When selecting the place to remain in your Disneyland trip, the primary huge resolution that you must make is whether or not to remain in an official Disneyland resort or one of many a number of inns within the surrounding space.
Associated: The best hotels near Disneyland: Where to stay on- and off-property
Disneyland has three on-site inns: the Disneyland Lodge, Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge & Spa, and the lately reimagined Pixar Place Lodge. If you select certainly one of these properties as your “residence away from residence” throughout your Disneyland trip, you may get entry to particular advantages you will not discover wherever else.
Disneyland Resort resort fundamentals
Earlier than we get too far into the advantages, this is a bit of data on every of Disneyland’s three inns that will help you select which one is finest to your trip.
Disneyland Lodge
The Disneyland Hotel dates again to 1955 — the identical yr that Disneyland opened. Although the resort feels subtle and fashionable, you may discover design particulars round each nook that harken again to Disneyland’s previous.
The primary pool’s waterslide is modeled after a Monorail automotive, and the outsized chairs within the foyer resemble the Mad Tea Occasion teacups. Murals within the visitor room towers depict traditional Disneyland sights.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, a brand new Disney Trip Membership tower, opened Sept. 28, 2023. The Villas at Disneyland Lodge are available numerous sizes, from studio rooms for as much as two friends to three-bedroom villas that sleep as much as 12.
Room charges on the Disneyland Lodge common round $600 per evening.
Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge & Spa
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa blends conventional California Craftsman fashion with luxurious lodge facilities corresponding to an enormous stone fireplace hearth, rustic furnishings and an outdoorsy coloration scheme.
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This resort can also be the closest to Disneyland. It presents a non-public entrance to Disney California Journey Park and a separate entrance to Downtown Disney (which you should utilize to entry the Monorail to Disneyland Park).
Room charges at Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge & Spa common round $700 per evening.
Pixar Place Lodge
Pixar Place Hotel, previously Paradise Pier Lodge, is the latest lodging possibility at Disneyland. It is also probably the most reasonably priced. At this resort, you may discover nods to every Pixar film, together with a meet-and-greet with Bing Bong from “Inside Out” and a “Discovering Nemo”-themed waterslide and splash pad.
Pixar Place Lodge additionally has a non-public walkway and entrance into the Paradise Gardens space of Disney California Journey Park. The rooftop pool deck is a first-rate fireworks viewing spot, too.
Room charges at Pixar Place Lodge common round $450 per evening.
Early theme park entry
Friends at any of Disneyland’s three inns can benefit from 30-minute early entry to both Disneyland Park or Disney California Journey Park (legitimate park admission required). This enables friends to get a head begin on widespread sights earlier than the park opens to common daytime guests.
Which park opens early varies per day, however the present schedule is as follows:
- Disneyland Park: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
- Disney California Journey Park: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays
Thirty minutes could not sound like a lot, however it might imply the distinction between ready solely 5 minutes versus an hour to get on Area Mountain. At Disneyland, you possibly can start making Lightning Lane Multi Pass “skip the road” reservations sooner than different friends as a result of Disneyland requires you to be contained in the park earlier than you start making trip picks.
Handy entry to the parks
All three of Disneyland’s on-site inns are inside strolling distance of the resort’s two theme parks. Due to its walkable footprint, you possibly can attain the parks rapidly within the morning or stroll again to your resort for a midafternoon break.
Friends of the Disneyland Lodge can observe the walkway to the outlets and eateries in Downtown Disney. You’ll be able to both stroll during Downtown Disney to the esplanade between Disneyland Park and Disney California Journey Park or take a shorter stroll to the Downtown Disney Monorail station for entry to Disneyland Park.
For those who’re staying at Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge & Spa, you possibly can stroll straight into Disney California Journey Park by means of the resort’s personal theme park entrance. You may additionally get pleasure from a a lot shorter wait at safety versus friends who use the primary entrance. For those who’d slightly go to Downtown Disney or Disneyland, there’s a separate walkway and entrance.
Final however definitely not least, Pixar Place Lodge friends can use a devoted walkway throughout the road from the resort to entry Disney California Journey Park or stroll out of the resort’s again entrance towards Downtown Disney.
Fireworks, characters and enjoyable actions
If you keep at a Disneyland resort, the enjoyable does not cease whenever you go away the parks every day.
You might occur upon your favourite character with out stepping foot inside a park. You’ll be able to typically discover Bing Bong from “Inside Out” greeting friends outdoors of Pixar Place Lodge, and you may hearken to the musical stylings of Joe Gardner from “Soul” taking part in piano contained in the foyer.
Disneyland inns provide character meals at Goofy’s Kitchen on the Disneyland Lodge, in addition to at Storytellers Cafe and Napa Rose on the Grand Californian. You might be fortunate sufficient to fulfill with characters within the Disneyland Lodge foyer, too.
There aren’t any scheduled instances for this shock meet-and-greet, however your finest wager is between mealtimes at Goofy’s Kitchen when the characters make their approach to or from the restaurant.
For those who love fireworks however your youngsters tire out earlier than nighttime, there are a number of fireworks viewing choices from Disneyland’s inns. For those who keep on the concierge stage on the Disneyland Lodge, you possibly can view Disneyland’s fireworks from the E-Ticket Membership lounge. The lounge additionally serves complimentary meals and drinks all through the day.
Friends on the Grand Californian can entry a viewing deck on the sixth ground that has spectacular views of the World of Coloration at Disney California Journey Park. These staying in a club-level room can get a partial view of Disneyland’s fireworks from the concierge lounge balcony.
As talked about above, the Pixar Place Lodge’s rooftop pool deck is a good spot to observe the Disneyland fireworks. The property even pipes in music from the present to offer you a more in-depth expertise to what you’d get contained in the park.
Every resort additionally presents a calendar of weekly actions, starting from health lessons to arts and crafts. A number of of our favorites embody an academic strolling tour of the Disneyland Lodge, free drawing lessons at Pixar Place Lodge and morning yoga overlooking Disney California Journey Park at Disney’s Grand Californian Lodge & Spa.
You’ll be able to view a full resort exercise schedule here.
It is not as costly as you would possibly suppose
There are some helpful methods to include bank cards or rewards factors into your Disneyland planning to pay much less out of pocket to your Disneyland resort keep. TPG has a full information on the best credit cards for Disney, however beneath are a couple of of our greatest ideas.
When you’ve got a card that comes with entry to the Citi travel portal — just like the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees) or a no-annual-fee possibility just like the Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees) or the Citi Rewards+® Card (see rates and fees) — you possibly can typically e-book Disneyland inns that means. Your Citi ThankYou Rewards factors are value a flat 1 cent apiece whenever you redeem them for resort stays by means of the portal.
Equally, in case you have a card just like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, or the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card, you possibly can redeem Capital One miles at a charge of 1 cent every through the Capital One Travel portal for Disneyland resort stays.
When you’ve got a card that comes with an annual journey credit score, you possibly can apply it towards purchases that code as “journey.” For instance, you should utilize the Chase Sapphire Reserve®‘s annual $300 travel credit on a Disneyland resort if the cost codes as journey. To make sure it does, e-book your room or hotel-and-tickets package deal instantly with Disney or through a journey agent, corresponding to TPG’s companion Mouse Counselors.
The Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card has an identical $300 annual travel credit, however you possibly can solely use it towards bookings made by means of the Capital One Journey portal.
With the Disney® Premier Visa® Card and the Disney® Visa® Card, you possibly can earn rewards {dollars} you can then redeem for Disney resort stays. One rewards greenback is value $1 towards your invoice.
Along with numerous methods it can save you utilizing factors, miles, and journey credit, Disneyland usually presents reductions of 25% to 30% on resort stays. You’ll be able to view the newest presents here.
Backside line
There is not any denying that Disneyland’s on-site resort choices are dearer than most off-property inns, however nothing can match the sensation of staying in the midst of the magic. The advantages of staying on property are clear, and with a little bit of factors and miles pixie mud, you possibly can scale back the out-of-pocket price of your Disneyland trip.
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