Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
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Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa |
Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is a hotel located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Added as part of a major expansion of the Disneyland Resort in 2001, it is the resort's flagship and holds the distinction of being the only hotel there to have been originally built and operated from the beginning by The Walt Disney Company.
The hotel is adjacent to Downtown Disney and Disney's California Adventure and has its own entrance to the park, located at the Golden State area. Unlike the Paradise Pier's former entrance, the Grand Californian's does not require a hotel keycard to enter. When the hotel and park first opened, the entry was only open to guests of the Grand Californian. However, when the separate park entry for Paradise Pier Hotel guests closed due to low use, the Grand Californian entry became open to guests of all three Disneyland Resort hotels.
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[edit] Restaurants & Bars
- Napa Rose
- Storytellers Café
- White Water Snacks
- Hearthstone Lounge
- Napa Rose Lounge
[edit] Store
- Acorn's Gifts and Goods
[edit] Design
Designed by architect Peter Dominick 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 (750 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 comfortable chairs and sofas arranged around small coffee tables. The glowing nook in front of the fireplace features rocking chairs in which to enjoy the fire.
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.
The hotel is an AAA Four Diamond Hotel. Its name is based on Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, its sister resort at the Walt Disney World Resort. 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.
 View of pool and Disney's California Adventure from a hotel room |
 Part of south wing. |
 Main entrance revealed by winter foliage |
 Storytellers Café |
[edit] 2005 Christmas Fire
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 quick work of the Anaheim Fire Department. Two guests were treated for minor injuries. All guests were returned to their rooms by 7:00 AM; some were sent to other hotels in the area. The Disneyland Resort announced it would provide all guests of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel a free night's stay.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
Books
- Winter, Robert; Vertikoff, Alexander (2004). Craftsman Style, pp 227-233. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-4336-0.
