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| Here is my room, before it was lived in. The beds in the Grand Californian are absolutely lovely. |
“We’ll be at the park all day, so it doesn’t even matter what hotel we stay at.”
I have heard this too many times to count from people (and myself at times) who are planning a trip to Disneyland. And maybe in my pre-children days, yes. But, if you have ever shared this thought or wondered about the importance of picking the right hotel, this post is for you.
I tend to think there are two kinds of vacationers – the super-laid-back-go-with-the-flow vacationers and the go-go-go-do-it-all kind. When I’m at a Disney Park, I’m the latter – I’ll be out the door at 7:00 in the morning and not come back again until sometime after midnight. You know what I’m talking about, right?! It makes sense to wonder if the hotel really matters if you’re not planning on being there that much!
Well, I’ve tried them all – I’ve stayed in what I would definitely call a “dump” all the way up to as good as it gets, and several in between. Whether you’re laid back or have a printed, laminated itinerary of your daily schedule, my feeling is that the hotel. does. matter.
When taking little kids, this becomes even more important for those who have to walk back and forth between hotel and park for naps, because you left something there, or for a spit-up catastrophe that requires changing and washing clothes–you get the picture. These minor things can become major if you’re looking at a super long walk to and from, or even the inconvenience of waiting for a shuttle bus that takes precious extra time out of your day.
If you want to stay on Disney property, the Grand Californian is the closest – in fact it even has its own entrance into Disney California Adventure park. The Disneyland Hotel is next closest (boy, do I want to stay here someday! Read more about it here), and farthest from the parks on property is Paradise Pier Hotel. Of the off-property hotels, the one that claims to be the closest is the Best Western Park Place Inn & Suites, which is literally right across the street from the Harbor Boulevard entrance, but there are several hotels that are literally only a few steps further in either direction. If the address is in the 1500s or low 1600s, on Harbor Boulevard, then you won’t have much of a walk. Be wary of hotels that state that they are the closest to the parks – some of them may be closer as the crow flies – but not closer to walk to. If we are looking to stay at a new place that we haven’t before, I use Google Earth to find the entrance and then the hotel to best see how close it is.
2. Suites – If you have a large family or travel with extended family or friends, like us, a hotel with suites may be a better fit for your group. Many hotels offer family suites that include separate sleeping and television quarters for the kids. Many even include bunk beds.
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| Swimming pool at the Hilton Anaheim, one of Lisa’s favorite off-property hotels. |
3. Swimming – If you are visiting in the hot summer months, a pool break in the middle of the day can be the perfect way to cool off, rest, and soothe your feet.
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| I spy Bambi characters! Wish I could take this shower curtain home with me. |
6. Reviews – It is very important to check reviews to see what people have to say about the quality and cleanliness of the rooms. Many hotels have been named by Disney as “Good Neighbor Hotels” (off property hotels that Disney reviews and recognizes), but this doesn’t necessarily mean they are 4-star places, so still check the reviews for these hotels as well. (Lisa had a very unpleasant stay at a Good Neighbor motel.)
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| This is a view of Lisa’s messy room at the Grand Californian. We figured we might as well show a “real life” photo since this is how everyone’s room looks in the morning! |
If you are not on a budget or have a little more to spend, (first of all, congratulations!) then I 1,000% recommend the on-property Grand Californian Hotel. My parents took us to stay here once and it was phenomenal. Being on property and having that Disney theming made it extra magical, the rooms were so lovely and had the best layout for setting up a pack-n-play, the pool area is super fun, not to mention being able to walk straight out of my hotel and into a park – amazing! If I could stay here, or any on-property hotel, I would every time. Unfortunately though, the prices are really steep and that will probably be the only time we will stay there, but I’m so glad to have been able to do it once! Click here for a tip from Lisa on choosing a hotel.
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| My kids playing on a sheet on the hotel floor. |
- Bring a large sheet or ask the hotel if you can have an extra one. Little kids, especially babies learning to crawl and walk, want to be out and down as often as you’ll let them. No matter how clean the hotel room appears it still grosses me out that my baby has her face inches away from an unknown floor, so it helps to spread out the sheet and designate it a play area.
- Bring comforts from home. For example, my kids both sleep with nightlights and white-noise machines, so we bring these with us when we stay at a hotel. Once when we didn’t bring a nightlight, we turned out the lights to sleep for the night and the pitch black completely unhinged my son. Also bring a blankie or lovie, something else that feels and smells like home and will be comforting.
- Bring your own portable crib. The Disney hotels had nice, new ones – but at other hotels we’ve had to use their ancient, enormous, metal-bar ones… yikesies. When you bring your own, you know what you’re getting and you know it’s clean, plus it smells like home and is more familiar to your children. A heads-up, while airlines don’t charge for strollers and car seats, unfortunately they do count a portable crib as a checked piece of luggage.
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Lisa’s kids sleeping at the Hilton Anaheim. Aidan
decided he wanted to sleep in two club chairs pushed
together instead of the room’s extra bed! It was the
perfect size. They always bring a pack and play!
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- (This may not be at all helpful for you, but…) Attempt to block your child’s view of you. My kids sleep really well in their own room by themselves, and when they’re in a room with other people it just makes it harder for them to fall and stay asleep, so we’ve gone so far as to rearrange hotel furniture to put the crib as far away as possible to block noises, light, and us to help the kids feel more like they do when they are at home.
If proximity to D-land isn’t too much of a concern, we LOVE the Embassy suites (south anaheim.) It is a perfect fit for us with a family of 5. There are two separate rooms which makes it easier for us to put the kids to bed in a quiet dark room while being able to stay up and watch tv in another. (I can’t tell you how hard it is for us to get the kids to sleep in a regular hotel room….seriously miserable!)The best part is the amazing breakfast that comes with your stay. Omeletes made to order, eggs, fruit, pastries, waffles, cereal etc. For my husband who is a huge breakfast person, it is worth it’s weight in gold to have something other than a plastic packaged danish offered to him for breakfast. Now, for the crowning glory of this hotel….the manager’s reception. You can get free cocktails in the evenings in the lobby of the hotel. After a LONG day at the parks, a nice drink is always welcome…especially when free! They have a shuttle to the parks from this hotel, but I don’t think it is free. You can definitely walk, but with small kids, I would rather drive or pay for the shuttle. Just thought I’d throw that hotel into the mix. 🙂
Hi Michaely – It’s Lisa from Babes and my two favorite hotels near Disneyland are Hilton Anaheim and the Embassy Suites. You simply cannot beat the room size and free food (and the happy hour!). I also love that it’s close to Target. For me, it’s worth the distance!
Great post! When we were searching for proximity it was really hard to gauge how “close” hotels really were, many said “a block away” when in reality on a map one was half a mile away from the other one. We googlemapped it. We ended up getting an upgrade to the Portofino inn kids suite room and we took it, I can’t remember where we were originally going to stay but it was in a standard room, closer to Disneyland and I thought I’d like the extra space. I didn’t think the walk would be too harsh. As far as the sleeping arrangements went the bf and I ended up in bunkbeds while our baby girl slept in her bouncy seat (she was only 4 months) and our 2 year old took the king sized bed to himself. The walk for me wasn’t bad. I’m a walker though. I was also carrying my baby girl in the front pack, my bf was dying on the way home every night though. I personally liked the walk on the way home because both kids ended up falling asleep for the night so I didn’t have to try and settle them down in the hotel room.
Ooh gosh, that does sound nice! Thanks for the info!
I have heard from others that the Portofino is nice too!
I’m with your bf, my feet are good in the park when I’m not thinking about them, but walking to the hotel at the end of the day my feet are done! Like that it helped put the kids to sleep though!
We’ve tried out at least a dozen hotels near the Disneyland Resort including the Grand Californian (my ultimate fave), the Paradise Pier (our 6 year old’s fave.) As a family of four, our cumulative favorite hotel if we can’t swing a Disney hotel is the Anabella. The staff is incredible, the rooms are clean, cozy, and chic, and the proximity is perfect. We’ve tried a handful of budget hotels and we just aren’t comfortable in them. Plus, if I’m being honest, the Anaheim Resort Transit, or ART, is just more of a hassle than a help with our humongous double stroller that undoubtably gets bogged down with stuff after a long day at the park-find a place for it all and fold the stroller up with two sleeping kiddos? Yay, I’d rather walk just a block further than the Paradise Pier. Just my two cents 😉
We just got back from Disneyland and I am enjoying reading your posts while our visit is fresh in our minds! Will definitely use you as a resource for our next trip.
Thanks Meg! Hope you had a great visit! I understanding trying to hang on to the magic for as long as you can 🙂