Embassy Suites?

[karylrocks]

I am starting to plan our first trip to DL since 2000. I wanted to stay at the DL Hotel, but since there will be 4 adults and one young teen, I think a suite is a better idea. I ran into someone the other day who said she always stays at Embassy Suites Buena Park, and after researching it I can see that we could save a ton of money by having their breakfast, as well as more room. I see that there are a couple of Embassy Suites in Anaheim and am wondering if anyone can tell me what the differences are, and if one is better than the others. Any info would be helpful, thanks.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>The closest Embassy Suites is Embassy Suites South, which is just a couple of miles down the road from the Disneyland Resort. The atrium, where the meals are served, has a tropical theme. The pool is outside, and not too big. There are other hotels nearby, and I think there is a Target across the street if you should need sundries.

The Embassy Suites North is further away. I haven't seen the hotel, however, I understand they have an indoor pool, which I would think would be nice in the cooler months.

The Embassy Suites Buena Park is located near Knotts Berry Farm, and about 15 minutes from the Disneyland Resort. I haven't visited these either -- they are walking distance from Knotts, though.

 

[dsnylndmom]

I've stayed at Embassy South. It's actually in Garden Grove, yet closer than the one in Anaheim, go figure

We had a GREAT stay there!!! The breakfast was wonderful! You'll appreciate the amount of food you get, having a teen and all!

There is also a small arcade and a managers reception(snacks and beverages at no cost)each evening)

The staff and great too! If you don't mind shuttling it I would defintely recommend it

 

[b4u2love]

Do you know how far the Amtrack train station is from the resort? Also what floor were you on? I've read posts that stated that there were problems with getting in the evelator on high floors?

 

[marciemi]

We stayed in 2003 for 10 nights at the Embassy Suites, I believe North. I have it down as ES Anaheim. It did have an indoor pool and exercise room. We absolutely loved it! We had 3 young kids with us and didn't find the drive to be bad (maybe 10-15 minutes at most). Since we went in February, the indoor pool was a necessity - especially with the cool weather we had. The breakfasts were awesome - I can't think of anything we would have wanted that they didn't have. The kids loved the evening "drinks" - they'd usually just get coke, but they'd also make them some shirley temple type drinks and they usually had chips and salsa or popcorn or pretzels.

Don't know if they still have it, but my kids also loved the koi pond. If you ask at the front desk, they'll give you food for the kids to feed the fish, which was really a high point for them. We never had any problems with the elevators, except when one of my sons got in one and accidentally hit the emergency button. Security came running and there were like 5 people there to help him in 1 minute or so. We felt so bad about it, and then the hotel sent a fruit and snack basket to our room for the inconvenience. I didn't understand that since it was my son's fault, but I think the fact that he looked petrified (he was about 6) when all these people came running made them feel bad!

We never had problems with noise - about the only complaint I can think of at all was that we didn't get the weather channel on our TV! I'll be glad to answer any questions about that Embassy Suites if you're considering that one too! My kids still ask a couple years later when we're going back to California so they can go back to that hotel!

 

[armywife]

Do they have a shuttle to DL?

 

[marciemi]

The one we stayed at did. I know because it seemed every morning as we walked out to our car we'd see it filling up. I'm not sure if it only went to DL or to other attractions as well, but I know it left at the time you'd leave to get there right at opening. I don't know how it worked for returning or if you wanted to go later in the day. Seems I remember 2 smaller buses as opposed to one large one.

 

[vickieluvsmickey]

I absolutely love Embassy Suites. We always stay at an Embassy Suites if there is one near our destination, even if we have to drive a little out of our way. Haven't stayed at any locally (Anaheim), but I really do believe you won't be disappointed. All our stays at ES have been consistently wonderful.

 

[*Susan*]

We have stayed at the Garden Grove (not Buena Park) ES 3 times and are headed back in October for stay #4. The Garden Grove one (located on Harbor Blvd.) is much closer than the Buena Park one. Don't let it throw you off that the city is Garden Grove, it's just a mile or so from DL.

We have always found the shuttle to be very efficient, even during our Memorial Day weekend trip. The shuttle (at least the last time we were there) is only for the 3 hotels in the same parking lot (Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn).

The rooms are clean and large and the free breakfast is great. We have gotten rates as low as $99 and have paid as much as $119. Just beware of their "packages" which don't save you any money and sometimes end up costing you more than buying your room and tickets separately.

 

[Mary Anne]

We were in the Embassy Suits South one last month.

The breakfast was very nice as was the evening receiption. The rooms were nice. We were on the 9th Floor and had no problem with the elevator.

On the downside, we hated the beds. Most uncomfortable we have ever slept in any in any hotel. Very hard. Also we were not fans of ART transportation to the Parks. It's $3.00 a day. When you have 5 or 6 people that's $18 extra per day. If I had to do it over, I would have picked a hotel within walking distance and paid for my own breakfast.

 

[lauraljp]

Our family of six will be at DL in two weeks and originally booked the ES Garden Grove. I think it is a newer property and we had heard so many great things about it. We like ES and stay there quite a bit on vacations because they have room for all of us. We were really looking forward to it.

As the time got closer, we really started to rethink our decision due to the ART shuttle. We really hated the idea of being dependant on the shuttle for our transportation. Not knowing how long we would have to wait for one and also the time it would take to get back and forth. Since we have four kids ages 4-14, and DL will be open 8a to 12a, we figured we would want to take a break during the day and go back to the room. We also thought about driving and parking, but had the same questions on the time it would take us.

We decided to change our reservations to the Best Western Park Place Inn. I know it will not be as nice as ES and we will not have the great breakfast (they do have a continental breakfast) or the evening snacks, but we will be right across the street and not have to shuttle or pay to park. It really made us feel more comfortable knowing we are just a few minutes away on foot and are not going to have to rely on someone else to get us there on time for early entry or opening.

If your family is more laid back and not concerned about shuttle times I think the ES would be great. It looks like a great place and they do have good perks. We are a little sad we won't be staying there but feel we made the right decision for us. Conveniece of the location is what really changed our minds.

Good Luck and have a great time!!

 

[*Susan*]

From reading the last two posts it seems the shuttle has changed. The shuttle was previously a free shuttle which appeared to be privately owned and only serviced the 3 hotels in the parking lot so it was always quick & easy. I believe it ran every 30 minutes, picking up at 20 past and 50 past the hour.

Mary Anne and/or lauraljp: Is ART an Anaheim city-owned shuttle? Where could I find the schedule? This might make me rethink staying there....the free and quick shuttle was one of the best parts....thanks in advance.

 

[Mary Anne]

Susan from what I heard it's changed recently within the last year or so from being free to costing $3.00 per day or $12.00 for 5 days. I'm going to cut and paste what I wrote about it from my trip report that is on the Disneyland Trip Report (feel free to go over and read the whole report )

Transportation from the Hotel to Disneyland and back - There was NO GOOD in this, only BAD.

Anaheim Resort Transportation or ART - we preferred to call it Animal Resort Transportation, because that was just how you were treated like an animal and the people that rode it generally had little or no manners. We thought it was terrible. Again, we are far to spoiled with Disney Transportation. They are the size of trolley type cars. Very small, terrible seats and really scary for traveling with small children. On top of all they charge you $3.00 per day or $12.00 if you buy a 5 day ticket. So for a family of 4, it cost $48 just to go back and forth to the park if you have a 5 day ticket. Granted you go and come as many times each day as you wanted but someday we just went and stayed, so it was no great saving. We then found that the public transportation, that ran the exact same route was $1.25 per way, so instead of paying $3.00 you could have done the same trip for $2.50 if you weren’t going to come back during the day. However, when we first asked about it no one person in the hotel or ART could give us an answer on how much it cost to use public transportation. Finally, I flagged down one of the buses and the driver told us. Disney Parking if you drove was $10.00 per day, but you parked in a parking lot and they used trams to bring you to the entrance. Also, you could drive to downtown Disney and park for free for 3 hours or up to 5 if you ate in DTD. Again, an option if you were just going there on a non-park day and going to spend just a few hours. Sadly, we didn’t realize this until after we’d paid for the ART transportation. ART needs to get its act together if they are going to be transporting people for the 50th Anniversary. The drivers were rude and they need to put more buses on at closing, every twenty minutes just doesn’t cut it.

I don’t know about where you live but here in NYC people line up to get on a bus, those on line the longest get on first. In Orlando, it is always orderly and professional. With ART it’s a free for all. If I was doing it over again, I would pick a hotel that was right outside of Disney so I could walk in and out of the parks right to the hotel and not have to deal with the transportation issue.

There seemed to be loads of these trolly bus going to many different hotels. It did pretty much run every 20 minutes but the crowds were terrible.

Maybe it was because we're so used to Florida where the buses are free and organized, but we were very put off by this and I'd never do it again.

 

[TiggerCate]

We stayed at Embassy Suites South in 2002 and plan to stay there again in October. I was happy with it. ART does not sound promising, though. I think AAA has free DL parking included with their Park Hoppers, so we might just bite the bullet and drive to and park at DL instead of doing the ART. When it ceases to be convenient and easy (plus free), I lose interest!

 

[zukeeper]

Based on the research I've done, I decided to try out ES Buena Park. I need a room/suite for 6 so I was limited to start with. We also wanted to hit Knotts for a day so this hotel works in nicely. The comments I have read say they have a private shuttle from Buena Park and the website seems to confirm this. I've heard 15 min ride and it appears to be about 7 miles away. BWPPI was another option, but proximity to Knott's won over. We will be moving over to the DLH to take advatage of the 4th night free which starts on the 28th so if it wasn't for that, I would have gone with BWPPI. I thought I read before that you were a season passholder? Disney Resort rates are rumored to be pretty good in August with AP discount. Have you checked that out? Anyway, I would stick with Buena Park or BWPPI. The shuttle complaints are too consistent with the other 2 ES hotels.

Good luck!

 

[*Susan*]

Thanks for the info Mary Anne! I think I need to look into some other hotel options....