When choosing where to stay on your Disneyland vacation, the first big decision you need to make is whether to stay at an official Disneyland hotel or one of several hotels in the surrounding area.
RELATED: Best Hotels Near Disneyland: Where to Stay On and Off Property
Disneyland has three on-site hotels: the Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and the recently reimagined Pixar Place Hotel. When you choose one of these properties as your “home away from home” during your Disneyland vacation, you’ll have access to special benefits you won’t find anywhere else.
Disneyland Resort Hotel Basics
Before we get too far into the benefits, here’s a little information about each of the three Disneyland hotels to help you choose which one is best for your vacation.
Disneyland Hotel
The main pool’s waterslide is modeled after a monorail car, and the oversized chairs in the lobby look like Mad Tea Party teacups. Murals in the guest room towers depict classic Disneyland attractions.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, a new Disney Vacation Club tower, opened on September 28, 2023. Disneyland Hotel villas come in a variety of sizes, from studio rooms for two guests to three-bedroom villas that sleep up to 12.
Room rates at Disneyland hotels average $600 per night.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa blends traditional California Craftsman style with luxury lodge amenities such as large stone hearth fireplaces, rustic furnishings, and an outdoor color scheme.
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This hotel is also the closest to Disneyland. It offers private entrance to Disney California Adventure Park and a separate entrance to Downtown Disney (which you can use to access the monorail at Disneyland Park).
Rooms at Disney’s Grand California Hotel and Spa average $700 per night.
Pixar Place Hotel
The Pixar Place Hotel, formerly the Paradise Pier Hotel, is the newest lodging option at Disneyland. It is also the most affordable. At this hotel, you’ll find nods to every Pixar movie, including a meet-and-greet with Bing Bong from “Inside Out” and a “Finding Nemo” themed waterslide and splash pad.
Pixar Place Hotel also has a private walkway and entrance to the Paradise Gardens area of Disney California Adventure Park. The rooftop pool deck is also a prime place to watch the fireworks.
Room rates at Pixar Place Hotel average $450 per night.
Early Theme Park Admission
Guests at any of Disneyland’s three hotels can take advantage of 30-minute early entry to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park (requires valid park admission). This allows guests to get a head start on popular attractions before the park opens to regular day visitors.
Which park opens first varies daily, but the current schedule is as follows:
- Disneyland Park: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
- Disney California Adventure Park: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
Thirty minutes may not sound like much, but it could mean the difference between waiting five minutes versus an hour to get to Space Mountain. At Disneyland, you can start creating Lightning Lane Multi Pass Reservations “skip the line” earlier than other guests because Disneyland requires that you be inside the park before you can begin selecting rides.
Convenient access to parks
All three of Disneyland’s on-site hotels are within walking distance of the resort’s two theme parks. Thanks to its walkable footprint, you can quickly reach the park in the morning or return to your hotel for a midday break.
Disneyland hotel guests can follow the trail to shops and eateries in Downtown Disney. You can either walk all the way through Downtown Disney to the Esplanade between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, or take a short walk to the Downtown Disney Monorail Station to enter Disneyland Park.
If you’re staying at Disney’s Grand California Hotel and Spa, you can go directly to Disney California Adventure Park through the hotel’s private theme park entrance. You’ll also enjoy much shorter waits at security versus guests using the main entrance. If you choose to visit Downtown Disney or Disneyland, there is a separate walkway and entrance.
Last but certainly not least, Pixar Place Hotel guests can use a dedicated walkway across the street from the hotel to access Disney California Adventure Park or exit the hotel’s back entrance toward Downtown Disney.
Fireworks, characters and fun activities
When you stay at a Disneyland hotel, the fun doesn’t stop when you leave the parks each day.
You can meet your favorite character without ever stepping foot inside the park. You can often find Bing Bong from “Inside Out” greeting guests outside the Pixar Place Hotel, and you can hear the musical stylings of Joe Gardner from “Soul” playing the piano inside the lobby.
Disneyland Hotels offers character dining at Goofy’s Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel as well as Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian and Napa Rose. You may even be lucky enough to meet the characters in the Disneyland hotel lobby.
There’s no scheduled time for this surprise meet-and-greet, but your best bet is between meal times at Goofy’s Kitchen when the characters are in or passing through the restaurant.
If you love fireworks but your kids are tired before nightfall, Disneyland hotels have several fireworks viewing options. If you are staying on the concierge level at the Disneyland Hotel, you can view the Disneyland fireworks from the E-Ticket Club Lounge. The lounge also offers complimentary food and beverages throughout the day.
Guests of the Grand Californian can access the sixth floor viewing deck which offers a spectacular view of the World of Color at Disney California Adventure Park. Those staying in Club-level rooms can enjoy a partial view of the Disneyland fireworks from the concierge’s lounge balcony.
As mentioned above, the rooftop pool deck at Pixar Place Hotel is a great place to watch the Disneyland fireworks. The property also pipes in the show’s music to give you an intimate experience of what you’ll find inside the park.
Each hotel also offers a calendar of weekly activities, from fitness classes to arts and crafts. Some of our favorites include an educational walking tour of the Disneyland Hotel, a free drawing class at Pixar Place Hotel, and morning yoga overlooking Disney California Adventure Park at Disney’s Grand California Hotel & Spa.
You can see the complete hotel activity schedule here.
It is not as expensive as you think
There are a few easy ways to incorporate credit cards or rewards points into your Disneyland planning to pay less out of pocket for your Disneyland hotel stay. TPG has a full guide The best credit cards for Disney, but below are some of our top tips.
If you have a card that comes with access to the Citi Travel Portal — ie Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (See Rates and Fees) or a no-annual-fee option eg Citi Double Cash® Card (See Rates and Fees) or Citi Rewards+® Card (See Rates and Fees) — You can often book Disneyland hotels this way. Your Citi ThankYou Rewards points are worth 1 cent when you redeem them for hotel stays through the portal.
Likewise, if you have a card like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, or Capital One Venture One Rewards Credit Card, you can redeem Capital One miles for every 1 cent through Capital. A travel portal for Disneyland hotel stays.
If you have a card with an annual travel credit, you can apply it to purchase coded as “Travel”. For example, you can use a Chase Sapphire Reserve® annual $300 travel credit on a Disneyland hotel if the charge is coded as travel. To make sure that happens, book your room or hotel-and-ticket package directly with Disney or through a travel agent, such as a TPG partner. Mouse counselors.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has the same $300 annual travel credit, but you can only use it for bookings made through the Capital One Travel Portal.
With the Disney® Premier Visa® Card and the Disney® Visa® Card, you can earn Rewards Dollars that you can then redeem for Disney hotel stays. One reward dollar is worth $1 towards your bill.
In addition to the various ways you can save using points, miles and travel credits, Disneyland regularly offers discounts of 25% to 30% on hotel stays. You can see the latest offers here.
The bottom line
There’s no denying that Disneyland’s on-site hotel options are more expensive than most off-property hotels, but nothing beats the feeling of being in the middle of the magic. The benefits of staying on property are obvious, and with a few points and miles of pixie dust, you can lower the out-of-pocket cost of your Disneyland vacation.
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