When visiting Disneyland, where do you normally stay with your family? Are you the type who prefers to find a hotel off grounds and schedule your day accordingly or do you like the ease of staying on the grounds at one of the resorts?

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I’ll admit – I like the ease, comfort and the special feeling I get when I stay on grounds. Our first time at Disneyland we stayed right at the Disneyland Resort. It was a hard decision for me to make – to stay here. I poured over the websites, the guest reviews, the pictures and while my first choice was to stay at the Grand California – for a 2 bedroom suite (there were 7 of us our first trip) it wasn’t cost effective.

Trust me when I say, I wasn’t disappointed by our stay at the Disneyland Resort. I love Christmas and I love Christmas at Disney. We’ve been twice now and we are going to DisneyWorld for our third Christmas this year.

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There’s something about the ‘magical’ feel, the happiness that surrounds you everywhere you go. The decorations are amazing, from the tall trees to the numerous wreathes and all the little touches.

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This past year (2013) there was a huge gingerbread house as we walked into the hotel – and it even smelled like gingerbread.

 

There was a level of elegance to our rooms – maybe it was in the faucets that are shaped as Mickey ears, or the images of Disney throughout the years on the walls. My kids (and myself) enjoyed finding all the hidden Mickey’s in the shower, in the kitchen, on the furniture etc.

We went with the concierge for both our trips. The first time we used the concierge as a stop for most of our meals – we would eat our breakfast, come back for a snack for lunch and then for dessert while we watched the fireworks and listened to the music that accompanied them. The breakfast wasn’t bad – hard boiled eggs, cereals, pastries, coffees and other tasty treats. But we changed our way of eating on our second trip and used the concierge lounge as a ‘stopping grounds’ and made reservations for a later breakfast, and then early dinner and used the food in the lounge to hold us over. We were also able to use the concierge to help us with our reservations, they gave us advice and we even traded multiple pins there. Yes, the concierge is an extra bonus and you might not feel the champagne at night or the wine, strawberries, the food, the desserts or the view is worth it – but never let it be said that I’m not a diva when it comes to traveling.

It was worth it to me and will always be a part of our trip. It was really nice to see the same cast members this past year as in our first visit – and even to be remembered!

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I love staying on the grounds for one main reason – well, there are many but this is a huge component. The ease to travel back and forth between our room and the parks. We were able to schedule our day, not worry about having to be at the park from sun up to sun down…we could go back to our rooms for a nap or just to relax when the crowds were too overwhelming or when our feet were really tired. We were also able to shop and have things delivered back to our rooms with no problems – which was nice since we bought a lot of items that my husband didn’t want to carry around for us all day 🙂

Would I stay at the Disneyland Resort again? Absolutely. I still want to try the suites at the Grand California Hotel and Spa. Everytime we go to that hotel and walk around I’m amazed by how gorgeous it is. The Paradise Pier Hotel is not on my list of places to stay however. To me, it has a run down look to it and yes, I’m that much of a diva. LOL