Picking a hotel
image:DisneyOne of the biggest differences between the two American Disney campuses is housing. Walt Disney World has massive acreage, which means Disney can and has built many hotels. You can choose anything from the All-Star Resorts that can cost $100 a night up to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. The bungalows there cost $2,000 a night or more.
Walt Disney World has tens of thousands of rooms available nightly, and their occupancy rate hovers around 90 percent. Plenty of offsite hotels and condominiums are viable options for an extended stay, too. Personally, I value the benefits of a Disney resort stay such as Extra Magic Hours, Magical Express, and the ability to purchase the Disney Dining Plan.
For these reasons, I always stay onsite. That’s what I recommend to others, too. I believe that people should choose a Disney resort to maximize park time during your visit. I also advise people to consider renting Disney Vacation Club points. This strategy helps theme park tourist stay at Walt Disney World’s nicest resorts for roughly the same cost as a Moderate tier entry such as Disney’s Port Orleans Resort. People get so much more money for their money this way. I firmly recommend a monorail resort if possible. The convenience to Epcot and Magic Kingdom justifies the cost. Still, any Disney-owned resort is a wonderful experience. The quality of the theming at these properties is awe-inspiring.
image:DisneyAt Disneyland, the situation is different. Disney only owns three properties currently, and two weren’t originally Disney creations. Instead, two other companies built resorts close to the Happiest Place on Earth, and then Disney bought them later. The only “true” Disney property is Disney’s Grand Californian Resort & Spa. Not coincidentally, it’s also the most expensive of the three options. A night there starts around $550 and usually costs at least $50 more.
Disneyland Hotel starts at $380, but it seems to have an average of $450 per night. Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel is the cheapest of the three. Rates start at $315 per night, and I’ve consistently found rooms there under $400. The catch is that a quick glance at Trip Advisor will reveal that this is the least Disney-like resort in the continental United States.
image:DisneyWhat’s odd about Disneyland is that the Disney hotels don’t have ideal locations. In fact, one of the longest walks you can have on campus is from some portions of Disneyland Hotel to the twin entrance gates to the parks. You do gain special benefits for staying at a Disney resort, the most important one being Extra Magic Hours. This reward could be the difference between getting to ride Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! or not.
Still, Disneyland has a large list of partner hotels. Called Good Neighbor properties, these approximately 50 hotels are viable options. Some of them are much closer to the front gates of Disneyland at half the cost. It’s hard to ignore that math. While I stay at Disneyland resorts when visiting (I’m a loyalist), I recommend Good Neighbor hotels to all my friends. The finances of it are decisive.
Comments
This article makes some misleading statements about Disneyland. While there are 47 Good Neighbor hotels, only 11 of them are close enough to qualify as "across the street" from the resort; the rest are from .5 to two miles away. And "across the street" can mean anything from .3 to .6 miles away. Sometimes more! The Disneyland Hotel is .5 miles away, so a few are closer to the gates than that. But, the Good Neighbors measure their distances just to the entrances to the parks, so if you want to walk anywhere else in the resort, like say DTD, it will be even further away for you. The argument about the cost differences between Disney hotels and the Good Neighbors is a good one, but the physical distance argument is misleading! None are "much closer" and some may be quite a bit further than you think. Not all offer transportation the the parks, and not all of those that do offer it for free.
The argument that there is no "Disney Bubble" at Disneyland is also misleading. If you stay in a Disney hotel, the outside world doesn't need to come in , same as it is at WDW. It's much easier to seek the world out if you want to at DL than at WDW, but you can absolutely avoid it.
And frankly, the statement "At Disneyland, the food options aren’t as good" is just untrue. The options certainly aren't as numerous as they are at WDW, with many more parks and hotels to locate them in, but the quality of the establishments is just as outstanding. With its own Food and Wine Festival, Festival of Holidays, and Lunar New Year, DCA has established a strong foodie culture that may one day rival EPCOT, while locals and tourists alike flock to classic establishments like Blue Bayou and new favorites like Napa Rose.
While I think this is a good topic, and personal preferences always play a factor when making recommendations, I think some of the information in this article is misleading to people and misrepresents what the DL resort has to offer.
You failed to mention Long Beach airport. Even closer than John Wayne.