The Grand Poohbah Trip: Food & Wine Festival and the Grand Californian: COMPLETED 5/21/09 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Before I start the report I just wanted to point out that because I’ve lived near both Disneyland and Disney World, I tend to make experiential or cultural comparisons between the two. And while I have a west coast-centric point of view, growing up near Disneyland and living in the SF Bay Area for most of my adult life (as well as the Pacific Northwest), my Ohio and Florida living experience, my southern side of the family, and my northeast in-laws all give me a peek into life in the midwest, the northeast, and the south.
Just as a recap, the Food & Wine Festival at WDW is our favorite time of year to visit WDW so we had to try out the Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland this year – our first. And we’ll make comparisons along the way, but I think the biggest difference between Disneyland and Disney World is that Disneyland is so very local-centric and that influences the atmosphere. More on that later.
Anyway, we left our home in Las Vegas at 9:30 a.m. and arrived at the Grand Californian around 1:30 p.m. Traffic was heavier on a week day than on the Saturday we usually travel on. Our park-view room was not ready when we arrived, so we were checked in and given a number to call, and we waited in the lobby for a bit, logged into our netbook (enjoying the free wireless), and then moved over to sit in front of the fireplace. The weather was cool and cloudy, and the fire warmed us up. When we realized the room wouldn’t be ready any time soon, we headed for the pool.
Note: Our rooms at the other Disneyland hotels were always ready when we arrived because they have so many more rooms. It’s much easier to get a king room and to check in early. But the GC has a much smaller supply of rooms, and it was sold out and no king room with a park view was available so we had to settle for two queens. Two queens does give us an extra bed to store our stash of goodies we collect on the trip.
It was sunnier out by the pool – this is the only downside to the GC that we noticed – the Craftsman-style is very dark, and while WL and AKL may have dark hallways, the lobby area has big windows and that lets in more light. But we were thrilled to see that the GC has poolside service. We have never seen that at a Disney hotel and in this area – and in more to come – you’ll see that the GC compares quite favorably to Vegas hotels when it comes to service. A big thumbs up here. (We're quite curious to try the GF on our next WDW trip.)
Rich ordered a Sunken Treasure (also available at the Yacht Club) from the nice CM who came by to take our order and I ordered a Mai Tai. We didn’t even think to take pictures – as is often the case with us – too swept up in the experience. I’m not sure it’s as much of a Disneyland experience as it is at Disney World - a lot of locals also stay at the GC. The time waiting for our room passed quickly while we enjoyed a frosty adult beverage.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Thought I'd continue the report with a brief update on our room and a couple of pics I took from my phone (more on Rich's phone and camera not downloaded yet).
Once we finished our drink, we called the number and discovered our room was ready. Woo hoo! We couldn't wait to see it! The only downside to our room was that it was probably the furthest from an elevator - miles and miles from the elevator - the last room down about 5 hallways. LOL!
The room was nicely decorated - rather spacious - wonderful bathroom, desk with 2 chairs and internet cable - and had a fabulous view of DCA! What a thrill that was - to sit out on the balcony and people-watch as if you were in the park instead of sitting on your comfortable balcony from your room.
Here are a couple of pics:
The Famous Fireplace
One of the queen beds - loved the lamps with dimmers on them.
View from Room: Tower of Terror (fun to watch the elevators open at night), Soarin, and Grizzly River Run
It's been very interesting to follow your updates on Twitter and have them interspersed with mine (@LLaffinPlace) from the Decade of Dreams at WDW. Of course, Bob continues partying down at WDW while the rest of us work.
It's been very interesting to follow your updates on Twitter and have them interspersed with mine (@LLaffinPlace) from the Decade of Dreams at WDW. Of course, Bob continues partying down at WDW while the rest of us work.
The room looks fabulous and that view! Wowzers!
Can't wait to read more.
Thanks to all for the encouragement to post the report. We love re-living the trip and it's nice to know others enjoy reading our ramblings...
Larry - loved your twitter updates - was like having 2 vacations in 1. For once we got to enjoy DL and WDW at the same time. LOL! And, thankfully, Bob is still tweeting - love it!
DH and I visited the GC when we checked in for our eastbound repo cruise last summer (we stayed at the DLH). I KNOW I want to return to DLR and GC is the place I want to stay. Heading to WDW this week-end and will stay at WL for the first time. It will give me something to compare to when we get back to CA.
I forgot to mention that while waiting for our room before we headed out to the pool, we wandered into the gift shop - one of my favorite hotel gift shops. Two CMs were very friendly and helpful. My hairspray ran out before the trip and while I only use it to spritz my bangs into place, I desperately need it. LOL! Thankfully, the gift shop carried hairspray, but one of the CMs said, "Oh, we just started carrying that."
Did I mention the cushy chaise lounges at the pool? They're like beds - the most comfortable we've ever seen - even better than the Grand Wailea on Maui where we honeymooned, which is one of the most fabulous hotels in Hawaii. The Grand Californian is really beyond the rest - they went all out - and it would now be quite difficult to stay anywhere else at Disneyland.
The pianist in the lobby is another nice touch - reminiscent of the Grand Floridian at WDW. It's like the architecture of Wilderness Lodge with the upscale service and atmosphere of the Grand Floridian. Can we move in and live there permanently?
Two more comments about our room and the view. The monorail whizzed by our room, which was fun to watch. It seemed that there was a family riding in the front in every monorail - even if the rest of the monorail was empty. So if your family would like to sit in the front of the monorail, choose a quiet monorail time and you should get the opportunity.
We also noticed an early morning Segway tour and one late night Segway tour after park closing. We were surprised by the latter - don't know if it was an official Segway tour or CMs were having a night of it - although they stopped and started just like a regular tour.
The nightly turndown service was nice - you didn't even have to request it - housekeeping came around early each evening and delivered chocolates and an activity sheet just like on a cruise ship. There were many special activities and tours going on at the hotel. We ran out of time and energy since our focus was on the food and wine and after every event, it took some time to recover.
So after touring our room, we decided to rest up in anticipation of tonight's Winemaker's Dinner.
Rich is going to write up a descripton of the Winemaker's Dinner and the flavor of the wine and food and I'll try to comment on the flavor of the room if I can find a way to capture it honestly yet diplomatically. So, here goes for starters...
Next: The Winemaker's Dinner or the "My wine cellar is bigger than your wine cellar" event.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
We have never seen that at a Disney hotel and in this area – and in more to come – you’ll see that the GC compares quite favorably to Vegas hotels when it comes to service. A big thumbs up here. 
(We're quite curious to try the GF on our next WDW trip.)
I’m not sure it’s as much of a Disneyland experience as it is at Disney World - a lot of locals also stay at the GC. The time waiting for our room passed quickly while we enjoyed a frosty adult beverage.
More please! 
the Grand. It's our favorite Disney Hotel.
Linear Mode
