-Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa
-Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort

DISNEY'S GRAND CALIFORNIAN HOTEL AND SPA

Located at the Disneyland resort in California, The Grand California is Disneyland’s high-end resort property. The hotel wears its 4 star status with pride, and rightfully so since it is the most beautiful of the three Disneyland resort hotels. Upon entering the hotel, you will notice its stained glass entrance doors that lead you directly into the breath-taking lobby area (also known as reception hall). As you are immersed in the glory of its architecture, you immediately notice how the hotel captures key elements of the Arts and Crafts movement from the early 1900’s.

With 750 rooms, the Grand has several room lay outs that offer exciting views of Disney’s California Adventure Park and Downtown  Disney. We tend to prefer the theme park view for obvious reasons; however, because of the sheer size of the hotel, different rooms give you different theme park views. A room over looking the Grizzly Rapids area of California Adventure is a recommended place to stay. We found it very relaxing to hear the sounds of moving water from the Grizzly Rapids attraction. In addition, the rooms are dressed in refined Craftsman era decors that don’t disappoint. The rooms are so comfortable that you may find it difficult to leave upon conclusion of your stay! 

When you want to escape the confines of your room, there is plenty to do around The Grand to help you relax. How about a cocktail at The Hearthstone Lounge? The lounge offers a full size stocked bar in a lodge-like atmosphere complete with a fireplace. And speaking of fireplaces, the massive stone fireplace located in the main lobby area is a great place to settle down for some much deserved R&R. Complete with rocking chairs, one can’t help to be drawn in by the beauty of the roaring fire directly in front of you. During certain times of the day, authentically dressed Park Rangers are known to tell stories and lead sing-a-longs around the fireplace. Just outside and steps away from the Grand fireplace, you will find the pool area with not one but two pools to choose from. The Fountain Pool is the more serene of the 2 pools, while the Redwood Pool seems to attract most Hotel guests and their children due to the pool’s slide. The slide fits perfectly into the theming of the hotel as it resembles sort of a miniature log-flume (sans the logs). The Eureka Springs Health Club And Spa is another place to visit if you are in need of some personal pampering. Besides the gym which has the latest in work out equipment, the spa offers a variety of massage services as well as steam rooms and dry saunas. I fondly recall my last massage at Eureka, not only because of the excellent service, but because of the soothing music they play during you massage (lots of outdoor, wilderness types of sounds integrated with a new-age soundtrack).

The Grand is also home to 2 unique restaurants that cannot be missed. The Napa Rose restaurant is known for their award winning collection of wines and fine food. The Napa Rose menu celebrates the Napa Valley wine country with food and wine selections that are sure to win you over. Napa Rose’s success is primarily due to Chef Andrew Sutton’s incredible attention to details and flavors as they relate to all aspects of the restaurant. Make a reservation….you won’t be sorry. Next up; StoryTellers Café. Brilliantly named for its stories depicted in seven murals displayed inside the restaurant, the food here is good, if not great. StoryTellers offers sandwiches, wood fired pizzas, along with both a breakfast and dinner buffet. The breakfast buffet is a character buffet with Chip ‘n Dale. The dinner buffet includes a variety of food selections that include a corn chowder soup that is out of this world. In short, StoryTellers restaurant gets visited quite frequently, even when were not staying at the hotel.

While just about everything at The Grand Californian is nearly picture perfect, we did have some issues with the check-in process. Unlike Walt Disney World hotels, The Grand (on several occasions) does not appear favorable to early check-ins or arrivals. We found this extremely frustrating, especially for those who have traveled long distances to stay at the resort. Just a “minor glitch on the radar”, but don’t let it deter you away from experiencing all the elegance and majesty The Grand Californian Hotel has to offer.

Disney gets a high five for the check-in process at this resort. Absolutely phenomenal! Why you ask? If you arrive before check-in time, and your cabin is ready, there is no delay in getting you to your cabin. A real plus since most people are tired coming off long flights or driving in from far away distances. The Reception Outpost (check-in) is themed quite nicely, the staff are very friendly, and you immediately begin to sense you are in the era of early settlers. The Reception Outpost also allows for the purchase of additional ticketed attractions that take place inside the resort area.

If you have a car, you are allowed to take it straight to your cabin. The scenery is beautiful… lush, and green with lots of tall trees. The cabins are located separately on a cul-de-sac layout so you will have next door neighbors, but plenty of space and privacy. Upon arrival to your cabin, you will notice a deck complete with an outside barbeque and picnic table for outdoor eating. Inside the cabin, there is a bedroom complete with a full bed and bunk bed. The living room area also has a pull down murphy bed along with a couch, TV, DVD player, and high speed internet access. The kitchen area comes complete with everything you’d expect to find in a kitchen. We found it helpful to have a full size refrigerator to stock bottled water, cold drinks, and left over food from the parks. Also, daily housekeeping service helps to keep you cabin clean and spotless.

There is plenty to do at The Fort Wilderness Resort. You are encouraged to utilize the bus system to get to different places in the resort as driving a car around is not practical. There are bus stops near the entrances of the cul-de-sacs which makes it very convenient to get around. Enjoy pools? Fort Wilderness has two of them; the biggest is the Meadow Swimmin’ Pool along with the smaller sized Wilderness Swimmin’ Pool. And they are both open 24 hours depending on the season (I never knew people swam at 3:00am, but trust me, they do here). How about horseback riding? It’s a great way to see the back country area of the resort. The ride is under an hour in length, the scenery picture perfect, and we found it to be a very relaxing way to spend some time. The trail guides are super professional, friendly, and converse with guests throughout the ride. Do you remember what hay rides were like when you were younger? Across Pioneer Hall and offered twice during the evening, the Wagon Ride (sans the hay) is a great way to experience the back area of the resort as well. We recommend you take the ride geared for the fireworks viewing. The horse drawn wagon will travel through the wilderness and stop at the edge of the lake for a viewing of the fireworks show from over Cinderella’s Castle. You will also be able to view the Electric Boat Parade. And there’s nothing like hearing the chirp of crickets and croaking of frogs under the night-time, tropical, Florida sky while safely seated in your horse drawn wagon.

The Pioneer Hall area is home to some other very special attractions. We strongly recommend you get tickets for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. We hear the show has been around for quite sometime, and after seeing this show, it’s not hard to understand why. How do you describe this show? Think vaudeville meets manic western revue. This show has lots of energy, plenty of singing, complete with an all you can eat table service meal (the food and drink are excellent). Another meal event available for purchase is Mickey’s Backyard Barbeque. Very family friendly for all ages, all you can eat buffet style meal, and plenty of interaction time with the Disney characters via group games and dancing.

And speaking of food and drink, The Trails End Restaurant is a great place to take in breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We’ve been told it’s the most reasonably priced buffet in all of Walt Disney World. There is nice selection of food and the staff makes you feel very welcomed. Immediately next store to the restaurant is Crockett’s Tavern, a full service bar serving up some fabulous drinks. Talk about happy hour served up in Pioneer style!

Right outside the tavern and restaurant area, the wrap around porch area is full of rocking chairs and table games (checkers/chess). It’s a great place to relax and engage in meaningful conversation. Nearby, the children can also enjoy the petting zoo and pony rides at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch.

But wait….there’s more. Like boating? Head on down to the Marina where you can rent a boat for a trip around the lake. If you are daring enough, you can also do some para-sailing. There is also a water taxi service available here that will take you to and from other Disney hotel locations as well as the Magic Kingdom. If you happen to take a water taxi, be on the look out for the old remains of River Country. Sadly, this water park adventure shut down a few years back and we’d love to see it become operational again. If a big lake is not your thing, how about boating in a small pond? The bike barn has plenty of canoes and paddle boats for rent. Or you can get yourself a fishing pole, plop yourself down on the ground like Huck and Tom, and fish to your hearts content. The bike barn also rents electric carts. The electric carts can be seen practically everywhere and are used by guests to get to and from different areas in the resort (many carts are owned and personally brought in by resort guests). But be warned. A lot of wanna-be under age drivers see this as an opportunity to show off their driving skills-when in reality they come off looking like something out of Mr. Toads Wild Ride, so be on the look out when making your way around the resort area.

Directly behind the pond is where you will find the Chip ‘n Dale nightly campfire program. Each night, there is a sing-a-long followed by a classic Disney movie under the stars. People can be seen roasting marshmallows and s’mores while watching a Disney flic. The resort also features 2 trading posts to satisfy your food, drink and souvenir needs. Both the (named Meadow and Settlement) trading posts are similar in what they have to offer as it relates to food and merchandise.

It’s also worth mentioning that Fort Wilderness Guests really love their holidays. We have been fortunate to stay at the resort over both the 4th of July and Christmas holidays. For the 4th of July, there is a special parade that takes place. Guests are allowed to enter the parade and strut their patriotic stuff down the streets of the resort. Many guests dress up their electronic carts in July 4th and Disney attire. And I must say, some of the guests put a lot of hard work into their “mini floats”. It really is an impressive sight to see. The same is true with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Electric carts and campsites are dressed up like Santa’s Village from the North Pole. Campers really try and out do each other with their decorations, which makes strolling around the resort on a holiday night extra fun.

Fort Wilderness is a memorable place to stay. It’s perfect for families or couples with or without children. If a settler’s theme with home-like modern conveniences is your thing, then Fort Wilderness resort is the place for you.

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