I am like you, I like to be immersed in Disney while we are there, so I do feel on site is necessary if you can afford it. For this reason I always choose the Disneyland Hotel. It's very Disney and although the walk is a little longer, I prefer it. It's close to the monorail and you don't cross any main streets with cars zipping past. Usually the only cars I see are from the monorail on the ride between downtown disney and the park. It can be a little pricey if no promos are going on, but I love it there. Recently we stayed at the Hojo in February on a retro rate when we went with no kids. While I didn't feel like it was far and it was definitely worth the rate, I don't think I would stay there with kids if I could afford on site.
There are some reasons to stay onsite, but proximity is not a good reason.
Some people don't like seeing the traffic on Habor, a paml tree lines boulevard that you walk along and cross to get into DLR. That is the downside of staying offsite.
Onsite you can get some perks. The main one being a MM everyday it's offered.
I agree with these comments. We have been to WDW around 18 times and DL I think 17. At WDW I will never not stay onsite. Magical Express, EMH,
DDP, free transporation to the parks, free parking at the parks and lots of other things are just too much a perk for us.
At DL we do not always stay onsite. Its very expensive since they are all "deluxe" level resorts. We have stayed offsite five times at DL. Our two favorites are the Hojo and Tropicana. The Hojo is the only nearby property that has grounds and we love the Garden Pool (our kids are too old for the water playground), oversized rooms and great customer service. Hojo employees are like cms in that they strive very hard to make your vacation wonderful. The Tropicana we also like, its right across the street, LOVE that location!
Now all this said, we clearly like to stay onsite at DL. Back in the days when I could get Paradise Pier for as little as $109 a night and the Disneyland Hotel for between $150-200 it was clearly more than offsite but not as big of a price hike. Now its gotten so expensive! Our last trip we stayed at Hojo and it was great. The walk is not bad, the room was so nice for our family of four and we had a great stay.
But this next trip, I am ponying up the money to stay at the DLH. I really waffled on this, I am not hopeful discounts will come out for our July dates, I was able to get a
AAA rate of $360 for a standard room and this trip is special. Its our 20th anniversary and our son will be going into the Marines a few months after our trip. I changed my mind, even cancelled my original DLH reservation but in the end, decided to go for the magic. I am also anxious to see the newly redone rooms,grounds and pool. Also, we are going during a very busy time and the Magic Mornings are going to be very nice.
But I know we would have had another great stay at the Hojo. But my nighlty rate for a standard room was (if memory serves) around $170 a night. Around half the DLH but not that incredible $59 entertainment rate I paid last time. If I had gotten that ENt. rate, I am not sure I could have paid for the DLH. But just as I am not hopeful for an onsite pin or discount, I wasn't hopeful for the Ent rate at the Hojo. ITs summer and Carsland/DCA is making discounts seem very unlikely for on or offsite.
One of the biggest perks for me is the walk up DTD vs. Harbor. Harbor isn't bad, I don't find it seedy or unsafe. But its definitely a real world, in the middle of a big city kind of walk vs. still in the Disneyland Resort type walk.
Check Expedia, they had standard rooms at PPH for $305 a night for our July dates. Maybe they will have a standard for your dates as well.
that place!
