DL Hotel Help

[stitchlover]

We have never gone to DL (only WDW) and are starting to plan our June '08 trip. We have received pricing for both Paradise Pier and Candy Cane Inn and are trying to make a decision on which ($416 difference). I would appreciate any comments from you DL vets and some help. I know somewhere I have seen a map showing the location of the 3 "on-site" hotels and the good neighbor hotels but I can't seem to find it. I am wondering how everything is spaced out. I appreciate the help and any advice you can give me. The CM at DL told me there really isn't any benefit to staying "on-site" not like at WDW with EMH, etc.

 

[DisDancerina]

We have never gone to DL (only WDW) and are starting to plan our June '08 trip. We have received pricing for both Paradise Pier and Candy Cane Inn and are trying to make a decision on which ($416 difference). I would appreciate any comments from you DL vets and some help. I know somewhere I have seen a map showing the location of the 3 "on-site" hotels and the good neighbor hotels but I can't seem to find it. I am wondering how everything is spaced out. I appreciate the help and any advice you can give me. The CM at DL told me there really isn't any benefit to staying "on-site" not like at WDW with EMH, etc.

Hate to tell you, The CM is pretty right. You do get the Special Stuff Though

 

[Disneyland1084]

I've stayed at all the resort hotels at DL, and will be staying at the DL hotel this February. I've also stayed at some good neighbor hotels. Although some are nice, it doesn't beat staying on site. All your park purchases are brought back to the hotel for you. It's also quicker to take the monorail than wait in line in front of DL. (Yes I'm aware anyone can ride the monorail ) In my opinion, it's SOOOO worth the extra money to stay on sight if you can afford it. Whatever you decide I hope you have a magical time!

 

[Hound 109]

We have never gone to DL (only WDW) and are starting to plan our June '08 trip. We have received pricing for both Paradise Pier and Candy Cane Inn and are trying to make a decision on which ($416 difference). I would appreciate any comments from you DL vets and some help. I know somewhere I have seen a map showing the location of the 3 "on-site" hotels and the good neighbor hotels but I can't seem to find it. I am wondering how everything is spaced out. I appreciate the help and any advice you can give me. The CM at DL told me there really isn't any benefit to staying "on-site" not like at WDW with EMH, etc.

I highly recommend that your read all of Hydroguy's Tips on his "Tip Thread" (which is a sticky at the top of the DL first page). The DLR for WDW vets thread will be especially enlightening.

One reason for staying "on site" vrs. a good neighbor is the multiple days of EE that would be available (but it might not be worth the extra $$ you're discussing). If you are an Early Entry geek at WDW (like i am at DLR) this might factor in your decision. Also the PP makes it easier to enjoy DTD & DCA.

(btw, one of Hydroguys's tips is an abreviation guide )

Have fun planning your visit to Walt's park.

hound -

 

[PigletGurl]

ive never stayed on-site; ive always stayed at the Embassy Suites south that is 1 mile from disneyland. of course it is much more magical (and expensive) to stay onsite, but when you are on a tight budget its better to stay at a good neighbor. this november im staying at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn, only a short walk from disneyland, and only $100/night for 5 nights.
on my longer stays, (2 weeks) i stay at the embassy suite where they offer a shuttle to disney, and free breakfast! hope your stay is pleasant.

 

[disney-super-mom]

It depends on what's important to you.

First of all, I want you to realize that most of the good neighbor properties are motels, not hotels. Most of them are clean, decent properties, some even have pretty landscaping, some offer free continental breakfast, and most (or maybe all) have a pool.

If you utilize room service a lot on vacation, then you'll want to stay at a good neighbor hotel that offers room service (Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, etc.) or one of the DLR hotels.

If you and/or your children want a pool slide, you will HAVE to stay at one of the DLR hotels.

Also, by staying at one of the DLR hotels, you can take advantage of Early Entry everyday that it's offered, whereas if staying off property you usually only get one Early Entry (if you have a 3 day or longer park hopper ticket).

Now, if I was to pick a good neighbor motel, it would be either the Candy Cane Inn or the HOJO (because they're just more cheerful, brighter properties). However, cheerful and bright may not be very important for others. Some like to stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn because it's literally across the street from the main entrance into the parks, and only a 5 minute walk to the main gates. A GREAT LOCATION!!! We stayed there and most likely won't stay there again because, even though our room was clean and spacious enough, it was just so dark and gloomy, and the entire property is asphalt/parking lot. It was just SO NOT MAGICAL, and kinda depressing really. I know.....not that big of a deal.....but I'm on vacation and I want it to feel special.....and happy.

We really enjoy the PP, and our kids LOVE the slide and pool. We're staying there again in 2 weeks. It's about a 10 minute walk to the front gates of DL or about a 6 minute walk to the DTD Monorail station. But a $416 difference is quite a bit, so you'll have to decide if having a pool slide, room service, park purchases delivery service, and access to Early Entry everyday it's offered, is important enough to justify the extra $416.

Here's a map showing most of the good neighbor motels/hotels.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/556/11450dlgoodneighbormap1.jpg

Here's a map showing the DLR hotels and DLR.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/556/11450dlmap.jpg

 

[Hound 109]

It depends on what's important to you.

First of all, I want you to realize that most of the good neighbor properties are motels, not hotels. Most of them are clean, decent properties, some even have pretty landscaping, some offer free continental breakfast, and most (or maybe all) have a pool.

If you utilize room service a lot on vacation, then you'll want to stay at a good neighbor hotel that offers room service (Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, etc.) or one of the DLR hotels.

If you and/or your children want a pool slide, you will HAVE to stay at one of the DLR hotels.

Also, by staying at one of the DLR hotels, you can take advantage of Early Entry everyday that it's offered, whereas if staying off property you usually only get one Early Entry (if you have a 3 day or longer park hopper ticket).

Now, if I was to pick a good neighbor motel, it would be either the Candy Cane Inn or the HOJO (because they're just more cheerful, brighter properties). However, cheerful and bright may not be very important for others. Some like to stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn because it's literally across the street from the main entrance into the parks, and only a 5 minute walk to the main gates. A GREAT LOCATION!!! We stayed there and most likely won't stay there again because, even though our room was clean and spacious enough, it was just so dark and gloomy, and the entire property is asphalt/parking lot. It was just SO NOT MAGICAL, and kinda depressing really. I know.....not that big of a deal.....but I'm on vacation and I want it to feel special.....and happy.

We really enjoy the PP, and our kids LOVE the slide and pool. We're staying there again in 2 weeks. It's about a 10 minute walk to the front gates of DL or about a 6 minute walk to the DTD Monorail station. But a $416 difference is quite a bit, so you'll have to decide if having a pool slide, room service, park purchases delivery service, and access to Early Entry everyday it's offered, is important enough to justify the extra $416.

Here's a map showing most of the good neighbor motels/hotels.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/556/11450dlgoodneighbormap1.jpg

Here's a map showing the DLR hotels and DLR.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/556/11450dlmap.jpg

Very well stated.

It's funny. When we were at PP, we never rode the monorail, because i'm an EE geek & was either:

- at the DL front gate 30 min. before opening.
- walking thru the GCA either to or from for our mid day break.

& a 6-8 min. walk was no big deal for us.

 

[bumbershoot]

Gotta say, that park purchase thing is NOT always available. Each time I remembered to ask about it, they were out of forms, and wanted us to take our purchases over to some different store and have them sent on from there.

With our 3 year old, once we leave the store with a bag, he's IN that bag. Totally lost usefulness to have to take that bag elsewhere and wait in another line at another store.

And when we stayed at PP, the monorail was only noticeably working on ONE day that we tried, so even that supposed convenience was useless to us. AND it lets off either right in front of the Lego store, or very very close to the Lego store, and the Lego store was the place we were trying to NOT walk by the most (see mention of above 3 year old, LOL).

That and we had EE two days thanks to staying on site, and we wanted to go in the entrance, rather than take the monorail, so those days we didn't even look to see if it was open, but every other time (but one) it was down for maintenance of some sort. Glad we weren't counting on riding it!!!


This might be the map you're looking for. http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

If not, it's still a good map!

On this trip we stayed 4 days at PP, then 2 days at HoJo. We really did like PP, but b/c we like *value* (get lots for your money OR don't spend much money), and so we liked HoJo better. The walk to and from was also much more straight-forward, and I like that. We look forward to staying at Candy Cane in the future, b/c we've heard it is so nice.


Only you know your budget, and know if 416 is quite a bit or if it's nothing. For me, with our experience and budget, we'd take the CCI or Tropicana or even Carousel, and have quite a bit of fun with that extra money! But if we'd just gotten a bonus and wanted to treat ourselves, well, maybe we'd stay on site again...not really sure about that.


So, IMO, the bonuses are the extra EE days, depending on what days you are staying (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are EE days) and the fancy pools. If you book a package, there are things that you can get with the packages, but you get them with off-site hotel packages with WDTC too, like Mickey's ToonTown Morning Madness and some discount coupons.

 

[stitchlover]

If this were just a trip to DL I wouldn't even worry about the $416.

BUT this is 2-1/2 months AFTER a 10 day trip to WDW staying at a Deluxe resort with Dining Package.

AND this 4 day jaunt to DL is part of a trip that includes 1-1/2 weeks in Hawaii after DL. So the $416 could make a huge difference.

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone. I looked at the map...thank you for the link. I think I will probably talk it through with my husband but I think we might just go with CCI. We are not huge Early Entry type people. At WDW we very rarely use morning EMH. I think only 2 days we are there are EE days and one is the morning after we fly in. Staying at CCI we will get one early entry day as a perk and we can take advantage of that if we so desire.

Thank you for all the information.

 

[BillyFan]

We've been to WDW three times and Disenyland at least that many times a year for the past 10 or so years. Here's my take on it.
We usually stay off site at DLR, but we have stayed at all three on site hotels. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in July and the kids LOVED the pool. We did use the EE, but didn't take the monorail in at all, because we think you lose a lot of the magic by entering the park in Tomorrowland, rather than walking down Main Street. We also never sent anything back to the room. Because there are so many motels that are so close to the park, we just don't find it necessary to spend the extra money to stay on-site. We just don't spend that much time in the room. The only reason we did it over the summer was for the pool, which was really fun, but was it worth the hundreds of extra $$$$$$? Probably not to us, but if it is a once in a lifetime trip, then maybe.
Now at WDW, we stayed off site the first time, and we will never do that again! I think the resort feel, the transportation and food options, the themeing, etc, is just so much greater at the WDW resorts, especailly for the money.
Thats just my 2 cents though.
BTW, we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last October and loved it! You'll have an amazing time there!

 

[Hound 109]

If this were just a trip to DL I wouldn't even worry about the $416.

BUT this is 2-1/2 months AFTER a 10 day trip to WDW staying at a Deluxe resort with Dining Package.

AND this 4 day jaunt to DL is part of a trip that includes 1-1/2 weeks in Hawaii after DL. So the $416 could make a huge difference.

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone. I looked at the map...thank you for the link. I think I will probably talk it through with my husband but I think we might just go with CCI. We are not huge Early Entry type people. At WDW we very rarely use morning EMH. I think only 2 days we are there are EE days and one is the morning after we fly in. Staying at CCI we will get one early entry day as a perk and we can take advantage of that if we so desire.

Thank you for all the information.

I would give DLR 3 days (not two). A 3 day park hopper will give you one day EE (which you should consider if visiting in June). If trying to save a little money (but still want a great time), a stay at the Candy Cane (or one of the 3-4 motels next to the "Crosswalk" on Harbor Blvd.) is a great option.

Read Hydroguy's Tip Thread (sticky at the top of this page) & consider a 3 day visit. Have fun.

 

[bumbershoot]

If I understand you, you noticed that there are only 2 EE days during your stay? Especially since one is the morning after you fly in, it might be good to skip it and go on that other day.

On the other hand, when we had two (let me state that our two were midweek offseason, so EE started at 9), we used one for Nemo, Space, and Buzz, and the other EE for Fantasyland. They can be convenient.

But with all those trips, I'd just go for CCI.

Oh, and just in case you haven't checked it out, getawaytoday dot com has parkhoppers with two EE days on them...