Favorite hotels at Disneyland?

[satas]

Planning a trip for next august and since i havent stayed in any disney owned hotels, i just wondered if anyone here had pros/cons of the different Disney owned hotels around the park.

[Mr. Toad]

satas - Really you dont do any thing at the Hotel except for sleep(at least I dont).

Just stay at the Super 8 - close, clean, quite, cheap

[Loomis]

Completely agree with Mr. Toad.

The Disney hotels are really nice, especially the Grand Californian hotel. The Arts and Crafts Movement design to it is soooo classy and beautiful, and it overlooks one of the nicest areas of DCA, but...

...it costs a fortune.

It all depends on what you want out of the holiday. If you are unlikely to be going back to Disneyland ever again, and you want the full experience, perhaps a Disney hotel is worth th extra cost. However, there are plenty of other nice, cheap and close hotels in the area.

I can wholly recommend two.

I thought the Howard Johnson (HoJo) was pretty nice, although the "lodge style" setting wasn't quite what I expected at first. The rooms themselves were top notch, at least the one I stayed in. Indeed, they were huge, accomodating two double beds and room for a third in between if needed (provided in a generous closet space). We were on the second floor of a lodge, so a great skylight gave the whole thing an even bigger 'feel'. Literally 2 - 5 minutes walk from Downtown Disney, you've also got Mimi's right next door for eatin', and the Dennys and Ihop an i-hop, skip and jump away. I'd almost certainly stay there again if I wasn't staying on property, and I think it comes highly recommended from a lot of regulars too.

For our second week there, we stayed at the Radisson Maingate. It is at the other end of the park (immediately south of Katella), but it is still only a 5-10 minute walk away (if that, but we walk pretty fast ). It is close to IHop and Denny's, which is also a help. It was a bit more of a 'proper' hotel than HoJo, which has more of a lodge setting. The wonderful little bonus we got at checkout was that we had a $100 food voucher credited to us as part of our package deal, so all three of our meals at Pickford's (the hotel restaurant, although one of those was room service) were free.

Other advantages include the Good Neighbour ability to buy your tickets there; as well as plan lots of other side tours. We were virtually next door to the bus company that took us on our Grand LA Tour when staying at the Radisson. You'll probably (like me) want to see beyond Anaheim and the park. With those hotels, it is all too easy to book day trips to other parks and tourist spots.

[satas]

I guess i should add more backround. It looks like its going to be myself (24) my fiance, my little sister(21) and my mom and dad. Its a last family vacation type of trip. Itll will be after my sister's last year of college. I cant really say budget isnt a concern at all, but my mom had done a little looking and saw that disney had some family suite type rooms with multiple bedrooms, and we were looking at something like that. We live in ohio right by cedar point, and since weve all always gone there, im the only one of us who has been to the california park at all, during a school trip my senior year for a day. WE plan on spending 3 days at disney itself, then spending another day in la, so we would be staying in la the last night before we head out to vegas for a day ( vacation planning by party, gotta make everyone happen) So i guess im asking for different hotels that would fit into that. Side trips wouldnt be too important those three days.

[Mr. Toad]

I also agree with Loomis - the Howard Johnson is an excellent value. And I would probably stay at the Grand Californian if it was double the price of the others but it is far more than that.

[Mr. Toad]

Oh yes and check www.mousesavers.com

[dizfan]

I would never go to a Disney property without staying at a Disney hotel, it's part of the exerience. My trips to WDW, Paris and Tokyo would not have been as good had I not stayed at Disney - - especially Tokyo, I would have missed on the MiraCosta Hotel!

[Mr. Toad]

dizfan - my advise would be completely different for WDW. You absolutely want to stay on property and the All Star's provide a pretty good value.

However, the Grand Californian is not a good value and the other hotels are no closer to the property than the Super 8 or the HoJo.

[dizfan]

Granted, I have no need to stay at a Disneyland Resort hotel ever since I work there and live close to it. However, if I were living elsewhere I would still vacation at a Disney hotel at DLR just like I do at any other Disney property. If i'm vacationing at Disney, I want to stay at Disney.

[Pluto Region1]

WE plan on spending 3 days at disney itself, then spending another day in la, so we would be staying in LA the last night before we head out to vegas for a day... So i guess im asking for different hotels that would fit into that.

What part of Los Angeles are you planning to visit? Downtown? Hollywood? Burbank/Universal Studios? The South Bay? There's 2 ways of looking at this - you could stay in the Valley which is uneventful but more suburban and easier to get around. Or you could stay at some place in Hollywood like the Roosevelt Hotel or hotels on the Sunset Strip which would really give you the flavor of the place (but you'd probably had to pay for parking in the lot of the hotel etc). Some of those Hollywood Hotels are neat but it would be sort of like staying in NYC....

For Anaheim, I can't really give any better advice than Loomis has given. If it was me and I could afford it, I'd stay at that Grand Californian that opens onto DCA because it really is the most beautiful hotel there is and you are right there on property - Not only is the hotel gorgeous, but so are the amenities (pool and jacuzzi, restaurants, etc)! Whatever happened to the actual Disneyland Hotel (1950s?) Does it still exist or did it get torn down for DCA? Since they redid the DL grounds to put in DCA, I cannot recall seeing it. The Monorail used to go there....

[Fidget1234]

i would like to stay on property next year when i go...but it is very expensive!

I might have to stay off property...

the californian looks gorgeous!

[Loomis]

Whatever happened to the actual Disneyland Hotel (1950s?) Does it still exist or did it get torn down for DCA? Since they redid the DL grounds to put in DCA, I cannot recall seeing it. The Monorail used to go there....

Disneyland Hotel still lives and breathes. It is one of three hotels on the Disney lot (the other being Paradise Pier, which I think by far the cheapest on-site stay).

The Monorail now stops in Downtown Disney, and access to Grand California and the DLH is a short walk from there. The Monorail does sail through the GC on its journey though.

[BrandonH]

Any of the hotels along Harbor Blvd. are fine with me. I was about a minute's walk from Denny's the last time I went to Disneyland, and that place had everything I needed. I can't remember the name of the hotel, but it had a little corner gift shop across from the check-in counter.

[Pluto Region1]

Disneyland Hotel still lives and breathes. It is one of three hotels on the Disney lot (the other being Paradise Pier, which I think by far the cheapest on-site stay).

Well that's a relief! Since they redid and added DCA I just have not had a good handle on what is where.... it took me a long time to figure out that DCA was sitting in the old parking lot! Before you would drive down the 5 freeway, get off on Harbor and just go south. Now to approach it, I drive down the 5 frwy and Disneyland has its very own ramp that drops you right into the entrance of the new parking structure... so there is not much of a way to get one's bearings when you always approach the park from there.