Desert Inn and Suites - a few questions

[starshine514]

I have reservations there in May. I just want to have a good idea of things before we go.

First question: the breakfast. I know it's continental, but that can vary quite a bit. For example, is there milk and cereal?

Second question: the mini-fridge. How big is it? How big is the freezer section?

These next few questions I should probably just call them about, but maybe you guys know...

Third question: Do they charge for extra adults in a room? We'll have 6 adults and 2 kids in a parlor family suite C1. They didn't mention it on their website...

Fourth question: since they started charging for parking, is parking an issue? I won't have any trouble with availability of parking for one vehicle, right?

Fifth question: I think I read somewhere that there are elevators, which is good. Is the breakfast room also accessible by elevator (or on the first floor)?

Last question: Do they let you take the breakfast food back to your room?

If you guys know the answers and would like to share, great! If not, I'll contact the hotel directly.

Thanks!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I have reservations there in May. I just want to have a good idea of things before we go.



First question: the breakfast. I know it's continental, but that can vary quite a bit. For example, is there milk and cereal?

We tried to go to breakfast on only one day and the line was out the door. We saw many families eating outside and they were all eating cereal with milk.

Second question: the mini-fridge. How big is it? How big is the freezer section?

The refrigerator is a good size and got cold very fast. Just remember to lower the temperature when you enter the room. I don't remember a freezer section, but our waters were partically frozen from just a few hours in the frig. We had to change the temp.
These next few questions I should probably just call them about, but maybe you guys know...

Third question: Do they charge for extra adults in a room? We'll have 6 adults and 2 kids in a parlor family suite C1. They didn't mention it on their website...


The charge is the same. You can't go over the max. amount of people.


Fourth question: since they started charging for parking, is parking an issue? I won't have any trouble with availability of parking for one vehicle, right?

We always saw empty spaces, but we did go during January.


Fifth question: I think I read somewhere that there are elevators, which is good. Is the breakfast room also accessible by elevator (or on the first floor)?

Many elevators. The breakfast is on the first floor between the front desk room and the pool. All of the public areas are reached from the outside, meaning there is no common interior hall.

Last question: Do they let you take the breakfast food back to your room?

Sure. I didn't see trays, but they may have them. Most people seem to just carry with their hands.

If you guys know the answers and would like to share, great! If not, I'll contact the hotel directly.

Thanks!

It is a decent hotel and the distance to the parks can't be beat. We are staying again in October.

 

[starshine514]

Thanks Halloweenqueen! The one day you tried for the breakfast, was it near the beginning of the breakfast, in the middle, or near the end? I know this can vary greatly depending on the day of week, time of year, etc. I was just hoping there would be milk! My girls are picky about their cereal...

I was thinking that there wouldn't be an extra person charge. Having no charge is actually the reason that (even with a parking fee) this hotel was cheaper for us than 2 Hojo rooms. So, I was really hoping I had made the right choice...although the difference in walking distance was a selling point, too. Especially with the mobility issues with my group...

Thanks again for all the answers!

 

[DisSarahK]

First question: the breakfast. I know it's continental, but that can vary quite a bit. For example, is there milk and cereal?
Yes, milk, cereal, pastries (nothing fancy), fruit, juice, and I think there is coffee.

Second question: the mini-fridge. How big is it? How big is the freezer section?
It is bigger than one of those square "dorm fridges"...kind of a tall rectangle. I never really paid attention to the size of the freezer though.

These next few questions I should probably just call them about, but maybe you guys know...

Third question: Do they charge for extra adults in a room? We'll have 6 adults and 2 kids in a parlor family suite C1. They didn't mention it on their website...
I don't know the answer to this one.

Fourth question: since they started charging for parking, is parking an issue? I won't have any trouble with availability of parking for one vehicle, right?
We've never gone there with a car, but the lot has been quite full when we've been there and the spaces are tight.

Fifth question: I think I read somewhere that there are elevators, which is good. Is the breakfast room also accessible by elevator (or on the first floor)?
There are elevators (slow!) and the breakfast room is on the ground floor.

Last question: Do they let you take the breakfast food back to your room?
Yes, there are trays and you can take the food back to your room. We did that a lot--my husband would go load up the tray with food while I was still getting the children ready for the day. There isn't a lot of seating in the breakfast room.

 

[starshine514]

Very good. We'll probably send a couple of people down to grab breakfast stuff for the group, then.

Do you know if they have in-room safes? Like for laptops?

 

[Vala]

Yes, there's a safe. It was big enough for a laptop, a GPS unit, my DSLR and my most priced pins.

There is a quite small freezer section in the fridge, about enough for maybe one of those supermarket multi-packs of six ice cream cones.

We went in November before they started charging. The parking lot was really full and like it's been said, the spaces are tight.

We had to go in the underground garage with our rental. My friend (she drives a rather small car here, nowhere near the size of our rental) couldn't get the car in the parking space no matter how hard she tried. In the end I had to do it although I had an injured foot. Took us forever. I was just glad we only needed to do it once because we got the car the night before we checked out.

 

[DisSarahK]

Yes, there's a safe. It was big enough for a laptop, a GPS unit, my DSLR and my most priced pins.

Really? I never noticed a safe either time we stayed there!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

The safe is the exact one they have at Hojo. It's in between the beds under the nightstand.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

One of the things I liked about the hotel was the locker room. They had huge lockers to rent for the day for 75 cents. They were right next to the arcade and gift shop. The day of checkout we were able to get 3 carry on bags in one locker. We didn't need to fool with having the front desk hold our bags. It worked out great.

 

[michelleh1]

here's a pic of the fridge. it was a decent size for a mini fridge. we were able to fit quite a bit in the freezer section (we had food plus water bottles), but it's not huge.

 

[starshine514]

here's a pic of the fridge. it was a decent size for a mini fridge. we were able to fit quite a bit in the freezer section (we had food plus water bottles), but it's not huge.

Thanks for the pict! I'm glad to see its a decent size. The last few times we have vacationed with the fam (not at DL, though), we've had a resort w/ a full kitchen, so we're very spoiled in the fridge area!

 

[Vala]

The safe is the exact one they have at Hojo. It's in between the beds under the nightstand.

Yes, that's where ours was too.

 

[DisSarahK]

The safe is the exact one they have at Hojo. It's in between the beds under the nightstand.

I vaguely remember something there...I guess I didn't pay attention to what it was, though...I guess I was too tired!

 

[disneychrista]

Hope you don't mind me asking my own question:

What are the hours of the breakfast?

 

[starshine514]

Another question, given the recent thread regarding theft there, do you think I should be rethinking my reservation? We'll need two rooms most places and could get the Super 8 on Katella for about $160 less for the 5 nights. I really love the location of this hotel though and can't get anything else that close without spending a lot more... What would you guys do?

Also, my group will have one person in a wheelchair and one on a scooter, as well as two little kids in a stroller. so even though the Super 8 is in 'walking distance', I think we'd still be driving into the park each morning b/c nobody wants to push a wheelchair that far if they don't have to...

 

[sonnyjane]

Another question, given the recent thread regarding theft there, do you think I should be rethinking my reservation? We'll need two rooms most places and could get the Super 8 on Katella for about $160 less for the 5 nights. I really love the location of this hotel though and can't get anything else that close without spending a lot more... What would you guys do?

I think, after reading the theft post, that there is some shady stuff going on at DI&S, but I can't say that it's worth completely restructuring your entire trip. I would, however, be hyper-vigilant with your valuables.

 

[jennifur25]

I would still stay there. I was there at the same time as the poster of the other thread and had zero issues with things going missing. And we left both of our laptops in plain sight every day. I also left a review of our stay if you want to look for it. The only issue we had was with extremely noisy cheerleaders in the next room but the manager took care of it in the morning and took half off of our room rate.

They have in room safes for your belongings and they have lockers.

 

[davidsprincess]

Theft can happen anywhere. Just be super viligant with your belongings. Don't take valuables with you or lock them up in the safe.

I was talking to DSIS-in-Law about this as we are staying there at the same time as you. She wasn't too worried about staying there because the person has been "ratted out" as it were. The person(s) responsible for this will either be fired, or laying low because they know they got caught.

Either way, things happen all the time, everywhere. We are just not used to having our guard up like this when going to the "Happiest Place on Earth." And think about it, if the person who had their IPAD stolen wan't on the DIS, would we even be second guessing our decision to stay there? Out of the thousands of people that go to DLR how many of them get something stolen from them? We just happen to know about this particular incident because it was done to one of our own.