Lat Check-in..Grand Californian with DVC pts

[Wislodgers]

We used DVC points to stay 2 nights at Grand Californian on July 1 and 2. (We had stayed there on a previous trip, but had paid $$) Hotel was beautiful and we had a wonderful time, when we finally got our room! We were told check-in was at 3:00 pm. We had a full day of sight seeing planned, so we did not get to the hotel until 3:30, I figured all would be well....check-in, go to our room and maybe take a swim. Well.... we checked in and were told our room was not quite ready. Not a big deal...so we waited 1/2 hour and went to the desk to inquire on our room. It was still "down", they were not sure why and then the CM says, "Check in is at 3:00... but rooms are ready between 3:00 and 5:00" I thought you have to be kidding, why state a 3:00 check in then tell me that our room may not be ready until 5:00! This is a room that if we had paid cash was almost $400 a night! If we did not get in our room until 5pm and only stayed one night, we would have had to be out by 11:00 the next morning! My DH asked to speak to a manager. The manager told us the same thing, rooms are ready between 3 and 5pm, but since we were closing in on 5 with no sign of a room, he would "see what he could do". About 15 minutes later, he came out and had upgraded us to a Downtown Disney view room. Room was beautiful. We did wonder if some of the hold up was because we used points, but in the end we had a great room overlooking DD.

Also, we were shocked, our favorite Mickey Ice Cream bars were $4 each at Disneyland! We were at Disneyworld in March and I thought we only paid $2.50 or $3, have they gone up in Disneyworld, or is Disneyland that much more?

 

[mjy]

I'm hoping to be there next year. Are there any views from the hotel where you see fireworks from your room? What was the Downtown Disney View like for you? Am really curious . . .

 

[Wislodgers]

We had a perfect view of the fireworks from our balcony. We were on the thrid floor. Below us to our left was the entryway to go back into the Grand Californian, directly below us was a building, but I am not sure what store was in it. We could be Napolini, Ghiradelli's and Naples restaurantes across from our room. The fireworks were beautiful. It would have been fun if they had played the fireworks music at DD at that time, but they did not.

Have a great trip!

 

[booger73]

I'm hoping to be there next year. Are there any views from the hotel where you see fireworks from your room? What was the Downtown Disney View like for you? Am really curious . . .

This is what it looks like at night
[our trip, June 27-28th this year]

 

[6bowmans]

We reserved a 2-bedroom last October at the Disney Hotel on points. We arrived at 11:00am and our room was ready. I never felt like we were treated like "second class citizens" because we were on points - we had an awesome time. I hope your experience was an isolated case because we certainly plan to use points at Disneyland (and the Grand Californian) in the future.

 

[mjy]

This is what it looks like at night
[our trip, June 27-28th this year]

Ooohhh . . . Aahhhhh . . . FIREWORKS!!!

Thanks for the pics. I definitely want a view like that. That's the "Downtown Disney View" room, right?

Thanks, again, for sharing the pictures.

 

[Wislodgers]

I can't say we ever felt like "second class" citizens, but I think that a 3:00 check in with rooms not ready until 5 is not acceptable. I think that if check in is 3:00, then rooms should be ready by then. I can understand that sometimes there are situations out of their control, but the CM at check in told us, "Check in is 3:00, but rooms are not ready until between 3 and 5 pm" So I felt like this was a normal situation. I am sure that it had nothing to do with using DVC points, and we would definitely go on points again. It was really a good deal for us. Cash prices were $380 a night, plus tax. We used 30 points a night for our room. So I think it was a good use of points (plus we did not have to come up with an extra $800 for 2 nights hotel!)

 

[dwelty]

We had a perfect view of the fireworks from our balcony. We were on the thrid floor. Below us to our left was the entryway to go back into the Grand Californian, directly below us was a building, but I am not sure what store was in it. We could be Napolini, Ghiradelli's and Naples restaurantes across from our room. The fireworks were beautiful. It would have been fun if they had played the fireworks music at DD at that time, but they did not.

Have a great trip!

We just stayed there 2 weeks ago. There is a channel that you can turn to on the resort TV that plays the Fireworks music during the show. Try it next time you are there.

 

[pyrxtc]

We reserved a 2-bedroom last October at the Disney Hotel on points. We arrived at 11:00am and our room was ready. I never felt like we were treated like "second class citizens" because we were on points - we had an awesome time. I hope your experience was an isolated case because we certainly plan to use points at Disneyland (and the Grand Californian) in the future.

How many points was a 2 bedroom? I didn't see that listed in the Dreams book. It sleeps 8 correct? I want to go out there but was looking at ahving to rent two rooms. One would be much better.

 

[booger73]

Ooohhh . . . Aahhhhh . . . FIREWORKS!!!

Thanks for the pics. I definitely want a view like that. That's the "Downtown Disney View" room, right?

Thanks, again, for sharing the pictures.

Yup.. that's a Downtown Disney View..

 

[newmommy]

We checked in on Saturday, not using points, at 10:30 am and our room was also not ready until 5:30. In addition it was not particularly clean when we got into it! The hotel was beautiful, and we had a great time after that, though. So, I doubt it had anything to do with being on points, I think they are really busy and/or understaffed in housekeeping or something!

 

[Lexxiefern]

Oh, you guys are scaring me!! We will be checking in at about 11am on Labor day weekend. I hope we don't have to wait until 5pm to get our room, we will still be on east coast time and that will mean 8pm! Yuck!

 

[booger73]

We didn't have much luck checking in early to our room either, if I remember correctly.. we got there.. ~12pm ish - went to have lunch in park.. Played around till about ~3-4pm.. didn't get checked in till 4:30-5:00.