number of places(had a great view from the room, but to see the projections that go along you need to really be on main street. It appears the Villas have a 6 floor viewing area.

Jack

 

[bumbershoot]

I am currently trying to find out if Grand Californian has a fireworks viewing area? I thought I read somewhere that you could watch them from a pool area.

That's at PPH.



We stayed at the Grand using DVC points (when you could book the hotel using them), and I doubt I would spend money to stay there again. Our room happened to be nearly the furthest-away room you could get, and when I tracked it on mapmyrun it seems that the distance from my room to the center of the esplanade was as far as it would have been to walk from the HoJo parking lot.

Turndown was nice, though for us it meant doubling the day's housekeeping tip, and it was a second time our room was open to strangers (yeah, they don't really CLOSE the doors while working on rooms...DH had to run to get something after we left the room, and went into our wide-open room and was in the room for a minute or two when the housekeeper actually came back...now the housekeeper DID call security and he had to prove who he was (what a moment to leave his keycard with ME!), but if he'd been a thief he would have been out before she came back). And one day they totally forgot to do it (which did result in a large bag of chocolate coins delivered to our room, but still).

The things I enjoyed about the hotel were things you can enjoy as a guest of either of the other Disney hotels. Or even just as people passing through, like sitting in the lobby.


PPH is our fave onsite hotel at DLR.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

IMO nope. My preference for DLR hotels is this ~ DLH, PP and then the Grand.

 

[rentayenta]

If we were paying cash-we'd stay at the PPH. They pipe the music in to the pool area during fireworks- it's really fun.

 

[daneenm]

I am planning a late July trip to Disneyland with my DH, DS15, DS13, and DS11. For our five-night trip, it will cost us an extra $500 to stay at the Grand Californian over Paradise Pier. Is GC worth the extra cost? I would love some opinions!

We love GCH and would pick it first above the others. The pros are well noted on the Super Thread, as has been pointed out, so I won't repeat them. Last time, we had a DTD view room where we watched the fireworks (could not see the projections) from our room with piped in music. It was lovely.

Besides the rooms themselves, we much prefer the pool as it is quite a bit less crowded and we do not have to troll the seating for hours until we find a chair.

 

[lostatdisney]

We were at GCH over spring break of this year, and we felt that it was well worth the money! Our room was very nice, although we didn't pay for the park view, and the location was on the wing near the spa and the restaurants. We had to walk outside to get to our building. But the very best thing about it was the proximity to DD, DL, and DCA. One afternoon while everyone rested, I walked to CA, got fast passes for Grizzly River Run, and was back in the room in ten minutes! You really can't beat that. And DL was only a five-minute walk.

 

[Disney Tennis Lover]

Thank you all for your responses! I have decided to stay with the Grand Californian since it seems to be a really good deal and I think we will love the location. I can't wait for it to be here!!