oumagic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 5, 2011
- Messages
- 388
I don't see a whole lot of recent reviews, so I wanted to post my own thoughts regarding our two night stay (May 19 and 20). I did not take pictures, I totally spaced it, but there website is pretty indicative of what you get, though their pictures look a bit nicer, IMO.
The hotel was fine at check-in. They offer to valet or let you self-park. We chose self-park which is $10/day and you use your room key to open the gate to the parking. The valet offered to take our bags to our room. He had them in our room and was gone before I got up there with my son so we walked down to the valet stand a little later and gave him a tip. I am not positive what the valet cost is, but I read elsewhere that it is only $2 more per day.
The room we had was a king size bed with a pullout couch. The bed was firm, but we liked it. We never pulled out the couch. They have a nice flat-screen on the wall and ample space to eat snacks/cereal. There is no microwave or refrigerator. There was a small closet to hang things and a small chest of drawers (4 drawers, pretty small). We brought our own cooler and they have a microwave in the lobby for common use. We had hot dogs for lunch and breakfast sandwiches one morning. The ice machine on our floor worked great.
The cleaning service was good. They resupplied us with towels, soap, made beds and vacuumed just as one would expect. We didn't try room service or the restaurant, though the restaurant is intriguing and we may walk there from HoJo on our October trip. Basically, everything on the menu is $10 or less. It is called "street food" and they have a menu divided by geography. You can get a hot dog from Chicago or Thai food from Thailand, etc. It would be great (I think) for a group who doesn't know what they want. They had a little bit of everything. It also said kids under 12 eat breakfast free with a paying adult.
The pool looked nice. We didn't swim, but we felt the water which was a nice temp and there were lots of people swimming. The pool is open 24 hours and it is supposed to be one of the best places you can watch fireworks outside of the park (you can find a video at you-tube if you want). There is a tiki-hut bar that was calling my name, but I didn't try it as I was there alone with my ds7.
Overall, I have been to Disneyland twice and stayed here and Grand Californian. It does not compare to GC, but I was satisfied. We are trying HoJo in October. It is approx a 5 minute walk north (farther from Disney) of HoJo. If anyone is familiar, it took roughly 5 minutes to go from the hotel lobby to the Mimi's Cafe crosswalk. We made it in 14 minutes to Disney and 17 minutes back to the hotel. It sits on the Disney side of the road. You have to use a sidewalk and crosswalk to cross over I-5, but it was fine.
I booked through Hotwire at $59 per night and Hotwire you pay up front. They did ask for my credit card when I checked in and informed me that they would run an authorization for $50 each night to cover incidentals. When I checked out, they had only charged me $20 for the parking. I just thought I would mention it because some may not like the $50/night authorization, but they don't actually charge you that.
This seems more of a hip place than a family hotel. It is a refurbished older hotel. The elevators and some gates showed extreme wear. We were in room 325 sitting above the tikibar and it was loud. In fact, that is my only reservation about this place. It is just loud. The pool is open 24 hours, the party at the bar was going strong until late (Friday) and you sit next to I-5. It has the loud AC floor unit, which I like to drown out noise but others may not. This is NOT a nice quiet place. It was fine for us because we hit the park early and came back really late and exhausted.
To sum up
Pros:
Price-I paid $59 through Hotwire by picking the 3 1/2 star hotel in Disneyland North area.
Rooms-The room was nice and clean. It has a modern feel for it even if it is a old motel
Lobby/pool/lounge-They are beautiful. I was alone with my son who is 7 and we just were on a quick trip and didn't use them. However, the menu for the restaurant looked good and the pool water was warm.
Cons:
Noise-This hotel is just plain loud. It sits against I-5, the pool is open 24 hours, and the lounge is hopping and has loud music as a result. Honestly, my son and I slept fine with the loud AC unit on, but it would have been a problem for my light-sleeping mother in law.
location-once again, it is north of the I-5. It is approx 5 minute walk past HoJo. It is at least on the Disney side, so basically you have a sidewalk the entire way. We walked to Disney at 4:30AM, back to hotel at 12:30PM, to Downtown Disney at 6PM, and back to the hotel at 11:30PM. I never felt unsafe, but there were homeless people sleeping at bus stop and some shady characters walking around at 11:30PM on a Friday night. The walk just might get old if you are doing it multiple days.
Feel free to ask questions and I will answer if I can.
The hotel was fine at check-in. They offer to valet or let you self-park. We chose self-park which is $10/day and you use your room key to open the gate to the parking. The valet offered to take our bags to our room. He had them in our room and was gone before I got up there with my son so we walked down to the valet stand a little later and gave him a tip. I am not positive what the valet cost is, but I read elsewhere that it is only $2 more per day.
The room we had was a king size bed with a pullout couch. The bed was firm, but we liked it. We never pulled out the couch. They have a nice flat-screen on the wall and ample space to eat snacks/cereal. There is no microwave or refrigerator. There was a small closet to hang things and a small chest of drawers (4 drawers, pretty small). We brought our own cooler and they have a microwave in the lobby for common use. We had hot dogs for lunch and breakfast sandwiches one morning. The ice machine on our floor worked great.
The cleaning service was good. They resupplied us with towels, soap, made beds and vacuumed just as one would expect. We didn't try room service or the restaurant, though the restaurant is intriguing and we may walk there from HoJo on our October trip. Basically, everything on the menu is $10 or less. It is called "street food" and they have a menu divided by geography. You can get a hot dog from Chicago or Thai food from Thailand, etc. It would be great (I think) for a group who doesn't know what they want. They had a little bit of everything. It also said kids under 12 eat breakfast free with a paying adult.
The pool looked nice. We didn't swim, but we felt the water which was a nice temp and there were lots of people swimming. The pool is open 24 hours and it is supposed to be one of the best places you can watch fireworks outside of the park (you can find a video at you-tube if you want). There is a tiki-hut bar that was calling my name, but I didn't try it as I was there alone with my ds7.
Overall, I have been to Disneyland twice and stayed here and Grand Californian. It does not compare to GC, but I was satisfied. We are trying HoJo in October. It is approx a 5 minute walk north (farther from Disney) of HoJo. If anyone is familiar, it took roughly 5 minutes to go from the hotel lobby to the Mimi's Cafe crosswalk. We made it in 14 minutes to Disney and 17 minutes back to the hotel. It sits on the Disney side of the road. You have to use a sidewalk and crosswalk to cross over I-5, but it was fine.
I booked through Hotwire at $59 per night and Hotwire you pay up front. They did ask for my credit card when I checked in and informed me that they would run an authorization for $50 each night to cover incidentals. When I checked out, they had only charged me $20 for the parking. I just thought I would mention it because some may not like the $50/night authorization, but they don't actually charge you that.
This seems more of a hip place than a family hotel. It is a refurbished older hotel. The elevators and some gates showed extreme wear. We were in room 325 sitting above the tikibar and it was loud. In fact, that is my only reservation about this place. It is just loud. The pool is open 24 hours, the party at the bar was going strong until late (Friday) and you sit next to I-5. It has the loud AC floor unit, which I like to drown out noise but others may not. This is NOT a nice quiet place. It was fine for us because we hit the park early and came back really late and exhausted.
To sum up
Pros:
Price-I paid $59 through Hotwire by picking the 3 1/2 star hotel in Disneyland North area.
Rooms-The room was nice and clean. It has a modern feel for it even if it is a old motel
Lobby/pool/lounge-They are beautiful. I was alone with my son who is 7 and we just were on a quick trip and didn't use them. However, the menu for the restaurant looked good and the pool water was warm.
Cons:
Noise-This hotel is just plain loud. It sits against I-5, the pool is open 24 hours, and the lounge is hopping and has loud music as a result. Honestly, my son and I slept fine with the loud AC unit on, but it would have been a problem for my light-sleeping mother in law.
location-once again, it is north of the I-5. It is approx 5 minute walk past HoJo. It is at least on the Disney side, so basically you have a sidewalk the entire way. We walked to Disney at 4:30AM, back to hotel at 12:30PM, to Downtown Disney at 6PM, and back to the hotel at 11:30PM. I never felt unsafe, but there were homeless people sleeping at bus stop and some shady characters walking around at 11:30PM on a Friday night. The walk just might get old if you are doing it multiple days.
Feel free to ask questions and I will answer if I can.
