Hotels Near Disneyland

One of the more important decisions to make while planning a trip to Disneyland is picking where to stay. We've stayed at a few nearby hotels, and we've also stayed in a rental house. We don't have a ton of experience with all the nearby hotels, but I think we have enough working knowledge to give you an idea of what types of hotels are available.

Unlike Disney World, which has about a million resort hotels to choose from, Disneyland is fairly limited in their hotel offerings. Disney owns a rather limited amount of space in the Disneyland and Downtown Disney area, so they only have room for so many resort hotels. There are three Disney-owned hotels at Disneyland:

• Grand Californian
• Disneyland Hotel
• Paradise Pier

There are also Good Neighbor Hotels, which aren't owned by Disney but have partnerships in place to be named Disney-approved hotels. These are generally within walking distance of the park and are good quality, though most aren't five-star hotels. You can book these through Disneyland as part of a vacation package.

There are a couple of things to consider when picking a hotel, in order of importance (in our opinion). I'll explain why below.

• Distance from Disneyland
• Price
• Quality
• Amenities

Distance from Disneyland

Yes, I believe the distance from Disneyland is the most important factor, especially when you're traveling with small children. Keep in mind that you will be on your feet literally all day long at Disneyland, walking from place to place, pushing a stroller. The last thing you want at the end of a long day in the parks is a 25-minute walk back to your hotel. I also can't imagine it would be fun to fight traffic out of the parking lot at the end of the day when you're already exhausted. It also costs money every day you park at Disneyland, so that's just another item to add to your vacation budget.

Many people assume that since they're Disney-owned, the resort hotels are the closest to the parks. This is only true for the Grand Californian, which has an entrance directly into California Adventure. But it's deep into California Adventure (across from the entrance to Grizzly River Run), so if you were to use that entrance and head to Disneyland, you'd have to walk all the way through California Adventure, through the Esplanade, and then enter Disneyland. The other Grand Californian entrance is in Downtown Disney, as are the entrances to both Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier. Paradise Pier is the furthest away.

On the other hand, there are hotels directly across the street from the entrance to Disneyland. Desert Inn & Suites and the Park Vue Inn are pretty much tied for the closest hotels to the parks. You exit your hotel room, cross the street, and walk past where the trams drop passengers off, and then you're at security. It's literally a five-minute walk from these hotels to security, which is so nice at the end of a long day. I'd much prefer a 15-minute walk back to the hotel, at the longest (that obviously depends on where you are in the park). The walk from the Disneyland Hotel, for example, is about 10 minutes from the entrance to Disneyland, so you're looking at 20 to 25 minutes from the back of the parks. That extra 10 minutes can be a big difference when you've already walked 10 miles that day.

There are also many other hotels, mostly along Harbor Blvd, that are within easy walking distance of the parks.

Price

When it comes to price, Disney-owned hotels are by far the most expensive. They are anywhere from two to three times more expensive than the off-property hotels. There are a couple of benefits. You get an extra hour in the parks when you stay on-site. You can get into California Adventure early on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and Disneyland on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Keep in mind, though, that anyone who has a 3-day or longer ticket also has access to Disneyland early on those days, so it won't just be hotel guests. Another benefit is the quality of the hotel; they are super nice and keep you wrapped in the Disney bubble for the duration of your trip.

Off-site hotels are much more affordable, especially if you're going during the slower season. There are far more off-site hotels, so the competition helps keep prices down a bit. In general, you'll pay less the further away the hotel is; the really close ones can charge a premium for location, though it's still far less than you'd pay for a resort hotel.

Quality

As I mentioned already, Disney-owned properties are far higher quality than the off-site hotels, and they usually boast fun Disney magic throughout. They also have really nice pools, if that's important to you. Off-site hotels are pretty basic hotels. Some have nice pools, some have basic pools, some have no pools. But basic usually suits our needs just fine. We spend very little time in the hotel because we do our best to maximize our time in the parks.

Amenities

Another thing to look at is what the hotels offer. Disney-owned hotels don't offer any free breakfasts, so you'll have to bring your own or buy breakfast every day. Many of the off-site hotels offer continental breakfasts, and there are a couple that offer hot breakfasts as well. If you're bringing a baby or toddler who still sleeps in a crib, you'll also want to look into what the hotel offers. Some charge for a crib, others don't. If you're driving, you'll also want to pay attention to parking fees. 

There are also houses available for rent. When we went with Andrew's whole family, his parents rented a house a few blocks from Disneyland. It was a nice house, and it was nice to have a full fridge and kitchen. It also had a pool, though I don't think anyone used it. However, it was at least a 25-minute walk to the parks. Sure, we could have driven. Everyone but Andrew and I tried driving on our first day into the parks. Andrew and I opted to walk. We got into the parks at least an hour before everyone else did. We hit four rides before the rest of the family joined us. Needless to say, no one tried driving after that. But let me tell you, never has 25 minutes of walking seemed so long as at the end of day four at Disneyland.

Our favorite hotel is probably the Park Vue Inn. I believe it's the nicest off-site hotel as well as the closest. Parking is free, and they offer a complimentary hot breakfast. It's not the most amazing breakfast in the world, but they have some combination of eggs, sausage, and bacon every morning, as well as biscuits and gravy. They also have a waffle station. It's nice to have some substance in your belly before hitting the parks. And if you're not traveling with kids, the Park Vue Inn also has a room with a king size bed and an in-room jacuzzi, which is a fabulous way to rest your feet at night. It's not great for kids, though; we stayed in that room with Goober last May, and she would not stay out of the tub. Which was especially frustrating because she could turn on the water.

Our second favorite is the Desert Inn & Suites. It's a bare-bones hotel, but it's incredibly close to the parks (as close as the Park Vue Inn), and they have suites, which are great for traveling with multiple families. We stayed in a suite with Andrew's parents in February, and it worked great. We'll also be staying in a suite there with some friends in January.

We have also stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which was super nice, but did have some drawbacks. Stay tuned for more detailed reviews about the hotels we've stayed in. 

Where to Buy Disneyland Tickets

Once you've decided when you want to go to Disneyland, the next decision to make is how much time you want in the parks. Disneyland offers one-day tickets up to five-day tickets, and you get a better deal per day the more days you stay. Our personal preference is for a bit longer stay when we have the little ones with us. We usually choose a five-day ticket, which may be a bit much for some families, but we like having the option of taking the girls back to the hotel for a nap during the day or a bit earlier in the evening without sacrificing precious time in the parks. But we've done as few as three days, which also worked for us. If you buy at least three days, you'll also get one Magic Morning, which is early access to Disneyland on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. 

There are also two different types of tickets, one park per day and park hoppers. Everyone age three and older will need a ticket; kids under three are free. One park per day tickets are pretty self-explanatory—you can enter either Disneyland or California Adventure each day, but whichever park you decide to enter is the only one you can enter that day. So if you pick a five-day ticket, you will obviously get three days at one park and two days at the other. The benefit is that they are a bit cheaper than park hopper tickets.

Park hopper tickets allow you to move between parks freely. If you want to hit Disneyland in the morning, take a break, and go to California Adventure in the afternoon, you can do that with these tickets. This is our preference. We love having the flexibility this ticket offers. It allows us to make sure we can do everything we want to do, especially near the end of the trip. If we've missed a few things in California Adventure and a couple of things in Disneyland, we don't have to decide which attractions are more important because we can hit them all.

The most reliable way to buy your ticket is through Disneyland's official website, of course. Tickets you buy through Disneyland are good for a year after the purchase dates. You can also bundle certain hotels and airfare through Disneyland's website, which can make booking your trip super easy.

Here's a list of other sites we have experience with that sell vacation packages and tickets:

• Costco Travel
• Get Away Today
• aRes Travel
• MouseSavers also has a great list of current discounts from various agencies

From what I understand, third-party sellers buy a certain number of tickets from Disneyland, and because they're buying in bulk, Disneyland gives them a discount. They then pass that discount on to their customers. Keep in mind that these aren't going to be huge discounts; they're usually only a few dollars per ticket, but if you have a big family, those savings can add up. A couple of times a year, Get Away Today also offers a buy four days, get a fifth free promotion and adults at kids' prices promotion, which are some of the best deals you're going to find on Disneyland tickets.

One thing to keep in mind is that third-party sellers sell tickets for a more limited amount of time. You usually can't buy tickets in March 2019 and expect to be able to use them in February 2020; they will usually expire December of 2019. They usually get their batch of tickets for the next year in the late summer, but then I think they're good from January to December of that year.

Disneyland has a tendency to raise their prices (sometimes just a bit, sometimes a lot) in January or February. In 2018, for example, Andrew and I decided we were going to go to Disneyland in May in January. Literally the next weekend, Disneyland had a price hike. I was really annoyed that I hadn't just bought our tickets right away, but then I found out that third-party sellers still had tickets available at the 2017 prices. We ended up saving quite a bit over Disneyland's prices, which was great.

One last note: If you buy one park per day tickets and then get to the park and decide you want park hoppers, you can upgrade your tickets in the park. You'll simply be charged the price difference. The same goes for adding days to your tickets or upgrading to annual passes. However, Disneyland does know how much you paid for your tickets, even if you bought from a third-party seller. My in-laws learned that the hard way when they went with us in February. They got a pretty awesome deal on tickets on Get Away Today, then got into the park and decided they wanted to upgrade from four days to five. They were charged the difference between their discounted tickets and Disneyland's full price. Fortunately, they were able to talk to another cast member and find out that Disneyland was offering their own promotion that brought the price down considerably, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.

Planning Your Trip

So you've decided you want to go to Disneyland. Awesome! We say go for it, obviously. But despite what many people think, going to Disneyland does require a plan. Different times of the year are generally far busier than others, and they often have special events throughout the year. Then, of course, they have celebrations for Halloween and Christmas. All of these things should play a part in your decision.

There are about a zillion websites and blogs (just like this one!) out there to help you out with that, but my favorite is Touring Plans. They have reviews and descriptions for every attraction, show, parade, and restaurant, including how suitable each is for varying age groups. But the feature I use the most is their Crowd Tracker. They rank each day of the year with a number from 1 to 10, with 1 being the slowest and 10 being the busiest. These rankings aren't 100% accurate, but they've been fairly close, in my experience. The site also has plans you can use in the park. I've never personally used one, but I know people who have, and they say the plans save them a ton of time when the park is busy. The people who run the website also publish a book, The Ultimate Guide to Disneyland, that's updated every year. It has all the same information, with the exception of the Crowd Tracker. The website does require a paid subscription.

Another good resource is Disneyland's website and app. Disneyland has a ton of information about their attractions, and they generally post the entertainment schedule six weeks out, so you can see what shows will be going on during your stay. I also follow Disneyland on social media so I can hear about new events as soon as they announce them. In conjunction with that, I also check the Disney Parks Blog regularly. They post a lot of details about things going on at the parks.
In general, the slowest times in the parks are the following:

• Mid to late January
• February, with the exception of the few days surrounding President's Day
• Mid-September through October
• November, excluding the week of Thanksgiving
• The first two weeks of December

A good rule of thumb is that if kids are in school, crowds are going to be lighter. When kids are out of school, the parks are busier. It's also good to pay attention to when California schools are out; they observe more holidays than we do here in Utah. For instance, one trip we took in September had mostly pretty low crowds, with the notable exception of one day. It was Rosh Hashanah, and all the kids were out of school, and the parks were a zoo. 

These are generally the busiest times:

• Most national holidays when school/work are out of session
• Mid-March through mid-April (spring break/Easter)
• June through mid-August
• The two weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years

The two main events that Disneyland holds every year are for Halloween and Christmas. Halloween usually runs from the beginning of September through October. Both California Adventure and Disneyland are decked out in Halloween decorations, and there are quite a few rides that are themed for the holiday. The Haunted Mansion becomes Haunted Mansion Holiday, which is Nightmare Before Christmas themed, and Space Mountain becomes Ghost Galaxy. A couple of rides in Cars Land in California Adventure are also themed. There are also Halloween parties a few times a week throughout Halloween, which require separate tickets. This year the parties are being held in California Adventure, and on days with parties, the park will close early for guests who don't have party tickets. 

Christmastime at Disneyland runs from early November through the first week of January. Both parks are decked out in decorations, but there are fewer themed rides. Haunted Mansion stays Haunted Mansion Holiday through Christmas, and it's a small world is also Christmas themed. There is also special food and merchandise for both events. It's also important to note that the themed rides close about three weeks before the holiday starts and about three weeks after they end so the theming can be set up and taken down. 

Andrew and I have been to Disneyland for Halloween and Christmas multiple times, and we'll publish some posts with more specifics at some point in the future. We're attending the new Halloween party in October, and since this is the first year it will be held in California Adventure, I'm excited to write about all the fun details.

Hopefully this is enough to get you started on planning your trip. More detailed posts will be coming soon about driving from Utah with little ones, flying with littles, and how to best handle your time in the parks. Let us know if you have any questions or any other tips we may have missed.

Welcome!

Hi there! We're the Conellys, and we love most things Disney. Most notably Disneyland. We started this blog because we've gotten quite a few requests for our advice on how to tackle Disneyland, especially with young kiddos. And rather than continuing to write novels on people's Facebook posts, we figured we'd set up a blog that we can point people to.

First up, there's Andrew and Lindy, or Mama and Daddy, as our little ones like to call us. Goober is our oldest. She's three, and Mickey Mouse is her favorite person in the whole world. Peanut is eleven months old, so she doesn't really have an opinion on Disney quite yet. But I'm sure she'll learn to love it in time.

We are by no means full-blown Disneyland experts, but we have been multiple times in the last few years. Goober has been five times, and Peanut has been twice already. We finally sprung for annual passes this year, and we have three trips planned within the next ten months. We've gone a lot with our littles, and we've learned a few tips and tricks along the way.

Disneyland is the perfect getaway for our little family. Goober seriously loves the characters. Seriously. And she is starting to really enjoy the rides. Peanut enjoys staring at all the bright colors and being outside. And believe it or not, Mama and Daddy love it too. Andrew is super into pin trading and is obsessed with Star Wars. And I love basically everything. The rides, the characters, the shows, the food. It's all good.

So welcome to our blog! Here's hoping the information we add here is helpful. If you have any specific questions, feel free to let us know, and we'll do our best to answer them.