Disneyland Hotel 10/23-10/27

[wbarley]

Posted a thread getting some reviews of the DH, which were as expected, mixed.

Since I'd been wanting to stay here since I was a kid and we got the AP rate of $159 per night, we went for it anyway.

Huge disappointment! I would definitely not stay there again, and here's why:

Not convenient at all. You have to schlep a long way (we were in the Wonder Tower) to get to the park. Seems much further than the easy walk from PP or most of the Good Neighbors when you're walking from Wonder.

Rooms not up to snuff. The room was clean and in good nick, but really tiny! Bathroom was split with toilet/shower on one side and sink/closet on the other. Who thought up this whacky layout? Almost had to duck down to wash my hair, and I'm only 5'6". The walls are indeed thin as mentioned before and the room connecting door is in the sink/closet room and you can hear everything that's going on next door. We had some kids next door literally screaming every morning and evening. Of course I don't blame the hotel for this but more soundproofing is definitely in order.

Crap view. We've always had good views at the PP, but here we were on the 2nd floor of Wonder and wow, nice parking lot. Major letdown.

Parking. In no way is the parking convenient, and in fact if you're staying in the Wonder tower you are again schlepping your bags for ages. Granted you do this when you arrive and depart, but seriously, this is a pain. There is a parking lot in back (where we had our lovely view) but it doesn't appear to be one that guests can access. Since we were told to park in front when we checked in, I'm curious to know if there is any access to that small lot behind Wonder.

Not worth the price. Even at $159 per night this is a rip off. You can stay over at the Camelot for this price (or less) and the rooms are much nicer.

On our next trip we will go back to PP or if there is any decent AP rate stay at the GC. I would go back to the Camelot before staying at DH again, I'm so sad to say :-( I've had a bit of a winge here but I'm feeling a bit let down by the whole experience!

[PretzelSouls]

Sorry to hear about the horrible hotel.

[wbarley]

Not horrible - just a letdown.

[Hayley B]

That's where I stayed last year. I had my ups and downs about it too. I really didn't care for the checking-in. Checking-in was just a bit confusing to me. But it maybe, just because I'm use to the Disney World Hotel Resorts way compare to the Disneyland Hotel Resorts (they have plenty of different ways of how they do things).

My hotel room was small. But that was alright, since it's only me and I got a view of the fireworks from there, one night.

[Tammy77]

I know what you mean I had always wanted to stay at DLH and when I won the trip I was so happy! but then where we got there and had to wait for two hours after check in time to get our room with our 1 1/2 year tired and needing a nap the bathroom had some sort of black mold on the wall next to and in the shower view was of the pool which good,the walk to the park was i think longer than staying at other non disney hotels.... if I had to pay I would not stay there....

[Craigroy8287]

It's sad to hear all these bad stories about the DLH.

[BFJen]

Sounds like we had the same experience - right down to the screaming kid next door every morning!

[LLCMC]

I just stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for two days this past Tuesday and Wednesday, and I must say I had the exact opposite experience! It was truly a joy to stay at the Resort for two days. I must have lucked out! We couldn't get up to the Hotel until after 11pm so I was afraid we would get shafted on room selection. Much to my surprise we got a great 4th floor view of Downtown Disney! From what I understand there are different rates for the various views. I also did the $159 AP rate, so I expected a parking lot view. Not the case! I was ecstatic upon entering our room and seeing our view. The room was also great. Roomy by my standards (I don't exactly stay in high-end hotels very often). We had a couch, a chair, and a nice desk. The king-size bed was EXTREMELY comfortable. I didn't have the same issues with bathroom layout. Ours made sense to me. Shower on the left wall next the sink and towel rack on right wall. Toilet was in an attached separate room. Our connecting door was not in a closet. I must also say that checking in late at night was a breeze, and the gentleman who helped us was very nice and helpful! I should mention that I was in the Dreams tower, which was certainly more convenient than any of the either towers in terms of location. Right out the elevator doors we were basically in Downtown Disney. Taking the Monorail was a snap, and early entry into Disneyland was fantastic! Being the Disney nerd that I am, I found great joy in dorking out over the little Disney touches (be it characters hidden in the wall-paper, or the art work, or the music in all the lobbies).

The only two MINOR gripes: The walls do seem thin. We were next to a service elevator, and could here it going up and down at times. Luckily, the hotel itself didn't seem very busy, so there was not much noise around. The other thing is, if you're nitpicky you can see some things that show this hotel's age. But considering it's age everything seemed very well up-kept to me! Both of these things did absolutely nothing to take away form my experience though. I do think part of my luck was that the parks and hotel were both rather slow. But that's how I planned it, and I reaped the rewards!

Any way, I had a great time. Just thought I'd share my story. I don't think any one else's experience doesn't have merit, their complaints are likely very legitimate! But I just wanted to show that it IS possible to have a great time at the Disneyland Hotel! I look forward to scrounging up to money to stay at the GC next time! Any one have reviews of Paradise Pier? I haven't seen many first hand accounts...

[tiggerfan74]

We stayed in the DLH in July 07 for three nights (Dreams Tower) in the three room suite and my grandmother liked it so much we are headed back in three weeks for her 78th birthday.

It almost sounds like some towers are worse than others, as I have read many mixed reviews...

[stitchon]

Yeah, I suggest next time you choose a different tower and not completely abandon the hotel. The Dreams Tower overlooks Downtown Disney and DCA, and all the times we've stayed there it's been fine. The Wonder Tower seems to be the worst of the three, so we haven't stayed there in a while.

Sorry you had a bad stay, but I suggest requesting the Dreams Tower as that is the only tower that overlooks the resort. Or at least request a room that overlooks the hotel itself, the waterfalls are pretty from above.

[OldSchoolMickey]

Yeah, when we stay at the DL Hotel, we always stay in the Sierra (now Dreams) Tower.

We've found them to be the nicest, and with the best views.

We'll be there again for the T-Day week.

[Gravey80]

Originally Posted by wbarley

Posted a thread getting some reviews of the DH, which were as expected, mixed.

Since I'd been wanting to stay here since I was a kid and we got the AP rate of $159 per night, we went for it anyway.

Huge disappointment! I would definitely not stay there again, and here's why:

Not convenient at all. You have to schlep a long way (we were in the Wonder Tower) to get to the park. Seems much further than the easy walk from PP or most of the Good Neighbors when you're walking from Wonder.

Rooms not up to snuff. The room was clean and in good nick, but really tiny! Bathroom was split with toilet/shower on one side and sink/closet on the other. Who thought up this whacky layout? Almost had to duck down to wash my hair, and I'm only 5'6". The walls are indeed thin as mentioned before and the room connecting door is in the sink/closet room and you can hear everything that's going on next door. We had some kids next door literally screaming every morning and evening. Of course I don't blame the hotel for this but more soundproofing is definitely in order.

Crap view. We've always had good views at the PP, but here we were on the 2nd floor of Wonder and wow, nice parking lot. Major letdown.

Parking. In no way is the parking convenient, and in fact if you're staying in the Wonder tower you are again schlepping your bags for ages. Granted you do this when you arrive and depart, but seriously, this is a pain. There is a parking lot in back (where we had our lovely view) but it doesn't appear to be one that guests can access. Since we were told to park in front when we checked in, I'm curious to know if there is any access to that small lot behind Wonder.

Not worth the price. Even at $159 per night this is a rip off. You can stay over at the Camelot for this price (or less) and the rooms are much nicer.

On our next trip we will go back to PP or if there is any decent AP rate stay at the GC. I would go back to the Camelot before staying at DH again, I'm so sad to say :-( I've had a bit of a winge here but I'm feeling a bit let down by the whole experience!

As a CM of the PPH, I am sorry that you had such a bad stay at the DLH. There is a tiny parking area which is near the parking for the PPH. The way to get there is you have to go down Disneyland Dr to Paradise Way which is the corner of the PPH and GCH. As long as you self park, you can park there. If you were talking about the huge parking area behind the very small area, that is the DTD overflow parking as well as CM parking. The walk from the front desk to the back tower is a heck of a walk and it sucks. I personally haven't seen the rooms there, but I know that the PPH room are just a little bigger. I hope that your next stay is a little better.

[wbarley]

We just booked a room in Feb at PPH - and I took the opportunity to mention the DLH. She said people often complain about the Wonder tower, so if we do go again we'll avoid that one.

[smiley_face2]

We too had the opposite experience. We called on the off chance of getting in a room in July, and we lucked out with a really good annual passholder rate. We were so anxious to get out of the hotel we were in which ended up to be a really bad room, we checked out in the morning and went over thinking we would just leave our bags and go to the park. They had our room ready for us already! it was like 10 in the morning! We were on the 5th floor of the Dreams tower looking over the pool....the room was very spacious, spotlessly clean and very attractively decorated. The bed was like a princess bed, I nearly needed a step to get up into it. Awesome pillowtop cushy comfort!! the balcony doors opened right up so it felt like you were outside, and at night the tree frogs singing in the trees was awesome to listen to! You walk out the door of the tower and you are right on the doorstep to Downtown Disney, a 3 minute walk and you are on the monorail getting dropped off in Tomorrowland! For coming home at night it was especially awesome! hardly any walking at all! They have free coffee by the doors so on your way to the monorail you could take a coffee with you. We loved it and would love to stay again as soon as possible! Don't recall if I may have posted these pics elsewhere but here they are, you can see how nice the room and the view is!

[OldSchoolMickey]

Great pics! Looks like you had a great time!

We're there right now! We always stay in the Sierra Tower. It's the best!

We'll be checking out in the morning, but it was a wonderful week!

Since it was for Thanksgiving, we requested a room overlooking DTD and the roof of the ESPN Zone. Thank goodness for the AP rate!