Is staying at Disney property worth it in summer

[jessandtwo]

We are going to Disneyland 8/12-8/15. We were planning on either the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier. Now we are wondering if they are worth the money or if staying offsite is just as good. We'll be there with a 5 yr old and a 7 yr old boy.

If you stay onsite do you still get early entry every day it is offered, or did I read that was now no longer a perk? Any other reasons to stay on site?

Thanks,
Jessica

 

[bjsmom]

There are many reasons the money is worth it:
Sleepy kids are too heavy to carry across the street
Early entry
Packages from the shops can be sent to the room
Shorter walks to the park
It is way easy to go to the park, then swim, then back to the park
If you get wet on a ride, you can go to the room and change
It is easier for naps
It will be way too hot to walk down the street

 

[jenpace]

There are many reasons the money is worth it:
Sleepy kids are too heavy to carry across the street
Early entry
Packages from the shops can be sent to the room
Shorter walks to the park
It is way easy to go to the park, then swim, then back to the park
If you get wet on a ride, you can go to the room and change
It is easier for naps
It will be way too hot to walk down the street

All of the above plus the fact that if you stay onsite the "magic spell" isn't broken until your trip has ended.

Jennifer

 

[disneydenisel]

We are planning on being there at that time, too. I have reservations at the GC and offsite, just in case. Most likely, we will stay onsite because we have a 5 & 8 year-old and it will be hot, we want to take breaks, swim, see the parades and fireworks after dinner, etc. It is just a lot more convenient with young children to be onsite. On the other hand, it is *way* more expensive (ours is costing us more than $700 more for the same three nights versus offsite!).

Good luck with your decision!

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

Definitely worth it. We've been doing it for years. The parks gets crowded (very) around 11:30 12:00 in the summer. It's great to have the hotel pool to come back to. Your boys will love either pool although my girls prefer DLH.

 

[Chocolate lover]

Staying on site just adds to the magic, we always stay at PP!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

If I had the money each time I went I would stay onsite but in the past we could go more often if we stayed across the street. It wasnt too bad of a walk though if you stay right across the crosswalk.

I do prefer the magic of the DLR hotels though and like I said if I could afford to stay there each time I would.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We've got a quick 2 1/2 day-3 night trip in July coming up and have opted to stay at DLH since we're there for such a short time. We're AP holders so we don't have ee and by staying on property we get 2 days of ee (hoping Nemo is open for ee). We also get to head back to the hotel in the afternoon and go for a swim at a pool with a slide. We're also hoping to put the kids's in PInocchio's workshop for one of the nights if we can score some seats for fantasmic buffet. We also love using vacation planning to set up surprises each night of our stay.

 

[kiwitravel]

There are many reasons the money is worth it:
Sleepy kids are too heavy to carry across the street
Early entry
Packages from the shops can be sent to the room
Shorter walks to the park
It is way easy to go to the park, then swim, then back to the park
If you get wet on a ride, you can go to the room and change
It is easier for naps
It will be way too hot to walk down the street

Sorry but have to disagree on some of these

The hotels located close to the cross walk on Harbour are actually a lot closer to Disneyland maingate than PP and DLH. The Hotel located adjacent to CA is about the same distance to the Disneyland and have their own entrance into CA.

We found EE a bust going in at 8am on non EE days was far better. Another thread has identified that EE for resort hotels has been restricted to once per stay as per the multiday hopper passes, you might want to check on this.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

It's always worth it to me, no matter what time of the year! The only time I'd say it wasn't worth it, is if money is a big issue. But nothing beats that 24/7 Disney atmosphere, and the perks that go with it as mentioned above.

When money is a factor the motels across the street are fine, some yes even closer of a walk then the PP and DLH. But they are just that, motels. We ourselves have not had good luck with the motels, but are considering trying BWPPI and Hojo's at some point in the future. But I won't expect it to be like staying onsite, no comparison if you ask me! So if you want that "resort" feel for the entire trip it's very worth it to stay onsite IMO.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I agree that Disney hotels are not a good value based on location, unless you are talking GC. To me, the pool slide, childcare, roomservice, themeing and Disney CM's are the real value....but only you can put a value on these variables. Not only that, but it might chnage each trip !

 

[ChrisMouse]

I agree with some of the "Disney Magic" comments above...

We loved staying onsite because we felt like we never left Disney. We didn't re-enter the outside world until our Super Shuttle drove us back to the airport...

(That said, if I could go more often...hmmm....I"ll have to think about that one LOL!!)

 

[blackjackdelta]

We are planning on being there at that time, too. I have reservations at the GC and offsite, just in case. Most likely, we will stay onsite because we have a 5 & 8 year-old and it will be hot, we want to take breaks, swim, see the parades and fireworks after dinner, etc. It is just a lot more convenient with young children to be onsite. On the other hand, it is *way* more expensive (ours is costing us more than $700 more for the same three nights versus offsite!).

Good luck with your decision!

For us it is a 5K difference between GC 2 bedroom suite on site and a penthouse suite at the RI. The 5K can be used many different ways. Good luck.

Jack

 

[abby]

We have stayed twice at DLH and once at HOJO. While I love DLH, we can simply go more often if we stay off site, and HOJO was great. DLH has gotten so expensive I just can't justify it anymore (wish I could.....)