The Mickey Mouse Penthouse @ DLR Revealed!

The Disney Parks Blog unveiled one of the most spectacular suites ever designed for Disney - the Mickey Mouse Penthouse (MMP) in the Disneyland Hotel!  

This ginormous suite - 1600 square feet! - is covered in All Things Mickey and decorated in traditional Mickey colors.  Think bold red, yellow and black.  There are two bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a living room, dining room and kitchen.  If you want a total immersion experience, this would be IT!

Below is the living room.   See the giant Mickey head right there in the ceiling?  There are even three flat screen TVs in that giant entertainment center! 

Check out the master bedroom.  A king size bed, another flat screen TV and loads of Mickey!  The description of the master bath just sounds delightful.  A steam shower, Jacuzzi tub and a mirror with a built in TV.  If you've never seen the TV in the mirror, it's a lot of fun.  On top of it all, there are special tiles in the shower that reveal a picture of Mickey when warm water hits the shower wall.  How fun is THAT?!

Even the second bedroom occupants get to have fun!  This room has a round bed.  Round!  There's also a high tech animation station in this bedroom.  I have no artistic talent, but perhaps I would with that kind of technology.  The kids also get to get ready for the parks in this fun bathroom.

Like with the BTRR suite, Disney's not publishing prices with this suite.  If you're interested, give DLR a call!

New Suites Coming to Disneyland Hotel

Even if you've never been to Disneyland, chances are very good that you've heard of the Disneyland Hotel.  It's iconic.  It's the original Disney hotel.  And right now, it's receiving a serious TLC renovation on all three of its buildings.  Part of this renovation includes the addition of some absolutely amazingly themed suites.  

According to the Disney Parks Blog, the 11th floor of the Dreams Tower of the Disneyland Hotel will be the new home to what Disney is calling 'signature suites' - over the top theming, attention to detail, sound effects, etc.  You know, the typical Disney treatment!  These uber-themed suites will include the following themes: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Fair Tales, Mickey Mouse and Pirates of the Caribbean.  The DP blog recently provided the following pictures of the new Big Thunder Suite:

Prices aren't being publicized yet, but if you are interested, just give Disney a call at (714) 956-6425.

Grand Californian Hotel - Disneyland

As I mentioned before, we just returned from our first trip to Disneyland!  We did do more than just the Mouse while we were out there - quick trip through LA, Malibu, Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Legoland, San Diego, La Jolla - it was definitely a whirlwind trip!  

For the first five nights of our trip, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel (GCH) was our home base.  We had considered non-Disney hotels while in the LA area since Disneyland is right in the middle of town and surrounded by hotels, but Disney offered a great deal this summer - pay for three nights, stay for five.  It brought the GCH down closer to what we would pay at an Embassy Suites or similar, so we chose the GCH.  Boy, we were NOT disappointed!

The GCH was designed by the same architect who designed both the Wilderness Lodge and the Animal Kingdom Lodge in WDW, and you can see some similarities in the designs, such as the impressive lobby (see pic below).  Unlike the two Florida resorts, the GCH is designed in the Craftsman style that is so prevalent in California.

Like WDW, DLR also bases room rates on the view from your room.  The primary room views are standard (overlooks front entrance), pool view, Downtown Disney view and Disney California Adventure (DCA) view.  We booked a standard view room, and to our surprise, we were told at check in that we had a 4th floor room with a pool view!  Love free upgrades.  And to make things more fun, we were able to see part of DCA from our room as well if we looked to our left. 

GCH's pool complex is expansive.  There are three pools and two hot tubs.  The pool in the picture above is also home to the Redwood Slide.  The slide is only open during the day, as it is manned by a lifeguard.  At night, the pool complex is dimly, but safely, lit.  Cabanas are available for daily rental.  During the day, there is also chairside food service.  Another difference between all pools at DLR versus WDW is that they are gated with restricted access.  One must slide a room key to gain access to the pool - see gate below.

Once in our room, we were pleasantly surprised at its size.  The rooms were larger than what we had at the Wilderness Lodge, but they were not as large as the Polynesian or Contemporary.  We had two queen beds, flat screen TV mounted above a dresser, as well as two chairs and a writing table.  Outside on the balcony, there were a few chairs and a small table.  The decor continues the Craftsman theme with very little obvious Disney influence.  There were Mickey heads on the carpet, and there was Bambi and Thumper on the shower curtain.  The dresser hid a small dorm fridge.  

One of the best features of GCH is its proximity to both DLR parks.  Our room was essentially four floors above the private entrance in to DCA!  While this entrance is available to all current guests of any of the three DLR hotels, few can say that it only took them 5 minutes from room to park!  Going to Disneyland Park itself takes a few minutes longer - walk out from the hotel in to Downtown Disney, swing a right, and tada!  You are in the promenade between the two parks.

GCH's proximity to DCA is proving to be a bit problematic with the new World of Color show.  Currently, there are three shows a night, and it is LOUD.  The rides you see in the picture are in the Paradise Pier section, and WoC plays out on the lagoon in that area.   Even though we were not overlooking DCA and were actually a decent distance away from the lagoon, we could still hear the music during the shows, even with the doors closed to the balcony.  Luckily, it was not loud enough to keep us awake at night, but we both commented that it had to be loud in the rooms that overlooked the park on that side. 

We experienced two of the three dining options at GCH.  Whitewater Snacks is the quick service location, and we ate dinner there our last night of our stay.  We found it to be better than average as far as Disney hotel quick service goes.  We also had dinner one night at Storyteller's Cafe.  Three of us chose their buffet, while E Belle ended up with standard chicken nuggets.  The buffet had a carving station, salad, desserts, pasta, vegetables, etc.  Pretty decent, we felt that we got our money's worth considering we left stuffed!  Napa Rose was the only one we did not try, is considered to be the nicest of all DLR restaurants and serves California style cuisine.


I am so glad we chose GCH!  I'd stay here again in a heartbeat.  While it is definitely more expensive than most rooms on Harbor Blvd., it is still cheaper than a deluxe room at WDW.