Pixar Place: My Go-To Resort for All Disneyland Trips

We took the trip right after Father’s Day weekend—we planned it this way because we wanted to avoid Grad Night and other events that generally happen during the first half of June.

We flew into Santa Ana Airport and we got private transportation to take us to the hotel. The transportation also includes 30 minutes of shopping at retailers like Target or Walmart. I just used the Target app to do mobile pickup. We used Diamond Driver Guy and they were very prompt and responsive.

Once arriving at the hotel, it was super clean and everyone was friendly. The lobby is spacious and we checked in at the Club level. Club level provides access to their lounge, which has food throughout the day. Now the food wasn’t actually a big portion or an actual menu to order off of, but they were more like snacks and continental breakfast in the morning. One can argue that some nights (Italian), you can get full off of their pasta dishes. They do have alcoholic drinks, and other kid-friendly drinks for the littles. There was also a TV for the kids to watch.

We didn’t use the early park access because we wanted to sleep in and allow the kids to have breakfast. When we went to the parks, it was really to walk to California Adventures as we would just go through Grand Californian. If we wanted to go to Disneyland Park, we would take the monorail, which I do not recommend if you have a double stroller because it’s a pain to get it through the train doors because of the narrow space. It’s not that far of a walk to walk to Disneyland Park.

We would often take breaks and go back to the hotel to nap or just get snacks. Having Club level access was great because sometimes the kids would get hungry and we would just get food there. They also have activities on certain nights, like making friendship bracelets. All in all, I highly recommend Club level if you have little kids.

The room was super spacious, and I even did a rental with BabyQuip to get a full-size crib. The hotel only offered pack-and-play, and I knew my younger one would not be used to that. The waterpark had a nice small splash pad, although the water slide seemed like it was for bigger kids. They also had some other games and food service.

We would go up to the deck for fireworks, and they even synced the music with the fireworks. I highly recommend this because our kids would be so tired so we would leave the park early, grab some food from the lounge or food to go and just rest and watch the fireworks.

Our room did face California Adventures, so we could see their water light show through the window. The hotel and room had lovely touches of Pixar all over, and I love the modern feel.

I did walk through Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian, and I felt the Disneyland Hotel was super far from everything, and the Grand Californian was way too big and dark inside. The Pixar Place Hotel was the best happy medium and choice for us.

Definitely pre-plan all of your Disney activities, know how to get into the park, and figure out the menu at the Club level if you ever want to nibble on what they have. Make sure to get all of your Magic Bands+ all set up. We used the Disneyland app for everything, from reservation, to figuring out what rides to take.

For more inspiration and insider recommendations, visit our Anaheim page.