Free Lightning Lane for On-Site Hotel Guests at Disneyland Resort & Early Entry Ending in 2026
2026 Disneyland Resort vacation packages and resort reservations are now available! With this, there are major changes to the on-site guest perks, including the removal of a couple hotel benefits and addition of another. Here’s everything you need to know about the changes. Plus, commentary about the good & bad of new and retired perks, and whether we might see Walt Disney World make similar moves down the road.
Let’s start with vacation package basics. Disneyland Resort room reservations for 2026 vacations are now available as of Wednesday, August 20, 2025. This includes bookings for Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Pixar Place Hotel, Disneyland Hotel, the various villas, and Good Neighbor Hotels.
These packages are valid for arrivals January 1 through December 31, 2026. Please note vacations cannot be booked more than 499 days in the future. Bookings may be made online or via phone. For guests looking to visit sooner, there are special offers available now for stays this fall. Check out these posts for full details: 2025 Discount Disneyland Tickets and Hotel Discounts for Halloween & Christmas 2025 at Disneyland Resort.
Here’s a rundown of the changes coming to Disneyland Resort next year. Unless otherwise noted, these all take effect starting January 5, 2026.
Private Access to Theme Parks
Enjoy convenient access to theme park entrances when you stay at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels. For theme park entry, valid theme park admission and a reservation for the same park on the same date is required for each Guest.
To enter Disney California Adventure Park, Guests staying at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa can enter through the hotel’s entry gate, while Pixar Place Hotel Guests can use a walkway across the street from their hotel.
In addition, all Guests can enjoy quick access to the Disneyland Park entrance via the Downtown Disney District Monorail station. This is also an option for Guests staying at the Disneyland Hotel.
To use the hotel direct access entry gate to Disney California Adventure Park at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa or Pixar Place Hotel, an active hotel reservation at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels is also required.
The Pixar Place Hotel entrance to Disney California Adventure will close permanently in early 2026 as construction starts on the Coco expansion, with no intentions to reopen. Pixar Place Hotel guests (and presumably DLH guests) will be able to access DCA through the Grand Californian Hotel entrance.
There’s a gate to GCH across the street from PPH, more or less directly adjacent to the existing walkway. Guests will now go through the GCH lobby maze and enter DCA by Big Marc (the gigantic bear outside Grizzly River Run), Big Al, and their other bear homies around Grizzly Peak.
The elimination of this entrance isn’t hugely shocking. The guest load coming through the private entrance from Pixar Place Hotel into DCA is minimal, to the point that they’ve already shortened operating hours and diverted guests to GCH on a number of occasions. It’s worth noting that this is an instance of history repeating itself, with this entrance originally being discontinued in the early 2000s shortly after DCA opened and subsequently flopped.
The entrance was brought back post-reopening when Paradise Pier Hotel was limping along and other guest benefits were slashed. The thinking at the time was presumably that PPH needed to offer a compelling selling point, especially as it turned into a multi-year construction zone during the reimagining. Well, now the hotel has emerged from that and is more popular than ever.
Disneyland doesn’t need to incentivize bookings at Pixar Place Hotel, as it’s already the most in-demand of the trio of Hotels at Disneyland Resort and is usually excluded from discounts. It thus makes sense to now close that entrance only a few years after bringing it back. Definitely a big loss for PPH guests and we really wish they would’ve found a way to make a deal with the Westin or done something else to increase utilization, but the bigger surprise is that it lasted this long on the second go-round.
We look forward to reporting on this again in 2037 when Pixar Place Hotel is starting to show its age (again), Disneyland Resort is under new management (again), and some leader asks, “Hey, what’s this entrance, and why is it never used? It’d be a great guest perk!”
Early Entry Ending
Currently, guests who are checked in and staying at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels can take advantage of 30-minute early entry to a designated theme park every day of their hotel stay to enjoy select attractions, dining and shopping locations. Each day, either Disneyland or Disney California Adventure will be open early. Check the theme park calendar for the schedule.
Valid theme park admission and a park reservation for the same park on the same date are also required for Guests (ages 3+). Park reservations are limited, subject to availability and not guaranteed. A Disneyland Resort hotel reservation does not guarantee a theme park reservation or park admission.
Link theme park tickets or passes, theme park reservations and hotel reservations to the Disneyland app to show verification of these requirements. Tickets and passes can be viewed by selecting “Tickets and Passes” and hotel dates of stay can be viewed by selecting “My Hotel Reservation” in the Disneyland app.
Early Entry is ending entirely as of January 5, 2026.
This is more unsurprising news. We’ve done Early Entry at Disneyland often, and our experience has been consistently great at Disneyland. We can usually “run the table” on Fantasyland dark rides, and even if there is an attraction with the dreaded delayed opening, it doesn’t matter in Fantasyland because there’s so much to pick up the slack.
Everything is close together, nothing has a pre-show, and each ride is only a few minutes long. It’s incredibly easy to knock out everything in quick succession. Starting in Tomorrowland is much more of a mixed bag (Space Mountain having a delayed opening is a bigger deal), which is why we almost never do that.
We’ve also noticed that by the end of Early Entry, it’s as if Fantasyland has “reset.” By this, we mean that few on-site guests remain in lines for these attractions–they’ve mostly moved on to rope drop Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, cleaning the slate for a fresh wave of regular rope drop guests in Fantasyland. It’s an everyone wins scenario.
On the other hand, DCA can be kind of a mess, especially if entering from the Grand Californian. Security is usually understaffed and doesn’t open until shortly before Early Entry officially begins. The process is tedious and time-consuming, especially since Disneyland is steadfast in its refusal to drag its security screening technology out of the 1990s.
It’s gotten to the point that we routinely go through the main entrance when doing Early Entry at DCA just to avoid the private entrance at the GCH, which is anything but an exclusive guest perk at that hour. Even if the walk is longer and there’s a secondary checkpoint in the park, this is usually faster.
Once in the park, Early Entry at DCA is hit or miss. It’s similar to Early Entry in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. It might work out awesomely, or it might go awfully. We’ve run the table on Avengers Campus headliners before moving on to Radiator Springs Racers, beating the rope drop rush. We’ve also got literally nothing done, and then been behind the pack for regular rope drop.
Either way, Disneyland eliminating Early Entry comes as exactly zero surprise to me. They previously scaled it back from every day at both parks to essentially every other day. It’s a simple numbers game, and they don’t have enough on-site hotel guests to justify the staffing costs. At least, that’s the calculus in their view.
My hope had been that the next step would be expanding eligibility to Good Neighbor Hotels, purchasers of select tickets, etc. This is how the various permutations of Early Entry previously worked, and it makes more sense from a numbers perspective. Charge a couple of the luxury hotels in Anaheim a premium to be part of Early Entry and make the math work out.
Disneyland only has the three hotels plus the DVC villas, so there isn’t nearly as much demand as there is for the perk as at Walt Disney World. Even the problems we identified above aren’t the result of unsustainable demand–they’re about low capacity or other issues. Security takes forever at the GCH when processing guest counts in the dozens (maybe 100?), whereas the total attraction capacity during the perk was several thousands.
Nevertheless, this has “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” energy. Early Entry was a great guest perk for morning people–especially those traveling from out of state and having the time zone advantage. There were ways to make this work, so it’s unfortunate they were never tested. Instead, they’re going with an alternative that will impact the day guest experience.
Free Lightning Lane
Finally, as an indirect replacement for Early Entry, all guests staying at one of the Hotels of Disneyland Resort will receive one complimentary anytime access entry for a Lightning Lane Multi-Pass attraction of their choice. Lightning Lane Single Pass attractions, including Radiator Springs Racers and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, are not available with this entitlement.
The Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ride access will be available to each guest on the reservation with valid park admission and a park reservation. Disney Vacation Club members qualify, regardless of whether using points or staying on cash rates. Guests at Good Neighbor Hotels do not qualify.
Note that this free Lightning Lane perk will be limited to one per guest, per stay. It is not daily like Early Entry. At present, it appears that guests will already need to be checked into their hotel stay to qualify, which could add a layer of frustration to this on arrival day.
Whether this is better or worse than Early Entry is going to come down to the guest. For us, this is far worse in Fantasyland at Disneyland, where we could literally do a half-dozen rides with next-to-no wait. That was our favorite Early Entry anywhere, and we always made a point of getting Megatron out of bed and out the door for it. Total gamechanger.
Also for us, this is marginally better than Early Entry at DCA for all of the reasons above (or at least would be, assuming it were per day instead of per stay). I will happily trade the stress of security and hoping the delayed opening gods have smiled upon me for a free “anytime” Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (presumably a Multi-Experience Pass pre-loaded into the Disneyland app).
My biggest disappointment is that this is once per stay as opposed to once per day. This incentivizes single night stays, and it’s pretty easy to create artificial 1-night stays in order to qualify for this perk on a daily basis. I would imagine there’s a sharp spike in this, as Disneyland guests tend to be savvy. Honestly, that’s what we’ll be doing and will recommend to others–and Disneyland has no one to blame but itself for being so cheap. (Hopefully they change course on this, as I’d assume a bunch of split stays incur costs on their end, too.)
As for the indirect ramifications for other guests as a result of the increased Lightning Lane inventory, I wouldn’t expect much. The total number of rooms in all three Hotels of Disneyland Resort is fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things (hence the dropping of Early Entry), so this should be a drop in the bucket.
Worsened On-Site Value at Disneyland
As always, there’s the threshold question of whether you should stay on-site at Disneyland at all? Honestly, the answer for most people is going to be “no” on the basis of costs and off-site alternatives. That was before all of these changes.
On balance, we view these changes as being net-negative for most guests, especially those staying at Pixar Place Hotel. Losing Early Entry in Fantasyland, where rides don’t have Lightning Lanes in the first place, is really frustrating. That had tremendous value for us, and not just of the monetary variety. We made great family memories running the table on Fantasyland dark rides. I couldn’t wait until Megatron hit the ‘sweet spot’ for this and we could really enjoy it. We’re going to be denied that and, frankly, will do less on-site stays as a result.
Making the replacement one free floating FastPass per stay as opposed to per stay borders between frustrating (because it’ll require a workaround to leverage fully) and insulting. Planners will work to get full value out of this, but even so, that’s only like $10 per day. And I’d guess that most people willing to do the split stay legwork are also disproportionately likely to purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. So there’s even less value for them. And there’s no value at all from a “magical memories” perspective. It’s just another ordinary Lightning Lane redemption.
This is all a bold move on Disney’s part, especially at a time when they’ve started to offer more discounts for on-site stays, which would seemingly suggest that occupancy numbers are down. This should only worsen that, assuming that guests see the “Early Entry Ending” part of the news and not just the “Free FastPass” portion.
Unlike Walt Disney World, there are very few on-site perks at Disneyland. Going forward, the biggest selling point is being part of the Disney “bubble,” to the extent that one exists in California. Even though PPH is losing its private entrance into DCA, there’s still the GCH one, which is huge. Disneyland Hotel can also use those with a bit of backtracking, which is nice. All three hotels also connect to Downtown Disney. You mostly won’t have to walk the streets of Anaheim if you’re staying at any of these hotels.
Nevertheless, we recommend checking our our Guide to Off-Site vs. On-Site Disneyland Hotels: Where to Stay, which was recently updated (about a week too early, as it turns out). That is a comprehensive list of the pros & cons of both options from an objective perspective. It also offers a rundown of where you can score the biggest savings off-site.
If you’re looking to book a third party hotel, we do not recommend going through Disneyland’s Good Neighbor search engine, as that’ll cost you more. Instead, consider booking a discounted hotel + ticket vacation package via Get Away Today. In addition to the package discount, some hotels have ‘4th night free’ promos. Save an extra $10 by using code TOURIST at checkout (valid on 2-night and longer stays). Click here to check out the package discounts available.
Will Walt Disney World Follow?
The next question for many fans will undoubtedly be whether Walt Disney World might adopt a similar strategy. We doubt it. If this were to happen, it definitely would not change in 2026. We know this for sure because Walt Disney World released its vacation packages several months ago, and proactively stated that Early Entry and Extended Evening Hours would both continue throughout 2026.
Early Entry does have high utilization at Walt Disney World, where it’s a popular guest perk. It’s not flawless, but we view it as better than the alternative. We’re certainly not going to advocate for the reduction of hours, especially given that they’re already significantly shorter at WDW than DLR.
There have been calls for Walt Disney World to include Lightning Lane access with on-site stays. Again, the circumstances differ dramatically. In total, there are just under 3,000 on-site resort rooms at Disneyland Resort (hotel inventory plus DVC).
By contrast, there are approximately 40,000 rooms at Walt Disney World, which includes all of the Disney-owned and operated properties plus the Disney Springs Resort Area, Bonnet Creek, Swan & Dolphin, Shades of Green.
These third party hotels are included because they’re technically on-site and, more importantly, have contractual deals with Disney to offer certain guest perks and amenities. Most importantly for our purposes is Early Entry, which is the theoretical ‘swap’ for a free floating anytime Lightning Lane Multi-Pass experience.
What we could see happening is Walt Disney World introducing a novel special offer that provides free Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. We’re already seeing Free Dining lose its luster as the flagship discount at Walt Disney World, and that’s likely to be doubly true in 2026 with the introduction of Kids Eat Free all year long.
Without other changes, that new perk (which was the “one big thing” of WDW’s 2026 product launch) will undercut the value of Free Dining. If I were Walt Disney World, I would want my marquee special offer to be as appealing as possible, especially since it helps boost guest spending metrics.
Completely speculative, but perhaps the answer is bundling “free” Lightning Lane Multi-Pass with that to create an “ultimate” “all-inclusive” package. (Three sets of separate air quotes, for those keeping score at home.) I’m not exactly sure how it’d work, but it could work.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t expect Walt Disney World to offer free Lightning Lanes to on-site guests. Not primarily because of the total room count—that alone isn’t an insurmountable obstacle since they previously offered free FastPass to everyone.
More importantly, the revenue implications. Lightning Lane sales are essentially a free revenue stream, and a highly lucrative one. Messing with that at all could have major unanticipated downstream effects on sales.
No way they mess with that unless absolutely necessary. Maybe it’s a “break glass in case of emergency” thing for 2027, but my gut is that getting Disney’s Magical Express back is far more likely.
Anything is possible at Walt Disney World in the long-term, especially if guest satisfaction–and more importantly, behavior and visitation trends–takes enough of a hit and management is forced to do something. Maybe an economic downturn would change the equation, or perhaps Epic Universe will entice a sufficient number of hotel stays and reduce occupancy.
Based on what we’ve seen in the second half of the year, Walt Disney World’s big answer to both is increased discounting, so it follows that any answer involving Lightning Lanes would include them as part of a special offer. We shall see, though!
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Disneyland ending Early Entry and replacing it with a free floating FastPass? What about eliminating the Pixar Place Hotel entrance into DCA? Will you be booking a 2026 Disneyland vacation package? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Stayed at a DLR Hotel twice in the last 4 years. I absolutely love the Disneyland Hotel as a big Disney fan and I have always said, “if we go back, our desire is to stay there.”
Now, no chance. You can’t justify it. I can get a suite for the same price across the street. That 30 minutes is huge for fantasyland and RSR. Now, I’m on an even playing field with guests who can go once a week. No way I can win. So at least save money and buy the Single Rider.
I can’t see how this is a “good idea”
Maybe going to Disneyland is not about winning.
Par for course, charge more and offer less. Same thing they’ve been doing for 10 years. APs, reduced on site benefits, free fast pass, restaurant quality etc. At some point they will reap what they have sewn for the last decade. Iger era will not be viewed favorably in the future. The Wall Street CEO that killed the magic.
A trend that will not have an end, unless Disney has an end. About 15 years ago, my FIL made a comment that Disney would be a vacation spot for the rich or a once-in-a-lifetime…that is literally where it is headed.
Jumping on the bandwagon here too. We stay at WDW with DVC every year and use EE religiously. When we use our DVC points or do a cash stay at DLR, we use EE as well and it is a huge motivator for us to stay onsite. There is literally no real reason to do a cash stay for us at this point. with so many other hotels in the area that offer better deals and even better views and are closer to the parks, it is just not worth it. Taking away EE is nail in the coffin for us.
I’m just going to join the chorus here — I’ll probably never stay at a DLR hotel as the prices are just astronomical to me (especially given how relatively reasonable the rates are at other nearby walkable non-DLR properties). It’s sometimes just hard to believe there are that many people out there with that much disposable income. But I assume the hotels are still selling out most of the time?
On a related note, I’ve said this before here, but I realize that even the ability to take a Disney vacation once in a lifetime likely means you’re in the top 10% of earners across the globe — being able to visit AT ALL is a privilege billions will never enjoy and I’m grateful I’ve had multiple experiences at the parks. But I just have no comprehension of the thought process that sees a $2300 nightly rate for a 1-bedroom, 1 sleeper sofa room at Pixar Place and says “yup, sounds about right”. I mean, I don’t want to judge and don’t wish anyone ill will — I just can’t get my mind around it. A big part of that is what you’re getting for your money — as noted in this post, I just don’t find the perks that appealing. These aren’t all-inclusive luxury resorts in exotic locales where you’re waited on hand and foot 24 hours a day. They’re not even the lavish, impeccably themed higher-end resorts at WDW. You’re in Anaheim, in a hotel that has similar amenities as other higher-end properties nearby, but with Disney theming (and now one free LL vs. 30 minutes of early entry time to parks you’re also paying additional $$$ to enter).
All that said, I’d love to stay in a DLR property — just to experience it once. But I’m pretty sure that’s never going to happen, and I don’t think Disney is doing enough to make me sad about what I’m missing out on!
Are we certain that this is only one LL per stay? The language I saw on the DL website said that, instead of daily early entry, guest can enjoy one LL “during their Resort stay.” I definitely see your interpretation. But it is not as clear to me as “per resort stay.” In other words, the sentence would be coherent if it said “one lightning lane per day during their resort stay.” IDK maybe I am just in denial because this makes no sense. What would the justification be to replace a daily benefit with a per stay benefit? It would only incentivize shorter stays.
The same has been verified by multiple travel agents.
That’s an interesting point. So will smart travel agents and guests simply book 4 hotel stays instead of a single hotel stay of four nights? Then you get 4 lightning lane passes instead of 1?
Customers also need to factor in hotel offers. The current hotel discount offer requires a 3 night stay. It would not make sense to give up a 20% discount to get 3 Lightning Lanes instead of 1. Plus, I have a feeling that tourists staying at the Grand for 3 nights or more are buying tickets with Lightning Lane anyway.
i already wouldn’t spend the extra money to stay on-site at disneyland, but no early entry now… what’s the point?
My dad always wants to use his points to stay at the JW, while I push for GCH. I was already losing the battle as we ended up not having a great EE experience last time (mostly due to us not getting in security line early enough, which to be fair is Disney’s fault for understaffing it).
This takes away any possible argument for the GCH other than location.
The DLH was already mostly ruined because the security down there can sometimes be horrible particularly in the afternoon/evening.
If you’re using Bonvoy points, going for the JW (or better yet, Westin) seems like a no-brainer to me.
I mean, I absolutely love the GCH, but it’s just so hard to justify those rates unless you’re going during the off-season and there’s a good discount.
I’m wondering if people who buy tickets with lightening lane will get an “extra” LL entry. So could they ride Indiana Jones once with their on site hotel perk and then again when they book it through the app? I’m betting that buying LL will negate the perk of the “free” LL. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens in 2026.
I assume it’ll be a floating Multi-Experience Pass added to the account.
Nullifying it with purchase of LLMP would discourage guests from buying that, and that can’t be DLR’s intended outcome.
As someone who stays off site, I have to admit I will enjoy rope drop leading me into an empty park. For the last few trips, I have reserved our days opposite the EE guests so that rope drop feels right… but now I can pick either park and be guaranteed that if I’m at the front of the rope, no one has hit my ride of choice before me and clogged things up.
As a mostly off-site guest, I honestly don’t think Early Entry “hurt” either park that much (certainly nothing like at WDW), but I nevertheless share your sentiment!
We always use EE every day of our stay and find it invaluable even at DCA. To replace it with 1 repeat 1 LL is not the same. Radiator Springs Racers does not offer LL and we have always been able to beat the rope droppers and ride it with little to no wait. It was an invaluable perk especially during very crowded days. Which let’s face it, is almost every day now. Disney will argue that the expense far out paces the benefit. I get it it is expensive to open early. But come on 1/2 hour out of 12 is not all that much. Disney also does not factor in Guest GoodWill in their cost benefit analysis. We live in a spreadsheet driven world these days and the intangibles such as guest goodwill is not a factor, sadly.
“Radiator Springs Racers does not offer LL and we have always been able to beat the rope droppers and ride it with little to no wait.”
Very fair point all around, especially this.
The half hour barely makes the deluxe resorts worth it in DW – should really be an hour. Or night hours-something- feeling more ripped off by the day. I know this is for land but same idea- we only visited once to DL two years ago and stayed at GC, we have been to world about 10 times . The deluxe resorts on both coasts need more perks not less- they will drive us to moderates likely
I made this point in my post, but maybe Disney doesn’t care. I think the issue is if you’re a first time guest or an occasional visitor, you may find it easier just to book a package with Disney than to figure out where to stay offsite.
In fact, if I had to describe Disney’s attitude of late, it’s that they don’t care about their long time returning customers. A lot of what they do seems to me to be to deter regular visitors or to at least reduce their visits in favor of newer guests. If you didn’t know the perk existed, you don’t miss it. They make more money. That’s the attitude that seems to me to be pervasive in every decision they make.
I don’t know a single AP holder, and I know a lot of them, that hasn’t dropped, scaled back, or is considering it. My friends and my family even thought about dropping Disney passes and doing Universal this year. And I’m a DVC member!
Longtime lurker, first time commenter here.
As a frequent Disneyland hotel guest and business person this baffles me on a few levels.
I think most of us agree that Disneyland hotel prices don’t provide much value. Disney actually needs to offer more perks, not less, to justify those rates. And early entry always seemed like a win/win to me. Shouldn’t more guest time in the parks = more revenue? I have a hard time believing that extra half hour isn’t profitable, even if it doesn’t drive incremental hotel stays. This feels really penny-wise/pound-foolish.
PS: I’m a long-time admirer of your writing, Tom. Thanks for all you do!
“This feels really penny-wise/pound-foolish.”
I’d agree with that.
My guess is that Disney has somehow determined that guest perks aren’t a meaningful selling point at all for the DLR hotels. That the value proposition is so off-kilter that people primarily stay on-site because they want the location and Disney branding above all else. If basing the decision on value for money, on-site was always going to lose.
I don’t think this is completely accurate, and this can be evidenced in many of the responses here. But I also don’t think it’s completely inaccurate.
Is there a verified source that confirms this is ending? The only information on Disney’s website is “can instead” and “to enjoy EE OR LL entry benefit… I’m not seeing any official statement from The Walt Disney Company saying it’s ending.
Tom only posts accurate information. This news has also been released by Disney! I personally saw it on Disney’s travel agent portal.
As a frequent Disneyland guest from the Northeast who always stays on site, this is extremely disappointing. Early Entry is a huge part of why we stay on site. Plus, we always buy Park Hopper tickets with Lightning Lane Multipass so a single Lightning Lane has zero value to us. We always use Early Entry to do exactly what Tom said—run the table on Fantasyland and other rides that don’t have Lightning Lane like Nemo and the smaller rides in Cars Land. In 2023, we spent 5 nights in September and 4 nights in December at the Grand. In 2024, we spent 4 nights in March, 5 nights in June, and 7 nights in December at the Grand. So far this year, we spent 4 nights in March at the Disneyland Hotel and 5 nights in June at the Grand. We are also spending 6 nights at the Grand next month for early Halloween and a birthday at a cost of $4,739.91. I priced out the Westin for comparison sake while we were planning and I remember it was approximately $1,950. However, we went with the Grand because of two factors: location and early entry. If the only advantage is location, then that alone does not justify paying 2.5 times what it costs to stay at the Westin—at least not to me. So, without early entry, next year, we can stay at the Westin and save ourselves thousands of dollars or just skip Disneyland entirely and really save.
The Westin is a great hotel–and you can still use the private entrance into DCA as a not-so-private exit to the Westin!
Early entry will return in 3-4 years after they realize the complete mistake this was. They’ve now eliminated any advantage their way higher priced for the same or less amenities as down the block hotels have had. Business at the 3 hotels will suffer.
I hope you’re right, but am skeptical.
As it already stands, the only way to justify staying on-site is as a ‘treat yourself’ splurge. I think the loss of Early Entry will move the needle with some diehard fans, but not that much with the general public. If they need help there, it’ll come down to discounts.
I would wager it will not happen. Disney has tossed guest experience aside for money. Look at how much they have removed and changed to make money….all while people have said “they will realize their mistake and it will return”. Sure, they brought back to the Minnie Van transportation to/from the airport….at almost $500 R/T. You can get a R/T airline ticket for less….usually for 2 people. (you cannot use car seats as the reason to justify, because most guests did not care about car seats when ME was free) Disney Execs are focused on bonuses, not guest experience. They do surveys, which usually leads to nothing. When they do make changes, it is always presented as “we heard you and we are making this change….at a higher price”!
I wonder what the effect will be on lines to get into the park before rope drop, if Disney hotel guests have to line up with everyone else at 7:00. I really liked staying on Harbor Blvd and being one of the first through the gate.
Nonexistent impact. Currently, ALL guests are admitted into the park gates at 7:30, they simply can’t proceed past Main Street/Buena Vista Street if they don’t have Early Entry.
The only thing that might change is that there may be slightly more people waiting for rope drop than before, but actual park entry won’t be affected.
Forgot about that. Yeah, I suppose the only effect on Rope Drop might be how people distribute around the hub at 7:30. Some guests might decide to go left instead of right…but then, just as many might decide to go right instead of left. I guess a few Disney hotel guests might arrive later, too, if there’s no time pressure to be there for Early Entry, but probably not enough to notice.
Disneyland on-site hotels are just way too expensive. We’ve never stayed because it is too much, plus with extended family they would be pressured to pay too much as well. We tend to use points to stay at off-site hotels, but then the walk is so far and horrible and ugly. Over time I have come to appreciate Disney World so much more. You can get rooms for $200 and a bus pulls right up to the front.
It sounds like fun to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. But I just can’t find any reasons to justify it. The Disneyland Resort hotels are just completely, totally and absolutely overpriced for what they offer; which isn’t much beyond the Disney name.
I will continue to stay at the Candy Cane Inn for a fraction of the cost while giving up almost nothing compared to a Disneyland Resort hotel.
The interesting thing about DLR is that the parks are open so early and go so late that you’re barely at a hotel. This is unlike WDW which tends to open later and close earlier.
So when you’re just using the hotel as a place to rest your head at night, you don’t really benefit from the Disney bubble or the “fun” you think you’d have at a Disney hotel.
This seems like a terrible idea! DL hotel guests already had very few perks relative to what you get at WDW. At WDW, you get early access to lightning lane bookings (irrelevant for DL), Disney transportation (irrelevant for DL), free parking (not free at DL), and early entry. On site hotels at WDW are also very advantageous from a location perspective given the size of the property; while, with DL the nearby hotels are maybe a 5 minutes longer walk. Removing early entry for on-site guests loses the one tangible benefit of significant value for DL hotel guests. The compensation of one multi-pass-eligible LL is laughable, even if it was one per day of stay. Making it one for the entire length of the stay is insane! What better way to reduce the number of nights guests are staying? As well as create lots of gamesmanship of single night bookings, and then complaining to the front desk to try to get the same room each day of the stay. Hopefully this will be reconsidered.
I am curious how much on site stays plummet. You can pay 1/4th the cost for a nice hotel down the street that has a shuttle and miss out on nothing. This can always come back Im sure and I am very curious why this decision was made. My recent stay in August, the early entry time was busy but we still could hit most of those dark rides in fantasyland and do Guardians and Monsters inc in DCA
Is this not happening in Florida??
Not yet 🙁
Oops, I hit reply too quickly…..
Not yet 🙁
I suspect if there is not much impact to their bookings and filling rooms, it will eventually travel to FL.