Disneyland Hotel vs Courtyard Marriott Anaheim Theme Park Entrance

[kristensideaoffun]

If you are used to the bubble that is staying onsite at WDW, you may want to consider staying onsite if this is going to be a rare trip to Disneyland. We are WDW veterans, and we just moved to Southern California in June. We did our first trip to Disneyland in June, and we stayed at a motel on Harbor. It was shocking to this WDW on site girl how different it felt with all the homeless people, the guy with the parrot, the people sleeping in the bus stops. We stayed at the DLH in October, and I loved it. However, I have adjusted my expectations, because we come up from San Diego monthly, and we just can’t drop $400 plus per night that frequently. However, if we were rich, I’d never stay offsite. It would be the GCH or DLH all the way.
That being said, the walk from the Courtyard Marriott is nicer than walking from the Katella direction. We stayed at Hotel Indigo on Katella once, and I really disliked the walk. Homeless people literally everywhere and people handing out leaflets etc. It is just so different from staying onsite!

Fellow San Diegan here... I feel you! We love DLH but can’t stay there every time we go up there (Flex Pass APs). If we could, we would. We stick to the Courtyard Marriott or the Residence Inn by the Convention Center for our non-DLH stays. When we stay at RI, we walk through the GC and call a Lyft from the GC pick-up area to take us back to RI. On the way to the parks in the morning, there doesn’t seem to be much of a homeless presence (if any). I am looking forward to the new Westin! We stayed a couple times at Hotel Anabelle before it was knocked down for the Westin. It wasn’t a terrible walk. Definitely longer than walking from RI, but you are wrapped in the Disney bubble as soon you cross Katella and it doesn’t feel as long.

 

[Aurora0427]

Fellow San Diegan here... I feel you! We love DLH but can’t stay there every time we go up there (Flex Pass APs). If we could, we would. We stick to the Courtyard Marriott or the Residence Inn by the Convention Center for our non-DLH stays. When we stay at RI, we walk through the GC and call a Lyft from the GC pick-up area to take us back to RI. On the way to the parks in the morning, there doesn’t seem to be much of a homeless presence (if any). I am looking forward to the new Westin! We stayed a couple times at Hotel Anabelle before it was knocked down for the Westin. It wasn’t a terrible walk. Definitely longer than walking from RI, but you are wrapped in the Disney bubble as soon you cross Katella and it doesn’t feel as long.

Hi neighbor!!!!! Ha!

We are really looking forward to the Westin opening, and I’m really hoping their pool is nice. We may look a taking Lyft/Uber to the parks from there and the tip about taking one from the GCH is excellent! The RI looks very nice. We “slum it” at the Park View Inn usually because it’s so close. It’s honestly been fine. The Courtyard Marriott is on our list to try.

 

[TikiRob]

Torn between saving the money and doing Marriott vs Doing it right at DL Hotel. Considerable price difference. My BF is paying for the trip but is the DL Resort worth it?

In full disclosure I am a WDW ONSITE girl all the way as I don’t like leaving the Magic. I would never stay offsite. I’d stay in a moderate or deluxe. Love the service but I’m not sure if that’s as important at Disneyland.

We could probably stay 4 nights as opposed to 3 if we do the Marriott.

Help!

I know the struggle! We currently have 5 nights at BWPPI and the same 5 nights at DLH for our March trip. We can’t seem to make a decision. It is $1200 vs $2700 (with the 25% promo!). Our heads are certainly saying BWPPI, but our hearts are saying DLH. This is our first trip to DLR and likely last for awhile.

If it was the difference of an extra day, I’d definitely choose that over onsite.

 

[Sunclytie]

The Courtyard Marriott is a great hotel.The rooms are clean and spacious, the pool area is nice, and the staff are really friendly. The walk to Disneyland is 10 minutes at the most. Save the money, get Maxpass, and enjoy a Blue Bayou meal or a dessert party.

 

[AndrewC]

I never seem to find great deals at the "big name" close offsite hotels (Courtyard Marriott on Harbor etc). I'm seeing ~$350 in October and I'm pretty sure DLH had promo's that were down to like $375 last October. Right now it's about $800 difference for 5 nights in October and that's probably worth picking a cheaper location (though PPH is essentially the same price as Courtyard!) but if Disney has even a 10% promo that brings it within about $500 of the Courtyard and that seems worth the extra cost to me.

The security down on the DLH side of DTD is usually very fast (within 5 minutes in the morning and usually no line later in the day) and DTD is very nice to walk down at 11pm or midnight. There's no traffic to cross, it's well lit and no homeless or anything.

I guess this is why I always end up at the DLH. If offsite name brand got down to low to mid $200s maybe that would make a strong case to stay offsite...