We just got back from 5 days at Disneyland. We took our little girl for her 5th birthday and our 6 month old son. We stayed at the Disneyland Grand California Hotel and loved it!! It is a great hotel for families. It is quiet, Very clean , an adult atmosphere but very kid friendly. There is a baby swimming pool and a kid pool with waterslide. There is also an adult pool and water slide as well ,with pool side bar. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The morning of our daughters birthday the hotel gave her balloons and a signed picture of the Disney Princesses. My only complaint is that check in is slow, it took about 40 min to check in. But the great thing about Disney is that even while you are waiting they keep you happy. Check out, however was very fast and they even stored our bags after we checked out so we could go enjoy Disneyland in the morning before our evening flight back home. I highly recomment eating at the hotel restaurant the Napa Rose at least once. It had the best food, service, wine list I have ever had at a restaurant and I am from Seattle and have been to some amazing restaurants. The best part was it was ment for adults to enjoy, but still very kid friendly. The bathrooms had kid sinks, cute mickey highchairs and boosters and the BEST kid menu I have ever seen!! I also recommend eating at the storytellers cafe at the hotel for the character breakfast. It is also a great place for lunch or dinner.

Now for a few Disneyland tips to make our trip the very best!!
If you are traveling with young children, your stay will be much more enjoyable if you do stay on site at Disneyland. It is so important to prevent melt downs. When you get up in the morning have breakfast, go enjoy the park and then around 2 or 3 go back to the hotel, enjoy the pool, take a nap and then get ready for dinner. After dinner put the kids to bed, so they don't get over tired. If your kids are older go back to the park and enjoy the fireworks and parade, but if you have young kids I think it is more important that they are well rested for the next day, then to stay up late for the fireworks. Your last night would be a good time for the fireworks. If you have a young child and an older one who can go on rides like Splash mountain, take advantage of baby swap. Before you get in line go to one of the attendants at the ride and ask for a baby swap. You get a little card, then dad and the older child get in line, while mom waits with baby. When Dad and older child get off ride, Dad waits with baby, hands Mom the card and Mom and older child go back to the attendant with the card and then they get to get on the ride wihtout having to wait in line. It is great for the older child because they get to go on twice with out waiting, and the parents get to enjoy the ride as well.
Also, if you plan on eating at a restaurant in downtown disney, make sure you get the number for priority seating to make reservations or you will have a two hour wait for dinner.

I also think you should have breakfast with Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn at least once.

Don't be afraid to go to Disneyland with a baby. We had a great time and so did our baby, He loved the rides he could go on (pirrates, winnie the pooh, peter pan, alice and wonderland, dunbo, rockets(baby needs socks for rockets), buzz light year, and many more) and he loved meeting all the charecters. he slept great in the stroller. Make sure to bring our own infant stroller that lays all the way back for naps, the strollers to rent at Disney are ment for older kids. Our daugher loved the baby swap and going on twice!! Just make sure not to over do it and take a break in the afternoon. Well rested kids make for happy kids and in turn happy parents.

We were use to the amazing experience at Disney World hotels in Florida and this was not at all at the same level. Additionally, the easy location of surrounding (and CHEAPER) off-property hotels really made this expense unnecessary with little benefit. Couldn't believe the Resort Charge added on at the end for the "FREE PARKING"?!? Additionally we have also been use to outstanding food options at the Florida resort and in this particular area this hotel was most disappointing. Pool was okay but nothing to write home about again for the cost. Overall a disappointment! Find a nice, friendly and reasonable off-property hotel instead.

We have annual passes, so we come to Disneyland pretty often. It can be quite tiring to tramp around the parks as adults, so we really don't like to come unless we can stay at a hotel close to the parks. The best by far is the Grand Californian. The staff is consistently helpful, the location couldn't be better, and although the rooms are small, they are pleasant. I love to sit in the rocking chairs by the fireplace in the morning while my daughters and husband sleep in. My teenage daughters love to shop at Sephora and go to the movies as well as the parks. We usually eat dinner at one of the multiple restaurants in Downtown Disney, but the food at the hotel is good. There are no in-room movies, but there are so many other things to do that it really doesn't matter. The only downside to this hotel are the small rooms and the price.

Let me just say that when you compare this to a Disney World (DW) resort the Grand Californian is seriously lacking. It was hard for my family and me to not compare this trip to DW when we have been there so many times.

First off parking at this resort is sub-par unless you pay $17/day for valet you have to park your car across the street and cross a busy road to get to the resort. This is ridiculous IMO for a Disney property. There should be some sort of safe walk way. Check-In was fast and the front desk clerk was friendly and helpful. We arrived on a Wednesday at about 4pm.

The inside of the lobby is grand and beautiful with a huge stone fireplace that must be enjoyed at least one time during your visit....you might have to scope it out though to hit a time when all the seats aren't taken.

The rooms were just OK and a little disappointing. First, they're not very big nor are they particularly very clean, which was surprising to me. Dust seemed to coat all the surfaces and everything just looks worn and tired. There was quite a bit of mold in the shower where the wall met the ceiling. Also, I have experienced better showers at much, much cheaper hotels. The water temperature fluctuations were insane. It would start off warm and then change quickly with no warning. Several times my son was surprised by the water changing from warm to very hot. I'm guessing it was due to other guests taking a shower...it was like being at home and someone flushing the toilet while you're in the shower. This is just not acceptable at a resort or any hotel for that matter. The walls are super thin at this resort. I can't stress this enough. If noise bothers you, especially at night, bring some earplugs or an I Pod (an I Pod can be plugged into the clock radio).

Our room included a queen size bed, a set of bunk beds with a trundle bed beneath, a dresser/entertainment center that holds a flat panel TV and a small fridge, a large closet with a crib and extra bedding, a double sink vanity with a coffee maker and wall mounted hair dryer, and the toilet with shower in a separate room with pocket doors dividing the two. The room with the shower is way too small. The bath amenities were decent products.

We were facing the pool and CA Park but there is construction of their new timeshare property and this hinders the view somewhat for now. It was nice sitting on the balcony at night looking at the lights from the park. Fireworks were not visible from our room at any time.

We ate at many of the restaurants at the resort, Downtown Disney and at the parks including the famed Napa Rose within the resort and not one meal was stellar or even great for that matter. I will leave that for another review though.

The pool area was nice with plenty of chairs most days. It was sometimes hard to find a seat with shade that did not have towels strewn about. By the way there are plenty of towels and life vests in all sizes available poolside. They had a wonderful, long water slide which my son seemed to enjoy. They also had a smaller slide at one end of the pool for the littlest ones. There are actually two swimming pools (one is considered a lap pool), a very small baby pool and one spa. The spa always seemed to be overrun with unsupervised children and the chlorine level was off the charts. My eyes literally started watering within five feet of it. There is a snack bar which also serves alcohol right outside the pool area and there are waiters walking around during the day to take orders. You will need your room key to gain access to the pool area.

There are self serve laundry facilities within the hotel and a small gift shop off the main lobby. Guest services are located within the main lobby and can help you with most anything. There is also a play center for children that charges by the hour if you want a night out. We did not utilize this facility so I can't review it.

We ordered room service twice while here. The first time the food was good, warm, and served promptly. The second time the food arrived cold and they forgot to include our drinks...we ended up waiting another thirty minutes for those to arrive.

Location of this park is what sets it apart. If you are here to visit the theme parks then this is the place to stay. You can literally walk into CA theme park from the resort within five minutes of leaving your room. To get to DL you just walk through Downtown Disney (which is very small compared to Florida's version). It was very nice visiting the park and then being able to leave, go back to the room and rest or pop right over to Disneyland. This is by no means as doable at the Florida theme parks since everything is huge and spread out....they let you think so, but trust me it's not as easy as here with only the two parks.

Utilize your early morning entrance perk to the parks as they fill up fast. CA Park was less crowded and more enjoyable than DL, but of course you go for the magic of DL so you will have to put up with the crowds eventually.

I enjoyed our trip to California’s Disney theme parks but I can't imagine ever going again when there are so many other places in the world to see and visit. If you can, get out and see California too.