DisneyLand Hotel?

[disneydiva72]

It looks very dated on the outside, how are the rooms?


We are thinking of going to DisneyLand as our next years trip.


Any advise is greatly appreciated as we have never even BEEN to Cali. lol

 

[rbrower]

When I went last year, the rooms didn't feel dated to me at all.
In fact, it's a pretty nice hotel.

 

[tdonald]

I stayed in '05 and it was great! We loved the hotel! When we eventually go back to Disneyland we will definitely stay there again. We stayed for 8 nights and went to the parks for 5 days and it was awesome! If you want any other info or tips I would be happy to help.

 

[donsullivan]

I just stayed there for a business event in late March of this year and I have to say in general, the rooms are nothing special. It's feels like a relatively ordinary Sheraton (or something similar) that had a few Disney prints put on the walls and a mural etched onto the front of the TV cabinet.

If you're used to the theming of Disney's hotels in Orlando, you'll be very disappointed. The public areas are decently decorated but even that is pretty ordinary and nothing really special.

As far as the parks go, the location is great given that you can walk right into Downtown Disney and have access to either the Monorail or walk easily to the parks. The reality is that I've stayed at much less expensive hotels on Harbor that were an even shorter walk that were a whole lot less expensive.

Unless you're in a room with a view of the parks (which I've had on a past visit) the easy access to the parks is about the only real benefit to this hotel; it's pretty ordinary otherwise.

 

[PoohNTink02]

qUESTION TWO

I've never been to Disneyland either and we're interested in taking a trip there as well!! I see the reviews on the disneyland hotel is a bit mixed, I believe there are 3 hotels on disney property?!? Is there a better out of the bunch or do they lack that "Disney" hotel feeling?

 

[lilclerk]

I've never been to Disneyland either and we're interested in taking a trip there as well!! I see the reviews on the disneyland hotel is a bit mixed, I believe there are 3 hotels on disney property?!? Is there a better out of the bunch or do they lack that "Disney" hotel feeling?

I've only seen the lobby of it, but the Grand Californian is AMAZING. It's also amazingly expensive :lol:

It isn't nearly as important to stay on property in Disneyland as it is in WDW. You can stay offsite and have the same experience, but much cheaper.

 

[dxwwf3]

We stayed there last year and as a WDW veteran who always stays on-site, there is NO other resort I would rather stay at in the Disneyland area than the Disneyland Hotel. The Grand is nice and all, but it certainly doesn't look to be worth the money. The Disneyland Hotel has the atmosphere, the rooms (which are wonderful) and the location.

 

[kag1984]

The Grand Californian is the only hotel at Disneyland that compares to Disney World resorts. It has a feeling very reminiscent of DAKL and DWL, but in a craftsman style. If I remember correctly is was designed by the same firm that did one of those resorts, I believe DAKL. The other bonus to this resort is that it has it's own "private" entrance into DCA. The lines are much shorter to get into DCA and that is kinda cool. The other great thing is that if you get a theme park view... wow just spectacular... and as said earlier ridiculously expensive.

The Disneyland Hotel I believe is the mid-priced hotel. Very dull and boring on the outside, nice on the inside. Again not very uniquely Disney, but nice. The Neverland pool is a lot of fun, and it is the second shortest from the parks, and there is the monorail out in front. When I was there I don't remember any great views of the theme parks but maybe there are some.

Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel is where I stay at... if I'm going to stay on property. It's the cheapest of the hotels, you can get a theme park view which has a lot of bang for the price of a parking lot view at the Grand Californian. The walk is a little longer, maybe 10-15 minutes to the parks, and when I stayed there they didn't have the monorail, that might have changed by now though.

If you are going for the Disney Experience and price is not an issue I would go GC, if price is I would stay PP with a theme park view. Now Disneyland doesn't have the same extra magic hours that Disney World does. I believe that they only do them a few times a week, and when I checked in on it you had to purchase your theme park tickets as part of a hotel package in order to get the EMH. Oh and they only do them in the morning, not at night. Sometimes the parks open at 8am, which means that the EMH is at 7am... which kinda puts a kibosh on everything since a lot of the time we didn't get out of the parks till 12:30 at night!

I would seriously consider staying at one of the offsite properties and walking to the parks. We stayed at the Best Western which was right behind ToonTown and it was maybe a 10-15 minute walk. And at the end of the night when our feet hurt so bad we would call a cab and it was like $5-7 for the trip home, which I thought was well worth it!

 

[disneydiva72]

What are the "downtimes" for Disneyland?

 

[donniedisney]

I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and i thought it was awesome!

 

[maryszhi]

i love that hotel, and i love the disney's grandcalifornian,
truth is all three on property disneyland hotels are awesome

 

[MissDiznee66]

We have been to DL a couple of times (notice the avatar). Both times we stayed off site. On our last stay we were within walking distance, 10-15 mins, across the street from DL. And it was nice at night to be on our balcony, I believe we were on the 4th or 5th floor, but we were able to see the fireworks from there. This was in 2005 so not sure of the name of the hotel. And I did promise that the next time we go to DL that we will stay at one of the Disney Hotels.

 

[lscott933]

well if you want to save some money which i do. i stay right across a street. it is nothing like disneyworld. the hotel are about like walking from the front entrance of magic kingdom to the buses back to the resort if you stay right across street. that is how close the hotel are to disneyland and the other park. walking to california adv is like walking to the monorail from magic kingdom. it is about the same walk from the disney hotel as to the hotel across street except the grand califonia. they are just opening a new area across a street from disney. i can't remember the name. but it is suppose to be really nice. they have regular places to eat there too. you can sit outside and watching the monorail go across the street from the hotels there. you can get special thru disney to stay at the hotel other there too. when we stay across street we were next to denny and ihop. down the street was mcd's.
but if you want a really nice hotel i would stay at grand california. it some thing between wilderness lodge and animal kingdom in one. i have been to disneyland twice. last time i was there was last year.