Check In: We arrived at 3pm and only had to wait a few minutes to be seen at the desk. From there it took more than a half hour until we had our keys because we were offered an upgrade and then the girl had no clue how to make the switch. Any costs associated with our “upgraded” room should have been waived due to her incompetence/Disney’s lack of proper training but of course, this was not done. Not exactly “Disney” service from the start.

Room: Two queen beds. This is your basic hotel room and is a standard hotel room size. It could have been a Hojo or Holiday Inn. The balcony was very narrow (unless you are on the top floor, which we weren’t) so when sitting down the railing is directly in front of your face, which renders the balcony pretty much useless aside from stepping outside for a quick peek. Newer 32” flatscreen TV. Channel choices were extremely slim and no movie rental availability!! Boo! The TV was also not moveable, so no ability to view the TV while sitting at the table, you had to be in one of the beds to view it. The wireless internet worked great.

The room was basically clean aside from several hairs on the bathroom floor and toilet. The beds were about a foot taller than typical, I found this a little strange considering most people bring kids to Disneyland. One of the mattresses in the room was “broken”, for lack of a better word, and should have been long gone. The bedspreads were well-worn and dingy. The carpet had stains all over it. Both of the cold water faucets on the dual sinks leaked. The granite had lime deposits built up from this, obviously something their maintenance dept. was not interested in fixing. All of the towels either had little tears or huge strings hanging off of them. For $500+ a night ~~ I knew we were paying primarily for location but even considering the location factor ~~ this hotel is incredibly overpriced and under-maintained.

On the plus side during the 4 days we stayed I never heard the thud of footprints above us or anyone in the rooms on either side of us. The doors could use a little help in this department however, as hallway noise does transfer inside the room. We experienced a very minimal amount of that as we were as far away from the elevators as humanly possible, so no problem aside from the oddity that housekeeping decided to vacuum the hallway at 9pm one night. Weird.

The Pool: Wasn’t much bigger than what some folks have in their backyards. A far cry from a resort pool setting, so if you are expecting such you will be disappointed.

Food: We ate first at the Storyteller’s Café. There were only 3 other families eating there at the time. Since it was 3:30pm or so we hoped that was due to the time and not a statement of the quality, but we were wrong. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the hostess & a waiter. They then proceeded to debate for five minutes which table to place us at. Did I mention the joint was nearly empty? Nonetheless it was a pretty difficult choice for them, not to mention rude as we stood directly in front of them and watched the entire exchange. There was no indication that they saw anything wrong with their unprofessional and tacky behavior. Then the hostess YELLED at another employee who was back by the kitchen entrance. This place just oozes class and good service! We were then escorted to the worst table in any restaurant: directly next to the very noisy kitchen (because there were 48 other tables that were empty, you see). Sweet.

Our food took an inordinate time to arrive and the kid’s Mac ‘n Cheese tasted like wheat noodles with powder cheese. Totally gross. How can Disney have crappy kid’s food? My $17.00 main entrée of ravioli had a measley FOUR raviolis drowning in a water/butter soup & was covered in bitter spinach and asparagus (which was not noted as a part of the dish on the menu). My husband’s Carne Asada arrived with TWO silver dollar-sized tortillas. Was this a joke? Would have loved to asked for more had our waiter bothered to show up. Needless to say we were not impressed with this place on any level: service was awful and the food was overpriced, gross and sparse. We were then discouraged to learn that this restaurant is the only room service available at the hotel, and the menu choices are extremely limited. We are room service fans, we like to hit the parks and then relax in the room to eat. This GREATLY devalued the point of staying at the Grand Californian for us. To be fair we tried the breakfast ($80 for 2 adults and one kid? what a joke) and that was a tasteless waste as well. The rest of our meals we ate either off property or at restaurants in Downtown Disney…which is precisely what we were planning on avoiding by staying at the GC.

Next time we will stay at a non-Disney hotel, there are several that are closer to the park entrances than Disneyland Hotel or the Paradise Pier and save the wasted extra $1200 that the GC cost us (not including the money lost on inedible food) for what ended up being little benefit and absolutely zero of the supposedly famous Disney Service. Unless you have money to burn or someone in your party that is incapable of the additional walking distance, go elsewhere. Disney lodging no longer equals impeccable service and quality accommodations.

Room 5322. The hotel was amazing. We stayed for five nights 8/3/08 to 8/8/08. Checkin was a breeze. We arrived at 11:00am and we did call ahead and preregister. Our room was not ready so we toured the hotel and had some lunch. We were able to store our bags with the bellhop which is a fantastic convenience. After lunch our room was ready. When we opened the door we were pleasantly surprised. The room was very neat. We stayed in the queen bed/ bunk bed room. The first place we checked out was the balcony. I did request a view of both the pool and paradise pier. The balcony was not very big but perfect for the three of us. We changed and headed down to the pool. Very nice pool and clean. The redwood slide was great. Biggest complaint is rude children who were not watched by their parents and slow service for food and drinks. I ordered three bottles of water and it took 25 minutes. They are doing construction at the hotel for a new disney vacation club add-on. The only time we ever noticed the noise was on the day we checked out because we slept in and didn't get up at 6:00 am. We ate at Storytellers cafe and the food was good. We did enjoy two days of early entry on our four day hopper which was great. The very best thing about the hotel is that after you're done from a long day of walking you can leave disneyland and five minutes later you're in your room and that is worth every penny.

Just returned from two nights three day stay. Hotel stay was Thursday and Friday night. Some aspects of the hotel are top notch and they provide services that no one else can.

Went with two teen daughters. Front desk, bell staff very friendly and efficient. Servers were also excellent and food was good. Of course location can't be beat. Have previously stayed at the Disneyland hotel and off property. The Grand Ca had a more relaxing feel, I guess it was more peaceful and quiet. Of course it's still Disneyland but there were pleanty of places to sit in quiet if you needed it, both inside and outside.

Check in - We arrived at 11am. Did not expect our rooms to be ready. Front desk staff said the hotel was not too full and so upgraded our room. Checked our bags, received our park hopper tics and went to Ca Adventure. Entrance to Ca Adventure from hotel is for hotel guests only. But after 12noon anyone can use this entrance. Not needing to walk to the front gate of Ca Adventure and wait in line was a huge bonus. At 3:30 pm returned to the hotel to check in and freshen up. Room was not ready so I asked if the room cat. that we orginally booked was ready. It was and the only diff was the view . We had a standard room overlooking a quiet little courtyard. Envisioned sitting on the balcony but never did.

Location of room was excellent, 2nd floor right up the stairs from the lobby so walking downstairs in the morning to get coffee or a latte and fruit took only a couple mins. The bar in the lobby serves coffee, lattes, danish, fruit early. Whitewater snacks opens at 7am.

Room itself was basic but had a subtle disney touch and was overall clean and comfortable, although not very large. Toilet and shower are not seperate. I noticed two things about the room but they were not things that I felt the need to complain about. Just above the toilet paper dispenser there was a wad of white sticky marshmellow type stuff. I wiped it off. When I used the phone by the bed to set up a wake up call I noticed that the base where you place phone receiver had some oil and dirt substance all in it. Looked to me to be some sort of buildup over time. Ick. I did not feel the room was dirty in any other way and felt totally comfortable in the room.

The first night we had turn down service with chocolates on the bed and little notes... a very nice touch. They also left a plan of events notice. One of the events that I had wanted to sign my kids up for was only $15 pp ages 13-17 from 12:30-3:30 guided ride and snack tour. We did not get the chance to do this due to lunch reservations at blue bayou but sounded great for the kids to get a chance to go on the main rides and not have to wait in line.

I forgot to leave a tip for houskeeping the first night. We left for the parks and did not return till late. The next day I did leave a tip morning and evening but we did not receive any future housekeeping services. Since we were not in the room much it was not a big deal and not worth calling down to ask for but it did seem a little odd to me not to recieve any housekeeping services other that initial turn down service. A newspaper was left outside our door and there was a basket with towels... left outside room doors in the mornings so we did have enough towels.

The only real gripe I had with my stay was the last day. I requested and was granted late check out for 1pm on our departure date. We had been up till park closure the night prior and then got up Saturday morning for 7am early entry to Disneyland. By 10 am one of my daughters was very tired. I told her to go back and take a nap while my other daughter and I stayed in the park. Housekeeper came in the room, woke her up and told her it was check out time and she needed to leave. She called me and I told her to tell housekeeper that we had a one o'clock check out, which she did. Housekeeper left and said she would make a call. We returned to our room at 12 noon to shower and pack. A male houskeeping staff came in the room and I told him we would not be checking out till 1pm and had approval for this. He appologized. I got in the shower and two more times a female houskeeper came into the room to tell my daughters to leave, the last time according to my daughter she was very rude and just stood there glaring at my daughter. I did not see this but she's not known to exagerate. Not sure but perhaps the angry attitude and lack of housekeeping, other than their uninvited requests for us to leave the room, was due to me forgetting to leave a tip for them upon check in??

Again I did not complain as we were leaving and it was really just a minor inconvenience. We got ready and left the room at exactly 1pm as agreed. left our bags with bell hop. My kids went back to Ca. Adventure to use the fast passes we collected in the morning. I went to guest services and they fixed my key so that it would work at the pool. I layed at the pool and relaxed until they were done in the parks. When it was time for us to leave for our flight we had our bags within a couple mins, grabbed a cab and were off to the airport. Could not have been easier.

If you want the whole disney experience and are willing/able to spend the extra I would recommend this hotel. There were the above mentioned glitches but the overall service and atmosphere was excellent . My kids wanted to do more of the parks vs. hotel. We had planned to spend time swimming and taking a break but did not end up using the pool for that. If you are traveling with little ones it would be even more beneficial to use the pool for the afternoons and hotel for a nap.

Disneyland is one of those "magical" places and I figured this time around since we were already spending $$$ to just go ahead and do it all the way. I don't regret it but a person can spend a fraction of the cost and if you are organized enough still have just as great a time. You can also go relax in the lobby for free. The servers in the resturants were great. It's so much nicer to sit down and have good food and service out of the crowds, and we did not wait too long for meals/snacks.

Yes, the Grand Californian is expensive, but the location is worth it. We stayed here for three nights, and enjoyed the experience. Check-in was quick and easy, and we were given a room overlooking Downtown Disney. Worried at first about noise, we were really impressed with the quietness of the room when the balcony doors were shut. And the bonus - we were able to watch the fireworks from the balcony.

Not sure about the complaints about parking. The parking lot is just across the road from the hotel - a three minute walk. Luggage services were excellent. And, as you would expect at Disney, all staff were extremely friendly.

We didn't eat in the hotel itself, as there were so many options in Downtown Disney or in the parks themselves. But the kids loved the pool in the hotel which has a great water slide and watchful lifeguards.

The best thing about the hotel is the proximity to Disneyland and Californian Adventure; there is a connecting gate to the latter and a five minute walk to the former. So you can start early in the morning, come back to the hotel for a swim in the afternoon, and then get back to the parks in the evening with the minimum of walking.

What didn't we like? Not much. Although the room was good, the hotel's geography meant that we ended up walking a lot to get to the room (although we did have the benefit, as mentioned, of a view of Downtown Disney). And the drinks service at the pool is very slow. Had we relied on circulating drinks staff we would have waited 45 minutes. Fortunately you can go to the service window and get served there.