We had a pretty good experience here in 2007 and in 2006 (Nov.)... The one time we got a room overlooking the park, but there is no balcony. It was nice to look out the window and see everything going on, though. The other time our room faced the pool, and it made me feel somewhat claustrophobic to not be able to see anything but walls of the other rooms, surrounding the pool. The rooms were clean, glasses wrapped in sealed plastic from what I recall. Beds were comfortable enough, but are doubles, not queens, I think. The room was pretty dark, we found. They have safety deposit boxes you can ask for when you check in, and sometimes they run out, they told me, but both times we had one. They give you a key for it, and the deposit box is at the front desk. If you lose the key, I think you pay around $250, but I don't know if that is for sure or not, but I must have checked a million times a day to make sure I had 1.) My Disney passes 2.) my key to the safety deposit box on me at all times! Denny's was awesome - Cap'n Kidds, well, you may want to do some more research on it. We found 2-4 breakfasts out of the week (free) we could handle, but after that we were sick of the VERY stale bread for toast. The best thing there was the toasted bagels with cream cheese, and I was scared to eat the eggs in case they weren't so fresh. Cereal, (generic, not very good brand name) was offered, as well as juice, etc. You were to eat there, not take a tray back to your room, and the room filled quickly, and tables were pretty dirty. BUT IT WAS FREE ('cept for the tip jar they had there) so we didn't complain. No bugs of any kind were found in the room. I think housekeeping were mostly Spanish speaking because we had to play charades for a little while when we were talking, LOL. They were VERY appreciative of the room tips. On one trip, our doorlock was so tricky to open, but they came and fixed it at once. Or rather, tried to, LOL. We didn't want to take more time out of our trip sitting there while they fixed it so we had to really really quick swipe the card for that room. Pool area seemed clean, tidy, and refreshing. Staff was pleasant enough.
Edited to add: The distance to the park was HEAVEN and there was a small convenience store in another hotel just to the left (when facing the hotel when you cross the street from
Disneyland.)
If anyone sees Elizabeth there, the homeless lady who sits on the bus shelter, please give her a smile. That was our one really, really sad thing about our trip, was seeing someone who was likely a Grandma to someone, sleeping outside on the bus stop bench every night we were there in 2007... she had one cart with her (bag with wheels) and at night, she put on her gloves, and toque, and would rest her head. I was bothered by that for hours/days, and upon asking the front desk about her, they said they offer her what they can, but she always declines umbrellas, etc. - she gets paid monthly, so can afford to eat, but is homeless. She doesn't like crowds too much, they told me, so when it gets too much for her, she heads further down the line. One night there was also a man who looked sane at first, but as he began to talk and laugh amongst himself, I realized perhaps he was not really all there. Very sad indeed.
