On Property Or Off For Our First Trip?

[jhaig]

We are planning our first trip to Disneyland in the spring of 2016. Would you recommend a staying in one of the three Disney hotels, or should we go with a good neighbor hotel?

 

[BensWife]

Well, if you can afford it I would definitely stay onsite! Since it is your first trip, I think it is WAY more magical to stay on property. We have stayed at the GCH and DHL. I liked them both, but like the GCH better. I like the location and the overall feel of the hotel. The DLH is great too, so you can't go wrong with either. We have never stayed at the PPH, but would like to some time. DH and I are taking a 2 day quick trip (just the 2 of us) on Thanksgiving week just so we can see DL are decorated for the holidays. The prices for that week for the onsite hotels are crazy expensive, so we are going to stay off property this time. I'm really bummed, but the difference in the hotels covers our airfare!! Good luck!

 

[larryz]

We are planning our first trip to Disneyland in the spring of 2016. Would you recommend a staying in one of the three Disney hotels, or should we go with a good neighbor hotel?

I would stay off-site for your first visit. Then stay on-site for your second.

Compare, contrast, and then buy DVC.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I agree with Benswife, if you can afford on site, it's the way to go.

It definitely feels like a different trip when you stay off site. It's not bad, but it's definitely more magical and disney feeling.

I've stayed at both GCH and DLH and while GCH is beautiful and closer, I prefer the Disney touches more at DLH. Either way, you will have an amazing time!!

 

[Aladora]

Echoing most of the posters, if you can afford it I would stay onsite for your first trip. I would pick the DLH over the other two, it's the original one and has much more of a Disney feel to it.

 

[StyledSugar]

If you can afford it, then do it! Just a warning though........it will ruin you for all off-site properties in the future. We used to always stay off-site until one trip we decided to stay at PPH for a few nights. We absolutely LOVED it! We have not stayed off-site since and have now stayed at PPH twice and GCH this upcoming February. I really love staying on-site just due to the magic following you from the park right to your hotel room. There is no experience like it and definitely adds to the overall vacation.

 

[SplashMo]

If you do stay onsite I would suggest PPH for a moderate price and its location. DLH is a bit of a commute to the parks. Not bad but more than other options. The Hotels Directly across the street are very close. You have to beware because most hotels in the area claim to be just across the street. However there are 5-6 hotels that are at the crosswalk basically to the park.

I would stay 4 or 5 days with Park hoppers for a first visit. The parks are very close to each other and it is fun to hop between the two for rides and shows.

 

[ClaraOswald]

If money isn't a big deal, stay on site.

We've never stayed onsite because I can't rationalize that large price tag. But if money wasn't a big deal to us....we'd definitely stay on site. Either at the Disneyland hotel or Grand Californian.

 

[Geemo]

If this is the one and only trip to DLR then by all means try to stay on-site.

If there will be other trips then I'd stay at one of the places at the cross-walk on Harbor. Desert Inn & Suites, Tropicana, Best Western Park Place Inn to name a few. These three let you make a reservation without any money for a deposit. They do take a credit card number to hold a reservation but your card is not charged ahead of time. The earlier you make a reservation the better the nightly rate.

Here's a map with all the places to stay in the area.
http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

I've stayed at all three Disney hotels. They all have their own flair.

The GCH is nice for its' location. The pool area is fun for the kids. It's nice that there are water slides for all ability levels.

The DLH is 1.5 the distance of the three places on Harbor. In my opinion it has the best Disney Flair for all ages. We haven't stayed there since the pool refurbish. When we do, I plan to have one full non-park day to not only enjoy the pool but the rest of the grounds too.

If you're wondering about distance, here's a map where you can use points to measure.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=3...&m=h&gz=0;-1179189741;338091968;0;0;37549;665

Since you are planning for Spring 2016, start looking at what the trends are for reservations on everything you'll need.

Have fun planning
Geemo

 

[lalasmama]

If money isn't a consideration, I'd go with on-site for a first trip. That being said, we stayed at the Super 8 on Katella for our first 2 trips, and never felt like we were missing much beyond the short walk that on-site guests would have.

One thing to remember with Disneyland that's very different from Disney World is that "off-site" motels can often be just as close, if not closer, than on-site hotels. Case in point: Using the Main Gates as the end point, Best Western Park Place Inn, Park Vue Inn, Desert Inn and Suites, Del Sol, and Tropicana (I think) are all *closer* to the Main Gates than Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. At their most expensive, any one of those are about half the price of a Disney hotel. However, staying on-site means you keep the "Disney bubble" going, generally, and you get to be in the parks an hour earlier, and you can have your purchases sent to your room.

 

[GeneralTso]

Hands down---on property.
Your trip is a looong way away, so hopefully you can work it out.

 

[jina]

My answer depends on how often you plan to go after this first trip. We've been 3 times since March 2013 and stayed off site (Residence Inn Maingate) and definitely wanted to stay closer so on trip 2 we stayed at GC and loved loved loved the location location location. Trip 3 we split it - 2 nights @ HoJo's and 2 nights @ GC. That worked well as we checked in at 7am for GH on an 8am EMH morning so we got early entry that first day too. Now that we've been there so much we decided to do HoJo's only for our next 2 trips. HoJo's is a 8 min walk so not as close as GC but DD5 loves the water park, we got a bunk bed room just like GC and it was fine. I liked doing offsite first because I needed to get my bearings on things and determine what things are really important for us to see on future trips so I was able to really make the most of the extra hours when we did stay on site. But if was my only trip I'd just stay onsite.

My answer also depends on whether you are a rope drop to close visitor - we are not. We go for rope drop, stay a few hours, grab an early lunch and then head back to the hotel to swim, rest and chill - then back to a park late afternoon, ride a little, have an early dinner, then back to the hotel for an early bedtime. Repeat. For us, staying close and staying somewhere with a nice pool or kids playground is key so either HoJo's or GC works for us on that front. We will try DH some day - probably when we know DD5 will be up for going on all the water slides- right now she only likes the baby ones and will occasionally go down a longer slide w/ me. If you are going rope drop to close then you could easily say offsite and not miss a whole lot of extra magic IMO - you'll be fairly comatose when you're not at the parks .

 

[Little c Travel]

We are making our first trip in January. We booked the Fairfield Inn because I could just not rationalize the extra $1,500 night for the Paradise Pier or $2,000 for the Disneyland Hotel. I want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, however the money saved paid for airfare and will pay for all of our food.

 

[jhaig]

This will probably be a one time trip for us, so I am leaning towards staying on property to get the whole "Disney experience". We like the Disney bubble, and I think especially with the real world so close in Anaheim, that might make a difference for us. We also get to the parks at rope drop, go till early afternoon, take a break back at the hotel to rest or swim, then go back to the Parks until close.

 

[Geemo]

This will probably be a one time trip for us, so I am leaning towards staying on property to get the whole "Disney experience". We like the Disney bubble, and I think especially with the real world so close in Anaheim, that might make a difference for us. We also get to the parks at rope drop, go till early afternoon, take a break back at the hotel to rest or swim, then go back to the Parks until close.

If your travel dates are flexible.... Look at the DapperDays website.
It's a non-Disney event that takes place in the parks each fall (Sept) and Spring (Feb/March). Sign up for their newsletters. It will give you an idea of what they're all about. http://dapperday.com/

If you go during at least one of the days they have events planned, you can use the Booking site for a reduced rate room on property. Check out what's happening for Feb28/March1 and again in Sept 2015. Closer to the actual date they also offer reduce rate tickets.

Might be an option for you to stay on-site.

Geemo

 

[cmpeter]

For me, I like to be the very closest to the main gate as possible...and that's the Best Western Park Place Inn. I think it's closer to the main gate than any of the on property hotels.

We like to rope drop, head back for a rest and then close down the parks. We aren't interested in the pools. Being close is the top priority for us.

However, based on your signature, it appears you are very used to staying on property. So, unless you are trying to make this a significantly less expensive trip, you would probably be happier on property. BWPPI is great, but there is no Disney bubble there.

 

[TheDoleWhipper]

A little late on this, but I recommend staying onsite. Most offsite hotels are clean, affordable, and close, but they are nothing special. You can find a hotel just like them anywhere in the world. Onsite is different. It makes your vacation feel like a real vacation, instead of simply a theme park visit. Plus, you never have to leave the disney bubble and will be totally immersed in disney for your whole trip. The thing is, that immersion might be a little to much for some people. There are some how enjoy having a McDonald's close to their hotel, and cannot stand that much disney. If that is you, stay offsite. There really is nothing wrong with staying offsite, as long as your vacation isn't too hotel-centric. Staying onsite really is just a nice splurge with extra amenities and disney touches. But if you don't you can still have a great vacation wherever you stay!

 

[jhaig]

Which of the 3 on site hotels would you recommend? Not worried about price right now, just what would be best for a first timer.

 

[StellaD]

What a timely post. I could have written it myself. We are going Sunday thru Tuesday of Presidents weekend in February. I have always stayed on site in Florida at either Poly or Wilderness and was shocked by the prices in Disneyland. I booked the Fairfield Inn, but wasn't sure about that choice. Like a previous poster said there really isn't anything offsite that seems special in any way.

I ended up calling and booking a deluxe room at DLH. We will most likely never go to Disneyland again or at least not for many years. I am trying to help justify the price a bit by thinking about that. But it is tough. It is more that I ever thought I'd spend on a hotel room and it makes me feel kind of bad.

We chose DLH since it seems the most Disney. We were just at Wilderness last year so didn't want GCH, but otherwise that hotel looked the best to me.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[corinne76]

If it's likely a one time thing and you can afford it, I see no reason NOT to stay onsite.

We typically dont cause I'm cheap. We don't really go back to rest or spend much time in the hotel, so for us, it's not really worth it