Day # 1 was a travel day. I’ve already written about the joys of trying to get a bullet belt through airport security, so I won’t belabor that point.
Once we arrived at John Wayne Airport (aka Orange County) we proceeded to the shuttle stop and let the person there know what hotel we were going to. A shuttle arrived right away and we climbed in. We waited for a few minutes while our driver took a break. After a bit, a man and a woman who where apparently traveling together for business got on board.
We waited longer.
I don’t know if our driver just wanted a really long break or if the shuttle company wanted a full load. I didn’t really care, as I wasn’t in a big hurry to get anywhere. The other woman, however, got pretty antsy pretty quickly. She kept saying things like, “OK, let’s go!” and “any time now,” etc. She finally climbed over her companion and yelled at the driver, “Is this thing going to leave this year or what? We have important stuff to do!”
She was in a hurry, I guess.
I thought she’d be pissed when the driver let us off first, and I was now a little annoyed at her, I prepared to make some smart-ass remark like I guess we’re more important. But instead she smiled at me and said, “What a beautiful hotel! Maybe we should stay here instead of where we’re going.” I told her to have a nice stay, where ever that was.
I have to admit that Hotel California was going through my head our entire stay (alternating with The World Is A Carousel Of Color). But the Disney Grand Californian is, truly, a marvelous hotel. It’s all Arts & Crafts style, with a huge, many-story lobby in the center that has a walk-in, sit-in hearth to one side. There’s lots of inlaid marble and (probably fake) wooden beams.
This is embarassing, but I had a hard time finding the front door. It’s a huge pair of stained-glass, sliding doors that depict California scenes (or I assume that’s what it is). From the outside during the day, the glass looks like an inlaid mural. I almost walked in a “cast members only” door. #1 Son said, “where the hell is the door?” I answered with a shrug and started walking back the other way along the outside. I was actually startled when we walked near it and the doors slid open. From the inside, with the light shining through, it’s easier to see what it is.
Disney built the California Adventure theme park, Downtown Disney and the Disney Grand Californian in what used to be the parking lot in front of Disneyland. This puts the Grand Californian is in the perfect location. It has exits directly to both the California Adventure and Downtown Disney. Once at Downtown, turning left and walking to the end of the street brings you to the Monorail Station and The Disneyland Hotel. Turning right, it’s just a short walk to the entrance of both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. The private entrance from the Grand Californian into California Adventure isn’t much shorter than the walk through Downtown — or at least it wasn’t from our room.
Our room was on the third floor overlooking Downtown Disney, and that turned out to be an almost perfect location. For one thing, it’s a shorter hike to the elevators that rooms overlooking California Adventure. (A standard street view would probably be even closer, but blech.) It was a perfect place to peoplewatch. We could hear the live entertainment playing in Downtown. And we could see the fireworks over Disneyland from our balcony.
The room was well-appointed and about what I’d expect from a 
hotel. The bathroom/dressing room was small, but nicely kept. The closet was large and well-lit, but not walk-in. Robes were included, but I had to ask Housekeeping for ours. The room held two queen beds, a small table with two chairs, and an armoire that held the TV and the ubiquitous “touch this and we charge you big $$$” guest snack and drink fridge. The lights over the beds were on dimmers, which was a nice touch.
We settled in just around dinner time. Look around the Downtown view, I saw that our room was just across from Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria. #1 Son was up for Pizza, too, so we headed over there. I was surprised that the crowd in Downtown seemed to be thin, and there was no wait to be seated at Naples. Our table was on the second floor, overlooking the downstairs kitchen on one side and Downtown on the other. #1 Son ordered a margherite (sp?) pizza and I had the four-cheese. Service was a little slow — the waiter blamed it on a problem with the electronic ticket thingy — but the pizza when it came was piping hot, with a thin crust and lots of topping. Mom’s take: for the ambience, for the pizza.
After dinner, we wandered around in Downtown. It has the typical mix of souvenir shops, resaurants and chain stores that one would expect of a Downtown Disney. The stores are arranged around open squares connected by short “streets.” Live performers played in the squares. At one point the “street” passes over Disneyland Drive on its way to the Monorail Station and The Disneyland Hotel. I was looking for a book store in particular, as I forgot to pack something to read in bed. I found a nice little book store / coffee shop down by the Monorail station — Compass Books & Cafe — and picked up a good Faye Kellerman mystery (I’ve read most of the Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus series).
Mom’s take on Compass Books: only because of its size.
Mom’s take on Street Dreams by Faye Kellerman: I like this series, but this wasn’t my favorite in it. I’d have given it more stars except for the choppy way in which the voice kept switching from 3rd person when focusing on Peter and 1st person when Cindy was telling the story. There was a subplot having to do with Rina’s grandmother, who was apparently murdered in Germany, that was only distracting. I couldn’t see a reason for it except to give Peter and Rina something to do. So why have them in it at all? I also was disappointed in the stereotypical handling of race relations between Cindy and her new boyfriend Koby. The Koby character could have been fleshed out a lot better. He promised to be interesting, and delivered only beefcake. Faye Kellerman can do better than this.
After book-buying, we wandered back up the other side of the “street” to the hotel. It wasn’t that late, but we were both tired. Turndown service in the “standard” rooms was a nice surprise. #1 Son flopped on his bed and watched TV while I watched the fireworks. And then we called it a night.
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