Favourite onsite hotel and why?

[Safari23]

Which of the 3 onsite hotels are your favourite and why? I'm thinking of splurging and doing one night at an onsite hotel. Obviously GCH is the most expensive and fanciest, but is it the best? Or best for us?

We have a 5 year old so I'm leaning towards DLH. I think that will be the most fun for her. But I'm open to the others if one is better. We'll be going to DCA the morning after we arrive. No park the day we check in.

But which has the best location would you say?

Best pool?

Monorail access?

Anything else I'm not thinking of? Oh fireworks views? I've heard PP you can watch the fireworks on the roof. Is the only hotel you can do that at? We'd stay a Friday night if that matters. What night can you watch the fireworks there?

TIA

 

[ParkHopper1]

Best for location: GCH
Best for kid experience: DLH
Best for Park views: PPH

 

[rentayenta]

We prefer the GCH when we stay DVC. We prefer the DLH for a standard hotel room. We like the PPH and GCH club level better than the DLH's.

The reality is, if given the chance, I would happily stay at any of the 3 of them. We have had amazing experiences at all 3.

 

[DLgal]

DLH. Best pool area of the three. Largest rooms too, although they are showing their age at this point.

GCH is my personal favorite but kids prefer DLH because it's more fun.

Don't even bother with PPH.

 

[Congo Queen]

When are you going? They plan to start constructing a giant new hotel at the DLH &PP end of Downtown Disney some time this summer. Typically my family likes DLH best for the awesome pool and waterslides, Disney-magic ambiance, room configurations and price point. BUT this July we are going to stay at GCH because I don't want to deal with construction zone. If you have one night to splurge for an on-property hotel, you might want to find out if it is during a time when the new hotel construction will be underway.

 

[Safari23]

We'd likely be staying one night between June 20-24. Most likely the Friday night I'm thinking.

 

[ADisneyFamilyof5]

DLH. Best pool area of the three. Largest rooms too, although they are showing their age at this point.

GCH is my personal favorite but kids prefer DLH because it's more fun.

Don't even bother with PPH.

My thoughts exactly! DH and I love GCH. It is always our first pick. But the kids love DLH and it does have the better pool area. We always stay in a standard room at DLH and request the Fantasy tower. We have been able to see the fireworks from every room we have stayed in there.

Though we have never stayed at PPH, we had family stay there. They said the pool was lame and no water pressure to go down the slide.

 

[countofmc]

We stayed at DLH about 5 or so times prior to our last trip, when we stayed at GCH. I have to say, it totally ruined me because I loved it so much. I liked the newly renovated rooms. But the greatest thing was staying late until closing at the DL and not having to worry about either a pretty long walk (after a long and exhausting day in the parks that extra distance to DLH does feel like a lot) or other transportation to get back to our hotel. Just walk a bit through DTD, and we are right at the hotel entrance. Loved it. We also enjoy dining at NR and WWS, so that was a nice bonus as well.

It's a bit too hard on the wallet to stay there every trip, so we'll mix in offsite. But if the decision is which of the onsites, from now on I think we'll pay the extra to stay at GCH.

 

[MikeRx]

It depends what is important to you. We've done all three in the past year or so and here is my take:
DLH: TRADER SAM'S, pools, history, headboards, SH55 breakfast on site, hotel tour - my favorite for a standard room and history
DGC: location x3, NAPA ROSE, lobby, newest rooms, only DVC location - VGC (for now), hotel tour - my favorite for location and if we can use our DVC
PPH: better than expected, awesome view rooms, just as easy a walk as DLH - works in a pinch, but Tropicana is 1/3 the price and closer. Our 10 yo son is on a pool quest and wants to swim at the PPH. If we can accomplish this we may not stay here again.

We try mix in off-site and on-site trips to help ease the budget. As others have stated, the new hotel construction may find us on Harbor (Tropicana) or VGC to avoid the mess. We shall see how Disney handles the new construction as Summer 2019 approaches.
Mike