Nervous about stay at DLH

[4evrdisney]

Staying at DLH in September. Had requested a theme park view in the Dreams Tower. However, as Dreams is being renovated (and people are getting mixed info from CMs in regard to what will be going on in September). So, we opted to switch to an upper level pool view room in the Wonder Tower.

Last year we stayed GCH with DS3 and DD1. Now they are DS4 and DD2 and we thought the theme at DLH would be a hit. However, I'm starting to get nervous after reading reviews on TripAdvisor, etc. about how dirty and awful it is. The reviews are SO mixed. Some actually say it is really clean.

Anyone have any insights in regards to the Tower we are staying in (Wonder) and also the state of the hotel. Still debating staying off-site ... PP and GCH seem to be sold-out when we are there . ..

 

[farmfresh]

Let me put your mind at rest. The hotel will be fine...I've stayed in two of the three towers (can't keep up with the name changes), and the rooms were always in good repair, and very clean stayed in the old bonita tower two weeks ago, in a pool view room - absolutely fine.

We never ask for a particular tower, as each has their pros and cons. For example, the tower closest to DTD also has the biggest problem with noise...the tower at the back is further to walk etcetc. I wouldn't stress over it.

I'm don't always pay too much attention to trip advisor, as often people who have a bad experience are more motivated to write it up than the countless people who had a fine stay.

Of course, the hotel is not as luxurious as the GCH... nor for that matter, many other hotels you might stay in. I think that might also be an issue for some people. But it is a perfectly good choice, and I think you will enjoy your stay there.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I just stayed there last weekend and my room in the Wonder Tower was clean and relaxing as always. It's not the most contemporary place, but the furnishings are fine. I've never had an issue with them being too old or dull and my kids simply love the map of the park on the tv armoire. Besides - the pool rocks and so does walking around the hotel and the waterfalls (if you have a pool view at wonder, crack your sliding door to hear them lull you to sleep at night!!!

I've also never had a bad bed - all have been really comfy and I sleep well there!

 

[teatime]

where is the remodeling going to start? I felt the hotel was dated pretty badly. I would not stay there again, I stayed at PPH and loved that one. I would choose off site before I stayed at the DL . At least until the rip out the old furniture carpeting and renovate

 

[DizMe]

We nearly always stay at DLH by choice. We have never had a bad room experience as far as furnishings, cleanliness, and so on--in fact, the furnishings are one of the big highlights of the hotel IMO. Everything, from the wallpaper to the bedspreads to the light fixtures, is Disney! The beds look like something from the 7 dwarves' cottage except that they're very tall. The only bad room experience we had was that our sink backed up once, and they moved us to a better room plus gave our family of 5 a free character meal PLUS gave us each unlimited fast passes. I have heard people say that they've gotten a shabby room, but in...well, probably about 10 visits, we've never seen that.

 

[Canyon girl]

We stayed at the GCH in Oct. 2008. For our Feb. 2009 trip, we returned to the DLH. We really like the feel of the hotel better. We have only had one questionable room, but we only spent one night in it. I really hope that the refurb doesn't take the ambiance away!

 

[dlander]

Wow, I think it has only been 8 years since they did the last refurbishing. I love the DLH. I agree the feeling there is magical! I've never had a dirty room while staying there (we stay about 3 times a year). I hope you have a fabulous trip!

 

[dnamertz]

We stayed in the DLH two weeks ago and there were no problems with the cleanliness of the rooms. We were upgraded to a park view room on the 11th floor because it was our anniversary. It was a nice view, but it's really more of a view of Downtown Disney than of the parks. It's surprising how many trees are in DL. From our room, all you could see of DL was the Matterhorn, the top of Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain sticking out of a bunch of trees, and you could also see most of the Paradise Pier section of DCA.

We did have a good view of the fireworks, but we only were in our room that night because the park closed early for Grad Night...otherwise we would have been in the park at the time of the fireworks.

It is a good hotel, though. The only reason I might not stay there again is because for a lower price you can stay at some of the offsite motels that are a shorter walk to the main gate. Sure the monorail is good to use for mid-day travel, but I like to enter and exit through the main gate when the park opens and closes (it's kind of tradition). Plus if you like to get into the park as soon as they open, the monorail isn't always reliable. The one morning we tried to use it, we got in line about 20 minutes before the park opened and after waiting about 10 minutes a CM told us that the monorail might not be starting for about another 30 minutes. At that point we had to walk through the rest of DTD, and get in what was then a long line at the main gate.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We love it there! Clean, nice, and magical. Better then any offsite place we've stayed at. Don't be nervous at all!

 

[Sherry E]

I will preface this by saying that I have not stayed at DLH in years (I used to stay there all the time, on every trip - before PPH and GCH came on the scene - and I loved it!), so I can't speak of any recent experience with the condition of the rooms at DLH, but I had one room at the PPH last year with questionable plumbing issues. That was just a fluke, though. Every other room I have had at PPH or GCH has been fine in terms of cleanliness, and I don't recall any problems with DLH rooms in the old days. I imagine that at the DLH, every so often, there may be one fluke room here and there which is not cleaned thoroughly, but I think if the rooms were truly "dirty and awful," you would hear much more about it on this board. People wouldn't hesitate to share their experiences. What I have heard a lot is that the DLH is starting to show a bit of wear and tear, and is coming across as dated. They won't change the whole motif of the hotel, I am sure, but perhaps with the refurb those 'wear and tear' issues will be fixed.

I tend to wonder if the people who reported on Trip Advisor had some image in their minds of what the DLH hotel rooms were going to be - maybe they are used to staying at the Four Seasons, who knows? - and because the rooms didn't live up to their pre-conceived ideas, they labeled them as dirty and awful. Perhaps they resented having to pay so much money, and so they went in with a negative mindset of thinking everything at the DLH was not worth the money and were prepared to find fault in everything. Who knows? Just a thought.

In any case, the details and touches around the DLH are so special and so very 'Disney.' The character topiaries, the various statues and statuettes, the waterfalls, the mini-Jungle Cruise boats, the koi ponds, the wall/display of memorabilia, the Fantasia shop, the random character sightings in the lobby, the lovely garden where they conduct weddings, the Mickey 'ears' bath products in the bathrooms - it is all wonderful and I am sure you will love it!