So continuing with our own Jamie and Tara’s latest trip to Disneyland, this week we focus on the on-property hotels of the Disneyland Resort. There are three different hotels, Disney’s Grand Californian, the Disneyland Hotel, and Disney’s Paradise Pier. We take an in depth look at each while Jamie and Tara give us feedback on their own experiences.
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A few weeks ago, Shannon attended an agent education program at Disneyland in California. She’s back to tell us all about what she learned and how Disneyland differs from Walt Disney World in Florida!
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While I was recently at the Disneyland Resort I had the opportunity to stay in all three of their onsite resorts. In this post, I’ll give you my thoughts on the Disneyland Hotel.
The Disneyland Hotel is the original Disney resort. Obviously, it’s had a few facelifts in 60 years, and I have to say I’m a huge fan of the look of this resort. It has a fun yet modern feel. If, like me, you’re a fan of Mary Blair’s art, you’re going to love it here.
The rooms were decently sized and quite clean and comfortable. I loved the overall feel of the rooms as well as that wooden carving above the bed! Just beautiful!
The bathroom is set up in an interesting way. The toilet is in its own little room within the bathroom, but the sink and bath areas are open. That probably works well for families, but for myself and my roommate, it was a little inconvenient.
My room was in the main tower, the Fantasy Tower. There are two other towers, Adventure and Frontier Towers. There are also Club Level accommodations here as well as a Club Level lounge that’s wonderful for watching fireworks at night.
You really can’t beat the location of this resort. It’s located right at the end of the Downtown Disney area and it takes maybe 5 minutes to walk from the hotel to the park gates. That’s so refreshing to this this girl who’s used to commute times at Walt Disney World!
The Disneyland hotel also has Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, a fun cocktail bar located right outside the pool area. We stopped in for mojitos one night, and unfortunately the main bar was completely packed so we sat out on the patio. The drinks were great!
Also located at this resort is the Goofy’s Kitchen character meal as well as the famous Steakhouse 55.
Overall, this resort has a fun and laid back feel. This resort is great for families, couples, and anyone looking for that quintessential Disney feel. I really thought that Grand Californian was going to be my favorite of the three, but I was quite surprised to find that Disneyland Hotel was my preference! I really loved this resort and I can’t wait to stay here again with my family!
The Disneyland Resort has 3 on-site hotels: the Grand Californian, Paradise Pier and the Disneyland Hotel. In 2011 the Disneyland Hotel went through a major renovation and I was so excited to stay here after hearing about all the updates.
The hotel has three towers: Fantasy, Adventure, Frontier. The theming in each tower matches the section of the park carrying the same name. In the Fantasy Tower there is the check-in area, the hotel’s main lobby, and the shops. My favorite element of this tower is the tea cup seats in front of the check-in area. You really cannot get more Disney than that.
The Adventure Tower houses the resort’s quick-service restaurant: Tangaroa Terrace and the extremely popular Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar. Both of these establishments carry an exotic theme and tie in that tower’s theme perfectly.
We stayed in the Frontier Tower, which is the furthest tower from the main building, but it really wasn’t that far and we could walk to the front of the resort in less than 5 minutes. Our lobby housed models of the Frontierland attractions like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Our Room
Part of the major refurbishment of the Disneyland Hotel was the rooms and boy were they done well. There were Disney touches all over the place. The headboard lit up with fireworks and played a song at the touch of a switch, there were old photos of Walt on the walls, and Mickeys everywhere you turn. One of the pillows on the beds read, “A dream is a wish your heart makes…” and the other one said, “when you’re fast asleep.”
The bathroom also had lots of fun touches like the lamps, and lots of Mickeys all over even in the tiles in the shower! One thing to note: these are small bathrooms with only one sink and vanity but the water pressure was great, there was a make up mirror and good hair dryer.
Another thing to note about most of the rooms at the Disneyland Hotel is that there are not many rooms with balconies. You do have floor-to-ceiling windows which offer spectacular views.
Pools
The biggest reason I wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel was because of their newly imagined pool area, in particular the monorail slides! This structure is great for kids of every height! There is a little slide for toddlers and longer and bigger slides for the taller kids. In addition to this children’s area there is also the E-Ticket Pool which is tiled with old-time tickets to attractions at Disenyland.
We visited both pools and I would say our toddler enjoyed the slides the most. While I found the e-tickets in the tiles around the pool completely intriguing.
Transportation
The Disneyland Hotel is about 10-15 minute walk to the Esplanade through Downtown Disney. It’s a nice walk but it isn’t as close as it appears on a map. The hotel is also very close to the Downtown Disney monorail station. At Disneyland the monorail drops off and picks up guests from Tomorrowland and Downtown Disney. Park admission is required to ride. One tip: these monorails are set up differently than the ones in Florida and you have to fold up all strollers prior to boarding. We would take it sometimes on our way out of the park.
Conclusion
Without any hesitation, I would stay here again. The Disney theming just can’t be beat and the pools are incredible if you have some water babies in your family like I do.
Photo Tour
For a complete photo tour, please visit our Facebook page to check out my album: Disneyland Hotel Photo Album.
Dole Whipped 