Disneyland hotel?

[seadd67]

I just have a Question,i have been reading about the Disneyland Hotel and the nagtive reviews but It seem there nagtive due to how much your paying?. Would It be worth It If say It was the same as HOJO? just wondering.?

 

[goldies 5]

Most definetely. You are on site the pool is great, and you don't have to cross Harbor.

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

100% worth it....I love it..I am trying to decide if we upgrade to the GC!

 

[Judy from Boise]

yes, i think the problem with DLH is mainly a value problem....so the price is a huge determinate for me. If it was cheaper it would feel like a great choice.

 

[DizMe]

Yes, I think it depends on how much you pay. I usually pay $149/night for DLH and consider that well worth the money. Sure, I could pay less across the street, but it isn't the same and I don't mind paying the difference to stay onsite. Now if I had to fork over rack rate, I might be singing a different tune, but there always seem to be bargains out there if you look.

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

I usually pay $149/night for DLH and consider that well worth the money.

WOW..that is great! When I am going next the AP rate is 288!!!

 

[sonnyjane]

WOW..that is great! When I am going next the AP rate is 288!!!

Same! I wish my travel dates were more flexible, there are some really great AP deals for January and February ($139-149), but I can't stay until late March when, as you said, it's $288.

 

[bumbershoot]

Are you wondering if the more someone pays for the DLH, the less they seem to like it? IT's possible.

There's a pretty big difference in normal price and special prices, and I definitely do NOT feel that the higher prices for the hotel are worth it.

The pool is pretty, but for little kids nearly useless. I mean yes, it's a body of water, but they can't go on the big slide, the little tiny slide is entirely UNthemed, and no one can even touch, let alone play on, the big visual draw for littles, the big pirate ship.

Of course the relative value will change as all the rooms are made over.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

The pool is pretty, but for little kids nearly useless. I mean yes, it's a body of water, but they can't go on the big slide,

can you clearify for me, is there a height or age requirement or swim test involved for the big slide or is it just that it empties into the deep end and you must be able to swim?

We tend to choose our hotels based on their pool. Last year we chose Hojo, for their pool as well as price.
we are going again this spring and I am continually looking for a good price for DLH, but if the pool/slide really are an issue then it would be a no go for us.

Thanks

 

[seadd67]

I think the value Is really in the person,for me the dream of staying there has been there since I was a kid. I have been there off and on and have always wated to stay there,but always where not able to(could not afford It) or just talk my self out of It. But after going to WDW and staying at the on site resorts and getting the on site experince I can never stay off site again even if its In DL.Thanks for the reviews of DLH its exactly what I wanted to hear.

 

[ColB]

Just stayed at the DLH in a newly renovated room. Totally worth it if you're into an entire 'disney' themed stay.

The GC doesn't do it for me ever since staying at the WL at WDW. IMO of course.

 

[sonnyjane]

I think the value Is really in the person,for me the dream of staying there has been there since I was a kid. I have been there off and on and have always wated to stay there,but always where not able to(could not afford It) or just talk my self out of It. But after going to WDW and staying at the on site resorts and getting the on site experince I can never stay off site again even if its In DL.Thanks for the reviews of DLH its exactly what I wanted to hear.

Right now, I'm not in a position to make any "splurge purchases", but if I was, I wouldn't hesitate to pay the extra money for a room at an on-site property. I'm the type of person that goes into a "splurge" purchase well aware of the fact that I am paying a lot of money, but that I'll be happy with the result. I never understood the people that book a fancy 7-course meal at a five-star restaurant, but then grumble about the bill, or even those that pay $72 for an entrance ticket to Disneyland, but then murmur under their breath about the $3.00 bottle of water. Why ruin the experience for yourself, or more importantly, all those around you? It will be more expensive than staying off-site, but you get magic morning perks, the benefit of being extremely close to the parks, and most importantly, those cute Mickey shampoo bottles if you stay at PPH or DLH lol! If you save up funds and go into the decision knowing that other places might be half the cost, but they don't have the "Disney Magic", then the price becomes less of an issue.

 

[disney4metoo]

Here is a picture of the newly renovated Disneyland Hotel rooms. All of the hotel's rooms have not been renovated yet.

 

[PrincessSitka]

Do they still have the pixie dust in the rooms

 

[cari12]

can you clearify for me, is there a height or age requirement or swim test involved for the big slide or is it just that it empties into the deep end and you must be able to swim?

We tend to choose our hotels based on their pool. Last year we chose Hojo, for their pool as well as price.
we are going again this spring and I am continually looking for a good price for DLH, but if the pool/slide really are an issue then it would be a no go for us.

Thanks

Apparently, the lifeguards may have your kids do a swim test for the bigger slide. Our DD6 and DS4 just went (we knew they could both swim) and althought the lifeguards were watching, they were never required to do a test as she could see they were fine. Near the big slide it is over their heads and there is a bit of a pull from the water coming off the slide and they have to get out of the way so they don't get hit by the next kid coming down. So they do need to have some basic swimming skills for this one.
There is a very small slide in the shallow end but not very exciting.
As for the comments about not being able to play on the pirate ship (it is just for decoration), my kids were only concerned about that for about a minute - they wanted to slide and slide!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Just stayed at the DLH in a newly renovated room. Totally worth it if you're into an entire 'disney' themed stay.

Really ! I think you are the first ! Please give us a report

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

Just stayed at the DLH in a newly renovated room. Totally worth it if you're into an entire 'disney' themed stay.

What room had you booked? Did you have to ask for one?

 

[vettegirl]

I have always wanted to stay at the DLH, thanks to the miltary rate of $139 a night that dream came true last night. I loved it, it was everything I thought it would be and I liked it some much that I would pay more for it if I had to. I like the lobby of the GCH, but the rooms at the DL hotel rocked. I can't wait to go back in a few years and stay in one of the new rooms. Have fun!

 

[bumbershoot]

...the benefit of being extremely close to the parks...

But that's the thing, for me. Even at GCH, depending on your room, you are NOT any closer to the parks than you would be, even, depending on room placement, if staying at HoJo. Trust me; we had one very very obnoxious room at GCH on our last trip. Not in the correct wing to easily and quickly use that special exit into DTD (the one near La Brea), and we had to walk the entire length of the wing to the elevators, then the entire length back, to get to the normal exit/entrance to DTD. Ob-nox-ious.

DLH is further away than Tropicana, and that's if you have a room closest to DTD.

And so on and so forth.

MMs are a great perk, I will give you that.

But even the package delivery, ugh...you still have to get it delivered to your room by Bell Services, or so I hear, b/c every time we TRIED to use package delivery, they were out of the forms they seemed to need to fill out for it. Told us to go to another store to have THEM do it. Since we were trying to get the delivery so that DS would forget about the purchases (this was when he was 3), leaving with the items and going to another store and waiting in line for those CMs would be extremely problematic (very much whining, from DS and DH, lol).

Apparently, the lifeguards may have your kids do a swim test for the bigger slide. Our DD6 and DS4 just went (we knew they could both swim) and althought the lifeguards were watching, they were never required to do a test as she could see they were fine. Near the big slide it is over their heads and there is a bit of a pull from the water coming off the slide and they have to get out of the way so they don't get hit by the next kid coming down. So they do need to have some basic swimming skills for this one.
There is a very small slide in the shallow end but not very exciting.
As for the comments about not being able to play on the pirate ship (it is just for decoration), my kids were only concerned about that for about a minute - they wanted to slide and slide!

Since my son can not yet swim well, and definitely needed and wanted the life vest, he could NOT go on the big slide, and the pirate ship bugged him for far longer. But I mention it b/c many people cite the great theming as being a reason for little kids to stay there...but you can't PLAY on it. Maybe my kid's totally weird, but something that's just for decoration means very little to him.

To the one who asked about the reqs...in FL, it seems kids can go on the big slides even if they are wearing the life vests, and parents can wait in the area to help their kids at the bottom. CA is different, so at DLR you cannot wear vests, and NO ONE can be in the area that the slide empties into...they have a lane marker set out to mark off the slide area, and the lifeguards were actively keeping anyone but the one that just slid out of that area, and the slider has to get OUT of the area immediately.

 

[DizMe]

I guess you just have to try it for yourself and see which kind of person you are. Some, like bumbershoot, don't mind the walk across the street and down Harbor. I know that she dislikes walking through DTD so that is no draw for someone with that same sentiment. I am one who much prefers DTD to Harbor and thinks that the walk seems way shorter because of it.

I have to agree about some of the rooms in GCH, though. The walk can be extremely annoying because the person who designed that hotel was insane . They have this gorgeous lobby and the most obnoxious layout ever. For some unknown reason, they stinted on the elevators so that the outlying wings have this huge trek even to get to the elevator banks. Then when you do get to the lobby from the elevators, there is a kind of rat maze to get out of the hotel. It's not bad if your room is close to the elevators, but on our first stay at GCH we had one of the rooms bumbershoot described and it was a royal pain. I really think the walk from our room was farther from the parks than a room at DLH, where the towers don't involve convoluted meanderings to get out and on your way.

We started taking all 3 of our youngest girls at age 4, and they all LOVED the pool at DLH. Not one even mentioned the pirate ship but they're all good swimmers (we have a pool at home) and could go down the slide without any problems. They like the pool at GCH but they prefer the one at DLH. They like the pirate cove at Hojo's but they get kind of bored with it after a little while because they want to swim and they're older (6 and 9). The problem is that the pool is not in the same place as the pirate play area so you can't do both at the same time. There are actually a couple of pools at DLH but my girls always want to stay in the themed one .

Hojo's is a good value. FFI is also nice (stayed there in Nov). BUT I would never pick a Harbor Blvd hotel if I could get a resort hotel at a good rate, which fortunately I can usually manage at the times I like to go. I will gladly pay $200 or so for DLH. We paid almost that much for a crappy motel room in Nowheresville on our trip down I5. I also paid $400+/night for GCH last month, but that was concierge and covered most of our food, plus was split 4 ways.

It really depends so much on the person...I totally get why others won't stay onsite and consider it a poor value, but I spend more time around the hotel than most people and I want more than a motel. I'm also older and have been the motel route already, and since I generally have the means to stay onsite, it isn't such an agonizing choice. The only reason I ever stay off site is to squeeze in more trips in a year