Disneyland Hotels worth the price?

We were slightly spoiled after staying at PPH. I'd stayed at Ramada Maingate and didn't like the crowds coming and going on Harbor. Now we either stay onsite or we day trip.

That being said, I've never actually attempted sleeping in cheaper state and flying into SNA because we're in CA already.

If I lived outside CA I might do something like stay in Vegas ($0 with points), fly for an hour into SNA ($0 with Southwest miles) and go to DL for the day. Then I'd come back, see the shows in Vegas and fly home.

If we're going to spend money, we're going to stay onsite, otherwise we're gonna do something crazy and do it for free with points and miles.

It wouldn't be right to think of a flight booked using Southwest points as costing $0 and it's not just because of the $5.6 of fees you have to pay. Southwest points don't expire so you can always use them to pay for another Southwest flight. If you're traveling with more than one person, you're going to wipe out any potential cost savings by commuting from Vegas. Even if you get 100% free comped stay, once you have two people worth of flights and ground transportation, it's cheaper to stay near Disneyland. For anyone other than a solo traveler, you'll need comped airfare for it to even make mathematical financial sense and anyone who gambles enough to earn that will have the finances to afford a hotel near Disneyland.

A more likely scenario is to add in a layover at LAX on an international itinerary to stop by Disneyland without paying for a hotel. On my recent trip to Japan, it was cheaper to arrive in LAX and book a separate Southwest Airlines ticket back home than to fly back directly. Theoretically, I could have spent a day at Disneyland if I wanted to.
 
I'll go back and edit it to contain a note for security fees :D

If you're traveling with more than one person, you're going to wipe out any potential cost savings by commuting from Vegas.

I generally disagree but I also don't track mile value. So to me, it's not important how much the points are worth, just that we don't pay for our flights or hotel.

The only time I've ever paid attention to mile value was when as a goal we traveled to 13 different states with Southwest points in 2018, so we never paid anything more than the security fees. Unless I have a budget, I'd rather just use them as needed.

Our first trip to WDW we stayed in an airbnb in Miami and flew to WDW for the day. And honestly, we prefer the day trips over staying onsite, but WDW makes it much easier to stay "onsite" with points than DL does.
 
One of the things about "worth the price" is that it depends on, among other things, how much money you have to spend. Billionaires would find on resort hotels worth the price because the cost would be a tiny fraction of what they have to spend. Normal folks trying to scape by will be more price sensitive.

Also as an example. I am taking my family for the first time in many years for a special trip. I'm willing to spend more as a result. If we went several times a year you bet I would be looking at ways to save money :)
 
We live in Northern California but would still only go once a year at most. Given that, we're fortunate that we can afford to stay on-property -it just feels overpriced. But as I mentioned, the main draw is early entry. If they still had magic mornings w/ 3-day tickets, we would most likely stay off property. Although, I'm excited to see what PPH looks like after their renovations are done. We're big Pixar fans, so it might be fun to stay there in the future.
I live in Northern California, also. It's a 1 1/2 hour drive to the airport for me but I usually fly because I hate the drive. We used to have an airport in our town when the kids were little, but they closed it several years ago. That was nice to fly out of our hometown, even though it required a plane change in SFO. We'd go once a year.

Then I met friends through DIS and began making solo trips without the kids or dh (he only went because the girls loved it). It was my therapy, you might say. Back then, SW would have sales for $29 and I bought my first AP from Costco. It came with a $100 gc! I was hooked! So I went about 4-5 times a year, sometimes just for a day at DL.

Edited to add: we still had our once-a-year family trip. I just added solo jaunts.
 


I'll go back and edit it to contain a note for security fees :D



I generally disagree but I also don't track mile value. So to me, it's not important how much the points are worth, just that we don't pay for our flights or hotel.

The only time I've ever paid attention to mile value was when as a goal we traveled to 13 different states with Southwest points in 2018, so we never paid anything more than the security fees. Unless I have a budget, I'd rather just use them as needed.

Our first trip to WDW we stayed in an airbnb in Miami and flew to WDW for the day. And honestly, we prefer the day trips over staying onsite, but WDW makes it much easier to stay "onsite" with points than DL does.

I know quite a few people who get free flights by working for an airline or being related to someone who does in which case commuting by plane to lower hotel costs does make sense. If you're earning airline miles faster than you'd like to travel but have relatively more limits on your hotel points, then I guess this makes sense too.

But it also depends on what you want to do in the parks. At least for Disneyland, if you want to watch the night shows, there's only a handful of options from LAX that leave late enough and nothing leaving from SNA and LGB. I think for most people, cost savings alone wouldn't really be enough to skip those night shows and fly from Vegas to Southern California over just staying near Disneyland. But I could see it making sense for someone who doesn't like to stay in the parks too late, is interested in things to see/do in Vegas or is already in Vegas for some other reason. In this case, Disneyland is more like a subtrip in a bigger Vegas trip.

I'll say your style of visiting the parks is quite rare but I can see how it may work out in some special circumstances.
 
I live in Northern California, also. It's a 1 1/2 hour drive to the airport for me but I usually fly because I hate the drive. We used to have an airport in our town when the kids were little, but they closed it several years ago.
We have the same flight issues. But between adding the 90 min drive to the airport, getting there 90 mins-2 hours before the flight, an hour flight, then another 40-60 min drive from airport to DLR, Its easier to drive when I want to leave. The airport in our town shut down too, but we do have Merced Airport, however, they aren't consistent on the flights going when they say, so we stick to driving. (We do share the driving so it goes fast.)
 
We have the same flight issues. But between adding the 90 min drive to the airport, getting there 90 mins-2 hours before the flight, an hour flight, then another 40-60 min drive from airport to DLR, Its easier to drive when I want to leave. The airport in our town shut down too, but we do have Merced Airport, however, they aren't consistent on the flights going when they say, so we stick to driving. (We do share the driving so it goes fast.)
I could fly from Redding, but it's just about as far away as Sacramento (in the other direction) and doesn't have SW, which is my usual airline because I can often fly free or low-cost (I get a lot of points from my SW cars). My strategy is to book an early flight, leave home at the crack of dawn and do carry-on. I do have to get up really early, but I'm an early riser anyway. I already have my boarding pass, park in the garage that has a skywalk into the terminal, and just go through security. It's a quick process and I don't have to get there quite as early, so in less than 3 hrs from leaving home I'm on the plane. I get there and immediately book my uber/lyft on arrival. No baggage to claim so I just walk over and my ride is there in a few minutes. As you say, it still eats up ~5 hours from home to hotel, but I'm not tired from driving and I'm ready to enter the park (once I drop off my bags).

I don't like the drive down 5 and I'm often by myself. I don't like that at all. I have twin daughters going to college in San Luis Obispo and drive down there sometimes (not for a Disney trip), which is about 6 hrs. I'm sick of that stretch, LOL, but driving is about the only viable option there. Tried the train once and it was a nightmare. I have a daughter in Irvine who just finished school there and is currently working at DLR in entertainment so sometimes I can stay with her or get a ride, depending on her schedule.

It's nice to have a car, though, if you want to explore the area.
 


Thanks for the insight! Did you like the Tropicana? That's one I've got my eye on.
I prefer to stay in the Disney bubble 9 times out of 10, but when staying at a good neighbor hotel this is my absolute favorite! Tropicana is clean, the staff members are awesome, the location is nice, and great value for the price. I've stayed at about 8 different Harbor/Katella hotels in the last decade and Tropicana is hands down my first choice.

I'm a really big fan of hotel stays so I save to splurge on GCH or a club level DLH/PPH, it works well for my family as I have two kids who like frequent hotel breaks and the close proximity of GCH is really helpful in meeting their needs. I really enjoy the walk through DTD to stop and shop or pick up a snack on the way to return to the room, as long as we're not feeling rushed to rest/manage their medical needs.
 
If you use it for early entry they check for hotel door keys to make sure you are staying on site, or at least they were a few months ago.
 
For me onsite at DL is not worth it. Not to mention the rates are 40% more expensive for me as I am converting Australian $ so the cost is astronomical compared with staying across the street at Desert inn or somewhere like that.

We are typically rope drop to close people so get no use out of hotel benefits.
 
They do! I don’t know if it’s only for packages, but we’ve gotten them twice in the last year we’ve been to on-site hotels. We didn’t know about them the first time so missed out. Both GCH and DLH.
They either don't do them for single nights or it's only for packages it appears 😥
 

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