Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa

WOW! We stayed here a few years back for our honeymoon as it was a dream stay for us and if I could afford to stay here every time I would hands down! The location is beautiful plus the obvious perk of being as close to the parks as you can possibly get. The hotel staff had all the expected Disney magic and the food was delicious! The rooms were spacious and wonderfully decorated!

We recently stayed at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel and Spa for 4 nights, and while there were certainly some positives, a few disappointing aspects kept this from being the five-star experience we expected for the extravagant price point they are charging families. On the plus side, the cast-members were consistently friendly, welcoming and eager to help. Their warm attitude added a lot to the overall atmosphere of the hotel. The location is incredibly convenient, being able to walk directly to the parks and back to our room for midday breaks in hot summer days was a big plus, especially with kids. HOWEVER, the condition of our room left much to be desired. For a room that costs over $1,000 a night, we expected a much higher standard of cleanliness and upkeep. The carpet was visibly soiled and frayed in multiple areas. The main overhead light (the one integrated into the crown molding) didn’t work at all, so we had to rely solely on the small bedside lamps for lighting. One of the bed duvets was completely torn down on one side, which was quite surprising given the hotel’s luxury branding. The Keurig machine was also unreliable, failing to work four out of five times we tried it. The bathroom stool had clusters of hair stuck to it, which raised immediate hygiene concerns. Overall, while the service and location were excellent, the room condition was far below what anyone should accept at this price point. Disney can—and should—do better to meet the expectations of guests paying these premium rates.

I’ll try to keep this as short as I can. The location was good and the service from Joey at the front desk and Evan the manager was one of the best customer service experiences I’ve ever had. However everything else was awful especially for the $900 a night price tag. When we got to the room, honestly have seen better from motels and 2 star hotels. The furniture was outdated, the walls were incredibly thin, the shower was dingy, and the toilet was extremely small. On top of that when we checked in, Joey told us to go to the bell service and ask them to escort us to the room, and they flat out refused, told us to go to the room and call for our bags. After 2 hours of waiting for them to bring our bags to the room, my husband just went downstairs himself and grabbed them. After we saw the room we went and complained because we actually couldn’t believe they were charging close to $1000 a night for a room like this and were told they could upgrade us the next night. Now the second room was a lot nicer, slightly more modern furniture, and a much nicer bathroom (still not worth the $900 a night price tag, can’t even imagine how much the upgraded room would be). But the final straw came on our last night, when at 2 a.m., the A/C unit began making a loud, high-pitched squeaking noise that lasted for two hours and woke us up. It was so loud, I honestly thought it was a bell cart with a broken wheel rolling back and forth in front of the room. (Would attach video of noise if Google would let me.) Overall wish I stayed at a cheaper hotel and just walked the extra 10-15 minutes or used the saved money to uber to the parks. DO NOT RECOMMEND.