I am about 95% sure I am in for this one. This would be my first trip to DL and my first runDisney event. I would like to do it it start the quest for my C2C and like some of you follow it up with the Wine & Dine in Nov. Getting excited by the possibility!!

Hi! You'll love this one and should really do it! It's a ton of fun.
Hoping to run this one before the princess so I can coast to coast! Anyone know of any hotel deals on the west coast?
DL is way different than WDW in that all the hotels surround the resort so no need for shuttles. However, if you stay at a non-resort hotel, some of the hotels offer shuttles during race weekend, but it is to the park entrance so you would still have to walk to and from the race staging area before and after the races. DTD is about 1/3 of a mile and then it's about 1/4 to the race area from the end of DTD.
There are the 3 resort hotels: the Grand California which is the most expensive and closest to the parks, the DL Hotel which is 2nd $ and home to the expo as well as close to the monorail which will take you to DL, and then Paradise Pier. PP is the cheapest of the resort hotels, although still somewhat price, but it is where the staging area and finish area is (the parking lot of the hotel) and a short walk to the hotel. Pricewise, the GC will be mid-high $300s, DL will be higher $200s and PP will be mid $200s.
However, you don't need to stay in the resort hotels, then are tons of others that are a lot cheaper and not too far away. Most of the hotels are on Harbor Blvd and Katella Ave which are the surrounding streets of the parks. The closest for the race is the BW Stovall's Inn, it's on the corner of Katella and DL Drive across the street from the PP Parking Lot. They haven't opened the calendar for that far out yet, but if you have a
AAA card you can get a room for $100-$125 a night. That's about what other hotels cost as well some a little more, some a tad less. I've stayed at the BW Park Place, which is on Harbor right at the entrance to the parks and where the shuttles drop you off, the past 2 years and w/ my AAA card, it's been $90/night for king or 2 double beds.
For the DL races, they work w/ Get Travel for hotel room discounts, but I've found that aside from the resort hotels, I can get rooms cheaper on my own w/ my AAA card. Some hotels also do the Entertainment Card discounts as well. They also are the company that offer discounted park tickets as well.
Hotels
should start opening their calendars in the next month/month and a 1/2. I would just start playing around when you have time to get an idea of where you'd like to stay and just keep an eye out. I did notice last year when booking a room that the price increments started going up a bit faster b/c race weekend is also MLK weekend, but you won't have a problem finding a room. If you have any questions about some of the specific hotels once you've picked some out don't hesitate to ask ~ I've stayed at a good majority of them over the years.
Took this off the FB DDD page to give you an idea and help you out:
Area map of hotels