Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is the most expensive of the three Disney hotels at Disneyland Resort. It is on many nights of the year the most expensive Disney hotel in the country and maybe even the world. And it is the only American Disney hotel with a direct entrance into a theme park. With multiple stays under our belts, read on to find out what we think of this high-end Disneyland option!
The Basics & Booking Grand Californian
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is one of three Disney-operated hotels at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The other two are Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel (currently transforming into Pixar Place hotel).
We booked our Standard View room through our choice travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC. We paid $817.83 per night, the full rack rate for our May dates.
For 2024, Grand Californian rooms can be found around $600 when deals are available, but you’ll probably pay closer to $800. Discounts from third-party sites (Expedia, Booking, etc.) are rare. Discounts are occasionally available for other groups, including DVC members and Disneyland annual passholders.
Perks of Staying at Grand Californian
There’s two big perks of staying at Grand Californian—access to Early Entry at both parks and the dedicated hotel entrance to Disney California Adventure.
Early Entry grants guests of the Disney hotels an extra 30 minutes to enjoy select attractions at one of the two parks every morning. Realistically this isn’t necessary for most visitors, and it certainly doesn’t by itself justify the high prices.
We don’t take full advantage every morning of our visits, but we do like to make sure we visit Early Entry at each park at least once if we have access. We have a Complete Guide to Early Entry at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
As for the location / entrance to Disney California Adventure, we’ll cover that in the next section.
There are other, ancillary perks, like preferred access to dining reservations, but we won’t be addressing those here. Disney discusses these a bit. Suffice to say that even with Early Entry, the perks do not justify the price here. That’s not to say it’s unjustifiable, just that the value isn’t in the perks.
Location & Transportation at Grand Californian
Unlike the hotels at Walt Disney World, there’s really little to say about location and transportation at any of Disneyland’s hotels. All three hotels are located within walking distance of both parks and Downtown Disney.
Grand Californian has—in theory—the best location of the three Disney hotels, and really of any hotel if you’re visiting Disneyland. Exiting the hotel directly into Downtown Disney, you’ll have a five-minute walk over to Disneyland (and the main entrance to Disney California Adventure).
And of course, the Grand Californian famously has its own dedicated entrance to Disney California Adventure. The Disney California Adventure entrance spits you out into Grizzly Peak.
But I used two important words above—“in theory.” In practice, our experiences with the Grand Californian entrances to both Downtown Disney (the only feasible route to Disneyland) and directly to Disney California Adventure have been mixed. Once the morning passes, these entrances are great. I love being able to go between the hotel and California Adventure in an instant during a day in that park.
But the morning is a different story. At a previous visit, we noted that we wound up just avoiding the dedicated Disney California Adventure entrance for rope drop / Early Entry because it was too crowded. Well, on our most recent visit that line was okay (we were corralled in the park before Early Entry with no problem), but we waited 15 minutes, from 7:06AM to 7:21AM to get through security into Downtown Disney a different morning. This meant we’d still arrive in time for 7:30AM Early Entry if going straight to the parks, but any stop for, e.g., coffee would be a more significant delay than we’d expected.
This issue is a tricky point (and, frankly, captures why I sometimes hate reviewing hotels). I can wait in a 15-minute line. And with mobile order at Starbucks we just had to swing by and grab our drinks, which we chugged on the way to Peter Pan’s Flight. Overall that long security line could be called a “non-issue.”
But c’mon, the standard view room cost over $800 per night. At some point I have to just call out that guests shouldn’t be paying that price for the privilege to wait in lines like that, even if I tell myself just to get over it.
From a practical perspective—which is really what we’re here for—I guess I’d try and arrive closer to 7AM for a 7:30AM Early Entry. When going to Disneyland park, I’d always mobile order from Starbucks in advance so I can just pop in and grab my drink. Going through the dedicated entrance to California Adventure, I’d get coffee from Craftsman Grill, the hotel’s quick service restaurant that’s located near that entrance.
Arrival and Check-In at Grand Californian
From LAX or SNA, we recommend Uber (or your preferred rideshare). There are a few shuttle options for getting from LAX to Disneyland, but if your party is larger than one it will often be cheaper to Uber or Lyft.
Check-in time is technically 3PM, and if you arrive before that you should be prepared for your room to not be ready. Grand Californian has a lot of turnover because many guests are on very short stays. It takes time for the Cast Members to get all those rooms cleaned.
This is, of course, where location comes in handy. If you have a park reservation at California Adventure, you can easily pop right in there for a few hours while you wait for your room.
Grand Californian Hotel Grounds and Theming
The Grand Californian is one very large building with multiple wings. The north side of the hotel faces Downtown Disney and has an entrance about halfway between Disneyland Hotel and the parks, about five minutes walking from the parks. Here’s the hotel map from Disney:
The west side of the hotel faces Disneyland Drive and has the main entrance. The south and east sides face Disney California Adventure.
The main hall of the hotel, which most people will recognize as being similar to the lobby of Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge, is appropriately named the Great Hall. Around the Great Hall you’ll find reception, the Hearthstone Lounge bar, the Acorn Gifts & Goods store, ample seating, and a fireplace.
The Great Hall is good, but to us it fails to meet the bar set by either Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which offer more complex lobby experiences.
Grand Californian is a “craftsman” style design. There is a lot of beauty in there, don’t get me wrong, but it also just comes off as very flat to me. The wood is flat, the couches are flat, the entire Great Hall is flat.
One awesome and not flat piece is the giant hearth-like structure around the fireplace seating.
The bottom line is that the Grand Californian’s public spaces really are beautiful and well-detailed, my limitations appreciating architecture notwithstanding.
Unlike at most Disney lobbies, the Hearthstone Lounge bar actively pushes itself into the lobby at Grand Californian. You’ll find menus, and accompanying crowds, at tables throughout the lobby.
One downside of the hotel is its size. It can be a real pain to get around. There is a ton of directional signage, though, which means you at least won’t get lost along the way.
The middle of the grounds contains the pools, of which there are three—the Fountain Pool, the Mariposa Pool, and the Redwood Pool. The Redwood Pool has small waterslide and a really small water slide. There are also cabanas for rent.
I actually sat in the pool area for a bit as the chairs just looked too comfortable to resist. It was a very enjoyable, peaceful experience (peaceful because it was 55 degrees, I guess).
Our Grand Californian Room
While I find the rooms at Grand Californian a little boring, they are very high quality.
Coming from our small room at Disneyland Hotel, we really appreciated how spacious these rooms are. There is cove lighting around the ceiling, which is an awesome feature.
They’re also incredibly functional, with a plethora of outlets, lights, surface space, drawer space, and under-the-bed space.
The design is okay, it’s just a bit understated for my liking.
The bathrooms are among Disney’s best. The vanity has two sinks, but not much counter space. The bathroom utilizes a sliding door (love!), and the shower has a glass door (doesn’t slide, but still good). (Note: Keen eyes will notice the amenities photo below doesn’t match the zoomed out bathroom photo. The amenity photo is newer and reflects what we had on our most recent visit.)
The walk-in shower is impressively spacious, with a round rain shower head above and a smaller, handheld sprayer as well.
Keurig!
The “Premium View” room category at Grand Californian is a little confusing. The category includes views of either the pool or theme park. In what universe are those equivalent views? We had a pool view.
You might say “well then just book a suite—surely those have theme park views.” But even the two-bedroom suites offer views of “Woods, Theme Park, Downtown Disney District or Pool.” You can always request a theme park view, but there’s no guarantee of getting it.
Obviously Disney must be aware that this is strange, which just leaves me very curious as to their choice to combine theme park and pool views into a single category. Either way, I wouldn’t recommend the view lottery here—just book a standard view.
Food and Dining at Grand Californian Hotel
Keep in mind that because everything is so close, you can access the restaurants of the other two Disney hotels, Downtown Disney, and the parks quite easily. Disneyland is also surrounded by a variety of non-Disney restaurants. This post focuses solely on the dining options at Grand Californian Hotel.
Grand Californian Hotel Restaurants
Grand Californian has one signature dining restaurant, one character dining buffet / family style restaurant, and one quick service restaurant. There are also two bars (discussed below) that serve limited food menus.
While we provide an overview of the dining options here and our very limited thoughts where we have them, you should check out another trusted source like Disney Tourist Bog if you’re looking for real reviews of these restaurants.
Napa Rose is the signature restaurant at Grand Californian. As the name indicates, the restaurant focuses on California cuisine and wine.
Storytellers Cafe is the more casual restaurant at Grand Californian. It offers a character breakfast buffet, a character brunch buffet, and a dinner buffet without characters.
GHC Craftsman Bar and Grill is new to Grand Californian. Part of the space was formerly known White Water Snacks, and it serves as the quick service restaurant at Grand Californian. The quick service portion is one of the best options at Disneyland, in our opinion, and we frequently visit it. The bar portion serves as the pool bar. You can read more about the updated space at WDWNT.
Bars at Grand Californian Hotel
There are two bars at Grand Californian Hotel. Hearthstone Lounge is the main bar, located just off the lobby. It is often quite busy as it caters to both hotel guests and park guests looking for a quick break.
The Napa Rose Lounge is located at the Napa Rose restaurant and is a good option for people looking to experience Grand Californian’s finest spot without a reservation.
Recreation at Grand Californian Hotel
The Disneyland Resort hotels share a recreation schedule that changes monthly. There are a few free offerings, like movie nights, along with paid things like Sunrise Yoga in the park and "Power Walk" in Disney California Adventure. There are also seasonal events, like the "Disney Poolside Splash Bash (June 2 to September 2, 2023)." Get the current schedule from the front desk. Here's a look at the April 2023 schedule (front and back).
Shopping at Grand Californian Hotel
The store at Grand Californian is Acorn Gifts & Goods. We found the selection of Grand Californian gear much more impressive than what was offered over at Disneyland Hotel, which makes sense as this is both a DVC property and higher priced than Disneyland Hotel.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel — Conclusions
Here’s the thing—Grand Californian is a really good hotel. As a whole package—rooms, lobby, location, restaurants, bars—it’s arguably Disney’s second best hotel (Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Hawaii would inarguably be first).
Moreover, it’s pretty obviously the best hotel in the immediate Disneyland area. While Walt Disney World has nearby hotels like the Four Seasons and Waldorf Astoria to compete with its higher-end offerings, Disneyland has a large number of low-cost to mid-level hotels in the area, with Grand Californian really a step above everything else.
But all of that comes at a very high price. So I would look at Grand Californian through the following lens—if you can easily stomach the price and are asking “is it worth it?,” then yes. If you are hesitant about the price, avoid it for your first Disneyland trip. You’ll have a much better understanding of the makings of a Disneyland vacation and the Grand Californian itself (assuming you swing by during your visit) after a first stay.
All Your Other Disneyland Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disneyland planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Planning Guide. If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disneyland crowd calendars.
When it comes to hotels, we’ve got reviews of all three Disney hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. As for tickets, check out where to find discount Disneyland tickets.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS and MaxPass Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Extra Magic Hour at Disney California Adventure or Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.