is it critical to stay onsite for DL.

[WendyLovesPeter]

I have visited WDW multiple times and I feel it is critical to stay onsite. Is that so with DL? I have heard it is not near the mad house as WDW. I haven't read if there are FP or how it works there. We are visiting friends in CA and would prob not stay onsite...unless we should.

 

[bumbershoot]

Nope. Nowhere near as important. I like staying in walking distance, though.

 

[HydroGuy]

I have visited WDW multiple times and I feel it is critical to stay onsite. Is that so with DL? I have heard it is not near the mad house as WDW. I haven't read if there are FP or how it works there. We are visiting friends in CA and would prob not stay onsite...unless we should.

Nope. Lots of dual WDW/DLR vets are like me and stay onsite at WDW but happily stay offsite at DLR.

See "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

 

[HydroGuy]

Nope. Nowhere near as important. I like staying in walking distance, though.

Great minds think alike.

Usually.

 

[tzeitel]

No. Lots of places right across the street for hundreds less. Check out Google Maps, do the 3D view and get down to street level - you can see the motels across the street from the entrance to Disney property.

 

[cadien]

Are you thinking you would stay with the friends rather than in a nearby hotel? That's what we did for our first DL visit, just this February. My in-laws live 45 minutes from the park. I didn't think driving there and back for a day was a problem, but afterwards MIL (who came along to the park) announced that next time she was getting us all a hotel instead. So it really depends on the people involved.

(MIL will be coming next time too. She just doesn't want to have to drive home afterwards. Frankly the trek to the parking lot was the really exhausting part.)

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

I know they have the good neighbor hotels....that is the budget I would like to work with. Would prob stay 2-3 nights. Would like to stay within walking....is that realistic? I don't plan to stay at friends and commute for this part of our vacation. Would like to stay close to parks.

 

[AC7179]

I know I'm in the minority, but I find it MORE critical to stay onsite at Disneyland. Why? Well, all the hotels are within walking distance. From PPH and DLH you get a nice stroll through the very "Disney" DTD and can stroll the ground of all three hotels to find dining choices etc. I realize you can walk from some of the hotels on Harbor, but the Disney hotels are much nicer than almost all the hotels on Harbor. I've only ever stayed at one--so it may be a "Don't Knock It Til You Try It," kind of thing---but I really like to stay at a nice hotel during my long vacation. (I'm not a snob---we gladly stay at hotels the caliber of the Harbor hotels for weekend visits for sports competitions or such---I just like the nicer places for my long vacations.)


So at Disney World---The GF, Contemporary, and Poly are usually out of our price range. If I'm not going to be on the Monorail Line and going to have to deal with Disney busses (OMG, I hate Disney busses!) anyway, I would rather just stay in a nicer hotel (You can get a lovely hotel right near Disney property for the price of a value) and drive to the parks each day. We've stayed at Bonnet Creek in a lovely 2 bedroom condo for less than Pop Century, which was right across the street. We wouldn't have used the busses anyway (did I mention I hate the busses?) so the Disney "perks" didn't outweigh staying in a resort versus a motel.

All that said---this is why I LOVE DL more than WDW. Whether you stay on Harbor or in on of the Disney hotels, you can just walk out the door and go! No being tired at 2 pm and it being an hour to get back to the room! It's amazing!

 

[DLRExpert]

Nope.

I would also look at hotels that are close to the Toy Story Parking Lot ( South of Disneyland on Harbor). You might find cheaper rooms and you can take the Disney Buses instead of walking to the parks.

 

[GatorChris]

We have only stayed at PPH and DLH once each, and neither produced the "bubble" feeling you get at WDW when you stay at a Disney resort. That's because they're not themed well. It seems they're just giant Hiltons or another convention hotel. The only DL hotel that is themed and would give that WDW bubble feeling is the Grand Cali. But you'll need to sell off one of your kidneys to afford it.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

All that said---this is why I LOVE DL more than WDW. Whether you stay on Harbor or in on of the Disney hotels, you can just walk out the door and go! No being tired at 2 pm and it being an hour to get back to the room! It's amazing!

This is very encouraging. I am finding WDW less and less appealing as the technology takes over and as the parks grow. When my kids were little we used to get so much more accomplished in a given time. Nowadays at WDW you have to go in with much less expectation or the frustration will occur....for me anyway

 

[Nevada Jen]

It is not critical but the early entry you get with staying on site is significantly better than WDW. Particularly on the DCA days. Since you imply your kids are older (need to be over 8 to be out of a car seat), I will share that my next favorite thing other than staying on site is to get a nice hotel in garden grove and uber to the parks. Its about a 5 dollar trip and gets you closer to the gate than any hotel other than grand cali and you get a nice hotel out of the deal.

 

[cruisehopeful]

It's not important unless you want to use the early entry to the parks. There are hotels/motels across the street on Harbor Blvd. You can easily walk to the parks in 10 minutes or less. They are not on par with Disney Hotels, but you pay several hundred less per night in some cases and some include breakfast.

There are some more traditional hotels closer to the Toy Story Parking lot as mentioned above. If you stay in one of those hotels, you can either walk 20 minutes to the parks or take the buses from the Toy Story Parking lot.

The Fastpasses are the old style paper fast passes where you can get one and then wait 2 hours to get another or get one sooner if you return time is sooner than 2 hours. They have announced a paid version on your phone that will save walking to the fast pass machines, but we do not know when that will be released

 

[bumbershoot]

From PPH and DLH you get a nice stroll through the very "Disney" DTD and can stroll the ground of all three hotels to find dining choices etc.

Whereas to me, DTD is a mall, and I hate malls.

I can go to the resorts to get food and do shopping even if I'm staying at Motel 6. And I'll have more money for those things if I'm staying there LOL.

It is not critical but the early entry you get with staying on site is significantly better than WDW.

Very true.

But since they flipflop days, you can just go to DCA when early entry is at DL, and vice versa.


Should mention that my version of "walking distance" is not that of others. We stayed at Hilton Garden Inn down near Target and Buca di Beppo and walked every day but one evening. Stayed at and walked from/to Country Inn and Suites for Light Side Half Marathon weekend. DS has a dance thing coming up and we have Desert Palms booked. (kudos to those last two mentioned since they include breakfast, including make-your-own Golden Malted waffles...that's the same mix Disney uses for their Mickey waffles!). We ADORE Anabella but they were too high for the upcoming short trip.

 

[cindyland]

Our current concern is being comfortable, and close to park with grandma. We have two other adults, and a 16 and 19 year old. This August my husband wants to stay on-property for early entry and easy return to room if needed. I have no interest in noise or a pool. We are looking at Paradise Pier (that I don't think is really very close, but the stroll through Downtown Disney is nice), Park Vue or Candy Cane. Any thoughts?

 

[kirstie101]

IMO it is not at all critical to stay onsite. I do prefer to only stay within walking distance though. I don't like waiting around for shuttles. My version of walking distance is 15 minutes or less. That's about as far as my group will walk at the end of the night. We've stayed onsite at PPH twice and though we enjoyed it, the only real benefit to us was its location to the start of the rundisney races we were doing on those trips. For me the early entry isn't worth it as my group would never be ready that early and many off site hotels are as close or closer than PPH and DLH.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Absolutely not. Stay within walking distance and you're good!

 

[Sun_soakin]

Not critical, but I still prefer onsite for three reasons:
1) I am a hotel snob and only like nicer accommodations/full service
2) we really love EMH
3) I like staying in the Disney bubble; I don't enjoy stepping out onto Harbor

In the last 15 years I've stayed at 5-7 off-site hotels and had several stays at each of the Disney hotels. Even though the price off-site is soooo cheap, I just can't do it anymore...ruins it for me.