Anyone recently stay at the Disneyland Hotel?

[SOCALMouseMommy]

My family and I have reservations at the DH in November (three rooms for six adults and two kids). None of us have ever stayed at a Disney property before.

Maybe I shouldn't have done this but I started reading reviews on Yelp and they are scaring me! Saying that hotel is run down and dirty and the staff is indifferent. I am the one who convinced everyone to book and now I'm worried that it's going to be a huge let down.

Is this hotel really going downhill or is it just typical nitpicking? We are not nitpickers in general and I understand the hotel is old. I don't expect a brand-new looking hotel. But I would hope it's been well kept up. Can anyone reassure me that I didn't make a huge mistake?

 

[Zooey]

The Disneyland Hotel?
Not run down that I've seen... not sure what those people are talking about. It was refurbished a few years ago.

 

[JDreamfinder]

I'm not sure how old those reviews are, but my family and I stayed at the DLH in the beginning of June and nothing seemed out of place. We had a very typical nice experience there, and all the cast members we encountered were super helpful and nice.
Don't sweat it, those people are probably huge nitpickers and make up things to complain about.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Nope...while I am sure there are legitimate bad experiences, most of the negative reviews are from folks with unrealistic expectations based solely on the prices they are paying and think the halls should be lined wth unicorns and pixie dust while Micke Mouse serves as their private butler with churros and milk delivery every night and unobstructed views of the Castle all for their standard room rate.

I have stayed at all three resorts dozens of times as well as other hotels across the country hundreds of times and a bit of hotel snob...all the on-site properties are great.

 

[jeffbeardreams]

I'm there right now. It's not even close to run down. Cast members here are great, the hotel is very nice and our Downtown Disney view room is awesome. I'm a WDW vet and DLH is right on par with the Orlando resorts.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I'm not sure how old those reviews are, but my family and I stayed at the DLH in the beginning of June and nothing seemed out of place. We had a very typical nice experience there, and all the cast members we encountered were super helpful and nice.
Don't sweat it, those people are probably huge nitpickers and make up things to complain about.

These are all recent reviews in the last few days/weeks/months. It was really starting to freak me out to be honest. I wish I had never looked!

 

[ExcitedMama]

How old are the kids? How much do the adults love Disney? We stayed around 2014 after it was refurbished and my kids were little, like 4 and 2. We all LOVED the musical lit up headboards, they were such fun when we came back at night! So much more fun than when we stayed at an off site motel. It's just fun to wake up with the extra touches and then walk through DTD and not the boring non-magical streets. They were too young for all day long at the parks so the afternoons at the pool were perfect. It was much more relaxing than our motel stay. That room was so blah in comparison. It's definitely pricier but a great memory for sure! It will be also be when they are probably doing the extra Christmas touches too so I cannot imagine it not being wonderful! I'm sure the experts will chime in, I'm not sure if the hotel does extra special Christmas stuff, but the the Californian does. We walked there from our motel for hot chocolate, gingerbread Mickey cookies and walked around the huge gingerbread house. So much fun!! Plus DTD is decorated too so the whole walk back and forth is just great. I know I've seen it referred to here as the Disney bubble, you stay in the magic the whole time. It's definitely true, just all around more fun than our motel stay.

 

[MacMama0930]

I stayed a couple times this last year and it's not run down! It's charming, and very special, IMHO. It's classic and I never felt the CMs were indifferent. It's a great hotel!! If it weren't for GCH's location, I would always choose to stay at DLH!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Nope...while I am sure there are legitimate bad experiences, most of the negative reviews are from folks with unrealistic expectations based solely on the prices they are paying and think the halls should be lined wth unicorns and pixie dust while Micke Mouse serves as their private butler with churros and milk delivery every night and unobstructed views of the Castle all for their standard room rate.

I have stayed at all three resorts dozens of times as well as other hotels across the country hundreds of times and a bit of hotel snob...all the on-site properties are great.

Ha! Thank you for that. I think you are on to something!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

How old are the kids? How much do the adults love Disney? We stayed around 2014 after it was refurbished and my kids were little, like 4 and 2. We all LOVED the musical lit up headboards, they were such fun when we came back at night! So much more fun than when we stayed at an off site motel. It's just fun to wake up with the extra touches and then walk through DTD and not the boring non-magical streets. They were too young for all day long at the parks so the afternoons at the pool were perfect. It was much more relaxing than our motel stay. That room was so blah in comparison. It's definitely pricier but a great memory for sure! It will be also be when they are probably doing the extra Christmas touches too so I cannot imagine it not being wonderful! I'm sure the experts will chime in, I'm not sure if the hotel does extra special Christmas stuff, but the the Californian does. We walked there from our motel for hot chocolate, gingerbread Mickey cookies and walked around the huge gingerbread house. So much fun!! Plus DTD is decorated too so the whole walk back and forth is just great. I know I've seen it referred to here as the Disney bubble, you stay in the magic the whole time. It's definitely true, just all around more fun than our motel stay.

Kids will be 4 and almost 3. Three of the adults are Disney crazy (the women folk) and the men are indulging us.

When does Christmas usually start? We will be there November 5-7 and Christmas wasn't even on my radar actually!

 

[Sherry E]

I completely agree with ParkHopper1 and others in this thread. I think that some (not all) people go in with completely unrealistic expectations (and maybe even a slightly negative attitude), solely based on what they are paying. I've always said they are expecting a luxury experience, complete with Mickey Mouse coming to their room to dance a jig, cook a gourmet meal and tuck them into bed every night, and a magical flying carpet coming to pick them up at their door and deposit them right into the park in the morning. For those folks, if any little thing goes wrong -- something that, for those of us with lower expectations, would be a small issue -- then they decide that everything is going wrong. They start finding fault in everything, even if it's not really all that bad. And then they take to Yelp to grumble.

So, to that end, if people are expecting 5-star luxury, they won't quite get that. But they will likely have a nice, pleasant stay in the middle of the Disney magic.

 

[Sherry E]

Kids will be 4 and almost 3. Three of the adults are Disney crazy (the women folk) and the men are indulging us.

When does Christmas usually start? We will be there November 5-7 and Christmas wasn't even on my radar actually!

November 10th is the date that appears to be this year's holiday season start date. The hotels will not be in holiday mode during your trip.

 

[wilkeliza]

I am here now and it is clear that previous guests have let their kids (or themselves) treat the hotel like crap but it is hardly run down or awful. Our bathroom wall has writting on it that is clear they tried to clean and probably should have lead to the room being taken out of service but the hotel is maxed out this weekend so I don't think they had many options. Besides that the light up headboard does have some damage but it still works and is beautiful. Again fixing both issues is going to take replacing the headboard and re-wall papering the sink area. I haven't talked to a CM yet but will because they should know but I'm not going to demand compensation nor is it ruining the room or anything like that I just want to make sure we don't get charged for damages.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

November 10th is the date that appears to be this year's holiday season start date. The hotels will not be in holiday mode during your trip.

That's totally fine as I was not expecting it anyway! But we will have to go back to see all of the fun decorations up later on in the month.

 

[5forMickey]

I agree with the above posters. We have stayed there many, many, many times, the last being Sept 2016. I think what happens is people stretch their budget to stay and once it's over they are frustrated because they spent so much money and then start venting/nitpicking. It's pricey there is no way around that. Remeber you are paying a premium for the location. I tend to be picky about where we stay. Ritz in Denver, Grand America is Salt Lake, and many Marriotts or Hiltons. I won't stay anywhere other than the DLH when we are in Anaheim. We have had a few hick ups a time or two, but never with the quality of the hotel, and they have always gone above and beyond to make me happy. FWIW, I'm not sure you'll find nicer accomodations in the general area. Cheaper yes, but not nicer all around (although some would debate the Grand is nicer).

 

[wilkeliza]

Just a follow up stop by front desk. They were shocked and very apologetic. I didn't make a fuss but they said they would note it and if it could be fixed take care of it.

 

[DLgal]

The DLH is great. Don't stress about bad reviews. People are way too picky sometimes.

 

[Angrose]

I just stayed there last weekend. It was my third time staying there. I love the DLH, the grounds, the history and the overall feeling of just BEING there. That said, our room was not perfect. There was some crusty stuff on the sofa that kind of grossed me out and the carpet around the vanity was not clean. Also, the first room we got wreaked of smoke, so we had to switch, which was not a big deal. We enjoyed the pool, but it was PACKED! It was very difficult to find a lounger. I booked the hotel with credit card points so I didn't pay the out of this world prices, but I think I would have been a little disappointed had I paid the going rate of over $500 a night. All that said, I would without a doubt stay there again!!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I completely agree with ParkHopper1 and others in this thread. I think that some (not all) people go in with completely unrealistic expectations (and maybe even a slightly negative attitude), solely based on what they are paying. I've always said they are expecting a luxury experience, complete with Mickey Mouse coming to their room to dance a jig, cook a gourmet meal and tuck them into bed every night, and a magical flying carpet coming to pick them up at their door and deposit them right into the park in the morning. For those folks, if any little thing goes wrong -- something that, for those of us with lower expectations, would be a small issue -- then they decide that everything is going wrong. They start finding fault in everything, even if it's not really all that bad. And then they take to Yelp to grumble.

So, to that end, if people are expecting 5-star luxury, they won't quite get that. But they will likely have a nice, pleasant stay in the middle of the Disney magic.

This makes a lot of sense. I am not expecting a 5-star hotel, but I'm hoping for some special touches that make it a special Disney experience as compared to staying at say a Hilton.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I just stayed there last weekend. It was my third time staying there. I love the DLH, the grounds, the history and the overall feeling of just BEING there. That said, our room was not perfect. There was some crusty stuff on the sofa that kind of grossed me out and the carpet around the vanity was not clean. Also, the first room we got wreaked of smoke, so we had to switch, which was not a big deal. We enjoyed the pool, but it was PACKED! It was very difficult to find a lounger. I booked the hotel with credit card points so I didn't pay the out of this world prices, but I think I would have been a little disappointed had I paid the going rate of over $500 a night. All that said, I would without a doubt stay there again!!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm glad you were able to switch rooms. Smoke? Yuck! Although we are hoping to use the pool, it will be November so it will be a little bit of a crap shoot with the weather, but hopefully they won't be too packed. Last weekend was extremely hot so I'm not surprised the pool was mobbed.