Hi there! I'm a WDW veteran and I just returned from my first DL trip yesterday. I spent 4 nights at the Anabella and 3 full days in the park. As someone said below don't compare WDW to DL two completely different things. First off let me answer your questions.
1. The only benefit I can see is the unlimited early entry, but I don't believe the parks have an early entry every day. Thats something you might want to check. I was there a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. And I think only Sunday and Tuesday there was an early entry. Since it is your first time it might be beneficial, but as nice as the Grand California is, you won't be experiencing the same get away from it all feeling you get at WDW resorts. All the Disney resorts are plopped right next to the roadway and in the case of the Grand California right next to Downtown Disney. As for the local ART transportation, I didn't ride it and from what I could see no one was riding it. People either walked or drove. We did both despite how close we were. My friend had a bad back and the walk was about 15 minutes from the Anabella. The short ride allowed him to avoid exerting himself before arriving at the park.
2. We initially intended to just spend 2 days and see all of DL and then a few things in California Adventure. Well after spending all morning and afternoon at DL we realized that was not possible. First off the fireworks were only being offered Sunday and DL closed at 8 mon and tues. Plus we both knew we could not stay all day in the parks without exhausting ourselves. We also wanted to ride several rides more than once. So we stayed 3 full days and skipped DCA. Now in retrospect I realize we could have dedicated one morning to the few things we wanted to do in DCA, but in exchange I got to soak up the atmosphere at DL. I got to see the parade twice, have great seats for both the parade and fireworks, have lunch at the blue bayou, ride Indy, Pinochio and Nemo twice, and Pirates and Space Mountain 3 times. I think 4 days would be an ideal amount of time if you want to go at a relaxed pace and get to know the park. But I have to say we really explored the park in 3 days and that might be overkill for some. But I can't imagine squeezing all of DCA into those 3 days. We also left the park on Sunday at around 5 and returned at 730. On Monday we also left the park at around 5 so we could shower and have dinner that night at the Napa Rose lounge.
As for the Anabella, we stayed in the concierge level, which means absolutely nothing other than having a supposedly refurbished room. Our whole stay there was very mixed and I can't say we would stay again. The property itself was pretty and we chose it for that reason as we had thought we would have some down time by the pool. The rooms though were quite weird. Small unusable closets, short shower curtains that resulted in flooded bathroom floors, and weird room lay outs. They also attempt to be green by requiring that you place your room key card in a slot in the room that operates the electricity. They ask that when you leave the room you remove it which results in the entire room shutting down. Additionally, they don't change your towels or sheets unless you specifically call down each day and request it. Frankly, it isn't green, they are just being cheap. All hotels nowadays usually ask that you re-use towels by leaving the towels you intend to re-use on the towel rod or shower curtain rod and those you want changed on the floor. To require you to actually ring down each day to have your towels changed is ridiculous. As for the room layouts we stayed in 2 different rooms both concierge level. One room, I forget the name. Had a King bed and then in a small alcove a full bed. The bathroom had one sink in the shower room but then had a wierd area outside the bathroom with lights and a counter. NOt sure what the purpose of that counter was for, but I assume that was once the sink area. The closet was located there too and you could not fit a single suitcase in the closet it was so narrow. On our last night we stayed in a Queen concierge room. This room was smaller L shape with a small living room area and a queen bed (more like a full bed) in a small alcove. However, you could not see the TV from the bed as it faced the living room, but you could see this red light flashing behind the TV all night. The bed also had one nightstand and no phone.
We also had a weird experience with the front desk and manager. Once we decided we wanted to stay an extra night we went down and spoke to the front desk. We were told that the concierge area was full and we could stay an extra night in a regular room. The manager then came out and explained that they were actually over booked on all the concierge rooms and guests arriving that night would not be guaranteed a concierge room. Huh???? How is that professional? But here is the kicker...he told us to come down the next morning and check out from concierge and then get a new "regular" room that they had plenty. So I did just that, but asked the new front desk person if they had anything in concierge. She said yes but not in my room that I would have to move across the parking lot. But here is the kicker not only was I able to get a room in concierge level again despite being told they were oversold the day before, but the room next to me was empty as well as my original room.
I really can't recommend the Anabella given the price unless you really intend to spend some time in the room. There were plenty of other hotels just off the strip that were closer to WDW. One that really looked nice and seemed close was the Candy Cane Inn. If you intend to just shower/sleep and want something clean go elsewhere.
Last thing i"m not sure if you are doing anything else in California other than DL. But we spent time in Napa, San Fran, Carmel and Highway1/Big Sur and saved DL for the last part of the trip. Do not do that! DL is small and everything is very close together but it is still exhausting.
Hope you have fun! I know we did! If you have any questions from a WDW veteran just let me know.
