"on site" vs. "off site"

[DizBelle]

I'm a seasoned WDW guest and over on the WDW threads the discussion comes up every so often of whether to stay in a WDW hotel or stay off property to save $$$. I'm wondering if the same type of issue applies to visits to DL.

How big of a deal is it to stay in a DL hotel vs. one of the "good neighbor" hotels or some other hotel?

 

[CamColt]

We have our first trip coming up in August. From all Ive heard, it really isnt a huge deal to stay offsite, or at least not as much of a big deal as it is with WDW. However, for our first trip there, I really wanted to stay with Disney. It just seems like it will be more magical to be surrounded by the Disney touches 24/7. To me that will be worth the extra money.

With that said we also have a good neighbor hotel booked for 1 day (the day we disembark a cruise). We are only using it as a day room to store our luggage while we go to a baseball game as our flight is at 9:00pm that night, but it will be nice to be able to check that out too....sort of get a feel for both.

 

[daannzzz]

I grew up in California and have gone to Disneyland many times. The Disneyland Hotel and Disney's Grand Californian Hoteal are awesome. Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel is fine. Staying at the Grand Californian Hotel is more convenient than any of the WDW hotels as far as proximity to the parks goes. All that being said, I stay across the street at Disneyland because it is so easy. Some of the motels are closer than two of the three Disney Hotels.
I save the big bucks for hotels for my WDFW trips.
Here is a birds eye view of the Disneyland area.
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/dlmp.html

The following motels are the ones that regularly get great - good reviews...
The Howard Johnson ( My favorite)
The Park Inn
Best Western Park Place Inn
Candy Cane (Not listed on the map but it is there.) www.candycaneinn.net
Tropicana
Portofino Inn and Suites

It is really easy to get from these places to the parks. It is a 5-10 minute walk to the front gates.

 

[CalGal]

At WDW, I would insist upon staying onsight, and would generally want to pay the big bucks to stay at one of the delux resort for at least part of my stay because:
1. The resorts are awesome!
2. The convenience and time savings is significant, and I never have enough time at WDW to begin with.
3. Added benefits including the extra hours are significant.
4. I can't imagine leaving the magic of the World once I'm there

At DL, I usually stay onsight part or all of my trip to DL because
1. The resorts are more fun
2. The resorts are nicer than the places directly across from Disneyland, although, as Daannzzz points out, many of these places are fine.
3. The onsight resorts are close enough to avoid ART or hotel shuttles while the nicer hotels in the area require transportation to and from the parks (although most of these shuttles aren't bad).
4. I can get the multi-FastPass benefit when onsight packages are booked through AAA.
5. I can sometimes find a pretty decent rate onsight by booking at the right time; I might make a reservation elsewhere that can be cancelled without penalty, watch the rates on Expedia, and then book onsight when and if discounted rates are released, usually a couple of weeks out. Then I have to remember to cancel the first reservation.
6. I am very spoiled.

In summary, the added cost generally does not support the benefit of staying onsight at DL nearly as much as it does at WDW. If you can get a good AP or other discounted rate, then it's worth staying onsight for the magic of it all.

 

[LucyKate]

Staying onsite at DLK is not such a big issue because many of the nearby hotels are as close, or in some cases closer that two of the Disney hotels.

Only the Grand Californian is really onsite - the DL and PP are both a bit of a walk or a shuttle away.

Unless you can afford the Grand Californian, I'd stay at the Howard Johnson or Candy Cane and save the money - both are highly regarded and decent priced hotels with a short walk.

On tripadvisor.com the top 3 hotels are the GC, followed by CC then HoJo.