I'm one of those people that researches and reads reviews for 2 weeks before making my reservation. With that said, I definitely made the right choice with the Disneyland Hotel. It's not as far of a walk as I thought it was to the monorail station in Downtown Disney. Last time we stayed at the Paradise Pier and it was a bit further away. Our son has a mild case of Cerebral Palsy and he tires easily while walking around, but the walk to and from Disneyland was not bad at all. We went for his 11th birthday and stayed Tues. through Sat. If you are celebrating a birthday, make sure to mention it to EVERYONE!! They gave him a button at check-in to wear during our entire stay. Everywhere we went he was wished a happy birthday, given free dessert, and treated like a king!

The hotel is completely finished with the remodel and it is beautiful. We stayed in the main Fantasy Tower. I would recommend the Adventure Tower if you want a view of the park. There is no way to see the park from our tower. It's either pool or parking lot view. They would have put us in the Adventure Tower, but they said they didn't have any rooms available. I'm a total clean freak, and it grosses me out to walk into a room and find it filthy and dirty. This is not the case here. It was perfect, all neat and clean...even the carpet. You can walk around the room in your socks and they aren't filthy like I've had happen at other hotels. Everything was new and upgraded. The beds were warm and comfy with fluffy pillows. There was a fridge, (no microwave) a hairdryer, and the Spa brand soaps and shampoos smelled like the high-end stuff. The musical light up headboard is a nice touch. They weren't full when we arrived, so we were upgraded to a deluxe room for free (I booked a standard room). We had a perfect view of the new monorail pool & waterslides. Since it was my son's birthday, they arranged for a special turndown service with housekeeping. They turned down our beds every evening and left chocolates for us.

We booked through Costco Travel and received a free premium character meal and we used it for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen at our hotel. That saved us over $120. The food was SO GOOD!! Usually buffet food is nasty, but not here! We didn't have to pay a penny because tax and tip are included when you get a character meal. Our package also included 2 extra fastpasses per person at check-in, a $20 Disney gift card, preferred seating at 4 shows at California Adventure, vouchers for free pins & lanyards, and free luggage tags. We decided to splurge last minute and do the charater breakfast at Storytellers Cafe and we were happy we did. You can either have the breakfast buffet or order off the menu. The menu is the room service menu, and the buffet is much better, so we all had that. I'm allergic to dairy and I just happened to mention it to our waiter, so he surprised me by having the chef make me non-dairy pancakes. They were really good, too. We also did the birthday celebration in the park. Mickey & Minnie were there to celebrate with us and the host, Pat E. Cake was very entertaining and fun. They give you a souvenir cup with lemonade and a personal size cake that you get to decorate with frosting and sprinkles. It was $17 per person, and they don't let you in unless you pay, meaning if you want to take pictures of your child enjoying the party, then you have to pay to do it too. It was worth the $, it's only once a year, right? You have to make reservations ahead of time for this.

We saved a lot of time by using our fastpasses, taking the monorail into the park vs. standing in line at the main entrance, and using the Grand Californian entrance to California Adventure park. There are so many extras that you get just by staying at a Disney owned hotel. We booked a special VIP shopping trip at Build-A-Bear Workshop one hour before opening to the public. (several stores at Downtown Disney do this) They gave our son a free picture of his shopping trip and a free accessory and you are only required to make a $10 purchase. Of course our son chose the $24 bear, but it was a really fun experience for him. They also had little trivia games that you can pick up at the front desk and do them in the park. You bring them back when you're done and they give the kids a prize.

We did make the mistake of going to the Character Warehouse Outlet in Fullerton. BIG MISTAKE!! There were very few Disney items there, it was more like a Dollar Tree store with a few Disney related items mixed in. However, if you're looking for a Disneyland sweatshirt that says 2008 at a slightly discounted price, then this is the place for you. Did I mention it's in a rough area? Yeah, not real safe to walk around with the kids there. The cab ride cost us $35 round trip and we were stranded there for 2.5 hours while we waited for the taxi that we called to arrive. Apparently we weren't the only ones to go through this because the guy at Best Buy (where we waited for our taxi) said he sees people waiting for taxis back to Disneyland from there all the time and they wait forever to get one. That was valuable Disney ride time that we missed out on in my opinion. Lesson learned, do not venture away from the comfort and safety of Disney!

We flew into the Orange County airport, which is the closest one to Disney. The taxi from the airport was $35 plus tip each way and worth not having to stop at multiple hotels like you do on the shuttles. Tell them you want to agree on a flat rate BEFORE getting into the cab, otherwise you will pay about $42 each way plus tip. Keep in mind if you rent a car, Disney charges $15 per day for hotel parking, so a rental car may not be the cheapest way to go.

Overall, this was the best experience we've ever had at Disneyland and staying at the Disneyland Hotel was a huge part of that. From now on, we will ONLY stay at the Disneyland Hotel. The cleanliness and service are worth the extra $ you pay to stay there.