Things you'll want to know about the Disneyland Hotel

When we went to California for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon you may have seen us mention several times that we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel.  This was one of the best decisions that we made and I would not hesitate staying there again if we should decide to do another race weekend. Unlike Disneyworld, Disneyland only has three on property Disney resorts, The Disneyland Hotel, The Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier.  All are with in walking distance to the parks and to the race start and finish.

Transportation:
Also unlike Disney World, Disneyland resorts do not offer the magical Express. You have to arrange your own way to and from the airport. My mom and I flew into Sana Ana (John Wayne) airport which is actually the closest airports to Disney and when we arrived at Ground Transportation the Disney Express was already there waiting for passengers. We did not have to purchase tickets ahead of time. Tickets were $20 per passenger and the Disneyland Hotel was the first stop. The ride took about 20 minutes.  Lacey flew into LAX ( Los Angeles ) airport and she took Prime Time Shuttle which cost about $18.

Hotel/Room:
We arrived around 10:30 am and we figured our room wouldn't be ready yet and we were prepared to just check our luggage and go to the expo.  There were no rooms available yet, but as luck would have it the cast member worked his magic and found one. As we walked away, he whispered to me that he had upgraded us to a premium room.  This was our view!

The Disneyland hotel is divided into three towers. The Fantasia Tower (the tower straight ahead in this picture)which is the main building where the lobby, check-in and the gift shops are, the Frontier Tower (The tower we were in and where this picture was taken from),and the Jungle Tower (which would have been to the right of this picture).  Straight ahead and to the left would be the convention center where the race expo took place. In the middle is the swimming pool area with waterslides and a hot tub.

Isn't the Minnie Mouse shaped hot tub so cute? We also loved looking down at the Mickey as Daniel Boone (or perhaps Davey Crocket?) landscaping. I wonder if we can try to do that at home with our landscaping?

A peek inside our room. Even the carpet had hidden Mickey's on it.  The headboards had a castle carved in it.  The room was actually a lot larger than what is pictured. We also had a nice big closet and a desk area that we did not photograph.

And then of course with a flip of a switch the fireworks lit up and a lullaby could be played.  I hate to admit that we were so tired each night of our stay that we only remembered to turn the headboard on the last night to enjoy it.

There were even some Mickey touches in the bathroom.  We weren't loving that we only had one sink when most Disney World hotels usually have a double vanity, but for what it's worth the bathroom was nice.

Restaurants:
The eating options ate the Disneyland Hotel are excellent.  For sit down dinners there is Goofy's Kitchen  which is a character meal and Steakhouse 55 and Lounge.  There is a Coffee shop that was open during race mornings but the only real food they had were muffins (and a few power bars). Our favorite spot to eat was Tangaroa Terrace which was kind of like a quick service restaurant. Everything on that menu looked so good. I could have ate here everyday!  If for some reason you didn't care for any of the restaurants at the resort, you are only a short walk ( just across the walkway) to Down Town Disney  where you will immediately see Earl of Sandwich and Rainforest Café (and then many other restaurants).  FYI: Although there is a entrance to DTD from the Grand Californian, the Disneyland Hotel is actually closer to DTD then Paradise Pier.

                                                  Below are maps that you may find helpful.

This map shows the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel and where things are located.  We stayed in the Frontier Tower which is the most convenient location to the race staging area and finish line.  The brown hut near the middle of the map is Tangaroa Terrace

This map shows the proximity of each hotel to the Downtown Disney Area and theme parks. The darker blue boxes in the upper right hand corner are the Disneyland Hotel, the peach boxes are Paradise Pier, and the Green boxes are the Grand Californian!

The start line for the Pixie Dust Challenge races  was just north of that yellow section on the map, which is actually an overpass over Disneyland Drive.  In this instance, all three of these hotels have easy access to the start line.

I really like the convenience of where everything was located to the Disneyland Hotel. It saved us a ton of time getting around. Also, it made it easy to go back to the park  real quick if we forgot something (like we did twice).

Tell us what you look for in a Hotel? Is it convenience? Location? Theming? Something else?