We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel and actually managed to get adjoining rooms. That might be the best thing I can say about our stay this time. Unlike our previous trip to stay at GCH (which we thought was wonderful except for our Downtown Disney view room – VERY LOUD), we were not nearly as impressed this time. It kind of left us wondering why we used up so many of our DVC (Disney Vacation Club) points to stay there instead of the Disneyland Hotel. The rooms really are quite nice at GCH, but we were so greatly disappointed in the housekeeping service that I’m not sure if we’ll stay there again. There were jawbreakers on the floor of the bathroom that Josie kept finding, leftover from a previous guest. I found one also, which was against the wall but out in the open, not even hiding under the vanity. I’m not exactly sure how they could have missed them. Needless to say, that was a huge safety hazard when having an 18-month old toddling around the room. Another safety problem we noted was the fact that out of six times housekeeping knocked on either of our doors, they only announced who they were one time. In a hotel as nice as this, I would expect that when they knock they are letting you know they are in fact hotel staff before you open the door. We did inquire about this at the concierge desk and were informed that all hotel staff should be identifying themselves verbally when they knock so you know who is there.
We love the fact that they offer turn down service but can not understand how a hotel that is catering to families would want to come in your room at 8:30 or 9:00 at night to do it. I guess we are abnormal parents but we actually kept Josie to her afternoon nap schedule and her regular bedtime. After the first night where we realized they were not going to turn us down before Josie was going to bed at 7:00, we decided to call housekeeping every day and request early turn down, being specific as to the fact it needed to be done by 6:30 so our daughter could go to bed at 7:00. When they say it’s no problem, you actually expect it to be done. I’m trying to remember but I think in our 5 nights, it might have happened twice.
Then there’s the regular maid service every day. The first two days they cleaned our room while we were out in the morning so by the time we brought Josie back for nap around 1:00, the rooms were nicely made-up. After that, we would get back from our morning out and find the rooms were still a mess. Wouldn’t you figure they have the same schedule of cleaning every day? So on Wednesday, the rooms were not cleaned when we got back. Steve noticed they were cleaning every other room as they came down the hall, skipping half of them. Ummm, ok that’s an interesting way to do things. We put the Do Not Disturb sign on both of our doors and put Josie down for her nap. We figured they could come back after she got up when we headed back out. With Josie napping in our room, my mom and I were resting in her room while Steve did some shopping. About an hour into nap time there was a knock on the door. It took me a couple seconds to wake up and decide it might be Steve coming back and he might not have a key to my mom’s room so as I started to get up there was another knock. No problem, Steve will wait for me to get there. Next thing I know, as I’m on my way to the door, the door is opened and there is a housekeeper walking in. Needless to say I was fuming as she wanted to clean the room and the Do Not Disturb was clearly on the door. They should NEVER let themselves into someones room like that. I basically kicked her out, telling her that the baby was taking a nap and they could not clean now. Of course, Josie wasn’t sleeping for long as the noise of it all woke her up. Needless to say, we had a conversation with the concierge about all the problems up to that point and she said she would talk to her supervisor and to the housekeeping department. While we had no more unexpected intrusions during our stay, I’d like to say they there were no more problems either. Unfortunately, Josie had an accident in her crib and we had to call for a change of sheets. First, they sent up a mattress pad only. Then, when we called again, they sent up a mattress pad and a twin size sheet. How exactly do you put a twin size sheet onto a crib? Finally, we called again and told them we needed an actual crib sheet and that the baby was getting ready to go to bed so it needed to be pronto. This all started around 3:00. It was now 6:30 and we still didn’t have a sheet for her bed. Finally, after 7:00, they brought up another mattress pad and twin size sheet. If we hadn’t taken an actual crib sheet off the crib to begin with I might wonder if they don’t have them. But they obviously do. Steve was able to fit one of the twin sheets on the crib well enough that we could put her to bed. Then he marched down to the front desk with the other sheets to have a talk with them. They looked up our reservations and saw all the problems we had had. To their benefit, they did give us a credit on our room to try to make up for the hassle. But honestly, I would rather have had decent service and paid full price so I feel like going back there some day. I’m just not sure if we want to waste our DVC points on staying there again or not. Steve suggested that the next time we go we should use our DVC points to stay on the concierge level of the Disneyland Hotel. My family stayed there in 1996 and I have to say that sounds like a great idea to me.