Disneyland has released new hotel discounts for October to December 2023 with room-only deals for Disney Visa cardholders. This post shares the details about the special offers, commentary about savings, staying off-site vs. on-site, and booking recommendations.
These discounts are available at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland Hotel, and the new Villas at Disneyland Hotel. Savings vary based upon both room category, with prices also increasing during busier rate chart seasons.
That last variable has the biggest impact. If you’re a Californian or live in a nearby state and have flexibility in your travel dates, we’d highly recommend visiting Disneyland during a weekday away from the upcoming holiday weeks–Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. The rack rate charts are less expensive and crowds will hopefully be better.
With this offer, Disney Visa Cardmembers save up to 15% on Sunday through Thursday night stays at select Disneyland Resort hotels from October 22 through December 21, 2023. Here are the resort savings at each of the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort on Standard and Premium room types:
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
- Save up to 15%
Disneyland Hotel
- Save up to 10%
Villas at Disneyland Hotel
- Save up to 10%
Book now through December 11, 2023. Travel must be completed by December 22,2023.
A few details are worth emphasizing with the Disney Visa discount. First, you must use a valid Disney Visa Card or Disney Rewards Redemption Card to pay the deposit. If a valid Disney Visa Card or Disney Rewards Redemption Card is not used, the non-discounted room price will be charged for the duration of the stay. Second, the Disney Visa Cardmember must stay in a room on the reservation.
This offer is not valid for select Concierge rooms, Signature or Premium suites, or 2- or 3-Bedroom Villas. Not valid on previously booked rooms. Beyond that, normal exclusions and terms and conditions apply with all of these Disneyland Resort discount. Savings based on the non-discounted price for the same room type at the same hotel. Subject to availability as the number of rooms allocated for this offer is limited.
This discount cannot be combined with any other hotel discounts or offers; savings exclude applicable fees and taxes. Limit two rooms per reservation and occupancy restrictions apply per room. Savings are not available on signature suites or on previously booked rooms.
At present, the only discount being offered is to Disney Visa cardholders and there’s nothing at Pixar Place/Paradise Pier Hotel. It’s possible that this is because the heart of Halloween and the holiday season is an incredibly popular time for bookings at the Hotels of Disneyland Resort. That would also explain why this discount only offers paltry savings (10-15% vs. 20-30% for the last special offer).
It’s also possible that Disneyland is opening this to Disney Visa cardholders first before expanding it to the general public and Magic Key Passholders. That’s more or less what Walt Disney World has done with recent discounts. My bet is that it’s a bit of both, but I could easily see no deals for the general public, and ones with extremely limited availability for APs. Unlike the last few months, this is peak season for Disneyland, so they really don’t need to do much to incentivize hotel bookings.
Accordingly, I’m not going to bother with a rundown of the cheapest dates this deal is available. If you’re a true bargain hunter, you should either stay off-site or wait until early 2024 rolls around and better discounts are offered. Nevertheless, if this deal is updated with Magic Key and/or general public discounts, I’ll update this post with those.
To that point, there are a ton of great off-site hotels that are within walking distance to the parks and cost much less money than the three Hotels of Disneyland Resort. As you can see in our Disneyland Area Hotel Rankings & Reviews, some of these even rank higher than the off-site hotels.
Just keep in mind that October through December is also going to be a popular time at the third party hotels in Anaheim, so you’re going to be paying premium prices pretty much no matter where you book. Still not nearly as much as the three official hotels would set you back, but much more than the same accommodations would cost in early February 2024 or even last month.
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. This is in addition to any package or bundle savings on tickets and hotels. A lot of these third party hotels will have great rates during the late summer and early fall off-season, as pent-up demand is slowing and that isn’t a big time for travel to Anaheim (or conventions), anyway.
If it’s a once in a lifetime trip or special occasion and you’re dead set on staying on-site, we’d highly recommend going with Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. It’s typically the most expensive of the trio, but it’s also worth it. The Grand Californian is a true luxury resort and thematic gem–think of it as the best parts of Wilderness Lodge and Grand Floridian, combined in a single hotel.
Grand Californian is the nicest hotel in Anaheim, and one of the best hotels in Orange County, period–and there’s strong competition in Newport and Laguna Beach. I’ve also found myself drawn more to the Craftsman style over the years, and love exploring the quiet corners of the Grand Californian.
As with Walt Disney world, we recommend requesting a fee-free Disneyland vacation price quote from Be Our Guest Vacations. Those Authorized Disney Vacation Planners will do the work for you and take the stress out of planning, finding the cheapest dates (if you so desire), making recommendations with plans, booking dining reservations, and monitoring your reservation for better discounts (it’s not going to get better than this).
We love Disneyland Hotel, but it’s just not on the same level as GCH. It’s a sentimental favorite, a love letter to Walt Disney and his original theme park that fans will adore. However, it’s just not as high of a caliber of a hotel when viewed objectively. DLH is also not nearly as close to the parks–Grand Californian’s private entrance into DCA is huge.
On a positive note, construction on the new tower for the Villas at Disneyland Hotel is now finished (photo/video tours and review coming soon!), so at least that’s no longer an issue. And Goofy’s Kitchen is doing an adorable Halloween breakfast, if that interests you (and if you’re able to score reservations). Still, that plus Tangaroa Terrace and Trader Sam’s are not even remotely on par with the dining scene at the Grand Californian.
Then there’s Paradise Pier/Pixar Place Hotel. We recommend this hotel to people who enjoy design themed to daycare centers, and who hate having too much money. For October through December 2023, it’s not currently discounted, which probably has more to do with the ongoing overhaul than strong demand.
Suffice to say, if you’re thinking about Paradise Pier Hotel, perhaps reconsider. Especially at full price. This is an “upgrade” from our previous recommendation of avoiding PPH at all costs. While we still wouldn’t recommend it, but the new private entrance to DCA does change the equation just a bit. It’s still crazy to me that this hotel has so many staunch defenders, but then again, so too did Stitch’s Great Escape.
Just keep in mind that with that upgrade comes a downgrade, as construction is ongoing to convert it to Pixar Place Hotel. The guest impact of construction is significant, with most of the new offerings not opening until later this year. On the plus side, Paradise Pier Hotel doesn’t really have “amenities,” so there’s not much of value that can still close at this point. Hopefully Great Maple and other additions debut before the end of 2023.
On the plus side, there have been a few big on-site perks introduced recently beyond that private entrance. Early Entry is the biggest new selling point of the Hotels of Disneyland Resort. Early Entry occurs 30 minutes prior to each park’s opening every day, and offers access to select attractions, dining and shopping.
We’ve taken advantage of this in both parks, and share the experience in our posts about Early Entry at Disneyland and Early Entry at Disney California Adventure. Suffice to say, it’s a nice advantage for Fantasyland or Avengers Campus, while also offering a strategic starting point for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Cars Land.
Ultimately, Early Entry is an on-site perk that could tip the scales in favor of staying at one of the Disneyland Resort Hotels if you’re on the fence. With that said, all of these on-site hotels are pretty pricey, and that perk alone isn’t enough to justify the on-site stay. The better/easier justification is simply because you want to, whether that means a single-night “treat yo self” stay or going all-out on a deluxe Disneyland vacation.
Either way, saving a bit of money always helps, and that’s what these discounts offer. That’s about it in terms of current Disneyland discounts and our thoughts on booking a stay at one of the on-site hotels in the coming months. For now, we’ll just say that if you’re in need of a Disney fix and are on the fence about doing Walt Disney World or Disneyland…choose Disneyland!
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 the Halloween and Christmas 2023 hotel discounts for Disneyland Resort? Do you feel like these rates for the Grand Californian and Disneyland Hotel are fair, or still overpriced? Is there availability for your dates? Is 10% to 15% off enough to convince you to book a trip, or are these prices still too high? How do you feel about off-site third party accommodations near Disneyland? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
