NICE Good neighbor Hotels?

[bulldoggrl]

So my husband and I are looking to spend our 1 year anniversary at the DLR, we're planning on spending a Sat and Sun night, going to Napa Rose Sun evening, on our actual anniversary. I want this to be a NICE vacation, but can't make myself spend $500+ to stay at PPH, and over $750 for GC. We will stay there someday, but it just isn't in the cards this trip. SO I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for nice, luxurious, romantic hotels that won't cost 500 bucks! I'm looking at the Hilton Disney view Lanai room, which is a much more reasonable $350 for the weekend. Anyone have any reviews of that hotel (can we see fireworks?), or recommendations of somewhere else?

 

[PinkBudgie]

Here is my review I wrote last year of Embassy Suites South. We went there last June for our 20th anniversary. We were going to stay a few days at the Grand and then realized we could stay a whole week somewhere else for the same price.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2220664

We chose this place because we wanted somewhere nice for our anniversary, it has large rooms, and a wonderful full free breakfast every morning. It isn't walking distance. We did that once but I wouldn't recommend it after a day at the parks! ART comes there, but we drove and parked. It was an easy drive to DLR and back.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Oh yeah, some rooms probably could see the fire works. We were facing the wrong way and could see a little if we pressed our faces against the glass.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

I love the hilton, here are some pics of the view we had from our room, great great place, you will not be disapointed at all

and the fireworks are great from the window with a bottle of champagne!!

 

[ChickenCarlos]

i also just stayed at the embassy suites south last sat, here is my review and some pics from the resort photo thread, i would recommend the Hilton though.

So i usually stay at the Anaheim Hilton, but this time since we had a larger group we decided to stay at the Embassy Suites,although they had bigger rooms and FREE cocktails & breakfast everyday, i dont think i would stay there again, the buses at the hilton work like clockwork, maybe because its closer or maybe because if all else fails you can get on the Marriott bus, but the ART bus for Embassy was constently late, and numerous times the bus driver would just sit there and not let us board because he was on a "break". But also the i never saw anybody at the front desk, i always had to wait and say hello a couple of times before someone would help me, and the gift shop says it opens at 7 am everyday but they dont actually open till 7:30 and the one morning i was waiting outside the door the guy that worked there was chatting with the front desk clerk and ignoring me, when he finally came over and opened the door i was shocked, i was like "you work here?, why did you just look at me standing here and not come open the door, it 7:35???" he just looked at me with a blank stair! anyways i forgot to take pictures of the beds and bathroom but here are a few pics of the living area, and some other stuff.

here is the living area, it was pretty big and had a mini fridge and microwave and a 4 person dinning area, and a nice fold out couch, on the website it says all rooms have 42" LCD televisions but our room had 2 old tube t.v.'s, it was okay but i was expecting better service.

1st round of free cocktails, they actually used pretty good liquor too. they had beam whiskey, skyy vodka, and bicardi rum. not some crappy headache stuff.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Do you mean the hilton by the convention center? We just stayed there a few weeks ago. We got the room through priceline so we weren't in a view room, just a regular room. It was nice but I have to say that I could tell it was an older hotel. Last summer we won the Hyatt through priceline and to me the rooms were a lot newer looking than at the hilton. DH and I both liked the hyatt better. At the hilton the ceilings seemed low, there was a visable space under the door to the hallway which let a lot of light in at night and the bathroom door was just a sliding door with no lock that didn't really close all the way.

These issues weren't that big of a deal but it just made the place seem not as nice. You could tell that they updated the bedding and decor though so it didn't look dated. I wouldn't mind staying there again if i got it through priceline but if i were picking a hotel to pay regular price at i would go with the hyatt or, (based on my sister's review) the embassy suites south. There's also the crowne plaza and the doubletree which I don't have any experience with but they are places i would look into if i was searching for a nicer hotel.

 

[Mister Toad]

I've stayed at the Hilton by the convention center twice and it is a nice hotel. Nice modern rooms and good breakfast room service. I will be staying at the Marriott next door to the Hilton in a week, I will let you know what I find out when I'm there, looks equally nice to the Hilton.

 

[bulldoggrl]

Thanks for the replies guys!! ChickenCarlos, those photos look awesome! And Mr. Toad, I'm looking forward to hearing your comparison of the two. We don't need to be in walking distanc,e we have Premium APs so get free parking anyway, I would just love to see the parks from our hotel! And the outside Lanai siounds delightful for hanging out after a long day at the parks!

 

[DSNY4ever]

Go to the Sheraton. They have a shuttle and it's very nice.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

What about the Candy Cane Inn? Do you want to be within walking distance? We got the Crowne Plaza twice last year via Priceline.com for around $45 per night both times. It's very nice but definitely not within walking distance ~ check out www.betterbidding.com and www.biddingfortravel.com for priceline tips.

 

[ChickenCarlos]

I've stayed at the Hilton by the convention center twice and it is a nice hotel. Nice modern rooms and good breakfast room service. I will be staying at the Marriott next door to the Hilton in a week, I will let you know what I find out when I'm there, looks equally nice to the Hilton.

i have also stayed at the marriott because the girlfriend loved the way the pool looked on the website, i was shocked at how unkept the marriott was, there was crushed crackers on our floor and a dried booger on our wall when we checked in, so we asked to switch rooms, they switched us to a room with missing light bulbs, after they replaced the light bulbs, the room was fine, but the whole time i could look out the window and see my one true love, the HILTON, then when we finally went to the "awesome" pool it is only 3ft deep all the way around so unless you just want to sit in the pool it is a waste of space. and they make you walk through the bar to get to the pool, so at night when people are dressed nice and having a cocktail, you will be the idiot walking through the bar dripping wet, or you will be the one trying to avoid wet spots in the bar while trying to enjoy a cocktail. the whole hotel is set up very weird.

 

[Mister Toad]

i have also stayed at the marriott because the girlfriend loved the way the pool looked on the website, i was shocked at how unkept the marriott was, there was crushed crackers on our floor and a dried booger on our wall when we checked in, so we asked to switch rooms, they switched us to a room with missing light bulbs, after they replaced the light bulbs, the room was fine, but the whole time i could look out the window and see my one true love, the HILTON, then when we finally went to the "awesome" pool it is only 3ft deep all the way around so unless you just want to sit in the pool it is a waste of space. and they make you walk through the bar to get to the pool, so at night when people are dressed nice and having a cocktail, you will be the idiot walking through the bar dripping wet, or you will be the one trying to avoid wet spots in the bar while trying to enjoy a cocktail. the whole hotel is set up very weird.

I have heard really mixed reviews on that hotel. Sorry that it was a bad experience for you. I travel a lot on business and I was always exclusively Hilton brands, but then they made me mad, so I swore off Hilton unless I have no other options. We aren't really planning on doing anything at the hotel other than sleep (Only a 2-day in the parks trip) so hopefully at least the room is kept up. I will report back when I see how it is. I have as a whole been much happier with Marriott as a chain than Hilton, Marriott is much more appreciative of their loyal guests than I ever experienced with Hilton.

 

[mrswh]

Check out the Hyatt Regency Orange County. They just completed a $25 million renovation and it is really quite nice and ridiculously inexpensive. It is about 1.5 miles up Harbor so you probably won't want to walk to DLR, but they do have a free, reliable shuttle that takes 5 minutes and runs every half hour. There are rooms with fireworks views - they won't be right outside your window but you can still see and hear them just fine. There is a full Starbucks in the lobby which is nice. The restaurant is pretty good and there is also a full service bar in the lobby. Service at the hotel is great and it is immaculately clean. The pool is nothing fantastic but is at least clean!

Check out their website - it really does look like the photos.

http://www.orangecounty.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp