If you have young kids (like 5 and under) who can't swim on their own without a life jacket, then they won't be able to use the main waterslide at the Disneyland Hotel, and they don't allow the kids to wear life jackets on the slides at the Disneyland Resort Hotels. (The lifeguards make younger kids take a little swim test before letting them go down the slide.....nothing major......as long as they can dog paddle their way around then they'll be fine.) Otherwise, the Disneyland Hotel is a great place to stay! Their pool is great, they have a huge hot tub, pretty grounds, they have a really nice quiet pool, it's about a 3-4 minute walk to the DTD monorail station, and a nice stroll through DTD and the Grand Californian to get to California Adventure. Our room was plenty big, and had a sofa that could fold down into a twin bed, but a few rooms don't have a sofa and are smaller than the one we had. Make sure to request a room with a sofa......it's just a request, but one I would make.
If you do have younger kids who can't swim on their own, then the only water slides they can use is the one at the Paradise Pier Hotel (which has a great slide and the longest in the area), or the slides at the Howard Johnson's new "Castaway Cove" water play area.
Both are great hotels (we've stayed at both a few times) with large rooms, and walking distance to the gates of the parks are about the same (although the Paradise Pier is only about a 5 minute walk to the Downtown Disney Monorail Station, which takes you right into Tomorrowland in Disneyland).
Have fun wherever you stay!
(Here's a link to the Howard Johnson's photo gallery/web site if you're not familiar with the hotel.)
http://www.hojoanaheim.com/gallery/
The Howard Johnsons has slides? The one on Katella(I think it's Katella) right by the I-5 freeway? We stayed there several years ago and really liked the hotel but it was starting to show it's age. Are we speaking of the same one? If not, which one are you talking about? I'm thinking about a DL trip some time this spring when my oldest is still away at college and we can sneak DD down there for a few days, I know, mean aren't I
The Howard Johnsons has slides? The one on Katella(I think it's Katella) right by the I-5 freeway? We stayed there several years ago and really liked the hotel but it was starting to show it's age. Are we speaking of the same one? If not, which one are you talking about? I'm thinking about a DL trip some time this spring when my oldest is still away at college and we can sneak DD down there for a few days, I know, mean aren't I
We have stayed there 4 times within the last year! It is certainly clean and all the Disney Facing rooms in Bldg 1 have new beds which are very very comfy. From what I understand most of Bldg 2 has been upgraded but not all. You would just need to request the new beds.
I would say this was true if you were in one of the smaller rooms at DLH. This last time we had a room that was very average for a hotel. It was in the Magic Tower (room 2508). Last time though, we had a bigger room that had the couch. That was in the Dreams Tower. That room felt a little "newer" too (perhaps more recently renovated).
If there's a big price difference, HoJo's is the way to go (we've stayed there too). But we'll spurge for DLH when there's not as drastic a price difference. This last trip the Ent. rate wasn't available at HoJo's so while we still payed a chunk more for DLH, it was worth it to us. We just love it there and spend more time in the room now that we have a little one again.
Mind you it has been a little over 7 years since we last were there but it was not the "hot" off site hotel by any means. The crowd was older as was the hotel.
I am amazed at how popular the HoJo's has become. DH said to me last night "so much for our little secret"
With the new water feature I bet it is full of little kids and don't take this wrong but we prefer hotels without a bunch of munchkins. We are not anti munchkin, heck we have them also, it's just as the kids have gotten older we prefer the quieter settings.
Any recommendations?
If feeling removed and "only in Disney" is important to you, then you should definitely stay at DLH and it's better walking distance than HoJo's (and more fun!) Each room has the magic Disney touch and yes, you just still feel like you're in Disneyland when you're there!
Stay in either the Dreams (1st choice) or the Magic (2nd choice) Tower and it will drop you right off at the end of DTD. To get to DL, you can walk a bit down DTD and take the monorail in (we usually don't do this because you have to take baby out of the stroller and collapse it which I hate doing) or just walk all the way down DTD to the esplanade and from there you can enter DL. Now if you want to go to CA Adventure, you can go in through the Grand Californian - that entrance is by the Sephora store in DTD. Guest of the DL hotels are allowed to go through that entrance. It's a super quick and convenient way to get to CA Adventure.
