In late August 2014, we had a two day stay at the Candy Cane Inn, followed immediately by 7 days at the Desert Palms. On earlier trips, we had almost always stayed at a hotel along Katella (usually either the Super 8 or the Quality), so we were used to walking to and from hotels. Until we stayed at the Candy Cane Inn, I never understood why people put such a high value on taking hotel shuttles or the ART busses. Now that I've experienced the Candy Cane shuttle first hand, I really appreciate it. The seven days we spent walking to the Desert Palms seemed unbearable at times, when compared to the convenience of the Candy Cane shuttle.
The Desert Palms offers both a
Disneyland Passholder rate and a large discount for stays of 7 days or longer. By combining both discounts we got an excellent rate, although I was a bit annoyed at check-in to discover they had a $10/day resort fee and a $1/day safe fee which were not mentioned when I made my online reservation.
Breakfast was excellent by my standards: scrambled eggs, bulk oatmeal, sausage or bacon on alternating days. They also alternated fried potatoes with biscuits and gravy. Waffles from the waffle stations were very good, especially the flavoured batter (usually cinnamon, sometimes strawberry (I think?)). Very nice outdoor deck, although we prefer to eat indoors.
The large lobby is two stories high, which results in a maze on the second floor which is where we stayed. The main lobby elevator doesn't stop on the second floor, so it was necessary to use another elevator which required a circuitous route to our room. I did some reconnaissance on our second day and found a stairwell between the pool and front desk that lead straight to our room, so we used this much shorter route on subsequent days.
Wifi was free, but it was impossible to connect to it from our room. There were three shared computers in the lobby which I rarely had to wait for.
There was no Disney Channel which is a deal breaker for my two daughters. And, yes, I realize there is a certain irony in us sitting in a hotel room watching the Disney Channel, when we could instead be inside Disneyland going on rides and watching live shows.
There were two types of flavored ice water in the lobby which were nice (usually orange flavoured and lemon flavoured). We filled up water bottles with the water on the way to the parks.
All in all, an excellent stay.
Not every breakfast place has those in my experience, so breakfast there is already a step above.
