Disneyland Hotel

[ga9497]

We are staying at the DL hotel for the first time next week. I would love to hear all about it

What is your favorite tower,
how do you like the pool
restaurants
and anything else you can share with me.

Thanks

 

[daannzzz]

I have stayed 3 times at the DL hotel. I stayed in the Bonita Tower and the Sierra Tower. I like the Sierra Tower best because of the room layout. The rooms are big and have views of the pool or the theme parks / Downtown Disney. The bathrooms which have a seperate toilet room are a good size as well. The rooms in the Bonita Tower were large too and they had a bar area with a wet bar and fridge, but the bathroom was just average.
I have yet to swim in the newer Neverland pool as it was cold when I was there. When I visited on warm days it was way to crowded. There is a quiet "cove" pool in the back area that is decent.
I have enjoyed the breakfast character buffet at Goofies Kitchen and a very nice dinner and atmosphere at Hook's Pointe. Go ahead and walk over to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel for a nice Lunch or dinner at Story Tellers Cafe.

 

[Snurk71]

We also stayed in Sierra and loved it. We found out later (by seeing pictures posted here) that it does have bigger rooms than the other towers - just like the previous poster said. We did Goofy's dinner - it was OK, but we weren't crazy about it. It's pretty comparable to character dinner buffets at WDW, but I think it was quite a bit more expensive. We figured since it's the only dinner character meal at DL (I think this is still the case), that they must up the price due to that. I'd still recommend doing it, though, for the character interaction. We really liked the food at PCH Grill for Minnie's breakfast. Not as many characters, though, but great food. We also had dinner there (no characters) and really liked it. We did Hook's Pointe for breakfast - excellent.

We enjoyed the water show at the hotel. They also have waterfalls, koi fish, nice pools, shops...

This was our first trip, so we read a lot on the boards, read Birnbaum's, and visited the DL site. There were some great threads, so if you are able to do a search, that would probably give you even more info.

We had a great trip and absolutely loved the hotel.

Have a good time!

 

[ADisneyPrincess]

I've stayed in the Sierra and Marina towers. Sierra has bigger rooms, but the Marina rooms are amply sized for a party of 2-3.

Goofy's Kitchen has great character interaction, but it is pricey for dinner. I prefer to do breakfast or lunch. There's a coffee shop near Goofy's which has bagels, muffins, etc. which is handy for a quick breakfast.

There are two gift shops (one large, one small) in the Marina tower. I think there's also a small store near the pool that sells a few basic grocery items. It was closed when I went by so I'm not sure what they have.

The pool is fun. There's a large slide and a small one for little kids. It's a good sized pool and they have towels there for your use so you don't need to bring your room towels. There's also a good sized hot tub which can get packed.

 

[Snow Brite]

I like all the "hidden mickey's" in the room, as well as the map on the armoire. Look closely at the bathroom wallpaper and comforters on the beds.

The beds were very comfy, there is a free fridge included with the room in the armoire and the bathroom is really roomy.

And when you go to bed watch the wallpaper border around the top of the room....magic pixie sleeping dust!

The pool was awesome. My 7 year old DD loved it. It has a large slide that is fashioned from Skull Rock, a large pirate ship (sadly just for show) and a small slide for little ones. The pool is about 4' deep all over so it was great for small ones that wanted independence but needed the security of touching the bottom. The jacuzzi is Little Mermaid themed and was quite fun also but as mentioned above got crowded easily.

The lobby and public areas of the hotel have the most amazing pictures and historical items on the walls to look at. We spend a lot of time wandering around looking at it all.

We thought that Goofy's Kitchen had the best character interaction of any character meal we went to at DL or WDW. The restaurant is very similar in size and theme to Chef Mickeys at hte Contempory. But it is laid out much more thoughtfully, so that it is not like a cafeteria with talbles laid out in quadrants all right next to each other and the characters always in view (and therefore distracting to young eaters) but in a more flowing set up so that when the characters are in your area you can see them, but when they go to the next they are gone. They spent more time with us there than anywhere at WDW dining. And the food was wonderful.

Have fun! Tell us all about it when you get back....

Jennifer