Hotel help appreciated

[PrincessStinkerbell]

Looking for hotel advice…

I’m planning a five or six night visit during the last week of August, two adults, two teen girls (and possibly a third young adult teen, if his work schedule permits.) It’s our first visit since 2019, and with a painful exchange rate on the Canadian dollar, I’m trying to keep the hotel budget tight while still staying quite close to the parks. We like to take afternoon breaks to recharge!

Places we stayed in the past (with younger kids), were the Sheraton Park, Hojo and the Fairfield Marriott. Sheraton was nice, but don’t want the longer walk. Loved the walking distance for Fairfield, but the room was quite small. Hojo was good but that’s about the farthest I’d want to walk for afternoon breaks.

My ideal room would be a bit larger than average, have a mirrored space/sink to get ready outside the bathroom (teen girls ), sleeping space for five in case our son can join us, clean and comfortable, close to affordable restaurants, and with a nice vacation-y vibe and pool. I’d like to keep it close to 200 USD a night. Breakfast is a plus but not necessary.

The places I’m looking at, and what I’m wondering about each:

The Anaheim Hotel (checks lots of boxes, but worried it might feel too run down to feel relaxing?)

The Camelot (vacation vibes or no?)

The Park Vue Inn (looks like a fresh reno? How’s the pool?)

The Holiday Inn Express on Manchester (this would be my first choice except for the distance. It looks nice and new, with pool, breakfast and restaurant/lounge, but is the walk too far for easy back and forth?)

The Hojo (price is a little high)

I’m grateful for any opinions or recent experiences that might help me narrow this down. Or maybe there’s a place I haven’t considered, that I should? Huge thanks!

 

[OlliePop27]

Looking for hotel advice…

I’m planning a five or six night visit during the last week of August, two adults, two teen girls (and possibly a third young adult teen, if his work schedule permits.) It’s our first visit since 2019, and with a painful exchange rate on the Canadian dollar, I’m trying to keep the hotel budget tight while still staying quite close to the parks. We like to take afternoon breaks to recharge!

Places we stayed in the past (with younger kids), were the Sheraton Park, Hojo and the Fairfield Marriott. Sheraton was nice, but don’t want the longer walk. Loved the walking distance for Fairfield, but the room was quite small. Hojo was good but that’s about the farthest I’d want to walk for afternoon breaks.

My ideal room would be a bit larger than average, have a mirrored space/sink to get ready outside the bathroom (teen girls ), sleeping space for five in case our son can join us, clean and comfortable, close to affordable restaurants, and with a nice vacation-y vibe and pool. I’d like to keep it close to 200 USD a night. Breakfast is a plus but not necessary.

The places I’m looking at, and what I’m wondering about each:

The Anaheim Hotel (checks lots of boxes, but worried it might feel too run down to feel relaxing?)

The Camelot (vacation vibes or no?)

The Park Vue Inn (looks like a fresh reno? How’s the pool?)

The Holiday Inn Express on Manchester (this would be my first choice except for the distance. It looks nice and new, with pool, breakfast and restaurant/lounge, but is the walk too far for easy back and forth?)

The Hojo (price is a little high)

I’m grateful for any opinions or recent experiences that might help me narrow this down. Or maybe there’s a place I haven’t considered, that I should? Huge thanks!

My initial thoughts based on proximity and cost is one of the larger suites at Desert Inn & Suites. The hotel isn't for everyone, but it is no frills, close, and clean. You can get one of the multi room suites with 2 bedrooms and bathrooms. I imagine it's going to be difficult in general to stay super close for only $200 per night, especially given how many people you will have. Rates for the close hotels on Harbor have gone up significantly since 2019.

 

[VandVsmama]

We've stayed at the Park Vue Inn before and really liked it. Super close to the crosswalk near the esplanade and bus depot.

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Have you priced the Westin? You have to walk through Downtown Disney to get into the parks but it's not a bad walk at all. Their "Deluxe" rooms are a tad bigger so you have some space. If I remember from the last time I was there, there was a mirror in the entry hall in addition to the bathroom.

(When leaving, I always walk through the Grand Californian!)

They DO have suites - but that would require sleeping on a pull out sofa.

I will say their club is nice - the club patio overlooks California Adventure.

 

[Disneyhanna]

For Hojo, make sure you are using a discount rate when checking rates. There are a lot floating around online if you look, I think up to 20%.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

You can have 2 of the 3 of nice, close, and cheap when it comes to Disneyland. With a $200/night budget, you are going to have to decide between nice or close. There simply isn't going to be 4-star resorts at that price point that's within walking distance and closer than the HoJo, but most of the motels on Harbor will have decent to updated rooms with a standard pool. You are just going to set yourself up for disappointment if you have any higher expectations than that.

I think The Anaheim will be your best bet. If you would rather have a nicer room with a shorter walk instead of a large pool, then go with Park Vue.

 

[Pluto468]

For that price range I'd go with Park Vue because it's so close and they just redid the rooms. But I don't know if you can get a rollaway bed for your son, so it would be good to call and ask before you book.

 

[DTDkettleCORNfan]

I was just looking at Desert Inn & Suites for the last week of August. They have a Parlor Suite available for 4 nights, for $240 a night (or $228 if you qualify for one of the discounts.) It would be cramped for 5 people, but we've stayed in one of these rooms with 4. The main room has 2 beds (probably queen?) and a sink/mirror outside of the bathroom. Plus it has an attached small parlor(?), which is a separate room with a pull out sofa bed. Pics available on their website. Near the crosswalk on Harbor so a quick walk. We've also stayed at Park Vue which we prefer, but the extra space in the DI&S parlor suite was better for us since our kids aren't small anymore.

 

[PrincessStinkerbell]

My initial thoughts based on proximity and cost is one of the larger suites at Desert Inn & Suites. The hotel isn't for everyone, but it is no frills, close, and clean. You can get one of the multi room suites with 2 bedrooms and bathrooms. I imagine it's going to be difficult in general to stay super close for only $200 per night, especially given how many people you will have. Rates for the close hotels on Harbor have gone up significantly since 2019.

I'll look into that option, thank you! Interestingly, (and this surprised me), most of the hotels I listed above are coming in right around 180-200 a night (before tax, I should add!) A few are offering long-stay discounts too, so all of those I listed are within my price point, with Hojo slightly higher.

 

[PrincessStinkerbell]

Have you priced the Westin? You have to walk through Downtown Disney to get into the parks but it's not a bad walk at all. Their "Deluxe" rooms are a tad bigger so you have some space. If I remember from the last time I was there, there was a mirror in the entry hall in addition to the bathroom.

(When leaving, I always walk through the Grand Californian!)

They DO have suites - but that would require sleeping on a pull out sofa.

I will say their club is nice - the club patio overlooks California Adventure.

Oh, I'd love to stay there, but it's out of my price range this time. Rooms start right around $300+ a night.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Some bloggers have determined that Park Vue is the closest hotel to Disneyland Park - closer than even The Grand Californian. It’s also the nicest of the hotels you listed, and can provide four (two queen plus a bunk) or five (three queens and a bunk) beds for a nominal fee.

It’s not a resort, it will not give off vacation vibes, and the pool is very very small (the hotel has less than 100 rooms). That does not mean you will not enjoy the hotel. Note that they had an excellent free breakfast that they got rid of although IHOP is attached to their building.

There are plenty of hotels at a lesser price point that will provide far more amenities. But they are not directly across DLR. All of the hotels directly across the street are older, motel-style properties from another era that have been spruced up. These types of hotels use to dominate Anaheim but most were leveled beginning in the mod-90s.

 

[maleficent55]

If you could give up resort vibes and free breakfast, I would go for space in the room and proximity, which for me would mean either the Camelot Inn for the family suite or the Tropicana for the Park view suite

The Camelot Inn gives a little more room and a better bed situation because one room will have a king bed plus a pullout couch and a big huge dresser and a TV and the other room will give you two queen beds and a pullout sofa chair
The negative is that there’s only one bathroom, but it does tick your box of having a separate vanity area from the shower area.
It’s right across the street and it’s always clean. The pool area absolutely should be refreshed by this point, but it hasn’t been it’s a really basic pool, but it has Matterhorn mountain and firework views.

The Tropicana is one tiny bit closer than the Camelot, but you would get two bathrooms with the Park view suite
Not only that, but the living room has a door to its own balcony and the bedroom has a door to its own balcony so you would get two separate balconies that overlook Harbor Boulevard with firework views
The negative is that the bedroom has a nice king bed. But the living room only has a pullout sofa and I found it quite uncomfortable. In fact. We are staying in the suite in November because of our party size, but I am ordering a mattress topper and having it delivered to the hotel to put on the pullout sofa for the kids.
But still, it almost can’t be beat because of these balconies, proximity and having two bathrooms

 

[OlliePop27]

If you could give up resort vibes and free breakfast, I would go for space in the room and proximity, which for me would mean either the Camelot Inn for the family suite or the Tropicana for the Park view suite

The Camelot Inn gives a little more room and a better bed situation because one room will have a king bed plus a pullout couch and a big huge dresser and a TV and the other room will give you two queen beds and a pullout sofa chair
The negative is that there’s only one bathroom, but it does tick your box of having a separate vanity area from the shower area.
It’s right across the street and it’s always clean. The pool area absolutely should be refreshed by this point, but it hasn’t been it’s a really basic pool, but it has Matterhorn mountain and firework views.

The Tropicana is one tiny bit closer than the Camelot, but you would get two bathrooms with the Park view suite
Not only that, but the living room has a door to its own balcony and the bedroom has a door to its own balcony so you would get two separate balconies that overlook Harbor Boulevard with firework views
The negative is that the bedroom has a nice king bed. But the living room only has a pullout sofa and I found it quite uncomfortable. In fact. We are staying in the suite in November because of our party size, but I am ordering a mattress topper and having it delivered to the hotel to put on the pullout sofa for the kids.
But still, it almost can’t be beat because of these balconies, proximity and having two bathrooms

I love the Tropicana Park View Suite. We are staying there in July for the 3rd time! But, we don't use the pull out couch, so I cannot comment on that. My son uses the sleeper chair pulled out and is fine. The mattress topper is a great idea.

The one problem is that this suite is often over $350 per night, even with discounts. But, the room is amazing, super close to the entrance, and you get to see the monorail and fireworks. You also basically have a private elevator because there's not a lot of rooms up front.

 

[crystal1313]

Park vue! They have a 2 queen bunkbed room and a 2 queen kitchenette suite with a sleeper sofa or a triple queen room. The kitchenette suite has a separate sink and mirror area outside of the regular restroom. It’s right at the crosswalk and parking is free. So easy to walk back to the room for a break.