Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa

This is my first stay at this particular Disney Hotel and the second for my family. The hotel is conveniently located closer to Disneyland Magic Kingdom entry than the other onsite hotels, and also has direct entry access to California Adventure Park. Our holiday started with a bit of a challenge when the hotel staff were unable to find our pre-ordered park tickets. This delayed our first day entry for over an hour. Once sorted, we had a great time exploring the hotel, the halloween specific decorations, pool area and restaurants. Our room was modern, clean and very well-kept by hotel staff. Overall, absolutely wonderful holiday experience.

Recently stayed here for a 4-night Disney vacation. The Grand Californian has a separate side entrance for California Adventure Park. This is a huge advantage especially on the days when the extra magic hour (7-8 AM) is at California Adventure. We were able to ride the majority of the premium rides in California Adventure Park each day during the extra magic hour. The separate side entrance allows you to avoid the crowds at the main gate which can otherwise eat into your magic hour time. The hotel itself is fantastic. The beds in the rooms are amazingly comfortable. Rooms are super clean. Nice to be able to easily walk back to your hotel after a long day at the parks.

I stay at the Grand Californian several times a year, mostly for work. Typically I stay for just one night, on the last night of a business trip, due to the flight schedule out of John Wayne Airport. It's a good opportunity to get out of a standard Marriott type accommodation and have some fun. I enjoy theme parks. I checked in at the Grand Californian for one night on Tuesday 11/12 and asked for a King bed. The perfectly pleasant cast member must have searched for a solid ten minutes before telling me there were none available. I get the keys to my room and head up. Open the door. And to my surprise... the room hasn't been touched by housekeeping. Sheets are pulled back, all the trash cans are full. Drinks and cans on the counter tops. Basically was not a clean and ready room at all. Someone had checked out and no one ever cleaned it. I took photos of everything and go back to the front desk (and this is not a small hotel, mind you). I've spent about 25 minutes trying to check in so far. I show them my photos and the front desk cast member pulls over what may have been a manager or possibly just a coordinator and he basically takes over for her. He asks me if I need a day bed... I don't even know what that means - I just tell him I want a King bed if he can find it. He takes *another* ten minutes to look in the system before telling me he has nothing but Queen rooms. Okay, it is what it is. Then things really started to annoy me. He assigns me to a room in the Woods Courtyard, which is a less expensive room view category than what I paid for. I paid for a Premium view which I know typically includes a foreground view of the pool and a background view of the theme park. I point this out to him and he goes "Yes, you're correct" and then starts looking for rooms again. What in the hell? If I was just another dumb guest, was he really going to downgrade me without telling me or offering a refund on the difference? That really drove me crazy. So then he puts me in a room that *only* faces the pool and, at this point, I'm over it. I just want to unpack, freshen up, and hit up the theme parks for a few hours, so I take it. He thanked me for my patience, but otherwise offered no recovery. At this point, I had been working on checking in for upwards of 45 minutes. For reference Disney, this probably would have been a good moment to put me in a standard suite or give me complimentary lounge access. I paid $725 for this one night inclusive of tax and you just needlessly burned through almost an hour of my time. Instead they sent me 3 old-looking chocolate covered strawberries. To a solo guy, alone, on a business trip. What a bizarre "gift". It's not like I'm here on my honeymoon. By the way, the note said nothing about "Sorry for the difficulties". It just said "Enjoy your stay". In the morning, I called to get help with my luggage and they quoted me a ten minute wait. After 20 minutes, and no assistance, I left on my own, struggling to get three bags down to the porte cochere. I initially wasn't going to leave a poor review, because I know this property is almost always full and getting a king bed is a challenge, and the room incorrectly flagged as clean and ready could be an honest mistake. The real icing on the cake! I checked my folio and saw that they had charged me $35 for valet parking even thought I didn't have a car at all! Things happen, but the recovery here was really pitiful, and too many things went wrong for me to chalk it up to an anomaly. I hope this isn't a trend, because the JW Marriott opens just down the street in a few months and I'll be happy to give them my business instead.

The hotel. Is beautiful and the rooms are very spacious and updated. The staff was very friendly and accommodating and the theme park view from our balcony was amazing. It was also great that we were always able to get into California adventure with no lines! Would definitely stay here again if visiting.

Pulling up in the front of the hotel was just like many resorts we've been to, very clean , lots of room. Staff were helpful directing people. I later was impressed how smoothly it was run after realizing the volume of guests coming and going at the resort. Check in was quick and easy, the front desk staff wasted no time getting to know everyone by name and knew absolutely everything about the hotel, resort and parks. And we threw a lot of questions out there! The room was equipped as a normal room would be, but had power outlets and USB charging absolutely anywhere you could think to put them, which was great for all our phones and devices we brought to make sure we were all connected while in the parks. Pool area was very well kept and had a lot of different areas so kids could play, but quieter folks could still relax. I was amazed at the detail in the great rooom. Notice when you go there that the ornate tiles in the floor meet up with the carpet but the patern doesn't change at all, the transition is seemless. There was always something going on and we were fully entertained. Food was great in all the restaurants we tried, the buffett was very well stocked and kept completely full at all times when we were there. Top notch all around. The hotel is classed as a four diamond hotel, I understand the only way to get a fifth diamond would be to have a golf course, however it has a Disneyland!!! Well worth the additional diamond in my books.