We have gotten the privilege of getting to stay at the Disneyland Hotel at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. We had a fantastic experience and wanted to tell you more about it. It was the first of the 3 Disney-owned hotels on-property at the Disneyland Resort. We had previously stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel, a few months before. As of September 2022, there is construction being done on a new tower.
Parking and Check-In
Valet ($50) and self-parking ($35) are both available with your room reservation (if you have dining reservations you also get 3 hours complimentary valet parking, even if you’re not staying in a room). When we pulled up, our toddlers were sleeping so we unloaded our luggage with bell services, then drove to the self-parking lot to wait for them to wake up before walking to the lobby for check-in.
The Disneyland Hotel offers mobile check-in and virtual room cards via the Disneyland app. However, we opted for checking in at the desk to ensure our three rooms were close together, and wanted physical keys because the app is not always reliable (pro tip: screenshot your ticket barcodes and keep all confirmation emails). Also, shout-out to the wonderful cast members that checked us in at the hotel because our rooms were under different last names and it took a lot of work on their end to put us all next to each other.
Room
The room was beautiful (for more pictures and a quick room tour, I have a highlight on my Instagram account @DisneylandWithToddlers). There was plenty of space for our playpen, double stroller (open, not even folded), and suitcases without feeling crowded. The room had a closet, a safe in the closet, a small refrigerator, a desk, a TV, two queen beds, and a couch that could pull out into a bed. The highlight of the room for me is the headboard that lights up with fireworks and plays a soft Disney lullaby. It’s a magical nightlight that will stay on all night long (just the lights, the music only plays through once). Outside our window we had a view of the pools from where we were on the 9th floor of the Frontier Tower. There are 3 towers: the Fantasy Tower, Adventure Tower, and Frontier Tower. The bottom lobby of the Frontier Tower has a miniature replica of Thunder Mountain, complete with miniature people! The Adventure Tower has a similar miniature setup on the bottom floor.
As of September 2022, there is construction happening at the Disneyland Hotel – a new tower is being built for Disney Vacation Club members. It makes the view less beautiful but we didn’t notice any noise bothering us.
Amenities
The Disneyland Hotel has monorail-themed water slides, pools with cute old original Disneyland tickets along the edge, and a splash pad area around the water slides (perfect for my son who just wanted to crawl through the two inches of water). Tip: we wish we had brought some beach toys so they could play in the water more. The hotel provides life jackets in several sizes, but no toys at this time (unknown if they used to). There are also coolers for filling water cups or bottles and jacuzzis in the fenced-in pool area.
Around the rest of the resort is a cute gazebo, seating around a giant fireplace, and a nice bridge over the pools and paths through beautiful greenery that’s reminiscent of exotic oasis, which is fitting when you pass Trader Sam’s, and Tangaroa Terrace Tropical Bar & Grill (see below about dining).
Magic Hour is currently being offered, which means that hotel guests are allowed into certain areas of the park a half hour before the general public. available.
Room service is available, though we did not use it this time.
Disneyland Resort hotels will also hold your luggage for you if you check in early, or check out but don’t leave right away (for example, if you check out then visit Disneyland all day, you can leave your car and luggage at the hotel for the rest of the day).
Wifi is available throughout the hotel.
Disneyland Resort hotels also offer Next Day Package Delivery, so you can buy things throughout the parks and it will be delivered to your hotel shop for pickup by the next day, instead of having to carry it throughout the day.
Dining
There are four locations within the Disneyland Hotel that offer food and drinks, and several restaurants nearby in Downtown Disney as well. Trader Sam’s reservations are popular and harder to come by, with limited walk-up seating available. Tangaroa Terrace offers seating and mobile orders via the Disneyland app. We mobile ordered dinner one night from here (the Hawaiian platters were amazing) and breakfast the next morning. Breakfast pastries and coffees are also available at The Coffee House. Goofy’s Kitchen is open for character dining during breakfast and dinner. It is a buffet with characters walking around interacting with diners during their meal. Reservations are also strongly recommended for Goofy’s Kitchen for both breakfast and dinner. The buffet breakfast and dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen were both delicious. Downtown Disney restaurants accept both reservations and walk-ups, and are all within a 10-minute walk from the hotel.
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Packing List – Things we were glad we took to the Disneyland Hotel
- Lots of snacks for our toddlers
- Fun Disney clothes for cute pictures and for park days
- Good walking shoes
- Extra outfits
- Swim diapers and swimsuits
- Sunscreen/hats
- Ziploc bags for extra food when we ate out
- Jackets for cooler nights
- Beach/water toys for the pool (we wish we had brought these for the splash pad area; life jackets are provided by the hotel but not toys)
- “New” and favorite toys for the hotel room (we had toys they hadn’t seen in a few months that we brought, and some favorites)
- Activity books and mess-free coloring books for the hotel room
- Playpen portable crib (the hotel does provide them, but it’s on a first-come, first-serve basis and since we were driving we just brought our own)
- Crib sheets for the playpen
- Stroller hook for all the extra bags we needed/bought (love my mickey one!)
- Stroller caddy for all the random stuff you end up with (coffee, receipt, half-eaten granola bar, pouch lid, etc)
- Portable power bank and charging cord for park days – especially if you’re taking pictures all day and using the Disneyland app, a lot, it’s a good idea to have