Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel and Spa

My cousins stay there every year (yes, it really is wonderful), but every time we've gone down the pool has been under maintenance/closed... so we've been glad to be 1 stop down the monorail at the more basic Disneyland hotel (about half the cost) with a working pool!

For ME: I need to be on the monorail line (legs get tired! And not just the little one's!), and we need a working pool. I used to live 20 minutes away, and we'd do the all day thing. Flying in for a week, we alternate between park and pool/room several times a day. Park for a couple hours, pool/food/room for a couple hours. Park for a couple hours, pool/food/room for a couple hours. Ha. Living so close, I never knew Disney could be RELAXING as well as fun/exciting.

That may change as my son gets older, but for now, it's the perfect combo.

I personally have not gone but my sister and her family along with our parents went a couple of years ago and they all rave about it to this day. My sister always says that if she gets the chance to go big again, she'll definitely stay there every time:)

I went there to meet up with family one year (there were 18 of us). We got a room with 1 king size bed, a sofa bed and a bunk bed! The bunk bed had the twin on top and full size on bottom. Very nice rooms, but very expensive. We got a rate of $350 a night, but normally around $450-500. It is a very nice hotel, but there are definitely others that are way cheper. The next time we stayed at the Portofino which was $119 a night. It was like Embassy Suites. It had a sofa bed, and bunk beds (twin on top and full on bottom) and the boor closed. It did not have a restaurant in it, but the pool was awesome and there were restaurants everywhere and just 1 1/2 blocks from Disney. The Grand is more like a huge lodge.... wood beamed ceilings etc.... worth it to try once.

We stayed there a year and a half ago and loved it. We loved that is right in the middle of the Disneyland action. Close to entrances to both parks which was so nice with little ones. It was also nice to have the monorail close by. The room had 2 queens, a balcony with a small table and 2 chairs that looked over the shopping area. The toliet and shower/tub had a separate door from the sink area which was nice when someone is getting ready and someone else needed to shower or use the restroom. There was a small fridge, large screen t.v. mounted on the wall with tons of channels. They also had a large closet and several drawers in the dresser. There was even a separate door to the room next door if you needed more than one room. When we went it was the end of April first of May so the pool wasn't completely opened. The children's slides were closed because it was off season but it was warm and they had lifejackets for the little ones. Our room over looked the shopping area of Disneyland and we also had a great view of the fireworks. We didn't think we would see them since during the off season they only have fireworks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (I think). We arrived on Sunday and loved the fireworks. We really liked our stay. The only thing I wish they had was a complementary breakfast but it wasn't a huge deal since we just bought breakfast items (i.e. bagels, instant oatmeal). It was lots of fun and we would go again. Yes, it is pricey but sometimes you can find good deals. Good Luck and have fun!!