Residence Inn Garden Grove

[pooh1973]

Has anyone stayed here before?? Just looked at this as an option as it has kitchen facilities which may help me as I am Celiac..

 

[blackjackdelta]

Has anyone stayed here before?? Just looked at this as an option as it has kitchen facilities which may help me as I am Celiac..

I have not stayed there, but have stayed at RI maingate, they also have kitchen facilities.

Jack

 

[Quilter007]

Residence Inn Garden Grove is my favorite after the Villas @ the Grand Cal. (I've stayed at pretty much every Marriott w/in 5 miles of the park because I build up a bunch of Marriott points that I need to use & my family likes the Mouse!)

In my opinion it has better customer service than the RI Main Gate and better beds. You can take ART. It is somewhat of a hike. Looks closer that it is -- I did walk it one day -- thought it would take me 20 minutes, took my 40 minutes -- wasn't feeling all that well, so might not have been a fair comparison.

The buffet breakfast is good -- standard fair if you are used to Residence Inns -- usual hot section & cold section. Larger buffet area and seating area than RI Main Gate.

It's also closer to El Pollo Loco than RI Main Gate. We usually like to get some crazy chicken for a budget meal because it's so darn good & reasonably healthy -- we can't get it at home. It you've never had it -- you should give it a try. Get 2 - 3 pieces of chicken per person, plus some sides. They'll give you tortillas. DH usually grabs it while the kids are resting & I'm catching up on some emails/work, then we eat & head back for more rides.

My general rule of thumb -- If you are staying off property, the farther away you get from the park, the better customer service you'll receive. I haven't stayed at HOJO's, or some of the other DIS favorites, because I have all these Marriott points & and my DVC points. So, it's either Grand Cal Villas or RI Garden Grove. If for some crazy reason, that isn't available, we'll stay at the Courtyard right there.

But we really prefer the kitchen. It's nice to be able to put water bottles in the freezer. We will sometimes make rice krispy treats. We also like having a place to put leftover take-out & make pop-corn. Courtyard has a mini-fridge, but doesn't have the buffet breakfast.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Residence Inn Garden Grove is my favorite after the Villas @ the Grand Cal. (I've stayed at pretty much every Marriott w/in 5 miles of the park because I build up a bunch of Marriott points that I need to use & my family likes the Mouse!)

In my opinion it has better customer service than the RI Main Gate and better beds. You can take ART. It is somewhat of a hike. Looks closer that it is -- I did walk it one day -- thought it would take me 20 minutes, took my 40 minutes -- wasn't feeling all that well, so might not have been a fair comparison.

The buffet breakfast is good -- standard fair if you are used to Residence Inns -- usual hot section & cold section. Larger buffet area and seating area than RI Main Gate.

It's also closer to El Pollo Loco than RI Main Gate. We usually like to get some crazy chicken for a budget meal because it's so darn good & reasonably healthy -- we can't get it at home. It you've never had it -- you should give it a try. Get 2 - 3 pieces of chicken per person, plus some sides. They'll give you tortillas. DH usually grabs it while the kids are resting & I'm catching up on some emails/work, then we eat & head back for more rides.

My general rule of thumb -- If you are staying off property, the farther away you get from the park, the better customer service you'll receive. I haven't stayed at HOJO's, or some of the other DIS favorites, because I have all these Marriott points & and my DVC points. So, it's either Grand Cal Villas or RI Garden Grove. If for some crazy reason, that isn't available, we'll stay at the Courtyard right there.

But we really prefer the kitchen. It's nice to be able to put water bottles in the freezer. We will sometimes make rice krispy treats. We also like having a place to put leftover take-out & make pop-corn. Courtyard has a mini-fridge, but doesn't have the buffet breakfast.

I like you have more Marriott points than I know what to do with. Since I have stayed at the other place numerous times I have never had a CS issue to deal with.

Jack

 

[pooh1973]

Residence Inn Garden Grove is my favorite after the Villas @ the Grand Cal. (I've stayed at pretty much every Marriott w/in 5 miles of the park because I build up a bunch of Marriott points that I need to use & my family likes the Mouse!)

In my opinion it has better customer service than the RI Main Gate and better beds. You can take ART. It is somewhat of a hike. Looks closer that it is -- I did walk it one day -- thought it would take me 20 minutes, took my 40 minutes -- wasn't feeling all that well, so might not have been a fair comparison.

The buffet breakfast is good -- standard fair if you are used to Residence Inns -- usual hot section & cold section. Larger buffet area and seating area than RI Main Gate.

It's also closer to El Pollo Loco than RI Main Gate. We usually like to get some crazy chicken for a budget meal because it's so darn good & reasonably healthy -- we can't get it at home. It you've never had it -- you should give it a try. Get 2 - 3 pieces of chicken per person, plus some sides. They'll give you tortillas. DH usually grabs it while the kids are resting & I'm catching up on some emails/work, then we eat & head back for more rides.

My general rule of thumb -- If you are staying off property, the farther away you get from the park, the better customer service you'll receive. I haven't stayed at HOJO's, or some of the other DIS favorites, because I have all these Marriott points & and my DVC points. So, it's either Grand Cal Villas or RI Garden Grove. If for some crazy reason, that isn't available, we'll stay at the Courtyard right there.

But we really prefer the kitchen. It's nice to be able to put water bottles in the freezer. We will sometimes make rice krispy treats. We also like having a place to put leftover take-out & make pop-corn. Courtyard has a mini-fridge, but doesn't have the buffet breakfast.

Thank you for this honest reply that is great.. We looked at the maingate and it was over $100 a night we couldn't justify the extra I am afraid.. I am glad to have an honest review..

 

[specialks]

Thank you for this honest reply that is great.. We looked at the maingate and it was over $100 a night we couldn't justify the extra I am afraid.. I am glad to have an honest review..

Hi, we haven't stayed at the RI but we have stayed at the Hilton Homewood Suites in Garden Grove. We choose to stay off-site because we LOVE the kitchen facilities. We save loads of money on the cheaper rooms, free deluxe breakfast, and making our own lunches to pack and bring to the park. Also, the Hilton HS offers a managers dinner M-Thur evenings from 530-7 (or 730) that is nice basic food (hotdogs, sloppy joes, spaghetti, etc -- also free wine & beer).

 

[Quilter007]

Jack -- to be fair, I'm a high maintenance person (in case you haven't guessed). I stay at Marriotts a LOT and I expect the same quality of service at ALL of them, they charge a fairly high rate and the reason they can is because they are supposed to be meeting the Marriott standards. We stayed at RI Maingate twice in a row about six/seven years ago and experienced some pretty serious lapses in customer service which impacted our vacation enough that the manager comped one night the first stay and our entire stay the second trip (we weren't using points for those trips). That was enough that we didn't go back for several years. I saw that it had some remodeling done including supposedly new beds and tried it again 3 years ago for a 2 night stay (I was feeling strangely forgiving when I made the reservation). Didn't experience any customer service issues in that stay, but the breakfast didn't meet up with what I expect (again I stay at a LOT of Marriotts) and the room we were in did not have the Marriott bed that I expect. So, frankly, I don't understand why they have a Marriott sign out front. Because the entire reason I stay at a Marriott is for the mattress. DH likes the breakfast, but that's a side benefit for me. Really, it's about sleep! I know lots of people love it, but from what I can tell, they aren't staying at Marriotts as much as I am and so they aren't making the same comparison. I have similar issues w/ the Fairfield Inn across the street from the park as well. My theory is that because it is so close to the park, it doesn't have to maintain high customer service levels to stay full and still charge premium rates and so they don't bother. We have APs and park for free so we stay a little farther away & drive in or sometimes use ART. My back is happier, I'm not fighting w/ the front desk and you know the saying, "if Momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy."

If Maingate works for you great! However, if you are paying cash -- you might think about Garden Grove -- it does tend to be less expensive. And in my opinion, is a better experience.

 

[pooh1973]

Hi, we haven't stayed at the RI but we have stayed at the Hilton Homewood Suites in Garden Grove. We choose to stay off-site because we LOVE the kitchen facilities. We save loads of money on the cheaper rooms, free deluxe breakfast, and making our own lunches to pack and bring to the park. Also, the Hilton HS offers a managers dinner M-Thur evenings from 530-7 (or 730) that is nice basic food (hotdogs, sloppy joes, spaghetti, etc -- also free wine & beer).

This was another option to be truthful, it only had the one bed available though which is why I went for the residence inn as it had 2 beds plus kitchen etc..

 

[Mouse13]

I checked prices on the RI Maingate and the RI Garden Grove earlier today. The Garden Grove location was $50 per night more.

 

[pooh1973]

I checked prices on the RI Maingate and the RI Garden Grove earlier today. The Garden Grove location was $50 per night more.

It was over $100 for us fromt he 3rd aug through to the 19th aug..$200 plus a night it was which brought the toal to $4000 plus for the whole time..