Tinkerbelle's Mom
<font color=purple>Will clean houses for tags!<br>
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2007
- Messages
- 1,710
On 10/19 dd & headed down to DLR for Mickey's Halloween Treat and our first ever stay at the Grand Californian (we have previously stayed at the DLH &PP.)
Mickeys Halloween Treat:
It was great! Well worth the additional money. I was worried that since we were going on a Friday that it would be crowded (went on Thursday last year) and it did not seem crowded at all. There were characters everywhere! the treat stations never really seemed to have long lines. DD came out with almost three bags full of candy. She really loved getting regular sized bags of kissables.
We hit the Character meet and greets first before the lines got long. We saw Cruella De vIlle and the Queen of hearts outside of the Villain area - inside the villain area was Jafar and the Evil Queen from snow white. The line for Mickey and Minnie was very reasonable. Then we went and saw pirate goofy on the Pirate wharf. After seeing goofy we went to color masks and lo and behold Wendy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook sat down to color with my dd. The amazing t hing was that they stayed there for almost a half an hour. For the first twenty minutes no other children sat down with them despite being asked to by the characters. My dd was so thrilled. I got some wonderful pictures. Wendy even told my dd where to sit at the parade so that Wendy could choose my dd to dance with. When it came time for the parade we sat where Wendy told us and Wendy kept her promise and picked dd out of the crowd!
It was an event well worth the extra money. DD is really into the characters so that was a Major plus for us.
Grand Californian:
DD and I were looking forward to staying here. It really is a treat for us to stay at the DLR since we live so close (about 45 minutes away; longer with traffic) that I don't normally spurge on a hotel room. Since the party was going so late I decided to get us a room. We were all set to go.
I had reserved a room at a great AP rate and was told that I would have a theme park view. Well at check in I was told there was some problem and I had to be down graded to a standard view. Well, as my dd said when going in our room - the view was awkward - it was of a roof. That was all we could see - just a roof.
The room itself was incredibly small and very dusty. There was dust in all the crevices. The rooms we have had at the DLH and PP were much larger than this room. Four adults cold stay in this room but not have much room to move. Plus our INTERNET service in the room did not work.
Overall I was incredibly disappointed. Upon check out I had to "discuss" my rate down since I had confirmed a theme park view and instead got to see a roof. I was unimpressed that this did not happen automatically.
I have had better rooms and service at the value resorts at WDW then I had at Grand California.
I have heard the the suites are wonderful but to be honest I will never stay here again. I will continue to stay at either the DLH or PP where I can actually stay longer, have better service, and a clean room.
Mickeys Halloween Treat:
It was great! Well worth the additional money. I was worried that since we were going on a Friday that it would be crowded (went on Thursday last year) and it did not seem crowded at all. There were characters everywhere! the treat stations never really seemed to have long lines. DD came out with almost three bags full of candy. She really loved getting regular sized bags of kissables.
We hit the Character meet and greets first before the lines got long. We saw Cruella De vIlle and the Queen of hearts outside of the Villain area - inside the villain area was Jafar and the Evil Queen from snow white. The line for Mickey and Minnie was very reasonable. Then we went and saw pirate goofy on the Pirate wharf. After seeing goofy we went to color masks and lo and behold Wendy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook sat down to color with my dd. The amazing t hing was that they stayed there for almost a half an hour. For the first twenty minutes no other children sat down with them despite being asked to by the characters. My dd was so thrilled. I got some wonderful pictures. Wendy even told my dd where to sit at the parade so that Wendy could choose my dd to dance with. When it came time for the parade we sat where Wendy told us and Wendy kept her promise and picked dd out of the crowd!
It was an event well worth the extra money. DD is really into the characters so that was a Major plus for us.
Grand Californian:
DD and I were looking forward to staying here. It really is a treat for us to stay at the DLR since we live so close (about 45 minutes away; longer with traffic) that I don't normally spurge on a hotel room. Since the party was going so late I decided to get us a room. We were all set to go.
I had reserved a room at a great AP rate and was told that I would have a theme park view. Well at check in I was told there was some problem and I had to be down graded to a standard view. Well, as my dd said when going in our room - the view was awkward - it was of a roof. That was all we could see - just a roof.
The room itself was incredibly small and very dusty. There was dust in all the crevices. The rooms we have had at the DLH and PP were much larger than this room. Four adults cold stay in this room but not have much room to move. Plus our INTERNET service in the room did not work.
Overall I was incredibly disappointed. Upon check out I had to "discuss" my rate down since I had confirmed a theme park view and instead got to see a roof. I was unimpressed that this did not happen automatically.
I have had better rooms and service at the value resorts at WDW then I had at Grand California.
I have heard the the suites are wonderful but to be honest I will never stay here again. I will continue to stay at either the DLH or PP where I can actually stay longer, have better service, and a clean room.
