Planning a Disneyland Resort vacation is a fairly involved process. The only easy thing is figuring out how many days you want to spend in the park. Beyond that, you need to plan transportation, either by car or plane, and perhaps most importantly, where to stay. There are more hotels than you’ll know what to do with surrounding Disneyland, so getting a room, and even getting a decently-priced room, isn’t going to be that tough. But for the true Disneyland experience you need to book more than just a room; you need to book a Disneyland Resort hotel room.
Staying "on property" at any theme park resort can often be expensive, and Disney hotels are especially expensive. Still, there are reasons to do it, ranging from special perks to simple ease. Disney World hotels may be losing a battle to Universal right now, but on the West Coast, there's just nothing like a Disneyland hotel.
But even there, you have choices. There are three different Disneyland Resort hotels to choose from, and other than the price, it can be hard to gauge just what the differences between them are if you’ve never been there. I have been lucky enough to stay at all three Disneyland Resort hotels at different times in my career as a theme park writer, and ultimately the question you want to ask when deciding which hotel to book isn’t how much you want to spend, but what sort of Disneyland Resort experience do you want?
The Pixar Place is More Disney than the Disneyland Hotel
The newest attraction at Disneyland isn't a ride, but a hotel. Disneyland Resort recently opened the Pixar Place Hotel. The hotel has been recently refurbished and renamed, having been formerly kown as the Paradise Pier Hotel. Despite this building being the one that wasn’t built by Disneyland, it is now the most “Disney” of the three hotels. This is the place where your Disneyland vacation doesn’t need to end when you leave the parks.
Pixar characters are all over the hotel, and it's as bright and colorful as a Pixar movie. Bing Bong is available as a character to meet that you won’t find in the parks, and Joe Gardner from Soul can often be found playing piano in the lobby. The rooms are also very Pixar, with the Pixar lamp from the studio’s logo lighting your desk, and a lovely mural on the wall of every room. It’s not that the other hotels don’t have some of these elements, but they’re much more subtle there. Especially if you have kids, subtle isn’t what you’re looking for.
The hotel refurbishment also brought with it the return of something old, a dedicated entrance to Disney California Adventure that drops you right into Pixar Pier. It’s a great way to be the first on the Incredicoaster in the morning, and a quick way back to your room in the evening once World of Color has ended.
The Grand Californian Resort & Spa Is Where You Go For A Truly Luxurious Experience
When Disney California Adventure was first opened, it was about bringing all the different parts of the massive state together in a single place. But that goes beyond the theme park with the Grand Californian Resort & Spa. Built to resemble Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel, the Grand Californian is simply a thing of beauty.
The wide-open lobby is breathtaking even when it isn’t the first time you’ve seen it. It’s a hotel you simply want to walk around as the courtyard areas, full of redwoods, truly make you feel like you’re somewhere else; not inside a Disney movie, but inside a national park. I've wiled away time just sitting in front of a fireplace
If your idea of vacation isn’t roller coasters, but relaxing, then the Tenaya Stone Spa is there to treat you with all the spa elements you might expect. If fine dining is how you like to enjoy a vacation, then Napa Rose, the best restaurant available at Disneyland Resort, is just steps away from your room.
Add to this the fact that the Grand Californian has dedicated entrances to both Downtown Disney and Disney California Adventure, and you have the hotel that has the best location in the resort, close to everything, making whatever you want to do just that little bit closer.
The Disneyland Hotel: The Hotel of Theseus
This finally leaves us with the Disneyland Hotel, the first hotel on Disneyland property. For decades it wasn’t owned or run by Disney. That changed as part of the Disney California Adventure expansion, but that wasn’t all that changed, Because while the current hotel shares a name with that original location, it’s about all they have in common.
None of the buildings in the modern Disneyland Hotel were around when it was built in 1955. One of the original selling points of the hotel, Monorail access to the park, is gone, as the hotel is in an entirely different place. Since the Disneyland Hotel has no special park entrance of its own, it’s now the Disney hotel that is furthest away from any attractions. At least, until DisneylandForward happens.
That’s not to say there’s no reason to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. It’s a great hotel that’s able to give you a “Disney” experience, but blended into a high-end modern hotel experience. If you’ve got kids who are going to want to go a bit crazy in a swimming pool, the Disneyland Hotel is the place for that. The Pixar Place pool isn’t very big, and the Grand Californian is more of a “lounge by the pool” pool. This pool is for jumping in, laughing and going down slides.
Staying at the Disneyland Hotel also gives you easy access to a couple of nice, casual places to grab a bite or a drink. Trader Sam’s is iconic, and a place everybody should check out. The new Palm Breeze Bar, while it’s no Steakhouse 55, has pretty good food and cocktails to go with it. The Coffee House is also a place where you can find Dole Whip without going into Disneyland, and the only place to get it with a splash of booze if you are so inclined.
There are several additional perks that guests of any Disneyland Resort hotel get, including early access to the parks, so staying at any of the three has value. But your experience outside the parks will potentially be quite different depending on where you stay, so decide what sort of hotel experience you want when you leave the parks. You can always make a different choice next time.
