What are the pro/con of the Disney Resort Hotels? Which are your favorites?

[TwingleMum]

Planning a trip to TDR in 2024. I think I would like to stay on property. I am a total newbie and looking for advice Or your experiences. I think we would stay 4 days. Thanks again

 

[nono]

On property isn't the same as WDW. And it's not even like DL. TDL is more like if a Disney Resort was installed on Roosevelt Island in NYC. Just to set the scene. And while it is attached to Urayasu, it's divided away by the highway and train lines which kind of renders the area like an island. So, in addition to The Ambassador, The Disneyland Hotel, the Miracosta, and Toy Story Hotel, there's a Sheraton, Hilton, Grand Nikko, Hotel Okura, and Maihama Hotel First Resort. There's also other hotels close by, and another whole area not "on property" where the Celebration Hotel is and also some other hotels like the Tokyu Hotel and Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay. Depending on what time of year you go, you may need to have a non-Disney hotel lined up as a placeholder. Some days/weeks are very busy and competition for the rooms can be fierce. Good luck planning!!

 

[gelatoni fan]

Pros - early entry to the parks (exact park depends on hotel) and Disney theming if that matters to you
Cons - price and annoying to book

Historically, the cheapest Disney hotel, Celebration was more expensive than any of the non-Disney options while being less convenient. Post pandemic, the Sheraton and Hilton prices have increased so much that they aren't always cheaper than Celebration and Ambassador.

Toy Story and Celebration only give early entry into Disneyland while the other 3 give early entry into both parks. My friend who frequently buys vacation packages likes the theming of the Disneyland Hotel and Toy Story best.

 

[TwingleMum]

Thank you for the answers. I probably will go in June 24 due to school schedules.

 

[Haley R]

Pros - early entry to the parks (exact park depends on hotel) and Disney theming if that matters to you
Cons - price and annoying to book

Historically, the cheapest Disney hotel, Celebration was more expensive than any of the non-Disney options while being less convenient. Post pandemic, the Sheraton and Hilton prices have increased so much that they aren't always cheaper than Celebration and Ambassador.

Toy Story and Celebration only give early entry into Disneyland while the other 3 give early entry into both parks. My friend who frequently buys vacation packages likes the theming of the Disneyland Hotel and Toy Story best.

I didn’t realize Disneyland was added to have early entry to DisneySea. We’re going next year so that’s good to know. Not sure where we want to stay yet

 

[Kwami]

Early park entry is only 15-30 minutes, though. It's not a big deal unless you're going at a very busy time. It mattered a bit more when they were still using paper FastPasses. Another advantage to staying onsite is that you can buy tickets to the parks at the hotel instead of buying them through the website, which can be annoying.

Otherwise, you're paying a whole lot for theming and location. The train station is right outside TDR, though, so it's very easy to get there from anywhere in Tokyo. If you don't really love the theming, then consider staying elsewhere.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Early park entry is only 15-30 minutes, though. It's not a big deal unless you're going at a very busy time. It mattered a bit more when they were still using paper FastPasses. Another advantage to staying onsite is that you can buy tickets to the parks at the hotel instead of buying them through the website, which can be annoying.

Otherwise, you're paying a whole lot for theming and location. The train station is right outside TDR, though, so it's very easy to get there from anywhere in Tokyo. If you don't really love the theming, then consider staying elsewhere.

For most people on this forum, Happy Entry will likely mean going on an additional E-ticket attraction once. It's actually quite significant for Beauty and the Beast even on non-busy days.

Whether it's a big deal or not depends on the person and what they want. Happy Entry is basically the only way to get the best spots for certain shows and sometimes, characters will be in places that they normally are not during Happy Entry allowing for some unique photo opportunities.

 

[Kwami]

For most people on this forum, Happy Entry will likely mean going on an additional E-ticket attraction once. It's actually quite significant for Beauty and the Beast even on non-busy days.

Whether it's a big deal or not depends on the person and what they want. Happy Entry is basically the only way to get the best spots for certain shows and sometimes, characters will be in places that they normally are not during Happy Entry allowing for some unique photo opportunities.

Sure, you might get one extra ride out of it. I don't know if that's worth the absurd prices that Disney charges, but I guess that's up to each person to decide.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Sure, you might get one extra ride out of it. I don't know if that's worth the absurd prices that Disney charges, but I guess that's up to each person to decide.

I personally agree with you but I find that the price is actually not as absurd as it used to be. Without free fastpass, the value of the extra ride is now higher. Additionally, post-pandemic, the prices of most hotels in the area have gone up quite a bit more than the prices of Disney hotels. Quite a few hotels that used to be cheaper than Celebration are now more expensive than both Celebration and Toy Story.

 

[Kwami]

I personally agree with you but I find that the price is actually not as absurd as it used to be. Without free fastpass, the value of the extra ride is now higher. Additionally, post-pandemic, the prices of most hotels in the area have gone up quite a bit more than the prices of Disney hotels. Quite a few hotels that used to be cheaper than Celebration are now more expensive than both Celebration and Toy Story.

There's no need to stay in the area, though. The train station is right there. You can stay somewhere that's better or more convenient for the reason of your time in Tokyo and just take the train to TDR.

I guess that doesn't work for everyone. I wouldn't want to deal with the train if I was in a wheelchair, for example, or if I had small kids with too much energy.

Anyway, everything is relatively cheaper now with the yen so weak. Maybe this is the best time to stay right at TDR!

 

[zanzibar138]

At the end of the day, which option is best for you will depend entirely on your personal circumstances and priorities. Money will be tight for us for the next few months due to unforeseen circumstances (which unfortunately will include the time of our trip to Japan), so for us, budget ended up being a bigger priority than we first thought. For me, it's also always location - crowded transport gives me anxiety, so I prefer to be able to walk. For those reasons, we chose the local MyStays hotel. It's just a basic no frills hotel, but gets good reviews and is a relatively short walk to both parks. For Disney hotels, I would never consider Celebration due to the location and reliance on bus transportation, and Toy Story was sold out so I couldn't compare pricing, but the next cheapest option (Ambassador) was more than twice the price of MyStays. While I do always appreciate a bit of luxury and Disney theming, and early entry would have been useful, for us it wasn't worth the extra cost, particularly when we plan to spend most of our time in the parks.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

We just returned from TDR (last week)— we stayed at Miracosta and I absolutely loved the location and view into the park. It’s closest analog is Grand Californian in that it is literally on top of the park and some rooms look into the park—which I found extremely charming but honestly was a bit wasted because we were *in* the park all day and then I was just looking at a mostly empty park at night (and felt pressure to stay awake and get more for my money, lol). If you have anybody with limited energy, the extra several hundred steps you save getting back to your room (and extra 15-30m of sleep!) is non-trivial. Beyond that you get a lot of Mickey themed toiletries they encourage you to take home.

We used early entry at Disneyland and immediately purchased electrical parade VIP seating and ended up in the very front row in a great spot, then we went on space mountain 2x with zero wait (I think we easily could have done 4x, but we walked over to get to the front of the monsters Inc ride). Keep in mind that “15m entry” is actually often 30-45m before park opening time.

We’ve stayed at Sheraton Grand Tokyo Bay a few times when the Disney hotels were sold out and I like it there also— I actually like the Sheraton rooms themselves better (and the monorail is extremely easy/convenient)—but with the weak yen, staying on site was a no brainer for our family (though the yen has strengthened a bit this month).

I’ve heard Tokyo Disneyland rooms are even more special than Miracosta, but we spend most of our time in TDR at DisneySea, so it made sense to stay closer to the park we love.

 

[Smugpugmug]

So based off of the responses on this thread, I'm getting the vibe that if you plan on spending the entire day at the parks (as in without a mid day break or spending much time at the hotel), then you shouldn't stay at the Disney hotels. I was considering them for November 2024 for the early entry, but if that's really the only perk I'll probably choose Hilton Tokyo Bay instead. I don't plan on spending any time at the hotel and will only use the room to shower/sleep.

 

[zanzibar138]

So based off of the responses on this thread, I'm getting the vibe that if you plan on spending the entire day at the parks (as in without a mid day break or spending much time at the hotel), then you shouldn't stay at the Disney hotels. I was considering them for November 2024 for the early entry, but if that's really the only perk I'll probably choose Hilton Tokyo Bay instead. I don't plan on spending any time at the hotel and will only use the room to shower/sleep.

I don't think anyone is saying you *shouldn't*, just that if you're not going to spend much time at the hotel, you're not getting much value out of the extra cost for the theming etc, and it may be worth considering what other priorities you have. If money wasn't a concern, I would of course be staying in a Cinderella Room at the Disneyland Hotel regardless of how much time I was planning to spend there

Having said that, a lot of people here seem to love the Hilton and, based on the rates I'm seeing, it still seems to offer a hefty discount over Disney hotels, so that seems like a great compromise. I actually originally had it booked on Velocity points before I decided they could be better used for premium cabin flights for our upcoming WDW wedding.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

If money is no object, I still think it's worth it to stay onsite and if it's a slight difference it might be worth it to get a couple rides done during Happy 15... but yes, in general, I have been extremely happy with the convenience of the Sheraton (think of it like the Swan/Dolphin, except it doesn't have early entry perks). Also, if you are a high level Marriott Elite, they have a lounge which is lovely and overlooks all of the Disney Parks. A much better view than you'll get at basically any resort in the U.S.

 

[TwingleMum]

Can someone clarify for me Happy 15. If we stay at Disneyland Hotel can we do Happy 15 at both parks??? Or do Hotels only give you Happy 15 at one specific park?

 

[Haley R]

Can someone clarify for me Happy 15. If we stay at Disneyland Hotel can we do Happy 15 at both parks??? Or do Hotels only give you Happy 15 at one specific park?

Disneyland Hotel gets early entry into both parks.
This website tells you which hotels get entry into which park:
https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/hotel/topics/info/happy_entry.html

 

[TwingleMum]

Disneyland Hotel gets early entry into both parks.
This website tells you which hotels get entry into which park:
https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/hotel/topics/info/happy_entry.html

Thank you I saw conflicting information so I got confused. That's really good to know.

 

[nono]

Thank you I saw conflicting information so I got confused. That's really good to know.

It was only DL for TDLH for awhile. Just not anymore...

 

[dunkindonut]

Honestly, I don't think staying on property is that worth it. Maybe you could argue the Disneyland Hotel or Mira Costa are, but they are a bit lacking. The Sheraton/Hilton are great hotels and cost way less, you also are more likely to find better English support since it's an international chain.

Also, I would stay away from other hotels that are not near the park. Since I'm pretty sure they require a bus ride to get to the parks, whereas if you are on the resort line you just use the monorail.