What type of Hotel to stay in?

As part of any vacation usually includes staying in a hotel. Disneyland has no shortage of hotels. It reminds me a little of Vegas because you have one whole street full of hotels. You basically have two options when it comes to what type of hotel you want to stay at either a Disneyland Resort Hotel, or a regular hotel near Disneyland.

Unlike Disney World, were if you do not stay with Disney you are going to be far from the parks, some regular hotels are closer to the main gates then the Resort Hotels. But keep in mind most of the hotels that are right outside the front gate have been there a while and may be a little old.

There are three Disney Resort Hotels: Paradise Pier (cheapest), The Disneyland Hotel (most Disney), and the Disney Grand California Hotel (most elegant). I have only stayed in the Paradise Pier but will be staying at the Grand California in September 2008. Each of these hotels offer different restaurants and amenities (for details try one of the links on the right or my favorite Disney book "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland"). What great thing about staying at one of the Resort Hotels is that you get "Early Entry" (you can enter the park one hour early) ever day it is offered in during your trip. If you do not stay at one of these hotels you will probably only get the "Early Entry" once. One other benefit to staying at a Resort Hotel is the use of the private entrance in Disneyland California Adventure. I have used this and it really nice especially when travelling from the park into Downtown Disney.

If you do not stay at one of the Resort hotels do not worry, you have tons of hotels of every type to pick from. Some are with in a short 5 minute walk to the Main Gate while others will require a taxi, shuttle, or a marathon walk of at least 20 minutes to get there. The benefit of staying outside the park is price. Where the cheapest night stay in a Resort Hotel is around $250-$450 you can stay outside the park for less then $50 a night. When doing a 5 day trip that adds to a lot of savings, especially if you will spend so little time in the hotel (see my "How to get the cheapest deal on a hotel" section for these $50 a night deals).

Please read my hotel reviews for the hotels I stayed to get some ideas of what to expect