The Villas at Disneyland Hotel openend on September 28, 2023. The 2023 update includes information available at press time, so the information is still being vetted and may change. However, I wanted to give some initial coverage of this resort as this location has been much anticipated.

The original Disneyland Hotel had three towers (Adventure Tower, Fantasy Tower, and Frontier Tower); the DVC Tower addition is the fourth one. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel is a separate tower in the Disneyland Hotel complex. Unlike the Villas at the Grand Californian, the Disneyland Hotel has no direct Theme Park access. The Hotel complex is located west of Downtown Disney and about a fifteen-minute walk to Disneyland.

The Villas at Disneyland Hotel has 344 rooms. The total points at full capacity will be around 3.3 million compared to the existing DVC wing of the Grand Californian, 1.1 million points. There are 36 Duo Studios that accommodate only two guests and are similar in size to the Tower Studios at Disney's Riviera Resort. There is an abundance of Studios, 267 rooms that sleep 4. The resort view will be Standard, Preferred, and Garden. The Garden views are eight Duo Studios and Studios located poolside.

The points/night look comparable to the Grand Californian. For 2024, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel will have seven point seasons, compared to four for the Grand Californian.

The demand for more DVC rooms near Disneyland Park has been reflected in the availability of rooms at the Grand Californian for some time. The resort is expected to be sold entirely sooner than most DVC resorts. The base price at the time of publication is $230/points. The initial annual dues in 2023 are $9.06/point but do not include a very high transient tax of $2.7337, which will be applied to the user of the points (similar to Aulani) rather than in the annual dues like the Grand Californian. A separate comparison of transient tax treatment at the DVC resorts is discussed later in this chapter.

These contracts end on January 31, 2074. DVC owners at this resort will have resale restrictions like the DVC contracts at the Rivera Resort. If these contracts are bought later in the secondary resale market, the point eligibility is limited to reservations only at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel.

Room Descriptions

Studios

Duo Studios are one-room, Jungle Book-themed units that accommodate two people. Disneyland Hotel has 36 of these, with 5 poolside and 31 in the tower on all resort floors. Along with Riviera's Tower Studios, these are the only DVC room with less than four people per room. The poolside rooms are 251 square feet, and the Deluxe Studios are 270 square feet. The unit's sleeping area has a single queen bed that pulls down from the wall and can be hidden when not needed. The bathroom has a single sink and a walk-in shower. There is a microwave, sink, and small refrigerator in the kitchenette.

Studios are one-room units that accommodate up to four people. The room is themed after Sleeping Beauty or The Princess and the Frog. There are 267 of these, with 3 poolside and 362 in the tower on all resort floors. Studio poolside rooms are 368 square feet, and Studios in the tower are 370 square feet. The unit's sleeping area has a single queen bed and a queen-size pulldown bed. The kitchenette has a microwave, sink, and small refrigerator. The bathroom has a walk-in shower other.

One-Bedroom Villas

One-Bedroom Villas are two-room units that sleep up to five people. There are only 19 of these units, and they are themed Fantasia or Princess and the Frog. One-Bedroom Villas are approximately 754 square feet. The master bedroom has a king-size bed in a separate room. The living room has a queen-size pulldown bed and a single pulldown bed. The room has a fully equipped kitchen and a washer and dryer. The bathroom has a walk-in shower, a bathtub, and two vanities.

Two-Bedroom Villas

Two-Bedroom Villas are three-room units and sleep up to nine people. Two-Bedroom units are either lock-off units (made up of connecting Studios and One-Bedroom units) or dedicated units. There are 18 lock-off units and 19 dedicated units. The Lock-off units have a master bedroom with a king-size bed, a second bedroom with a queen-sized bed, and a single pulldown bed. These villas are 1,161 square feet. Each unit has two bathrooms; the master has a walk-in shower and a tub, while the other has a split design with a tub/shower combination in one room and a walk-in shower in the other. The Dedicated Two-Bedroom also has a king-size bed in the master bedroom but two regular queen-sized beds in the second bedroom. The living room has a pulldown queen bed and a single pulldown bed. The bathrooms are the same: a dedicated shower and a tub in the master and a walk-in shower in the other room. The dedicated unit has only one entrance to the villa, whereas the lock-off will have two separate entrances. Both units have a fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, and two separate balconies.

Grand Villas (3 Bedroom)

Grand Villas sleep up to twelve people and are 2,756 square feet in size, making them the second largest DVC property. Only the Grand Floridian's Grand Villa is larger at 2,800 square feet. Each villa has one master bedroom with a tub and a shower in a dedicated bathroom. There are two more bedrooms with two queen-size beds in each room. Both rooms have their bathroom, one with a shower/tub combination and the other with a walk-in shower. The living room has a queen-sized sleeper sofa. All Grand Villas have a full-sized kitchen and separate dining area. These units are two-story. There are two Grand Villas, one on floors 9 and 10 and the other on floors 11 and 12.

Villa Views/Types/Locations

Standard

The standard views are on all floors that face the Southside of the building away from the pools.

Preferred

These views face the pools in the main building. The North and East-facing rooms have a view of the new DVC Pool area. The East facing rooms face the existing Disneyland Hotel Pool and Recreation area.

Garden

These rooms are very near the pool on the northeast corner of the resort. The rooms are two-story with only four rooms on each floor.