Disney Ambassador or Hilton?

[OldSchoolReasons]

So I've decided I'm definitely going.

I'm trying to choose between the Disney Ambassador and the Hilton. The Disney one is a fair bit more expensive though. Is the early entry you get staying at the Disney worth the extra bother or should I just stick to the Hilton for price (and the free breakfast)?

I've also noticed on the website you can only book the Ambassador for up to five days at a time. Unless I've misunderstood if you want a longer stay (in my case 8 days) do you just book two rooms back-to-back? All dummy bookings I've done have come back as fully booked, are standard rooms really that popular?

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Yay! You'll have a great time.

We didn't have the early entry benefit and did just fine without it. We did two days per park and were able to do everything we wanted with plenty of time to spare. (We went in May when crowd levels were low to moderate.)

Also, keep in mind that the Ambassador isn't on the monorail line, they use bus service, so it doesn't have the same convenience as the other Disney hotels. The Hilton is across the street from Bayside Station.

Do you know for sure that the Hilton breakfast is free? I can't remember. It might have been, but we have a Hilton Honors Card so it could've been a perk of that. I didn't think it was free across the board though, so make sure you account for that.

The Disney hotels book up quickly so I think it's quite possible the standard rooms really are sold out. I can't help you with your other booking question. Hopefully, someone will come along who can.

 

[BelleBway]

I haven't stayed at the Ambassador, but if my choice was only between that and the Hilton, I'd choose the latter- especially if money is a concern. The 15 minute early entry was nice (when I stayed at TDL Hotel) but not enough to justify the cost. As mentioned, the Hilton is probably more convenient to transit. It's a great hotel.

The only reason I might recommend staying at the Ambassador would be if you want to be able to purchase a park hopper ticket where you can park hop all days. The ones that are generally for sale restrict you to a single park for the first and second days- but at the official hotels, you can spend a little more and get a passport that allows park hopping on all days. But it's not super critical to be able to park hop the first days, especially if you haven't been to TDR before.

I personally like staying at the TDL Hotel or Miracosta if I can swing it because they are so amazing, plus they have locations that can't be beat- steps away from a park/monorail station. But I don't really have any desire to stay at the Ambassador- when I can't afford the splurge, I have been very happy at the Hilton or Sheraton.

If you are staying for awhile, perhaps you could have the best of both worlds and split your stay between the Hilton and another hotel? I'm not sure how 8 days at the Ambassador would compare to 6 days at the Hilton plus 2 at the Miracosta (or TDL hotel or Ambassador) but you might want to look at that as another possible option.

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

Ah that's great thanks, I think I'm going to stick with the Hilton then. The lack of park hopper isn't such a biggie because I was planning to do three days and hop on the last one which is what non-Disney hotels get anyway. Can you go into other hotels for a drink like you can in other parks? Looking around hotels I can't afford is one of my favourite Disney activities

 

[BelleBway]

Ah that's great thanks, I think I'm going to stick with the Hilton then. The lack of park hopper isn't such a biggie because I was planning to do three days and hop on the last one which is what non-Disney hotels get anyway. Can you go into other hotels for a drink like you can in other parks? Looking around hotels I can't afford is one of my favourite Disney activities

Absolutely! I haven't actually done it, but there's no barrier. The DLH hotel and Mira Costa are both definitely worth seeing.