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BrerGnat
01-18-2011, 12:49 PM
So, DH and I spent two nights at the GCH back in December for a much needed romantic getaway. DH spent 6 months in Afghanistan last year, and his mom and brother were coming for 10 days in December so we figured it'd be an ideal time to get away (without the kids) for a couple nights.

We booked 2 nights in a standard room using the 40% off military room only offer. The dates of our stay were December 21-23.

I'm not going to go much into detail, but instead will highlight the pros and cons of the stay.

PROS:

-We were given a room on the 5th floor overlooking the front entry of the resort. Our room was the first room after the divide between the old and "new" wings of the resort (the new wing being the add on of resort rooms plus DVC villas). I was surprised by how seamless this addition is. You cannot tell at ALL that you are moving into a new wing. The only clue is the room doors. The "new" wing has more elaborate wood carved doors. This is how I knew we were in a "new" room (plus, there is a stretch of hallway that is obviously a "bridge", with floor to ceiling windows on both sides). We've stayed at GCH three times in the past (twice in CL). This room was different from all the others. For one, it had a king bed (nice!). Also, it had a long coffee table and a full sized sofa (I'd imagine it folds out into a double bed). At first, I thought we had a DVC studio room, but no, no kitchenette. It was a standard room. However, I couldn't help but wonder why the DVC rooms aren't set up like this (with a KING bed and a sleeper sofa, like this room was). The room itself was TINY. Probably about 350 sq feet, no more. But, it was well laid out and didn't feel cramped at all. The room decor was nice and updated. Beds were pillowtop mattresses with the white duvet and accent pillows.

-The room was QUIET. This was really nice! Not having neighbors on one side made for a very nice, quiet room. Plus, it felt like we were the only ones in the entire hallway. Never heard a peep from outside our door!

-The room had a HUGE balcony. Our entire wall was a huge sliding door with floor to ceiling windows on either side. Once out on the balcony, we could have fit a good 10 people out there. It was enormous! The balconies to our sides and above us were significantly smaller. We had a nice view of the DLH and Paradise Pier, which looked nice at night.

-The room (and the resort as a whole) had WI FI access! This was awesome! We powered up our ipod touches and cell phones to the wi-fi and it connected instantly! I should mention that this resort also charged a "resort fee" of $14 (which has been eliminated as of 1/1/11 in lieu of a $14/day fee for self parking...the old resort fee included: parking, in room internet access, newspaper delivery, and 20 min of local calling from the room phone). The Wi Fi in room (and within the public areas of the resort) was a really cool thing to have. Honestly, I cannot understand for the life of me why the WDW resorts can't get onboard with this.

-Our experience with ALL the staff we encountered was positive. Things were done in a very efficient and friendly manner. Standouts were the bartenders at the Hearthstone Lounge (REALLY excellent customer service from everyone here!) and the staff in the resort gift shop.

-Our housekeeping was flawless every day. No complaints here.

-Loved the Christmas decorations and the piano player and carolers in the lobby. Nice touches for the holidays!

CONS:

-It was POURING for our entire stay. We had a deluge for about 8 days from December 16-23. Basically, it was three giant storm systems in a row. We had planned to spend lots of time in the parks, doing the rides our kids won't do, but we maybe spent an hour in the park total. Sort of a bummer, but we are NOT "park in the rain" people. Instead, we spent a lot of time at the resort, which ended up not being a con so much. :)

-We did a couples massage at the Mandara Spa. While the actual massage was great, I was unimpressed by the facility as a whole. The waiting area before the treatments was, literally, a pass through between the locker rooms with two low backed, hard couches. Tile floor. Not exactly comfortable, or relaxing. It was just odd, mostly. When we went to pay, we were told there was a 20% "service fee" added automatically, which was fine, since I assumed that was the tip for the women who provided our massages...but NOPE! The "service fee" is split among ALL the staff at the spa, and gratuities to your specific masseuse is "at your discretion". Of course, I then felt obligated to tip an additional 20% to the women who did an amazing job. I walked away feeling a bit slighted. I had just paid approximately $100 more than I anticipated. Oh well...lesson learned! We had had a previously excellent experience at the Mandara Spa in Las Vegas (at Planet Hollywood Hotel), and their "service fee" WAS the gratuity over there...

STANDOUTS:

-Dinner at Napa Rose. O.M.G. I can't even begin to explain how good this meal was. Suffice it to say, I feel like I've cheated myself all these years that I've lived, literally, 15 minutes from this Gastronomic Wonderland, and never eaten here before now. DH and I have decided we're eating here at LEAST three more times before we move out of this area in the summer. A bonus here was that we didn't even have advanced reservations. I literally got on the room phone at 5:30pm on our arrival day and called dining to inquire about availability at NR. I was told the "first available" was at 8:30pm and I took it! Nice! Can't pull that off at WDW...

-The Lounge at Napa Rose. This place is wonderful for desserts/wine, just relaxing. We went back here the second night (after watching World of Color) for drinks and dessert. LOVE this place (I HAD been here a couple times prior with my sister for wine/dessert). Loved it back then, still love it. It's a great place to wind down from a busy day. We saw lots of families in there (which is encouraged, provided the kids are well behaved). They even have special desserts for the kids. REALLY cute and imaginative stuff! I highly recommend this place. The desserts are small, but exceptionally "gourmet" and satisfying. And, they will actually serve the full Napa Rose menu here if you want (although, I'd not recommend doing that...you miss out on the entire dining experience if you do that).

-World of Color
Okay, I'm putting this in standouts because it was neither a pro or con. Instead, it was just its own thing. We used the FP ticket system due to the insanely LOW crowds (because of the rain). We arrived to our viewing spot about 10 min prior to showtime. And...we were stuck behind, LITERALLY, a guy who was close to 7ft tall. Luckily, he took pity on us poor vertically challenged people and offered to stand behind us. Didn't help much. We still couldn't see the lagoon at all. Luckily, the show is mostly up high. We were only one row back from the railing (which had kids standing in front of it) and it was honestly just an awful spot to watch from. So far back. I'd recommend doing the sit down meal if you really care about seeing the show WELL. That area was a vast wasteland of space. There were maybe 20 people in that area. Overall, the viewing for this show is a major screw up. They need to go back to the drawing board on this. And the show? My verdict is: Visually stunning, but overall sort of lame. There is no story to speak of. And don't get me started on the awful song. Transitions go from Finding Nemo to Wall-E to Little Mermaid. ??? Just completely non linear, non sensical, and there were some parts that were just unnecessarily emotionally jarring. I am about to spoil a part of the show, but here goes: that scene when Mufasa gets stampeded to death, and then having Simba crying out for his dad while the show goes totally black? What the heck??? Really??? Talk about taking a show from uplifting to just unnecessarily sad. Here comes Debbie Downer! DH's dad passed away last year RIGHT before he deployed. He's never really grieved properly, and this scene sort of unhinged him, because it was unexpected and I was a bit miffed about that. He had been in a really good mood, and this sort of just put a cloud over the rest of our evening. The best part of the show: The TRON finale! Wow! This was AMAZING, and I'm not even a Tron fan at all. I loved this! Turning CA Screamin into "the grid" was just about the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Then having the "light cycles" race down the track? There were flying discs that would "cut" through the fountains and this really cool gyroscopic element in the roller coaster loop...it was just really outstanding. If you won't get a chance to see this (I hear it's continuing until April), do a search for a video of it online. This was really impressive and it makes me wonder why the WOC show seemed so lackluster if this is the stuff they are capable of doing?

My overall verdict was that we had a GREAT time, as usual. This was our fourth stay at the Grand, and we still love it. Definitely the place to stay at the DLR (if you can afford it). We had a great discount (as we always do), but I'd have a hard time recommending this place to anyone if they had to pay rack rate. There is just no scenario where a standard room at this resort is worth over $600/night (rack rate for our room was $635...and that was just a STANDARD room). If you can snag a significant discount here, go for it! Otherwise, just visit the public areas and stay elsewhere.

Mufasa
01-18-2011, 03:28 PM
On one of your visits to Napa Rose, take advantage of dining at the chef's counter- in addition to doing the Vintner's menu, you can often have the chef prepare an individual tasting menu and if you're with a dining companion at the counter that allows you to sample more of the offerings, in addition to having that personal interaction with the chefs who are always willing to answer questions.

As for your feelings on World of Color- first, yeah I don't like that Mufasa death scene either (well, obviously, I might be biased). The show scenes/sequences are modular and will evolve over time so the flow of the show will always be subject to changes and it certainly went through a lot of tinkering during development. The transitions can be very abrupt and thematically is about showing the range of emotions that can be conveyed but it can be a bit heavy at times.

Up to that point the audience has been almost overstimulated with all this energy (particularly with the Hellfire sequence) and with your emotions so charged that is when they wanted to transition into So Close from Enchanted to heighten the impact and use that to lead into the finale.

The Tron Encore for WOC is exciting because we're now exploring what is possible with the tools that have been built. There's still a bit of a learning curve involved with programming the show and knowing what the fountains are capable of, or how best to map the media elements onto the water screens. It is almost like being an accomplished musician but handed an entirely new instrument nobody has ever played before and discovering the different tones and melodies you can produce.

Because this is all so new I think future sequences will be refined and the shows will improve (with how we've designed the show platform, in future seasons we can also continue to add and enhance the show elements just as how the fireworks presentations in the parks have continued to amaze guests with new elements or techniques)

DisneyLandMomma
01-19-2011, 04:24 PM
Thanks for sharing your getaway with us. Sounds like you had a wonderful time despite the weather. We have yet to stay at the GC but I'm really looking forward to the day we do.

Magic Smiles
01-26-2011, 07:55 AM
Sounds like despite the rain, that you were able to spend some quality time together. The GCH is a beautiful resort. Thanks for your trip report.

To Mufusa, it sounds like you work there. If so, it must be amazing!

Paradise Pier Pinocchio
01-29-2011, 01:03 AM
I am going to experience the Chef's counter this year. Going with the love of my life!

:smickey:

MegaDisney
04-30-2011, 09:51 PM
Thanks for posting this! Being so far away now I enjoyed your report very much! :mickey:

mouseketeer mom
05-14-2011, 01:41 PM
I liked reading your report Natalie!
How would you say Napa Rose compared to the Cali Grill? Is it the same type of place? Wondering if we should try it in August!

BrerGnat
05-14-2011, 02:46 PM
I liked reading your report Natalie!
How would you say Napa Rose compared to the Cali Grill? Is it the same type of place? Wondering if we should try it in August!

It's about ten times better than CA Grill! CG only wishes it was even close to Napa Rose.

DH and I are heading back in a few weeks to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. I cannot WAIT!

Seriously, you have to try it. It's amazing in every way.