Christie A.
Yelp
Overall had a nice stay; after mulling over all aspects, came up with 3.5 stars, rounded up. It's a new year, feeling generous. ;D
We didn't expect it to be so crowded (had to drive around for quite some time to find a parking spot since it's public parking during the day), but we came over a holiday weekend, so that may be my fault for not having more realistic expectations. On subsequent days, the parking lots were pretty full, but not bursting like that first day.
We arrived early, 2:45pm. Check in was at 4pm, so we were told our room wasn't ready and everything was full. Sure, but then at 4pm... 4:30pm... and 4:40pm it still wasn't ready! Went to the front desk again and a different staff member was able to supposedly give us a different room. How, but ok...? A lot of the front desk staff was young, and a few weren't the friendliest or most helpful, but overall we enjoyed our stay.
Fortuitous that the parking spot we ended up getting 2 hrs prior was pretty close to our newly assigned room. There are many different buildings with tree/plant names. Some kind of reminded me of old UCSC dorms, being rustically nestled in the woods.
After we were settled in our room, we got a call that our room was ready...? Confusing. Despite some shortcomings in our room, we decided to stay put since we had already unloaded.
We were in Laurel which was great. We liked having our front door open to the outside, instead of the inner corridor buildings like Maple and Hemlock. It made loading/unloading easier and getting back to our room after a full day quicker.
Given the mixed reviews of this place, I was bracing myself, but was pleasantly surprised by the room. It is in a National Park, in a rustic setting, so evidence of small critters like spiderwebs are understandable and expected; we are visiting their natural habitat, after all! However, we personally didn't have any in our room anyway.
Noticed a sign that said there was no phone in our particular room, but if we needed anything, to call the front desk... well, calling the phone number only resulted in a rapid busy signal for the rest of the night. The next day it did work, so perhaps they were just that busy.
Wifi never worked! We fortunately didn't need it for much, but we were confused since the password was provided, yet we didn't even have the option to input it. Second day, a man at the front desk even tried (unsuccessfully) to connect his phone and then explained that it's an old DSL system and was likely overloaded. Again, I get it; technology in a forest can be spotty, but admittedly we felt some disappointment after expecting it to be available. There was at least decent cell signal.
We didn't come to Yosemite to stay in a 5 star hotel. We don't mind dated accommodations in this situation, we only want clean ones, and we had no complaints. Things that mattered to us like the bathroom, towels, and sheets were all clean. Tub seemed new and newly caulked. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel & lotion dispensers eliminated individual plastic bottles and cleared up counter space. Bathroom fan worked well for steam. *Shower early! Had hot water in early eve, but only warm water by 8pm each night.
Heater was really old but worked surprisingly well! Nothing like some of these reliable relics - - feeling older each day and find myself agreeing with the saying, "they don't make things like they used to" at times like these! Simple dial for temp, but worked great and heated the entire room efficiently. Room had a ceiling fan, the light on it didn't work. Nice little patio/balcony and view.
Room also had other nice amenities akin to "hotel" rooms, such as cable tv, safe, hairdryer, fans, coffee maker, and a great perk for us was a mini fridge that was actually large enough to hold a gallon of milk! Was very convenient for storing leftovers, fresh veggies, fruit, and cheese that we packed for the day hikes.
**Important, make sure to have a flashlight or headlamp for the evenings/nights! It gets dark early in winter, and the lighting on some of the walkways is very minimal. One overcast night, the parking lot was completely dark. Could be dangerous in wet/icy conditions, so please walk slow and make sure you can see!
It was kind of a night scavenger hunt trying to find the signs via flashlight for the closest ice machine to Laurel, which ended up being in Hemlock.
Lobby and common areas were festively decorated for the holidays. And as others have mentioned, a lovely preview of Lower Yosemite Falls is visible from the parking lot and is a short walk to the actual falls.
Since we were concerned about parking, we opted to keep the car parked and did plenty of hikes from the lodge. Farthest we went was Mirror Lake; also visited Ahwahnee Hotel and Yosemite Village for info, museums and shopping. Easy walking and didn't feel that far, but shuttles are of course available as well.
All in all, some minor hitches, but would definitely stay here again.