'upgrading' room to nicer view

[buttercup14]

I have a booking at the gran Californian for mid/late may, it's standard view and i was thinking about calling and seeing if i could book a room with a nicer view, are the views of the park any good from grand Californian, since it's not exactly a tall place. Also what are the views of the courtyard like, would it be worth it?

 

[lindyv321]

I've stayed at DLH twice and the first time we had a nice view of the pool and the second time a view of the parking lot. Honestly other than the view it was the exact same room and the view wasn't worth the extra expense.... Granted we were on the 6th/7th floor so unless you went to the window and looked down all you saw was the sky anyway!

 

[Congo Queen]

How much time do you spend hanging out in the room? If substantial it could be worth it to upgrade to make your stay nicer, and yes they do have some nice park view rooms at GCH. It is of course a view of DCA - typically Paradise Pier rides or Grizzly Peak. But if you realistically are not going to be in your room much, save your moola. Or if the time you do spend at the hotel is going to consist of napping, swimming or sleeping at night, save the dough.

 

[avalon451]

We booked a standard room at GCH for our first trip in 2008. I'd read you can call the front desk, and ask for a free upgrade, and depending on how early you book and request, they will accommodate you if possible. Of course they can't guarantee it, but they will always note down that you asked. They gave us a free upgrade to a courtyard view. The monorail ran right by us, and you could see many of the fireworks over the roof opposite. I think we were on the third floor.

That said, if I can ever afford it and justify the expense, I'm totally going to book a DTD or a park view. As it is, we bite the bullet and stay offsite on Harbor, and save around $300 a night.

Hope you get a lovely room! It's an amazing hotel. We loved it, and I'm glad we stayed there for our first trip.

 

[wench]

Even when you get a view, it can really differ. I've only stayed in the Villas at GC, but had TPV rooms the last 2 times. The first one was amazing. On the 6th floor with a full view of Paradise Pier. It was gorgeous at night with everything lit up. The 2nd time we were on the 5th floor right next to a section of the building that sticks out & blocked a good portion of the pier. We could see the very edge of the Death Wheel & everything to the right of that. By Disney's classification there was no difference between these rooms, they were both TPV. Not a big deal when you're in a villa where you don't have to pay anything extra to get that room over a standard view. But, it would suck to pay extra money & get a view that barely qualifies. So, unless you've really got the extra cash to spend, I'd save your money for something guaranteed to please, like a nice meal or special souvenir.

 

[DLgal]

The park view rooms are loud as are the Downtown Disney view rooms. I actually prefer standard view at the GCH. I only pay to "upgrade" the view at DLH to either upper floor pool or theme park view.

 

[Jerryp49]

The GCH rooms have balconies where PP and DLH do not so you can have a nice quiet time early morning or later. I had a Park View where we were looking at the back of the Corn Dog King billboard. I avoid the Downtown Disney view. The noise goes on until 10pm. We had drums constantly beating , so we requested and got a move to a quieter location. The Courtyard view is very quiet and peaceful with the Monorail going thru it .We also had a Poolside view which was a little noisy but not as bad as Downtown Disney. The view from the fifth floor was terrific with Grizzly Peak over the rooftop.