Spent three days in glorious - albeit expensive - Disneyland from August 15 through the 18th. Disneyland itself and Disney’s California Adventure were awesome - I think I like DCA better than Disneyland. It's just not as jam-packed with visitors form every corner of the earth! So it's not as frustrating getting around. Anyway.....this is a review of the hotel, not the parks , so here we go...... Our plane had arrived early in the morning on the 15th so from reading other reviews, I was aware our room would most likely not be ready upon our arrival at the hotel - which it wasn't. The gal at the desk was very kind though and service was fast and efficient. Because we'd won our trip over the radio (air, transfers, hotel park hopper passes for 4), the desk was able to give us our pass for the park, and held our bags for us so that we could begin our day at the parks and have fun while waiting for our room which we were told would be ready after 3:00. We spent 4 1/2 hours at DCA (10 - 2:30) before returning to the hotel at 2:30 as we were pretty darn hot and in need of some freshening up by this time as we had been up since 3:30 a.m. to catch our early flight. At 2:30, the girl at the desk told us our room wasn’t ready yet. So we had a cool drink just outside Goofy’s Kitchen for another 30 minutes. At 3:00, the room still wasn’t ready. The gal said she’d ask that a ‘rush’ be put on it. At 3:30, we checked once again….still not ready. The gal actually left the desk to go check on the room herself. After about 10 minutes, she came back to say the cleaning person was in the room next door and would be detailing ours next. Meanwhile, we heard other guests making their initial check-in and their rooms were available time after time. The guest next to us was even told, “Actually, the room we had you booked for wasn’t ready, so I kept you in the same room-type, but moved you to a one that’s available right now….” Wow – that’s would’ve been great if they’d have doe that for us – or….how about, if a guest checks in at 9:30 a.m., the room they’re ‘booked for’ gets put on the ‘list’ to be cleaned earlier in the day than say someone who hasn’t yet checked in? Folks arriving at the hotel at 3:30 walked right into their rooms, but we, who checked in at 9:30 had to wait time after time. Finally our room was ready just before 4:00 – and I don’t mean to be a downer….The people were nice about everything...polite, professional – just the situation itself was a bummer. The room was just as you see in all the pictures listed on this site – two queen beds, nicely appointed bathroom, light and airy. We were the tiniest bit bummed to see that our view from the narrow balcony was the entrance/driveway to the hotel and its parking lot - however...this was actually great as we were able to see the Disneyland fireworks from the room on our second night (we were inside the park for them our first night).

The hotel gift shop was great as was the bar near the pool – very friendly folks (visitors and staff alike!). Didn’t use the pool – we had three days and wanted as much time in the parks as possible!

We all loved walking through Downtown Disney each day (several times a day!) to go to and from the parks. Save yourself and walk it rather than taking the monorail! Folks get on the monorail inside Disneyland to take it as an actual ‘ride’, then, when the monorail arrives at the platform in Downtown Disney, very few people get off, leaving room for only a handful of people to get on and ride into then park. We waited two ‘sessions’ and then said “forget it” and walked there in less than half the time. From the Disneyland Hotel to Disneyland or DCA , the walk is only about 10 minutes at a fair pace.

Prices….as someone else said – everything is three times more expensive than in the ‘real world’. My husband and I had 4 beers – bottled Coors Lights – at Tortilla Joes and the tab was 26 dollars! The beers were 6.50 each! Even the waitress said, “I know – its highway robbery!” ?!?! Anyway – live and learn, right? ESPN Zone had awesome food and ‘real world’ prices and was terrific. 

I had booked a character breakfast for our last morning on Sunday. On the phone when I booked, I was told the price would be 143+ change and that included tax and gratuity, but when I got there, it ended up coming to 178+change. It was one of daughter’s favorite things about the trip though – and she’s 14! So I can’t complain. It DID make it a tad harder to swallow my breakfast ;-) But the food was super good and there were so many choices and the service was great not to mention the characters were very fun – so really…although I won’t do it again, it was probably worth it.

I had the absolute best time ever on our vacation – I know my review begins with a downer – but when you’re tired and have been traveling and walking the parks for a long time…it really would be nice to have a better system for getting those rooms ready for folks who’ve been checked in for hours and hours. Disneyland truly is a magical place and we all hated leaving. Everyone there does such an awesome job, it really tears your heart out to go back to reality. Thanks Disney for a FAB time!!!

The good - Location, Location, Location. Super friendly staff, quick response from maintenance and housekeeping.
The not so good - While the rooms are clean and disney cute they are in need of updating. Because we celebrating my son's birthday I tried to get a larger suite when we arrived but the front desk told us the hotel was sold out . I did hear others being offered upgrades though. This seemed strange because we rarely saw anyone in the hallways and at night the hotel rooms appeared unoccupied. Maybe they didn't have the staff to clean the rooms. The pool is packed and there is not enough seating. The poolside drinks are way over priced. This was my second vist and the second time the pool had to be closed for and hour to sanitize it. Swim diapers - no further explanation needed here. Overall a great experience. If you are going to the resort for a few days, pay the extra money to stay at the Disneyland Hotel or Grand California. The location can't be beat.

As other reviewers have stated, convenience is the big selling point of this hotel. My college-age daughter, husband, and I wanted to revisit our childhood fun memories of Disneyland and wanted to stay at the park (had always stayed a few blocks away) and induldge ourselves in the full Disney experience.

We were pleasantly surprised by the large and well-appointed room. For an aging hotel, we thought the updated bathroom fixtures, carpeting, drapes, furniture were quite pleasing. We stayed in the Magic Tower and found most everything to our liking. The pillows were very comfortable, and we appreciated the separated dressing space, shower, and toilet areas. There was plenty of room to store toiletries and get ready in the morning--this was a big plus since dad and daughter needed private spaces. Using the in-room phone to reserve restaurant times and airport shuttle worked well, too.

We loved that the hotel opened into near-by restaurants, both on the hotel property and on the way into the park. We thought the best food was at the Jazz Kitchen and Catla(sp?), a 5-7 minute walk from our room. We walked through areas (stores, restaurants) on the way to the park that we had not been aware of.

Our daughter arrived two hours eary before check in time; we had called in advance to inform the desk and even though not promised, her room was ready . She was able to go to the pool and get settled. We thought the pool and jacuzzi were wonderful and liked the availability of beach towels and lounge chairs (no shortage).

We were also pleasantly surprised with how quiet the hotel was. We heard virtually no noise above, beneath or to ther side of our room. Considering this is a kid place (and we've experienced that for ourselves!) we were impressed with the sound-proofing --or maybe they put all the people with no kids in one area?!

What we didn't like: Our biggest complaint is that the hotel uses top sheets as bottom sheets. These sheets are too short for the hotel's modern thick mattresses. For $395 a night (including taxes) , a guest shouldn't find his legs and feet snuggling against a mattress cover, entangled in a loose bottom sheet because the bottom sheet ends six inches short of bed's end. Basically, we were short sheeted four nights in a row. We requested our bed sheets be fixed but the same short sheets were made up each day.

Another annoyance was the lack of towels given us- On two of our four days we were given two sets of towels for three people. A phone call solved the issue. Again, for $395 a night, the hotel staff should have it together enough to know how many people are staying in a four person room! One shouldn't have to phone for towels when paying so much for a hotel.

To sum up, we would probably stay again because of the convenience to the park . However, at $395 a night, we think management needs to get some of the basics worked out.

I was here when I was very little, but I wanted very much to post my comment: Too many reviews are taking a little thing that's not a big deal. Too noisy, that's a lil' silly. Young children are excited. Ok, so if your toilet is backed up, call for attendence. No big deal. Don't let something small get in the way of the fun. You're in DISNEYLAND!!! Have some fun! As for goes the Disney Hotel, I am really excited to come! I was here when I was 6 or 7.... I am now coming back ito visit Disneyland Hotel in Sept 2008 and I am 29 years old. I was looking at all the pictures from other people whom have stayed here and I love the mickey hands holding the light in the bathroom, the blanket on the bed with the area's of the parks, the condiments in the bathroom, and looking forward to my pool view room, which hopefully is what I dreamed of. :-P Woowoo! LOL Thanks Walt Disney! I am such an absolute Disney fan to the T!