What are the benefits of staying at a resort hotel?

[Disneyland1084]

I should really know this since I've stayed at all three of them. But the last time I did was in 2018, before the pandemic. I understand some or all the benefits have changed. What are they now? I see the resort room prices have gone down 30% for summer of 2025. I have reservations at Park Vue Inn for August, though I'm 80% sure I'll be canceling since I want to go to Oogie Boogie Bash instead. But if DL has this same sale on resort hotels in summer 2026, I'll seriously consider staying on site again, but only if the benefits are good. And I know they're likely to change without notice at anytime.

 

[SFMommy]

The main benefit is 30 minutes early entry every morning. Three mornings a week is DL and four mornings a week is DCA.

 

[Disneyland1084]

The main benefit is 30 minutes early entry every morning. Three mornings a week is DL and four mornings a week is DCA.

Thanks. Hopefully they'll go back to the full hour of EE.

 

[mdmost]

Do you get earlier access to the advanced dining reservations as well? I thought there's a window of time that ADRs are held for hotel guests.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Some resorts feel very Disney so you can get your Disney vibes all day. We like being plugged into the bubble for transportation and safety.

 

[joseph821]

Also Disneyland Resort Hotel guests are in separate reservation buckets for DL and DCA and there is a unwritten rule that hotel guests are automatically guaranteed for entry to both or either parks (New Year's Eve after 4 or so is the exception).

 

[Howry]

I should really know this since I've stayed at all three of them. But the last time I did was in 2018, before the pandemic. I understand some or all the benefits have changed. What are they now? I see the resort room prices have gone down 30% for summer of 2025. I have reservations at Park Vue Inn for August, though I'm 80% sure I'll be canceling since I want to go to Oogie Boogie Bash instead. But if DL has this same sale on resort hotels in summer 2026, I'll seriously consider staying on site again, but only if the benefits are good. And I know they're likely to change without notice at anytime.

The main benefit is my opinion is to stay on resort property if you have way to much money and want to get rid of a lot of it.

No really tho, its the best option if you want to stay within the Disney bubble and 30 min early entry which seems like a slap in the face now days for how expensive it is to stay on property.

Personally I would rather stay off property and have the extra $300-400 per night for other stuff.

 

[irlandaise]

Some resorts feel very Disney so you can get your Disney vibes all day. We like being plugged into the bubble for transportation and safety.

Well, the only transportation is the monorail, and it only has two stations, so is that really much of a benefit?

 

[irlandaise]

The main benefit is my opinion is to stay on resort property if you have way to much money and want to get rid of a lot of it.

No really tho, its the best option if you want to stay within the Disney bubble and 30 min early entry which seems like a slap in the face now days for how expensive it is to stay on property.

From reports on this forum, the effect of early entry actually lasts longer, since it takes a while for everyone else to filter in and fill up the lines. But yeah, DL really ought to go back to 60 minutes.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Besides early entry, the benefit is staying within the Disney Bubble. As mentioned, you may also be eligible for reservations and tickets to sold out events (OBB) when you would otherwise not be.

 

[katyringo]

I didn't get it until we stayed at DLH and now I get it. The early entry was great as we are loyal rope droppers-
Especially having at the time a little girl and that early entry to fantasyland was amazing. But more it felt more of a full inclusive vacation then we had felt ever before at Disneyland. It was more the vibe we get at WDW while getting to go to our more favorite parks in CA.

If I can tell you the difference just in felling and vibe-

My solo/couples only trip we stay off site as we will hit parks open to close.

Trip with the kids- we will stay onsite. The pool/ resort becomes part of the trip when with the family.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I stayed on Harbor for decades until finally staying onsite at the Grand Californian in 2023. The main benefit is honestly feeling like you're never really leaving Disney. Walking to your hotel via Downtown Disney just feels like an extension of the parks. And if you're at the Grand Californian, you have your own entrances into California Adventure.

Is that worth the extra money? Well, that's a personal decision.

 

[LKing]

Do you get earlier access to the advanced dining reservations as well? I thought there's a window of time that ADRs are held for hotel guests.

Do you? I'm not sure it really matters at Disneyland. To my knowledge, the only things that book in seconds are Trader Sams and River Belle Terrace PREMIUM dining package. Otherwise, if you are on the app at 6 am PST, you should have options for Napa Rose, Blue Bayou, Carthay Circle. Ogas Cantina, etc.

 

[MouseBrief]

They are little things, but we like that the resort hotels offer classes, tours, evening movies and the sweet little Pixar Shorts Court. Not so little things are that they have the best pools in Anaheim, and we loved watching fireworks with music from the roof deck at Pixar Place this summer.
All those little things can add up to something big if you are planning to spend arrival and departure days outside the parks but near Disneyland. We also loved all those offerings when taking a day “off” to let our kids recuperate before the next rope drop. It’s a different kind of fun from the parks, and our kids love it all.
If you do not think you will spend much time at the hotel itself, it’s a whole different calculation. We stay on and off site and have great trips, but we definitely do a different kind of trip if we are stating onsite.

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Well, the only transportation is the monorail, and it only has two stations, so is that really much of a benefit?

In terms of safety/walking (I would include "walking" in the overall term of "transportation"), I think there is a bit of a difference, especially late at night. You can go straight into the Grand Californian from DCA, and the other entrance is only halfway down DTD. For the other hotels, the walk is well-lit and isolated from the outside world (no crossing streets, no homeless, etc.). For most of the other hotels in walking distance, you usually have to cross streets, and I have definitely come across the occasional homeless person sleeping/hanging out at the bus stops right off property. While the homeless I have seen have never been aggressive, it can be disconcerting to people not used to seeing homeless people IRL regularly and people who have small children. You can stay at a hotel on the ART bus line, but that's an extra cost, and the ART busses are rather small.

I have never stayed on-property, and will likely only stay on property once in the future, just to do it, but I can see why it would appeal to people.

 

[StarlitNight05]

While the homeless I have seen have never been aggressive, it can be disconcerting to people not used to seeing homeless people IRL regularly and people who have small children.

Agreed. Or in my case, as someone who lives in an area with a high concentration of homeless people (it does seem to be getting better though), it's nice to have a break from that while on vacation. That sounds callous, but I mean it from a point that it legitimately depresses me, and I like to avoid that if possible.

 

[meeshy1342]

Besides early entry, the benefit is staying within the Disney Bubble. As mentioned, you may also be eligible for reservations and tickets to sold out events (OBB) when you would otherwise not be.

Just an FYI, having a reservation at a Disneyland hotel has NO impact on someone's ability to get tickets to Special Events. There were a few years where the front desk of the Grand California had a SMALL (like less than 15) number of tickets available to OBB the movie of the party for anyone who didn't have one, but the past two years it has been confirmed that Disney has discontinued that practice.

So even with a reservation at one of the Disney hotels, you're in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to getting event tickets lol.

 

[KimberMama]

Our experience with staying at Club Level is that the cast members there can’t really do much to help you with anything other than directions if you need them. Last year we wanted to add a night at the GCH after having stayed 3 nights at the DH in a Premium View Club Level room, and the cast members in the lounge told us they couldn’t do anything we couldn’t do ourselves online, and that we would get a better rate ourselves. We’ve been Club Level at the GCH and they couldn’t pull strings for restaurant reservations.

We pay to stay onsite a couple of times a year (we drive in for the day most visits). We’ve also stayed at The Anaheim, which was far less expensive, but not as nice, of course. Our first few stays on property were at the GCH, last year was our first stay at the DH, and we won’t stay there again as we much prefer the GCH. It’s closer and it’s nice to have the DCA entrance/exit, as well as security into DTD.

I’ll admit, I feel like we overspent on the trip last weekend, as we really didn’t spend as much time in the hotel as I thought we would. Our room faced the lobby and there was a dull roar of noise from when we woke up to when we went to sleep (thank goodness for ear plugs). The lobby was super crowded at all times. The loveseat in the room wasn’t that comfortable. But DH thinks it was worth it for the proximity to the parks — he likes to park the car and then just be in the bubble. For our next stay I’ve booked a one bedroom suite for just the two of us, so we’ll have a nicer place to hang out in the afternoons, which will be important for our longer stay and getting out of the heat of the day. It will also be in summer, which means we can enjoy the pool area — it was too cold to want to be out there last weekend.

 

[DizMe]

You're in a full-service hotel with beautiful amenities and you're actually in the resort. Is that important to you? For many people, the answer is no, or at least not important enough for the extra money, which I totally get. For me, though, the answer is a HUGE yes.

I'm not a park open-to-close person. I like to go back and forth to the hotel. I like to sit in the 3rd floor balcony at GCH and have some port with my sister. I love to sit in front of the fireplace. I love being able to walk up to the Craftsman Bar or Hearthstone. I love not leaving the resort. I love Trader Sam's and DTD. You can do most of those things staying off site but it's not at all the same as walking out of your room and into the GCH upstairs lobby, which I just did with my sis. We enjoyed the tree, the sound of carolers, the piano player, etc and there was only one other person there. Our room was on the same floor and only steps away, which was cool.

It's not cheap, and that's the biggest issue, of course. I have no answer to that, but a motel or even hotel across the street doesn't offer that DL resort experience, and enjoying the amenities of the hotels without staying there is not at all the same. But if you go rope drop to close and don't spend any time at the hotel, it's a lot harder to justify the cost of that's an issue.

 

[stardusty21]

We used to stay on-site mainly for the hour EE. Now that it is 30 minutes it wasn't worth it to us. We stayed elsewhere, had a full kitchen, breakfast buffet and separate bedroom with two queen beds that was 1500 steps away. We just booked opposite parks from EE and rope dropped.