Today, I’m sharing our Disneyland hotel review.
My husband and I took our girls on our annual Disneyland adventure back in January and decided to splurge and stay at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time–for research purposes, of course.
Since we live in San Diego and not too far away from Anaheim, we only stayed one night in the hotel. We drove up the afternoon before our visit to the parks which is always our favorite way to execute a trip to Disneyland.
We checked into our room, ate dinner, explored Downtown Disney, and got to bed as early as we could for our early morning wakeup call. We spent the whole next day at the parks and drove home at the end of the night.
In today’s post, I’m sharing our full Disneyland Hotel review. I’ll cover our thoughts on the room itself, the location, and if we thought it was ultimately worth the price.
**If you are planning a trip to Disneyland with kids this year, check out my exceedingly thorough and hopefully helpful list of tips here.
Our Disneyland Hotel Review
Overall, we had an amazing experience. The Disneyland Hotel’s location was the reason we decided to stay there in the first place, and the convenience, paired with Early Entry (more on that in a minute), made our experience SO memorable and special.
The staff was welcoming, helpful, and made us feel right at home. Parking was right onsite which made getting checked in a breeze. They even had an EV charger which my husband Tyler was very pleased about.
Our double queen room wasn’t necessarily anything to write home about. It was clean and had just enough space for the four of us and our overnight bags. The entire hotel seemed to be a little outdated but still nice and well-maintained.
The Disney vibes, of course, were all our girls cared about. They thought it was all SO magical.
When we walked into our room, the wall behind our bed was lit up with twinkle lights in the shape of the castle with fireworks around it. This was such a special touch that we all got a kick out of.
One bummer was that the hotel pools were closed during our stay. The pools are supposed to be open and heated year round, but I think they just happened to be closed for refurbishments when we were there. This wasn’t the end of the world since we only had one night, but I thought it would have been fun to have a little night swim after dinner with the girls.
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar
After we checked in, we decided to eat dinner at Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. We went around 5:30pm and waited for 10 minutes or so for a table for four. The food was good but not incredible. It does have a fun tiki bar vibe though which made for a memorable meal.
Goofy’s Kitchen
Since we only had one night at the hotel, we didn’t have a chance to eat here. But we passed by it on our way and thought it looked so cute. Goofy was standing right at the entrance taking pictures with guests.
Disneyland Hotel Room Service
My friend gave me the super helpful tip to schedule room service early in the morning. You can do this with the form they leave in the room for you and just put it over your door before you go to bed. We had eggs, sausage, and coffee delivered at 6am which was perfect to give everyone a little protein before our big morning. That way, we didn’t have to worry about finding breakfast before we enjoyed all of the rides during our early entry time.
Disneyland Hotel Location
When you stay at the Disneyland Hotel, you are, first and foremost, paying for the location. The Disneyland Hotel is situated right up against Downtown Disney which leads to the park gates.
The only other hotel that is technically closer to the park entrances than the Disneyland Hotel is the Grand Californian, another one of Disney’s other 3 official hotel partners at the Disney Resort. (Pixar Place is the third).
I can’t overstate how fabulously convenient this was. Not only can you wake up and walk right out the lobby into Downtown Disney, but you can leave your car parked at the Disneyland Hotel for the day you visit the park, even if you check out of your room in the morning like we did.
Not having to deal with parking and the shuttle service was so nice and made a huge difference in our visit to the parks. Our morning was seamless and streamlined. And at the end of a long day at the parks, simply walking through Downtown Disney and hopping into the car was, as they say, CLUTCH.
Disneyland Hotel Early Entry
This brings me to my next point. Disney hotel guests (this includes all three properties) have access to early entry to the parks. This means hotel guests have the opportunity to get on rides as early as 7:30am, a full 30 minutes before “rope drop” at 8am when the parks open to the public.
Here is a rough timeline of the events:
6:45am: Downtown Disney opens to Disney hotel guests.
7:00am: Downtown Disney opens to the general public.
7:20am: Park entrances start to check tickets and let people in. From here, most people will head towards the “rope drop” area on Main Street. This happens at California Adventure too. If you are a Disney hotel guest, you can head to a separate rope drop area for “early entry.” In Disneyland, this is right next to Tomorrowland.
7:30am: Early entry for Disney hotel guests opens. Please note that early entry does alternate days between the two parks, so you’ll want to double check that when you go to book your ticket and your hotel:
Disneyland Park Early Entry: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Disney California Adventure Park Early Entry : Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
More early entry info linked here.
We made it our mission to take full advantage of early entry, so we were some of the first to walk through the gates of Downtown Disney at 6:45am. We waited in line at the park entrance from 7:00-7:20am. I think there were 4 groups ahead of us in the line we chose. We were able to make it to the special “early entry” roped off area next to Tomorrowland with a few minutes to spare before they let the hotel guests into the park at 7:30am sharp.
Now, I hate crowds, and I hate the rope drop scene. lol. However, I would do it for early entry again. We had a BLAST. Starting the day off on such a high note really sets the tone, especially when you are dealing with young kids. I think we made it on four different rides before 8am which was such a thrill. The girls were so happy, and so was my Type A Efficiency Lover husband.
How much does the Disneyland Hotel cost?
A standard room (with no frills or upgrades) at the Disneyland Hotel costs anywhere from $500 to $800 a night, depending on the time of the year and day of the week.
We stayed on a Wednesday night in January which is probably the cheapest we could have found a room for. Our rate was $436 for a standard double queen room which ended up being $511 with tax.
Is the Disneyland Hotel Worth It?
After a lot of discussion after the fact, Tyler and I concluded that staying at the Disneyland Hotel was ultimately worth it, especially given the fact that we paid for a low season, weeknight price.
Between the ultra convenient location and the early entry access, staying at the Disneyland Hotel really did level up our experience and made our visit one of our most memorable and favorites to date. We had such a magical time, and I would definitely do it again.
Looking for more Disney tips? Check out my guide for visiting Disneyland and California Adventure with kids here.
For more city guides, itinerary inspo, and family travel tips, click here.
On that note…
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