Grand Californian Super Thread

This may have already been posted as I haven't been checking the thread since I got back in early November or missed it prior to my stay at the GCH. I want to let you know that you need to pay your account in full at the DLR hotels when you check in. I'd had all my luggage stored at check-in and had to get it retrieved to find my gift cards. This slowed down our park entry for quite some time as things were busy.
 
Here now - arrived today (well yesterday now)! Checked in super early at around 6am, there was no line at check in, and the CM at the front desk was amazing and found a room that was ready for us - so we had our room from 6am! He even got me pretty much my exact room request - we’re in the hallway that’s between the entrance hall and the DCA entrance so super close to everything.

EMH was pretty awesome - we got on so much during that hour. Thanks all for the tip about going around to DTD and then the DCA main entrance for EMH - we did just this when I saw the really long line waiting at the GCH DCA entrance, and there was almost no one at the main DCA entrance when we walked around there for EMH.

This is my first stay at a “park entrance” hotel (I guess the others would be the DLH in DLP and Mira Costa in TDR). Love being so close to the parks. It was so easy to just pop in and out. Especially before/after riding Grizzly - I was able to head back to the room and change to flip flops then go on the ride, saved me from having wet shoes! I even popped back to leave jackets/etc behind as it got warmer during the day.

Oh and the room itself is amazing! The decor is amazing, the beds are super comfy. We have an awesome view of the monorail. Love all the dimmer switches and how you can have the room anywhere from dim to really bright. The Keurig coffee maker is great (though we had to go ask for more pods - we kinda drank a lot of coffee/tea since we had our room from the morning - I’m on my 3rd or 4th cup of tea right now). Only downside is the lack of a curtain or door that can close off the sink area, and the lack of hooks in the bathroom.

One other (minor) downside - a planned power outage that’s happening right now - they did tell me about it at check in and gave me a letter about it, it’s supposed to be from 1-5am. Unfortunately I stayed in the park right until closing at midnight which is why I’m still awake now! Oddly wifi is still working pretty well... I guess most people wouldn’t be affected by this since it’s 1-5am?
 
So to follow up on my above comment - I'm home now, some 24+ hours after checking out from the GCH (I live really far away).

I love love loved this stay at the GCH. Not my first time in a Disney deluxe-type hotel within walking distance of parks (previously stayed at WDW BC/BCV and club level at SDL DLH) but this experience was so much better.

I can't overstate how convenient the location was. In the mornings we'd head out with jackets, and as the day turned warmer I'd pop back to the room and leave jackets there. One time when I did this I felt a bit thirsty in the room so made myself a cup of tea using the coffee maker... then decided to just make a cup of coffee too and bring it into DCA for my parents who were still inside the park. I'd buy stuff in the parks/DTD and just pop back to the room to leave it there. Before every Grizzly ride I'd pop back to the room to change to flip flops and grab a poncho, then after the ride I'd squelch back to the room to change. And when it rained on my last night there, it was such a short distance to walk back to the hotel (via World of Disney for some last minute shopping). It was easy for my parents to pop back to the room for a break during the day too.

The lobby was fantastic. That smell of gingerbread just walking into it was awesome. The fireplace, the tree, the handbell choir... All super amazing.

I did the Art of the Craft tour and it was fun - the CM who ran it pointed out so many design elements in the hotel that I would have missed otherwise. So much thought went into the hotel design and architecture!

Also did the 6am power walk through DCA one day. I could easily keep the 15 minute mile pace, but will say that walking that pace is much harder than jogging at a faster pace! It was cool to be able to see the park before it opened. Only did it once though, as didn't really want to wake up so early after that.

Swimming pool - went swimming once. Somehow I wasn't a huge fan of the area - I guess because if I really wanted to go and have fun swimming or splashing around it's more fun if I just go to a proper water park (there's one near me).

We went to Storytellers for brunch once, and it was amazing. We took a later seating (around 12.45pm), and it worked out great. The restaurant was only about half full at that time, which meant the characters had more time to spend with each party and they went around and around and around. We must have seen each of them about 3-4 times! And towards the end there was a CM going around tables checking to make sure that all the characters had come around. The character interaction was so much fun. Food was decent too.

The room itself was amazing and I loved how well the entire room design was thought out. You could dim the lights at the sink area, the main room lights, and each of the 4 little lanterns by the bed, and have the room anywhere from complete darkness to super bright. So if someone was sleeping, the bed area could be dark - but the rest of the room (coffee maker area, sink area, desk area, and even the other bed areas) could be bright enough for people who were awake. Our room was particularly awesome as we happened to get a great view of the fireworks - one room down and the view would have been blocked by a tree and a hotel building.

Wow this ended up being kind of long! (At 2am in the morning local time no less...)
 


Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster here. I will be staying here in a couple weeks and am wondering if anybody could tell me if a DSLR camera and lens would fit in the in room safe in a regular room? I've stayed in some hotels where the safe's were sort of wide but shallow and some where we were able to store 2 iPads and the camera and lens. I've only been able to find photos of the outside of the safe online. I'm not sure I want to lug the camera and camera bag around the parks everyday. Thanks in advance!
 


Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster here. I will be staying here in a couple weeks and am wondering if anybody could tell me if a DSLR camera and lens would fit in the in room safe in a regular room? I've stayed in some hotels where the safe's were sort of wide but shallow and some where we were able to store 2 iPads and the camera and lens. I've only been able to find photos of the outside of the safe online. I'm not sure I want to lug the camera and camera bag around the parks everyday. Thanks in advance!
My safe was tall and wide, but shallow as you guessed. I could see a DSLR maybe fitting with the lens off or pointed upwards, but it would be close.
 
Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster here. I will be staying here in a couple weeks and am wondering if anybody could tell me if a DSLR camera and lens would fit in the in room safe in a regular room? I've stayed in some hotels where the safe's were sort of wide but shallow and some where we were able to store 2 iPads and the camera and lens. I've only been able to find photos of the outside of the safe online. I'm not sure I want to lug the camera and camera bag around the parks everyday. Thanks in advance!
I was just there in November with my Nikon DSLR. We were in a DVC room, but if the safes are the same (sounds like they are by what RE1333 said above), I don't think mine would fit. It fit a couple of ipads sitting upright. Perhaps if you took the lens off, but it would depend on size and angle. I would make another plan. Personally, I just take mine with me, but it is kind of a pain I admit. But I like the pics I get with it so much more than my phone.
 
Thanks for the replies RE1333 and sgrap. I was holding out hope that maybe if I took the lense off I might be able to fit it if the safe was shallow (or hoping the safe would be deeper lol). I may just lug it around with me then, as I do love the pics it takes better than my phone as well and don’t want to leave it at home. Thanks again! :D
 
So to follow up on my above comment - I'm home now, some 24+ hours after checking out from the GCH (I live really far away).

I love love loved this stay at the GCH. Not my first time in a Disney deluxe-type hotel within walking distance of parks (previously stayed at WDW BC/BCV and club level at SDL DLH) but this experience was so much better.

I can't overstate how convenient the location was. In the mornings we'd head out with jackets, and as the day turned warmer I'd pop back to the room and leave jackets there. One time when I did this I felt a bit thirsty in the room so made myself a cup of tea using the coffee maker... then decided to just make a cup of coffee too and bring it into DCA for my parents who were still inside the park. I'd buy stuff in the parks/DTD and just pop back to the room to leave it there. Before every Grizzly ride I'd pop back to the room to change to flip flops and grab a poncho, then after the ride I'd squelch back to the room to change. And when it rained on my last night there, it was such a short distance to walk back to the hotel (via World of Disney for some last minute shopping). It was easy for my parents to pop back to the room for a break during the day too.

The lobby was fantastic. That smell of gingerbread just walking into it was awesome. The fireplace, the tree, the handbell choir... All super amazing.

I did the Art of the Craft tour and it was fun - the CM who ran it pointed out so many design elements in the hotel that I would have missed otherwise. So much thought went into the hotel design and architecture!

Also did the 6am power walk through DCA one day. I could easily keep the 15 minute mile pace, but will say that walking that pace is much harder than jogging at a faster pace! It was cool to be able to see the park before it opened. Only did it once though, as didn't really want to wake up so early after that.

Swimming pool - went swimming once. Somehow I wasn't a huge fan of the area - I guess because if I really wanted to go and have fun swimming or splashing around it's more fun if I just go to a proper water park (there's one near me).

We went to Storytellers for brunch once, and it was amazing. We took a later seating (around 12.45pm), and it worked out great. The restaurant was only about half full at that time, which meant the characters had more time to spend with each party and they went around and around and around. We must have seen each of them about 3-4 times! And towards the end there was a CM going around tables checking to make sure that all the characters had come around. The character interaction was so much fun. Food was decent too.

The room itself was amazing and I loved how well the entire room design was thought out. You could dim the lights at the sink area, the main room lights, and each of the 4 little lanterns by the bed, and have the room anywhere from complete darkness to super bright. So if someone was sleeping, the bed area could be dark - but the rest of the room (coffee maker area, sink area, desk area, and even the other bed areas) could be bright enough for people who were awake. Our room was particularly awesome as we happened to get a great view of the fireworks - one room down and the view would have been blocked by a tree and a hotel building.

Wow this ended up being kind of long! (At 2am in the morning local time no less...)
 
Thanks for a great report, we leave Sunday for our 1st stay. How long does the 6am walk last? Thinking of doing this on check out day since we will be up anyway and that would be a great way to end the trip!
 
Thanks for a great report, we leave Sunday for our 1st stay. How long does the 6am walk last? Thinking of doing this on check out day since we will be up anyway and that would be a great way to end the trip!

It's supposed to be an approximately 2 mile, 30 minute walk. And although you meet at 6am, it actually starts a little bit after as it takes a couple of minutes to fill out disclaimer forms and for the CM to give a quick briefing about the walk. And there were some very brief stops in the middle of the walk (one was to allow someone to tie their shoelace, another was a brief pause outside Guardians where the CM said a bit about the ongoing construction work, and I think there might have been another one to let a maintenance vehicle or similar pass by).

According to my Apple watch records the one I went on was 3.14km long from 6.07-6.40am.

You also need to sign up for it the day before - I went to the desk opposite the check in counters (Activities? Can't quite remember what it's called) to sign up.

Definitely do it if you can (and if you can keep up with the pace - he walks really really fast!), it's a really cool unique experience!
 
Small porte cochere update. I didn't take pics because it was dark and my phone stinks at night photos. BUT they have 2 "lanes" that go through the construction walls now, so you can pull up and enter through the regular doors. They also have benches in between the lanes, so you can sit while you wait for your car to be brought from valet. Also, the regular Valet Stand is open again.

As of last week, the construction walls by the main entrance were down. There was still some construction equipment by the convention center entrance though.
 
Here now - arrived today (well yesterday now)! Checked in super early at around 6am, there was no line at check in, and the CM at the front desk was amazing and found a room that was ready for us - so we had our room from 6am! He even got me pretty much my exact room request - we’re in the hallway that’s between the entrance hall and the DCA entrance so super close to everything.

EMH was pretty awesome - we got on so much during that hour. Thanks all for the tip about going around to DTD and then the DCA main entrance for EMH - we did just this when I saw the really long line waiting at the GCH DCA entrance, and there was almost no one at the main DCA entrance when we walked around there for EMH.

This is my first stay at a “park entrance” hotel (I guess the others would be the DLH in DLP and Mira Costa in TDR). Love being so close to the parks. It was so easy to just pop in and out. Especially before/after riding Grizzly - I was able to head back to the room and change to flip flops then go on the ride, saved me from having wet shoes! I even popped back to leave jackets/etc behind as it got warmer during the day.

Oh and the room itself is amazing! The decor is amazing, the beds are super comfy. We have an awesome view of the monorail. Love all the dimmer switches and how you can have the room anywhere from dim to really bright. The Keurig coffee maker is great (though we had to go ask for more pods - we kinda drank a lot of coffee/tea since we had our room from the morning - I’m on my 3rd or 4th cup of tea right now). Only downside is the lack of a curtain or door that can close off the sink area, and the lack of hooks in the bathroom.

One other (minor) downside - a planned power outage that’s happening right now - they did tell me about it at check in and gave me a letter about it, it’s supposed to be from 1-5am. Unfortunately I stayed in the park right until closing at midnight which is why I’m still awake now! Oddly wifi is still working pretty well... I guess most people wouldn’t be affected by this since it’s 1-5am?
The real kicker “surprise” is when they shut down the water overnight...
 
So to follow up on my above comment - I'm home now, some 24+ hours after checking out from the GCH (I live really far away).

I love love loved this stay at the GCH. Not my first time in a Disney deluxe-type hotel within walking distance of parks (previously stayed at WDW BC/BCV and club level at SDL DLH) but this experience was so much better.

I can't overstate how convenient the location was. In the mornings we'd head out with jackets, and as the day turned warmer I'd pop back to the room and leave jackets there. One time when I did this I felt a bit thirsty in the room so made myself a cup of tea using the coffee maker... then decided to just make a cup of coffee too and bring it into DCA for my parents who were still inside the park. I'd buy stuff in the parks/DTD and just pop back to the room to leave it there. Before every Grizzly ride I'd pop back to the room to change to flip flops and grab a poncho, then after the ride I'd squelch back to the room to change. And when it rained on my last night there, it was such a short distance to walk back to the hotel (via World of Disney for some last minute shopping). It was easy for my parents to pop back to the room for a break during the day too.

The lobby was fantastic. That smell of gingerbread just walking into it was awesome. The fireplace, the tree, the handbell choir... All super amazing.

I did the Art of the Craft tour and it was fun - the CM who ran it pointed out so many design elements in the hotel that I would have missed otherwise. So much thought went into the hotel design and architecture!

Also did the 6am power walk through DCA one day. I could easily keep the 15 minute mile pace, but will say that walking that pace is much harder than jogging at a faster pace! It was cool to be able to see the park before it opened. Only did it once though, as didn't really want to wake up so early after that.

Swimming pool - went swimming once. Somehow I wasn't a huge fan of the area - I guess because if I really wanted to go and have fun swimming or splashing around it's more fun if I just go to a proper water park (there's one near me).

We went to Storytellers for brunch once, and it was amazing. We took a later seating (around 12.45pm), and it worked out great. The restaurant was only about half full at that time, which meant the characters had more time to spend with each party and they went around and around and around. We must have seen each of them about 3-4 times! And towards the end there was a CM going around tables checking to make sure that all the characters had come around. The character interaction was so much fun. Food was decent too.

The room itself was amazing and I loved how well the entire room design was thought out. You could dim the lights at the sink area, the main room lights, and each of the 4 little lanterns by the bed, and have the room anywhere from complete darkness to super bright. So if someone was sleeping, the bed area could be dark - but the rest of the room (coffee maker area, sink area, desk area, and even the other bed areas) could be bright enough for people who were awake. Our room was particularly awesome as we happened to get a great view of the fireworks - one room down and the view would have been blocked by a tree and a hotel building.

Wow this ended up being kind of long! (At 2am in the morning local time no less...)




What type of room did you have?
 
Thanks for the replies RE1333 and sgrap. I was holding out hope that maybe if I took the lense off I might be able to fit it if the safe was shallow (or hoping the safe would be deeper lol). I may just lug it around with me then, as I do love the pics it takes better than my phone as well and don’t want to leave it at home. Thanks again! :D


There is a safe at reception that they’ll store your camera in. Or you could rent a locker in the parks.
 
What type of room did you have?

Woods/Courtyard view room.

The CM at check in was amazing and pretty much got me the exact room location I wanted, and the view of fireworks was an unexpected bonus that we found out about on one of the nights!
 
There is a safe at reception that they’ll store your camera in. Or you could rent a locker in the parks.

Thanks for the suggestions, I may look into these for the times when I don't want to carry it around. The less stuff you have to carry around all day long the better. :D
 

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