Harbor Hotel Choice

[cassiopia419]

Hi All,

We're making our second trip to DL in August. Last year we stayed at the Desert Palms hotel on Katella. We really liked the hotel and the nice breakfast. But the walk at the end of the day felt like a killer even though it was only 2 blocks. It definitely kept us from going back in the evening a few days after we'd taken a late day swim break.

This time we'd like to stay a bit closer. I've currently booked the Park Vue Inn, which seems to get good reviews and does have breakfast. However, in looking around a bit, I've found 2 other options that are substantially cheaper, but have more mixed reviews. And the more reviews I've read, the more confused I've gotten

The Tropicana is only a few extra minutes away. It doesn't have breakfast, but would save us $180 even after paying the parking fee. I've seen some pretty negative reviews though about their valet parking service, so that makes me second guess the savings given that we'll have a rental car with us. The hotel overall doesn't seem to get as good a reviews as the Park Vue either.

Then I found a great deal on the Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort. We'd save about $225 compared to Park Vue (again, even after paying their high parking fee). I've seen a few bad reviews about the parking situation there. Bigger concern with this one is that mileage wise according to Google it seems pretty close to the Desert Palms distance. It looks closer to me on the map, but plotting the walking directions shows .4 from FFI and .5 from Desert Palms, which doesn't feel like a big difference.

For those more experienced with that end of Harbor, what would you do?

 

[Cal-Pie]

For $180 less, I'd go with Tropicana. PVI is my slight favorite on Harbor, but I only choose it when the price is in line with everywhere else (which it never is anymore). Never have used the valet at Trop, I've always been lucky enough to find my own spot. FFI would only shave off a fraction of the walk compared to Desert Palms.

 

[goooof1]

There are 2 "Desert" hotels.... Palms and Desert Inn and Suites. I suspect the .5 mile is for the Desert Inn, not the Desert Palms.

 

[kelmac284]

We have stayed at many of them. Obviously you are correct that the close walk at the end of the day is so nice. We stay at the Desert Inn quite a bit. Def not that great but acceptable and is pretty much the closest in that it is right across the street. We have stayed at HOJO but their prices are a lot more than they used to be and still a bit of a walk. Same with Fairfield Inn. We also like the Grand Legacy. A little farther but remodeled and nice. I have heard good things about Tropicana and a few of the others right in that area but not stayed at any myself.

 

[pharmama]

I've stayed at PVI and the Tropicana and I would pick Tropicana. We also were able to find a self park spot (and we arrived late on a Friday night of Mother's day weekend) there so we didn't have to deal with valet. I despise valeting a car, whether its a rental or my own, so I was also worried about the valet situation but it wasn't that big a deal.

I found the room nicer/more pleasant at Tropicana and didn't really miss the breakfast. They have a nice little convenience store and coffee counter on premises that had decent grab and go stuff and wasn't that expensive (you can buy a lot of breakfast for $180!).

As far as FFI, I'm not sure about those walking distances. FFI is definitely quite a bit closer than the Desert Palms. I get 0.3mi vs 0.6mi... I have a friend who swears by FFI and it seems like folks are finding some good deals there lately (maybe Marriott cannibalized their FFI bookings a bit much putting the Courtyard nextdoor- oops!). Obviously its a little farther than PVI or Tropicana but not too bad.

 

[Angrose]

Tropicana is great! I've stayed there 5 times and never had any problems. Their rooms were recently renovated and are cheerful and bright. They are really less than a minute away from Park Vue. I don't know what kind of issues were reported with their valet service, but if you're just going to have the car parked there while you're in Anaheim, then it may not be an issue.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

The advantage for the FFI is Marriott loyalty points. If you stay at Marriott hotels regularly, those points come in very handy for free nights. There are now quite a few Marriott properties in the DLR area, so if you plan on visiting the parks on a regular basis, you might want to consider whether it would be worthwhile for you to start collecting points now.

 

[Princess Katelet]

Candy Cane Inn has a free shuttle that runs before the parks open and after they close. The shuttle is reliable and air conditioned. The hotel also has free breakfast and free parking and have a really pretty hotel and grounds.

 

[azdisneylover]

For me, the closer, the better. Your feet will thank you! We have stayed at the Tropicana and we found it fine. The only reason we haven't stayed at other hotels across the street is that they have either been booked or we have stayed on site.

 

[avalon451]

Park Vue is literally AT the crosswalk, so that's nice. I'm always looking at their prices, and they have been a bit higher lately. I've stayed twice at Desert Inn which literally shares a wall with Park Vue; like a previous poster said, Desert Inn is not great, but adequate if all you want is a reasonably clean place to sleep and shower, and super close. Tropicana is really also one of the closer ones and gets a lot of good reviews lately. I've definitely considered staying there as it's pretty close to the crosswalk. FFI is not much farther and also gets good reviews. I guess I'd go with Tropicana in your situation.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Love the Tropicana, we've stayed there many times and get a great return guest rate so we continue to stay there. We have never had a problem with the valet, in fact, the only times we've had to valet was when we couldn't find a spot but its only been once or twice in at least 10 visits. Our last visit was Jun 15-17 Friday-Sunday and there was plenty of empty spots everytime I was walking through.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Parking at PVI is super easy and always have had plenty of open spaces when we’ve gone. I don’t know Tropicana’s rule but PVI will let you park there on arrival day if room isn’t ready and after checking out. Super convenient and can’t beat the walk.

 

[Mary Jeane]

We stayed at Desert Inn and Suites (2011) and Tropicana (2017) and by far prefer Desert Inn so will be staying there again in September. The Tropicana rooms are very small. Have always look at Park Vue but can't beat the prices at Desert. All we need is a place to sleep and shower. We parked at Desert in 2011 and had no problem parking ourselves.

 

[JennyN]

We have stayed at both Tropicana and Fairfield many times. Personally I prefer the Fairfield, washing machines on each floor, but we have been staying at the Tropicana the last few times as it’s cheaper and closer. We often valet park and it is no problem, I’m not sure what the issue has been for some people. Ofcourse you will have to wait a few minutes but it isn’t long.

 

[cassiopia419]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Haven't made a final decision, but leaning toward switching to Tropicana. I had checked out the Desert Inn originally, but they are the same price as Park Vue and we'd rather have an outdoor pool

 

[dorchrislen]

I've stayed at Tropicana and PVI, and I never noticed an issue with the valet at Tropicana. It's basically just as close and has the best, hot jacuzzi for sore feet at night!! McDonald's is a short walk away, so I would go grab breakfast real fast by myself and we'd take it with us to have while waiting in line. Much less than paying more for PVI's room with breakfast.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I would definitely go with Tropicana. We stayed there last February before the rooms were renovated and it was fine. The new rooms look quite nice. We had no issues finding a self parking space. The valet pointed an empty space out to us and we left the car parked the entire time. The little store out front is great, and it's an easy walk to Panera or McDonald's for coffee and breakfast.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We LOVED LOVED LOVED the Tropicana. We only had the car for 2 nights of our trip but the Valet (Same guy virtually every time we saw him for our 5 day trip at all hours of the day and night) was AMAZING. He was super helpful and friendly and greeted us every single time we walked onto the property. I'd seriously stay here again just because of how amazing he was and we never usually have a car.

 

[Whistlebee]

We like Fairfield Inn. Super friendly staff. Decent small pool. Remodeled rooms. We do use a sound machine app here, people walking down the corridors can be loud. I think the walk was 6 minutes for me pushing a stroller.

 

[bumbershoot]

For those more experienced with that end of Harbor, what would you do?

Try Palms again. The first time you visit Disney things seem hard and far away. Subsequent times feel better. With Palms you’ve got the abc store to stop and get waters, snacks, shirts, and booze on the way (booze on the way back “home”, of course). You’ve got the 711. You’ve got cvs and I think another store like that right at Katella. You’ve got a ton of places to stop and grab needed things every time you leave or go back to your hotel. It’s unbeatable imo.

The walk doesn’t seem as long on the second etc visits, IMO.

And did you know that the golden malted make-your-own waffles look nckided with your stay at desert palms (and also country inn and suites a bit further away) are the exact same waffles as the on-site Mickey waffles? Hard to beat that!!!