We stayed at the HoJo in the family suite this summer for our one and only trip to DL. It was nice enough for us. The girls enjoyed the water park (DS decided he was too big for it), and we all enjoyed being able to walk to McDonalds to grab breakfast in the morning on our way to the park.
As for meals, we did a late lunch at Ariel's Grotto instead of supper so we could meet the princesses, and we did a pre-park opening breakfast at the Plaza. Of the two, the one I'd definitely do again is the Plaza. In 45 minutes, we met Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pooh, Tigger, Fairy Godmother, Hook, Max (Goofy's son), Rafiki, and Eeyore. If you're interested in meeting characters, that's the way to do it. Plus, it gave us an extra day into the parks early. (Three day park hopper passes give you one early morning entry to Disneyland. We did that our first day there & then did this one our last day there. Check for the dates for both.)
For more fast food type meals, Flo's in CA is yummy. I loved the veggie tater bake.
Some of the travel boards recommend buying vouchers for the character meals. I bought gift cards from BJs to cover the cost instead. 5% off, plus an additional 5% from my credit card at the time worked out to a better deal than the vouchers. But if you don't want to go the gift card route, you may want to price out the dining vouchers. Just know that the vouchers for most counter service meals aren't worth it. Only the sit down meals actually save you any money.
Oh, and I really liked the Disboards Disneyland board mentioned above. I also used the Disneyland Daily blog a good bit.
-Kris
DS (9/05)
DD (8/08)
DD (9/12)