Finally got it to load. Wow. That is stark and intense. I hope the reality is better than the photo. I guess we will be spending our time in the other areas of the resort and avoiding the front check in area. I had no idea they were changing it so radically. Is it just blue or is there any decor at all?
So, now you have the great lobby of the GCH and the great rooms of the DLH. What are people going to choose?
Why oh why did they get rid of the Mickey head soaps? I get that the hotel is all remodeled and that is why it costs so much more, but now they are taking away the extra magic...I love those bottle!/end rant

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We stayed at DLH 2 weeks ago for the third summer in a row. I have to say we were pretty disappointed with a couple of the renovations. Rhonna the inside lobby actually isn't too bad. They do have tea cup seats that are pretty cute-except they are kind of half tea cups and 6 year old DD wanted to know why they would put "broken" tea cups in the lobby. The chairs in the kids area are cute too. I would say the lobby is okay, nothing spectacular, but it also didn't make me cringe. It is the exterior front of the hotel that is horrible. They took out everything that gave it any character. It is completely bland and stark. No giant Mickey greeting you, no pink and blue Sleeping Beauty glass/stone chips in the pavement, no
Disneyland Hotel circle on the ground, no beautiful sparkly light fixture. Everything that we, as WDW vets, were impressed with and found wonderful on our first 2 stays was gone. All they did to make it in any way Disney was take the small Mickey and Minnie statues that used to be in the lobby and shove them outside. DD was so upset by the changes to the outside of the hotel that she was almost in tears when we entered the building. I have to say, I can't blame her, my heart absolutely sunk looking around too.
We also hated the pools. There was actually no pool where DD was tall enough to be able to swim and stand. The monorail pool had just opened last year when we were there, and it is cute, but it is all slides and wading- no swimming area. The other 2 pools are 4 feet across the board. There is no 3 foot area. DD(6) wanted to swim, but she is only 46 inches, so there was no place other than on the steps that she could stand anywhere in the pool. The 2 pools are not kid friendly at all unless your kid is wearing floaties or a life jacket. It is also extremely difficult to find anywhere to sit around the pools- there are more chairs in the monorail area, but you can't see the pools from there so if the rest of your family is in the pools, that can be a problem.
Rhonna, we do really like the renovated rooms which we have stayed in the last 2 years, and the grounds are nice too. The only thing in the room we hate is the faucet in the tub which while cute, can be extremely difficult to work. I've had to call DH in more than once in the last 2 years, to try to figure out how to either get the water on, or get it completely off. Just when I think I have the thing figured out, I have trouble with it. Peace.love.Mickey I am completely with you on the Mickey head bottles and the product inside them. I didn't know they were gone and I am so dissapointed. I absolutely loved those things. I hated it when WDW got rid of them. I discovered at WDW, that I'm allergic to that H2O line that they use at DLH now. It just makes my nose stuff up and makes me sneeze!
We are really considering trying GCH next time, which prior to this trip we loved DLH too much to switch. That is not to say that we wouldn't stay at DLH again because we would. We just might close our eyes as we enter the building!
