Disneyland Hotel

Hotel sign inspired by the classic Disneyland marquee.

Earlier this year we stayed at California’s Disneyland Hotel.  It was  a wonderful experience and we hope to return again some day. The current theme of the hotel is classic Disneyland. The three towers are themed to Fantasyland, Frontierland, & Adventureland, while the pool area is themed to Tomorrowland.

Giant park map in lobby

Everywhere you look you will find Disneyland art and park memorabilia. We stayed in the Fantasy Tower, which is above the main lobby. The main lobby is anchored by a spectacular floor to ceiling guide map of Disneyland, the carpet has an It’s A Small World motif and there were teacup shaped seats in the lobby. It was all so magical.

Fantastic lobby art

Its A Small World carpet

More amazing lobby art

Our room was very comfortable, with room for 5 in 2 queen beds and a convertible sofa bed with a very generous bathroom. The centerpiece of the room is a full room length illuminated headboard with an image of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The headboard had fireworks lighting and it played “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”. There were wonderful touches throughout the room. Our view was of the pool courtyard and we could see the Monorail themed slides.

Trader Sam's in the distance and pool at center of courtyard

Spectacular headboard Castle mural

Agent P models the monogrammed bath robes next to a classic photo of Walt Disney behind Sleeping Beauty Castle

While at the hotel we dined at Trader Sam’s, the famous tiki bar inspired by the Jungle Cruise character. The ambiance was wonderful and the food was great. It looked like a miniature Polynesian Resort in the middle of the Disneyland Hotel courtyard. We also enjoyed shopping at the gift store and popping into the Small World themed sundries shop in the lobby.

Vintage Disneyland art everywhere

The location is within walking distance of the Downtown Disney Shopping District and a short walk from the Downtown Disney Monorail Station that will take you directly to Disneyland's Tomorrowland.  Parking is charged by the night but you are welcome to leave your car on your checkout day should you be spending the whole day at the parks.

Downtown Disney steps away from the hotel

We had stayed at the Disneyland Hotel quite a few years before the current remodel. It was still a magnificent hotel, with lots of Disney charm and theming but in a traditional style with lots of wood paneling, molding & chandeliers. The current style is more of a retro-contemporary-modern style. When we last stayed the rooms had a small balcony but they have since been enclosed making the rooms a little bit larger. One previous standout of those past rooms was a Tinkerbell wallpaper frieze that glowed in the dark when you turned out the lights at night...we were so delighted by that.

Souvenir ephemera from our room, nice to see so much Walt Disney

The Disneyland Hotel is nearly as old as Disneyland itself and has changed quite a bit over the years. What you see today dates from the mid 60’s but has been heavily remodeled and enlarged over the years. The original hotel was located between today’s towers and the Monorail station, but that was all removed to build the west end of Downtown Disney. Still there is a lot of history to experience at today’s Disneyland Hotel and we really want to stay there again.

When to go to Disney... or: why and when we go

We are very fortunate to be able to go to Disney Resorts as much as we do. When we lived in California we had Annual Passes and at one point only lived about a 15 minute (with no traffic) drive from Disneyland. We lived in a foothill area separating Orange County (where Disneyland is located) from the San Gabriel Valley (a suburban region east of downtown Los Angeles). Sometimes while crossing this hill we could catch the distant view of the nightly fireworks over Walt Disney’s original Magic Kingdom. So like a lot of Californians we felt a very strong  ownership over Disneyland.

When we relocated to the East Coast (originally to Washington, DC now Charlotte, NC) we got used to not going very often. In fact we went almost 6 years without visiting Disneyland. When we finally revisited Disneyland on a trip to California from North Carolina it awoke a very dormant Disney fandom! Opon returning to North Carolina we committed to finally making the trip down to Florida to visit Walt Disney World. That first trip for us to Walt Disney World was only 4 years ago. It was June 2015, our youngest son was on the way but would not be born until September so the trip was a swan song to our life as a family of 3. We figured we’d see what Disney World was like (while carrying a Disneyland chip on our shoulder) and probably not return for sometime, little did we know how much we would fall for Walt Disney World. Turned out we loved WDW and looked forward to returning. After our youngest son was born (around Labor Day 2015 how appropriate!) and once life returned somewhat to (our new) normal we started ruminating on returning to Disney World much sooner than we originally intended. Between work and school it can be tough to get all the way back to the West Coast for the holidays and since we don’t have family in North Carolina we ended up deciding to go to WDW for Thanksgiving 2015.  This ended up becoming the start of a tradition for us.

We associate Disneyland with California, that is to say with “home” so that when we can’t get back easily but we do have time for a road trip or a diversion then Walt Disney World in many ways feels like a bit of “home” here on the East Coast. Our feelings of ownership over Disneyland have expanded to include  WDW. We can not think of many other things as completely engaging for every member of our family than a visit to a Disney Resort.

There is a wonderful scene in the film “Pretty Woman” that comes to mind when thinking about Disney Parks Fandom. Richard Gere is talking about opera but the sentiment equally applies. The first exposure to (opera but for our purposes Disney-land/and or World) is very important, you either love it or you don’t, if you don’t you may learn to appreciate it, but it will never touch your soul. Needless to say we have always loved it and indeed it touches our souls. Often people with an intense passion for visiting the Disney Parks repeatedly can be asked why do you go so much and that seems as good an answer as any...because it touches the soul! So for us when is the time to go to, well we tend to go for birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, or whenever we get the chance!

From our toy blog: Presley's Little People Blog: Welcome to the Playroom Theme Park Resort!

Over at our toy blog we have the story of our current toy collection playroom:

Presley's Little People Blog: Welcome to the Playroom Theme Park Resort!: What happens when you combine Fisher-Price toys with Disney Magic? You get the Happiest Playroom on Earth! 

Rainy day fun day at Disneyland

Rainy day at Downtown Disney as a Mickey wrapped Monorail passes by

We made our first family trip in over 2 years to the Happiest Place on Earth in January. While in Southern California we visited the Disneyland Resort and had quite a memorable visit. In a first for us we went to Disneyland in the rain. We have been rained on in Florida at Walt Disney World, but we could never recall a rainy day Disneyland visit. Actually it pretty much rained the whole time we were in California and it was only marginally warmer than the North Carolina weather we left behind. Still we made the best of it and ultimately had a nice time at the resort. During the rain just about every ride was walk on but as the rain cleared the park filled up in the afternoon and evening with the pass holders Disneyland is famous for.  Most of our family lives in Southern California so we were joined on this visit by nieces, nephews, "Nannie", and an auntie!

With our own "Sleeping Beauty" in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle

Sleeping Beauty Castle was closed to undergo renovations in time for the opening of Star Wars Land (Dad still can’t get used to calling it “Galaxy’s Edge”). The scuttlebutt is the roof has needed to be replaced since the 60th Celebration Decorations were removed. At the time of our visit there was a wall at ground level but the upper towers were still visible.

Walt Disney World has conditioned us to not expect to easily walk through the castle since the stage is so often in use that frankly we did not really mind that the lower levels of Sleeping Beauty Castle were obscured. We still managed some nice photos of the Castle(albeit wet ones!), especially from a distance. Toddler Son was especially looking forward to seeing the Castle and did not seem to mind that it was blocked off at ground level.

We had hoped to time our trip so as to see some of the “Holiday Overlays” and managed to ride “It’s A Small World Holiday”.

This was a real highlight of the trip, the attraction looked wonderful inside and out with all of the Christmas & Holiday Decorations.

The exterior of the Disneyland It’s a Small World is spectacular and after seeing so many YouTube videos Toddler Son was excited to see it in person.

He had been to Disneyland one other time for his first birthday but did not retain any memory of it. The Haunted Mansion was closed to remove the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. We spent some time at Mickey's Toontown, including walking right on to Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin! Had to play around with the photo ops and pose on the Jolly Trolley.

Teenage Son is unabashedly a Disneylander with almost no reservations, he loves Walt Disney World (EPCOT especially) but usually finds Disneyland to be the superior “Magic Kingdom”. Mom & Dad have a more complex view of  the Disneyland vs Magic Kingdom debate preferring to appreciate their differences rather than make a call of one over the other.

Disneyland is very dense with attractions seemingly on top of each other. Dad found himself with tunnel vision due to the closer quarters and lack of distant views he had gotten used to at Walt Disney World.  When we first started visiting Magic Kingdom in Florida there was a period of adjustment where we were disoriented and kept trying to find Disneyland in the Magic Kingdom, now after having made so many visits to the Florida park we may have been guilty of looking for Magic Kingdom in Disneyland subconsciously.  It really is striking how much more "cozy" Disneyland is, just about everything is at a smaller scale and yet it probably has twice as much detail and more attractions.

Pearlie Band walking through Fantasyland

Fantasyland in particular was a real treat, we pretty much walked form Dark Ride to Dark Ride with no wait (except for PeterPan...even in the rain that one had a wait). We enjoyed California unique rides like Snow White's Adventure, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, & Alice In Wonderland.

Dumbo in the rain is not an entirely pleasurable experience as the rain drops seem to come at you in a horizontal direction, but we made the best of our situation and ultimately had a great visit to Fantasyland.

After Fanatsyland we took the Disneyland Railroad to the Frontierland/Adventureland side of the park while enjoying the Grand Canyon & Primeval World dioramas...two elements sorely missing from the Walt Disney World Railroad. Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean really shines with it's moody bayou, 2 waterfalls and caverns.

The Enchanted Tiki Room has a longer show, a water fountain, and enjoys more audience participation & enthusiasm than the Florida counterpart. While there we briefly visited the "Tropical Hideaway" snack area made from Aladdin's Oasis/Tahitian Terrace remnants.  We had never been to either of those venues so that was all new to us, the view of the Jungle Cruise dock and "Rosita" the "lost" Tiki Bird are nice touches.

Pin trading in action

magic carpet ride

"Star Wars Land" looms large in the distance but can also be surprisingly ignored if you so choose to. The transitional area between it and the rest of Disneyland is a remarkably detailed desert scene that blends in nicely with Frontierland, unfortunately we did not get a chance to ride the train or the Mark Twain around the newer river scenes.  The crowds of people heading there and perhaps lift hill views from Big Thunder will be the only signs that there is something beyond the berm.

Most of the evening was spent at California Adventure. 

While at Cal Adventure our party took in Monsters Inc, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, The Little Mermaid, & The Incredicoaster(Agent P went on the Incredicoaster and enjoyed it and followed it up with one of Jack Jack's cookies).

The original Twilight Zone theming on the Tower of Terror made much more sense with the overall park and the Guardians of the Galaxy exterior is very jarring. But the ride itself is well done and lots of fun.  The ride experience seems longer and the randomized drops are thrilling.

We returned to Disneyland to ride Alice in Wonderland and to see the park lit up at night.

All in all we had a great time, how can you not at the Happiest Place on Earth?

Downtown Disney World of Disney window display