Dilemma.. Need help!

[IAmMonstro]

I'm going to up Disneyland next week and we're trying to figure out what we're going to do.

It's me (21), my sister (15), and my mother.

We're driving up Thursday night 3/14 from San Diego at about 5pm and staying the night. My mom and sister only have a 1day non park hopper so we've agreed to go to Disneyland on Friday.

Here's the problem:
We can either stay the night 3/14 at Disneyland Hotel and drive home 3/15.
OR
We can stay two nights at Candy Cane Inn 3/14 and 3/15 and do a character breakfast on Saturday before we drive back home.

I kind of want to just stay at Disneyland Hotel, because this will probably be my only opportunity to stay at an onsite hotel. Let's face it-- San Diego is 1hr 30min-2hrs aways... not worth staying the night. I'm also the only Disney freak of the family, so I feel like I'd be the only one to even interact with the characters at the breakfast anyways.

What do you all think? What would you choose?

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm from San Diego too, and while I usually go up just for day trips, I occasionally will book a hotel on Harbor so I can check out the night entertainment without worrying about falling asleep on the drive home.

In your case, I don't think it's worth the expense of staying at DLH. You said you'll be leaving San Diego at 5:00 PM on a Thursday? Be prepared to encounter some rush hour traffic. You'd be lucky to get to the hotel at 7:00 PM at the earliest. Then, since you only have one day at the parks, you'll probably want to get there right at opening, and since you have to check out of the hotel by 11:00 AM (but probably would just check out in the morning when you leave for the parks for convenience sake), you're really only spending a few hours in the hotel - not worth it in my opinion.

If the price is the same, I would drive up Thursday, stay at Candy Cane Inn and check out Downtown Disney Thursday night, then hit the parks early on Friday morning and stay until closing to catch the nighttime entertainment. Then I would stay Friday night at CCI also and drive back Saturday morning.

 

[abbie13_15]

If it were me, I would go for the 2 nights at Candy Cane Inn plus the character breakfast. The disney hotel is going through lots of construction at the moment...just my thoughts. Maybe staying there at a later date.

 

[Mama Who]

I was not impressed by the DH. Granted, I stayed there years ago, but honestly, there's only so much "wow" you can pack into a hotel room. The best part was having the ability to sign for purchases in the park and have them delivered to our room.

 

[IAmMonstro]

Thanks you guys for your opinions! We're going with the 2 nights at CCI and the character breakfast. Thanks for your help!