Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is building a new two-story, members-only lounge to better meet recent guest demand for the property’s club-level offerings.
Guests can book one of two types of club-level rooms at Disney’s Grand Californian, which gives them access to the Veranda lounge on the fifth floor. The space hosts exclusive continental breakfast, afternoon tea, a wine and cheese reception and includes a viewing balcony for fireworks for club-level visitors.
General Manager Nicholas Hockman said the Veranda didn’t have enough space to accommodate all the guests who wanted access.
“There was demand we couldn’t utilize,” Hockman told the Business Journal during a recent tour of the six-story property.
Plans for a second club-level lounge concept were drawn up to expand the hotel’s exclusive spaces in 2022. Construction started in mid-2024. The new space replaced a former outdoor terrace on the fifth floor that wasn’t always occupied by guests.
The two-story lounge will have a main entrance decorated with stained glass on the fifth floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows are being installed for views of the surrounding property, including a peek at the Great Hall lobby below. Cathedral ceilings were added to make room for skylights and a curved staircase leading to the new mezzanine.
Similar to the Veranda, the space will have seating for casual dining and additional amenities exclusive to club-level members. The lounge will also match the rest of the resort’s California Craftsman design, with custom-ordered pieces from local artists like stained glass or tile murals for décor.
It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. Hockman said Disney is also renovating the hotel’s guest rooms this year, in phases.
“We’re constantly taking care of the asset,” he said.
The Disneyland submarket is fueled by a “strong” mix of leisure and group demand from the theme park business and the Anaheim Convention Center, which is backed by a “diverse inventory” of luxury resorts, convention hotels and family-oriented properties, according to CoStar analytics.
Twelve-month occupancy in the Disney submarket is 78.4% as of August, up 3.1% year-over-year. CoStar reported the region’s 12-month average daily room rate grew 4.6% to $250 and revenue per available room increased 7.8% to $200 as of August.
Storytelling in a Hotel
2026 marks the 25th anniversary for the Grand Californian Resort, along with the Downtown Disney District and California Adventure park. With 944 rooms, it is Orange County’s fourth-largest hotel.
The Grand Californian is Disney’s only hotel in the U.S. to have a direct entrance into a theme park. The company recently replaced the turnstiles into the park with facial recognition technology scanners.
“We’re always up to something,” Hockman said.
Hockman joined the property as general manager in 2022. Since then, he has revamped every restaurant and hospitality space. His latest project was renovating the hotel’s Napa Rose fine dining restaurant — which was the last untouched, original piece of the Grand Californian since it opened 25 years ago.
Napa Rose, where every front-of-house employee has introductory sommelier training, was redesigned to highlight California’s wine history. Hockman decided to expand the chef’s counter seating by the kitchen, outfit the restaurant’s patio with proper heating and lighting to start outdoor dining and bring the hotel’s collection of more than 13,000 wine bottles up to the dining room for display.
There were so many bottles in the downstairs cellar that Wine Director Patrick Kirchen had to store part of the collection at the Pixar Place Hotel across the street, with employees at times driving a golf cart over in the middle of dinner to retrieve what guests ordered.
Napa Rose reopened in February, marking Hockman’s eighth year of working at Disney.
“I’ve learned how to leverage storytelling and translate that into a hotel experience,” Hockman said.
“Right now, we’re looking at how you continue to embrace technology without walking away from making experiences feel personalized and curated,” he added. “I’m really excited to see how the industry continues to evolve in that space.”