Pros: Proximity to parks and monorail, perks, early entry everyday of your stay, recently refurbished, nice pools, outstanding service.

Cons: Price


For those of you who hesitate between the Grand Californian and the Disneyland hotel: We stayed at both and perfer the Disneyland hotel simply because the rooms are larger and newer. Also, the Disneyland hotel is closer to the monorail. The only thing "grand" at the Grand Californian is the lobby.

For those of you who hesitate between a good neighborhood hotel or one of the 3 official Disney hotel: Splurge and go for the Disney hotel if you can afford it! Well worth the extra cost. This was our 4th visit to Disneyland and we stayed in good neightborhood hotels before which are advertised to be "across the street". They are close but not close enough to go back for a jacket, the sunglasses that you forgot in your room or an afternoon nap. The Disneyland Hotel is close enough that you can do that.

Also, the early entry to the park is a great perk if you are planning on visiting "Cars land". We took advantage of the early entry to California Adventure (reserved to hotel guests only) and by the time the park open to general public, the wait time to spring racers was already over 1 hour and people were lining up for the fast pass. All fast passes were gone less than 1 hour after official park opening! We were able to walk right into the ride with no wait using early entry.

The Disneyland hotel is steps away from the monorail which is another great way to beat the crowds from the main entrance in the morning. The monorail takes you directly to Tomorrow Land.

The Disneyland Hotel would be our one and only choice for future visits.

I have not stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for about 6 years. It was a surprise to see all the updates to the hotel that had been made. The hotel now looks new, clean and bright. We stayed in the Frontier Tower, in a suite on the 9th floor and had a spectacular view of the parks and the to the east. We watched the fireworks display every night from our balcony, with the music channel on the TV. The headboard in our bedroom was carved with disneyland and lights that looked like fireworks and music that would play when you turned it on. All the fixtures in the bathroom had some Mickey design, such as the handle on the tub, tiles, lights, etc. The first night turn down service included a plate of mickey & minney cookies with a carafe of milk. The following nights with chocolates on our bed and our room straighter up. (new towels and trash emptied) The kitchen/breakfast area was spacious and we had a wet bar and a refrigerator. Service staff was wonderful and always pleasant.

The Disneyland Hotel is a great spot to stay when visiting the theme parks. It's convenient to EVERYTHING - parks, Downtown Disney - but the best part is having early access to the theme parks on alternating days. Service was very Disney-friendly; staff was courteous and efficient.

We spent two nights here in early November. We were able to check in at 7am with no problem so we could have early access to California Adventure that day. The rooms were recently re-done, and the lights over the beds (like fireworks) were a big hit with the kids. Our room faced Downtown Disney (Adventure Land) and was very accessible to walk to the parks in the morning (about 5 minutes). We slept 5 comfortably with the 'transformer' bed. We would stay here again, but we definitely paid for the convenience with little discounts available (that we could find anyway). The one disappointment was that the monorail slide was closed :( and the park openings were a bit late for this east coast family.