How many nights for Disneyland and which hotel?

[Anonymous]

We would like to go to Disneyland over the summer. Kids 6 and 7. We are staying with family in Southern CA for 2 weeks. How many days would you go? Which hotel would you stay at? Should we do a Disney Hotel, a good neighbor hotel (which one?) or Newport Beach which is 30 min away? We don’t mind driving. Family lives in Coronado Beach in SD. We prefer nicer hotels, 4* and up is fine or a very nice newer 3*.

[Anonymous]

There are so many varied opinions about how long you should go for. I don't have kids, so it's just my DH and I, so I won't opine on how many days/nights would work for you.

But we were there in October and going back in May. I very much encourage you to stay on property for the convenience and the Disney vibe. We stayed at the Polynesian (Deluxe) last October and are staying at Port Orleans, French Quarter (Moderate) this time. Disney doesn't really do stars, they do Deluxe, Moderate, and Value. But there are various benefits to various resorts in all three categories.

The great thing for us about the Poly was how very close it was to Magic Kingdom and transportation that took us to Epcot. And we only did MK and Epcot on that trip. In May we are going to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, so a resort close to MK wasn't important. We are looking forward to the romantic and quiet vibe of Port Orleans. If your kids are super into Princesses, look into the Princess rooms at Port Orleans -- those things are magical. If you want upscale hotel and upscale amenities look at the Grand Floridian, and the other Deluxe resorts such as the Polynesian and the Wilderness. But be advised -- we paid close to $900 per night for the Poly and I wouldn't call it a 4 star hotel. It's amazing in it's Disney way, but it's Disney, not NYC or Paris or something.

If you are going to go for a long time and break up your park trips with pool/resort days, look into which resorts have the best pools (although pretty much all of them are good). People rave about Stormalong Bay pool shared by the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts. Apparently the pool at the Caribbean resort, a moderate resort, is great too.

You are going to need to do some research to find out what would work best for your kids as far as where to stay goes.

[Anonymous]

Thanks but we are actually going to Disneyland in Los Angeles! I’ve heard that it’s not always worth it to do the Disney Hotels like in Fl because all the hotels are mostly walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks but we are actually going to Disneyland in Los Angeles! I’ve heard that it’s not always worth it to do the Disney Hotels like in Fl because all the hotels are mostly walking distance.

Oh, gosh. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Op, we did Disneyland when our kids were 6 and 4, and stayed at one of the partner hotels that we could walk to/from the park. We needed two full days there, and probably could have done one more. Our 4 year old was shorter than 48" so they missed out on a good number of rides.

You definitely should try to stay late at least one night - seeing Carsland lit up at night was a highlight for all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would like to go to Disneyland over the summer. Kids 6 and 7. We are staying with family in Southern CA for 2 weeks. How many days would you go? Which hotel would you stay at? Should we do a Disney Hotel, a good neighbor hotel (which one?) or Newport Beach which is 30 min away? We don’t mind driving. Family lives in Coronado Beach in SD. We prefer nicer hotels, 4* and up is fine or a very nice newer 3*.

I was there in August with my two kids- age 7 and 10. We did 3 days at disney and then 3 days in Universal Hollywood. I think 3 days at disney with parkhoppers is sufficient. We did two days in DL and then one in Cali Adventure. You are going to want genie. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel so walking distance from the park. Coming from that direction, the security lines are shorter than the Esplanade side (by the parks). You go through security before you go through downtown disney and then to the parks. The Grand Californian is crazy expensive but it does have its own entrance to CA Adventure which is nice. The new Pixar hotel is a far walk so I don't recommend that one.

We really liked the Disneyland Hotel. That said, we stayed across from the parks on Harbor before. The rooms were fine and significantly cheaper. You do get some benefits for staying on property like early admission to the parks. If you're looking for luxury, the rooms at the Grand Californian are nice as well as JW Westin.

The site below has a good list of ranking and is a valuable resource in planning Disneyland. It's a great park so enjoy!

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disneyland-hotels-near/

[Anonymous]

We stayed at the Paradise Pier hotel this past October. It's undergoing major renovations, but that didn't really bother us at all (aside from not having dining options on site). We loved how close it was to the park, without paying the Grand Californian price tag. It even has a private entrance to California Adventure.

Disneyland hotel is also fun, with a better pool and far more food options. Fairly easy to walk there from Paradise Pier too.

[Anonymous]

You need 2 or 3 days for Disneyland- 1 day California Adventure and 1 or 2 days Disneyland Park. We usually stay for 3 nights- arrival day we go to Goofys Kitchen for dinner and shop for a souvenir in the massive Disney store in Downtown Disney. Then 1 day each at California Adventure and Disneyland Park. But you could definitely add a second day to Disneyland, especially if your kids are big fans.

In the colder months we stay at one of the Best Westerns on Harbor- less than a 10 minute walk from room to park entrances. In the summer we will sometimes stay at Courtyard Marriot or Howard Johnson instead- they have fun water parks/splash pads and are still under 15 minute walk to the parks.

The only Disney hotel that would be worth it to me is Grand Californian.

My best tip for Disneyland- get to the park for rope drop! The majority of guests at Disneyland are locals coming for the day and they start arriving in mass around 11 am- you can get a lot down in the first few hours and then it becomes a clogged mess, especially Disneyland Park around Adventureland/Frontierland/New Orleans Square.

[Anonymous]

We recently did both parks in one day with a parkhopper pass with a 5 and 9 year old. It was busy but super fun and we felt satisfied. Ideally, you have 2-3 days and can take your time. Obviously, best to go during the week, if you can. We stayed with family so no advice on hotels but the looked into the Westin and Residence Inn when we should we might stay a night and both looked nice and are located super close to the parks. Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need 2 or 3 days for Disneyland- 1 day California Adventure and 1 or 2 days Disneyland Park. We usually stay for 3 nights- arrival day we go to Goofys Kitchen for dinner and shop for a souvenir in the massive Disney store in Downtown Disney. Then 1 day each at California Adventure and Disneyland Park. But you could definitely add a second day to Disneyland, especially if your kids are big fans.

In the colder months we stay at one of the Best Westerns on Harbor- less than a 10 minute walk from room to park entrances. In the summer we will sometimes stay at Courtyard Marriot or Howard Johnson instead- they have fun water parks/splash pads and are still under 15 minute walk to the parks.

The only Disney hotel that would be worth it to me is Grand Californian.

My best tip for Disneyland- get to the park for rope drop! The majority of guests at Disneyland are locals coming for the day and they start arriving in mass around 11 am- you can get a lot down in the first few hours and then it becomes a clogged mess, especially Disneyland Park around Adventureland/Frontierland/New Orleans Square.

This is very true. If you stay at a Disney hotel you can get the Extra Magic Hour (or whatever it's called now) which is really only 30 mins. But, last time we did this we knocked out everything that was open in Fantasyland and rode a few things twice, all in 30 minutes. If your kids can walk fast you can do DL and DCA in 2 days, 1 day each park, no park hopper. But if you walk slowly and need a lot of breaks, you will need more time.

[Anonymous]

+1 for Grand Californian or DL hotel.

[Anonymous]

We have stayed over multiple times (family in CA). The best is to stay over at an official hotel 2 nights and get 3 day park hoppers. Of course, that costs more, so you may want to divide up your days differently. We have also done just one night, but if you want to really do it the overnight at Grand Californian or or Disneyland Hotel allows you early entry. You will get more done those first couple hours at the park then you will later.

Depending on the day of the week with the early entry, start early one day at DL and one day at California Adventure. Do rides with longer lines in morning, sprinkle in shows and parades in afternoon. You can come back to the hotel on the middle day for a few hours to nap or use the pool.

We like Grand Californian best because it is the shortest distance and most convenient, but it is also the most expensive. If you do the Disneyland hotel, try to request one of the closer buildings.

For early entry rope drop, it's best to be at security 45 minutes before the early entry opening time.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at the Park Place Inn right across Harbor from the park. Pretty basic, but only a few minutes walk from the entrance so anyone who wanted to nap could get back quickly.

[Anonymous]

We went pre-pandemic when I was on maternity leave anyway (we live in the Bay Area). We flew down on a Monday and planned to return Friday but actually had enough fun that we added a day! Kids were 4 months and 4 years at the time.

We stayed off resort (Candycane Inn) which was easy and included a nice breakfast, but was not particularly up scale. The night we arrived we did Goofy’s kitchen. Our first day I made the mistake of leaving the park for lunch, baby’s nap, and playing in the pool. My daughter didn’t want to get out of the pool. After that we’d bring snacks and buy a prestzel and the baby (or both kids!! would nap in the stroller. Because I was nursing we took things a bit slower than some families would. At the time, if you added a day to your pass before i5 expired you just paid the incremental additional fee - not for a single day. That was a nice option. I don’t know if it’s still true.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs that you definitely want at least 2 days. We stayed at the Grand Californian and really liked it. It's got a lodge/woodsy feel and was close to the parks.