Which Disneyland Hotel is the BEST?!

[TiggStitch]

Hello! We haven't been to this wonderful place in many, many years. When we do return, we are definitely going to stay in one of Disney's Hotels, but which one do we choose?

Please let us know where you have stayed, why it was good or not so good...do ya have any pictures? Send us to your link. All I ask is for your help.

Thanks!

 

[ballarinamom]

No pics but their a plenty on their sites to give you an idea but we LOVE the Disneyland Hotel. It is the only one of the three that gives you the magical feel of Disney. Grand Californian is beautiful but it's California Forest themed with slight mickey accents like hidden Mickey's. Disneyland Hotel has pixie dust on the ceiling of your room that you can see when you turn off the lights at night! Paradise Pier is similar to Californian in that it isn't so Disney themed as much as beach themed. Your bathroom at DLH has Mickey hands as light fixutres!
PP is the one that is further away of the three. GC is attached to DCA and a park entrance is right in the hotel. It is a little closer to DL and the monorail than DLH. It's actually in DTD.
DLH is about 1/2 block further than GC but you get to walk under the Sorcerers Hat every morning and the pool is a cool Peter Pan theme.
Hope this helps! Have a great trip!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

A better question to ask is "What's best for me?"

There are so many variables to consider, and people rank these variables so differently; what's paramount to one matters not in the least to another.

My DH is a bit of a hotel snob, having grown up in the hotel biz; I grew up in a family of campers, and thought the Super8 was the lap of luxury.

So while we aren't willing to pay full price for a room at the Grand Californian, we'd love to stay there someday. It is gorgeous, has wonderful amenities, and is positioned close to the parks.

We've stayed twice now at the Disneyland Hotel. We love the Disney theming, both in the rooms and around the hotel. Our boys love the Peter Pan theme in the pool area, and of course the spectacular slide! We love walking through Downtown Disney on the way to and from the parks, I would seriously miss that if we stayed offsite.

DS3 and I are going for a quick trip this week, and have booked at the Paradise Pier Hotel. I am sure we'll have a great time, and can't wait to see the view of the California Adventure park!

 

[disney-super-mom]

We've stayed at both the DLH and the PPH, and enjoyed them both very much.

Both have nice, large rooms, that are nicely decorated. DLH rooms have a Diseyland Resort theme (a little subtle but nice with some cute touches), and our room also had a sofa that could be made into a bed for a fifth person, but not all the rooms at the DLH have a sofa. PPH rooms have a beachy theme, and the majority of rooms have a sofa for a fifth person to sleep.

Both hotels offer views of either city, pool, or themepark. We had a Neverland Pool view when we stayed at the DLH, which was pleasant. Our first stay at the PPH, our view overlooked the pool deck, a parking structure, the DVC sales center, and the DLH off to the right. It actually wasn't a bad view, and it was fun watching the kids go down the slide. Our second stay at the PPH, we had a upper-floor themepark view, and it was AWESOME!!!! The best view I ever had!

DLH has nice resort grouds with lots of pretty plants/flowers, waterfalls, and two pools, the very awesome Neverland Pool, and a nice quiet pool located on the south side of the property. We never used the quiet pool, but we enjoyed the Neverland pool, my oldest son enjoyed the slide, and I enjoyed the big hot tub there.

PPH doesn't really have any grounds around it. The pool is located on a third floor rooftop deck. It's a very nice area with Beach Boys music playing in the background. The pool itself is just a typical pool, but it's very nice and heated "oh so nicely" . The slide here is the longest slide at Disneyland Resort at 180'. It doesn't empty riders into the pool, but instead empties them into a shallow catch trough, so younger kids who can't swim yet are able to use this slide without worry. It's fun for us big kids too. (I enjoyed the hot tub here too.)

Both hotels have a character breakfast, restaurants, room service, bars, game rooms, and that great Disney service you expect. We had wonderful stays at both hotels, and wouldn't hesitate to stay at either again!

We haven't stayed at the GCH, and unless we hit the lottery, probably never will, but I sure would like to stay there. It looks beautiful, the lobby is gorgeous, and it's literally right in the middle of all the fun.

 

[tinkcollector]

If cost was not a concern I would stay at the GCH. I do agree that the DLH has the most Disney feel. The PPH is nice, but the distance makes me feel like I am leaving the property. The PPH also provides a free shuttle to the DTD area, close to the sorcerer's hat. They have re-named the towers at the DLH. The old Sierra Tower, I believe now is called the Dream Tower is a great choice, with the DTD view. Have Fun!

 

[Tink208]

DLH has nice resort grouds with lots of pretty plants/flowers, waterfalls, and two pools, the very awesome Neverland Pool, and a nice quiet pool located on the south side of the property. We never used the quiet pool, but we enjoyed the Neverland pool, my oldest son enjoyed the slide, and I enjoyed the big hot tub there.

I have stayed at the DLH three times now and had no idea there was a second pool!

Still, even without knowing about that second pool, I have loved my stays there! My only recommendation is to avoid being put in a pool view room on the second floor in the Dream Tower. It was way too noisy. I had friends who were up on the 5th floor in a pool view room and they didn't have the noise issues.

I do want to stay at the GC some day, but, like the previous poster, it will likely have to wait until after a lottery win!

 

[Rachael Q]

Disneyland Hotel because of the Disney theme:

Mickey icons in tiles at entrance
Castle Mural in lobby
Bronze characters in lobby
Neverland themed pool
Little Mermaid Hottub
Mickey gloves holding lamps in the bathroom
Tinkerbell border in rooms with pixie dust
Map of Disneyland on doors of TV cupboard
Castle on headboard
Characters in the gardens
Goofy's Kitchen for character breakfast
Scorcerers Hat at entrance to Hotel from Downtown disney
Walking through Downtown Disney to get to and from the parks

 

[blue donkey]

I agree w/ Alex2kMommy in asking, "Which hotel is best for me?"

Keep in mind, I travel w/just my DH when we go.

Have stayed at PP & DLH. Prefer DLH to PP for:
-its proximity to the monorail
-tink rooms
-Loved watching the fireworks from our room in Dreams Tower.
-I think that kids would just LOVE that Peter Pan Pool & slide. There is a large hot tub there, but IMHO the jets left something to be desired. I also wish the hot tub was in the quiet pool area as well.
-room service was better for my tastes over PP but it was still inconsistent. one night they had way too much garlic in all their food for me.

My next trip is to GCH. I expect that I will like this one the BEST FOR ME:
-we checked out the hot tub on our last trip & it was better than DLH in temp & jet strength even though it was a lot smaller.
-We also love to eat at Storyteller's Cafe.
-love the theming even if it's less "Disney" than DLH
-Plus, it's the closest to all the parks at DLR.
(I hope it's worth the money.)

I think I would still stay at PP over other hotels in Disney area for convenience of sending purchases to bellman & MM, even if I feel that it is a bit far. But all the talk about HOJO's sure does tempt me when prices at DLR are high.

 

[disney-super-mom]

It's interesting because even though the PPH may look farther away, it really isn't all that much further.

The walk to the monorail station is about a 5 minute walk from the PPH. It's about a 2-3 minute walk from the DLH.

The walk to the front gates of DL is about equal from either hotel, about 10 minutes.

The walk to the Grand Californian's private entrance to DCA is about 6-7 minutes from the PPH, and about 7-8 minutes from the DLH.

So, it really is very close to the same amount of walking, unless of course, when staying at the PPH, you don't cut through the Grand Californian Hotel to get to the front gates.

Also, I just wanted to mention that if you have younger children that can't swim very well, they might not be allowed to use the main slide at the DLH or the GCH. No life vests or water wings are allowed on the slides, and lifeguards will make younger children take a swim test before allowing them to use the slides. So, in that case, those with younger children who want use a pool slide, may want to opt to stay at the PPH, as it has the only slide that non-swimmers are allowed to use.

However, if you have children that can swim (or at least dog paddle well enough to get themselves from the bottom of the slide to the side of the pool), I think they would much prefer the fun atmosphere of the Neverland Pool and the skull slide.

I can't comment on how fun the slide and pools are at the GCH, but let me just say, let sure do look like fun.

 

[TravelingJen24]

We've stayed at all three many times. When we go without family we stay at the DLH and prefer it to GCH. My family always chooses the GCH because of proximity, but the rooms are larger at DLH and we love to hang out at the Lost bar in the afternoons. It has a big grass area that the kids can play on and also the boats. Our kids like to just spin the wheels.
The lounge at the GCH is very nice, but not as kid friendly. Both pools are very nice, so that is a wash. I think for us, it is partly that we always stayed at the DLH as kids, so it s nostalgic. Tip: Get a room with two beds and you will have two sinks in the bathroom. The kings only have one.

 

[deej696]

Having spent several years in the hotel business I am a bit of a hotel snob. We recently stayed at the DLH and loved it. While our room was a bit small, and GCH seemed to be a little more upscale, I would stay there again in a heartbeat. There is something special about being at the original hotel, especially for the Disney enthusiast. We did visit GCH and PP during out stay. GCH seemed to be very nice, I would compare it to the Wilderness Lodge at WDW, but it lacked the Disney nostalgia. PP did not have any feel to it whatsoever, and in my opinion was just a normal hotel. Short story long, I would pick DLH!

 

[mrs.beast]

We stayed at PP in December, and were quite pleasantly surprised. We had always stayed at the DH, and thought it would be a less magical trip, but we ended up liking PP more.
Coming from PP instead of DH was a faster trip for us to get to the parks, we crossed the street and cut through the GC. We did not have to navigate the traffic of all of the people in DD to get to the parks, and we really liked that (not to mention trying to pass all the stores with 3 kids was a real bonus). We also liked seeing CA adventure from our room. Our room seemed bigger than the DH rooms, and the service was great. We liked having the extra bed (fold out couch that was a twin mattress when flipped over so it was comfy) and thought the coffee shop downstairs was much better than the little one next to Goofy's at DH.(It was also faster, less people).
My kids loved the beach theme of the place, and really liked the "cool old music" that was playing. My daughters loved the lifeguard lamps.
We did not do the pool at any of the hotels, my kids have always just wanted to stay at the park, so cannot comment on them.
We do not feel that the GC has a Disney feel in anyway. It just seems like an average upscale hotel, not a piece of the Disney magic, so we have not stayed there.

 

[Tink208]

Tip: Get a room with two beds and you will have two sinks in the bathroom. The kings only have one.

I have been in three different rooms with two beds and none of them had two sinks in the bathroom.

 

[poohmickey]

We have stayed at all three, and prefer the DLH over the other two. There are 2 adults and 2 children (10 & 12) in our party and the GCH room (no daybed) was a lot smaller than the rooms we've had at the DLH (with the daybed). We like all the Disney touches at the DLH and will probably choose it again in the future.

The GCH is a very nice hotel, with beautiful rooms and a great location, but for our family of 4, the DLH is better.

My sister and her husband (no kids) loved the GCH, and don't know how they will ever stay anywhere else!

So it really depends on what you're looking for and who is in your party.

 

[kgwoozle]

I like the GHC. I have found it very relaxing, It has the wonderful Disney touch in a muted way. I enjoy that after a long and sensory overloaded day in the parks. I just feel the heat and noise and busyness slide away when I walk through the doors. It is also close than the other two which is a plus in my book. I also like the special enterance to DCA and the ablity to ride GR until I's soaked and the jump right into the pool.

 

[CoolPool]

GCH. Proximity and great Disney theming. Terrific pool.

 

[vflipo]

We're going in 3 weeks staying at the GC!! We went all out for the honeymoon... It really wasn't too expensive for the hotel and tickets considering how long we will be there (5 day park hoppers... 4 nights at the hotel). I'm excited because you get to enter DCA 30 min before everyone else since you have the entrance right there! I have never stayed at a disney hotel and probably after this trip will want to every time! But I love DL and I like to go a lot so we will probably just stay in the good neighbor hotels most times... I'll give you a report when I return I CAN'T WAIT

 

[TiggStitch]

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the input. Would anyone by any chance have any pictures or video to offer?

Thanks!

 

[Macy Bear]

I like the GHC. I have found it very relaxing, It has the wonderful Disney touch in a muted way. I enjoy that after a long and sensory overloaded day in the parks. I just feel the heat and noise and busyness slide away when I walk through the doors. It is also close than the other two which is a plus in my book. I also like the special enterance to DCA and the ablity to ride GR until I's soaked and the jump right into the pool.

LOL! We are going to the GCH on Feb. 14th and this was our plan. We were going to get on our swimming clothes (old t-shirts and shorts) and get on GR a bunch of times until we are soaked and then come up to our room and change for dinner. Fun fun fun!

 

[honeymom]

We liked the GCH better. The DLH just felt like an old shabby convention hotel with some Tinkerbells and Mickey soap. The grounds there are beautiful, but boy was it crowded.

While not "disney" themed, the GCH has strong theming, much in the way Wilderness Lodge does. The only thing I don't like about GCH are the price and the room size. You would think the room size could be a little bigger at their prices.