Is staying at a Disneyland hotel on property worth it?

[ejdmomma]

Just wondering - has anyone tried renting points to stay at the Grand California? I would love to stay but the regular rates are just too exorbitant. It would be slightly more feasible by renting points but I'm nervous about sending a strange that amount of money.

 

[hjgaus]

Just wondering - has anyone tried renting points to stay at the Grand California? I would love to stay but the regular rates are just too exorbitant. It would be slightly more feasible by renting points but I'm nervous about sending a strange that amount of money.

Sorry... I would do it for you but we are all out of points for this year! Although our 2016 points will available soon we will probably may be using them for Aulani !!! We are forever borrowers of the point system!

Try David's Vacation Club Rentals
www.dvcrequest.com

Highly recommended & legit!!

Also MOST people on this Trade/Rent threads our trustworthy but you still maybe taking some sort of chance!

Enjoy!!

 

[ejdmomma]

Thanks for the input! Seriously considering either the Trade/Rent board or using a DVC rental company! Just have to get the hubby on board (not the cost but doing something outside the norm!).

 

[swooshbear]

For most of our trips, we stay off-site, usually at the Hilton next to the Convention Center. We can either walk to the parks or go across the street and catch the shuttle at the Toy Story parking lot.

The only time we absolutely must stay on-site is for the rundisney races. Nothing beats rolling out of bed right before the race and taking a few short steps from the finish line back to your room.

 

[StellaD]

We are heading to Disneyland for the first time in February. It will most certainly be our only trip there most likely ever since Florida is our usual place to go. In our situation we did choose DLH deluxe view. It is just crazy expensive and I'm waiting to see if I will think its worth it.

If I hadn't gone there I was going to choose the theme park view at the Fairfield across the street. It would have been more than half the price less than what we are paying. I'm hoping it will be nice enough to use the lovely pool and enjoy those waterslides. I'm definitely torn about the high cost. I wish there was a deluxe option nearby. Good luck choosing.

 

[smithfamilyof7]

Where do you stay when you do a good neighbor hotel so you can walk?

We stayed at the Castle Inn, which is a bit further down Harbor but still only about a 15 minute or so walk. This time we looked at the Desert Inn & Suites and Best Western Park Place Plus, they are right across the street from the entrance to the parks. Super close, like a PP said, a shorter walk than from DLH. (Also close to the entrance on Harbor Blvd are Carousel Inn, Tropicana, Park Vue Inn, Del Sol Inn.

We have actually rented a condo for this trip down so it's even further but still within walking distance (or we'll catch the tram from the parking lot).

 

[DahliaRW]

If you pull up a map of DL, you will see the Best Western which is pretty much the closest hotel to the crosswalk. There are quite a few places to stay right across the street which are closer than the DLH or PPH. And they are a fraction of the price. It was a quicker walk to the Desert Inn and Suites than it was to the DLH we stayed at our last trip. I actually preferred the Desert Inn, but we don't spend a lot of time in our room. If I were having a down day, I might be more inclined to spending that time at the DLH. Don't get my wrong, I LOVE the DLH, and we could afford to stay there if we wanted every trip, but it's not worth the upcharge to us when there are other things to do with that money. We prefer to use the saved cash to do things like eat at Carthay, Blue Bayou, or even Napa Rose and/or get a longer park ticket and stay more days.

 

[ktlm]

We go about once a year to WDW
we drive to WDW
We stay in a moderate or art of animation resort
We do use the magic hours
we dont do disney dining

I will add that coming from the East Coast, with the time difference it will be very easy for you to get up and get to the parks for the early morning magic hours (which on our last trip trip started at 7:00 a.m.). In our opinion, it is far more of a perk at DLR than it is at WDW. If you stay on property you get unlimited EMH. I think I good neighbor gives you one day of it, but I am not positive- someone else can tell you for sure. Because DLR has a big local crowd, a lot of them do not get there right at opening and because EMH is limited with less on property resorts, the parks are far less crowded during EMH and during the first hour of regular opening than most WDW parks. Being WDW vets we are always surprised with how empty the DLR parks are during EMH and the first hour or so of the day. Aside from the really huge draws, it is a walk on bonanza.

 

[gottalovepluto]

The age old question here on the DIS! I've done both. When our budget allowed later in life we started staying onsite and we loved EMH every morning and the convenience of the short walk. Before we could afford to stay onsite we stayed offsite and still had a great time at DL and kept going back. When staying offsite we preferred hotels that provided breakfast, it just made mornings easier, but when they didn't do that we would bring breakfast items to our hotel with us (cereal, juice boxes) to get us going quick in the mornings.

I come down to these three questions for you:
1) Is it really busy when you want to go (ie school holidays) & will you actually get up early enough to do EMH?
2) Will you have to give up other things you wanted to do on your trip to accommodate it? (character dining, blue bayou, etc.)
3) How important is the bubble feeling? (stay onsite, charge everything to the room key, have packages delivered, park the car when you get there and forget about it till you leave)

 

[csgsu]

The age old question here on the DIS! I've done both. When our budget allowed later in life we started staying onsite and we loved EMH every morning and the convenience of the short walk. Before we could afford to stay onsite we stayed offsite and still had a great time at DL and kept going back. When staying offsite we preferred hotels that provided breakfast, it just made mornings easier, but when they didn't do that we would bring breakfast items to our hotel with us (cereal, juice boxes) to get us going quick in the mornings.

I come down to these three questions for you:
1) Is it really busy when you want to go (ie school holidays) & will you actually get up early enough to do EMH?
2) Will you have to give up other things you wanted to do on your trip to accommodate it? (character dining, blue bayou, etc.)
3) How important is the bubble feeling? (stay onsite, charge everything to the room key, have packages delivered, park the car when you get there and forget about it till you leave)

1)Dont know never been, but I know we will be up early since we are coming from EST
2) No we arent really giving up anything if we do it
3)like the bubble but not the end of the world we just want a nice hotel that we know will be clean because we are bringing our 1 year old

 

[pirate_smiles]

I have stayed onsite and offsite many times, as DL is only a few hours drive forus. It depends on the trip I am taking. If I want a quick weekend away on a budget I stay offsite. If I want more of a vacation feel I stay onsite. I have 3 small kids, the convenience, and "Disney Bubble" is worth every penny IMO. We prefer the Disneyland Hotel when staying onsite, it truly has a resort feel. We budget for it and would rather cut back on the number of trips we make and stay onsite.

 

[WendyWhy]

We love staying on-site - for us, because it is usually a short trip, 1-2 nights at GCH or PP is worth the splurge - plus if you go off season, it is not too bad! I figure since we only go once every 18-24 months, we can spend more on hotel - it makes a big difference to me for the convenience and EMH. If we were the kind of tourists that came 1-2 times a year and stayed for 3 nights or longer - it would be too expensive for us...It just depends on what you prioritize!

 

[AngiTN]

I will add that coming from the East Coast, with the time difference it will be very easy for you to get up and get to the parks for the early morning magic hours (which on our last trip trip started at 7:00 a.m.). In our opinion, it is far more of a perk at DLR than it is at WDW. If you stay on property you get unlimited EMH. I think I good neighbor gives you one day of it, but I am not positive- someone else can tell you for sure. Because DLR has a big local crowd, a lot of them do not get there right at opening and because EMH is limited with less on property resorts, the parks are far less crowded during EMH and during the first hour of regular opening than most WDW parks. Being WDW vets we are always surprised with how empty the DLR parks are during EMH and the first hour or so of the day. Aside from the really huge draws, it is a walk on bonanza.

This is the fact that sold me to stay on site. We never hit early hours at WDW, because they are too early. But coming from Eastern time we'll be up and going early so we plan to take advantage of those early hours every day. Where we are going to struggle is the nighttime stuff.

 

[Lucille1963]

Another thing to consider (and please correct me if I am wrong)…
Onsite guests get Extra Magic hours at either DL or DCA depending on the day of the week.
Magic Mornings, which you get for one day with a 3 day or more pass, is only at Disneyland.

 

[bookgirl]

I am a onsite enthusiast so it was really hard for me to book an offsite hotel.

I am a big fan of 'the bubble' and at WDW the advantages are very clear, no matter what level you stay at there are perks that make an onsite stay much more attractive.

Finally I just had to decide what I wanted from my stay.

There is the EMH for one hour at DL, but that will only be available one day of my trip. ( I am getting a 3 day pass so I might get that morning free whether I stay onsite or not if I understand the MM offer)

There is not really a transportation perk because the off site hotel that I booked is closer than the least expensive DLR resorts.

On site guests do not get any FP advantage.

I stay at all three levels of hotels at WDW depending on budget and what else I am doing in that time frame. This trip was planned out to accommodate around $150 to $175 per night for lodging, being off site I'm paying around $107 + taxes which appear to be around $50 bucks. I do not want a $250-$350 hotel room in May and since that is the only option unless I'm willing to divert vacation funds from another trip which I really don't want to do I am priced out and there are just on incentives for me to make an adjustment.

My only trip to DL (back in 2000) was offsite and at the time I never even envisioned staying at the "park". Fast Forward and I had to talk myself out of overspending this trip because I find it hard to imagine staying anywhere but at the park.

I will miss my bubble, but DLR just does not offer enough incentive for the price for me. Now if they offer a discount then all bets might be off and I'll switch onsite in a heart beat, but rack rate isn't going to happen.