I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for this question.
My daughter and I will be going to DL for 2 days next month. It's a pretty short notice trip, so we're doing it on the cheap. I've narrowed it down to these three motel options. Please let me know which one you would recommend. Quality Inn on Manchester, Motel 6 Maingate, or Super 8 on Katella.
We will have a car, so walking/shuttle etc. isn't necessary. Also, what makes a hotel a
Disneyland "Good Neighbor"?
Thank you.
All that it takes to be a Disneyland "Good Neighbor" Hotel is money... Basically, they pay for the designation. It doesn't mean they have special Disneyland rates, or are especially "Disney" or closer than others, etc. It just means they paid the fee that Disney required.
We've stayed at the Super 8 on Katella before, back in 2012, and generally enjoyed it! It was about a 15 minute walk, past 3 hotels on Katella, cross over Harbor, stop in 7-11 for any snacks or souvenirs for the day, and continue up Harbor. Honestly, I'd walk even if I had a car, as that's $18(?) a day I'd be saving for a few extra steps, and $18 per day is 4 Dole Whips, or 2 Dole Whips and 3 sodas, or.... You get the point
However, at the end of the day, I'd give anything for a car! That walk stinks at midnight, walking past every hotel, thinking, "I wished I had booked there instead!" Their breakfast isn't anything special (some donuts, muffins, apples, juice, coffee, cereal). Rooms were being refurbished at our first stay there; the first time, we were in the back left building, which was refurbished, the second time later that year, we were in the right building, which wasn't refurbished yet. I assume they are done with the refurbishments now. Everything was clean. The rooms were basic, nothing fancy, but they did the trick for sleeping and showering! I think I recall some annoyance with the shower--maybe not enough hot water when showering in the morning, or not enough pressure, I can't remember any more. They could use some additional insulation to cut down on noise, but if you leave the fan on, it will drown out anyone outside. We didn't take advantage of the pool on either trip.
For what it's worth, I was a single woman on each trip that I stayed there, once with my 8yo DD, and once on a solo trip. I felt some minor anxiety on the walk each night (usually at park closing, so always dark, usually after midnight), but just made sure to be wise about the walk--I tried to stay near a group of people, even though they weren't my group, looked/acted like I knew where I was going, and carried hairspray with me (figured I could aerosol hairspray any attacker's face, which would stop them for a moment!)... There's always tons of crowds going down Harbor; it was once I turned on Katella that I felt more "alone," but there's 3 hotels on Katella before you reach Super 8, so I could have always popped into any one of those hotels if I felt truly threatened.
Enjoy your trip!
