Enjoy premium accommodations and rich dining experiences in American Craftsman style at this stunning hotel with a private entrance to Disney California Adventure Park. This stunning hotel offers premium accommodations and rich dining experiences in American Craftsman style and elegance. With its world-class spa, an impressive array of amenities and impeccable Disney service, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa defines grandeur in every way. Added as part of a major expansion of the Disneyland Resort in 2001, it is the resort's flagship hotel and is the first and only hotel there to have been originally built and operated since inception by The Walt Disney Company. This luxury hotel is designed to celebrate the early 20th Century Arts and Crafts era, showcasing the architectural style of Northern California. It also features a Disney Vacation Club wing that opened in September 2009.
Designed by architect Peter Dominick of 4240 Architecture Inc. (formerly part of Urban Design Group Inc.), it is based on the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s. Despite the large scale of the hotel (1,019 rooms), the architecture still captures the key elements of the Craftsman style: wide sweeping roofs, projecting beams, exaggerated braces and colors that blend with nature. The exterior evokes the feel of National Park Service lodges of the Western United States, particularly the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park and, to a lesser degree, the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park. The interior design of the hotel also features the Craftsman motif, albeit on a larger scale.
Many Craftsman homes have a garden theme. For the Grand Californian, the theme was taken from a garden idea and scaled up so that the garden became a forest. The reception hall is based on the interior of the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco, increased in scale to accommodate the large reception desk. The central lobby is a living room done in immense scale with a massive fireplace and vast arching beams overhead, and furnished with chairs and sofas arranged around small coffee tables. Many of the items found throughout the hotel have been handcrafted by modern practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement using traditional techniques. Some early Roycroft items are on display in the lobby.
Many of the hotel's rooms and features are tributes to various Craftsman-era architects and designers. For instance, two of the guest suites, as well as the California Boardroom, pay homage to Frank Lloyd Wright; the Napa Rose restaurant features a rose motif in the glass design which was inspired by Charles Rennie MacKintosh. The Storytellers Cafe features a large tile mural that is a reproduction of an original design by the Gladding, McBean Company for a Robin Hood Room in the Wilmington, California, public library.
Its name is based on Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, its sister resort and Walt Disney World's flagship resort hotel. The two hotels do not share themes, though, as the Grand Californian is a Craftsman theme, while the Grand Floridian is of a Victorian theme but both are Disney's two finest resort properties in the world. It does, however, share many thematic elements with Disney's Wilderness Lodge (also designed by Dominick) with its national park lodge themeing at Walt Disney World.
The vacation villas, added as part of the hotel's expansion, including kitchens, living and dining areas and other home-like amenities. The guest rooms feature the same decor as the hotel rooms in the original structure and continue the Californian Craftsman motif.
Touring Tips
- The hotel has its own entrance to Disney California Adventure Park park, located at the Golden State area. The entry is officially only open to guests of the Resort hotels daily prior to 11:00 every morning, but is available to the general public after that time.
- Rooms are generously sized and feature either one king-sized bed, two queen-sized beds, or one queen-sized beds and bunk beds.
- Located within Disney's California Adventure park, the visionary Disney's Grand Californian hotel exemplifies Craftsman-style architecture with roaring lobby fireplaces, rock-hewn foundations, and soaring, beamed ceilings. Situated in the midst of Anaheim's famed tourist attractions, Disneyland is adjacent to the resort. Angels Stadium of Anaheim is 2 miles away and Knott's Berry Farm is 8 miles from the hotel. John Wayne Airport is approximately 14 miles away.
- The Concierge lounge is located on the sixth floor. Guests staying at this level enjoy priority check-in, breakfast bar, twilight wine and cheese reception, USA Today, complimentary DVD checkout and use of the Eureka Springs Health Club. In the evening, story time is held for the children with milk and cookies served.
- Guests of the Disneyland Resort hotels are are eligible for an Extra Magic Hour. Visit Disneyland on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and check out Disney California Adventure on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays up to one hour prior to regular park opening. The availability of the Extra Magic Hour and offered attractions is subject to change.
- Pinocchio’s Workshop is located at the Grand Californian. This childcare facility offers crafts, storytime, games and videos under the careful supervision of the trained staff. Mom and Dad can choose to enjoy a quiet dinner or visit Downtown Disney. (This center is only available to guests staying at a Disneyland hotel.)
History
The hotel opened on January 2, 2001. At about 3:00 AM PDT on December 28, 2005, a Christmas tree in the main lobby caught fire after electric maintenance workers replaced lights on the tree. All 2,300 guests at the hotel were evacuated within four minutes. The fire was contained by the hotel's sprinkler system and by the Anaheim Fire Department. Two guests were treated for minor injuries, one of which was a severe headache. All guests were returned to their rooms by 7:00 AM; some were sent to other hotels in the area.
In response to a growing demand for guest accommodations in Anaheim, the Disneyland Resort announced on September 18, 2007 an expansion of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa that would increase accommodations by more than 30 percent and include the first Disney Vacation Club villas in Anaheim. The 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) expansion on the hotel's south side added more than 200 new hotel rooms and 50 two-bedroom equivalent vacation villas and marked the West Coast debut of Disney Vacation Club, Disney's vacation-ownership program. During this expansion and renovation, a new swimming pool was added as well as a 300 space underground parking garage. Peter Dominick of 4240 Architecture Inc., architect for the original Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa designed the ambitious expansion to compliment his existing hotel. It will reflect the same California Arts & Crafts architecture of the existing hotel, which immerses guests in a turn-of-the-20th-century California experience. The project was completed in September 2009. With the completion of this major expansion, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa became the third largest hotel in Orange County, up from its previous fourth place standing.