Grand Cal to APer's: Lounge Somewhere Else
 

The AP Lounge has been downgraded to unwelcoming.


It was one thing to leave the tacky hallway-grade replacement carpet in the Great Hall after the fire, but now they have removed the comfy, overstuffed sofas and replaced them with cushioned benches!!!!


Photos to follow, I'm sure ... but a thousand words will not be spoken till you actually sit upon these interlopers of inferior furniture.



It's painfully obvious that lounging is being discouraged at the Grand Californian. I might not even bother to renew my AP in two weeks.

That totally stinks. Benches? It's supposed to be a posh hotel.

It's the Disney version of posh. Looks great from a distance, but up close it's synthetic materials and forced perspective.

That sucks, iSm. Nothing says 'welcome' like hard benches, eh?

Not to be offensive, but why should the hotel be concerned about APer comfort in this instance? Having an AP has nothing to do with staying on property or the hotel at all. In fact, having an extra crowded lobby would seem like something that would annoy the guests staying at the hotel.

That being said, having stayed at the GC a few times, I always liked the big comfy couches, and I never thought it to be overly crowded.

I just fail to see why this is an "AP" issue at all. Maybe I'm missing something.

It's a total Monet...


:D

Another clue. They'll find you, Leo. They'll find you.
:D

I wonder if they changed them on the second floor too - up where Evita sang from?

A few times does not equal every time.:p

I think the problem with the benches is that they're uncomfortable for ALL guests to sit on, besides the A.P.'s. Regular hotel guests use these as well.

As for the A.P. angle; A.P.'s make up 60% of the resorts attendance. If word of mouth is the Grand Cal sucks, it'll discourage some tourists from staying there & Disney loses potential revenue.

Of course, the Grand Cal lobby being the 'A.P. Lounge' is just a joke, as I'm sure you were already aware.

Oh, certainly....but i always thought that APers did actually hang out there for a rest. Perhaps they are trying to discourage this behavior?

I just can't see a reason why they would remove the existing furniture unless they were looking for a specific result. The only result I can think of is to discourage people from hanging out there.

Yes, god forbid people enjoy the beautiful sitting area they built, with a fireplace, piano music, and, oh yeah, a bar at which many APers happily pay exhorbitant prices for beverages. Sounds terrible for business.

I didn't say it was a good decision.

Assuming it were to just discourage people from hanging out there, it's a poor way of doing so. Why should the actual hotel guests not get a comfortable couch to sit on just because non-hotel guests can sit on them as well ?

From another point of view, it's a bad idea cause it's only going to discourage guests (like us) from spending money in that vicinity. Quite often, when we've lounged inside the lobby we've also bought cocktails from the bar, shopped inside the souvenir store, and had dinner at Storyteller's Cafe.

If it has an intended purpose (and isn't just some manager saying, "hey, I like it better this way!") it may be to counter the increasing number of people using the hotel lobby as an internet cafe.

I personally avoid doing this unless absolutely necessary (there are plenty of less prominent places within range of the WiFi) but when I was camping out in the lobby a couple months ago trying to think through a MouseAdventure quest in there I noticed about half of the seats were in use by people on computers.

Now, if these are all hotel guests then I don't see why it would be discouraged. But if management has found that a lot of them are not then maybe they're trying it make it less comfortable for that.

I know that I tend to not use hotels the way others do, but in all my times staying at nice hotels I've never, ever, just sat in the lobby. So I wonder how many actual hotel guests are inconvenienced (could be a lot, my sample size is small and skewed).

As an APer, I've sat in the lobby. When I was a guest, I found I spent time in the room, or doing other things.

We generally sit in the lobby when we're waiting for the shuttle to pick us up and take us to the airport. You have to hang around close in case they're early, and I'd much rather sit in a comfy chair than on an uncomfortable bench. We also sit if we're waiting for other members of our party to join us (when travelling in a group). Or if I'm napping, BT might sit and read a book and people watch. (Because when I'm trying to sleep the noise of page turning, minute as it is, drives me bonkers.)

So lots of sitting. In fact, in January we sat in the lobby for quite awhile at some point, just BT and I. Might have been before dinner when there wasn't enough time to actually go do anything and we didn't want to be holed up in our room. GC was already feeling a little BTDT to me anyhow, and this is just another mark against it.

It's true that one of the reasons I would avoid staying at the Grand Cal (other than the teeny tiny rooms) is that the facilities are really there for Disney Resort tourists rather than actual guests of the hotel. One of the prime perks - - proximity to the Parks - - sees to that.

Yes, actual guests have better places to spend their time at the hotel ... namely, their guest rooms that they've paid a pretty penny for.

But whether the Great Hall with its piano and fireplace was designed to entertain paying guests or paying tourists, the result was the same. People lounging in that hall tend to spend money on the premises. Discourage one and you've discouraged the other.


It's interesting to see how long it will take any hotel to go from a class joint to a seedy has-been. The five years mark is when - mark my words - the Grand Californian will be seen to have done the hotel equivalent of jump the shark.

(And the sofa removal is not the main culprit in my eyes ... it's the complete tackiness of not replacing the Great Hall custom carpet via the insurance proceeds they undoubtedly received for precisely that damage.)

Hmmm - perhaps the furniture is being reupholstered? Does the bar still have comfy seating?

When I travel, I often will spend time in the lobby, especially if there's a swanky bar attached and wifi is always a plus as well.

iSm is not going to believe this.

This is a picture of the current couch, that we took yesterday.


Here is a picture of the old couch, that we took back when we were photoshopping it into our MA shirts.


Hmm. They look.....how do I put this?.....exactly the fcking same.

We know for a fact that they are comfortable.

the carpet is indeed in the process of being created.

I'd say these photos confirm that it is definitely a devious plot to drive out the WiFi thieves.

It appears they're planting false memories too - next time I'm bringing my foil hat

I just realized that all the little accent pillows were missing yesterday...

i smell a rotten photoshop plot.


Was your hubby, shown shoddily inserted onto the new benchcushion sofa in the "past," also implanted with the false memories of overstuffed sofas that looked and felt nothing like this? Phmfph, I think not.



Rotten.Denmark.Upholstery.

Sorry dude, GD was pretty amazed as well.

I do get to say "I told you so" since I maintained that it seemed plenty comfy to me yesterday.

I wonder if any CMs were laughing at you guys making an absolute scene in the Grand Cal over a non-existant problem. :p

Well, you yourself noted the missing accent pillows - trivial as they may seem, they obviously bring the room together comfort-wise ;)

Hummm. Perhaps I'll have to stop by on Thursday and examine this issue further (read take a nap between work and the game).

Wow. That is freaky. Not that I am there often, but I totally thought it was different too. Shows what a throw pillow will do to juje up a room! BTW the couches suck...even if that's the way they always were. It's like sitting on a bench. Maybe they were only comfortable when drunk.

CP did maintain that they were comfortable, but she did not maintain they were the same. :) Where is the photo of lisa talking to the couch.

Who's the gayest what now?

Hey, I prolly didn't even spell it right.

Yeah, where is that. I could tell throught the phone they were uncomfortable!:D

Even I wouldn't put the word 'juje' in a post.
:rolleyes: :D

(I think it's "tjuz".)

I thought he was making a reference to jujubes.

Pic of NA trying the couch via cellphone will show up tonight

That's so funny cuz with a boney little ass like yours you'd think you needed extra-padded seats for any comfort ;)

My booty and back were not happy when I tried the "new" couch. It was worse than camping out on a cold, cement parade route. I think I need to go back to physical therapy. Any ideas on how to avoid numbness if I sat there for a prolonged period of time?

I've never had a problem lounging on the GC couches. But, I've always traveled with my own cushion. ;)

I never loved those couches to begin with, but it was a place to sit, away from crowds, in a/c on hot days or heat on cold days. Add alcohol and the place is heaven.

Must...resist...comeback to ass joke....

Avoid? No. Enhance? Yes. The Hearthstone is mere steps away.

We talkin' inflatable ring here?


:D :evil:

Hey! Watch what you call my ass, buddy!:p

Oh, I get it now. :eek:

I thought you were talking about the neck pillow you carry on planes. Or I was talking about a ring pillow for hemorroids. You pick. :D :evil:

Sooo.....I'm sitting in the GC lobby stealing WiFi and sitting on a couch. Same couch, same pillows and cushions, but they've recently been restuffed. They're pretty firm, but they'll soften up soon enough.

Yes while somehow appearing quite the same the sofas are now much less comfortable. The comfy chairs however, remain comfy.

I, too, examined the sofas over the weekend ... I don't know how we could have thought they looked differently, when they are ... and always have been, completely built-in. And yet they most certainly are far less comfortable.


So what's weird ... is that a half dozen of us could tell from looking at the sofas that something was different. We all interpreted it as a visual difference, and we're all flumuxed as to why any of us ever thought that. But it's now becoming clear to me that we each have the psychic equivalent of AP X-Ray Vision. We could tell just by looking at the sofas that the cushions had been stuffed too firmly, and the reduced comfort level of the GrandCalLounge called to our inner AP DNA.


geekblood. :iSm:

You know, the part of the sofa that's been overstuffed is the back. I was forced to sit like a proper lady instead of the AP slouch potato I am used to being.

Yes, they are so sit-up-straight and be proper. Bah. I want my loungers back!

We just have to break them in, which means - more trips to the Lounge.

Get a room, you cheap bastages... :D

So we are only HALF crazy. Awesome. Good to hear. Of course it's hard to hear anything with all these ****ing bats flying around my head!