Opening in 2001 as apart of a major Disneyland Resort expansion, with the opening of Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, Disney's California Adventure and Downtown Disney, Disney's Grand Californian Resort and Spa has the distinction of being the only Disney built, owned and operated hotel/resort in Disneyland Resort, as both PPH and DLH were built by other companies and originally ran by other companies as well. Also, this resort has its own entrance into Disney's California Adventure, as guests enter into and exit out of the Golden State area of the park. 
Many of the hotel's rooms and features are tributes to various Craftsman-era architects and designers. For instance, two of the Guest Suites, as well as the California Boardroom, pay homage to Frank Lloyd Wright; the Napa Rose restaurant features a rose motif in the glass design which was inspired by Charles Rennie MacKintosh. The Storytellers Cafe features a large tile mural that is a reproduction of an original design by the Gladding McBean Company for a Robin Hood Room in the Wilmington, Calif. public library
Designed by architect Peter Dominick of Urban Design Group Inc., it is based on the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 1900s. Despite the large scale of the hotel, the architecture still captures the key elements of the Craftsman style: wide sweeping roofs, projecting beams, exaggerated braces and colors that blend with nature. The exterior evokes the feel of National Park Service lodges of the Western United States. The interior design of the hotel also features the Craftsman motif, albeit on a larger scale. Many Craftsman homes have a garden theme. For the Grand Californian, the theme was taken from a garden idea and scaled up so that the garden became a forest. The reception hall is based on the interior of the Swedenborgian Church in San Francisco, increased in scale to accommodate the large reception desk. The central lobby is a living room done in immense scale with a massive fireplace and vast arching beams overhead, and furnished with comfortable chairs and sofas arranged around small coffee tables. The glowing nook in front of the fireplace features rocking chairs in which to enjoy the fire.
In response to a growing demand for guest accommodations in Anaheim, the Disneyland Resort announced on September 18 2007 an expansion of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa that will increase accommodations by more than 30 percent and will include the first Disney Vacation Club villas in Anaheim. The 2.5-acre expansion on the hotel's south side will add more than 200 new hotel rooms and 50 two-bedroom equivalent vacation villas. Those vacation villas, planned to include kitchens, living and dining areas and other home-like amenities, will mark the West Coast debut of Disney Vacation Club. The new expansion is known as The Villas at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, which opened last week on September 23, 2009. Other elements planned for the project include a rooftop deck for viewing fireworks, a new swimming pool and about 300 underground parking spaces. Peter Dominick, architect for Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa as well as Disney's Wilderness Lodge and Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is designed this ambitious expansion. There havent been many pins released for the Grand Californian, but the ones that have been released seem basically the same, the logo with the pine tree... Take a look for yourself...
That is it for today... Stay tuned for tomorrow, the beginning of Pin Trading Month, for the 10th Anniversary of Pin Trading... I promise even if you arent a pin trader, which i know many of you arent, you will like this... Stay tuned... And sorry for the delay of this post
Pics from Wikipedia.org and PinPics.com
This next piece of news is about a new "Pin Chaser" promotion...
Also previewed this week were a sneak peak of new Hidden Mickey Pins coming to WDW and DLR... These first pictured are of some of DLR's, and below that is a preview of WDW's... If anyone has any ideas on what the dove looking thing is please comment or email me i would love to know... These pics were from DisneyPins.com, but were taken off after 24 hours, so we are your only site to see these.
Finally in the Pin News, the color your own pin has been moved from being released in October 2010 to sometime in March 2010.
A "viral" marketing campaign by DisneyPins.com had more information released this week, after about 2 months of NO NEW NEWS, FindtheDeeBees.com has released more information.
From posters released on PDF (which are no longer avalible) it is said, in DeeBee language that more information will be ready on OCTOBER ONE. I think more info will be shared about these at the Pin Trading Night on that night at the Contemporary. Here are three new DeeBees.. Candee (top), Latee (middle), and Scaree (bottom).
Another addition to DL this year for Halloween is Space Mountian: Ghost Galaxy... 
Both items for DLR debuted to the public yesterday..
I hope you all enjoyed this WPN, please please please vote on our Blog Poll on What you are most looking forward too in the Fantasyland Expansion??? 
In 2006, the castle got a makeover and the outside of the castle was covered with construction equipment and getting ready to be painted.
Then later that year, the new castle was unveiled, to be a bit "browner" and have a tiny tiny "pink" tint..
The OLC likes to decorate its castle as well, but for all the major events like Christmas and Halloween as well, not just anniversarys.
They also decorated it for the 25th Anniversary last year. 
Now on to the pins, as with many of our Tokyo segments of any series, the Pins part is lacking because Tokyo has barely any pins..
A lot of times when Tokyo's Cinderella Castle is represented it has a mountain in the background to distinguish it from Magic Kingdom's. 
The classic view of Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle, circa 2005.
A pin released for the 20th Anniversary of Magic Kingdom...
Many castle pins featured have a silver or "metal" look to them..
A lot of Pins featuring the castle have the Partners Statue in it...
Tinkerbell is also featured a lot with the Castle...
A retro look to the castle, THIS IS NOT THE 25th ANNIVERSARY CASTLE
Another time the company decorated the castle was in 2005, for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary... It featured gold outlays over the castle, featuring many Disney characters and a giant changing mirror that featured pictures of the 5 castles around the world.
Many pins were made for this celebration featuring the castle.
In Winter 2006, the Disney Company decorated the castle with "Castle Dream Lights" which seem to give the castle an "icy" feeling
