June 14-19th Things Learned GCH

[OSUfan]

We just arrived back home after a busy and fabulous week at DLR. Here are a couple of tips I have for people who may be staying at the GCH or staying onsite.

1. If you plan on using the pools at the GCH, we noticed that unless you were poolside by 1:00 p.m., you could not count on getting a seat/lounge by the pool. This caused a lot of people to have to hover around until they saw someone leaving. What is nice about sitting by the pool at lunch time is that there are servers available to bring you any food from Whitewater Snacks/Cafe or alcoholic beverages should you choose. We chose to eat lunch at the pool with our daughter, she swam, we relaxed, ate and then we were fresh to start our evening rides, etc.

2. The Condor Flats Tour, which I had read about online, is a "tour" that takes you on the Soarin Over California ride about 9:15 a.m., before the park opens. The name of the "private tour" is now the "Soarin Sneak Peak', so, you arrive at the DCA entrance in the GCH, you tell the attendant there that you are there for the "Soarin Sneak Peak", and then you are put in a line to the left. You are then walked to the Soarin ride about 9:15 a.m. (there were a total of 10 people that took the tour) once you finish the ride, you could ride again as it was 9:30, or get in line for TSMM, which is what we did. We noticed that unless you specifically said that you were there for the tour, you were turned away and told that DCA does not open until 10:00 a.m., you were never told of the tour at all or that typically DCA opens at 9:30 with only Soarin open.

I hope these little tips help, knowing these two things made our trip much more fun!

[2ndStar]

Thanks for posting the tips! Is the "Sneak Peek" offered every day? We have heard about it before and wondered if it is still available. I've heard many great things about the Whitewater Snacks Cafe, it's good to know to get to the pool early.

[angcould]

Thanks for the tips and advice, can't wait to hear about your trip!

[OSUfan]

I do not know if the Sneak Peek is available everyday, as its not advertised anywhere that I am aware of. I had just read about it on one the the message boards I read and got the information from that. The day we tried it there happen to be a man standing at the DCA entrance from the GCH, he was in a dress shirt with no name tag, so did not really look like a CM, he asked my how he could help me and I asked him if there was someone available to give the Condor Flats Tour and he directed me to the left and the "private tour" line. We just took a risk and asked about the tour and it worked out and saved us precious touring time!

[yenko427]

I wonder if the pool side service is only in the Summer time? We were there for a week in January and used the pool everyday and never once had a server come over to us, or ever saw one.

[dlfansx4]

I wonder if the pool side service is only in the Summer time? We were there for a week in January and used the pool everyday and never once had a server come over to us, or ever saw one.

I think it may only be on the weekends during the "off season." We were there on May 9th (a Saturday) and there was pool side service.

[dlfanshl]

Do you need to be a guest at Disney's Grand Californian or can you be a guest
at any of the Resort Hotels? I need to book my trip in the next few days and
can't decide between DGC and DLH.

Thanks, Shelley. : )

[OSUfan]

I don't think you have to be a guest of the GCH. Actually,we were never asked if we were a guest of any specific hotel, even a resort hotel by the tour guide.