This is what you get at the Grand Californian: 1) a really lovely lobby (free to anyone); 2) an overpriced breakfast (open to anyone); 3) an average hotel room at 4 times the price of a comparable room.

I was stunned at the mediocrity of the room. Very boring. The only advantage was the proximity to the parks, since we stayed in the parks till midnight, gave us a chance to change clothing.

Beware that the reservation you make is not necessarily the reservation you get. I reserved two non-adjoining rooms, one with king, one with queen/bunks. Didn't get the bunk room and the rooms were adjoining. Not the best for the couple in the king celebrating a special anniversary. Wound up with sleeping bags, which were NOT delivered as promised at check-in.

At check-in, two other groups walked right up to the clerks, although plenty of us were still standing in queue. Nothing was said by the clerks, and we continued to stand in the queue like sheep.

There were two vending room on our floor (that we could locate). They are locked and you need a room key. (I guess there are plenty of interlopers trying to get free ice on the 4th floor of the hotel.) The drink machines in each did not work and the phones to call the desk did not work either.

All in all, after visiting WDW for several days in January, and staying in the Grand Floridian (now THAT's a HOTEL), this visit was supremely disappointing.

If it had not been for the excitment of friends and the reunion like atmosphere of the anniversary weekend, I would have left, and gone across the street for lots less $.

My family stayed at the Grand from 5/3-5/7. Our flight landed about 8:50am, we got the the resort around 11:00 room was not ready until 3:00pm(no rooms are available until 3:00 pm). The resort is beautiful and it is literally walking distance to the DisneyLand and Adventure Park.. The resort is also attached to Downtown Disney. The restaurants are also great. My son loved the character breakfast. There are nice golf courses around the area try your lucky at: Coyotes Hills Golf Course... The hardest in the area. Walking distance to great restaurants.

I'm a bit of a Disney nut so for my anniversary my husband takes me to Disneyland for the weekend. Check-in was great, they were able to honor our requests without a fuss. I did have to return to the front desk to pick up our vacation planning itinerary and premium seating tickets which she forgot to give me but not a major problem.

The room wasn't ready at that time but I called around 1pm and it was ready. I had arranged with Disney's Vacation Planning to set up a snacks/drinks, in the now empty fridge provided, prior to our arrival in the room. I also purchased a surprise to be delivered while we were at dinner for my husband, "The Grande Finale" a chocolate box with truffles. When we arrived at the room 4 waters were missing in the order but everything else was great. The room was clean and ready. We tried to relax before dinner and housecleaning showed up at 4pm to turn down the beds, so instead of coming back later she hands me the paper and a couple of chocolates.

While we were getting ready for dinner at Napa Rose room service showed up with cheese and crackers, I was trying not to spoil the chocolate surprise that was meant for later so I didn't argue with the cast member about not ordering cheese. I called room service and tried to convey without spoiling the surprise for my husband what should have happened and they had no clue what the "Grand Finale" was. I ended up with the Lead of room service and he said he could send up a chocolate cupcake with a Mickey head and at this point any surprise was lost and I said whatever we needed to leave for dinner. Keep in mind this Grand Finale costs $56 plus tax.

When we came back to the room we had a chocolate cupcake, marzipan candies, two chocolate covered strawberrys and a couple of tartlets but still not what I ordered. The next morning I called Vacation Planning and they apologized that it was a new item being offered and "not everyone" was familiar with the services - huh? Why didn't the Lead just say he couldn't produce what was ordered? He promised to adjust the charges so we didn't have to pay for what we didn't get it was just disappointing that the cast members didn't know what's going on. The department providing the service really needs to be on the same page as the department selling the service.

The rest of our stay was uneventful and nice. The beds are great even with the noticable divet on one side. Our room was next to the housekeeping storage so it got a bit noisey at times but not terrible. The fridge door or stand was broken but it still kept things cold so we didn't ask for a new one, the door would stick and it wobbled badly when you opened it. I'd have to say our stay was okay, not bad, just missing any extra effort on the staff's part. If we didn't ask for any service everything went well.

So in the end I'd recommend this Hotel for the location and the feeling of being in the park but I'm sorry to say no one dazzled us with service.

After talking to my agent at Small World Adventures (who I would highly recommend), we booked at the Grand Californian. As I was 8 months pregnant, we wanted something close by in case I had to waddle back to the hotel myself. The hotel was very nice, clean, and had a lot of nice touches. Nice cosmetics in the bathrooms and a fridge in every room as well as a flat screen tv. I didn't experience the bad service that some of the other reviews mentioned and in fact, had the complete opposite experience from the front desk to guest services. Downtown Disney however, is a complete nightmare and I don't recommend anyone eat at any of the restaurants on the street. You'll be paying Disney prices for a non-Disney experience. Save your money and feet and order room service which we found pretty satisfactory. The pool was nice too for the kids (we had a 2 yo and a 6yo with us) and they have lifejackets and an endless supply of towels there.