I’m planning a trip for the end of June and discovered that for my 4 night stay the price difference between Paradise Pier and some of the Good Neighbor hotels is significant, in some cases almost 1,000. Though I love staying in Disney properties, I'm having a hard time justifying the expense. Besides "being in the bubble" what are the other benefits? Are they still alternating parks for early entry? If so, that alone might not be enough for me to shell out that kind of .
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Extra Magic hours are currently suspended at Disneyland.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/extra-magic-hour-early-admission/
Right now… I’m not sure what the justification is for paying $500 - $700 / night. I don’t know of any perks - except easier / more park reservations
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One would hope with WDW returning it’s extra hours that DLR would shortly follow but who knows? I am currently double booked for Oct for Fairmont and Disneyland Hotel and yes Disneyland Hotel is significantly more expensive. I’m hoping for either a sale at Disneyland Hotel or benefits or I may drop it myself. I don’t know though, I like the bubble, and the pool is much better than the motel pools nearby.
Edit: So my suggestion (what I did) was book both with room only so I can cancel/modify and see what happens as things change so quickly with covid.
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Kind of hoping that they allow onsite resort guests w/magic key the same park reservation perk as WDW so that you can make length of stay park reservations.
We have VGC booked for February trip…and once Nintendo opens in Hollywood we will be heading back…i would prefer to grab Ap magic key thing instead of multiple park hoppers
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I would not stay at Paradise Pier, personally. Too expensive for what you get. Harbor Blvd hotels are just as close and MUCH cheaper.
Staying at Grand Californian is great since it’s the absolute closest you can get to the parks, and it’s a very nice hotel with pool, restaurants, etc.
Disneyland Hotel has enough magic that it might be worth it for some, though personally I usually choose GCH or Harbor.
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The pool at Disneyland Hotel is superior in my opinion to GCH but I like the slides and the one at GCH is wimpy so that’s one of the reasons I feel that way. I agree GCH is more magical than Disneyland Hotel strictly for it’s backdoor entrance alone but I was able to get a 2 bedroom suite in Disneyland hotel for significantly less than Grand Californian and it’s still a lot. So as long as our 17yo BFF’s are okay with sharing the couch bed we’re choosing DLH over Harbor…waiting on the friend to say he’s okay with a couch mattress.
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Every time I think I’ve settled my personal debate about whether to stay at DLH or GCH someone changes my mind!! I’m currently booked at GCH.
I’ve seen the pool in pictures and love water slides… It would save me more than $1K…
I saw a video from someone who stayed there last week in the remodeled rooms. They look really nice - except the bathrooms. They don’t appear to have done anything to those except deep clean. (and it’s still a bit stained)
(I know this is a very privileged problem. I’ve just never stayed at any deluxe Disney resort and this is probably my one & only chance.)
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I’d stay at GCH if this is a one time thing. It’s superior in most ways except the pool to me.
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If the pool is a big factor for you, and the extra distance is not, DLH might be the better option for you. For me, GCH gets the edge because I have four kids and every step back to the hotel counts! Plus none of them are brave enough to go on big slides anyway - GCH slide is about the limit. So the choice is easy for me.
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Just reporting in from checking last week at GCH and Disneyland hotel for on site activities. I was told at Guest services at GCH that all the activities around the hotels are on hold for now. She was unsure as to when any of them would return. I especially liked the morning walk/ stretch through DCA before park opening.
Construction at Disneyland hotel continues and sitting across from the pool at the Trader Sam’s fireplace the noise at 11am was surprisingly loud. Around noon it stopped for about an hour as it was probably the workers lunch break. You can see the big equipment in the photos.
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Just got back from our first stay at GCH. It was fantastic. I felt the money was worth it simply because my mom has trouble walking sometimes and there were many times when we stopped at the hotel for a break…we didn’t use the pool, but we did use the spa (fantastic!). If I was going on a trip w/out my mom I would likely choose to stay off property because they are not offering any of the normal benefits to staying on property.
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curious is pool hopping a thing for resort guest?
we are staying at VGC- and would love to see the monorail pool.
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Usually they only allow pool hopping if the pool at your resort is closed
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I kinda figured as much-
Shame we are kinda locked into VGC maybe after the new tower is finished
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You can still ask. The worst they can say is no.
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