When you first imagine a trip to a Disney resort around the globe, you’ll no doubt first think of the incredible things you’ll see, do, eat, and ride at the company’s theme parks. But when you get serious about planning, another massive question will quickly emerge: where you’ll stay.
The Walt Disney Company operates 39 hotels around the globe, ranging from “Value” to “Deluxe” in their levels of pricing, aesthetic, and service. But today, we want to zoom in to a few of the best-of-the-best Disney hotels and ask your genuine thoughts – are they worth the price?
1. Grand Floridian
Despite its name, Disney’s Grand Floridian Hotel – the most extravagant, costly hotel at Walt Disney World – is modeled after the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California. But who cares? The Grand Floridian harkens back to the heyday of glamorous getaways at Victorian beach resorts at the turn-of-the-century… gorgeous gabled roofs, glass domes, grand salt box lobbies… Of course, rather than being on the ocean, the Grand Floridian resides on the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon.
But for Disney fans, that’s close enough! The Grand Floridian is located in the aspirational Magic Kingdom Resort Area. Thanks to a 2022 effort, guests of the Grand Floridian can even walk to Magic Kingdom’s front door (or, of course, take the iconic Monorail). So not only can you live the dream of being a nouveau riche beachgoer of the early 20th century; you can also stay in the flagship resort that’s virtually connected to Disney’s flagship park. The “Grand Flo” also has several unique dining options. Among them is Victoria & Albert’s – Disney’s only Michelin-starred restaurant. Of course, dinner there will set you back $295 per person (without the optional $150 per person wine pairing) and a strict dress code is enforced.
Standard rooms at the Grand Floridian start at about $800 per night, and prices for Water View, Theme Park View, Suites, and Club Level arrangements only up from there, to $5000 a night or more. But listen, Disney does fill those 867 rooms, meaning that many people are forking over the money to stay at this flagship resort. The question is: do you think it’s worth it?
2. Grand Californian Hotel
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel is unique among U.S. Disney hotels in that it’s the only one that’s located inside of a theme park. Actually, you might begin to suspect that Disney spent more money on the Grand Californian than on the park it was built to accompany: Disney California Adventure. Designed by Peter Dominick (who also designed its spiritual siblings – Disney World’s Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge), the hotel draws inspiration from the “Arts & Crafts” architectural movement of the early 1900s, when architects made an intentional push to return to hand-crafted, warm building materials after the mass-produced work of the Industrial Revolution.
The Grand Californian is stunning, with dark wood, plush carpets, fireplaces, and a soaring atrium. Like its Floridian cousin, the Grand Californian offers opulent eateries, an exceptional pool, and very large, high-quality standard rooms. It also has an exclusive entrance into Disney California Adventure. In fact, the hotel is designed to make sense “in-universe” for guests in the park, playing the role of a rustic lodge in California Adventure’s Grizzly Peak land – just the sort of beautiful, historic lodge you’d expect to find California’s Yosemite or Redwoods National Park.
Smartly appointed, cozy, and earthy, the rooms at the Grand Californian are very nice. And of course, additional costs can upgrade you to Theme Park Views (including vistas of Grizzly Peak and Pixar Pier, with the synchronized soundtrack of “World of Color” broadcast through in-room television), Suites, or Club Level arrangements. But for most of us those upgrades would be once in a lifetime – standard room rates start at $700. Have you ever sprung for a stay at the Grand Californian? Would you recommend it?
3. Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris
When Disneyland Paris opened in 1992, the single theme park came with a staggering six resort hotels to join it. (In fact, the French resort’s infamous financial collapse is almost entirely due to the resort having far, far too much hotel capacity relative to the park’s size and draw.) By far, the flagship was the Disneyland Hotel. Like the Grand Floridian, the Disneyland Hotel in France is designed in an elevated Victorian style, filled with gingerbread trim, pinnacles, and bauble lights, echoing the turn-of-the-century (but, in typical Paris fashion, layered with a bit more opulence and fantasy, including a light pink color versus the white and red Grand Floridian).
It’s often said that the Grand Floridian is meant to act as a “complement” to Magic Kingdom’s Main Street (in the same way that the Polynesian Village nods to Adventureland, and that the Contemporary is aesthetically connected to Tomorrowland). Disneyland Paris takes that a step further. The Disneyland Hotel there is actually part of the park’s Main Street, with its own private entrance into the park.
Like the rest of Disneyland Paris, the hotel closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. But instead of re-opening with the resort, it remained closed. In April 2021, Disney finally announced why: the hotel was about to undergo a major metamorphosis, refreshing its dated interior and (in typical modern Disney fashion) axing lots of historic placemaking in favor of modern IP. The results are certainly beautiful. The question is, are they worth the $700 to $1300 a night that standard rooms rent for?
