Hotelroom: Balcony or No Balcony?

[Jedi5]

Curious as to what the thoughts are when booking your room.
Do you go for a standard or splurge the extra $30-40 for a balcony?

Our first time at WDW, we stayed at the AKL and our room had a balcony.
It was pretty neat to open the door and sit out there to see the "safari".
What I don't recall is if our room at the CBR has a balcony or not??

Anyway, looking to stay at the DLH and I'm wondering if should get a room with a view to DL or get a room with a balcony to sit out there and soak in all of DL.

Thoughts?

 

[hlbtimes2]

I'm not 100% sure, but I dont think any of the rooms at DLH have balconies. Seems to me that they removed them when they remodeled, but I may be wrong.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I'm not 100% sure, but I dont think any of the rooms at DLH have balconies. Seems to me that they removed them when they remodeled, but I may be wrong.

This was my recollection too. I thought they removed all the balconies during the remodel. I do know that we stayed in a remodeled room back in 2010 when the remodel was still going on, and our room didn't have a balcony.

 

[bumbershoot]

There are *some* with balconies, but they seem to be the corner rooms, aka the suites.

And even when all the rooms had balconies, they were of the size where you could put a normal sized foot on them, and that's as far out as they went. Just enough to make the mom of a little kid nervous, but not enough to really do anything for an adult. And then they took those entirely away with the remodel and threw in some full balconies for a relative few rooms.


Honestly I wouldn't do it, but then we were happy with our non-view room at the DLH overlooking a big parking lot, with PPH and Hilton Anaheim's sign easily visible and a view of the Grand if you peered to the side.

 

[Mel522]

The Frontier tower is the only one with balconies, and they are on the very top floor and the sides. A lot of them are attached to the suites. You also are not guaranteed a balcony, it is just a request.

 

[Nonsuch]

The Frontier tower is the only one with balconies, and they are on the very top floor and the sides. A lot of them are attached to the suites. You also are not guaranteed a balcony, it is just a request.

All rooms at the Grand Californian have balconies

 

[jdb in AZ]

All rooms at the Grand Californian have balconies

Yes, but they're tiny, so we didn't spend much time out there.

DLR put a decal on the sliding glass doors that reminded guests to keep the door closed so the birds couldn't fly in.

 

[Mel522]

All rooms at the Grand Californian have balconies

The OP said they are looking at DLH

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We stayed in a suite at the DLH and we did not have any balconies.

 

[Jedi5]

I'm going off the description on Expedia.

At DLH Premium View Rooms have a balcony... or so it states.

I was just simply asking if whatever hotel you choose, do you go for a balcony or not.

 

[Mel522]

I'm going off the description on Expedia.

At DLH Premium View Rooms have a balcony... or so it states.

I was just simply asking if whatever hotel you choose, do you go for a balcony or not.

Most DLH premium view rooms do not have a balcony. I like having a balcony, so if I had a choice between balcony and non-balcony (same price, same view), I would choose the balcony. When we woke up in the morning at the DLH, there was condensation on the outside of our window so we couldn't see out. It would have been nice to have a balcony so I could watch the sun rise.

 

[minniecarousel]

I love balcony rooms! I'll pay a little extra to have one.

 

[HydroGuy]

I vote no balcony. We had a safari view at AKL and it was fun. But WDW trips are more about the overall resort - hotel, restaurants, etc.

Often at DLR we spend almost no time at the hotel except to sleep. The hotels are so close to the parks, the park hours are generally longer than WDW and the weather is generally nicer than WDW. So you just stay in the parks longer.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm going off the description on Expedia.

At DLH Premium View Rooms have a balcony... or so it states.

I was just simply asking if whatever hotel you choose, do you go for a balcony or not.

I just snagged this pictures from the Disneyland site.

Those are the balconies, and what I mean by the corner rooms. That picture is from the "back" side of Frontier tower, the side that directly overlooks the DVC sales place, a parking lot, etc. Our room was one of the ones with NO balcony and it was a plain old room, but the rooms on the other side, who would have a pool view, seemed to all be suites on our floor (hey, if someone has a door open, we're not going to close our eyes as we walk by).

Now if expedia is saying that the Premium view rooms are exactly those rooms that have balconies in the pictures, then go for it, it seemed cool. (though if you are a non-smoker who is seriously bothered by smoke, note that we saw people out smoking on those balconies)

I'm just not sure that those lower rooms could be considered to have a view of much of anything, so I'm really not sure if expedia knows what they are talking about.



I love a good balcony, personally. I squeezed myself out on the balcony of our little room at the Grand to have my coffee at least one morning. Saw nothing because we were on the DTD side and I had to get right up to the edge and get on tiptoes to see anything, but hey, I was outside.

I'm just not sure I would pay extra to get *those* balconies at DLH.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

I take the cheapest room possible when we stay at the DLH. Since we're either in the parks or at the pool, the room for us is simply a place to shower and sleep, and I'd rather have the extra $ to spend in the park.

 

[pharmama]

I think everyone is trying to suggest that Expedia may be wrong. I would expect a Premium View room at the DLH to have a theme park/fireworks view. If those balconies are on the back of Frontier tower I also don't see how they could be premium view...

If you book that category on Expedia, book it for the view not for a balcony

We had a premium/park view room at PPH in Sept and it was amazing. We watched WoC from our room each night. (no balcony)

 

[Iceman93]

I think a balcony at the AKL is worth every penny. At the DL hotels, not so much. I have found that, in general, hotel rooms with sliding glass doors have poorer soundproofing than solid walls or windows. Given how small the DL balconies are, how lackluster the views are in general, and the quietness issue, I'd prefer not to have a balcony at a DL hotel.

 

[Jedi5]

I take the cheapest room possible when we stay at the DLH. Since we're either in the parks or at the pool, the room for us is simply a place to shower and sleep, and I'd rather have the extra $ to spend in the park.

Yeah, this is my train of thought as well when I book our rooms.
Why spend the extra $$ if you aren't going to be in the room to enjoy it.

But it is nice to just sit back and unwind and take in the view from your balcony. Really loved it at the AKL and we did take advantage of it many of times. It was nice.

Maybe Expedia is wrong about the balcony but I got this from their site for a Premium View Room:

1 king or 2 queen beds. Step-out balcony with premium pool or Downtown Disney® District view.

 

[Rhonna]

Maybe Expedia is wrong about the balcony but I got this from their site for a Premium View Room:

1 king or 2 queen beds. Step-out balcony with premium pool or Downtown Disney® District view.

I would bet a lot that Expedia is wrong. We just got back from DLH today and I remember looking out our premium view room (no balcony) in the Adventure Tower and noticed what a pp said and showed in the photo: the Frontier tower had balconies on the top floor. We couldn't see the end rooms of the Frontier tower. I saw no other balconies on Fantasy Tower nor our tower.