A Real California Adventure

Leave it to Disney to go for realism. In an effort to give visitors a real California Adventure, they decided to stage a genuine California forest fire right in the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel:

A 35-foot-tall artificial Christmas tree caught fire in the lobby of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, part of the Disneyland Resort, in the predawn hours today and 2,300 guests were evacuated, fire officials said.

The fire broke out at about 3 a.m. and the hotel sprinkler and alarm system activated automatically, said Anaheim Fire Department spokeswoman Maria Sabol.

There were two minor injuries – one woman complained of back pain and a second of stress – but neither was taken to a hospital.

Firefighters responding to the call arrived to find smoke billowing from the tree, but the blaze was contained by the sprinkler, Sabol said.

Seriously, though, I'm glad it wasn't more of a problem than it turned out to be. I was in that lobby a few days ago, and it's really a spectacular place. It's one of my favorite places to just hang out for awhile and enjoy the atmosphere.

The TV report showed a firefighter dousing the tree with a large hose while water rained down from the sprinkers. There's an awful lot of nice furniture, carpets and flooring in the lobby that will have to be replaced. I hope they get it back in shape pretty soon.

We did a some on-the-spot reporting on this story. We headed over to Downtown Disney for a little shopping, and while there, popped in to the Grand Californian. The main central part of the lobby was completely curtained off with helpful Disney employees stationed every few feet to keep the curious out of the work area.

We headed up to the third floor overlook and could see the repairs in progress. The entire center portion of the lobby has been completely stripped of all carpeting and furnishings, and of course, the tree was gone. The pianist had been moved to an alcove and continued to play, despite the less than desirable location.

There were many dryers going, and in one area, a workman was prying up a portion of the wood floor. It looked like there was a little smoke smudging in the central portion of the lobby ceiling, but there was only a slight smell of smoke in the room.

The carpet that was removed was designed to exactly match the design and pattern of the tile floors, so if they can't reuse that carpet, there will be some extra work to do. If they're able to dry that carpet and put it back down, they should be able to get the lobby back into shape within a few days.

I hope so.