Family sues Disneyland after getting attacked by bedbugs at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel

The AAA Four-Diamond-rated Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at the Disneyland Resort has a long
history of bed bug infestations with a total of 13 guest reports on BedBugRegistry.com since 2010
A Northern California family's 2014 trip to Disneyland turned into a nightmare after they were attacked by blood-sucking bedbugs in their hotel rooms during their family vacation at Disneyland's top-rated, luxury hotel, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, according to a lawsuit.

Bedbugs have a long history in many Disneyland area hotels, including all of
hotels in the Disneyland resort, according to BedBugRegistry.com
Joseph and Danielle Jones filed the civil action lawsuit in a Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday on behalf of themselves and their three daughters, ages 4, 9, and 16, instead of an Orange County Superior Court as Disney commonly directs its guests to do, because decisions and damages are usually much more favorable in Los Angeles County courts than the same venues in Disneyland's hometown of Orange County.

Lawyers for potential plaintiffs against Disneyland are getting much more wiser these days to file suit in the much more objective judicial venues of Los Angeles County because they've learned over the years that Disneyland has too much of a home field advantage among judges, whom Disney helps elect with campaign contributions and super PAC money, and Disneyland-friendly juries in their home territory of Orange County.


Plaintiffs are freely allowed to sue Disneyland without any restrictions in any court of law in Los Angeles County because Disney's corporate headquarters are located within the Los Angeles County limits in Burbank, California, and thus when you're suing Disneyland, you are really in fact suing the shareholders of the Walt Disney Company.

The hotel manager of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa,
Jackie Grass, told us privately that bedbug infestations are a
major problem at all three Disneyland hotels on resort property
The Joneses are seeking unspecified damages alleging battery, negligence, fraudulent concealment, nuisance, and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The suit alleges the hotel has a history of complaints by other guests about bedbug infestations, and according to The Bedbug Registry, this charge seems to be confirmed.

According to the Bedbug Registry, 11 complaints of bedbugs were reported by hotel guests from Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa since 2010.

By comparison, hotel guests reported 9 complaints of bedbugs at the Disneyland Hotel since 2011, and there were only 5 complaints at Disneyland's other lowered-tiered hotel, The Paradise Pier Hotel, since 2008.

When we talked to the hotel manager in charge of the Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, Jackie Ellis Grass of Signal Hill, a few weeks ago, he confirmed to us in private that there was a significant problem with bedbugs at all the Disneyland hotels, but particularly with the Grand, since all the furnishings in the hotel are colored in dark earth tones, particularly in dark reds, which tend to conceal the bedbugs and their eggs.

The disgusting life-cycle of bedbugs
Grass said the problem was so bad that they have to now bring in a trained beagle every few days to sniff out the blood-sucking critters and their eggs, since it was so hard for the housekeeping staff to detect the parasites by sight.

Problems with the Grand's liberal use of dark earth tones and reds seems to
conceal similarly colored bedbugs in the furnishings, so a trained beagle is
being employed to sniff out the blood-sucking parasites since it's difficult to
see with the naked eye
Grass also reports that scabies, chiggers, mites, fleas and ticks are also a problem at the Disneyland hotels, but it is bedbugs getting all the headlines in the news.

Part of the problem, Grass admits, was a hotel policy allowing pets inside the rooms which may be contributing to bringing in all kinds of parasites into the hotel.

He also reported to us that the Grand planned on renovating all its rooms in the near future, as management felt the decor at the Grand was becoming very old, dated, and dark compared to the contemporary furnishings and decor inside the Disneyland Hotel and the Paradise Pier Hotel.

Both the Grand Californian Hotel and The Disneyland Hotel are rated four-diamond by AAA, which is the second highest rating they have for hotels. The Paradise Pier Hotel received a three-diamond rating from the same Automotive Club of America.


The Joneses drove more than 350 miles to Disneyland from their home in San Leandro, California back in August of 2014 to enjoy "a magical Disney summer," but problems arose after their 9-year-old daughter began complaining of painful bites on her face on day one. By the next day, the entire family had insect bites covered all over their bodies according to the suit.

Top Disneyland officials have confirmed they are using trained beagles to sniff
out the dirty and disgusting blood-sucking bedbugs and other parasites at all of
the Disneyland hotels since the problem of bedbugs is getting out of hand
The Joneses complained to the front desk staff about getting bitten, but employees referred the family to the hotel's housekeeping department.

"The housekeeping manager suggested the family's bites were probably mosquito bites, dismissing their concerns that they could have been bed bugs,'' the suit states.

However, when we were given a tour of the Grand's housekeeping staff conference room in the basement over a year ago, we noticed a large bulletin board notifying housekeeping staff on how to identify a bedbug infestation inside a room. Thus, it seems the housekeeping staff is fully aware of the problem for more than a year.

After returning home, the Jones family had to throw out all their clothing and luggage that were exposed to the bedbugs at the Grand. According to the suit, their youngest daughter suffered permanent scarring from the incident.


Bedbugs are becoming a much bigger problem in Anaheim's Resort District in recent years. According to the BedBugRegistry.com back in 2013, 52 Anaheim-area hotels and motels were reported to have bedbug infestations. 

More and more plaintiffs are learning to sue Disneyland in L.A. County Courts where decisions are more objective, 
despite Disneyland officials directing guests to sue only in Orange County Courts as shown above
By comparison, the number of reported hotel and motel infestations in other Orange County cities during the same period was at most five. In all of Los Angeles, hotels and motels only received 85 complaints on the registry, so there's something about Anaheim that makes it a bedbug magnet.

What that is, we just don't know at this point.


Sources: 

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