ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
Our goal is to help you simplify planning for your trip. We give you tactical tips to help you plan your next magical Disney Vacation to Disneyland and California Adventure.
We want to make you feel like you have a clear plan. In short, we want you to feel like you have a Disneyland expert in your pocket. Helping you plan your meals, rides, shows, and how to spend less time in line.
ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
Is Staying at A Disney Owned Hotel Worth the Extra Cost with Celina
Trying to decide if it is worth the extra cost to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, Pixar Place, or The Grand Californian Hotel and Spa? Celina and Robyn share the benefits of staying on versus off property at the Disneyland Resort. Celina will share the reasons why she loves staying at Disney-owned properties, and Robyn will share why she usually opts for off-property hotels.
We discuss the perks and exclusive access that enhance the magic for on-site guests and share personal experiences that we have had over the years.
Right now, our tools are just for Disneyland, but we hope to expand to other parks soon. Disney changes policies, prices, and shows often. Be sure to visit our website at Parkmagic.com or Disneyland's Website for more information.
Park Magic is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc. Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Mickey Mouse are all registered trademarks of Disney Enterprises, Inc. Any use of third-party names or trademarks is for identification purposes only and does not imply, nor is it intended to imply, any affiliation with, endorsement from, or business relationship with any third party, including with Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for insider tips for your next Disneyland adventure. Whether you're a first-timer or first-time in a while visitor, we're here to unwrap the secrets to creating and simplifying your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2:We're back giving you more tips for planning your next Disneyland adventure, and I have repeat guests Selena back on because we have so much fun together, we love recording and we both have this big love in Disney and we agree on most things. There's a lot of things that we see completely at 100% eye to eye on, and there's some things that we have slight disagreements on, and today we're talking about one of the things that Selena and I slightly disagree on, even though both of us have stayed at pretty much all of the Disneyland hotels and many of the hotels that are within walking distance and even driving distance. We each have different preferences. Selena, what is your preference when it comes to staying at the Disneyland resort.
Speaker 3:I am on property, 100% on property. I won't go off property anymore. The last time I did was in 2019 and I vowed that it would be the last time barring something insane happening like if I were to get a comp week at the West end over by the convention center or something, but absolutely, 100% on property, and my preference of the three on property hotels at the Disneyland resort is, of course, the classic Disneyland hotel.
Speaker 2:If you're new to Disneyland lingo, we talk about on property and off property. When we say on property we mean one of the three Disneyland hotels. That means that the Disneyland hotel Grand Californian fix our place hotel, which is very nice and newly remodeled, and the benefit. People will also say like in the Disney bubble or outside of the Disney bubble, because when you stay on property you're kind of enveloped in this whole Disney atmosphere. You never leave. You don't see a CVS, you don't see a Walgreens, everything is Disney, and so you never kind of leave the world of imagination right there. Off property would be any hotels that are not owned by Disneyland, even though they can be very close to the actual land of Disneyland. Do you want to start, selena, talking about why you love staying at the Disneyland properties? They are magical, the little magical touch. It is a wonderful experience.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, it makes a huge difference, and part of it is when I grew up, staying there, at a certain point that was like our big family vacation for the year was going to Disneyland every year, and so my parents pulled out all the stuff and then they got to a point where they didn't want to walk that long distance between the main gates of the park and any of the off property hotels.
Speaker 3:I love everything you were describing about being in the Disney bubble. I like that the atmosphere doesn't end when the park ends its operating day. I also like the convenience of the walking distance. Right now I've got two little kiddos they are three and six. They need naps in the middle of the day and it's much easier to pack them up and roll them down downtown Disney to either one of the three hotels, usually Disneyland hotels. It's convenient it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy Disney, but those are the two biggest reasons.
Speaker 2:For me it's going to be significantly more expensive, unlike Disney World. If you go to Disney World, almost everybody wants to stay on property, and staying on property is a much bigger thing. If you came from a Disney World experience, you might think the only way to experience Disney is staying on property. But here there's very few hotels there's only three, and there's a lot of people that want to stay there, so they can charge a lot. It's not abnormal for those hotels to be five, six, seven, eight hundred dollars a night. The suites can be even more, so it is expensive for somebody who's saying well, you know, I can afford it, but is it worth it? What are some of the considerations that you look at? The biggest?
Speaker 3:one is the location factor, how close it is, and I know, having been to Disney World twice only twice, and with Disneyland being my home park, when I saw the sprawl of Disney World and how long it took to get from a hotel to one of the parks, I was like, oh okay, this is a whole new world for me. The three Disneyland hotels are within walking distance, and by walking distance I mean it takes at the longest, we'll say, Pixar Place Hotel is maybe twenty minutes from hotel to Disneyland main gate, a little bit shorter if you're going over to California Adventure theme park and Pixar Place now has a back entrance to California Adventure, so and if you're staying at the Disneyland hotel, you can also use that entrance.
Speaker 3:It's not specific to the Pixar Place guests, although all of the signages currently being transitioned to being themed over specifically to to Pixar Place Hotel. But yeah, it's a, it's a very short Walk and then the the rooms are much nicer. I want to say you, robin, you're gonna know better than me, is the different sort of love, I'm gonna say level, the different sort of categories of your day at Disney World. I know there's like the value resorts and then there's the more moderate ones and then the luxury hotels.
Speaker 3:I would say that even Pixar Place Hotel, being the the more affordable of the three options, is probably more of a moderate to almost luxury style Hotel if you're comparing it to the the Disney World accommodation and a lot of the off-property hotels, the good neighbor hotels, the ones that are within walking distance from the parks, again, maybe more like a half night, depending on where you're going and some have shuttles or maybe even farther away. They can be a little more on the motel side. But if you're not as as picky about at your amenities, if you're used to you know the Disney World, value resorts you'll feel like that's what you're used to yeah, and I kind of tell people it's kind of like Vegas.
Speaker 2:You know, like a Vegas. You know, three-star hotel is gonna be a little sketchy right, because they can charge a lot more for a motel across the street from Disneyland Because of the convenience. So, and I 100% agree with you, like the Pixar Pier, I would say it would be kind of a moderate and that's a Grand California and Disneyland hotel would both be deluxe and you know, with the Grand California I feel like that's got like a very like spa. You know, like it's all about the beauty in the nods to Disney are a lot more subtle, so it has a little like not a stiff formal, but like more of a formal vibe I think.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, grand California is an arts and crafts architectural style, so it is a little bit more of celebration of California, but it's not something that you're gonna see along the, the typical beach style of resorts. It's Very natural. As far as, like the decorative elements and you're right, the, the Disney church is a little more subtle and a little more about the woodland creatures. So Chip and Dale are featured very prominently in the decor, bandy is featured in the decor and that arts and crafts style. Actually, it's not another Example of that? Recently, if you guys have ever been to Pasadena, there's a house called the gamble house and that's usually one of like the textbook definitions of the arts and crafts architectural styles those beams, a lot of stone, a lot of wood, a lot of shell, a lot of like seeing the hand of the Artists. There's hand hammered metals and hand-painted tiles, who see those elements in the Grand California and as well.
Speaker 2:And so I would say that the Grand California, if you want to take it to like a normal hotel, would be more like a Ritz or Waldorf. It has that high-end Feel, it's. It's a definitely a luxury hotel. Everything is based off that luxury. But the style is like what Selena said, so that that's kind of what you're getting and that the access the Grand California has the closest access to all three parks. It is the closest walking distance to Disneyland. It's the closest. I mean, it's literally just it's right on the door of California Adventure. You, you step right in there, right from the property, so it's going to have the most convenience. So I think it's one of the easiest. If you have to come back and take naps or if you really like a luxury steak and you don't want to leave the bubble, I feel like that's kind of the best option there.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and it's definitely like you were saying, the luxury style they have. They even have a turn down service. You know, after you've shut down the park, after you've closed it out, at the end of the day you come back and Housekeeping has come in. They've, they've gym the lights, there are chocolates on your pillow. So it is very much a luxury style experience and, like you were saying, it is the only Hotel on Disneyland property that has a spa, the Tanae spa I have not been to yet I'm dying to go to which has a combination of Kind of more health and wellness style spa services, massages, facials and all of that and more salon style services as well.
Speaker 3:So it's luxury and that extends to the dining too. No, no, how well. We don't need to go down that rabbit hole because Before, with the food, we've already talked about it, guys find the episode where we talked about Disneyland truth, but there is a very, very nice dining experience Attached to the Grand Californian. Don't need a hotel reservation to eat there, but you do get priority if you are a guest of the hotel.
Speaker 2:It's called the Napa Rose and it is a high and like they want you to wear a jacket, if you can type of experience and so when people are like I'm a foodie, this is where I want to go or I want to have a luxury experience, the Grand Californian is pretty much where all the luxury experiences are going to be, with the exclusion of the VIP tour which happens in the parks. But if you're looking for that luxury feel, the pool has very much more. It's a. They do have a slide, but the pool does feel more like a classic upscale hotel. I feel like this would be a good time to talk about. In comparison, the Disneyland hotel is also very deluxe, but the vibe is very different because it's very classic Disney, very nostalgic Disney.
Speaker 3:Yes, it feels like this hotel is where Walt would want to stay. That's how I justified to myself, which is partially why I love it so much. It definitely has that sort of late 1950s vibe to it. The way that the, the main towers of the hotel, are situated around the pool. There's a lot of retro nods to historical Disney. The, the pools are named, you know, the e-ticket pool, the d-ticket pool the decor and the architecture. You have very much 50s and 60s inspired and it's still very much a deluxe like type of experience. But it feels more accessible, probably because it is the most overtly Disney of the three, I mean modern, real slide pool, like amazing tiki bar.
Speaker 2:You know they've got the Goofy's kitchen. You know they've got dining there. You know teacups that you can sit in as you're waiting to check in. I mean, it is, it is and it's got an amazing history. If you are a history nerd and you're staying there, look up defunct land, defunct lands. Youtube is awesome, but you have they have a whole episode on the Disneyland hotel and there's several other Documentaries on this rich history that Disneyland hotel has. And I think one thing that you'll hear over and over again Is the headboards and how magical the headboards are.
Speaker 3:Yes, the headboards. Okay. So if you've not stayed there, if you've not seen pictures, it is this beautiful dark stain wood headboard that has a relief, the beauty castle carved into it and there's a little switch on the nightstand in between the beds. You go and push the button on the switch, you start to hear dream is a wish your heart makes and then the headboard lights up With fireworks above the castle. It is just so darling and charming and it, like, makes me so happy every time that we stay there.
Speaker 2:They have a concierge lounge at the top where you can see the fireworks. If you get the concierge level Like, there's a lot of really amazing benefits and I feel a little bit more. Disneyland hotel is my favorite of the three. Two, I think that you know Grand California, you know you can't match the level of luxury, but for Disney I, you know, I feel like I feel more, I feel like it matches what I oh yeah, we're both kind of Walt people, so you know like, yeah, we're all about the history, so yeah, and then the, like I said, the, the theme of Disneyland is just all over the hotel more of that throwback vibe.
Speaker 3:So the three primary towers for your roomstays they're named after Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland. At the entry level of Frontier Tower there is a beautiful concept diorama of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It's not like a working train, but just the level of detail is gorgeous and my kids love seeing it every time that we are happily assigned to Frontier Tower. The other towers, Adventure and Fantasy Tower, have that same kind of nods to their respective lands. Adventure Tower you're probably going to stay there if you get the deluxe rooms with the park views attached to them. Otherwise you're going to probably be in a fantasy or a frontier tower. Robin was mentioning the teacup chairs and tables in the lobby when the entry, so the main lobby, is attached to Fantasy Tower.
Speaker 2:It's just so much fun and there's so much history and it, you know it is also very. You know you're right next to the monorail, which is the kind of your back entrance for Disneyland, which is going to be your closest entrance, and you enter through in the mornings for both of or all of these hotels. You can kind of use these back entrances. So there's the monorail at Disneyland and then there's the two back entrances now at California Adventure that you have access to, that regular park guests. You know they might be able to use them in the evening or like midday, but in the morning those are exclusively held for hotel guests and so in the security line you're not dealing with everybody there. Everybody going through those sections has early entry. So it can make things a lot smoother for you and we're going to talk about that. You know the early entry is one of the big perks. But first we should talk about Pixar Place, which is a wonderful hotel. It's slightly it's the furthest away, but we're talking like like 500 feet, we're talking like a foot.
Speaker 3:It's next door to Disneyland Hotel. It is literally next door, so it's like you're maybe adding another two minutes to your walk. I would say this is, while still probably you know, a high moderate values style hotel. It is the most affordable of the three and it does have the vibe reflects that a little bit more. It's. I've not stayed there since it's become the Pixar Place Hotel. I've stayed there when it was the Paradise Pier and even before that when it was the Disneyland Pacific Hotel. So it's it's got a few re themes in the last couple of decades, so hopefully this Pixar one will will stick, but it has the many of the same amenities as the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian.
Speaker 3:You know you're mentioning those walkability to the parks, that special entry into the California Adventure Park which is right near the main driveway into the Grand California Hotel. You just kind of stick to the south and the entrance will drop you off near the Corn Dog Castle. So it's a it's a great way to hit the lines. Like you were saying, there is a security checkpoint there. I have never seen anyone else in that line in the the times that I've used that. It's shocking. I was kind of wondering like is this. Am I in a backstage part of the park right now Like what's?
Speaker 3:going on, but no one else here, so that is a great park for sure.
Speaker 2:And it's you know. I would say it's probably the most casual. The Pixar theme is very clean, very crisp, but it feels very fun and easy. It doesn't feel maybe as formal as meet the Grand California. The only negative really like like that's a big negative compared to it is there's no character dining at that particular location at the time of this recording, at least not in the. Hasn't been announced in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2:So if you are looking for someplace where you can go down the stairs and and get breakfast with Goofy or Mickey, you know that hotel doesn't offer that, but it still offers all of the other perks let's start with we talked about. I think you know nap time is not something that they list on the Disneyland website, but I think that going back and taking a nap is crucial to having a good day at Disney, especially if you have kids under the age of seven or you're like me and you're now over the age of 35 or 40. And I need a nap or I'm, me and my husband are not having fun at at 10 o'clock at night. When you're staying on property, it is very easy to go back and get a change of clothes If you get wet, to take a nap, get more diapers. So it as far as convenience I'll let you talk about in anything you want to add there.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, absolutely so. In my experience, staying off property I mean I'm a, I'm a road drop to end of operating day to be all person Like I want to be there as long as I can, knowing that I will have to, you know, now with kids, go back and and taking that. But I want to maximize my park time. And staying off property tends to mean you've got to bring everything with you. So if you know it's going to get colder in the in the evenings, you got to make sure you've got your jackets, have your ponchos If you don't want to get wet because having to go, you know, walk back off property to get a change of clothes, it's going to be a slog.
Speaker 3:You would have to plan for sure on renting a locker. I cannot remember the last time I went to the locker in the park. I know the price is going up and up and it is kind of like a lot of the draw if they happen to have lockers available. The hotel room that's. One of the big convenience points for me is that you don't need to bring absolutely everything you need for your day. If you forget something, it's much easier to go back, whether it's, you know, your jacket for an adult, or if it's one of your kiddos, you forgot their favorite Lovie, or you drop one of their water cups or left it somewhere. Very easy to go back to your hotel room on property and get what you need before going back into the park, some playing for the rest of the day.
Speaker 3:I know that Disneyland has stores that you can rent. I've never rented one of them because, again, I don't want to be kind of subject to that. Well, do they still have availability and I love maximizing my time in the park, so I don't want to wait in line to grab a stroller before going in. So being able to take that stroller in and out from the hotels to the parks, going through that very, very short line at security, either at the California Adventure Entrance or even the main entrance into downtown Disney, headed to either the monorail to get into Disneyland or walking through downtown Disney to go through the main gate of the park itself, that line is much shorter.
Speaker 2:The lines are shorter. And then I think the biggest thing, that is the biggest value when people say, is it worth it to me or not, especially if you are going this is a once in a year trip and, you know, maybe there's only $300 difference between staying at a Disneyland hotel or not is early entry. And so now there are specific days where you know, some days is California Adventure, some days is Disneyland, but you would get to be in the park a half hour before everybody else. This means that now they don't open the entire park. It's usually Fantasyland, tomorrowland, a couple of select rides, not everything opens, but it also allows you to be, you know, ride a couple of those rides that generally have a longer line before anybody else gets there. And if you did decide you wanted to do something like Rise of the Resistance for Rope Drop, I don't usually recommend it because it doesn't always open on time and it's a long walk, but that gives you the best position to be at first.
Speaker 3:Same goes for Radiator Springs Racers. Those two rides. I know that there's a lot of folks out there who would recommend do those at Rope Drop. I'm with you. That's a no. They're not always ready to go. In fact, more often than not they're not gonna be ready to go out park opening. So use that time to do something else.
Speaker 2:So that early entry can allow you to ride maybe like five rides that you might normally have taken you two or three hours if you'd come in 10 o'clock. Now you're only gonna get value out of that staying at the hotels If you are a morning person that can get your family out the door by about 7 am because you wanna have them out the door through security ready to go right at 7 30. But if you are able to get that full 30 minutes you can get so much done in that small window of time and then you can save that time later to take a nap when everybody else is busy steaming in line, and then you're gonna be able to get on the most number of rides and have the most enjoyable day.
Speaker 3:Absolutely 100% agree, and the early morning entry has always been a part of me, even before I had kids. I remember when it was called magic morning and then when it was called extra magic hour, so it's gone through a few iterations. It really came in handy for my family. In this most recent trip, we ended up having to go to guest services at each park at the start of our day. Guest services is open at the parks during this early entry time and the line is significantly shorter. So if you're someone who's gotta get into guest services for your day, that's gonna be probably your shortest line of the morning.
Speaker 3:I was really shocked at how quickly we got through. It's also, like you were saying, a really good opportunity to get on some of those bigger rides. My family, while I, was waiting in line at guest services in Disneyland, they were able to go on Peter Pan and the wait was under 20 minutes. It's a really great opportunity to get on some of those rides. You can also utilize that time to take advantage of a shorter Starbucks line, if that's your thing. The lines for food tend to be a little bit shorter. There are one of the things that's open in specific lands in both parks. I know that the Starbucks wait has seen it be the shortest during that hour.
Speaker 2:So that's gonna be your biggest thing, but you do have to be early risers. We talked about the back entrances. Also, if, like let's say, you know you're gonna buy your kids Christmas presents, but you don't wanna see them logging Rapunzel's castle all the way back to the hotel with you, you can buy items and have them sent to your hotel room, which, especially if you wanna buy stuff earlier in the day, can be a really big value because you don't have to lug that around, you don't have to worry about it getting lost, you don't have to worry about it getting stolen. So the package being able to send packages to your room is a big benefit.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and we have done just that. Recently, robin, where we saw something over at Cars Land in Raiders Spring, purchased it, had it sent to the room. My son had no idea until Christmas morning this past holiday season. So, yeah, really really convenient until just send stuff back to your room.
Speaker 2:And that can be helpful if you're gonna do like lightsabers too, cause you can have them sent back to your room. You don't have to carry those big bulky lightsabers or droids all day A couple more things.
Speaker 3:I know we wanna talk about some off-property stuff as well. I wanna make sure everybody knows that all three of the Disneyland hotels offer contactless check-in and a digital room key. They call it direct-to-room service. For all three of the hotels you can actually check in within five days of your arrival. You submit your approximate arrival time. It's not a guarantee that your room will be ready before check-in, but the last three times that my family has been able to do this, we were able to get into our rooms bypassing the lobby altogether, going straight to our rooms, because it was assigned to us ready before that 3 pm standard check-in time, got a digital room key that's attached to the Disneyland app, which can be really convenient, and for folks who don't really like that particular prick, you can still go down to get a physical key.
Speaker 2:As somebody who loses keys constantly, I always appreciate a mobile key so. And then they do reserve some dining in the hotel's reservations that can be harder to get. They hold some of those back for hotel guests. Those are the big benefits to staying on property. I think we touched on all the big ones right. I think so we kinda just really sold you on that. But you might say, well, why do I not like to do that? And Selena goes to Disneyland often, but I go to Disneyland probably a dysfunctional level of often. So because I go so often and because my day job I do a lot of traveling, I have a lot of rewards, a lot of credit card points, I have hotel status. So the biggest benefit to staying off property is going to be the cost. So you can stay at a hotel that the physical walking distance is almost the same as the Disneyland hotel for a fraction of the price. Now, the rooms aren't going to be as nice, you're gonna be having to walk across the street, you know, pass on IHOP kind of those kind of things, but you know the value and the cost savings is enough. That allows us to go back more often. Also, I'm a Marriott loyalist and so because of that I like staying at the Marriott hotels because I get you know special perks and upgrades and it helps me get my platinum, titanium ultralight elite status every year. But so if you have like a loyalty, if you have a loyalty because of work there are, every hotel chain is right there. The courtyard with the water park is really nice, wonderful stay clean rooms, clean facility. The door's open to interior halls. The Fairfield Inn is the closest Marriott but it opens outside and I would say it's definitely more of a motel feel. But then I really like the Marriott by the convention center. If you have snooty, bougie access to the lounge, their breakfast is the favorite in the area. And but there are several hotels across the street like the best Western which I normally wouldn't stay in a best Western cause I'm a princess, you know the they. Those ones can be pretty nice and they have a lot of suite options. So if you have a group, a family of six, some of those off property ones might be much more affordable for you.
Speaker 2:When I'm looking at the Disneyland, the hotels that are across the street from Disneyland, I really wanna look at recent reviews. I wanna look at how close is it to the park entrance the main entrance, not the parking garage, not the. You know you need to be able to look at how far you're actually going to walk. So anything that's on harbor, between Bal and Catella, those are gonna give you the shortest walking distance. You know, as we get. You know, just on the other side of those they are within walking distance, but a little further. The one thing that is different is that there's a big difference between staying in the hotels that are within walking distance and the ones that you would have to drive to or you would have to take a bus to.
Speaker 2:Anaheim has a resort busing system called ART. Art that will bring you back and forth to a lot of the local resorts. They even will take you to Knott's Berry Farm and Back. It's great if you have like an ECV and you don't wanna have to move that into a car. There's a lot of really great options, but if you are someplace where you are going to have to drive to Disneyland, you need to think about one. You're gonna have to pay for parking, probably at your hotel and at Disneyland, and then there's the drive.
Speaker 2:So in California, like in Phoenix, something that's 10 miles away is 10 minutes away. Pretty consistently, in Los Angeles, something that's a mile away could be 30 minutes away. So I find when I stay about three miles away, my drive time is about 10 to 15 minutes, and if I stay closer to 10 miles away, the drive time gets closer to 30 minutes. Now that doesn't sound so bad, but then when you have to park and get on the bus, you know, get on the tram, park your car, you go downstairs, you get on the tram. Now we're adding about a total of an hour of commute, which means it's much more difficult to go back to take a nap. It feels like a much bigger journey and I end up not doing it. And then we end up having shorter park days.
Speaker 2:And then if somebody forgets the sunblock or somebody forgot their jacket, now we're buying a jacket instead of where. You know, do we really want to go all the way back to get that jacket? You really have to think everything through. The farther you will get away from Disney and the harder it is to change plans where you're like okay, well, we thought we'd take a nap at two. Well, it started ringing, all right. Well, now we need to think about, you know, we need to think about LA traffic and all sorts of other things. It adds a lot of variables. So for me I love standing saying off property because I can usually find a pretty good deal. But I won't usually stay more than three miles away unless there's a really good reason because it adds so much more time. And if you are staying in like three to five mile range you might want to consider Ubering back and forth to the park instead of driving, so you don't have that extra time and hassle of parking in the parking garages.
Speaker 3:I was just thinking about how you were. You were talking about when you're staying on property. You are on property, it is, it is Disney businesses, disney licensed businesses. When you're off property, if you need that convenience of like a CVS or a Walgreens or something else, is easier to access those things. There's also more food options. If you're not wanting the theme park food and I mean I don't know why you wouldn't, because that's amazing. If you're looking for, you know, like a McDonald's or a Panera, you are going to find that, particularly along Harper Boulevard. So it's, it's, they'll be within walking distance of your hotel and so that that convenience can be an incentive for folks who want to stay off property.
Speaker 2:So the biggest thing when you're looking at these off property hotels is you need to make sure you really look at the interior and the exterior of the rooms. Make sure that's going to meet your standards. Make sure you look for any reviews. Recently for bed bugs, that's just the across. Any time you stay at a hotel, look for those. You know. But bed bugs happen even in the fanciest resorts. The only time that I've ever had an issue with bed bugs was in a five star all inclusive Western property. So it doesn't necessarily mean that the property is dirty or bed bugs happen. We want to make sure that we don't see a lot of people complain about it, but making sure you're comfortable with like the way that the. You know some people don't feel comfortable having hotels that open to the exterior. They want that interior hallway and you think about whether or not there's free parking or not. Is there free breakfast or not? Don't assume, because it's a fair field in, they will have free breakfast, because Fairfield is a great example. They don't offer free breakfast there, even though pretty much every other fair field in in the country does so and they might be stricter about like checking early policies, things along those lines. So make sure you look at the reviews. The biggest thing that is your is you're looking at those reviews and decide is figuring out how much how much will you save and how far is the walking distance to the park, and then trying to decide how much time you're going to be spending in the room. You know.
Speaker 2:Does the pool matter? I will tell you that, even though we don't usually go to the pool very often because we're from Phoenix, pools are everywhere here. We can swim anytime we want, pretty much any day of the year. So pools aren't as big of a deal for us. But it is nice, after you've been walking literally 10 miles, to be able to get into a hot tub while the kids play for a little bit and relax those muscles. So then you kind of want to look at some of those things, but there are a lot of, like she said, there's a lot of other food options. Easier to get Uber Eats delivered those kinds of things, and you know I'll have. Have you ever done Instacart or Uber Eats to the Disneyland hotels?
Speaker 3:Not to the Disneyland hotels now, but I have seen drop offs. At my most recent visit they were dropping it off down at the lobby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just don't know how that would, because they can be a little they're. They're pretty strict about parking, especially at the Grand Californian, because people want to park there and it's really only for hotel guests or people who have dining reservations there. So they're pretty particular. So but I think the biggest benefits to staying off are going to. You know, I'm going to be looking at the costs, I'm going to be looking do I already have hotel points where I can stay for free? Because I've done those credit card points? And then the thing that I was leading to that I kind of lost track along the way is people ask is it safe to walk to my hotel in that part of California? And I will tell you that especially at the corners you will see homeless people.
Speaker 2:But around park operation, from about one to two hours before the park opens to about an hour and a half after, there is a steady stream of people on those streets all the time.
Speaker 2:I've never really felt unsafe walking even as far as just a little bit past the convention center. So you're going to be walking with a large group of people. You're almost never going to be alone, and so you know, even as a woman by myself. I do feel safe on those streets. If you want to stay kind of, you know, a little bit closer than that does eliminate the most of the homeless that are around. Are you usually near the bus stops, kind of at the corner, but you know they've never bothered me. They're doing the best that they can and you know so I've never felt unsafe walking there. I will tell you that walking in the morning sounds like a great idea and then on the way back we might decide to take an Uber, we might decide to take an art bus back, you know, because the walk back that last five minutes feels like 700 hours and I have heard friends of mine say that like this.
Speaker 3:that walk back with littles in particular can be a real slog, particularly if you have rented a stroller and you have to check it back at the main gate as you're leaving the park and you still have to walk with these very tired little ones. The last time I stayed off property carried my son from the main gate to the Fairfield Marriott and, oh boy, where my arms are. The next day, and that's my main takeaway from that trip.
Speaker 3:That was my son's second trip to Disneyland and that's like the thing that stands out in my mind, just kind of a bummer.
Speaker 2:I will say that if you are staying off property and you are not bringing your stroller I would highly recommend this goes for wheelchairs to you Do not rent at Disneyland. Have them brought to your hotel room because carrying them that last mile will kill you and so staying within a mile is going to be walking distance. But just know you might want to have it on the way back. You might decide to take other transportation back. The Uber pickup at Disneyland from about 9.30 to about 10.30 is ridiculous. Your driver will be 700 feet away and it will be 30 minutes sometimes.
Speaker 2:So if that is where you are going to be picked up, sometimes it's better for you to walk down to another location. Patronize that business down further, not across the street. They're very strict at the McDonald's across the street and stuff about Uber pickups, but walking a little bit further for an Uber pickup. But there are buses that will take you from the resort to those local area hotels if you are too tired to walk. Was that walking across the street? Was that the thing that pushed you over? You were like never again.
Speaker 3:It was just not a great experience overall. I don't know if it was just because of that particular weekend, which was the weekend in between. It was an early Thanksgiving year. It was like the weekend in between the veterans and Thanksgiving. But yeah, that walk back. We just had a really weird stay. When we checked in it was over an hour after check-in time before we got our room.
Speaker 2:And that's not abnormal in those area hotels because they know they can get away with it. And there are hotels that are known for really like the candy cane in has a wonderful reputation Anaheim has a wonderful reputation, but there are especially some of the hotels that are across the street. They know that you're staying there because it's across the street, not because they have five stars on TripAdvisor. So you do kind of have to build in a little bit more allowance. I'm not saying that it's right, but it just kind of is the way that it is.
Speaker 3:And we ended up missing our reservation in downtown Disney because of that. So it was just a series of unfortunate events. But, like you were saying earlier, you plan on more time if you're staying off property, not just because of the walking distance but that security coming off of Harbor Boulevard, everyone who is walking distance is funneling in there.
Speaker 3:So, they're coming in off of Cattella, they're coming in off of Harbor. It can be a really, really long wait, and then you still have to walk across the Esplanade. If you're going to downtown Disney, or you have to walk into the main gate, you still have to get your ticket scan. So if you're looking at planning out your day, taking advantage of a lot of the things you can make reservations for, be mindful of that. If you're staying off property, you can definitely still do it, but I would plan on being there a half an hour before you actually need to be there to make sure that you don't miss it.
Speaker 2:You can have a wonderful trip at Disneyland doing both. So it's just about deciding what you're. You know, I've had magical, magical trips on property. I've had magical, magical trips staying at an Airbnb when we didn't have a lot of money. Those can be a little bit sketchier but they can be wonderful, but sometimes they're not wonderful.
Speaker 2:It's really about determining what is most important for your family. So if you determine that we're not early risers, we don't mind walking, and you know for us, if we can afford to do individual lightning lanes for both things and do genie plus, that's a better value for us than being able to stay closer because our kids are older. There's not a right or wrong answer. It's just listening to, kind of what, the different points of each one. So off property you might have you able to get free breakfast or you might be able to have free parking at some of the farther away hotels. So there are pros and cons to every option. It's just finding out what works best with what your family needs and what your, what your trip goals are, whether it's rides or shows or, you know, just trying to relax, which Disneyland is not really a relaxing place. So you probably pick the wrong destination, but it can be, it can be, it can be.
Speaker 3:but it's just yeah, you just have to do your homework, which you know.
Speaker 3:park magic is about you do your homework and then know what your your priorities are. And I will say, off property, the better experiences that I've had and where the the hotels that were not attached to a larger chain. You know, this is when I was in my twenties and I had an annual pass but I couldn't afford to stay on property when it was just, you know, me and my then boyfriend at the time, now my husband or me and my sister doing like a quick sister trip and I didn't have those points. So I ended up staying at a couple of the more the independent, smaller, that are kind of a little bit more hotel style but because they don't have that brand awareness, in my experience they've gone a little bit more of that extra mile to provide a little bit of that Disney magic on their property.
Speaker 2:There are some hotels that are connected to brands that I do feel like they phone in a little bit, because they are across the street and you know, hotels like the Anaheim, like the candy cane in. They do have to fight for that brand recognition, and so they take their reputation a little bit more seriously, I think. So I think that that is a good point, and you know, nothing gets talked about more than you know people's experiences at hotels. So there's lots of information and reviews. Just make sure you kind of let me make sure that whatever hotel you pick matches the needs of your family.
Speaker 2:We hope that this episode has been helpful in letting you pick and like. Know that this is just one component of your trip, so if it's stressing you out too much, you can always look at a travel agent. They can help you book. I think the other benefit to booking on Disney's website, even if you're using a good neighbor hotel, is you can pay off your tickets and your hotel and pay with it, put a deposit down and make payment, though there are lots of options. But anyway, we hope this episode has been helpful and if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us at hello at parkmagiccom or reach out to us on any of our socials. Thanks and have a great day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park Magic podcast. For more tips and planning tools designed to help simplify your Disneyland adventure, visit parkmagiccom. If you enjoyed today's episode and want to hear more tips, be sure to subscribe to the Park Magic podcast, and don't forget to leave us a review. Your feedback helps us spread the magic even further. Making a review could also help you. Each month, we will be selecting one reviewer to win. A one hour planning session with Robin. Winners will be announced at the end of the first episode of every month. Thanks for tuning in and remember that we are here to help you have a less stressful and more magical trip to Disneyland.