Grand Californian Super Thread

I'd be happy even if they only let us refill at White Water Snacks. Plus... If I'm walking all the way down there ya know I'm buying a cheeseburger! ;)

How is White Water Snacks? I've heard good and bad reports of them.
 
Thanks for this thread - lots of great information!

Standard Room/Studio

Standard Guest Room Services & Amenities
In-room safe
Mini Bar

2 questions for you - When you say minibar does that mean only a pre-stocked fridge with high-priced snacks or is there an empty fridge for our use?

Also - the safe - is it big enough to fit a laptop? I've never traveled with one before but DsD will be bringing hers. Our plan for hotels later in our trip that didn't have a safe was to leave it in the trunk of the car but I assume it'd be a long walk to the car from our room. Or am I being paranoid - what do those of you that normally travel with one do?
 
Thanks for this thread - lots of great information!



2 questions for you - When you say minibar does that mean only a pre-stocked fridge with high-priced snacks or is there an empty fridge for our use?

Also - the safe - is it big enough to fit a laptop? I've never traveled with one before but DsD will be bringing hers. Our plan for hotels later in our trip that didn't have a safe was to leave it in the trunk of the car but I assume it'd be a long walk to the car from our room. Or am I being paranoid - what do those of you that normally travel with one do?

Good questions, from pics I've seen of different rooms, the fridge is empty. But I could be wrong. As for the safe, I THINK it would be too small to fit your average 15" or even 13" laptop. Duck you seem to have an extensive knowledge of this hotel, do you know the facts? I usually travel with mine and leave it in the room. Over the past 2 years I've gone to LA, the laptop stayed in the room but that was at the Hilton in Glendale. This my first time staying on property with the laptop and I'm not worried about it.
 
We have used the safe and it is quite small. I am fairly certain that a laptop would not fit. We just leave our laptop in a drawer or back in one of our suitcases when we leave. We have never had a problem with anything happaning to any of our electronic items.

hth. :)
 


How is White Water Snacks? I've heard good and bad reports of them.

We love WWS. Never had a problem with their type food and now they have expanded for the DVC users it has a much better selection.

Jack
 
Thanks for this thread - lots of great information!



2 questions for you - When you say minibar does that mean only a pre-stocked fridge with high-priced snacks or is there an empty fridge for our use?

Also - the safe - is it big enough to fit a laptop? I've never traveled with one before but DsD will be bringing hers. Our plan for hotels later in our trip that didn't have a safe was to leave it in the trunk of the car but I assume it'd be a long walk to the car from our room. Or am I being paranoid - what do those of you that normally travel with one do?

I travel with my laptop(or use to) everywhere. Stayed at GCH last year for a week and it was never even touched. Stayed at RI Maingate, never touched. Was in Dubai twice last year, never touched. WA DC for two weeks, no one ever bothered it. Draw your own conclusions. I never leave anything in my car!!!!


Jack
 


Whitewater snacks is good... The food quality (and quantity) has gone down a bit in the last couple of years. I wasn't as impressed with the nachos this time around! A couple other notes... Since the villas have opened up, WWS is trying to cater to them a bit by caarrying some grocery items. You can now buy a loaf of bread, half gallons of milk and OJ, jars of PB&J, frozen pizzas, bags of cookies etc...etc... Also because they are stocking these items they have extended their hours til 10pm every day!:thumbsup2
 
Whitewater snacks is good... The food quality (and quantity) has gone down a bit in the last couple of years. I wasn't as impressed with the nachos this time around! A couple other notes... Since the villas have opened up, WWS is trying to cater to them a bit by caarrying some grocery items. You can now buy a loaf of bread, half gallons of milk and OJ, jars of PB&J, frozen pizzas, bags of cookies etc...etc... Also because they are stocking these items they have extended their hours til 10pm every day!:thumbsup2


Very interesting.

How does the price compete with local grocery stores. Is it worth buying there or would it be a lot cheaper to go get groceries somewhere else?
 
Very interesting.

How does the price compete with local grocery stores. Is it worth buying there or would it be a lot cheaper to go get groceries somewhere else?

It will always be cheaper to get groceries cheaper elsewhere. But if you are at GCH and need something are you going to run out, get your car from parking, drive to the store and back, thinking you saved a $1. You can have groceries delivered, pre-plan a bit, or suck it up.

Jack
 
Very interesting.

How does the price compete with local grocery stores. Is it worth buying there or would it be a lot cheaper to go get groceries somewhere else?

It's not cheap but better than nothing (or $2 for a pint of milk); half gallon of milk $3.59, OJ for $5.59, loafof bread $2.59, Oreos for $3.??... That's what I remember off the top of my head... I can't quite remember, 3 weeks seem so long ago!
 
It's not cheap but better than nothing (or $2 for a pint of milk); half gallon of milk $3.59, OJ for $5.59, loafof bread $2.59, Oreos for $3.??... That's what I remember off the top of my head... I can't quite remember, 3 weeks seem so long ago!

Wow!:eek:

Thats pretty steep. Do you think it would be better to go off property and get stuff or just get it there?
 
One more question:

Right now I'm thinking we'll check out on our 4th day then head to the parks. Would we be able to leave our car in the GC parking on our check-out day until the evening?
 
How is White Water Snacks? I've heard good and bad reports of them.

Well, we like it alot, but opinions are all over the place. Basically, it is a good place to get a decent (by Disney standards) meal in a nice, usually uncrowded location, for a decent (by Disney standards) price, although those are recently creeping up. We are big fans of the breakfast burrito..cinnamon rolls are good, and have heard you can get a regular breakfast platter of all the stuff in the burrito if you ask. I really like the French Dip..is it gone? and the nachos are good..Have heard good things about the chicken sandwich. I guess this place is adding some grocery items for the villas, so those will be there also. They have a pretty good assortment, even before the villas.. yogurt, string cheese, fruit, etc.
 
Wow!:eek:

Thats pretty steep. Do you think it would be better to go off property and get stuff or just get it there?

You can get delivery from Albertsons, or if you aren't getting much and if you are staying at the villas Disney has a little pre order thing of their expensive choices you can fax and they'll have the stuff there for you. There is an ABC and 7-11 close by (for the all important alcohol but also some limited other stuff) Anyone ever gotten alcohol there then walked back to the Grand? Is there an issue getting through security on the Harbor side with it?
Oh...the mini fridges are empty....they used to have stuff in them, but they emptied those out a long time ago.
 
You can get delivery from Albertsons, or if you aren't getting much and if you are staying at the villas Disney has a little pre order thing of their expensive choices you can fax and they'll have the stuff there for you. There is an ABC and 7-11 close by (for the all important alcohol but also some limited other stuff) Anyone ever gotten alcohol there then walked back to the Grand? Is there an issue getting through security on the Harbor side with it?
Oh...the mini fridges are empty....they used to have stuff in them, but they emptied those out a long time ago.

Albertsons stopped grocery delivery last year. The only thing they offer online now is placing an order for pick-up, so you can order your groceries online and then go into the store to get them, but they stopped delivery early last year. Vons is the only real major online grocery delivery service in SoCal now, unless you can find a local, smaller grocery delivery company in Orange County (like we have Yummy Delivery up here in L.A., which is an alternative to Vons when I only have a couple of things I need delivered).
 
Albertsons stopped grocery delivery last year. The only thing they offer online now is placing an order for pick-up, so you can order your groceries online and then go into the store to get them, but they stopped delivery early last year. Vons is the only real major online grocery delivery service in SoCal now, unless you can find a local, smaller grocery delivery company in Orange County (like we have Yummy Delivery up here in L.A., which is an alternative to Vons when I only have a couple of things I need delivered).

Its been >10 years since I shopped at Vons. Is it a grocery store or more of a pharmacy type thing? I can't remember
 
Its been >10 years since I shopped at Vons. Is it a grocery store or more of a pharmacy type thing? I can't remember

Vons (aka Safeway or Pavilions) is a full grocery store chain, and they started home & office delivery (which extends to the hotels in the DLR area) quite a few years ago. You can go to Vons.com or Safeway.com (same thing) to place the order. Many of our DIS-ers have groceries delivered to them while they are staying at DLR or one of the offsite hotels. There is a $50 minimum for online orders, and they usually give you free delivery on your first order only. They deliver meat, produce, alcohol, frozen food, medicine, baked goods, flowers - anything that you could pretty much imagine from a grocery store!
 
Vons (aka Safeway or Pavilions) is a full grocery store chain, and they started home & office delivery (which extends to the hotels in the DLR area) quite a few years ago. You can go to Vons.com or Safeway.com (same thing) to place the order. Many of our DIS-ers have groceries delivered to them while they are staying at DLR or one of the offsite hotels. There is a $50 minimum for online orders, and they usually give you free delivery on your first order only. They deliver meat, produce, alcohol, frozen food, medicine, baked goods, flowers - anything that you could pretty much imagine from a grocery store!

Wow thats pretty awesome! I'll be taking advantage of that for sure.

Thanks Sherry
 
Albertsons stopped grocery delivery last year. The only thing they offer online now is placing an order for pick-up, so you can order your groceries online and then go into the store to get them, but they stopped delivery early last year. Vons is the only real major online grocery delivery service in SoCal now, unless you can find a local, smaller grocery delivery company in Orange County (like we have Yummy Delivery up here in L.A., which is an alternative to Vons when I only have a couple of things I need delivered).
ahhh...thank you. I remember something about that now...
 

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