This is definitely not the case now. When you stay at any of the 3 hotels your keys work at the gates to get onto the GCH property. My kids actually thought the walk to the parks was better from Pixar Place than from the Disneyland Villas, mainly because the monorail was down last January when we were at the Villas so had to walk a whole lot back and forth that trip. But if you use the monorail a lot, DLH might be better for you. Or the GCH. All are infinitely better than anything not on property in my opinion.
I am staying on Harbor tomorrow and Friday night, and I am not looking forward to the security over there. Way too many people versus the west side security. But I am out of DVC points, and am staying on Harbor for free on Chase points….so I guess I’ll survive. I won’t miss early entry too much, we only made it half the time at the most. We are late night people in the parks and that does not work well with early entry.
We were out for dinner and he continued to encourage me to spend the extra money and change to GCH. I may sleep on the idea and if the price is still there for GCH in the morning, maybe I will change it.
I did wonder about the crowd level for security on Harbor Blvd. I have only entered through security at the Disneyland Hotel and from Grand Californian.
We did early entry every day but one in all of our visits. We usually leave the parks before fireworks, but even with the DGDs, we don’t take a break.
At this price I would bite for GCH, personally. It is always $800/night plus when I want to go (or you have to stay 3-4 nights to get a deal). Which is just crazy.
I had a bunch of stuff typed up about what the motels are like on Harbor and which ones to choose based on what things are important to you in a hotel. And now I see you are likely considering GCH (for that price I absolutely would, but also I get being annoyed at the early entry perk going away).
If you do ever need recommendations on the Harbor, the Marriott courtyard is probably your best bet at being comfortable as one is used to in a hotel. But by the time I am paying that price for a room, I am thinking I might as well put that towards Pixar Place, have about the same walk, and but all of it onsite.
I do like that we can stay 2-3x at the motels on Harbor for the price of one onsite stay. But they are all something of a compromise on space, amenities, modernized rooms, etc. And like @Wahoohokie said the security entrance from Harbor is people-y. Especially in the morning and sometimes it’s just as bad at night (when people are coming to enjoy dinner/nighttime entertainment).
If you already have it typed up, I would love to see it. My next trip, Disney may not have a good deal and I will be back to looking offsite. I spent hours watching YouTube and reading reviews. But those don’t give you insight on things like the difference between security from Harbor compared to security coming in from the onsite hotels.
I had narrowed down my search off site to Courtyard Marriott Theme Park Entrance or Candy Cane Inn. But the price of the Marriott was so close to the offer at Disneyland Hotel and then the temptation of GCH for $123 more a night.
Holding both reservations for now, need to cancel one. My thrifty self tells me that paying $600 more for 5 nights at GCH isn’t worth it. My bargain hunting self tells me that that is such a good rate for GCH. I love Disneyland Hotel possibly more. We tend to walk to the park once in the morning and then back at the end of the day, not usually going back and forth.
I need to decide as this kept me awake for hours last night.
And you may not find it again in the future. This might be your only chance to stay there for a reasonable rate! I think you got a great deal considering what I see when I price out GCH most of the time. I’ve never been because staying off-site has always given me pause.
It is very little when I consider what I paid for 2 rooms at the Disneyland Hotel at Christmas time.
When I think about how tired I am at the end of a park day, and how much I don’t like carrying purchases all day, and how close the GCH hotel is from the parks, and how even the week following my reservation the GCH is over $100 more than what I would be paying…
We went to the parks/DTD 6 days two weeks ago, and we went a few times through security some of those days. We only truly waited more than a few minutes one of those times and that was because I did a lousy job picking lines and the people in front of me ended up pulling out many backpacks from their stroller. It’s truly just 1-5 minutes. Not 15-20. I waited longer getting into TTC from parking lot in November at MK.
LOL
While I certainly don’t want @illini74 to miss a great deal that may not repeat itself at the GCH, that is a lot of meals for just two people!
I hope you can make your selection tonight and not worry about it anymore @illini74 The GCH lobby is so comfortable and it would be nice to stay there.
You could also send DS back with purchases if you don’t want to walk.
maybe it was January?
We also didn’t get there more than a few minute before or right at park opening. We weren’t rushing to any rides so we sort of just timed it for the beginning of operations. So maybe we were behind the crush.
When I saw you were deciding between GCH and DLH I deleted it and replaced it with my inital response. But my ultimate recommendation for you was either the Fairfield if you wanted to focus on savings and were ok with very basic motel amenities or the Courtyard if you wanted to still save a little but wanted more comfort.
I haven’t ever tried out the Candy Cane Inn but they are a solid favorite and by the sound of it they do a little more than the rest of the motels around in terms of care of guests & amenities. (I did always price them out when we were going 7-10x/year but something else always won out on price and we really are only in the room to crash and shower and so we just need a safe & clean place for that).
Another cost-conscious option is the Grand Legacy. They also get solid reviews, and they have a lot of choices of category/locations and they are close to some good offsite food options. The one thing with them is you do have to know which rooms to avoid (I think in the tower because of the noise). I also like The Anaheim and Park Vue a lot but they are both more basic in their ameneties. The rooms at the Anaheim are more dated but they are large/lots of space, well kept and the grounds are really nice & fun. The Park Vue is very functional but more compact and what you’re mostly paying there is saving your steps for more time in the parks.
And now I’ve gone and re-typed a lot of it again.
As for the GCH or DLH that is a tough choice. I LOOOOVE the DLH. The whole classic, original, retro vibe puts me in a perfect state for enjoying Walt’s OG park, which is my favorite park of them all. Plus fireworks headboards.
The GCH for that price though is hard to pass up. And it does save steps, especially at the end of the night.
If it were me, I’d probably end up with the $600 savings + nostalgia and the DLH but I really do love it . Plus I have a hard time spending anything close to even the GCH discounted rates for a room that while beautiful and woodsy craftsman as it is, doesn’t give me the same vibes and feelings as the DLH does.
We have stayed at GCH once and the whole time I spent thinking about how much it had cost us and what I truly loved about the GCH were all things I could do as an offsite guest (the lobby and eating at any of the restaurants there - we made a point to try them all that trip).
But if you were thinking of trying the GCH again at some point, it’s not going to be a better price than that. So it depends on if you want an excuse to be there or want the nostalgia (and $600 more to spend on the trip or the next one).
It’s gone in waves for us. There are trips it’s better than others. And there have been a couple of truly atrocious, horrible, terrible, long waits. (At least three times we have been in a security line on Harbor for nearly an hour, twice in the evening and once the first day it opened for out of state guests after the pandemic closure). And a lot of times if you hit the line just when there’s a big influx of evening park-goers/returners from midday break, you can easily get that 20 min wait.
But on balance, the mornings, ESPECIALLY the weekends or high attendance days, they have it fully staffed and it moves smoothly and it’s not ever more than 10 minutes, even with so many people. And when they started doing security screening for the Toy Story lot shuttles AT the Toy Story lot (so all those guests were able to enter directly to the esplanade off the shuttle and not have to join the security line on Harbor), it noticeably improved at least the mornings.
I have been going back and forth all day. I love the Disneyland Hotel. I liked the GCH when we stayed there.
Six hundred dollars more to save about 20 to 25 minute of walking on each of our 4 park days. If I have packages, I could rent a locker.
I won’t miss early entry too much, we only made it half the time at the most. We are late night people in the parks and that does not work well with early entry.
. I say it’s the best idea, so it must be the best idea. 
