Benefits of staying on site?

[corinne76]

Last year we stayed across the street and Desert Inn I think it was. About $100/night with continental breakfast sold it for me.

I'd love the experience of staying in a Disney hotel, but I'm wondering what the benefits are. Are they worth the added expense?

For the record, we get up, eat, head to the park and come back somewhere around 9-10pm ish. We don't spend a ton of time in the room or have a lot of down time. Especially if we go in Oct 2015 as opposed to June 2015. DD will only have one week off of school in Oct so we're only going to be in California 8 days and have something planned for each day

 

[whoever]

Worth it is subjective. Staying at the Grand for example at 4-5 times what you paid for Desert Inn is "worth it" for us. EMH, balconies, pretty much INSIDE DCA, the beautiful lobby, convenience (send your purchases to your room vs. carrying them around the park with you), views, ease of parking/arrival/departure. For most, probably not, but the hotel is pretty much sold out year-round so must be for quite a few.

 

[Amilo]

For me, early entry every day is a big plus. I'm planning to take advantages of a number of the onsite amenities such as the early am power walk through California adventure, and the ability to go back to my room mid day for a rest. It doesn't sound like many of the on site amenities would be useful to you, with the exception of early entry

 

[corinne76]

wait, you get early entry everyday? That may make it worth it LOL.

And the convenience of sending purchases to the hotel is selling point as well

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

The main benefits of staying on-site at a Disney hotel are better/easier access to DtD and to the parks (via Extra Magic Hour, the entrance to DCA from GCH, and the monorail). Chargeback privileges are convenient as well (i.e. you can charge expenses in the parks back to your room and pay down a single folio when you check out.)

The tradeoff--and it's a big one if you're a fan of the Good Neighbor hotels and especially if you won't have a car--is you won't have easy access to budget strategies like the Harbor Blvd. McDonald's, 7-Eleven, easy food delivery, etc. You're stuck in the expensive Disney bubble for both better and worse.

 

[dnamertz]

And the convenience of sending purchases to the hotel is selling point as well

I believe you can do something similar even if not staying on-site. You can't have purchases sent to your room, but about 10 years ago we were able to have our purchases sent to the front of the park (on of those little gift stands right near the tunnel that goes under the train tracks as you are exiting Disneyland). We were able to pick up our purchases on the way out of the park. I don't know if they still do this.

 

[HappiestHaunt]

I believe you can do something similar even if not staying on-site. You can't have purchases sent to your room, but about 10 years ago we were able to have our purchases sent to the front of the park (on of those little gift stands right near the tunnel that goes under the train tracks as you are exiting Disneyland). We were able to pick up our purchases on the way out of the park. I don't know if they still do this.

Hmm, they were still doing this in October of last year, as we were offered that and turned it down. Maybe someone else can chime in that has been there since.

 

[Amilo]

wait, you get early entry everyday? That may make it worth it LOL.

And the convenience of sending purchases to the hotel is selling point as well

Yes, though which park you get Early Entry to alternates (DCA one day, DL the next, then DCA, and so on). I forgot about sending the purchases to the hotel. That's another big motivation for me.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Hmm, they were still doing this in October of last year, as we were offered that and turned it down. Maybe someone else can chime in that has been there since.

I can summarize the changes for on- and off-site guests:

Ten years ago or so, Disney hotel guests could have purchases sent to their hotels to pick-up that evening. Off-site guests could have purchases sent to the front gate of both parks.

Currently, Disney hotel guests can still have purchases sent to their hotels, but they can't pick them up until the following morning. Off-site guests can't have their purchases sent anywhere anymore. But they can carry their purchases on their own and check them to come back and pick up later at three locations in DL (Star Trader, Pioneer Mercantile, and the Newsstand) and one location in DCA (Elias & Co.)

See:

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/faq/parks/checking-services/

 

[rentayenta]

Like others have said worth is subjective but here's my story.


We spend so much time at the Disneyland Resort when staying on site because its amazing. We have stayed offsite and toured the same as you describe OP, rope drop until close with little to no hotel time but its because the hotels weren't anything special. Once we started staying onsite, the hotel became part of the vacation and not just a place to lay our head. Aside from EMH/MM the hotels have great dining, amenities, and service. You get to stay in the Disney bubble and that's something we totally enjoy. We now make sure to have a full resort day and always sneak away for a little pool time and after dinner drink at the Hearthstone Lounge on our park days. Nothing beats having a nice glass of wine post busy park day and then being able to take the elevator upstairs to our room/villa.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Last year we stayed across the street and Desert Inn I think it was. About $100/night with continental breakfast sold it for me.

I'd love the experience of staying in a Disney hotel, but I'm wondering what the benefits are. Are they worth the added expense?

For the record, we get up, eat, head to the park and come back somewhere around 9-10pm ish. We don't spend a ton of time in the room or have a lot of down time. Especially if we go in Oct 2015 as opposed to June 2015. DD will only have one week off of school in Oct so we're only going to be in California 8 days and have something planned for each day

The part I bolded makes me say that you may not want to spend the extra money because you won't take full advantage of being at DLH/GCH. BUT Are all 8 days to be spent at DL or are you going to different places each day? If you're going other places you may find yourself with extra time each day that you could spend relaxing at the pool. And the pool area at DLH is outstanding!

We only stay on site when we stay long enough that we are happy to spend 4-6 hours at the resort pools and not feel like we're missing out on park time. (We rarely swim at all at off site hotel pools on DL trips, and if we do it's a quick dip then back to the parks.)

EMH is great, but if you break it down, say, for a family of 4, and DLH costs $200 more a night than your Harbor Blvd motel choice, is it really worth $50 per person per day to get EMH? Not in October if the parks open at 10am: even the weariest family can drag themselves to the gate by 9am to make EMH!

I don't understand the lobby/grounds arguments because these are public areas and anyone may wander through. I also don't believe in the "Disney Bubble" [There was a recent thread on cats; the smell of cat droppings as I walk from DLH into Downtown Disney each morning definitely bursts my "bubble"! ]

 

[talentedmummy]

The early entry is what sold my husband on PPH. We live in the central time zone and our kids are early risers, so being able to have early entry every morning was great. We were up fed and waiting at the gates with time to spare.