DLH, Castle Club and Pro/Cons from the parks - July 2009

Started by Medici, July 14, 2009, 11:47:24 PM

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Medici

Hey everybody,

i would like to share some pics and notes with you from our recent stay at the Disneyland Hotel! This was my 14th stay at the Resort, but my first time in this expensive hotel! I always wanted to stay there, but because of my money and the bad cost/performance ratio, we always went for another hotel. But when you dream your whole life of something, you should do it before you can´t do it anymore... That´s why we decided afterall staying for at least one time at the Disneyland Hotel :-)

We booked two nights in a standard room with the 40% offer and also two nights in the Castle Club!!!

The Castle Club is outstanding, the lounge is great for having a rest and the view is awesome. The service level is very good, which has to be for the extremly high room rates.

The standard rooms are still expensive and beyond something else in the Disneyland Hotel, so you could expect already for that prices a good quality, but you didn´t get the best value for money.

Maybe you have to consider the location (so good!!!) for this hotel and the extra features, which are definitley 5 star services (bell service, valet parking, 24 hour room service, robes); but everybody has to admit, that you get a 5 star superior hotel in a good location for much less (i stayed in many hotels in the past years...) But if i were Euro Disney S.C.A i would do it the same when i  get these high occupany rates...

Maybe you can´t compare it afterall and i really enjoyed our stay anyway, but i think the following lack of quality may not be found in any Disney Hotel (and of course should never occur in their flagship house, even with high occupany rates):

In our standard room (No. 3028) the bathroom was very dated, and the jointing of the flagging (don´t know the exact word in English) should never be almost black everywhere instead of white. Also the walls had wear marks and the carpet was stained.

These things don´t turn from overnight into a bad condition, this is not because of sloppy maid services, but of bad maintenance!! Don´t know if they are thinking "the hotel will be booked anyhow", but at least the Disneyland Hotel should update or control their rooms more often!

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the very comfortable beds and our west wing ground floor location and all the more the Castle Club.

Here my Pros and Cons List from my overall impression of our stay:

HOTELS:

+/- DLH (see above)

- opening times only from 15h on at the hotel pools (not at DLH) --> Hey, it´s summer and some people still want to swim in the morning before breakfast! Why do they promote than their place also as an wellness location?

PARKS

+ Disneyland Park is in an overall good state, great to see that the refurbs are still going on

+ CM at TOT

+ Walt´s (as always :-))

+ canon recoil at Space Mountain works on July 10th! (i filmed it!)

- opening times for different rides --> only saw different opening times in the past at Nautilus or Autopia. Now many attractions have different opening times in summer season:

Alice: 10h-19h, Autopia: 10h-21h, Star Tours: 10h-22h, HISTA: 10h-?, PM: 10h-22h and the the whole Fantasyland AND Adventureland close at 22h because of the preparation for the fireworks. I doubt that this is the main reason, in the past only Fantasyland closed earlier. I guess this is a cost cutting reason! To be honest, the opening time until 23h is a farce. Even Phantom close at 22h! So only the following attractions remain open until 23h: BTM, SM, Buzz and Orbitron. --> The parc is closing at 22h in my eyes, not at 23h! Very bad for guest satisfaction, you paid enough for your day and then only some rides and of course the shops remain open till late (OK, you are able to see Fantillusion and the fireworks after 22h)

- lots of ride breakdowns on July 11th: SM the whole day, BTM in the evening, RNRC in the morning and Crush opened not before 15h.

Overall we had a fablous time, please see the notes above from very critcal perspective from a Disney fan, which thinks that they could make things even more better :-)

Thanks for your attention, if you have questions don´t hestitate to ask! Find attached some pictures...

Greetings,
Mathias

 

  Cheesecake at Walt´s

 

 A band was playing on Saturday outside and inside the park... Great to see!

  Keelboats were open on Saturday!

  Our Standard Room at DLH

  Just a dream... :-)

  me in the Castle Club Lounge

      View from the 4th floor of the Castle Club to the restaurants

     Castle Club Lounge

    what a sight from the Castle Club... wanna go back immediately :-)
[size=85]09/94 - SL
07/95 - NBC
07/96 - NBC
03/99 - WDW - All Star Sports
09/02 - HNY
09/03 - NBC
08/04 - Davy Crockett
08/05 - Holiday Inn & Dream Castle
11/05 - Holiday Inn
02/06 - WDW - Pop Century
08/06 - Davy Crockett & Dream Castle
11/06 - Holiday Inn
06/07 - Dream Castle
01/08 - Explorers Hotel
12/08 - HNY
03/09 - WDW - Pop Century
07/09 - Disneyland Hotel[/size]

The Butlin Boy

Thanks for sharing this Medici, I'm glad you had a great time. Your photos are fantastic, that last one is especially beautiful :)

Aveen2008

Hey

Thanks for sharing your trip pros and cons with us and your photos are great! I am glad you had a great time irrespective of the problems!

 :D  :D  :D
Luv Aveen xoxo

CentralPlazaPerson

That last photo is just pure magic!

Epcot_Boy

Quote from: "CentralPlazaPerson"That last photo is just pure magic!

It certainly is =D>

Epcot_Boy :ears:


David

Worldroute

Quote from: "Medici"the bathroom was very dated, and the jointing of the flagging (don´t know the exact word in English) should never be almost black everywhere instead of white.

I think what you mean are the jointing of the bathroom floor tiles, right?

Loved your pictures.

RnRCj

Thanks for the report! What a fantastic view from Castle Club. Nice to see the Disneyland band outside DLH too!

If possible, I would love to see your video of the recoil working on Space Mountain! If not, don't worry. :wink:

never2old

Thanks for that report and those beautiful pictures! Makes me want to go back to DLH and the Castle Club so much!!

Great news too about the Space Mountain cannon, I haven't seen it recoil for such a long time!! I would love to see the video....

Medici

Quote from: "never2old"Great news too about the Space Mountain cannon, I haven't seen it recoil for such a long time!! I would love to see the video....

I´m glad to show you my video on You Tube... Enjoy! You see it after 30 sec. As a proof, that it was filmed in July 2009, i moved my camera to the construction fences where they prepared the new pavement.

[youtube:2lhgif2y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01sBk0ktz-0[/youtube:2lhgif2y]

Thanks so much for your comments! Love you guys!

Mathias
[size=85]09/94 - SL
07/95 - NBC
07/96 - NBC
03/99 - WDW - All Star Sports
09/02 - HNY
09/03 - NBC
08/04 - Davy Crockett
08/05 - Holiday Inn & Dream Castle
11/05 - Holiday Inn
02/06 - WDW - Pop Century
08/06 - Davy Crockett & Dream Castle
11/06 - Holiday Inn
06/07 - Dream Castle
01/08 - Explorers Hotel
12/08 - HNY
03/09 - WDW - Pop Century
07/09 - Disneyland Hotel[/size]

RnRCj

Thanks for posting the vid! It actually seems strange seeing it move after so long being stationary.

dagobert

Thanks for sharing your trip report with us. I really enjoyed your pictures, especially the ones from the Castle CLub.

never2old

I missed that cannon.... thanks for the video!!  :D

Walts heir

I love the castle club but the best part is that you het a premium fastpass also the view is just pure magical

Annet

Wow great pictures! All the pics and stories make me look forward to my next trip.
Even though I'm in a much cheaper hotel :P