Anaheim Desert Inn opinions and experiences /Universal moonlighting?

[BobaFettFan]

My wife's father, in a spur of good charity, offered to pay for a Disneyland vacation. Yay! Upon researching how much it costs, he walked it back and was worried because he really did want to take his kids and grandkid to Disneyland. Now we're looking at ways to tighten the belt.

The wife and I are seasoned vets but I stick to what I know. Bring food and water bottles with you. Buy knick knacks online beforehand that the kid will want. Hell, I bought a broken ironman WEB blaster to fix and french version web blaster to reduce the costs of things.

I splurge on the hotel though. I always go to Best Western ppi but two rooms is almost $750/night + fees.

I looked around and very close is the annaheim desert inn. The price for a two bedroom suite is the same as one bedroom +$20 for some reason ($380). I'm concerned there's something we don't realize about the rooms.

Can any of you wonderful people give me tips, anecdotes, warnings about this hotel in particular? Should I request a certain room? Maybe there is a promotion we don't know about? Photos of what you encountered?

Currently we have a Parlar C2 2 bath.

we'll be there early December.

Also, grandpa and auntie want to spend a day or two at Universal Studios(Hiss!). How feasible is that idea coming from this hotel? Maybe there is a special bus that steals people away to their theme park from the gates of Disney I don't know about.

Thanks in advance! If the place is legit for us it'll trim a sweet %25 off our trip price so we're excited and Grandpa is much happier.

 

[beachteachlv]

We have stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn before and are booked there again in three weeks. We too usually stay at the Best Western but it was several hundred more so we opted for ADI instead.

 

[starlite_]

4 posts below: https://www.disboards.com/threads/desert-inn-cleanliness.3937006/

 

[BobaFettFan]

4 posts below: https://www.disboards.com/threads/desert-inn-cleanliness.3937006/

I swear I looked! That thread has a lot of info about cleanliness, but I'd also like to know about sound level and the layout or any hidden things to look for. Also issues with people snoring and it being smaller than anticipated or who knows.

Thank you for the link @starlite_ ! Very helpful.

 

[Cal-Pie]

The photos on the website are a good representation of the rooms. They are spacious for the price. The hotel is super basic. My main complaint is the mattresses, IMHO they are super uncomfortable. I stopped staying there for that reason. I wasn’t sleeping and it was making my time in the parks miserable.

Edit: Also make sure that you are looking at the total price and not just the nightly rate. They charge a resort fee (laughable) and automatically add parking. Obviously you can ask for that to be removed if you don’t have a car.

 

[RoseColored97]

This is our go-to hotel when we travel in a larger group (actually, even when we're a smaller group it is a go-to). We had booked the Disneyland Hotel for next weekend because the DI&S and other comparable hotels along Harbor were completely booked back in September when we planned everything out, but we got super lucky and there was a cancellation of the C2 suite. Instead of paying $980/night, now we only will pay $485 for more room, everyone gets their own bed, and it is a much closer walk. Win/win/win.

We've stayed in this room setup several times, it has served us very well. It is spacious, two bathrooms, four beds, one pull out sofa. The hotel is clean and quiet. No frills, but that is not what we are wanting when we stay at this particular hotel. Fridge in one room, adequate dresser space, decent sized bathroom with vanity on the outside. Free breakfast with a decent variety (hard boiled eggs, cereal, milk, cheese, pastries, toast, coffee, yogurt).

There is an increased presence in individuals experiencing homelessness and food vendors hanging outside of DL property (we noticed it this past weekend), but if you've stayed at BWPPI you already know that and probably know how to avoid it.

Edited: I'll try to grab updated photos of the room setup when we're there next week.

Edited again: Also - we actually did DI&S and went to Universal/Disney for a short trip back in May of last year. We Uber'd up to Universal early in the morning. I think we left at 7:15am and got there at around 8:30am-ish on a Saturday for a 9am opening so lower morning traffic. We ended up with an Uber XL and probably paid $50-60 each way. It seems like a long car ride, but it was pretty fun to try out a new park. We stayed for half the day because we paid for the unlimited express pass and got everything we wanted done in the morning. Skipped several rides because the Minions gave us motion sickness lol. There was a Metro train we saw that seemed to travel a pretty big distance from Anaheim(?) to Universal that we were going to check out. We're also doing Universal this next week, but will be staying up north then traveling down to DI&S with quite a bit of luggage so will not attempt the metro this time.

 

[RoseColored97]

The photos on the website are a good representation of the rooms. They are spacious for the price. The hotel is super basic. My main complaint is the mattresses, IMHO they are super uncomfortable. I stopped staying there for that reason. I wasn’t sleeping and it was making my time the parks miserable.

It's funny you mention this, I actually really liked the mattress. I have frequent back pain, but didn't experience it while on the trip and I think it is because of the firm mattresses (plus additional walking/exercise, I'm sure). I hadn't really noticed before because I can usually sleep on anything, but if one prefers a more firm mattress you'll find that at DI&S. Not everyones cup of tea, but preferable to some.

 

[BobaFettFan]

This is our go-to hotel when we travel in a larger group (actually, even when we're a smaller group it is a go-to). We had booked the Disneyland Hotel for next weekend because the DI&S and other comparable hotels along Harbor were completely booked back in September when we planned everything out, but we got super lucky and there was a cancellation of the C2 suite. Instead of paying $980/night, now we only will pay $485 for more room, everyone gets their own bed, and it is a much closer walk. Win/win/win.

We've stayed in this room setup several times, it has served us very well. It is spacious, two bathrooms, four beds, one pull out sofa. The hotel is clean and quiet. No frills, but that is not what we are wanting when we stay at this particular hotel. Fridge in one room, adequate dresser space, decent sized bathroom with vanity on the outside. Free breakfast with a decent variety (hard boiled eggs, cereal, milk, cheese, pastries, toast, coffee, yogurt).

There is an increased presence in individuals experiencing homelessness and food vendors hanging outside of DL property (we noticed it this past weekend), but if you've stayed at BWPPI you already know that and probably know how to avoid it.

Edited: I'll try to grab updated photos of the room setup when we're there next week.

Edited again: Also - we actually did DI&S and went to Universal/Disney for a short trip back in May of last year. We Uber'd up to Universal early in the morning. I think we left at 7:15am and got there at around 8:30am-ish on a Saturday for a 9am opening so lower morning traffic. We ended up with an Uber XL and probably paid $50-60 each way. It seems like a long car ride, but it was pretty fun to try out a new park. We stayed for half the day because we paid for the unlimited express pass and got everything we wanted done in the morning. Skipped several rides because the Minions gave us motion sickness lol. There was a Metro train we saw that seemed to travel a pretty big distance from Anaheim(?) to Universal that we were going to check out. We're also doing Universal this next week, but will be staying up north then traveling down to DI&S with quite a bit of luggage so will not attempt the metro this time.

This is exactly the type of info I was hoping to get! Love these boards!

 

[crystal1313]

We stayed there in 2021. Our room was not very clean and our mattress sagged in the middle, so we both fell into the middle of the bed and slept terrible. I cut a little bit of slack because it was 2021, and everyone had just reopened and they might have been short handed for housekeeping. But the stains on the sofa and chair, looked like they had been there a long time. Also, where our room was, it was pretty loud. We could hear the luggage cart pretty late into the night. I love all the different room types at this hotel, but we are waiting until they refresh the rooms to stay again. Oh and if you’re driving, parking is tight and they valet your car.

 

[Pluto468]

My wife's father, in a spur of good charity, offered to pay for a Disneyland vacation. Yay! Upon researching how much it costs, he walked it back and was worried because he really did want to take his kids and grandkid to Disneyland. Now we're looking at ways to tighten the belt.

The wife and I are seasoned vets but I stick to what I know. Bring food and water bottles with you. But knock knacks online beforehand that the kid will want. Hell, I bought a broken ironman WEB blaster to fix and french version web blaster to reduce the costs of things.

I splurge on the hotel though. I always go to Best Western ppi but two rooms is almost $750/night + fees.

I looked around and very close is the annaheim desert inn. The price for a two bedroom suite is the same as one bedroom +$20 for some reason ($380). I'm concerned there's something we don't realize about the rooms.

Can any of you wonderful people give me tips, anecdotes, warnings about this hotel in particular? Should I request a certain room? Maybe there is a promotion we don't know about? Photos of what you encountered?

Currently we have a Parlar C2 2 bath.

we'll be there early December.

Also, grandpa and auntie want to spend a day or two at Universal Studios(Hiss!). How feasible is that idea coming from this hotel? Maybe there is a special bus that steals people away to their theme park from the gates of Disney I don't know about.

Thanks in advance! If the place is legit for us it'll trim a sweet %25 off our trip price so we're excited and Grandpa is much happier.

I've almost booked that SO many times but in the end went with other places because of the mixed reviews. How many people in your party? Tropicana and Camelot have some family suites.

 

[Geemo]

My wife's father, in a spur of good charity, offered to pay for a Disneyland vacation. Yay! Upon researching how much it costs, he walked it back and was worried because he really did want to take his kids and grandkid to Disneyland. Now we're looking at ways to tighten the belt.

The wife and I are seasoned vets but I stick to what I know. Bring food and water bottles with you. But knock knacks online beforehand that the kid will want. Hell, I bought a broken ironman WEB blaster to fix and french version web blaster to reduce the costs of things.

I splurge on the hotel though. I always go to Best Western ppi but two rooms is almost $750/night + fees.

I looked around and very close is the annaheim desert inn. The price for a two bedroom suite is the same as one bedroom +$20 for some reason ($380). I'm concerned there's something we don't realize about the rooms.

Can any of you wonderful people give me tips, anecdotes, warnings about this hotel in particular? Should I request a certain room? Maybe there is a promotion we don't know about? Photos of what you encountered?

Currently we have a Parlar C2 2 bath.

we'll be there early December.

Also, grandpa and auntie want to spend a day or two at Universal Studios(Hiss!). How feasible is that idea coming from this hotel? Maybe there is a special bus that steals people away to their theme park from the gates of Disney I don't know about.

Thanks in advance! If the place is legit for us it'll trim a sweet %25 off our trip price so we're excited and Grandpa is much happier.

Lots of good advice here.
We have booked that room several times, the 2 full bathrooms is perfect!
We have always slept well on the mattresses.
Since you have booked the room and have a set price the only thing I will recommend is to keep checking the rate. If you find it goes down call and request a rate adjustment. I always do this and have saved even more sometimes.

 

[BobaFettFan]

I've almost booked that SO many times but in the end went with other places because of the mixed reviews. How many people in your party? Tropicana and Camelot have some family suites.

4 adults, 1 (by then) 7 year old.


My wife has anxiety in general. Plus her family, whom she loves very much, set her off pretty easy. That's why I'm asking about the rooms. She needs a place that'll give her a space to be away from them at night so she can reset.

I like the desert inn layout with two closed doors and a room between the rooms.

 

[Geemo]

4 adults, 1 (by then) 7 year old.


My wife has anxiety in general. Plus her family, whom she loves very much, set her off pretty easy. That's why I'm asking about the rooms. She needs a place that'll give her a space to be away from them at night so she can reset.

I like the desert inn layout with two closed doors and a room between the rooms.

The 3 room spaces in a C2 is nice. I also like that there is a TV in each space. This makes it easy to chill in your own space.

 

[OlliePop27]

The 3 room spaces in a C2 is nice. I also like that there is a TV in each space. This makes it easy to chill in your own space.

That is what I find compelling about this particular room setup. Some of the positive responses in this thread and the other about cleanliness make me feel better. However, there have also been a couple of negative comments about bed bugs, unsanitary elevators, garbage cans, and dirty carpet/walls.

I feel like I'm rolling the dice a bit by staying here, but so long as the room is mostly clean, and the bathroom, I should be good. I've stayed most other places on Harbor so assume it's pretty similar.

 

[lalasmama]

I swear I looked! That thread has a lot of info about cleanliness, but I'd also like to know about sound level and the layout or any hidden things to look for. Also issues with people snoring and it being smaller than anticipated or who knows.

I've had many stays at DI&S over the last 10 years.

As far as your question above, we've had differing experience with noise levels. When we've stayed mid-motel, we've heard doors, talking, kids running around. Because of this, I started asking for rooms as far back as possible, which has generally been easily accommodated because most people aren't requesting a further walk, haha.

If I hadn't discovered Majestic Gardens, I'd still be pretty loyal to DI&S.

 

[starlite_]

View attachment 822858

I swear I looked! That thread has a lot of info about cleanliness, but I'd also like to know about sound level and the layout or any hidden things to look for. Also issues with people snoring and it being smaller than anticipated or who knows.

Thank you for the link @starlite_ ! Very helpful.

Gotcha! I can't help with noise that much, I sleep like a rock xD But I do find the beds comfortable, and love that the sink/mirror is outside the bathroom. I didn't hear anything from the other rooms while I was awake either.

We had a bad shower once, the shower head was broken and would get water all over the floor and walls if we weren't careful and the hot water took forever. But tbh, it's a motel, and we've had bad bathrooms even on fancy hotels so we didn't fight about it and just put a towel around the broken shower head part and that solved it. We also only stayed for 2 nights that time so it wasn't really worth it to us to ask for a dif room, if we had been longer or my parents were there for example it might have bothered us more.

The valet parking guys are always super nice and helpful and so is the lobby crew.

 

[wabbott]

We stayed there in late September. We had stayed there once before, in 2021. We've also stayed twice at the Best Western. the BW may be marginally "nicer," but not for the price differential, at least to me.

One thing we encountered on our last trip was the WiFi is quite buggy. I was able to get around the issue by using my phone as a hotspot.

 

[ClaraOswald]

We stayed there in 2015, 2017, and 2018....so it's been a while. But we liked the room size. We found the room to be clean enough. It's a dated motel but we weren't bothered by that. We once had an issue with a leaky sink but they fixed it quickly. We were always in a room on the top floor so never had to worry about noise above us. But the housekeeping cart rolling by in the morning was always pretty loud. Also, we could hear thumping music from a rooftop bar a few hotels away and that drove me nuts.

Parking was kind of a pain. Very hard to get a self-park spot so we had to valet.

The elevator was slow, dark and kind of creaky but that probably doesn't bother most people. Freaked me out though.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Do your kids need a pool? That’s a flat out no if so.

Have you looked at the price of hotels a little further walk away? Personally I can’t deal with motel noise. Are you sure the grandparents are ok with a motel?

Candy cane inn? Newly remodeled.

For 3 random weekend nights at Hilton garden inn it was $615/night with tax, but no car / resort fees added in.

In the future, if you plan 6 mos in advance home 2 suites has a 2 bedroom unit for $415 a night. It only has one bathroom, but it’s great for a budget stay.

 

[BobaFettFan]

Do your kids need a pool? That’s a flat out no if so.

Have you looked at the price of hotels a little further walk away? Personally I can’t deal with motel noise. Are you sure the grandparents are ok with a motel?

Candy cane inn? Newly remodeled.

For 3 random weekend nights at Hilton garden inn it was $615/night with tax, but no car / resort fees added in.

In the future, if you plan 6 mos in advance home 2 suites has a 2 bedroom unit for $415 a night. It only has one bathroom, but it’s great for a budget stay.

You're right about 6 months out.

No rooms 11 months out.