Disneys Grand Californian Hotel Spa - Hotels On Downtown Disney Anaheim, California

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is a beautiful hotel and, in my opinion, the best of the three Disney hotels here. The room prices prove my theory as well with the Disneyland Hotel being the middle tier and Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel be the more budget friendly option (relatively speaking). The theming here is top notch and based on a 19 century arts and crafts style. It reminds me a lot Disney's Wilderness Lodge hotel in Florida's Disney World.

The hotel really celebrates the great outdoors and has a very warm and cozy feeling inside with its dim lighting, fireplace, and dark wood all around. The lobby is massive and the attention to detail is amazing, but also exactly what you'd expect from Disney. The staff here are always friendly and helpful.

Location
One of the best things about this hotel is it's location. Sure, any of the Disney owned hotels are all very close to the Disney parks but the Grand Californian is closest to both Disneyland Park and California Adventure which means less walking. In fact, the Grand Californian has it's own entrance right into California Adventure that is for Disney hotel guests only and makes getting to and from your room much easier.

One area where Disney dropped the ball in a big way is with the monorail. The monorail comes right through the middle of the Grand Californian property and yet doesn't stop here. Imagine how awesome it would have been to walk from your room to the monorail to head right into Disneyland Park where you could get off at the Disneyland Monorail - Tomorrowland Station. Unfortunately, somebody at Disney didn't think this through very well and while they built the hotel right around and over the monorail track they didn't put in a station. Those imagineers had a huge lack of imagination, or budget as I would bet was the case.

Rooms
The rooms are pretty typical of most hotels these days but a decent enough size since you likely won't be spending much time in them when you aren't sleeping. Some of the rooms will overlook the Downtown Disney District and may fetch a premium price. We got an upgrade to one of these before and weren't at all impressed since you get a lot of noise from Downtown Disney that comes right through your closed patio doors. It was so bad we asked to move to another location and they happily accommodated us, even hinting that our request was somewhat common. If you stay out late you won't care about this, but if you come back early with small kids you might.

We've had other rooms in other locations without any other noise issues, though in some cases you have to walk quite a bit to get from your room back to the main lobby area. This is a fairly large property and you tend to do a lot of walking to get around the hotel or out to the other areas.

Dining
On site dining options include Napa Rose and the Napa Rose Lounge, Storytellers Cafe, Hearthstone Lounge, White Water Snacks, and then you have super easy and quick access to everything that Downtown Disney has to offer as well.

Pool, Spa, & Recreation
The pool area here is pretty good, but not great. It's fairly large and has three main pools, a small kids splash pool, and two hot tubs. It also has a pretty fun slide that kids, and even adults, will enjoy. They offer a lot of lounge chairs but it's the usual ridiculous game of not being able to find a place to setup because everyone else grabbed twice as many chairs as they'll actually use.

There is a poolside drink and food service which is always handy but seems to always be really slow as well. We've been here many times and I can't remember ever once having reasonable quick service. You might be better just walking to White Water Snacks which is right next to the pool and offers up the same food.

For those looking to pamper themselves, check out the Mandara Spa that's located here and offers a full line of massages and treatments to take all that accumulated stress from the parks away.

• Building: Lanai / Balcony	• Building: Low Rise	• Building: Resort	• Property: Business Center	• Property: Club Level
• Property: Dining On Site	• Property: Laundry On Site	• Property: Stores On Site	• Room: Coffee Maker	• Room: Hair Dryer
• Room: Iron & Board	• Room: Mini Fridge	• Room: Room Service	• Room: Safe	• Recreation: Hot Tub
• Recreation: Kids Club	• Recreation: Pool	• Recreation: Water Slides	• Internet: Free In Lobby	• Internet: Free In Room
• Parking: Paid Self Park	• Parking: Paid Valet	• Disney: Deluxe Hotel