Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

Family of 5: two adults and 10 year old, 2 year old and baby. This was an awesome choice for family with small children who needed a park break mid-day. You pay for location and the stately feel of the hotel. The room was clean, but simple, which is perfectly fine for us. The beds were very very comfortable. My 10 year old had a day bed which was also very comfortable. The bathroom was clean. Hotel service was fine- the staff were nice and welcoming. I will definitely use this hotel again if coming back to DL with small kids- couldn't beat the location. Read less

This was our second stay at GCH. We had a late flight leaving SNA, so we decided to stay here for our last night and go to Disneyland before our flight. Check in is easy and you get a text when the room is ready. Self parking is far away. It’s a big hotel and hard to navigate at times. The room is comfortable but a bit tight. Restaurants are packed and sometimes you can’t get reservations even a month in advance. The pool is really nice but also crowded - even on a school day. There used to be shared microwaves at all the vending machine rooms, but now they are in fewer locations. What we paid for is location and early park access, and then I could check out of the room at 11 when my family was still enjoying the park. Then when we were ready to depart, it’s just a 20 min drive to SNA if no traffic. Read less

I recently spent one night with my wife at the Grand Californian, when we just had one day to spend at Disneyland and California Adventure and wanted to stay somewhere that would provide both great convenience for a short visit, but also a nice, more luxurious option than many of the chain hotels in the surrounding area in Anaheim. After staying here, I would absolutely return. It’s a really lovely themed Disney resort, with a convenience factor that cannot be overstated. Being able to go from our room to the Disneyland entrance in five minutes, or even quicker when going directly into California Adventure, was amazing. As background, we travel to Walt Disney World about once a year, and it’s a favorite and familiar spot for our family trips. We had not been to Disneyland in many years, but are very familiar with what Disney offers in accommodations generally and were interested to compare their offerings in California and Florida. When traveling elsewhere, including other portions of this same trip, we usually stay at true luxury hotels, and we recognize that Disney resorts are overpriced for what they actually offer. You’re paying for a luxury resort room, but getting a room that is probably mid-tier at best. We paid almost $800 for the night at the Grand Californian, which is objectively overpriced, but we still ultimately found it to be worth it. Trip Planning & Arrival Experience: Prior to our stay, I completed online check-in on the hotel website, which is available starting five days before check-in. This is different from Disney World, where you can do it a couple months in advance. Online check-in was easy to complete, and allows you to skip the front desk at check-in, since you’ll get a text message once your room is ready and can use a mobile key feature in the Disneyland app to go there directly. I also separately called to request a room with one king bed, since you can’t specifically book a set bed type in advance. The cast member I spoke with on the phone was very friendly and helpful with the request, but as is typical at Disney resorts, she noted that there are only a few king bedded rooms, so we may not get one. The request was ultimately not met, and we had a room with two queens, but we were able to check-in to the room so early in the day that we didn’t mind at all. We arrived at the hotel very early in the morning, around 6:15 am. We wanted to have a full day in the theme parks and take advantage of the extra half hour in the parks in the beginning at 7:30 am on our arrival day. When we pulled up, it was unsurprisingly not busy at all, and the valet staff was friendly and helpful (although they didn’t really offer to help with luggage, which surprised me a little bit). Once I said I was going to do self-parking instead of valet parking, they suggested that I park in short-term parking spots that are near the lobby, handle check-in/drop off our luggage at the front desk, and then move the car to the self-parking lot after. Entering the hotel, we were immediately impressed with what we saw. One of our favorite resorts at Disney World is Wilderness Lodge, and this hotel is the closest you can have to that in California. The hotel is lodge-style and designed by the same architect as Wilderness Lodge, so it has a similarly impressive soaring lobby with cozy seating and a fire. I’ve read that the themes of the two hotels are the same, but the Grand Californian is more of a craftsman, California-themed lodge that isn’t as focused on wilderness and a general “western” feel like the Wilderness Lodge. They look really similar, but there is some difference and nuance, so they’re not carbon copies of one another. It’s also nice that since Grand Californian is the flagship Disney hotel in Anaheim, it gets slightly elevated features, similar to what you’d get at the Grand Floridian in Orlando, such as fresh flower displays in the lobby, a pianist in the lobby at night, and little extras in the room, such as robes and turndown service at night. If you are more familiar with Disney World, this hotel is physically very similar to Wilderness Lodge, but service and amenity-wise, more similar to Grand Floridian. Even though we had done online check-in, I decided to stop at the front desk anyway since I had a couple questions. The front desk cast member I worked with was extremely friendly and helpful, and apologized that she did not have a room ready for us, but gave me a good overview of the resort and suggested that we leave our bags with the adjacent bell services desk. The cast member there was very nice as well, and said that once our room was ready, the luggage would be automatically sent up, so we didn’t have to waste time later in the day coming back down and waiting at the front desk to retrieve it. Just as we were about to tag the bags, however, the front desk cast member came over and excitedly let me know that she found a room we could have immediately, which was a huge and pleasant surprise at 6:30 am. I’ve never had something like that happen in the past at a Disney resort. After that, I moved our car to the self-parking lot, which is located just across the street from the hotel. It does require crossing a crosswalk on busy Disneyland Drive to get back, but the designated parking for the Grand Californian is the first lot you encounter after going through the parking gate, and it was an easy walk, no further than self-parking in some of the larger hotel lots at Disney World. Self-parking was $40 per night, while valet was $70 per night. Although valet would certainly be more convenient, I like having more control with self-parking and the cost savings was worth it. Hotel Room: We had booked a woods-courtyard view room, since it was the cheapest room type available at the time we booked, and overall, the room was nice. The room was probably the part of our stay that contributed the least to our enjoyment of the resort overall, but it served its purpose. The hotel is a bit large with maze-like hallways, so it was helpful that the front desk cast member had given us a hotel map and pointed out the closest elevator to our room, which required walking outside to an elevator bank next to the Napa Rose restaurant. Although I know the weather is usually great in Southern California, and everything was covered, I was a little surprised at how many of the hotel facilities were accessed from outside, including basically all of the restaurants and the best path to our room. When we were there in early November, the mornings and evenings were quite chilly, so I would have not preferred so many brisk outdoor walks to get around the hotel. I believe we could have used a different elevator and walked through longer hallways to get to our room. We’re just used to staying inside for most things at Disney’s deluxe resorts in Florida, so the more indoor/outdoor California style here was a little different. The room itself was in good condition, but not great condition, and had a little bit of a dated and worn feel. It certainly had a California craftsman style, which I liked, but the light green carpet felt tired, as did the fabrics and furnishings as a whole. It was nice enough, but I wouldn’t exactly call it luxurious, and the newer renovated rooms at Disney World in Florida run circles around the rooms here. I was also surprised to read that these rooms had been renovated within the past five years, since they absolutely felt older than that, as did the room hallways, which had a similar style and tired feel. I liked the room, and it conveyed a consistent theme throughout the hotel, which I appreciate, but I think very few guests would find the rooms alone worth the price tag here. The room was also on the small side, and a little dark, but perfectly functional with a good number of drawers and luggage storage space underneath the beds. There were plenty of outlets with both USB and standard plugs, and a mini-fridge that’s helpful to have. I’m not a fan of the bedding in any Disney resort, where there’s not much more than a sheet on the bed and pretty low-quality pillows. The mattresses aren’t the plushest either. For the price point, more substantial and upscale bedding should be offered, although I can’t really complain because I slept wonderfully here after a very busy day. The bathroom featured an open vanity area with double sinks and decent storage with extra shelves below, and then a separate room with the toilet and walk-in shower, which was a tight space. I thought the tilework was all nice, and I liked having a walk-in shower in lieu of a tub (although I know many families with kids wouldn’t like this). The shower also had good water pressure and we found the bathroom to be perfectly functional, if a little small like the rest of the room. There was also a small balcony with a little table and two chairs, and we had a view of trees that met the expected “woods-courtyard view”. It was pleasant, but would be an unexciting view, except for the fact that it was directly above the monorail track that runs from Disneyland right past the hotel, and it was a lot of fun to be able to watch the monorail come directly below. We were also right by the edge of California Adventure, so we could see the building containing Soarin’ in the distance. This location within the hotel was incredibly close to the entrance directly into California Adventure, which was a great benefit. I don’t have a great sense of the various room views at the hotel, but I get the sense that few rooms have a particularly exciting view of anything. I believe standard view probably looks out at the hotel front entrance and driveway, which I wouldn’t mind. I know you can opt for a Downtown Disney view (which I don’t see the appeal of) or a pool view as well (probably the nicest view overall), but I think most rooms just look at some sort of landscaping, with maybe a glimpse of something else in the distance. There isn’t the space in California that there is at the Florida resorts, so the hotel, despite being large and lovely, is more squeezed into the land and wasn’t designed with the goal of giving many of the rooms sweeping views. One other note was that the heat in the room wasn’t working all that well during our stay. Despite the temperatures getting quite cold during overnight, the room was freezing and set at 65 degrees when we arrived. We increased it to 70, and found that after returning many hours later, it still had not quite reached the desired temperature. Finally, I would note that housekeeping did a good job, and the room felt very clean when we arrived. They also did turndown service in the evening, which was nice, but seemed to be missing something. They left a note on the bed about having sweet dreams or something along those lines, which seemed like it was meant to be accompanied by a piece of chocolate, but there was nothing there. Not a big deal by any means, but I think that was a small detail that was missed. Hotel Pools: We didn’t have a chance to spend any time at the pools, but I thought the large pool area with three separate pools and a waterslide looked very nice. I was impressed to also see that the lounge chairs by the pool here seemed to be decently spaced out and had nice, thick cushions on them, which is not the case at the Disney resorts in Florida, where the chairs are pretty bare bones and more on top of each other. Dining: We unfortunately did not have time to try any of the restaurants at the hotel, but there are several. Napa Rose is the flagship fine dining restaurant, which looked very nice and we’ve heard great things about it. There is also a princess character breakfast at Napa Rose. Storytellers Café is the more casual restaurant, which is a buffet, with characters in the morning only. Hearthstone Lounge is the main bar of the hotel, which is located off of the lobby, and GCH Craftsman Bar and Grill are the final two options. The Craftsman Grill is the classic quick-service cafeteria-style option that most Disney resorts offer, while the Craftsman Bar is an outdoor restaurant/lounge with a nice view overlooking the pool that also serves full meals. Service: One of the key things that I often struggle with at Disney resorts is the staff service. Disney cast members at the resorts are generally friendly and perky, and want to be helpful. However, they aren’t trained to provide service anywhere near the level of what you’d get at a true luxury hotel. However, we really had no issues here, and the people we encountered here outperformed staff at other luxury hotels on this trip. Our most significant interaction was at check-in, but everyone was great, friendly, and helpful and getting us into a room quickly was huge. When we were sitting in the lobby later that night, I also appreciated that cast members were going around cleaning things up and making sure the lobby looked nice and clean throughout the busy evening. Park Experience: As I mentioned previously, the proximity to both theme parks was a huge draw of this hotel. We were only there for one full day and wanted a quick and easy experience, on which the Grand Californian absolutely delivered. I know a huge benefit of Disneyland over Disney World is that many non-Disney hotels are in walking distance to the parks. You could objectively stay at a nice hotel like the JW Marriott or the Westin with a relatively easy walk into the parks, a nicer room, and a better price (making it much easier to justify staying offsite in California versus Florida), but there’s no hotel quite as convenient as the Grand Californian or with the same Disney theming. When entering the parks or Downtown Disney, you do security screening right in the hotel. There are two separate spots for this, one being in a courtyard close to the lobby for the entrance into Downtown Disney and Disneyland, and the second being right next to Napa Rose where you can enter directly into California Adventure. We were a little surprised to see a very long line at the security checkpoint into Downtown Disney the morning we were there. The line was already snaking around the courtyard before 7:00 am for a 7:30 am early entry into the park, but once the security checkpoint actually opened a few minutes later, the line moved and we were through quickly, still easily making it into Disneyland for opening. At later times of day, there were no lines at all for security in the hotel to get to the parks. We ultimately found it painless and easy to get from the hotel to Disneyland for opening, although you should expect it to be busy first thing in the morning. The benefit of having an extra half hour in the park for resort guests on the morning we arrived was a great timesaver for us. Once the Disneyland gates had opened, things were well organized for resort guests to get their room keys/reservations checked at a spot near the Plaza Inn, with a spot to wait past that near the entrance to Tomorrowland, while all other park guests were queued separately. We were allowed into the park right at 7:30 am that day, and made our way to Fantasyland, which is where the bulk of the early entry attractions are located, other than Space Mountain and Star Tours. Although the line for Peter Pan in particular got a bit long immediately, we did that ride quickly enough to avoid the line, and all of the other Fantasyland rides had no real wait at all during the early entry period. We got a lot done with a calm and enjoyable park experience. Especially since there are only three resorts in California, as compared to many more in Florida, we found the early entry in Disneyland to be more beneficial than it is in Florida, as the parks feel more crowded and the lines get longer more quickly at Disney World. Later in the day, when we had hopped to California Adventure and were just ready for a break for a couple hours, having the hotel basically right in the park was amazing. The entrance is across from Grizzly River Run, and it was great to go from a really crowded park to the quiet serenity of the hotel so quickly. Later that night, we went to see World of Color, and I was so happy that leaving the park after the nighttime show was an amazingly smooth experience unlike what I’m used to at Disney World when trying to get back to the resorts in the room. We were back in the hotel within 5 minutes after the show had ended. You can’t beat convenience like that, which is what I loved about this hotel. The other Disney resorts in California (the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise/Pixar Pier) just aren’t as close to the parks (while still convenient), and they don’t look as themed or luxurious, so I don’t know that I’d see the same benefit from staying at those. One minor other benefit is that you do have room charging privileges in the parks when staying at any of the Disney resorts. A barcode will show up in the Disneyland app on the same page as your hotel reservation, but it’s a little weird that it won’t show up until your room is ready if you’re going into the parks on your arrival day. However, I did find that it was a little bit of a pain to use in the parks. A lot of cast members didn’t seem very familiar with room charging or had to ask a colleague to help with it, so it ended up taking longer and more effort than expected to make simple purchases. In the future, I’d probably just use Apple Pay in the parks to save time. Overall: Overall, our one night at the Grand Californian was very nice, and I was happy we splurged on the night here to make a short trip to Disneyland as convenient and fun as possible. I think staying here over other much cheaper hotels in the area is ultimately a judgment call based on your budget and needs, since the Grand Californian is objectively very expensive and the rooms feel a bit small and dated. However, if you want a full Disney experience and maximum convenience, I think it’s a great option and we’d be happy to return on a future trip to Disneyland. Read less

Yes, this hotel is very expensive, but you really do get what you’ve paid for here. The service is phenomenal. When we arrived we were quickly met by a valet attendant, our bags were whisked out of our car, and we were greeted in the lobby by a very friendly cast member, who checked us in with an iPad and gave us our room keys. We never went to the reception desk! The service at Napa Rose and the Craftsman Grill was also exceptional. And the lobby is absolutely stunning. Add on top of that the easy entry to California Adventure and Downtown Disney and I’d say it’s worth the price. Read less

Location is the only reason you come here. It’s expensive, the food is mediocre and horribly overpriced, pool is very crowded. We booked three nights here and the waterslide which kids love was broken down every single day. The hot tub is not hot either. It’s also incredibly busy. They underbuilt this place. I guess people know what they’re in for here. But honestly fix the water slide at least!!! No different than the Howard Johnson but at least the hot tub is hot and the pirate water slide works. Read less