Which hotel for a honeymoon

[Ruthie25]

We are off to DLP for our honeymoon, from 8-13th October 2012 (give or take a day or two). I'm an annual pass holder, which will be valid while we there, but DH2B isn't.

These are the current deals that I can find, at hotels which appear to have Room Service

Disneyland Hotel - £1,823
New York - £1097
Newport Bay Admiral's club £1063
Dream Castle (including cost of DH2B's annual pass) - £640

I would be interested in also finding out the prices of the suites and special floors at DLH and NY, but my travel agent told me that the prices aren't available yet.

On the face of it it would seem very difficult to justify the extra cost of staying in a Disney hotel. The Dream Castle hotel rate is fully cancelable without penalty, is it worth booking it, then seeing if a better deal come along?

Any advice from anyone? I would love the week to be special, but don't want to feel guilty about spending too much money

 

[Ware Bears]

First of all ~ congratulations!!

Can't understand why the travel agent can't find out the prices for you as some of the prices (not the suites) are in the brochure. Better make sure you're sitting down as 5 nights for the above dates for two of you staying at Disneyland Hotel Castle Club will cost £3640 ..... and I don't think you'll get booking discounts like you currently can on standard rooms. Hotel New York's Empire State Club is £2212 ..... you can't book either of these online so why not phone for an accurate price, that way you'll know if there are any discounts.

If I were you I'd book the Dream Castle on its fully cancelleable rate ~ if a better offer comes along that you feel happier with you can always cancel without any penalty and if it doesn't then you'll be staying in the nicest of the offsite hotels and can spend what you've saved on some very special meals.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Hello

If you look at todays prices it will give you an idea, and in fact these will have changed as they were up to the 7th of Nov

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7765/p1100113t.jpg

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1189/dscf4085s.jpg

They change twice a year

To give you an idea of the increases here are the prices from the previous 6 months

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2619/p1090244h.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8089/p1090331d.jpg

hth

 

[Ruthie25]

First of all ~ congratulations!!

Can't understand why the travel agent can't find out the prices for you as some of the prices (not the suites) are in the brochure. Better make sure you're sitting down as 5 nights for the above dates for two of you staying at Disneyland Hotel Castle Club will cost £3640 ..... and I don't think you'll get booking discounts like you currently can on standard rooms. Hotel New York's Empire State Club is £2212 ..... you can't book either of these online so why not phone for an accurate price, that way you'll know if there are any discounts.

If I were you I'd book the Dream Castle on its fully cancelleable rate ~ if a better offer comes along that you feel happier with you can always cancel without any penalty and if it doesn't then you'll be staying in the nicest of the offsite hotels and can spend what you've saved on some very special meals.

Eek! Lovely as it would be to stay in luxury, i just don't think we could justify it! ]

The travel agent I went in to only had brochures going up until July 2012, and when I asked if they could get me prices for October the guy said no. You thought that Thomas Cook would want to get all the bookings it could at the moment.....

For the difference in price, I think we will travel first class, have some extremely lovely meals and maybe have another trip at Christmas time ;-)

 

[Ruthie25]

What special meals/restaurants can anybody recomend?

 

[Ware Bears]

Blue Lagoon is very romantic not tried California Grill myself but from others reviews it looks very nice, also love Walt's, and for characters and yummy food it's got to be Inventions (dinner or Sunday brunch).

 

[PJackson]

Congratulations Ruthie!

Having only stayed at the DLH but have had a look around some of the other Disney hotels, I would say, if you can push the boat out, then try the DLH. It is lovely and although October should be fine weatherwise, you never know, the DLH is just sooo handy for the parks. While I'm not sure it will do much, it's worth letting the hotel know (direct - you can email them) that it is your honeymoon and they may give you a nice room with view etc. There is nothing that beats hearing the music in the parks and seeing the lights after dark from your hotel room .

As I've been to DLRP twice with the kids, I've never been anywhere too fancy to eat but have done Inventions for dinner and it was brilliant and the food lovely. I do have Walts and Blue Lagoon on my wishlist - one day if we return (I secretly have a pang to go for my 40th in a few years with DH, leave the kids with Mum for a few days, then get them to all come over and join us, that way we can do some 'grown up' things at DLRP before they come out!!).

Happy planning

PS - I would also book the Dream Castle as you can cancel as you say.

 

[MazdaUK]

Walts and Inventions definitely You might want to think about Auberge, especially as its your honeymoon - let them know and you might get extra magic Inventions has a lovely range of food, so whatever you fancy you can probably find something

DLH is lovely and close to the parks, HNY is almost as good, almost as close and a fair amount cheaper (enough for a meal or two) and it has a more "grown up" atmosphere IMHO, which might suit your other half a bit better.

 

[Ruthie25]

Thanks for all the suggestions, the restaurants at the DLH sound lovely, I've never tried them before!

Right, two things I had forgotten. The "Room Tax" route (i've had an annual pass for all but one of my previous trips, but usually stay off site), and the fact that I can get 6.5% cashback on bookings via Quidco. I should be able to calculate the new price of the New York, but the DLP website seems to be rather flakey at the moment, and keeps kicking me out!

So, how much do you think it would be worth to pay extra to stay at the NY as opposed to the Dream Castle? One of the main advantages that I can see is the proximity to the parks, just in case we want to nip back for a *AHEM* nap........

 

[PJackson]

The main advantage imo is the location of the Disney hotels esp in colder weather. Another advantage is the nice walk around the lake if you go for HNY. If it's crisp it will be quite romantic!

Can't comment on the characters at HNY but one advantage for us was seeing Mickey & Co at breakfast and various times during the day if we nipped back to the hotel, without all the rabble.

I also think the DLH is quite grown up too in areas - the decor etc is very subtle Disney and on an evening, the bar area (piano etc) is lovely, the odd child about but if you sit inside the bar area it's nearly all just grown ups. Of course, you could treat yourself and just go for a drink there (be warned, the same cocktail is quite a bit more in DLH to anywhere else, but I'm sure you know that if you have been before - I can't remember specifics but I was quite shocked last trip at the difference between Village prices and DLH for the same thing!!).

 

[MazdaUK]

here's a tip from the first time we stayed at HNY - don't know if it still holds good - but the shop sold chilled drinks including beer (not a huge choice, but beer is beer sometimes ) which worked out much cheaper than the bar, so when the kids were tired we'd buy some beers and relax in the room HNY beds are very comfy

 

[Ruthie25]

Going by the "Room tax" route, and after Quidco cashback, 5 nights at the HNY will come in at around £900.... still a lot more than the Dream Castle. But I think I can talk H2B around with the promise of comfy beds.... I found the rooms at Dream Castle to be quite small, are the ones at HNY bigger?

 

[Ruthie25]

Oh, and have also discovered that we can have breakfast in our room, for a charge. Better and better