7. The gorgeous architecture
The Grand Californian designer, Peter Dominick, also designed Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World. The hotel has a “craftsman-style elegance,” and its architecture was inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement in California during the early 1900s. Some parts of the hotel are tributes to some of the Craftsman Era architects and designers. Two suites in the hotel pay homage to Frank Lloyd Wright. Inside the Napa Rose Restaurant, there is a rose motif in glass design that was inspired by Charles Rennie MacKintosh, and the Storytellers Café features a tile mural that is a reproduction of an original design by the Gladding McBean Company that was created for the Wilmington Public Library.
The huge Reception Hall is based on the interior of the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco, and the Central Lobby has a massive fireplace and arching beams overhead. There are even items found around the hotel that were handcrafted by modern practitioners of the Arts and Crafts Movement who used traditional techniques in their craftsmanship. You can learn more about these items on the Art of Craft Tour at the Grand Californian.