3 Way Competition

[Tim-DownUnder]

I am planing a trip to the Disneyland resort from January 21st untill January 24th in 2006. I wanted to get your personal opinion on which Disney hotel is better. I am leaning towards Grand Californian but the Disneyland hotel looks nice. I think it is worth paying the extra money to be closer in the grand.

Please let me know what you think

Tim

 

[noryglory]

I was wondering this myself a couple of weeks ago when planning our trip. If you do some searching in the recent pages of posts or even do an advanced search about each hotel you'll find lots of comments about both hotels and it should help you a lot.

We orginally were going to "go big" and do GCH, but after reading these helpful posts, I think it comes down to what you are looking for, versus which is "better." Ultimately we chose the DLH, but are going big there and doing the conciege level to get the most out of it, because we're going with our five-year-old and it sounds more like a kid and Disneyesque hotel than the GCH, which is more traditional and beautiful and nice, etc etc etc. Plus we're always of the mindset of going at the highest level possible in the category of hotel we can afford versus getting the worst room at the best place...(our concierge level room at DLH is cheaper than the basic view room we could have got for a comparable price at GCH!)

Outside of the style, each hotel has different pros and cons: room size, access to the parks esp DCA, location in general within the resort, pools, age of the hotel, I could go on from what I've read...I'm sure some folks will still write into your message and give you their thots but in the meantime check out what's already available to you, it sure helped me!

Good luck deciding, that's part of the fun!

Good luck!

 

[mousepartygrl]

My preference is GCH. If I ask my kids where they want to stay they would say GCH. My husband and I liked the convenience of being right there.

 

[LucyKate]

Tim - another Australian here.

Four quick points:
- Neither the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier is actually on site - both require a short walk or shuttle to get to the parks. Grand Californian has a direct entrance to California Adventure park, but is 5-10 minutes from Disneyland itself.

- Grand Californian is probably the best hotel in Anaheim, It's a superb place but also very, very expensive. You will pay 2-3 times more to stay there rather than the Disneyland Hotel

- If you do choose to stay there book direct with Disney - DO NOT go through an Australian travel agent as they use a basic price guide which will cost you much, much more than if you book direct with Disney through their website. That time of year is not very busy, so you should be able to get a good deal booking direct.

- You don't have to stay at a Disney hotel. On the streets surrounding Disneyland are dozens of hotels that are a similar distance from the parks (and in some cases much closer) than the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier. We stayed at the Howard Johnson for $A600 for 5 nights in a Disney view room and loved it - it was only 10 minutes walk. Candy Cane Inn is also highly recommended here and another short walk. Again, as this is low season, book direct with the hotels through their websites.

Check out our trip diary and please contact me if there's anything further you wish to know.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I agree with our other posters that there is no "right" answer.......it is all about your personal priorities and tastes. Try describing to us what you want out of the place you stay ( quickest walk, most value, most disney, most themed but not disney, best value but not a motel) and we can give it our best shot !