We have stayed at all 3 and have 2 girls 8 and under. We love the Premium View rooms at Paradise Pier. You look right into DCA and the view is amazing and exciting!!! Rooms are also on the large side and I always appreciate the extra space. Rooms are decorated with bright beach colors and have a fun vibe. The lobby area is very underwhelming and there isn't really a place to hang out in the lobby. We've never used the pool here but I've heard it isn't as nice as at DH or GCH. Elevators are slow and can be a pain. The character breakfast here had good food and my girls had a lot of fun dancing with the characters.
The
Disneyland Hotel is probably our favorite out of the 3 hotels. The grounds are beautiful. Very tropical, you definitely get that vacation feel. The room we had was quite large (although our friends had a much smaller one). The light-up headboard is really special and our girls love this. The pools here are definitely our girls favorite. They love the waterslides! I was by myself with both my girls a couple of years ago and found the monorail an easy and quick way to get to Disneyland and back.
We had a very underwhelming experience at GCH. One thing after another went wrong. It started with the pool having maintenance and enjoying the sound of a jack hammer every time we came into or left our hotel room. Also, the first night, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night and we had to evacuate to Downtown Disney for about an hour. With 2 tired and very cold kids this wasn't the way to start our trip! Several other things went wrong over the course of our 4 day stay but it ended with the hotel doing remodeling work in the room RIGHT next to ours. For 3 hours before we left there were very LOUD construction noises in our room. When the bellman came up to get our bags he was in shock and couldn't believe how loud it was and that it had been going on for hours. After really splurging on the GCH it was A total disappointment. The location, of course, is great. We also had a great room in the location we wanted with a view into GCH and a balcony. Rooms are small though (we really like a big room!). In the end though, our stay was not worth the price we paid. Not even close. I feel our experience is probably not the typical or average experience. I'm guessing the average stay is quite nice.
I like to stay on-site for the pools (if I'm going when we can use them) or if we are going during a busy time of year (to take advantage of EMH). If it is a slow time at Disneyland we usually stay off of Harbour somewhere within walking distance (we like the Fairfield Inn).
If you aren't set on staying at a Disney Hotel, check out the new Courtyard Downtown Anaheim. It will be opening up this summer and will have a great pool area with waterslides and very walkable!
