OMG I just upgraded to concierge

[lovedoggies]

Wow I cant believe I did this. I upgraded our Grand Californian Room to concierge. Am I nuts? I just felt like it was really worth the extra $80 or so per night for all the drinks/snacks they offer. Bottled water alone will probably save us that much.

What other cool things does the concierge level room get you? She said turndown service, the free drinks (non alcoholic), continental breakfast... what else?

How late is the lounge open? Do they care if you take stuff to 'stock up' for the night? I dont want to abuse the privelege or anything.

 

[tinkcollector]

I personally think doing concierge just once is a great expierence for your Family. Of course if money was no object I would book concierge all the time. However, money is a concern for me so I would rather have the $80.00+ dollars to spend in the park. We have stayed concierge once at the DLR. They offered a game player (can't remember the brand), and movies for your room through concierge. There was nightly turn-down service, with chocolates, and even disney rice crispy treats! We even had disney-like creatures left in our room made from towels, real cute. The continental breakfast was okay, I really expected a little more than we were offered. But, the snacks, fruit, and cookies and the drinks offered all day were really nice. Also, in the evening there was a hor-derve (sp?) hour complete with wine and beer for the adults ( different from what you were explained). It was a really awesome expierence for us and I hope you really enjoy it!

 

[Hound 109]

Wow I cant believe I did this. I upgraded our Grand Californian Room to concierge. Am I nuts? I just felt like it was really worth the extra $80 or so per night for all the drinks/snacks they offer. Bottled water alone will probably save us that much.

What other cool things does the concierge level room get you? She said turndown service, the free drinks (non alcoholic), continental breakfast... what else?

How late is the lounge open? Do they care if you take stuff to 'stock up' for the night? I dont want to abuse the privelege or anything.

We just did the same for Paradise Pier.

I'll let the white glove GCH crowd give you the skinny on GCH Concierge.

....but at $80 bucks it's a deal. Here's why:

- 2 drinks (waters/cokes etc.) per person 3-4 times a day.
- We only had one meal (at the park) when we did Concierge in June.
- You can raid the pantry at 7am the day you check in & as late as 8pm (check the time) the day you check out. (basically an extra day).
- TD service at the PP included cute snacks / treats etc. left in our room.
- We brought snacks/drinks etc. to our room & to the park (really cut down on the "daddy, can i have a cookie" expense. no problems with taking stuff out.
- Beer & wine at 5pm.
- GCH probably has extra hoity toidy stuff in their Concierge (), so hopefully someone will post.

Have fun.

 

[lovedoggies]

- You can raid the pantry at 7am the day you check in & as late as 8pm (check the time) the day you check out. (basically an extra day).

Wow, is that true? We can use it that early in the morning. That will be great. we should arrive about 10 or so, but I am sure we wont get our room that early. That will be great to be able to hop in there and grab some drinks before we head to the park.

Are all the concierge rooms on the same floor, same area, or is it random? Do we get a card or something, is the access built in to the key? How does it work? Sorry for all the lame questions.

 

[Hound 109]

Probably ought to call the hotel to confirm the hours, but ....

Yes, at the PP we will arrive at 6:30am (driving in from West LA...is a breeze on a Sunday morning).

- Dump our bags with the bellman (give him a couple bucks).
- Get our park hopper tickets from the front desk (which we pre-paid for when i reserved the room)
- Get our Concierge key.
- Go up to Concierge (basically a huge lobby type room with tables & a buffet set out. (Probably opens at 6:00 or 6:30am when DL opens at 8am)
- Eat Bfast. Grab waters & cokes to go.
- Walk to DL front gate & be in line at 7:30am.
- Tour & collect FPs for 5 hours & return to PP to eat lunch in the Concierge, grab some more waters/cokes & hopefully check in.

 

[lisadoll93]

GC sodas are in a glass bottle, so you can not take them in the park. Also, they cut the crustables up, so you can not save them for later. Also, think you have to ask for apple juice- isnt in their fridge. Their food is not as kid friendly as DLH and PP concierge lounge.

 

[Hound 109]

GC sodas are in a glass bottle, so you can not take them in the park. Also, they cut the crustables up, so you can not save them for later. Also, think you have to ask for apple juice- isnt in their fridge. Their food is not as kid friendly as DLH and PP concierge lounge.

WTH....Doesn't sound very ...er..."pantry raiding" friendly either.

I assume they have plastic bottled water for take out?

 

[lovedoggies]

GC sodas are in a glass bottle, so you can not take them in the park. Also, they cut the crustables up, so you can not save them for later. Also, think you have to ask for apple juice- isnt in their fridge. Their food is not as kid friendly as DLH and PP concierge lounge.

What sorts of things do they have, for food? And are there water bottles? We dont drink much soda, mostly water. So if they have water bottles, we are good.

Is the food just there & you grab what you want or are there people there? Are there certain times you can get snacks, or all day? The lady who upgraded our room for us led me to believe that from early morning until eve there are snacks and drinks available. Is that true? What about coffee?

I am so excited for the whole trip. Thanks for all the info everyone!

 

[shkeogh]

Food and drinks are there all day. They have the coffe cups with lids if you want to put the sodas in that. They've even given us the flourescent cups to take our beers in.

 

[lisadoll93]

WTH....Doesn't sound very ...er..."pantry raiding" friendly either.

I assume they have plastic bottled water for take out?

The water is in plastic bottles.

The lounge is beautiful. My kids loved the nightly storytelling.

Breakfast- bagels, cereal, juice, fruit
Tea Time- finger sandwiches <--which are great, chips, cut up crustables, dessert, goldfish crackers
Wine and Cheese- beer, wine, hot item, bread, cheese
Sweet Ending- cookies, milk, desserts

I loved the chocolate dipped strawberries!!!

All day- soda, water, juice, fruit, desserts.

For $80 bucks, its worth it. I was dissappointed in the glass bottles and the cut up crustables, DLH and PP doesnt do that. DLH and PP have more kid friendly food.

 

[lovedoggies]

The water is in plastic bottles.

The lounge is beautiful. My kids loved the nightly storytelling.

Breakfast- bagels, cereal, juice, fruit
Tea Time- finger sandwiches <--which are great, chips, cut up crustables, dessert, goldfish crackers
Wine and Cheese- beer, wine, hot item, bread, cheese
Sweet Ending- cookies, milk, desserts

I loved the chocolate dipped strawberries!!!

All day- soda, water, juice, fruit, desserts.

For $80 bucks, its worth it. I was dissappointed in the glass bottles and the cut up crustables, DLH and PP doesnt do that. DLH and PP have more kid friendly food.

Thanks for the detailed 'offerings'. It sounds great! I cant wait to experience it all

 

[lisadoll93]

It is a beautiful hotel. My favorite part about GCH concierge is having someone waiting for you when you pull up and giving you a tour around the lounge.

We would load up on drinks and just leave them in our room. Coffee is okay. We had a great time and would go again in heartbeat.

The hours 6-10, I think or around that.

 

[lovedoggies]

Just an update for anyone thinking about doing the Concierge at the Grand Californian.

We are here right now & I wanted to share my experience with the lounge.

I dont think we have used it enough to justify the cost, but have definitely enjoyed having the option to grab snacks and drinks. It saved us money on breakfasts, a small afternoon snack, and a couple bottles of water per day, but that is really all we've used it for. The Craftsman Club is open from 6am until 10pm.

They have a morning breakfast type block of time from 6-10. Pastries, fruit, cereals, bagels, juices, coffee, tea. Its pretty crowded during this time and hard to find a table. The food is good though. We grab bottles of water for our room and take some with us to the parks. We have not been there at all through the mid part of the day, but did get there for the 5-7 Happy Hour type time yesterday. They had the crustables (cut up), mini sandwiches, cookies, veggies, some sort of deep fried wonton looking things, and beer & wine. Sodas and water are available all the time in little refrigerators.

The night time slot we have missed, but we did talk to a family that makes sure to go in for the story hour and treats. You can watch the fireworks from the balcony. We came back to the room tonight about 9pm and everyone is asleep already and I am too tired to walk over to the lounge.

We got turndown service the first night but never again since. So I guess its a hit and miss sort of thing.

We did not use the concierge desk for anything other than to get a dinner reservation.

At check in we did not get a tour of anything, or even any information really. We had to ask where the lounge was, and how to use it. So I dont feel that we really receive any extra attention or anything vs. someone who just had a regular room. We were here for a birthday and nothing was ever said, even though it was noted on our reservation (the CM who made the reservation made a big deal about noting it). A simple happy birthday to my daughter would have been nice. I know that tons of people check in every day and probably most of them have some sort of celebration going on. If they ask about it when you make your reservation, they should at least acknowledge it when you get to the hotel. If the CMs cant do it, maybe an automated voice message on the phone (that would cost them nothing!)... I know that I could have arranged something, but we didnt. Of course we have done a lot for her in the parks & at restaurants.

Also, we were told today that you cannot use the lounge on your checkout day past 11am. This is different than what I was told on the phone when I upgraded our reservation. We are not leaving until 6pm tomorrow night, and we were hoping we'd have this lounge available, but they told us that our key would not work past 11am. Again, not complaining, just clarifying the rules.

Overall, for the price we are paying vs a regular room, I don't feel like we are getting that much value. I am not complaining at all, I just wanted to give a better picture of our experience for someone else who might be thinking about upgrading. If you are going to spend most of your time at the parks or out doing things, then the value is not as great. If you are going to be at the hotel all day, then yeah you'd definitely get your moneys worth.

 

[pycees312]

thanks so much for you review.. You know I was ready to pay the extra money witch was going to be rediculous for next week. but I figured it'd be something special to do for my kids. Maybe i'll pass 130-150 a night extra is probably not worth it.