We're brand new DVC members, so this was our first stay as a member. We've rented points 3x in the past for Aulani, and as a new member pricing, kinda wish we were still renters. These new Villas at Disneyland were a bit disappointing as our new home. Overall the area is gorgeous, cute retro theming, and right in the middle of the Disneyland hotel, which is great as that's my favorite place to stay. Pros: -Theming and design is great. New wood floors and partial carpet is very welcoming. -The pull down murphy for 3rd and 4h roomie is way better than the sofa pull downs at all other DVC rooms. This is a major appreciated upgrade when your 3rd and 4th persons are older than 13.. The old teens confirmed the beds were very comfy. -Toilet room is separate from Shower/sink room. -Room did feel wider that a lot of other hotels. -More plugs and counter top space than any other hotel. One vanity separate from bathroom. 3 ladies could get ready at same time -Kitchenette is larger than other Studio DVC rooms. Full real plates, glasses, etc. Microwave and Fridge. You could easily eat leftovers here. -Access to the pools of both the Villas and the Disneyland Hotel pools. (although on one of our days 2 of the main large pools were temp closed for accidents, only the loud kid pool was open and crowded for a 2pm dunk after walking all am in park) Cons: -The *new* half-closet is a joke. It's maybe 12-18 inches wide. No real closet in the entire room. For a Deluxe Studio family of 4 there was NO area's to stash luggage, or even one luggage rack. Lots of ottomans and chairs made it so were were constantly tripping over our empty luggage. Then you add souvenirs. -Standard view rooms have garage like views. Premium view looks over the small Villa pool, and still has a lot of parking garage like view. You want the views IN to the D-land pools -Walking from these rooms all the way to the main gate of CA Adventure, (or even to CA Adv through the Grand entrance) is further than I've ever walked to stay at a hotel across the street on Harbor. (for example, .8 mile walk from Main Gate to new Villa. Versus .3 miles to walk across to Tropicana Inn!) -Monorails to Dland hotel close earlier than park close. So then you're doing the long walk above. -Service never visited our room, likely a DVC caveat we need to learn, but we had to go out to find toilet paper 2x on our 3 night trip.
Clean and comfortable hotel with great security. It’s expensive in comparison to hotels outside the park, but it’s within close proximity to the park with easy access, early entry making it very convenient and value for money. Parking on site is easy and secure, relatively affordable at $40 per day for guests self parking. The park and hotels are extremely reliant on guests downloading and using the Disney app to order food, coffee, virtual lines for rides, etc so be prepared to use some data on your phone (fellow Aussie travellers) and get used to using the app quickly as you will have a poor experience without it. Old fashioned walk up to a counter to place an order seems to be a problem, and in almost all cases we were turned away from restaurants because they were full from online app bookings. The staff and service were fantastic, we could check in early without issue and no request was a problem. Because the hotel is so close to Downtown Disney they seem reliant on this for dining options. Both downtown and the hotel are under equipped with choices due to the volume of people attending, meaning everywhere is busy and long waits are to be expected. If you know this in advance and are prepared then your stay will be a great one.
