The Disneyland Hotel Superthread

[Porsche4]

Checking in early is a good tip but not so sure about checking in online. I always find I get exactly what I ask for if I check in face to face at the counter. I am always polite and try to have a chat with the cast member. If you strike up a pleasant rapport with people they will usually go out of their way to help you. I also tell them I am quite happy to wait until a room is available that meets my requests if they have none available at the time I am checking in. This helps a lot as sometimes they will call housekeeping and tell them to attend to a particular room that suits my requests that isn't ready yet. I will then just go and sit in the foyer and enjoy the Disney ambiance until it is ready. I actually use these tactics at any hotel I stay in and quite often I find myself getting a free upgrade which is always a very pleasant surprise. Hope you have a great stay.

 

[DizMe]

Checking in early is a good tip but not so sure about checking in online. I always find I get exactly what I ask for if I check in face to face at the counter. I am always polite and try to have a chat with the cast member. If you strike up a pleasant rapport with people they will usually go out of their way to help you. I also tell them I am quite happy to wait until a room is available that meets my requests if they have none available at the time I am checking in. This helps a lot as sometimes they will call housekeeping and tell them to attend to a particular room that suits my requests that isn't ready yet. I will then just go and sit in the foyer and enjoy the Disney ambiance until it is ready. I actually use these tactics at any hotel I stay in and quite often I find myself getting a free upgrade which is always a very pleasant surprise. Hope you have a great stay.

This is my strategy as well! I often find when I arrive that I was assigned a room without consideration for my request(s). I always go straight to the desk and check in in person. They usually tell me that I will have to wait as it's not ready yet and that's fine with me. I'd rather wait for a good location than take a room that's ready but is a mile from the lobby.

 

[AustinTink]

We are staying at the DLH for Oogie Boogie. Trader Sam’s and Goofy’s Kitchen are unavailable for our dates. Does the hotel have access to reservations for hotel guests? It’s going to suck paying all that money to stay there and not trying the signature restaurants.

 

[VGCgroupie]

We are staying at the DLH for Oogie Boogie. Trader Sam’s and Goofy’s Kitchen are unavailable for our dates. Does the hotel have access to reservations for hotel guests? It’s going to suck paying all that money to stay there and not trying the signature restaurants.

Goofys reservations open up tomorrow morning.

 

[AustinTink]

Goofys reservations open up tomorrow morning.

I didn’t realize it was closed. Will it be impossible to get reservations?

 

[Pluto468]

I

I didn’t realize it was closed. Will it be impossible to get reservations?

I don't find Goofy's difficult to reserve. It's a huge restaurant and they have alot of time slots.

Trader Sam's is always hard to get. My best luck with that one is to start trying at 5:59 am and reload until reservations appear at 6.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I didn’t realize it was closed. Will it be impossible to get reservations?

I think it shouldn't be all that hard, but I would try to check in the morning so you can get your preferred time and date.

 

[soniam]

I’ve seen Trader Sam’s opening as early as 5:45, maybe even earlier, for ADRs.

 

[FrannyFrogs]

Our Trader Sam's experience in May: we had a reservation around 6pm. When we checked in, there was a huge line for walk-ups and the seats were all full. By the time we finished drinks and apps (7:30?), there were lots of empty seats in there and no line outside

 

[VGCgroupie]

Well the reservations havent opened yet. I went back to look at the announcement I realized it said "midday" on Aug 15. Strange, so used to it being the same time in AM.

 

[joseph821]

Well the reservations havent opened yet. I went back to look at the announcement I realized it said "midday" on Aug 15. Strange, so used to it being the same time in AM.

Check at noon PT and 1pm PT. They dropped the Halloween Time Tour reservations and the Storytellers Cafe reservations then.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Check at noon PT and 1pm PT. They dropped the Halloween Time Tour reservations and the Storytellers Cafe reservations then.

Awesome! Thanks.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Reservations are open now

 

[Wedgeout]

May sound a bit crazy I know. When I was making a Trader Sam’s for October 9. Was noticing in app, if went directly to Trader Sam’s and check reservations there. The 60 day was opening shortly after midnight (pacific). Date was still greyed out through the regular reservation area. Made a lock in pick at 12:15am. Trader Sam’s appeared as normal in the at 6am range but most times already gone by then.

 

[LarsoftheJungle]

May sound a bit crazy I know. When I was making a Trader Sam’s for October 9. Was noticing in app, if went directly to Trader Sam’s and check reservations there. The 60 day was opening shortly after midnight (pacific). Date was still greyed out through the regular reservation area. Made a lock in pick at 12:15am. Trader Sam’s appeared as normal in the at 6am range but most times already gone by then.

There is a whole thread with people reporting the times Trader Sam’s drop. Seems to be all over the place. The person at Disney I spoke with said each restaurant makes their own call for when they make reservations available. There might just be a human being responsible for the trader Sams reservations that just makes them available when they feel like it? I definitely saw variability. Plenty of folks say you can get walk up if you can be flexible though.

 

[foolish-mortal]

We are heading to DLH next summer. We live much closer to WDW so we only get to go every few years. We've stayed at DLH once (2 years ago) and my sister's family who will be joining us have never to been to DLR at all. This is a special graduation trip with 4 adults and 3 older teens/young adults. We are splurging and all staying Club Level.

I have a few questions since my only stay at DLH was 2 years ago. When we stayed in 2022 I believe there was construction at what is now the Pixar Hotel. If I'm remembering correctly they were able to use the DLH pool. I'm not 100% sure about that but we absolutely could not use the pool during our entire stay. It was beyond packed. There were no open seats anywhere and people were even camped out on the ground with towels. It was pretty disappointing. Was that a one-time thing because of the construction or is this somewhat normal at this hotel? Just want to be prepared and since that was my only experience I don't have anything to compare it to.

Also - any recent club level reviews or feedback? I know that at WDW they can go up and down and change the offerings, experience, etc. We LOVED the E-ticket lounge in 2022. Has it changed since then? And do you currently check in downstairs or up in the lounge if you're staying club level?

Thank you for any feedback!!

 

[mcm574]

When we stayed in 2022 I believe there was construction at what is now the Pixar Hotel. If I'm remembering correctly they were able to use the DLH pool. I'm not 100% sure about that but we absolutely could not use the pool during our entire stay. It was beyond packed. There were no open seats anywhere and people were even camped out on the ground with towels. It was pretty disappointing. Was that a one-time thing because of the construction or is this somewhat normal at this hotel?

We are planning a pool day on Labor Day - would also like to know about crowd levels - how early do you suggest we get to the pool? Can one of us go down and hold two chairs and have the rest of the family join later in the day?

 

[LarsoftheJungle]

We are planning a pool day on Labor Day - would also like to know about crowd levels - how early do you suggest we get to the pool? Can one of us go down and hold two chairs and have the rest of the family join later in the day?

Whether or not it’s allowed, it’s poor ettiquette to hold chairs you aren’t using for “later in the day” if there’s no other available chairs.

 

[jwblane]

We are heading to DLH next summer. We live much closer to WDW so we only get to go every few years. We've stayed at DLH once (2 years ago) and my sister's family who will be joining us have never to been to DLR at all. This is a special graduation trip with 4 adults and 3 older teens/young adults. We are splurging and all staying Club Level.

I have a few questions since my only stay at DLH was 2 years ago. When we stayed in 2022 I believe there was construction at what is now the Pixar Hotel. If I'm remembering correctly they were able to use the DLH pool. I'm not 100% sure about that but we absolutely could not use the pool during our entire stay. It was beyond packed. There were no open seats anywhere and people were even camped out on the ground with towels. It was pretty disappointing. Was that a one-time thing because of the construction or is this somewhat normal at this hotel? Just want to be prepared and since that was my only experience I don't have anything to compare it to.

Also - any recent club level reviews or feedback? I know that at WDW they can go up and down and change the offerings, experience, etc. We LOVED the E-ticket lounge in 2022. Has it changed since then? And do you currently check in downstairs or up in the lounge if you're staying club level?

Thank you for any feedback!!

We just checked in Club Level today. We just went to the counter to get our keys so we could access the lounge. Without the key and our room not being ready (hence no key in the app) there would not have been any other way to access the lounge. Stayed here in May 2023 and again May of 2024 and It is exactly the same offerings so I would say it is pretty consistant.

As far as pool crowds, it is pretty low today, but then again i think all the crowds are rumored to be low right now. I believe that is why they have such great rates going right now.

 

[orangeyellow]

Does anyone have a current general range for drink prices at Trader Sams? Are they pretty similar to drink prices at the WDW location? I found a reddit post from two years ago that had them around 15$ a drink, but they must be close to 20$ now? Just trying to budget!