Please Help! Which DL Resort/Room

[Abben]

Hi,
My family and I (hubby and 2 kids 2 and 5 years old) are planning a trip to Disneyland for October.

We have decided we want to stay at one of the Disneyland properties but I cannot choose which one - any help with my decision would be greatly appreciated! The choices are:

- Grand Californian (standard Room)
- Disneyland Hotel (View Room)
- Paradise Pier (View Room)

Would love to hear your experiences/recommendations - would make my planning MUCH easier. Our only requirement really is that we are located near the parks.

Thanks so much!

Abben

 

[DLR29]

Hi,
My family and I (hubby and 2 kids 2 and 5 years old) are planning a trip to Disneyland for October.

We have decided we want to stay at one of the Disneyland properties but I cannot choose which one - any help with my decision would be greatly appreciated! The choices are:

- Grand Californian (standard Room)
- Disneyland Hotel (View Room)
- Paradise Pier (View Room)

Would love to hear your experiences/recommendations - would make my planning MUCH easier. Our only requirement really is that we are located near the parks.

Thanks so much!

Abben

Well if you want near the parks, the Grand Californian is the obvious choice. It is the closest hotel to DL and actually has a private entrance to DCA within itself. So if you can afford it, great! However, you may be surprised that the next closest hotel(s) to the parks are not the Disneyland or Paradise Pier Hotels. There are a few hotels on Harbor Blvd. that are actually a closer walk to DL and DCA than from the Disneyland Hotel. Obviously you don't have as nice of a hotel room and theming, but if you want to save some $, while still staying VERY close to the parks, then maybe an offsite hotel.

I've stayed at the DLH. The monorail is great because it drops off right next to the hotel. But we only used it at the end of the day. In the morning, it's better to use the normal park entrance gates. The rooms were nice, but not anything amazing, especially since we were gone at the parks all day. For me, personally, I can't justify paying 3 or 4 times as much for just a place to sleep that is a farther walk than some not fancy Disney but not horrible hotels. But that's just me.

 

[rgDizzyland]

There are good points to staying at each. GCH has some nice features but guests at any of the Disneyland Resort Hotels can use such as the private entrance to DCA from the GCH, and GCH's Pinocchio's Workshop.

Out of all the Disney hotels my favorite is the GCH just because it is so close to the action, and the magic is never broken by having to cross a street to get to either of the parks (small issue but one that my wife also enjoys) However the Disneyland Hotel is the best Disney themed hotel and probably best for families with small children.

The GCH has rooms with bunkbeds which is a lot of fun, there is a pull out bed at the bottom of the bunk bed in case you are nervous about the top bunk. At Paradise Pier the couch in the room can be converted to a bed.

Oh one other important difference is that the GCH's toilet/shower is separated from the sinks so you can continue to get ready even while someone is using the shower/toilet

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the Disney hotels.

 

[silence]

We stayed at DLH the last 3 nights. It's our favorite, however, we have not done GCH, I just can't justify the expense.

I booked a "standard view room". I'm not sure if we were "upgraded" or not, but we had a room in the Dreams Tower on the 2nd floor with a pool view. It was awesome.

Better yet, the room was available when I checked in at 6AM on Thursday. We did early check in to get the EE since we have AP, we were not expecting the room to be ready.

My kids did not want to leave the pools each day. We used both, obviously they liked the bigger pool with the slides. I love how they have lifeguards and life jackets for the little ones to wear while in the pools. Very helpful.

Housekeeping was very helpful. Our fridge was not working and they came and replaced right away.

 

[Sherry E]

OP, if your only real requirement is that you are located close to the parks, then it seems like you might want to save some money and stay at one of the off-property places right across the street from DLR.

Personal opinions of the hotels and the DLR hotel experience aside for a moment, the facts about being a DLR hotel guest and staying onsite are this:

-You get use of Magic Morning on the day(s) it is available (depending on the length of your stay, that could be only one morning or a few). This comes in very handy in terms of getting on rides in Fantasyland before the masses hit the park.

-Any guest of the 3 DLR hotels can access the special GCH entrance into DCA before 10:00 a.m., by showing their room key (Key to the Magic) and their ticket/Hopper/AP - and this is only important if you go into DCA before it officially opens and want to wait in the short line by GRR to high tail it over to TSMM to beat the crowds (which I have done and it was very successful - we beat a bunch of people to the TSMM line by a few minutes). Otherwise, the GCH/DCA entry can be used by anyone - hotel guest or non-hotel guest - throughout the rest of the day and so then the only 'perk' of using that entrance becomes the convenient location of it if you happen to be staying in the GCH.

-If you shop in the parks, you can have your purchases sent back to your DLR hotel, which saves the trouble of having to get an expensive locker or schlep your purchases around the parks with you.

-You have access to special tours and things provided by the 3 hotels (I think the GCH has a tour AND a scavenger hunt of some kind, as well as other things).

-You get your own Key to the Magic room key (with your name on it), and with that you can charge your DLR meals and purchases to that card in case you do not want to carry your actual cash or plastic around.


Okay, so those are the facts of what you get with staying onsite at any of the 3 hotels. Now as far as my personal opinions, I have stayed at all 3 of the hotels over the years (with PPH and GCH being more recent than than the DLH, but I used to stay at DLH all the time in the '80s and '90s), and I really like all of them for different reasons, but that is mainly having to do with theming and ambience or lack thereof.

GCH - you get these bath products (although the bottles look slightly different now than these from 2007) -

As previosuly stated, the location of the GCH cannot be beat in that it seems to be right in the thick of all the magic. If you get a room that is close to the elevators, the walk to the parks is short and seamless. If you end up in a DTD view room or something down endless corridors, the short walk is negated by the trek to get to and from the room. This is the 'least Disney' of the 3 DLR hotels, with very few hints of Mickey and friends around. The decor and atmosphere of the GCH is reminiscent (to me) of an elegantly rustic mountain lodge, with dark wood, majestic high ceilings, dim lighting, comfy and welcoming sofas and chairs in the lobby, a fireplace, a piano player and grandfather clock. It is a great place to sit and relax (no matter where you are staying) during the day, with a beverage in hand, to catch up with friends and recharge your batteries, and the GCH is especially nice at Christmastime (carolers perform by the huge GCH tree). The maids will bring you chocolate character coins every night when they knock on your door to ask if you want turndown service. There are many wonderful things about the GCH - thought I found the rooms to be a wee bit small and the beds were taller than expected - but many of those things can be enjoyed even if you don't stay there. If you have the $$$ to stay there, I would say do it at least once, but if you can't you can still have a great hotel stay elsewhere. (I have only stayed at GCH twice.) The cozy, earthy Storytellers Cafe and the acclaimed, fine-dining establishment Napa Rose are the onsite table service restaurants, and the popular Whitewater Snacks is the counter service location. Storytellers also hosts the Critter Breakfast character meal.


PPH - you get these bath products (and they also have them in the DLH) -

The PPH is the least expensive of the 3 DLR hotels, and that is primarily because if its lack of property, and the fact that it is across the street from the main DLR property, and thus, seems much further away (even though it really isn't that much further away). Basicaly, you get just the hotel building and the parking structure and that is it. There is not much to look at on property (aside fomr one shop) because it is small. It does not have the sprawling grounds that the DLH does, nor does it have the spacious lounge and upscale feel of the GCH, but it is a very cute hotel. The PPH is bright, shiny and clean. This is where you will find the Lilo and Stitch character breakfast which is hosted at the PCH Grill restaurant, and PCH Grill is open the rest of the day as a regular restaurant. I have stayed at PPH many times (mainly because GCH is too expensive) and I like the beachy feel - it has a prevailing sun/surf/ocean/nautical type theme around the hallways and in the rooms, with surfboard room number signs, a seashell soap dish, Mickey lifeguard lamp, Surfer Goofy statue in the lobby, and sun images everywhere you look. Most rooms have daybeds as well as the main beds.

I have only had one not-so-great PPH experience, on the 5th floor last October - see my Trip Report for that story (link is in signature below) - but I was there last December and it was fine.

DLH - this is a beloved hotel of many of our DIS-ers. It used to actually be a larger property but was downsized to make room for DTD and other parking, etc., back in the late '90s. Steakhouse 55, Hook's Pointe and Goofy's Kitchen are the onsite restaurants. The grounds are lush and expansive, with waterfalls, a koi pond, Peter Pan-pirate-themed pool area, mini-remote controlled Jungle Cruise boats, character topiaries and statues here and there. There is also a cool wall display of old Disney memorabilia which is great. This hotel is the oldest of the 3, and is said to be showing some wear and tear here and there, but it is undergoing a bit of a refurb so maybe that wil all change. The rooms are spacious and many of the have daybeds.


I like to stay onsite at one of the 3 DLR hotels because, for me, the DLR hotel is all part of the experience. I like the total immersion. I want to be Disney-fied from beginning to end, from the second I step out of the car to when I put the bags back in the car. I like the Key to the Magic with my name on it. I like getting the Disney folder with all my brochures and hotel info upon check in. I like that sometimes the CMs at the check-in desk will give free pins or free 8x10 photos - just because they want to! I like seeing Disney characters and just Disney things everywhere I look, in the artwork and in the carpets and in the wallpaper and shower curtains. I want to feel that I have been transported to somewhere I would not normally be in the 'real world,' so staying onsite is important to me. Now, I would stay at GCH more often if I could, but if I can't, then the PPH is fine (and I hope to be returning to the DLH soon too!).

 

[Heymy]

Here's our experience:

We stayed at GCH 3 years ago for my oldest DD's 1st birthday with all the grandparents and uncles. It was lovely..a truly beautiful hotel. We really enjoyed the Storyteller's Cafe and the bar. But my one complaint was it didin't feel very Disney-like, since I was so use to the DLH as a child. The proximity to the parks couldn't be beat, but again I was suprised we were paying so much for so little Mouse

In May we stayed at the DLH for DD's 4th birthday and everyone had an amazing time. Both DD's couldn't get over all the Disney touches in the rooms and the grounds. Goofy's Kitchen was a blast. The pool was an incredible hit...never really thought we'd go, but I had to take them away kicking and screaming.

So for our family, while the girls are small, the DLH is the best option. We rode the Monorail and walked through DTD equal amounts and as long as we had the stroller we were fine. Good luck, staying on-site is such a treat!