Why is Disney keeping the DLH Honeymoon Suite a secret?

[Mac Daddy]

In the Summer of 1995, my wife and I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. We were expecting a normal room, hopefully one with a good view. (This was before DCA and DTD mind you.) We were overwhelmed when one of my very good friends who was one of the managers of the hotel surprised us by putting us in the Honeymoon Suite.

Since that time, I've always been a bit confused because I remember the room number being nine hundred and something but I would have SWORN the room was on the top floor concierge level in the corner with windows on two sides of the room.

So I decided to investigate. But after looking repeatedly on Disney's website, there seems to be NO information about this suite. No photos, no description, no nothin. The website mentions the Presidential Suite, the Ambassador Suite, the Penthouse Suite, California Suite, the Marina Suite, and the Concierge level, but no mention of the Honeymoon Suite.

(at this link: http://disneyland.disney.go.com/dlm/...dSuitesHMFPage)

I then went over to the Disney Wedding page assuming the information must be there....but no dice.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disn...meWeddingsPage

I DID find the following account over at Mouse Planet from a couple who went in December of 2002:

Then we were off to our room next door, and what a room/suite it was!!! Immediately as you enter the suite there is a closet to your left, a built in vanity table and chair and the bathroom door in front of you, and a short hallway to the bedroom on your right with another closet. The bathroom was huge with a wall of counters with two sinks, assorted Disney toiletries (including a toothbrush), a coffeepot with glass dishes of coffee and filters, a hair dryer a phone and even a scale. To the right was a large glass shower, around the corner from that was a separate room with toilet and even a bidet! Along the back wall of the bathroom was a huge Jacuzzi tub surrounded by tile ledges and a large plant. It was beautiful – special touches like wallpaper that had the Fab Five as hedge topiaries made it even better. As you walked into the bedroom the first thing you see is a towering Christmas tree decorated with blue and gold ornaments and ribbon beside a huge Entertainment center. The doors of the entertainment center had a copy of the original concept drawing of Disneyland done by Herb Ryman. Inside was a TV, VCR, mini-fridge and the ice bucket with four glasses. Next to this is a wall of windows going around the corner so that you see a beautiful view of Downtown Disney in the center, Disneyland to the left and California Adventure to the right. In front of the wall of windows is a comfy chaise lounge. Facing the windows is the huge California King size bed with headboard (the headboard had a drawing of the Sleeping Beauty Castle) and a comforter that at first glance looked like a regular hotel-issue floral one, but upon taking a closer look you could see light brown drawings of the many attractions of Disneyland in the background. In the front left corner surrounded by windows there was table with two chairs, and in the back left corner a desk with chair and phone. Another phone was next to the bed along with a CD player/clock radio. All in all a most amazing room!

So by this time, I'm beginning to get curious. Why isn't the Honeymoon Suite linked on either of these pages? Do people know about this incredible room? How do they market this suite if no one knows about it?

Not finding any help on the internet, I made the trip to the hotel to look for myself duing one of my recent trips to DL. From my recollection, the suite would have been on the top level of the Sierra Tower in the upper right hand corner as you look up from Downtown Disney:


(Top right hand corner windows)





I took the elevator up to the 11th floor, which I remembered was the concierge level:




When I arrived on the 11th floor, I found the room that we stayed in almost 12 years ago:




I also found the source of my confusion as the room number was 2937. After checking the receipt back home, I confirmed that this was the room.

My other question to you all: Does ANYONE have any photos of this room? I've spent a few hours looking for photos but it seems as if they do not exist.

I just don't get it. One of the BEST views in the DLR, giant bathroom, honeymoon sized jacuzzi tub, Mickey bathrobes, conceirge ammenities right down the hallway, key for the glass concierge elevator that runs only to the 11th floor.....

Why aren't they marketing this room?

[daddyb]

"Honeymoon size jacuzzi tub"? !!!

Somehow I don't think you need a bigger tub from all the cake from the reception.

[Opus1guy]

Originally Posted by localdisnyfan

Why aren't they marketing this room?

My guess would be that they are marketing it, but in a very controlled way, hence it not being listed on the website.

It's not uncommon for hotels to limit their exposure to certain specialty suites and give "control" of those suites to certain departments.

My guess would be that they don't want John Q. Public just calling up and booking the suite as a stand alone purchase, as such bookings might deter from a much bigger sale from someone purchasing an entire wedding package. This Honeymoon Suite could very well be controlled by the Wedding Package department.

I know for a fact that the Disneyland Hotel used to do just such strict "capacity control" on some of their biggest suites, and I suspect they still do.

For example, if you call up to book the Marina Suite...even if it was available, they would first have to call up Sales and Marketing to get the green light to rent it out...as Sales and Marketing might feel that they still might want to hold on to it, to help them land a convention or conference or other big sale. Often these top-of-the-line suites don't become available for independent rental until a couple of weeks out when the various departments are certain they won't be needing them to land a biggie.

You probably got your last-minute "upgrade" because the Wedding Department might have released the suite to general inventory...allowing the hotel staff to use it for sale or upgrade as they wished.

I suspect that Disney doesn't even list this suite specifically because of the great numbers of honeymooners that visit the Disneyland Resort. They'd rather keep it and use it for the big buck package people.

Because of the importance of suite availability to convention and conference contracts...many major hotel chains do not even make their suites available on their web sites. Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridian, Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W Hotels, Four Points, Loft, etc) is an example of a hotel company that rarely lists suites on their web sites. I guess they figure that folks wanting specialty suites will already know it's more SOP to call the hotel directly. Often you'll find something like "For suite availablity, please contact the hotel directly."

[ssturgeo]

I think Opus1Guy is absolutely correct. Controlled marketing. In Nov. 2005 I was taking my 13 year old grandaughter to DL and wanted something special...I came across an article about a Princess Diaries Room. I was staying at the DL hotel and working with VP, so asked them about it. And, indeed they did have such a room....Sierra Tower...and I expressed interest in booking it for one night of our stay. Which I did...and it was wonderful, and she loved it!! Had to speak to two other people after VP in the booking process and had to be "approved". Worth every minute...and every penny too!

[pixie chick]

Maybe they only market it to people getting married on property. Otherwise I would think the demand would be too great & they would have a lot of angry "bridezillas" on their hands.

[Aladdin]

I know Someone who organized an event at the DL Hotel,
rented a few of the conference rooms on a Fri, Sat and Sun,
and the Ballroom on Saturday evening, in addition to
renting out part of Hollywood Pictures Backlot. Their room
was upgraded and/or came with the package, which was
a Suite that had some of the Furniture from "The Princess
Diaries". So, it does appear that these suites are made
available to those who are renting out large areas of the
DL resort.

[Pipeek]

It is something that is booked per reservation. So if a couple was coming in for their Honeymoon, an upgrade may be available to them and the Honeymoon suite is just one of those possibilities.

[Tinkerbell]

Wow, I'd love to see photos of both the Honeymoon Suite and the Princess Diaries Suite. They had some great furnishings in that film!

[dramaqueen]

At the hotel I work at, there are several nice suites, most of which are rented to people with large groups and conventions and most of which are comp'd.

My guest is that this suite is reserved by management for people they want to impress or do something nice for, as in your case. I doubt it is rented out very often or at all. High rollers get nice stuff like this for free.

[Burnt Toast]

The Imperial Suites at the Disneyland Hotel (Ambassador, Penthouse, California, Honeymoon... the "named" suites) are not marketed to the public via normal channels. Basically the same goes for most all of the "named" suites at the DLR hotels in general.

Honeymoon is still there... though I found it very small, but great if you are trying to have a romantic getaway. I got my friends upgraded to the Honeymoon because they were staying with us for their wedding anniversary and they loved it.

[goofypirate]

My girlfriend worked in the Grand Cali. for several years and knows that Johnny Depp has his own suite in that hotel. The suite at the DLH may also just be reserved for VIPs now who have had their own hand in making Disney quite a bit of money.

[SpectroMan]

I was wondering about the Princess Diaries one, too - did they convert it back to a regular suite or was it converted to the new Mickey penthouse, or is it still available?

[Jerm]

The long and short of it is they have changed around what rooms are what over the past few years. With the Pirates Suite, Mickey Penthouse suite, Princess Suite, and all the others they have changed around what rooms are what. But if you want something the best thing to do is call and ask for it. If you call the central room reservations and ask about a room they can either tell you about it or direct you to the people that can.

J

[Kath2188]

I have stayed at the opposite end of the top floor of the Sierra Tower, it is a 3 bedroom suite/3.5 bathrooms and a very large sitting room. The views are fabulous. Everyone staying on the 11th floor get access to the glass elevators with their room keys (regardless of getting the additional $125 concierge.
I too would love pictures of those special suites. I know back in early January there were great pictures of the Mickey Mouse Suite, located on that same floor.

[Pipeek]

Originally Posted by SpectroMan

I was wondering about the Princess Diaries one, too - did they convert it back to a regular suite or was it converted to the new Mickey penthouse, or is it still available?

The Diaries suite is gone now. I'm not sure if it is the MM penthouse, but in any case the MM penthouse now takes up more room than the previous suite by 2 additional rooms.

There are still a few other small theme rooms available to guests at the whim of the front desk.