WDW vet tries off-property at Disneyland

[Halloweenqueen]

Not what I wanted to read before heading to the Park Vue tomorrow.

I think you are comparing apple to oranges here. I think everyone is aware that one makes compromises when making off site plans. Price and distances are the big pluses.

For a typical DL visitor this choice is great. My family would rather take multiple trips then spend $$$ on a hotel room we will only see in the evening.

OP, your experience sounds very extreme. It appears that the hotel was trying to manage the aftermath of an obnoxious guest. I would have asked for another room before uprooting everyone.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Just an FYI...Park Vue is currently number two on Tripadvisor for Hotels in Anaheim. They must be doing something right.

I'll post my review next week!

 

[CamoMama]

That sounds awful, and I would have done the same thing. But it definitely isn't indicative of all off site hotels/motels at DLR. I stayed at the Motel 6 last week, and expected a cheap motel, but actually got a very nice room with a 10 minute walk from the parks.

I don't mind the walk at all, it totally doesn't ruin the magic for me. On my way down Disney I could see the bear and the ToT in the distance, and passed beautiful flower beds all along the way. I passed the Garden Walk every evening on the way back and always wanted to go in and check it out, but was just too beat from being in the parks all day. I also don't mind crossing Harbor, seeing the Disneyland sign right across from me always gets me excited.

 

[hootey]

I agree completely with staying on site. We have stayed off property three times in attempts to save money. We will not do it again. It is quite simple, if we can not stay at one of the disney hotels, we will not go. We enjoy the disney hotels and all the extras that go with being a disney guest. We use the DisneyLand Resort as just that, a resort. We use all the facilities, all the extras, and love all the extras. Last year the boys loved having Goofey help us out of the car at the hotel entrance and his help loading the baggage cart with our travel bags. We love it....

 

[All American]

I agree completely with staying on site. We have stayed off property three times in attempts to save money. We will not do it again. It is quite simple, if we can not stay at one of the disney hotels, we will not go. We enjoy the disney hotels and all the extras that go with being a disney guest. We use the DisneyLand Resort as just that, a resort. We use all the facilities, all the extras, and love all the extras. Last year the boys loved having Goofey help us out of the car at the hotel entrance and his help loading the baggage cart with our travel bags. We love it....

How fun!!!

 

[Amy&Dan]

That is a shame and I am glad it all worked out for you. What I am about to say is not to the OP but rather to WDW vets, who only stay onsite at WDW and are venturing to DL and either planning on or thinking about staying offsite. Also, as usual, I have to agree with Hydroguy!

We have visited both DL and WDW evenly at about 17 times each over the last decade. I always stay onsite at WDW but have had five very good stays offsite at DL. I have stayed at all three onsite DL hotels, several times each, and many WDW onsite hotels (have stayed at each level, but not each resort).

While I prefer onsite at DL, I simply cannot wrap my mind and budget around the prices they charge. For our July dates (OP was there off season which is why she got in so "cheap" by DLR standards) the DLH is $400 a night for a standard room, plus tax and if we had a car we'd be paying for parking too. Insane! Is it worht it? Hard to say. We are currently booked at the DLH and the Candy Cane Inn, I feel like the DLH will win out but its with some misgivings I am paying that much.

Harbor Blvd is and is not a typical city street. It is in that there is traffic, but you are generally walking along with many other tourists to a Disney theme park and once inside the Espanlande, to me Harbor is a distant memory. Which is why I am waffling over paying so much more for the DLH, because while walk up DTD is obviously more "Disney" in feel, I generally only spend a few minutes a day walking to and from the resort (even with our daily midday break) and I am not sure its worth the extra $280 a night I'll be paying to walk up DTD. Obviously there's more to onsite than that, but in the end, even after so many great times onsite, its not easy for me to justify that price tag.

As much as I love the three onsite hotels at DL, the DLH in particular, its really only the Grand Californian that can rival a WDW resort since its the only one of the three that was built by Disney. The DLH's refurb definitely was a good move and I can't wait to see all the changes, but as much as I love those hotels, even for me having stayed at and enjoyed them all, I find they are not on the same level as WDW onsite resorts simply because they don't have the expansive grounds and they are on the edge of the DLR meaning you might look out your window and see a busy city street, a neighborhood, etc.

I have seen reviews similar to this before encouraging people to stay onsite, but more often I have seen WDW regulars describing the DLR onsite hotels as below WDW onsite hotels and encouraging people to stay offsite since onsite isn't the same as WDW. I can't agree all the way with either sentiment and I see valid points in all of this but the bottom line is that with only three, very high priced hotels to choose from, and even with loving the onsite hotels at DL, this Disney lover simply cannot say to stay there or don't go. Never in a million years. Based on my love of Disneyland and DCA not to mention five great stays at offsite hotels (Hojo 2x, BWPPI, Camelot and Tropicana).

I guess I just hate to think of anyone doubling or even tripling their hotel budget thinking its the only way to have a magical vacation only to be disappointed and broke!

 

[smiley_face2]

We had a similar experience when staying at Howard Johnsons (Hojo's) back in 2008. We have stayed there several times over the past 21 years, and have always had a good experience, but that one time, we also checked out and moved to the Disneyland Hotel. Lucky for us at that time with our annual pass we were able to get a view room for only $179 and in July!! Oh how I long for those days!! We have stayed at Hojo's again twice since, both times were great, and we have also stayed in several of the off site hotels along Harbor. We did ask to be moved to a different room once at the Candy Cane Inn as well, but were perfectly happy after that. At Hojo's they were fully booked so there was no option to change rooms. We had a similar experience once at Best Western Park Place Inn as well, last summer and again they were full so no where to move us, and I was very weak and tired from having just finished chemo so we just stayed put and made the most of it.
One time when staying at the Disneyland hotel, when we checked into our room, the glasses on the tray in the cabinet were dirty!! we called and they dealt with the problem and we had a lovely stay. We are all only human and mistakes happen, it is nice if there can at least be an apology and the situation rectified, but sometime we just have to move on. I guess in that instance we could have been disgusted and moved off site to a hotel on Harbor
There is another review from a WDW vet just posted as well with a 180 degree different point of view from yours with their stay at Park Vue Inn.
Long and short, every hotel can have a bad day, you can have a bad stay and a good stay at the same hotel, everyones expectations are different, standards higher or lower, but I don't think telling people in bold print to not stay here or anywhere off site is fair at all. I have been right inside Disneyland and smelled that nasty sewer smell coming up from the grates as well! We just move along and forget about it.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I think it boils down to:
if this is a parks focused TRIP, stay offsite at a highly rated property
if this is a experience focused VACATION, stay onsite , and structure your time to get full value from the resort amenities

 

[blackjackdelta]

I think it build down to:
if this is a TRIP, stay offsite at a highly rated property
if this is a VACATION, stay onsite , and structure your time to get full value from the resort amenities

Interesting thought, Judy.

Jack

 

[Astylla]

I think it build down to:
if this is a TRIP, stay offsite at a highly rated property
if this is a VACATION, stay onsite , and structure your time to get full value from the resort amenities

I admit this is an interesting view and definitely to each their own. While we consider out trips to be vacations I have never been one that ever spends much time at the hotel anyway so amenities are not as much a concern for me personally. But I can definitely understand those that rely on them and book around them or with close proximity especially with children or other family members.

I do have to stay coming from Florida growing up with WDW parks and never staying onsite ( my family just never could afford it) - I do think the magic can be seen as more encompassing because of how it is laid out. That is to be taken with a grain of salt as the last time I was actually there was in 2005.

My first trip to DLR was with my then boyfriend now husband in 2009. I loved how we could actually walk from the hotel to Disneyland. I loved seeing all the families catch breakfast at surrounding restaurants and walk to the park down Harbor. I enjoyed seeing the various hotels and motels about and their individual charm. I fell in love with DLR more than my "home" in Florida.

As for the hotel experience - believe it or not bad experiences can happen in the worst motel and the best 5 star hotel. Sometimes it can be minor things that add up , sometimes it is something serious to which you described that should NOT be overlooked. I do tend to think these things are rare however or people would be sure to make note of it. Everyone has an opinion and some are based more on fact , and others more around what they expected and wasn't delivered. I take reviews with a grain of salt but admittedly would steer clear of any establishment where the majority were very bad.

I work in a full service hotel and we have had situations that arose that while not to the degree of your issues , we have come across that needed to be and were addressed immediately. My best advice in the industry is to bring up ALL concerns to the front desk asap. Be polite about it , but express your concerns and they should acknowledge your concerns as valid and at least attempt to correct it.

I'm sorry you experience was so negative but glad you found a solution that suited your needs.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I think it boils down to:
if this is a parks focused TRIP, stay offsite at a highly rated property
if this is a experience focused VACATION, stay onsite , and structure your time to get full value from the resort amenities

This is the perfect statement. For us Disneyland is more park focused and we stay offsite and spend all day in the parks. When we go to WDW we can afford to stay onsite so we treat it more like a true vacation (we even plan a day to just hang out at the hotel!).

I always try to explain to people that the hotels across from the DLR are not nice, they are just "fine." I hope no one goes to the HOJO and expects the Hyatt. But I have never had any major problems at the hotels across the street and they fit our budget and our needs. I have never noticed a smell in the air, in fact the crowds walking kind of builds that excitement for me (maybe because I remember holding my parents' hands and walking my way toward the happiest place on earth!).

Good to hear a different opinion though and I am glad you got into the DLH to save it from spoiling your trip.

 

[minniecarousel]

well......back in the day, the Disneyland Hotel was the ONLY on-site hotel. Most of the motels surrounding Disneyland were seedy-looking and/or run-down. My first visit as a child, we stayed in Santa Ana - a few towns over, since we couldn't even afford the motels in Anaheim. So the area surrounding Disneyland has improved greatly. Most of the motels have had face-lifts or been rebuilt.

There are vast differences between Disneyland & WDW. A lot more locals attend the SoCal Parks.

OP - I'm glad you were able to change to the Disneyland Hotel. Nothing sucks the magic out of a Disney vacation like foul smells!