Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
On February 6, 2001 Disney’s Grand California Hotel was officially dedicated in a ceremony held in front of the hotel. On hand where Tony Bruno, General Manager of the hotel, Peter Dominick, architect, Cynthia Harriss, President of the Disneyland Resort and Sharon Davis, the first lady of California. Accompanying the ceremony was a symphony playing California-themed tunes.
In the pages that follow you’ll find many pictures and a transcript from the ceremony and many other pictures from around the hotel including one of the Presidential Suites. At the end of this article you’ll find a short interview with hotel architect Peter Dominick.
Following is a transcript of the ceremony:
Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome the General Manager of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, Tony Bruno.
Tony Bruno: Good morning. Welcome everyone. It’s truly a privilege to serve as general manager of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel which bears the distinction of being the very first hotel ever built by Disney inside a Disney theme park. Just as Disney’s California Adventure is a tribute to the Golden State, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, as its name suggests, is a tribute to California art in architecture, the arts and crafts movement of the early 1900s. I’d like to take a moment to thank our good friends at Walt Disney Imagineering who once again have captured the magic of Disney by creating a wonderful work of art that is stunning, enchanting and distinctly Californian.
Tony Bruno: Just as the handmade fireplaces inside the cozy California craftsman bungalows of yesteryear symbolize the ultimate home, we want you to feel that Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel is your home away from home. Our hotel has so many outstanding amenities that it would take all morning to list them all. From the inviting stone hearth to the wine country inspired restaurant Napa Rose to the relaxing pools and the exciting atmosphere of Storyteller’s Cafe. And whether you are staying with us for business or pleasure we stand ready and waiting to provide with you the most peaceful, private retreat or the most accommodating state of the art business and meeting facilities.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel is a luxury hotel lovingly designed by an outstanding architect. I’d like to invite him to the podium at this time. Throughout his outstanding 30-year career he has garnered a reputation of designing excellence for projects that range from large residences to historic renovations. A recipient of numerous design awards he actually began his career as a parking lot attendant here at Disneyland. Please welcome the Principal Designer with Urban Design Group, Peter Dominick.
Peter Dominick: Thank you, Tony. As Tony mentioned, the basic philosophy of the arts and crafts design is to bring together architecture, art, landscape and the decorative arts in a natural setting; to restore the humaneness and dignity of the design effort to rejuvenate men’s souls, hearts and minds from the drudgery of the machine or the digital age. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel is perhaps the largest structure ever conceived in the arts and crafts style which has historically been – as you know – has been residential in focus, size and execution. And the garden was always the key influence in the design of arts and crafts structures. In this case we shifted the scale of the hotel to include the scale of the forest particularly those along California’s coastlines with their Monterrey pines and the spectacular groves of redwoods and sequoias providing an appropriate scale and inspiration for a project as immense as Disney’s Grand Californian.
Peter Dominick: Tony asked me to say a few words about the beginning of the design process. I’m reminded of a birthday party – I was at recently a 50th birthday party where the recipient’s father who, was 85 years old, jumped to his feet. He said, as he began his toast, I remember the night that Mary was born and the older sister groaned at that point and said ‘oh dad don’t start there’ and without missing a beat and he said I remember the night that Mary was conceived. (laughs)
The conception of this hotel was absolutely fascinating with the research and study that went into the arts and crafts movement. As it moved from its European roots across the nation to California and the inspiration that we found with the architecture of northern and southern California. Obviously, as an architect you can’t really build buildings of this scale and complexity today without a great team. I pause and give thanks to the great team that was put together by Walt Disney, their Imagineers, their operators, the administrators, the executives, all of whom participated in this project. (applause) I speak on behalf of all of us when I say I’m very pleased and proud of the result.
I’d like to end with a quote from John Muir which seems appropriate in terms of its capturing the spirit of this hotel: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into the trees. Winds blow their freshness into you and the storms their energy while care drops off like autumn leaves.” Thank you very much.
Tony Bruno: Thank you Peter. And now it is my great pleasure to welcome the president of the Disneyland Resort, Cynthia Harriss.
Cynthia Harriss: Well, thank you Tony. And thank you Peter for your extraordinary artistry that has brought Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel to life. And I want to thank all of you for joining us for this week because during this week we are going to celebrate so many new beginnings of our new Disneyland Resort. Together with Disney’s California Adventure and Downtown Disney, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel plays an important role in our overall resort. Because with the addition of this gorgeous retreat we now have over 22[thousand] rooms that will now make Anaheim and the Disneyland Resort truly a multi-day destination vacation resort.
Tony and Peter both have mentioned the inspiration of our arts and crafts movement in the design of the hotel and in its purest sense the arts and crafts movement was an appreciation of nature. Perhaps no single individual has exemplified that appreciation of nature more than the legendary John Muir, one of our country’s greatest conservationists and the founder of the Sierra Club whose efforts over a century ago live on today in the creation of the Yosemite National Park and other national landmarks. John Muir is represented here today by a number of his family and we are so pleased to welcome them. His grandsons Walter Muir and Ross Hanna, his great grand daughters Marlee Muir and Susan Hanna Flynn and his great-great grand daughters Maureen Lewis and Alison Muir Flynn and his great great-great-grand daughter Lindsey Lewis. Would the Muir family please stand? We are thrilled you are with us.
Cynthia Harriss: Thank you so much for being with us. And it just certainly makes this celebration more special that you are here to share it with us. We’re also honored today to have with us a true ambassador of the Golden State, the 2001 Miss California. So please welcome the lovely and talented Rita Ng.
Cynthia Harriss: Well we are extremely privileged to have a very special guest with us this morning who has joined us for the official dedication of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. This woman is truly a remarkable Grand Californian in every sense of the word. She was born and raised in San Diego in the suburb Santee and has demonstrated an unceasing commitment to our state of California and our most valuable resource, the children. She is the inspiration behind so many invaluable programs that have been designed to improve the quality of our lives, that of our children and to retain the heritage that has made California such a great state. Ladies and Gentlemen, escorted by our very own Mickey Mouse, please welcome the first lady of the state of California Sharon Davis.
Sharon Davis: It’s great to be here to represent 34 million people in the great state of California. And I can’t think of better place to recognize the beautiful work of Disney in this state than right here at the Grand Californian. It’s really a pleasure to be here because California represents 163,000 miles of land in this great country and today, with the opening of this hotel and later in the week the opening of Disney’s California Adventure, we will truly have a star in Southern California. As Cynthia mentioned, I grew up in San Diego and I made several trips here to Disneyland and for a child Disneyland was a place that was truly magical. Now children that come to Disneyland and the Disneyland Resort from all over the world will get to see how special this golden state is through this beautiful park. When Walt Disney started this project in an orange field 45 years ago he had a dream and so we consider him a native son. So everywhere that Disney expands throughout the world we consider it an extension of our family. So on this outstanding occasion the Governor of the State of California would like to present a proclamation:
Sharon Davis: It reads: “Whereas the Disneyland Resort is a magical place that has drawn has people from all over the country to California since it opened 45 years ago and whereas Disneyland Resort is proud to present its newest theme park Disney’s California Adventure which will celebrate the magnificent state of California and whereas Disney’s California Adventure is an extension of the magic that began when Walt Disney and his Imagineers transformed an orange grove into an enchanting place that is now a unique hallmark of California’s heritage and whereas one of the highlights of Disney’s California Adventure is the Golden Dreams attraction, a movie that celebrates the rich diversity that has made California a land of promise and opportunity. This historic expansion has created thousands of jobs that will benefit the local and state tourism industries. Whereas Disney’s California Adventure will open on February 8, 2001, now hereby I, Gray Davis, Governor of the state of California do hereby proclaim February 8, 2001 Disney’s California Adventure Day in the great state of California.” Thank you.
Cynthia Harriss: Thank you very much. Mrs. Davis on behalf of the Disneyland Resort and our friend Mickey Mouse and all of our cast members we are very pleased to present to you and to the Governor this handcrafted art piece in remembrance of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. Thank you.
Cynthia Harriss: While Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel is a remarkable architectural achievement in its own right the incredible Cast Members who provide the guest with world class service each and every day are the true heart and soul of our hotel. These remarkable people consistently go above and beyond the call of duty to bring a smile, to create those magical memories and to build those memories that will last a lifetime. So at this time it is my great honor to introduce to you the cast of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. Maestro….
(trumpet fanfare followed by California Here I Come. Cast members file out in front of the hotel and appear on the balconies of the hotel rooms.)
Cynthia Harriss: Ladies and Gentlemen in the rich tradition of the California Art and architecture we officially dedicate Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel a grand place to refresh your mind and renew your spirit.
Announcer: Have a truly GRAND day!
Interview with Peter Dominick
After the ceremony, I had the opportunity to speak with Peter Dominick, the architect of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. The transcript of that interview follows:
LaughingPlace.com: What other Disney projects have you worked on?
Peter Dominick: Well the Wilderness Lodge was the first project that we did. And we also designed the Settlement Junction which has not been built. We built the Wilderness Lodge Vacation Villas which have just opened and are very, very successful. We’re hearing that there’s selling at $4 million a month, I can hardly get the word out, it’s astounding how popular they are. And this project, the Animal Kingdom Lodge which is going to open in another six weeks and is going to be truly remarkable and a couple of others that didn’t get built.
LP: The Grand Californian is, at least superficially, similar to the Wilderness Lodge. Can you talk about the differences?
PD: The primary difference is that the Wilderness Lodge was conceived as a resort in the wilderness so it’s a standalone building, so it didn’t have to deal with all the urban complexities that this project had to. So from a basic planning point of view we had to, here, we had to take into account the resort district with the hotels, the fact that it’s at the edge of a theme park, we had a monorail running through this, and all those forces shaped this building in a way that makes it – in some ways – more complex, perhaps more intimate, than the Lodge itself. It’s also refined -you’re absolutely correct, it’s a building that looked at those kind of rustic traditions and then moved them into the more refined and elegant and crafted world.
LP: The guests of a hotel like this are going to be families and not necessarily the upscale adults that you might find at hotel of this caliber in another location. Do you do anything differently with that in mind?
PD: Actually, no.
LP: So you don’t dumb it down?
PD: We don’t dumb down at all. We actually went up, here. I’m a great believer that in some ways we don’t give enough credit to our audiences and I want to touch every level of the audience. Yes, there is the fun side of it which is the dancing bears and some of the ceramic characters, some of the storytelling that takes place in the restaurants, but by and large what you’re seeing is a truly crafted – the art of the craft and the craft of the art which I think people are responding to in a time when we’ve seen an awful lot of building that don’t get fully detailed or are detailed in ways that are cold and they don’t have the kind of textural quality to them that people appreciate.
We had that discussion a lot, as you can imagine, during the design process. “Well what are you doing? Where are the Hidden Mickeys”? And I really didn’t pay that much attention to it. And it was a little unnerving because Arts and Crafts is not something you would imagine kids would – it’s an idea or theme where you can say “that’s pretty serious, what’s the fun in that.” But surprisingly, here’s what happens. The kids come into this place and they go “wow. this is cool.” And I’ve had a whole bunch of little kids come up to me and say “way cool, man”. So that feels good. As an architect, that’s what you want.
LP Are there any design elements that a layman like myself should be on the lookout for?
PD: A lot of fun details. The dancing bears at the check-in, if you haven’t looked at those closely, that came out of a really interesting French tradition which we completely reinterpreted from a porcelain craft into a ceramic craft. And the woman who did it is a woman named Susan Dannenfelser, she’s an artisan who’s up in Oakland and I think she did a spectacular job. They’re really fun, they’re very unique. There’re some secret places in this place that are really thrilling. If you can get a room right over the Monorail, that’s a “Wow.” Have that Monorail go right underneath you, that’s fantastic. Or in the North Courtyard the detail in the garden has to do with winds. We actually call it the Court of the Winds because the Monorail goes through and it gets the trees spinning. You’ll see a wonderful little symbol in the base of that of the wind blowing and you’ll also see it in the light fixtures.
LP: There are at least three Disney characters that made into the rooms. Was that giving in?
PD: No no, that’s fun. That is fun and kids like that. Adults like it and there are fans who spend their lives looking for these things.
LP: I’m happy those fans are around.
PD: I am too.
