California Dreaminโ (A Tale of Going West): Trip Planning
Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class SIN-SFO / SFO-SIN
Parc 55 San Francisco โ A Hilton Hotel
Big Trees Lodge, Yosemite National Park
The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, Yosemite National Park
Hampton Inn & Suites Merced, also any other U.S. Hampton
Hilton San Diego Airport Harbor Island Hotel
The Comic-Con Experience
Virgin Airlines A319 First Class SAN-SFO
Majestic
I was pretty excited at the prospect of staying at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel โ formerly known as the Ahwahnee Hotel, yet another National Historic Landmark. Located within Yosemite Valley itself, the place is far better situated than Big Trees Lodge for accessing the main attractions within the park.
Itโs also a lot nicer โ a (very brief) overview of the history of the place is that the first US Director of the National Parks Service, a businessman turned tree-hugger named Stephen Mather, thought up the idea of building a luxury hotel within the park to attract rich city folk over and fall in love with nature like he had, thus impressing upon these influential people the wonders of nature. Cue fund-raising.
Iโm not quite the target audience he probably had in mind, but I was indeed impressed. The place is so iconic that the park rangers conduct (free) guided tours of the public areas. The Overlook Hotel from The Shining was also based on this property โ itโs great knowing youโre staying at the hotel that inspired the visual aesthetic of โHereโs Johnny!โ.
A not-so-Majestic Entrance
When you first get to the vicinity of the hotel, you might start wondering where exactly the place is โ itโs not particularly visible from the carpark (which is also near where the complimentary shuttle bus stops). As it turns out, the main entrance of the hotel was originally designed to be the side entrance โ when siting the original main entrance, they hadnโt considered the pollution created by idling vehicles as passengers unloaded.
This design flaw was highlighted rather late, just days before the hotel opened, and thus a quick solution was effected by converting the existing side entrance and adding a long covered walkway to distance the rooms from vehicle-generated pollution.
The original main entrance thus opens instead to the propertyโs lawn, which is where the more impressive facade of the property can be viewed from.
Inside the Property
The heritage of the property is clearly a large part of its identity โ old-looking plaques abound (even if theyโre dated to the late 20th century, which isnโt really all that long agoโฆ)
Upon reaching the property you step up to a really old-school lobby, decked with chandeliers (albeit electric ones) and all.
To the left, ye olde sweet shop for weary travellers to purchase sweet sugary pick-me-ups.
To the right, ye olde gift shop for refreshed travellers to part ways with more cash before heading home.
Somewhere behind the check-in counter is a dining reservations booth โ I assume itโs manned at some part of the day, though I never noticed that happening during my stay. Apparently, this area was converted from old school bank counters โ Iโm guessing they once provided on-site banking services, before the day of the ATM?
Ye olde post box, just opposite the dining reservations booth.
A large fireplace along the wayโฆ Not too sure if itโs still used during winter.
And a large indoor area where afternoon tea was served (we arrived too late to really enjoy it, unfortunately).
The (architectural) highlight for me was the magnificent dining room, with its intricate roof and grand scale. Itโs what you might imagine an American (wild west) version of Harry Potter might look like, as opposed to the New York version thatโs made it to the cinemas.
The Room
I was assigned to Room 601, one of the smallest rooms on the top floor of the property. Having booked the cheapest available class of room, that sounded about right.
The rooms on the sixth floor were all named โ 601 was named after the propertyโs founder himself, and was a pretty nice room with a good view โ wonder if itโs nicer than the average basic room? Thatโs the delusion Iโm happy living with, anyway.
The king bed was large, clean and comfortable. No complaints from me.
It also came with a plush black bear, though unfortunately it cost extra to take home. Mine remained in the hotel roomโฆ
The room was equipped with a flat screen TV and all the technological wonders of the 20th century (read: crappy wifi).
Walk-in closet? Storeroom? Blurred lines.
The bathroom was, though a little on the small side, clean and functional.
I really enjoyed the provided Tarocco Sicilian Red Orange amenities, with its strong pleasant scent.
In one corner of the room was a small sitting area, right beside the roomโs sole window. That window offered what was possibly the roomโs best feature โ the view.
It wasnโt perfect, but there was an almost-direct view of Half Dome โ it was pretty awesome watching it turn orange around dusk right from the comfort of our own room. Too bad it was still partially obstructed!
Breakfast
Breakfast was, unfortunately, not included with the room rate. I was pretty keen to spend some time actually dining in the dining hall, so I made a reservation for breakfast (you can do this using OpenTable).
Breakfast was a full buffet affair, though it seemed somewhat unclassy to take pictures of the spread in a place like this, so I didnโt.
โฆor perhaps I simply neglected to document the full spread.
Iโve got some shots of sample plated offerings, though. The offerings arenโt too different from any typical western hotel buffet breakfast, but I did think the quality of the food was really good.
Ultimately, itโs still rather pricey, and ultimately youโre paying for the ambience; the delicious food serves as a pretty good consolation prize.
Around the Property
After breakfast we took a walk around the grounds. Just beside the lawn was the swimming pool โ itโs rather small and not particularly conducive for swimming laps; probably better suited for families.
Walking further away from the main hotel towards the wooded areas brings you to the cottages, essentially the propertyโs private villas. They look pretty nice, but at an even higher price point I figured it made more sense to go for the cheaper option in the main (historical) building.
Still, looking at the beautiful scenery around the cottages, I kinda got the appeal.
After all, how often do you get to see wildlife scurrying around your backyard? Itโs possibly quite a common for country-dwellers, but for the urbanites this property caters to, itโs a rather unique experience.
Conclusion
The Majestic Yosemite Hotel (nรฉe Ahwahnee Hotel) is undoubtably the swishest hotel located within Yosemite Park. Very frankly, youโre paying for the historicity and location โ though it doesnโt quite match up to modern luxury hotels in many ways, itโs still pretty decent and offers a unique experience to be had in the midst of awesome natural beauty.
If your goal is to maximise savings, you should consider staying somewhere cheaper and just doing the complimentary guided tour. Unfortunately, itโs owned by the U.S. Government and (I think) thereโs pretty much no way to access it on cheap, but if you value such experiences it could make a worthwhile treat.
