Villas at Disneyland Hotel Review: The Sneaky DVC Tax

A “Welcome home” greeting before we’d even parked the car, Disneyland first-visit pins, 70th Anniversary signage everywhere, and being steps from all the shopping and dining in Downtown Disney. All of this is what greeted us upon arriving at the Disneyland Hotel.

Though we’ve vacationed in Walt Disney World for more than 25 years and stayed in Disney properties all over the resort, we have only been Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members since 2019. On top of that, this was our first visit to Disneyland Resort, so we’ve never been to any Disney property in Anaheim before now.

Our DVC points have allowed us to stay in Copper Creek at the Wilderness Lodge, both Kidani and Jambo House at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, and Old Key West in Florida, as well as Disney’s Hilton Head Resort Hilton Head resort. We had heard that the three Disney hotels here book up fast and cost a crazy amount of DVC points.

Unless it is your home resort, you can only book a DVC resort with points at seven months out or less. We were looking for a couple of weeknights in late July, and on the morning of New Years’ Day, we remarkably found deluxe studio availability in the Disneyland Hotel and booked it. We’ll cover the points later on but it was quite reasonable.

Villas at Disneyland Hotel Review: Discovery Tower Layout

We arrived in Anaheim by car, and as is typical for any DVC resort, the person at the security gate greeted us with our first “Welcome home” of the stay. He pointed us toward the front of the first of the four towers at the Disneyland Hotel, so we pulled up directly in front of the Fantasy Tower.  

One of the bellhops came right over and collected all our bags for storage with bell services. Since we were planning to go right to the park, we just had to call bell services when we were ready for them to bring them up to our room. Rona and Rachel went into the lobby while Jay parked the car.  A friendly cast member came over and chatted them up, gave them “first visit” pins, a resort map, and walked them around the hotel before Jay returned.

The Fantasy Tower, which houses the main registration check-in lobby, also has the primary gift shop, lounge seating areas, with a hallway connected to the convention center. The lobby’s decor has a definite “It’s a small world” vibe, and in fact the gift shop is called Small World Gifts & Sundries. 

We checked in at the front desk, receiving our next “Welcome home” in the process. A large central courtyard is directly out the doors between registration and the gift shop. This area contains the resort’s retro pool area, monorail water slides, the quick-service Tangaroa Terrace, and the legendary Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar. 

Looking out across the grounds, the convention center stretches off to the right, with another connected building that houses the Coffee House, a quick service coffee spot that also has some grab and go items, and Goofy’s Kitchen, the character dining buffet available for breakfast and dinner. 

Farther along on the right, the 12-story Discovery Tower rises high above the convention center and restaurants. The Adventure Tower stands on the left, behind which is Downtown Disney. And directly opposite Fantasy Tower, between Discovery and Adventure Towers sits Frontier Tower.

Real talk. We were only here for two full days, with our focus being the parks. Obviously we poked around the gift shop and got coffee at the Coffee House because we’re not savages. But we did not take advantage of any of the other hotel amenities. It’s kind of sad, really, since we’ve tried and failed to get into Trader Sam’s Grotto at the Polynesian Village Resort in Disney World. This might have been our shot.

Our room was in the Discovery Tower, which is the newest of the four, with Disney building it in 2023. It houses the Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and offers DVC-exclusive amenities, including its own pool, the Steamboat Willie Splash Pad, and a bar. When we eventually got back from Disneyland Park around 9 PM, the Discovery Desk was still open, so we were able to obtain our keycards. Yes, the Disneyland mobile app and magic bands can unlock the door, but we do like our key cards.

Inside the Disneyland Hotel DVC Deluxe Studio

A Villas at Disneyland Hotel review would not be complete without detailing the room, or as Disney likes to call it, a villa. Our villa was room 334 and is advertised at 370 square feet. This is actually on par with or a little larger than most other DVC resorts in Disney World, Hilton Head, and Vero Beach.

This deluxe studio can sleep up to four adults if two share each bed, which we will come to in a moment. It has a kitchenette, lots of storage, but no balcony. It is definitely roomy, and feels pretty modern. In fact, the room and the hotel itself reminded us of Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Florida.

Let’s talk bathroom, shall we? Because it has a nice one and it’s the first door on the left as you walk in. It has a sink set in a huge countertop with shelving underneath and plenty of mirrors above, along with an equally large walk-in shower. The shower has a seat plus a dual head system with the rain shower head mounted in the ceiling. Dispensers filled with Disney-branded shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are on the wall. The contents are the H20+ formulas since Disney acquired their rights when that company shut down. 

The toilet lurks behind another door in the water closet. Art sits proudly on the wall, as you need something to look at in there. Oddly, the bath towels are also inside so make sure you take one out before you jump in the shower.

Now let’s get into the main living space. Nearest the windows is a queen-sized platform bed with Cinderella’s castle behind it. It has two small night tables on either side with reading lamps, power and USB outlets. The bed itself is extremely comfortable.

To the left of the bed is the living room sofa, behind which hides a pull-down queen-sized Murphy bed. In front of the couch are a couple of storage ottomans, which are handy for keeping close by any food you bring back to the room. The Murphy bed was reasonably comfortable, and for the two nights we stayed, Rachel left the bed open.

The kitchenette and closets are on the other side of the sofa bed, sharing a wall with the bathroom. The kitchenette includes a sink, fridge, microwave, and keurig coffee maker with a small selection of coffee pods. There are utensils, plates, cups, and so forth in the cabinets.

There is plenty of shelf and hanging storage in the two closets next to the kitchen area. The closets include the bedding for the Murphy bed, a safe, hangers, robes, an ironing board, and a pop up laundry basket you can use to bring your laundry down to the laundry facility on the first floor, since studios don’t have laundry.

A giant television sits above a 6-drawer dresser and a vanity station on the wall opposite the bed and sofa. More power outlets and USB jacks are available here as well. There’s a full length mirror between the dresser and entryway, and a small loveseat between the vanity station and windows.

The room overlooks the main inner resort courtyard, but since this was a park-heavy trip, it was generally dark outside when we were in the room. 

We had this room for 2 nights, mid week at the end of July. It cost 23 DVC points per night, but also another $68 tax per night, which we hadn’t expected when we noticed it at check-out.

Avoiding the Anaheim Transient Occupancy Tax Surprise

Downtown Disney Anaheim Dining & Shopping Guide

While this is a Villas at Disneyland Hotel review, we need to cover Downtown Disney because that was as much a part of our trip as the hotel. Much like Disney Springs in Florida, the Downtown Disney District in Anaheim is a vibrant pedestrian-only outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. The key differences are the size and location. 

As noted last time, Disney Springs is about 3 – 4 times the size, in both distance from end to end and number of shops and restaurants. While we made a beeline for the parks on that first morning, we did take mental notes of all the restaurants and shops we passed.

Downtown Disney contained 27 restaurants when we visited, with a mix of full and quick service as well as a bunch of kiosk-style locations with snacks and drinks. It also has upwards of 20 retail locations, half of which are Disney flagship or specialty stores.

Disney Springs sits in an entirely separate location from the parks and hotels within the Disney World Resort. There is a dedicated walking path from the Saratoga Springs Resort, but that’s more for convenience for those guests to get to the shopping and restaurants there.

Downtown Disney, however, occupies the space between the three Disneyland Resort hotels and both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. While there is a direct entrance from the Grand Californian hotel into DCA, the front entrance to both DCA and Disneyland park are reached through Downtown Disney.

Each morning, you can follow the crowds from your hotel, through an otherwise quiet Downtown Disney to the parks. And at night you can follow them back to the hotel through a much more lively setting, though you may stop for a drink, snack or more shopping along the way. Additionally, you can leave the park for a meal in Downtown Disney before heading back in, all without relying on a tram, bus, monorail or car.

What We Ate & Bought

Since our time here was short, we tactically availed ourselves of a few dining and retail options. On our way back to the hotel from Disneyland Park, we first stopped at the shake window at Black Tap Craft Burgers & Shakes. Rona and Jay ate at Black Tap in Las Vegas a few years back and enjoyed it well enough, naturally sharing one of their Internet-famous CrazyShakes for dessert. These things are over-the-top milkshakes served in frosting-rimmed glasses topped with entire slices of cake, full-sized treats, and candy. 

On this night, Rona wasn’t feeling ice cream and because Rachel can’t really do cake, Rachel and Jay shared a more manageable Nutella shake, which was was super thick, not overly sweet chocolate-hazelnutty goodness.

Our visit coincided with the very tail end of Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration. As such, Rona and Rachel made a huge point of stopping into the Disney Home store for clearance, 70th anniversary build-your-own tumblers. They each got to combine their chosen tumbler, straw and lid.

Additionally we were coerced into visiting the enormous World of Disney store, and by coerced, we mean it was there and we walked in because it’s big and has gobs of stuff. Retribution was swift because we didn’t buy anything.

After Rachel and the Nutella shake abandoned us to sprint back to the hotel, Rona and Jay stopped off at Disney Wonderful World of Sweets to get Rona some dessert. For a mere $7,50, Rona walked away with an entire cake pop. If the $15 shake didn’t make you blink, this should. To be fair, the cake pop came with Mickey ears, so there’s probably licensing or extra labor, or price gouging built into that. 

During our Disney California Adventure day, we took a brief afternoon break before our World of Color dinner reservation and evening in the park. On the way back from DCA to the hotel, Jay and Rachel felt the need for caffeine, so they stopped in the fancy Starbucks in Downtown Disney while Rona returned to the Disney Home store to get a build-your-own tumbler for our DIL Veronica. 

We didn’t really do much more shopping or eating until the next morning before check-out. Rona and Jay went back to Downtown Disney to acquire breakfast at the recently reopened Earl of Sandwich. We came away with a breakfast bowl for Rachel and breakfast sandwich for the two of us to share. The good Earl offered a DVC discount, too.

Though not in Downtown Disney, we’ll mention for completeness that on the way back to the room, we stopped off at the Coffee House in the hotel. Rona and Jay opted for an iced and hot Americano, respectively, plus a pack of two hard boiled eggs to supplement the shared sandwich.

Downtown Disney Spending Recap 

• Nutella shake (Black Tap): $15
• Build-your-own tumblers, 70th anniversary clearance (x3, w/ DVC discount): $19 each
• Cake pop w/ Mickey ears (Wonderful World of Sweets): $7.50
• Total breakfast-on-checkout-day (see below): $34.50
  • Earl of Sandwich breakfast (w/ DVC discount): $19
  • Coffee House breakfast add-on (2 Americanos + hard boiled eggs, w/ discount): $15.50

Our Verdict

So, where does this Villas at Disneyland Hotel review leave us? Overall, we really liked the resort. We would definitely stay at one of the DVC villas at the Disneyland Hotel again, just to take advantage of the pools, bars, and restaurants on the grounds. The Deluxe Studio had plenty of room, though we do like to do laundry when we stay at a DVC resort. For a shorter stay, we’d be perfectly happy with the studio, managing laundry via the shared laundry facilities on the first floor if need be. For a 4-night or longer stay, we’d opt for the 1-bedroom villa to ensure we had our own laundry.

That the hotel borders Downtown Disney is fabulous, given the added mix of dining and shopping options it brings. Even just people watching is a bonus. The Grand Californian is also just across a parking lot or through Downtown Disney if we wanted to mix things up a bit. And, if for some reason we broke down and wanted to go to one of the parks, they’re right there!

That’s all for our first ever trip to Disneyland. We hope you found these trip reports helpful!