Disneyland Hotel, CA

[Meemoo]

The more I look at the new rooms at DL Hotel, the more I want to stay there as part of our next trip! The nightly rate is sky high now, I have seen it $600 - $700 AUD per night, the best I have seen is $547. Where do you look to score a good rate for DL Hotel as I have seen most promotions on the travel sites exclude the onsite Disney hotels. Is it as spectacular as the pictures look?

 

[DVCAustralia]

Not sure about them.

However if you want to stay onsite I strongly recommend Grand Californian villas through a DVC rental.
The price for a studio villa is significantly less than the retail cost of an onsite hotel room and the location is even better.

 

[Meemoo]

That is the plan but I am worried we might not get a room - will know soon, they are still available and my 7 month window will open in a matter of days! To be honest though if I could rent a room at DL Hotel for the same amount of points I'd go with that, I think the ambiance is more fun looking for the kids!

 

[Babysaurs]

How does dvc rental work please?

 

[becpee]

lastminutetravel.com have DLH based on today's exchange rate for about $465, it's a mystery booking 4* Disneyland area/Anaheim hotel (but with photo's).
It may save you a little bit??

 

[aussietravellers]

The better prices for DLH come out closer to the travel time. I have had a premium view room for under $300 a night (I did have an AP discount though) but still without the AP discount if wasn't much over $300 a night and a std room was cheaper.

 

[Lionsy]

We stayed at the DLH and I actually don't think the cost is justified. It's a nice hotel, but not a $500-700 nice hotel. Yes, you will probably see Goofy on the lobby, and you get the magic morning thing, and you get a personalised room key with Disney characters, and you get Disney embellishments into the room.

Here are what we found to be negatives:

1) Price is exorbitant
2) You will probably not be able to get a late check out. We asked on the day we arrived, and were told to call first thing in the morning on our departure day. Our flight out was at 2220, and it was 35 degrees (!), so it would have been nice to have popped back to the room for a shower etc. Called first thing in the morning, and was told "we're not doing late checkouts today, your check out time is 11am, have a magical day". Do we ended up going into the parks, lugging all the stuff (cameras, tablets, etc) that we were not prepared to leave at the desk or in our rental car, and it was hot and heavy! Sweated like pigs before getting on the plane which wasn't pleasant.
3) The pool is always packed, and you will find it very hard to find a place to sit / put your stuff
4) The guest laundry (which isn't free), is located away from the accommodation towers. Its not a long walk, but it does mean your lugging your dirty laundry in public and its a hassle to check whether they're finished or not.
5) Parking is $17 per day

If you were to say, compare DLH to the Candy Cane Inn, you would save about $300-400 per night, which is a lot of churros, a nice meal at Rainforest Cafe, lots of Mickey toys, etc.

 

[Lewdannie]

I have an opposite opinion to Lionsy. We never asked for late check-out, but they will safely store your bags and you can still have a swim after check-out. Never had an issue finding a chair at the pool either. My wife never complained about the laundry (she just sat by the pool and had a cocktail) and we rented a car when we checked out.

The Disneyland Hotel is one of my favourite places in the world and we are looking forward to our 3rd stay in 4 years.

Sure, it's expensive but once you are home you will be left with magical memories. I always share this link with folk thinking about staying onsite. For me I think reasons 1 and 10 are the most important, but YMMV.

http://blog.touringplans.com/2013/03/15/10-reasons-to-stay-onsite-at-disneyland/

 

[Lionsy]

I have an opposite opinion to Lionsy. We never asked for late check-out, but they will safely store your bags and you can still have a swim after check-out. Never had an issue finding a chair at the pool either. My wife never complained about the laundry (she just sat by the pool and had a cocktail) and we rented a car when we checked out.

The Disneyland Hotel is one of my favourite places in the world and we are looking forward to our 3rd stay in 4 years.

Sure, it's expensive but once you are home you will be left with magical memories. I always share this link with folk thinking about staying onsite. For me I think reasons 1 and 10 are the most important, but YMMV.

http://blog.touringplans.com/2013/03/15/10-reasons-to-stay-onsite-at-disneyland/

That's all true (in terms of the fact that DLH is truly "Disney"), but it would have been nice to have had a late check-out after a morning in the parks in 94 degree heat- we could have had a shower before making our way to the airport for the 15 hour flight home. Storing the bags was not the problem (we put them in our rental car). Candy Cane Inn was happy to give us a 2:30pm check-out when we stayed there, for less than half the price. It just wasn't as critical then because we weren't leaving the country that day.