Hotel Review: Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites

[cobright]

Family did a short trip to DLR last week and with my eyes wide open I booked us into the ADIaS. I read all the reviews and clicked [book] anyway so don't begin to pity me, that's not what I'm after.


The 'Not Bad':
To be honest, it wasn't that bad. The primary motivator for this was cost. I was able to get a room with 2 queen beds for $70 a night (plus $11 parking and whatever the taxes added up to). Final bill for 3 nights was well under $300 for a hotel, literally right across the street from the parks entrance.

The room was 'clean'. Like, it had been cleaned, but I wouldn't say it was cleaned very deeply. Nobody was sleeping on the floor on this trip. But the bed linens were clean and the bathroom was clean. The tub had a gross removable vinyl floor mat in it that we just left there and no one took a bath. But really it was... not a gross room.

The Bad:

• The beds were hard. I can (and have) slept on anything, and these mattresses are almost as bad as mattresses have ever been for me. Most mattresses have springs and padding under the fabric, I'm convinced these were stuffed with wet plywood.
• Instead of curtains, the window is covered with a plantation shutter. The shutter works well and is uncharacteristically classy and expensive touch for this place but it doesn't do as well as a curtain at keeping the parking lot light out.
• Very thin walls with regards to soundproofing. The next room had a Polish family with a tiny baby. I know this because every 2 hours the baby would wake up and a woman would sing it a lullaby. I was able to make out the words well enough to let google translate figure out the language for me.
• Breakfast was hilarious. The breakfast room was packed solid with people eating the only fresh food offered, hard boiled eggs, by the plateful. Typical breakfast I saw was 5 hard boiled eggs, 2 mini muffins, piece of toast. Picturing the management team meeting where they settled on hard boiled eggs.

Conclusion:
For the same deal, I might stay here again. Probably not, but who knows. An extra hundred yards of walking to the park wouldn't have been a big deal.

 

[StitchyPoo81]

Craptastic. We are planning on staying there in August since they had a really good deal on the Parlor suite and we all need our own bed. I keep reading mixed reviews on this place but I'm guessing since it's only a room to sleep in I'm guessing it will be ok. We aren't breakfast eaters we just need something simple to get us going and coffee.
I keep looking at BWPPI but it's so much more for a smaller room.

 

[cobright]

Craptastic. We are planning on staying there in August since they had a really good deal on the Parlor suite and we all need our own bed. I keep reading mixed reviews on this place but I'm guessing since it's only a room to sleep in I'm guessing it will be ok. We aren't breakfast eaters we just need something simple to get us going and coffee.
I keep looking at BWPPI but it's so much more for a smaller room.

I have much the same feeling on where to spend the vacation dollars. At WDW I push to either go cheap on the resort or go deluxe. DLR is a totally different ecosystem and I've been real happy in the past going as cheap as possible and making up for it with Uber transportation to the park.

If it hadn't been for just the absolutely hardest mattress I've ever paid to sleep on, this place would have been a gem. Bring an air mattress or a roll up memory foam bed topper and it will be fine.

Two things I forgot to mention, a good and a bad:

1. The rooftop observation deck is really cool for watching the fireworks. I was hoping they radio broadcast the audio like they do in WDW so I brought my SDR reciever, but either they don't use radio or the hotel is too far away; I couldn't get the signal.
2. The pool and hot tub. It's really small and very crowded.

 

[biochemgirl]

My tip for hard beds is to use a cheap blow up pool mattress. I've never used this trick in the US, but in Mexico, the beds are always hard, and this saves my hips and shoulders from getting so sore on a hard mattress. They are tiny and can easily be brought in your suitcase and then left in the trash when you are done with them.

 

[ddwlms]

I've read multiple reviews about them having hard mattresses, but we've stayed there multiple times and I've always thought that the mattresses were comfortable. So, I don't get that part. I totally concur on the blinds and the walls. Bring ear plugs for sleeping. The pool reeks so bad of chlorine that we've never tried it. And the elevator situation could use some help.

 

[avalon451]

Stayed there twice now, and our experience was much the same. For the price and the location, I can put up with it. The beds don't bother me because I'm used to extra firm mattresses. I hated the shower pressure, though-- it was nearly non-existent. Also, agree that breakfast is a joke-- we're celiac so can't have wheat-- at least one of the two available cereals could've been cheerios so we could have them, but no. Again, though, not a deal breaker since we usually eat breakfast in the room or on the go.

Yeah, for $70 a night, I'll put up with it, but it's kind of a downer. I keep wanting to try Park Vue or BWPPI.

 

[StitchyPoo81]

I've decided to change to BWPPI for an extra $20 a night. Thanks for the review

 

[amyg1975]

We stayed at DIS last year and we were not impressed. Like you said, the room was clean, but our room was so old! It looked like a motel I stayed at as a kid, same furniture, old everything. It took forever for the room too cool down. They also don't hold your luggage, you have to store it in their lockers which you pay for. When we walked by the lockers, it smelled like pot and my husband (who is in law enforcement) said that often use lockers for drug pickups. Who knows if that was the case or not, though! The breakfast room was packed, and not really something we enjoyed. We won't be back.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I've decided to change to BWPPI for an extra $20 a night. Thanks for the review

It’s more than that extra. $180 compared to $130 for my dates.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Craptastic. We are planning on staying there in August since they had a really good deal on the Parlor suite and we all need our own bed. I keep reading mixed reviews on this place but I'm guessing since it's only a room to sleep in I'm guessing it will be ok. We aren't breakfast eaters we just need something simple to get us going and coffee.
I keep looking at BWPPI but it's so much more for a smaller room.

Camelot inn and Tropicana inn have suites. They don’t have breakfast.

 

[shooting4life]

I have a 4 nights booked here in August. It being right across the street and being $50 a night cheaper than any other option within walking distance make it a win for me. I’ll be in the park all day so not really worried about the room and usually by the end of the first day I’m so tired that any bed feels great.

 

[Christina-B-Na]

I really wish they would get new mattresses! Desert inn used to be our go to place but our last 2 stays there have been very similar to what you described. We are no frills needed travelers but those beds just kill me! My arm would actually go numb halfway through the night.
Maybe next time, as other have suggested, we'll try to bring along a mattress topper.

 

[Malcon10t]

It hasn't changed since we stayed there it seems. Those beds were so bad, even after a long day in the parks, I couldn't sleep.

I've changed as I've aged. What I used to think was great for park storming, I can no longer handle. I now prefer Candy Cane, Hilton, Residence Inn, etc....

 

[cobright]

The funny thing is, I completely got my wires crossed and thought my wife was pushing me to keep the costs low. So I booked a paper wall room with cardboard beds and a hardboiled egg breakfast. Then we get there and my wife's telling me she punted the bucks to buy us Disney After Dark tickets like it was no big deal.

 

[tarheelalum]

But really it was... not a gross room.

 

[DnA2010]

Well this is crappy...we check in there tomorrow for 5 nights...main reason was we could get a really huge suite for pretty cheap, as it’s us, my sisters family and my mom...oh I hope it isn’t too bad

 

[Bossy22]

I love this hotel. I find the price and location are obviously the drawing point but no one in our party has complained about the beds and we all sleep great. Also the breakfast is enough to get us to an early lunch and with the money saved you don't mind buying snacks or something at the park and you're still way ahead. Go where you want but we've been here 3 times and I guarantee we will be going there next time as well.

 

[tzeitel]

The DI&S is our go-to place, we just came back from 9 nights there and have no complaints. Maybe cause we have stayed there previously I did not let the things I dont like about it (the pool and the breakfast) bother me. I like their beds, do not find them hard - but that might be just me. I like pitch black rooms - I work night audit at a hotel and have black out blinds in my bedroom - the plantation shutters blocked out most of the light. We don't sleep on the floor no matter what hotel we stay in so I can't say how deeply the carpets were cleaned, but our feet were not dirty when walking in the room. We got room 202 which is right above the breakfast area and only heard some kids running down the stairs (which were also very close to our room) a couple of days. What we did hear was the Denny's trash truck every morning at 7:30 but we were up by then since DD is like an alarm clock and woke us up every morning promptly at 7! It was nice being at the front of the hotel near the stairs. The pool we never use.
I mentioned I work night audit at a hotel - we are not breakfast people but even if we were I know what those hotel breakfasts are really about. This one is particularly bad, but our place serves eggs, bacon, sausage etc and I still would not eat it - those eggs come in a bag you nuke, the hard boiled eggs come in a tub.

I am not super loyal to the DI&S, we have stayed at the HoJo, the Tropicana and the BW Stovall's. To me they all looked and felt the same. I go for price and location. Our next trip in Oct will be at the Anaheim Hotel because I found a better deal than at the DI&S for our dates. If the price drops I will change to the DI&S (and they always have promos). From room to park entrance in less than 10 minutes for $87 a night? Yes please!

We stayed at DIS last year and we were not impressed. Like you said, the room was clean, but our room was so old! It looked like a motel I stayed at as a kid, same furniture, old everything. It took forever for the room too cool down. They also don't hold your luggage, you have to store it in their lockers which you pay for. When we walked by the lockers, it smelled like pot and my husband (who is in law enforcement) said that often use lockers for drug pickups. Who knows if that was the case or not, though! The breakfast room was packed, and not really something we enjoyed. We won't be back.

They held our 3 suitcases when we checked in and then our 4 suitcases () when we checked out. there is a locked luggage room. They do have lockers that fit smaller bags.

 

[nikerbokers]

This is the only place near DL that I had a negative experience with. Noisy, their billing and service was horrible... good location though! But we received a $99/night special rate when we booked so at least we weren’t forking over double that to be upset.

 

[amyg1975]

They held our 3 suitcases when we checked in and then our 4 suitcases () when we checked out. there is a locked luggage room. They do have lockers that fit smaller bags.

That bothers me that they would not check ours!