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. It was built by The Walt Disney Company and has been operated by The Walt Disney Company since its inception. 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.
Description
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. The hotel has 1,019 rooms.
Craftsman homes often 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.
Some 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 theming at Walt Disney World.
Theme park entry
The hotel has an entrance to Disney California Adventure Park park, located at the Grizzly Peak area. The entry is open to guests of the Resort hotels from theme park opening time until 11:00am.
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. 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 (10,000Â 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.
The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel
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.
Dining and shopping
- Napa Rose - Being Grand Californian's flagship restaurant, the restaurant is designed in the rich Arts and Crafts style. The restaurant also features expansive windows overlooking Disney California Adventure and an open air terrace with fire pits. Much of the design of this restaurant is inspired by the work of Scottish architect Charles Rennie-Mackintosh.
- Napa Rose Lounge - Located adjacent to Napa Rose, indoor and outdoor seating is available on the terrace.
- Storytellers Cafe - Murals depicting scenes from famed Californian stories, including Mark Twain's The Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County and Scott O'Del's Island of the Blue Dolphin, grace the walls of this restaurant. Grilled sandwiches, wood-fired pizzas, salads, seafood, and other "home-style" dishes are served at this restaurant.
- Hearthstone Lounge - This lounge is designed in a lodge like atmosphere and indoor fireplace which features a hearth and a porch which overlooks Disney California Adventure and outside fireplaces.
- White Water Snacks - This quick service snack bar evokes the atmosphere of a campground picnic pavilion complete with nearby waterfall and located nearby the Redwood pool.
- Acorn's Gifts and Goods - A shop.
Recreation and activities
- Fountain Pool - The pool features an artisan-crafted turtle fountain.
- Redwood Pool - The hotel's feature pool which offers deck lounge chairs, poolside service, and activities. The 100-foot water slide is styled around the stump of a giant fallen redwood tree and the entire pool area matches the style of neighboring Reedwood Creek Challenege in Disney California Adventure. Also two whirlpools are available and a children's pool.
- Mariposa Pool - Added along with the expansion, the Mariposa Pool features a round design and includes four private cabanas and a hot tub.
- Madara Spa at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel - A full-service, 4,000 square foot, fully equipped workout facility and spa with massage service and saunas.
Meeting facilities
Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa offers 20,000 square feet (1,900Â m2) of meeting and event space. The 12,000 square feet (1,100Â m2) Sequoia Ballroom features a large pre-function space and can be broken into eight smaller rooms. The Trillium Room is a smaller spaced room designed to accommodate 350 guests. Brisca Courtyard is located on the northern side of the hotel an allows for outdoor even space in Californian inspired landscaping. Also, the hotel offers the California Boardroom and eighteen meeting rooms. There are two business registration desks and a meeting-only designated porte-chochere. A business center is available for photocopies, faxes, personal computer workstations, and Internet access.
References
Books
- Winter, Robert; Vertikoff, Alexander (2004). Craftsman Style, pp 227â€"233. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-4336-0.
External links
- Official website
- Disneyland Resort - Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Design Inspirations from the Architect
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