Theme Park View vs Concierge Service

coopersmom · Jul 19, 2012

So, having experienced club-level (concierge) at Walt Disney World and been fairly underwhelmed, I want to put our money towards a theme park view room at either the Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian. But my hubby thinks we should go with a regular room and concierge service simply for the convenience of being able to grab and go drinks and breakfast AND having somewhere else to hang out at the hotel, other than just our room. The up charge is roughly similar (within $25/day) for each. So, which would you select, and why?

Yes I do enjoy driving myself nuts. Thanks for asking. :rotfl:

Actually hubby is away for a month--part of why we're planning this big blow out trip in first place--and I'm entertaining myself by obsessing over every detail and choice.

larina · Jul 19, 2012

I'm a view girl myself, but in your situation I would go for a view room with concierge at PPH. They have GREAT views of the park, better walk and views than DLH, and is quite a bit less expensive than the Grand.

lana772 · Jul 20, 2012

I agree with larina. The PPH views are much better than DLH OR GCH. Although I found the CL to have an inconvenient location at PPH and DLH. The only CL worth the $ is GCH. If it has to be both go for PPH. If it has to be one or the other I would choose GCH CL.

lana772 · Jul 20, 2012

coopersmom said:
Yes I do enjoy driving myself nuts. Thanks for asking.

Actually hubby is away for a month--part of why we're planning this big blow out trip in first place--and I'm entertaining myself by obsessing over every detail and choice.

Ha Ha ... I empathize! I have been planning our Christmas trip since May. :rolleyes:

Argento · Jul 20, 2012

lana772 said:
The PPH views are much better than DLH OR GCH

I beg to differ as this was taken from the GCH and is a far better view of the park than any at PPH. The PPH view is similar but you can hardly call it better.

coopersmom · Jul 20, 2012

Argento said:
I beg to differ as this was taken from the GCH and is a far better view of the park than any at PPH. The PPH view is similar but you can hardly call it better.

Wow! What kind of room category was that? Downtown Disney or theme park or premium (confused as to what they all really mean anyway).

lana772 · Jul 20, 2012

Argento said:
I beg to differ as this was taken from the GCH and is a far better view of the park than any at PPH. The PPH view is similar but you can hardly call it better.

Absolutly BEAUTIFUL!!! That view should seal the deal for GCH!!!

What was your room number?

Any fireworks view from that room?

coopersmom · Jul 20, 2012

lana772 said:
Absolutly BEAUTIFUL!!! That view should seal the deal for GCH!!!

What was your room number?

Any fireworks view from that room?

Yes, I admit I'm leaning towards Grand now, if no other reason than it's supposed to be "the best" (so subjective, I know), so I know I wouldn't feel like we wished we just took one step up. But concierge level is just outrageous ($175-$200 up charge on already outrageous room PER NIGHT.) No way I'm doing that, especially given my previous experiences, and at least mild disappointment, with Disney club level amenities (at Walt Disney World). My husband will just have to eat cereal and drink coffee in our room and like it!

My last hesitation is that rooms look, well, dated and worn (a Disney resort problem, I know, since they get so much use). Heck, I actually feel like the Paradise Pier rooms look better than the Grand, and the Disneyland at least appear in photos to be substantially better. But those are all just photo and You Tube impressions.

It's just SOOO much money to lay out, I admit I'm terrified about making the "wrong" decision ... i.e. getting there and thinking, 'Doh <head slap> we definitely should have stayed ________'

Am trying to avoid a repeat of our first DisneyWorld trip in 2010 where I agonized (sound familiar) over our resort choice and discussed it so endlessly my family just about banned the words "Disney and hotel" from being used. Then when we walked from our room at the Poly to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Victoria and Albert's and the instant we stepped into the lobby my husband said (inadvertently crushing me): "Yep, we definitely made the wrong choice. This is totally worth $500 more."

lana772 · Jul 20, 2012

coopersmom said:
Yes, I admit I'm leaning towards Grand now, if no other reason than it's supposed to be "the best" (so subjective, I know), so I know I wouldn't feel like we wished we just took one step up. But concierge level is just outrageous ($175-$200 up charge on already outrageous room PER NIGHT.) No way I'm doing that, especially given my previous experiences, and at least mild disappointment, with Disney club level amenities (at Walt Disney World). My husband will just have to eat cereal and drink coffee in our room and like it!

My last hesitation is that rooms look, well, dated and worn (a Disney resort problem, I know, since they get so much use). Heck, I actually feel like the Paradise Pier rooms look better than the Grand, and the Disneyland at least appear in photos to be substantially better. But those are all just photo and You Tube impressions.

It's just SOOO much money to lay out, I admit I'm terrified about making the "wrong" decision ... i.e. getting there and thinking, 'Doh <head slap> we definitely should have stayed ________'

Am trying to avoid a repeat of our first DisneyWorld trip in 2010 where I agonized (sound familiar) over our resort choice and discussed it so endlessly my family just about banned the words "Disney and hotel" from being used. Then when we walked from our room at the Poly to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Victoria and Albert's and the instant we stepped into the lobby my husband said (inadvertently crushing me): "Yep, we definitely made the wrong choice. This is totally worth $500 more."

We have decide to not do CL at GCH this time and spend that money on nicer meals. (we just can't eat $200+ a day of bagels, snacks and beer).

If you don't stay at GCH you will probably have a repeat experience. We did this the last time we chose to stay at DLH. We chose DLH for something "different" and walked past GCH every day missing our previous rooms.

Also... a lot of the pictures of GCH rooms I have seen on here show the old bedding. The new bedding is similar to PPH's, but with the GCH colors.

Oh... and my husband prefers to have room service bring him the beer of his choice and GCH has GREAT room service.

Argento · Jul 20, 2012

coopersmom said:
Wow! What kind of room category was that?

At the time it was just called theme park view, not sure what it would fall under now since they changed the categories a bit.

lana772 said:
What was your room number?

Any fireworks view from that room?

We were on the 4th floor in the 200 series of rooms. I think fireworks are best viewed in the 100 series or 400 series and can be had with DTD view rooms.

lana772 · Jul 20, 2012

Thank you. I thought that might be 200s. We have never had those. 400s are a great view, too and you get to see the fireworks.

Coopersmom - to get a better chance at the specific room or area that you want, check in early. You wont be able to go to the room, but they will give you the key and text you when it's ready. We have found that we get the specific room that we want by signing in and making the request before 10am on our check in day. If you wait till 3 you get stuck with whatever is left in the level you paid for.

Theme Park View vs Concierge Service

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