First trip to DL - hotel question

[Hope2cruise]

We have been to WDW many times and a DCL cruise. October will be our first trip to DL. We are only staying two or three nights and going to each park one day. My question is what is the advantage of booking a Good Neighbor hotel directly through the DL website. It costs about $65 more than if I book directly through the hotel and buy tickets through Disney. I'm looking at the Best Western Park Place Inn & Mini suites. Any thoughts?

 

[jcarwash]

I'm not aware of any advantages booking through Disneyland, especially as you're saying the price is more. I'd book directly with Best Western, and Park Place Inn is excellent in terms of its location -- so convenient across the street.

Actually, maybe like WDW, if you book the package hotels/tickets you still have the option to cancel the whole thing if you need to, whereas if you buy tickets separately from Disney or another vendor, it'll be harder or impossible to get your money back on the ticket portion.

 

[ParkHopper1]

There is nothing to the GNH program at DLR nor any real perks...some are not even that great. Book direct, you usually get much better terms.

 

[wishing4PA]

Actually, maybe like WDW, if you book the package hotels/tickets you still have the option to cancel the whole thing if you need to, whereas if you buy tickets separately from Disney or another vendor, it'll be harder or impossible to get your money back on the ticket portion.

This being my first DL trip and my first vacation trip since the pandemic began, the above was important to me. I don't think there's any way we would have cancelled, but already I did change tickets and add a night, and also added airport transfers when I decided I really didn't want to go it alone.
All in all, I know I may have paid a bit extra beyond booking everything separately, but as a first-timer, other than getting through on the phone line, it just added a comfort level and helped narrow down my options a bit. I also was on the fence for a few weeks even after booking as to whether I might want to switch to PP or the the DLH.
From my understanding, pre-pandemic, my package also would have included early entry on one morning (vs. every morning for the resorts.) That would have been nice, but the magic mornings aren't in place now. So no advantage there.
Some other time I might want more options, for example, a hotel not designated as a GN. But not for this trip. I'm fine with the package.
FWIW, I should be getting a pin and lanyard and collapsible "cooler" with my package (I think at least the cooler was b/c it's booked on the Disney Visa so wouldn't apply to all packages), but none of those are of much $ value. We'll enjoy the items making it feel a little more "magical", though.
No regrets.

 

[pharmama]

From my understanding, pre-pandemic, my package also would have included early entry on one morning (vs. every morning for the resorts.) That would have been nice, but the magic mornings aren't in place now. So no advantage there.

As a small clarification, all 3 day and longer tickets included access to one Magic Morning pre-pandemic regardless of where or how the ticket was booked (with a few rare exceptions). Magic Morning is not quite the same as onsite hotel guest Extra Magic Hour. MM was ONLY at DL and was typically offered Tues, Thurs and Sat. Onsite hotel guests had access to EMH every day of their stay at one park or the other. EMH would be at DL the same days as MM (so typically Tues, Thurs and Sat) and would be a DCA the other days.

Of course- all that was pre-pandemic, as you mention, and no formal early entry of any any kind is currently offered. I always found more benefit to EMH at DCA than EMH/MM at DL. You could knock out a ton of stuff at DCA during EMH. I do hope they bring this back at some point.

One other reason I have seen people post for booking through Disney for a non-Disney hotel is they want to pay with Disney Gift Cards that they have purchased at a discount. But definitely no reason to do this if you're actually paying more for the hotel.

 

[wishing4PA]

As a small clarification, all 3 day and longer tickets included access to one Magic Morning pre-pandemic regardless of where or how the ticket was booked (with a few rare exceptions).

Oh! Thanks for the clarification!
Anyhow, we got the 4th night free on a fairly inexpensive hotel, so in our case, any hotel savings would have be negligible. There's only so far you can drop price below cheap. Definitely if I'd been looking at one of the more luxurious places it would have been worthwhile to price shop.

 

[PirateBrigade]

I've always liked untethered hotel reservations vs. park tickets, because it allows me to swap hotels at the last minute based on any deals that come up amongst all the Harbor hotels. DL tickets will always retain their original value, so I could always use them in the future.

I could see the issue brought up above with not being able to go in the future (I guess the increased price is like built-in trip insurance), but for my style of travel, there wasn't enough benefit for me.

OP - if you are looking at the best western across the street, look at Tropicana Inn and Suites as well. I think there's a Harbor Hotels thread somewhere in these forums.

 

[robododo]

We just got a 4th night free GNH deal directly through Disney. The total for three adults was $1713 for 4 nights at Castle Inn + 5 day park hoppers.

The tickets alone through Disney are $1245, so it seems like a good deal. If there's a way to beat that price for a cheap "across the street" hotel, I'm all ears

 

[BandMom1]

We just had a 3 day stay at Best Western Park Place Inn and Mini-Suites last week and it was great! Room was clean, staff responsive, and the entrance to the parks is directly across the street! We've always stayed at either a resort hotel or the fabulous Candy Cane Inn (currently closed for a refurbishment), and though the exterior of the Best Western is meh, the room was perfectly fine - we had a 2 queen mini-suite.

 

[smartlabelprint]

If you can swing it I’d look at courtyard theme park entrance or another hotel on harbor. The motels have outdoor walkways and aren’t quiet. I’m not in my 20’s anymore and am a little more picky though.