WDW veteran, a few specific questions....pretty please

[DisneyDoc5]

WDW veteran here....anxious about planning our LONG awaited trip to the motherland, the OG, the home of the magic.....in lieu of irritating all of you with the perpetual question....which is better DLH or GC....I will ask the specific questions that keep me from making my hotel decision: (we insist on staying on property for this trip)

1. The walk: I've read several different opinions, the DLH walk is only 6-10 minutes, GC is so much more convenient, etc. Keeping in mind that we are used to walking from WDW MK back to Bay Lake Tower without a problem except tired legs, is it really a significant reason to choose GC over DLH? We are healthy active folks with adult sized kids.

2. Club Level versus 1 bedroom Suites: I'll be honest, I like the look of the DLH rooms better overall with the exception of no balcony, we are 5 adult sized humans (even though a few are teens). We usually stay CL or get a 1 bedroom suite and order groceries, but I like the idea of Club Level. We are planning a 5 night stay, maybe 1 day to LA for the usual suspects or a studio tour, 3 park days, plenty of pool time in between, Walking in Walt's tour. Club Level for snacks works well for our fam at WDW and with plenty of time out of the room thinking the club level would work ok, but torn. CL services at both hotels looks lovely unless you have a dramatic opinion that one is better than the other.

Overall plan....feedback welcome and greatly appreciated if you have the time (I'm a bit of a wreck being a newbie after being a WDW veteran): Fly into San Diego on Saturday (we have family there but going to stay in a hotel, don't know which one), 3 nights (Balboa, downtown, Coronado, zoo, seals, lots of Mexican food, maybe Sea World) all Uber, rent car Tuesday, and drive to Anaheim (or is the train the way to go???), DL resort stay Tuesday to Sunday (3-4 park days, 1 day maybe to LA for Hollywood and a studios tour or Planetarium), fly home (Michigan/Chicago) Sunday out of John Wayne if possible, otherwise LAX, return car at airport. Highlights we want to do: Walking in Walt's Footsteps (we are hugs Walt fans), Fantasmic, World of Color, SH55, Napa Rose, Blue Bayou, Trader Sam's hopefully some of the dinner/show tickets packages, the max pass option. ANY INPUT WELCOME! FYI our favorites resorts at WDW are Polynesian, Beach and Yacht, Animal Kingdom, we've had yearly trips to WDW since 2008, kids have grown, and before we go to Europe or beyond we have to see the original!

I can't thank you all enough for anyone willing to respond, I feel like a heel asking as I know these are common questions of you DL experts, but it is greatly appreciated!
Have a magical day,
Erin

 

[2 Pinks]

I have only stayed at Grand Californian so far in recent years - with my entire family, plus exchange student in October 2015 and then an "adults only" trip with the husband in November 2016. The convenience to the parks was awesome and staying Club Level was super great. It was so easy to grab some breakfast from the lounge on our way to the parks, come back in the afternoon for some more and then ending our days with the desserts. It was great having last-minute help with some reservations.

We are choosing to stay at the DLH for our trip in 2 weeks and will also be staying Club Level. We are taking my mother-in-law and figure on afternoons or mornings that she doesn't feel up to going to the parks, the lounge will give her somewhere to "hang out" other than the room. From what I understand - the Club Level Lounge in DLH is the only Club Level Lounge that has Mickey Waffles! I'm also excited about the look of the rooms at the DLH. The GC is a beautiful hotel and certainly lives up to the "Grand" in its name, but I'm excited about the history of the DLH and the more Disney-fied decor. We will be bringing our teen girls and will be in 2 rooms, hopefully adjoining. And I'm looking forward to being able to ride the monorail to and from the hotel as well as enjoying the leisurely walk through DTD too. Staying at GC felt that the monorail and anything in DTD was "out of the way".

You have mentioned being a big Walt fan so I think you would really enjoy the DLH for the historicity. But really I doubt you would regret being in either place. They both have great aspects.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

I have only stayed at Grand Californian so far in recent years - with my entire family, plus exchange student in October 2015 and then an "adults only" trip with the husband in November 2016. The convenience to the parks was awesome and staying Club Level was super great. It was so easy to grab some breakfast from the lounge on our way to the parks, come back in the afternoon for some more and then ending our days with the desserts. It was great having last-minute help with some reservations.

We are choosing to stay at the DLH for our trip in 2 weeks and will also be staying Club Level. We are taking my mother-in-law and figure on afternoons or mornings that she doesn't feel up to going to the parks, the lounge will give her somewhere to "hang out" other than the room. From what I understand - the Club Level Lounge in DLH is the only Club Level Lounge that has Mickey Waffles! I'm also excited about the look of the rooms at the DLH. The GC is a beautiful hotel and certainly lives up to the "Grand" in its name, but I'm excited about the history of the DLH and the more Disney-fied decor. We will be bringing our teen girls and will be in 2 rooms, hopefully adjoining. And I'm looking forward to being able to ride the monorail to and from the hotel as well as enjoying the leisurely walk through DTD too. Staying at GC felt that the monorail and anything in DTD was "out of the way".

You have mentioned being a big Walt fan so I think you would really enjoy the DLH for the historicity. But really I doubt you would regret being in either place. They both have great aspects.

extremely helpful, all points that really are meaningful to me, including the Mickey Waffles! And the Disney fan/history decor comment, also important and why I lean towards DLH. So a million thanks!!!!

 

[ktlm]

We are WDW vets, who have been also going to DLR every year for the last 10 years. By WDW standards- the walk to DLH is fine. I believe it is almost the exact same length as walking from Bay Lake Tower to Magic Kingdom. We prefer DLH just because it is different than any of the WDW resorts. GCH is beautiful and you can not go wrong with either, but it is pretty much a scaled down version of WL. They are very similar. Pick whichever one appeals to you the most. Since you are interested in Trader Sams- DLH obviously puts you right there. When we get back from the parks at night- I usually go up to the room with DD, and DH goes to Trader Sams and grabs drinks for both of us and brings them to the room.

Our trips are typically 8 nights. We spend the 1st half at DLR and then the 2nd half elsewhere-- usually the San Diego area, but this year we changed directions and went up to the Hollywood area. We usually have 4 full park days (which includes a good part of arrival day and good part of departure day to make the 4th day). I think your plan is overall pretty good. You do need to realize that the drive from DLR to the Hollywood area generally takes about an hour (and it can be longer if you hit traffic). SNA is by far the easiest airport- and we will spend more money to fly in and out of there and avoid LAX-- however our last trip we ended by staying in the Hollywood area and we left the Griffith Observatory for the airport in the early afternoon (not rush hour) and it took us almost 2 hours to get back to SNA. If you do head the Hollywood way, we really loved the Warner Brothers studios tour and the Griffith Observatory(which has a great view of the Hollywood sign)

 

[DisTXMom]

DLH has so much nostalgia- that’s why we stay there. Clearly, it’s further away than GCH but it’s not a significant time difference. We don’t stay club so can’t help you there- So many great snack and drink options around downtown Disney to try.

 

[BadPinkTink]

you will get lots of various opinions and help here

you mentioned the walk.

If it was me and I had the budget to stay at either Grand California Or Disneyland Hotel, I would choose Grand California

1. You have to walk past Grand California to get to Disneyland Hotel, I know it would get to me to walk past a hotel I could have afforded to stay at but didnt every night.
2. Grand California has an entrance to California Adventures park
3. Grand California has park view rooms, which may or not be in your budget. The park view rooms you can see and hear World of Color

 

[Disneyhanna]

We decided to do LAX instead of SNA recently to save money, and it was the most terrible airport experience I've ever had. Traffic was so bad near the airport that the last mile took an hour at 10PM on a Sunday! If I hadn't had two suitcases I would have gotten out and walked. I would seriously pay up to $200 a person to fly out of SNA instead of LAX if possible.

 

[Malcon10t]

5 adults in a GCH room would be TIGHT. The rooms are smaller than the DLH, and to be honest, we feel tight with only 3 adults in the room. We prefer the DLH over the GCH every time. Everyone says how great the Grand is, so I kept trying to like the Grand, til my daughter finally said "Why do you keep doing this? You know we prefer the DLH...."

That said, I really enjoy club level at the DLH. Servers are so friendly. Club hosts are so helpful.

 

[azdisneylover]

We are a family of 5 (3 teens) and stay at the Grand. We have done Club a couple of times at the Grand, once when the remodel was happening so we did a redo. They do NOT have waffles, eggs, etc. They do have lunch meat, cheeses, mini croissants, etc. I like how close the hotel is because I have a bad hip and it makes the walk back when I need a break not as bad. The balcony in the room is nice to sit during the afternoon while relaxing, especially with goodies from the club or WWS or Craftsman Grille. Plus, the family loves riding grizzly rapids over and over again until they are soaking wet then they have just a few steps back to the room!

 

[KateDrake]

I hope you guys have an awesome time! I think you really can't go wrong between DLH and GC, it's just what you are looking for. The walk isn't too bad from either. (I personally prefer the "magic" of DLH but both are lovely). I equate it to picking the resort you like based on theme at WDW. The walk from both is extremely doable, especially if you don't have little ones to drag along.

I would avoid LAX if at all possible, it truly is hellish. Seriously the worst airport I've ever been to, worldwide. SNA is really nice, and we particularly love Long Beach and try to fly in there whenever we can. (Though it tends to have limited service. Great option if you can go on Jet Blue though!)

With regard to your car, I'd actually swap the portions of the trip you are using it. It is nice to have in San Diego, as things can be quite a bit farther away (especially stuff like the Zoo Safari Park, which is AWESOME). I'd get the car there, and drive up to LA and do all the Hollywood stuff you want to do (though I will say that does tend to be a little underwhelming, so maybe research so you have realistic expectations). Then ditch the car and walk around DLR, and Uber or Lyft back to whatever airport you fly out of. Once you are at the DLH or GC, you really can walk just about everywhere you need to go, or take a short Lyft around Anaheim. (And that way you finish at Disney, so you end on the highlight!) You really can spend 5 days at DLR, so that is an option too!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

5 adults in a GCH room would be TIGHT. The rooms are smaller than the DLH, and to be honest, we feel tight with only 3 adults in the room. We prefer the DLH over the GCH every time. Everyone says how great the Grand is, so I kept trying to like the Grand, til my daughter finally said "Why do you keep doing this? You know we prefer the DLH...."

That said, I really enjoy club level at the DLH. Servers are so friendly. Club hosts are so helpful.

fabulous! thank you!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

I hope you guys have an awesome time! I think you really can't go wrong between DLH and GC, it's just what you are looking for. The walk isn't too bad from either. (I personally prefer the "magic" of DLH but both are lovely). I equate it to picking the resort you like based on theme at WDW. The walk from both is extremely doable, especially if you don't have little ones to drag along.

I would avoid LAX if at all possible, it truly is hellish. Seriously the worst airport I've ever been to, worldwide. SNA is really nice, and we particularly love Long Beach and try to fly in there whenever we can. (Though it tends to have limited service. Great option if you can go on Jet Blue though!)

With regard to your car, I'd actually swap the portions of the trip you are using it. It is nice to have in San Diego, as things can be quite a bit farther away (especially stuff like the Zoo Safari Park, which is AWESOME). I'd get the car there, and drive up to LA and do all the Hollywood stuff you want to do (though I will say that does tend to be a little underwhelming, so maybe research so you have realistic expectations). Then ditch the car and walk around DLR, and Uber or Lyft back to whatever airport you fly out of. Once you are at the DLH or GC, you really can walk just about everywhere you need to go, or take a short Lyft around Anaheim. (And that way you finish at Disney, so you end on the highlight!) You really can spend 5 days at DLR, so that is an option too!

I love all of this. And we really don't care about Hollywood, just felt like we 'should' do it, but maybe we will do a 4 or 5 day ticket instead, that sounds GREAT to me! I think we will further investigate the car in San Diego, I've heard a few people say this. Thank you so much!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

I'm beyond grateful for all of your input. I think we are leaning towards CL at DLH. We might just forget the LA part, we really won't be back there anytime soon and we always spend a full week at WDW, so a 5 night stay (4 full non travel days) will give us lots of time to really soak in the details and magic. We would all rather duplicate DL things then see the Hollywood walk of fame! Thanks everyone! More comments welcome! I love the Disney loving community!

 

[LittleMissMagic]

It sounds like you're leaning toward DLH, and I think you should go with your instincts. Here's why -

1. The walk from DLH to the parks is very short - I wouldn't even describe it as "not bad".... it's very convenient. Just not as convenient as GCH. If you're all active, able-bodied individuals, you'll be totally fine walking to/from DLH everyday, and since you'll have 5 days there, a few extra minutes and steps each day isn't going to set you back. And there are a few tricks to cut down the walk. If you're in DCA, you can exit through GCH and walk though the hotel to DTD rather than walking to the main gate (depends on where you are in DCA when your'e leaving, this may or may not save you time). And then you can enter and exit DLH by way of the monorail.... now, it's not nearly as quick as efficient as the WDW monorail system, but it can give your feet a break.

2. GCH is very similar in theming to Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW (same architect). DLH is nothing like the resorts at WDW - it's something that's really authentic to Disneyland. I think you'll enjoy Club Level - there's really great views of Disneyland Resort from the CL Lounge. The rooms are very sizable. And Trader Sam's is a great time.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

It sounds like you're leaning toward DLH, and I think you should go with your instincts. Here's why -

1. The walk from DLH to the parks is very short - I wouldn't even describe it as "not bad".... it's very convenient. Just not as convenient as GCH. If you're all active, able-bodied individuals, you'll be totally fine walking to/from DLH everyday, and since you'll have 5 days there, a few extra minutes and steps each day isn't going to set you back. And there are a few tricks to cut down the walk. If you're in DCA, you can exit through GCH and walk though the hotel to DTD rather than walking to the main gate (depends on where you are in DCA when your'e leaving, this may or may not save you time). And then you can enter and exit DLH by way of the monorail.... now, it's not nearly as quick as efficient as the WDW monorail system, but it can give your feet a break.

2. GCH is very similar in theming to Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW (same architect). DLH is nothing like the resorts at WDW - it's something that's really authentic to Disneyland. I think you'll enjoy Club Level - there's really great views of Disneyland Resort from the CL Lounge. The rooms are very sizable. And Trader Sam's is a great time.

very reassuring! We like the very Disney theming at DLH, and the rooms appear slightly bigger which is a plus with the big kids. We may miss the balcony, but DH can sit in the lounge, or hopefully we will be in the pool daily as well. I wonder if you can 'pool hop' between the two, I'm guessing no as is the case at WDW (which is fine with me). Thank you so much for your time and input!

 

[wolfaroo]

We decided to do LAX instead of SNA recently to save money, and it was the most terrible airport experience I've ever had. Traffic was so bad near the airport that the last mile took an hour at 10PM on a Sunday! If I hadn't had two suitcases I would have gotten out and walked. I would seriously pay up to $200 a person to fly out of SNA instead of LAX if possible.

Oooh this tip is great- I think you probably just saved us from missing a flight!

 

[nkereina]

We are WDW vets who visited DL from the east coast back in May. Just my two cents!

1. The walk: I've read several different opinions, the DLH walk is only 6-10 minutes, GC is so much more convenient, etc. Keeping in mind that we are used to walking from WDW MK back to Bay Lake Tower without a problem except tired legs, is it really a significant reason to choose GC over DLH? We are healthy active folks with adult sized kids.

We stayed off-site across the street, but visited each of the DL hotels. I didn't think the walk from DLH was bad at all. You do have to walk through all of Downtown Disney, but its so much smaller and more compact than Disney Springs. We are two able-bodied adults, and I would definitely consider a stay at DLH in the future. We really liked the vibe there over GCH.

DL resort stay Tuesday to Sunday (3-4 park days, 1 day maybe to LA for Hollywood and a studios tour or Planetarium),

We opted to spend 4 nights in Anaheim and 2 nights in LA to do the LA tourist things. Its a solid hour in stop and go traffic to commute between the two (most of the day), so that was enough where we were glad we had a split stay planned. We stayed at the Loews Hollywood Hotel which was great to be able to walk to Hollywood, and we took advantage of a double decker bus tour to get to all the other stops we wanted to visit. Our favorite area was Beverly Hills and we loved the Farmer's Market/Grove. We also did the Warner Bros Tour which was cool, but I'd recommend looking at Warner Bros shows - I wasn't familiar with a lot of them. Hollywood itself (Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater) was more skeevy than we anticipated. It was very busy too. We didn't spend more than 30 minutes walking around there.

fly home (Michigan/Chicago) Sunday out of John Wayne if possible, otherwise LAX, return car at airport.

We flew to and from LAX, which is part of the reason we opted to stay in LA at the end of our trip. I had read many reports to avoid this airport, but our experience was fine. Our home airport has nonstop flights which are inexpensive, so it was worth it to us to give it a try. I would do it again. It was considerably more expensive, and with layovers, if we had flown out of John Wayne.

Only other thing I'll add is that I was glad we did not have a rental car. The driving there would have given me anxiety. We aren't used to that level of traffic or the size of those highways. If you live in a major city, it may be par for you, but just a warning!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Oooh this tip is great- I think you probably just saved us from missing a flight!

Definitely give yourself enough time if using rideshare! Our Uber picked us up from the BWPPI (across from Disneyland entrance on Harbor) at 9:40PM on a Sunday and it got to terminal 3 at 11:00. Security was luckily pretty quick that night. My flight was supposed to board 11:30 but ended up being delayed 20 min, but that’s a little close for me personally since it wasn’t delayed until it was already supposed to be boarding time. I think rental cars maybe don’t have to enter the zoo that is the two miles prior to departures, but either way I’d leave more time than you usually do since Google Maps said it was only going to take around 50 minutes.

 

[twodogs]

We have stayed at both, done 1 and 2 bedroom suites at both (these are NOT villas like DVC at Bay Lake Towers; they are simply rooms that connect and have a living room space with a little fridge; unless you do DVC at VGC and not the hotel (GCH)), done CL at GCH. We first stayed at GCH, then DLH the next time to save some money. After that, we have always spent the extra and stayed at the GCH.

1. We are fit, have teens, exercise 4 times per week, and still thought the extra walk was just painful after a full park day. We typically do 25,000 steps per day at DLR, so even those extra few minutes of walking to the DLH seemed like forever. We always walk to MK from BLT in WDW, as well as to DHS and EPCOT from Beach Club. So we don’t mind walking. But just as OP said, walking PAST the GCH at the end of a long day is heartbreaking to me!

2. I think the rooms at DLH need refreshing, whereas GCH just had a face lift. Others on here will (and have) disagreed about this. Maybe we just got a tired suite...

3. I feel like DLH is more generic than GCH. I did not see “Walt all over it” like others did, so maybe I just missed it. I really disliked no balcony because we like to sit out there during our stay and decompress.

4. I really liked Trader Sams, and we could have a drink while the teens swam in the pool below. But I also really like the bar at GCH, and I am eager to try it now that it has re-opened (we just missed it on our June trip so we will see it in October on that trip).

5. We have always had great service at the GCH, and the bell services folks remember my kids and are so nice to them about pin trading etc. I felt the service at DLH was generic/unenthusiastic.

6. Proximity to the parks trumps it all for me. If someone is tired, cold, hot, cranky, wet, whatever, they can go back. I think you get a lot more out of CL when you are closer and can just pop back.

Either one will be fantastic, but these are my reasons for loving GCH. I definitely vote for SNA over LAX, for sure!!!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

We are WDW vets who visited DL from the east coast back in May. Just my two cents!


We stayed off-site across the street, but visited each of the DL hotels. I didn't think the walk from DLH was bad at all. You do have to walk through all of Downtown Disney, but its so much smaller and more compact than Disney Springs. We are two able-bodied adults, and I would definitely consider a stay at DLH in the future. We really liked the vibe there over GCH.


We opted to spend 4 nights in Anaheim and 2 nights in LA to do the LA tourist things. Its a solid hour in stop and go traffic to commute between the two (most of the day), so that was enough where we were glad we had a split stay planned. We stayed at the Loews Hollywood Hotel which was great to be able to walk to Hollywood, and we took advantage of a double decker bus tour to get to all the other stops we wanted to visit. Our favorite area was Beverly Hills and we loved the Farmer's Market/Grove. We also did the Warner Bros Tour which was cool, but I'd recommend looking at Warner Bros shows - I wasn't familiar with a lot of them. Hollywood itself (Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater) was more skeevy than we anticipated. It was very busy too. We didn't spend more than 30 minutes walking around there.


We flew to and from LAX, which is part of the reason we opted to stay in LA at the end of our trip. I had read many reports to avoid this airport, but our experience was fine. Our home airport has nonstop flights which are inexpensive, so it was worth it to us to give it a try. I would do it again. It was considerably more expensive, and with layovers, if we had flown out of John Wayne.

Only other thing I'll add is that I was glad we did not have a rental car. The driving there would have given me anxiety. We aren't used to that level of traffic or the size of those highways. If you live in a major city, it may be par for you, but just a warning!

extremely helpful, I can't thank you enough for your time!