Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa reviews
5349 TripAdvisor reviews
How does this hotel have a 4-star rating?!!!
fryearoundtheworld (Tucson, Arizona) on Mar 18, 2024
What a horrible experience. You would think — when you spend $600 a night — that you would get a decent hotel experience. Not at Disney. This place is so overpriced, it’s ridiculous! We arrived on Friday night to discover that our king bed request could not be granted. We were given two queen beds, with no room for negotiation. No crib in the room despite our request either. Arriving at 8pm with a tired baby, we waited and waited while they got a crib for her. After flying, we were parched. A couple of bottles of water in the room? Not at Disney! How incredibly cheap. I called to ask if we could get some complimentary water — they said they don’t offer such a thing. After I explained how appalled I was, they brought us two waters. Is this really what one has to do to get water at a “luxury hotel“? The place was old and uncomfortable. We woke up in the morning and went down for breakfast. We had tried on multiple occasions to make a reservation on the Disney app, something the staff say is easy, without success. After waiting for a table, we were seated for our mediocre $52 per person buffet. Never have we paid so much for such mediocre food. We left the place at 7am and returned at 1pm. One would think housekeepers would have had adequate time to come? Nope, not at Disney. The baby needed to nap so we put up the “do not disturb” for a couple of hours and then called for housekeeping when she woke up a couple of hours later. We went out for dinner (off property, good luck getting anything on property, even as a guest) and returned around 7:30pm. Do you think housekeeping had come yet? Nope, not at Disney. No towels, nothing. We called down and express our disappointment, and they brought us some towels. Oh, and by the way — the mouthwash they provided had 4 different types of parabens in it, along with fragrance. In your mouth??!! Yuck!! Another night in a crappy hotel room before check-out the next day. At the front desk, our concerns were met with ambivalence. This seems to the the theme at this awful hotel. I cannot believe that this hotel has the ratings it does. Aside from its location, it has absolutely nothing going for it. Worn facilities, bad food, and zero service. For $600+ a night?! Never again.
Service, Rooms Have Gone Deteriorated
vakamalua (reston, va) on Mar 15, 2024
It had been a while since we stayed here & were quite disappointed that especially the service had deteriorated. It is a premiere Disney property, wonderfully convenient to the two parks & Downtown Disney but, considering the king's ransom rates, it doesn't fully deliver the luxury experience. The front desk staff is ill-trained & inattentive. Examples: We had an issue with the room we were assigned though a group & were met with shrugs & inaction, even from the manager; the issue was never resolved. When asking for housekeeping within a certain window, the front desk said it was not possible; when I went to the next person at the front desk, it was taken care of. Their dining app booked a reservation for us & when we got there that restaurant was closed. Overall, customer service is not a priority anymore. The rooms are quite small, crowded & showing their age. For a premium price, we had a view of a porch roof. Can't recommend.
Super convenient
TheCunninghams2012 (Aurora, Colorado) on Mar 14, 2024
We loved our stay! Super convenient to park access, can’t get any better than walking right into Disneys California Adventure and Downtown Disney from the hotel. Our room was great, bed was comfy, pillows were a little rough but made it work. Bell hop service was top notch, as well as valet parking. We ordered room service one night because we were tired and wanted to just get back to the room. It was ok. The laundry room was a hassle as there were only 2 washing machines, and the water pressure for the shower was not all that great. But we still had a great stay!
Grant CA had gone downhill and Early Entry is a disaster
LA D on Mar 10, 2024
Early entry and security checkpoints from this hotel are nothing short of a disaster now -- you should skip early entry at this point because it's so bad and you'd be lucky to get on 1 ride and it's so confusing and such a mess. The hotel is noisy - they put us in downtown disney and we could not sleep due to loud music until 1AM. We have been in rooms near the lobby in the past which are also super noisy until 1AM. Rooms are very small and decor is dated. The pool is nice - that's what we would say we like best and we had no problem with seating this time since it was cold but we have had great difficulty getting a decent seat by the pool in the Summer. The Storytellers buffet is the worst buffet I've ever had in my life. We even had difficulty at Napa Rose this time with overcooked scallops and they don't offer the best bread anymore - the new bread is terrible. They don't seem to try anymore at this hotel - it's really disappointing and a terrible value for the incredibly high price. The Disneyland hotel is much better or stay at the Westin or one of the Hotels on Harbor Blvd that are close. The Grand CA has crossed over to a really disappointing location.
Great stay and can’t beat the location…
RockScissorsPaper (Brooklyn, New York) on Mar 04, 2024
If you have young kids and are on the fence on whether to stay “on property” at Disneyland or not—just do it! Yes, there are many accommodations close by but you can’t beat the convenience of just being able to walk so easily to Downtown Disney and both park entrances. When your children are just tired or 2 seconds away from a park meltdown it was great to be able to easily stroll back to the room for a nap for them and head out again later. Grand Californian was a lovely hotel—they are busy but check-in was pleasant and we didn’t have any issues during our stay. The staff we encountered were all very helpful & friendly. We opted last minute to upgrade to the club house level and although it was $$$ in the end we’re glad we did it. It enabled us to grab a quick breakfast so we could go straight to the parks early, access to watch fireworks on the veranda and conveniently stock up on snacks, fruit, pastries and other nibbles throughout the day and just make our lives easier by not stressing about food. The rooms were clean and comfortable and the hotel is well maintained even with constant flow of bodies through the lobby level area. There’s a pool and spa on site although we didn’t utilize them since it was a short stay. Convenient shops and restaurants located downstairs as well. While it’s a pricey hotel it’s not a 5 star luxury resort—I wasn’t really expecting it to be. They know you’re here for the magic of Disneyland and they do a great job of making the stay easy for guests. Would come back!