Disneyland hotels, is the extra money worth the novelty value?

[teatime]

We are travelling from Australia for a shortish trip in November, MY dream (LOL) is to stay at one of the Disney hotels, Disneyland hotel, what i'm wanting to know is, is it worth the extra money?
Compared to say Fairfeild Inn or Hojo's, what are the benefits of a Disneyland Hotel besides the novelty of staying at a Disney Hotels?
It is a bit more exxy so is it worth it? Beds better? Cleaner Hotel?
or am I an idiot for even considering spending the extra?
I am considering 3 nights at another Aneheim Hotel and then 4 nights at a Disney hotel?
Should I just save the money for more shopping and stay at Hojo or Fairfield inn?? LOL

is it worth the extra money ? no, The fairfield in and hojo's is pretty darn nice and way less. Save you money and shop til you drop. go to either hojo and or fairfield, or any of the hotels on harbor. there just as nice in my opinion

 

[Tovin]

I have been to Disneyland on day trips hundreds of times, but won a trip from a convention I went to and decided to stay at DLH - on site, original "Disney" feel, gorgeous grounds...and was dreadfully disappointed.

It was a fairly long walk from the parking lot to our room, and while Goofy being around for checking in was awesome, it didn't make up for the expense of what we would have paid. Kids ran up and down the hall at 5am, we didn't eat at any of the restaurants so no biggie there, we don't drink coffee so again no perk. We enjoyed the grounds - but could have done that without staying there.

The rooms were not as "Disney" as I was expecting, though we stayed in one of the main towers, not one of the newer ones. Other than Mickey hands holding the lighting fixtures, the Columbia boat picture, and the character wallpaper nothing screamed "I'm staying on property".

Personally, I'd rather stay across the street (less expensive, less walking, and overall better perks), having tried staying on property once.

But as always - if it's your dream to do something. DO IT! You'll never know if you'll be happy with it until you try!

T

 

[jacs1234]

I feel the same way as you and we're also Aussies going in November and we're staying at HOJO's. I want to stay at an on site hotel at least once.
this trip is such a rush trip to take advantage of the cheap airflights so we're going to save up again for maybe 5 years down the track and do the Disney hotels then I would love to do it though. Just for those little things.

 

[becpee]

I feel the same way as you and we're also Aussies going in November and we're staying at HOJO's. I want to stay at an on site hotel at least once.
this trip is such a rush trip to take advantage of the cheap airflights so we're going to save up again for maybe 5 years down the track and do the Disney hotels then I would love to do it though. Just for those little things.

I just saw your other post, I think we're going to be in Anaheim at the same time, might catch you there

I'm so undecided, i'm thinking I might pay the difference myself of whatever it would be from staying at Fairfield, but i'm just not sure

 

[tvguy]

To be perfectly honest....I don't have much say in the matter, my wife insists on staying at a Disney hotel. I have managed to talk her into non-Disney hotels 3 times, out of about 15 trips we've made, and trust me, it's less painful to PAY the Disney price than list to the complaining about the non-Disney hotels.

 

[becpee]

To be perfectly honest....I don't have much say in the matter, my wife insists on staying at a Disney hotel. I have managed to talk her into non-Disney hotels 3 times, out of about 15 trips we've made, and trust me, it's less painful to PAY the Disney price than list to the complaining about the non-Disney hotels.

LOL

My DH may agree with this by the time i'm done

 

[grumpyskirtgirl]

To be perfectly honest....I don't have much say in the matter, my wife insists on staying at a Disney hotel. I have managed to talk her into non-Disney hotels 3 times, out of about 15 trips we've made, and trust me, it's less painful to PAY the Disney price than list to the complaining about the non-Disney hotels.

Ummmm yeah, my husband could of written this.

 

[PHXscuba]

See, in our family it's DH that is the "hotel snob." He stayed at DLH one time as a child when his family had some per-diem during a move and has always wanted to stay there again. So this trip there was really no discussion. If it were just me and I was doing all of the planning, we'd probably be at HOJOs in a kids suite and have a little money left over. But DH is so patient with me and my Disney desires, that I can't deny him the one thing he asked for.

PHXscuba

 

[avalon451]

We stayed at GCH the first time. Wow, was that wonderful. I'd do it that way every time if we could afford it.

Stayed at HoJo the second time. That was wonderful, too, and for the price that is the only way I'd go, from now on.

However, because you are coming so far for your DREAM trip, I think you should go for DLH if you can afford it.

The big issue I'm wondering in your case is: will you take advantage of the Magic Mornings when you stay at DLH? Because since you'll be there for 7 days, that would make it so worth it. But, if your family just can't get out of bed for those early mornings, it's not worth it. I'm a firm believer in getting there early and touring with a purpose a la Hydroguy's tips, but if you aren't going to take advantage of those early mornings, you don't need to stay at a Disney hotel to get them.

Either way you go, I hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you have 7 nights, I would say that splitting it up would be a great way to do things.

I'm of so many minds on the subject that it's had to get ahold of it all! I seem to have complicated algorithms that I go through for EVERY stay, to see what would be best and more right for each time we go.

But...just like if I were going to Australia I might splurge if I could...maybe you should go with your dream. Even if only for half of the trip.

If you do split it, be sure to time the onsite stay so you can get as many Magic MOrnings as possible! It's on the T and S days, so if you stay over a weekend you could get both S days at least. If you were move from your other hotel early-early on an MM day to check in, even if you don't get a room assigned, you can have them hold your luggage and get over to MM.

On our first trip that was longer than a day, we started with 3 or 4 nights at PPH. Then we moved to HoJo (before the water play area was made), and we liked HoJo more. But...we were walking the wrong way, and that caused a MUCH longer walk than you should have.

For me, the walk from DLH, and from PPH if you follow their signs instead of dis instructions, is so dreadfully long for two reasons. One, it's loopy instead of straight (I hate that). Two, it's nothing more than a mall to me. And I despise malls....hate 'em! Two-A, my son and husband looooooove malls, and love to shop! They hate to window-shop; if they see, they want to buy, and if big evil mean princess Molly says "no money to get that!" they pout. Two-A is a big bad one for me. So you can see...anything that takes me into DownTown Disney (despite the fact that Haagen Dasz sells Peets coffee iced lattes) is generally negative for me.

That said, and despite the fact that our pixie dust wallpaper did NOT glow, DLH was quite nice, and PPH is fun! Once DS got over his disappointment that he was too young and too bad of a swimmer to go down the big slide, and that the pirate ship is just for show, he liked the pool and I liked watching him. PPH has been fun for us (though it was where DS and I were when I saw the news about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, so it might be tinged with sadness for awhile for me).

But it has to be a serious value to MY pocketbook...not to yours or someone else's, only mine...to stay there. We only stayed at DLH, and on that stay we did the whole concierge thing as well, because we used "bonus" points with our brand new DVC purchase. Until a few days before our trip, our room was valued at over $400 per night, and I don't thikn I could even do that at the fanciest hotel in NYC....and definitely not at Disney. That said, someone else with a different bank account and different values would be fine with it. My SIL paid for a night at PPH during a recent visit we made to her and my brother, and when I told her that I'd stay at PPH at $x instead of the hoped-for GCH, since GCH only had a suite that was over 1000 bucks for ONE night...all she said was "I'm glad you didn't choose the suite". But she didn't tell me to NOT choose the suite...and as long as her nephew enjoyed it she would have felt it money well spent, but she was glad I didn't do that. Different value-for-money brains.

We are paying the difference this time so that we can enjoy the Neverland Pool one time.

Plus, I have never been at a hotel that uses a monorail.

Just making sure (and if we've talked about it before forgive me, I almost never remember who asked what...I once answered my friend on here, on another board, without even LOOKING at her username there, and felt quite silly when she knew who I was! silly me!) you know....

There are limits on who can use the big slide, including needing to be a swimmer.

And the monorail is actually in DownTown Disney...the hotel used to be built up to the monorail station, but they took all that away when they built DTD, and now it's beyond Rainforest Cafe and ESPN Zone. It's not right from the resort. And since it only goes from there to Tomorrowland, you'll need to time your breaks so that you're naturally in Tomorrowland, or there's a lot of extra walking.

 

[Anater]

Hey there fellow Aussie! We originally made reservations for Hojos for our December trip, then decided to stay at the DLH because we got a really good rate. It is still twice what we would be paying at Hojos but since we won't be returning to Disneyland for at least a few years we are splurging. I've since found Expedia rates for $100 per night at PPH, and I seriously considered changing to PPH for our dates since we can stay for four nights for the price of two at the DLH. But then we would have to buy three or four day hoppers instead of two, and additional $$ eating out (snowball, anyone?). Anyways, in our case it was the mindset of not making another trip to DL for several years that really sealed the deal for us. I remember staying at the DLH when I was a kid and watching the water and light show from our window, and walking the grounds and how beautiful it was. It was back when they had the monorail connected to the hotel. I'm thrilled to be able to stay at DLH for sentimental reasons. But, the hotels on Harbor are fine as well. We stayed at BWPPI in 2003 and had a great trip. While walking around DTD I thought how nice it would be to stay onsite, but it's not like I pined for it. Once we were in the parks I didn't give it a second thought. I do agree with others, if your budget will allow it, then go for it!

 

[Caseystigger]

My favorite is GCH. It is right in the middle of everything and the little extras like bed turn down, the chocolates on the pillows, the room decorations for my BFF & her BH for their 15 wedding anniversary were amazing. We won't stay anywhere else after that awesome trip. The proximity to everything is unbeatable. You feel pampered its wonderful.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

We've stayed on site twice, 1 night each time ~ mostly for the MM (we are AP holders) PP this past Dec. and DLH in March. Both times we started our stay off site and had our last night be on site. Next month will be our 1st night at the GCH, just one night again. The day we check in we won't even go to the parks ~ we'll enjoy the resort, have a character meal (in one of the hotels) and enjoy the pool. After our MM the next day we'll check out and head over to the Anaheim Plaza (for now ~ hoping to switch to HoJo's if ent. rate is available) for our last 2 nights. I wouldn't want to spend the $$ on more than 1 night ~ all we do is sleep in our hotel. If we had access to a MM I really wouldn't consider staying on site.

 

[tinkcc99]

We have stayed on site the last 2 times we have gone to DL. We love on site for the fact it feels like you have never left the park. This last time we stayed at PPH with park view. That was awesome! We spent quite a bit of time in front of the window watching the park. It was even entertaining for our DS4. He also greeted the statue Goofy each time we entered the hotel, pointed out all the Disney Mickey's he found etc. Even had a great time filling and dumping his Disney themed shampoo bottles. He also enjoyed the slide (can't swim yet so I figured this was the best hotel for him).