Hotel for non-park days? Plus WWYD itinerary questions

[BriannaRuth]

On rest days, we like to sleep in, watch TV, have a leisurely meal. At WDW, we usually end up riding around on the ferry/skyliner/monorail and visit playgrounds or play lawn games and snack at various resorts.

Just wanted to be sure you know that you won't be able to ride the monorail at DL on a non-park day as it stops inside DL park; you have to have a park ticket.

While I haven't ever been around July 4, I've personally never experienced a bunch of drunk guests whooping and hollering after park close at DL. Maybe it's because there's limited alcohol available at DL park (vs. DCA, which closes earlier), or just the attitude at the parks in general re: what's acceptable behavior vs. DW, IDK. People are generally just walking around happy but very tired from a day at the parks. Some people may be a bit more animated than usual, but groups of rowdy, drunken guests are usually not a thing. Both of my daughters have stayed off-site when they were in their teens/early 20s and had zero issues walking back to their hotels after park close.

 

[Bound4DisneyWorld]

I’m going to throw out my opinion of the DL hotel.

First, I want to preface by saying that I HATE split stays. Hate ‘em. I’m in the minority in my family, so I still do them. I don’t like them because you’re most likely “homeless” for several hours on the day you change hotels. That’s the time between check-out of the first hotel and check-in at the second hotel.

That said, for your situation, it might a good thing to do in the middle of your stay. The hotel pools in Anaheim are a snooze. The pool at the Disneyland hotel is really fantastic. Our last trip, we rented a cabana and it was great. I hurt my foot and couldn’t really walk, so I camped out in the cabana while my family went to the parks in the morning.

All that said, I was REALLY disappointed in the Disneyland Hotel. The service was…mid (I’m a middle school music teacher and god I HATE that word, but in this case, it’s appropriate). It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t particularly good, either.

The walk was longer (substantially so) than the hotels on Harbor, the onsite perks were meh (and that was with early entry - that’s gone as of next month), and the service was ho hum. But if you want a great pool, the Disneyland Hotel fits that bill. I would pay the premium if I were taking a trip and wanted or needed another pool day like we had last time. Truly, that day was a highlight of that trip.

Aside from the pool, it’s also worth mentioning that Disneyland offers resort package delivery from the parks.

Have fun planning!

 

[BriannaRuth]

Are they still doing package delivery? I thought they stopped a while back.