The best/most popular motel for 1st timers?

[Magalex]

We have a year to go yet(planning our first visit to DL for July 2012) so I just want to do a little survey of the most popular/best good neighbor motel or hotel for DL, excluding the Disney properties. Plus give a short reason why!

 

[Poohs100AcreWood]

We've stayed in several hotels off of Disney property, but we keep coming back to the Travelodge. It's close to DL, always has good prices, and the rooms and staff are great. In fact, I'm booking there next week for my trip in December.

 

[tatehermosa]

Hojo or Candy Cane Inn would be your best bet.

 

[aurorae]

The two Sheratons get the highest rating on the Dis review board.

That said, the one that is most commonly mentioned here is the HoJo.

There are lots of fans of some of the cheaper motels that are very close to Disney, and lots of fans of some of the more expensive (but still less expensive than the Disney hotels) hotels that are a little farther away.

It kind of depends on what you want. That is why the Disneyland web site classifies them into economy, moderate, superior.

 

[HappyHaunt]

We like the Tropicana, we stay there every year (that were not onsite). It's right across from the walkway in to DLR. Not even a 5 minute walk. Nice pool and hot tub. We always have a real quiet stay, and the rooms are nice and clean.

 

[skiingfast]

Oviously the ones that are best known are the Disney Hotels, and the large chains like Hilton, Marriot and Sheraton.

Some hotels work hard to advertise on Disney sites to gain marketshare.

Popular doesn't mean best.

In thier own right some earn a reputation.

Park Vue Inn.
Candy Cane Inn.
Best Wetern Park Place Inn.
Ramada Maingate.
Annabella Hotel.
Carousel Inn.
Best Western Stovalls.

 

[cougarfan84]

Tripadvisor shows the top rated hotels near DLR are the Candy Cane Inn, Park Vue Inn, and Howard Johnson.

A lot of people here like the Best Western Park Place Inn as well. I haven't stayed in any of these hotels myself (yet), but I am staying at the Park Vue Inn on my DLR trip next month and I'll tell y'all how it went when I get back.

 

[Magalex]

We probably will end up with reservations at one of the closest motels because our 10 yr old DS is requesting to be very near DL. I think he likes the idea of walking right into the park. We usually stay at value-moderate at WDW & use the buses so he thinks it will be neat to be able to walk right into DL.

 

[PinkBudgie]

You can see pics of CCI in the link in my sig. We just got back from our third stay there. Each stay you get a coupon for $10 off per night on your next trip. With that and AAA discount we paid $129 a night for a deluxe room in July.

Pros- close walk to DLR (took us 8 min in the morning and 12 at night. ) Free breakfast, free shuttle, free wifi, friendly staff, very well kept up and looks charming, the beds are very comfy.

Cons- no eggs for protien in breakfast (I wish they would served hard boiled eggs at least), the coffee isn't very good (we brought our own Keurig maker to make our own strong coffee), the wifi is somewhat spotty.

For us, the pros out-weigh the cons.

 

[Magalex]

Can someone give a list of some restaurants near CCI & the other motels near by?

 

[skiingfast]

Can someone give a list of some restaurants near CCI & the other motels near by?

There are a lot in the area, within walking distance. Subway and a pizza and chinese place are in a small strip mall across the street.

There are a couple places between the gates and CCI. Ihop, Denny's. A mexican place in the Annaheim Plaza Hotel, a Tony Roma's in front of Ramada Maingate, there is a pizza and sandwich shop there too. Down Katella in Garden Walk lots of chains.

There are lots of hotel/motels. I suggest looking at hotels.com and searching the location of Disney California Adventure. It will list starting what is closest from the gates.

 

[PinkBudgie]

There was also a Mexican place across the street from CCI. The only outside place we ate at was Bubba Gumps. It was a short walk from CCI because it was on the right on the street (Katella) and we didn't even have to go in to Garden Walk. We loved it, btw.

We did have a time share salesman literally chase us almost to the restaurant trying to give us info and maps on the area (to get us to talk about his time share, no doubt). We said no and kept walking but he started walking with us a long ways. On our way back he had cornered some other poor family so went by unnoticed.

 

[tlovesdis]

Park Vue Inn is great! Right across the street, clean, large rooms and free hot breakfast!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

PLUS SIDE:

HoJo's-nice big rooms, comfy beds, great water play area for the kids, lots of parking spaces & it's free, & free wifi.

Carousel Inn-comfy beds, close to the parks, free breakfast.

Tropicana Inn-comfortable rooms, close to the parks.


DOWN SIDE:

HoJo's-no restaurant on site (but Mimi's across the street)

Carousel Inn-parking fee daily, cost for wifi, elevator not reliable

Tropicana Inn-parking fee daily, cost for wifi, parking tight at times & pool dead center of parking lot

These are our families opinions & observations. We like our stays at HoJo, but others have had some issues with freeway noise or unfriendly staff....we've never experienced either of these. Not having room service or a restaurant on site (or free breakfast) is not a perk we look for, as we enjoy our character & breakfasts in the park.

Carousel Inn was nice but the rooms can become very small if you have more than 2 people in them. They offer a nice breakfast with a great view of the park....you have the option of adding a hot sandwich from Quiznos (which is on site) for a couple dollars. I didn't get to the pool, so now opinion here. They have valet parking & you HAVE to use them.....this can sometimes be an inconvenience if you like to get up & go often during your stay. The WiFi connection is not cheap & not that strong.

Tropicana Inn was ok, nothing fancy....the pillows were super flat (not sure they've fixed that or not). The parking lot can get pretty loud at times, but once we pulled the blinds if was pretty quiet. The just started charging a parking fee. I've heard the breakfast wasn't that great.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I just got back from my stay at the Fairfield Inn. I really liked it there and would not hesitate to stay there again. Very clean, refurbished, quiet, and very comfortable. Short walk. Close food options. Free wi-fi. Pool was nondescript, though, if that's important. I recently did a detailed review that's still visible on the first page of the forum if interested.

 

[I❤MICKEY]

We had our first DL trip in June w/ my DS3 and DS6m. We stayed at the Homewood Suites. We are planning on going again next summer. Even though there are some options that are cheaper I am willing to pay more for the wonderful experience we had.

I would recommend this hotel to everyone and anyone. Here's why:

1) Loved having a bedroom (2 queens), bathroom, living room and full kitchen. We were able to put our kids to bed and go to the other room to have some down time for me and my husband without disturbing the kids. The rooms were very clean and the beds were comfortable.

2) While we didn't use the stove the full fridge and microwave rocked. We drove from Salt Lake City so we had a cooler and just put everything in the fridge when we arrived. We used the microwave for warming up leftovers, popcorn and baby food.

3) The staff was unlike any other hotel I've ever stayed at. We were welcomed every time we walked in with a smile. Although it was very full they even remembered my children's names. Everyday during breakfast we were asked if we were going to be back mid-day. The days we were the person took our room number to ensure that our rooms were cleaned and ready for us.

4) Free breakfast (7 days) and dinner (Sun - Thurs). The eggs at breakfast weren't great but everything else was. The dinner was perfect for our family. They had a taco night, spaghetti night and bbq (hot dogs & hamburgs). Free beer, wine and soda was included for dinner. My DH loved this. We filled our water bottles with soda when heading back to the park.

I could go on and on. It was one of the best hotel experiences I have ever had.

 

[specialks]

We had our first DL trip in June w/ my DS3 and DS6m. We stayed at the Homewood Suites. We are planning on going again next summer. Even though there are some options that are cheaper I am willing to pay more for the wonderful experience we had.

Can I ask if you used the HS shuttle service? If so, what did you think? Sorry to go off topic for a sec.

OP, we are planning to stay at the Park Vue Inn in Jan and I am still deciding on our hotel for Oct. After all my time on the disboards, it seems to me that HoJos, Candy Cane Inn, Park Vue Inn, and for some reason the Anaheim Plaza (as a low price option) get a lot of recommendations.

 

[pixiemomof3]

We have stayed right across the street at the Park Vue inn twice and both times it was a good experience plus it was directly across the street so that was good going to and from the park since we did enough inside the park. We had a standard queen/bunk bed room and at the time I had a one year and requested a free crib to use so that was good too. The pool is nothing fancy, just a pool and they have free breakfast upstairs which was nice to fill up on before heading to the park. I would stay here again but am always interested hearing other reviews and trying other places out too. We are heading to DL in June or July 2012 and we might try hojo's, the pool area looks really fun for the kids, but I read they don't have free breakfast, and then a few days at the DLH but I am not sure yet. Love reading the reviews here!

 

[Magalex]

We had our first DL trip in June w/ my DS3 and DS6m. We stayed at the Homewood Suites. We are planning on going again next summer. Even though there are some options that are cheaper I am willing to pay more for the wonderful experience we had.

I would recommend this hotel to everyone and anyone. Here's why:

1) Loved having a bedroom (2 queens), bathroom, living room and full kitchen. We were able to put our kids to bed and go to the other room to have some down time for me and my husband without disturbing the kids. The rooms were very clean and the beds were comfortable.

2) While we didn't use the stove the full fridge and microwave rocked. We drove from Salt Lake City so we had a cooler and just put everything in the fridge when we arrived. We used the microwave for warming up leftovers, popcorn and baby food.

3) The staff was unlike any other hotel I've ever stayed at. We were welcomed every time we walked in with a smile. Although it was very full they even remembered my children's names. Everyday during breakfast we were asked if we were going to be back mid-day. The days we were the person took our room number to ensure that our rooms were cleaned and ready for us.

4) Free breakfast (7 days) and dinner (Sun - Thurs). The eggs at breakfast weren't great but everything else was. The dinner was perfect for our family. They had a taco night, spaghetti night and bbq (hot dogs & hamburgs). Free beer, wine and soda was included for dinner. My DH loved this. We filled our water bottles with soda when heading back to the park.

I could go on and on. It was one of the best hotel experiences I have ever had.

Now I have to check out the Homewood Suites. I am going to be debating the motel choice forever. Because we live in Pittsburgh Pa, we are WDW vets so this will probably be one of those "one & only trips to DL" Our DS will be 11 at the time, so we wanted to get to DL while he was young still. I love the fact of CCI, HoJo's & Fairfield Inn being in the heart of it all but then I see the nice, larger hotels farther down. We will not have a rental. We would like to walk or take a easy route with the ART. I have looked at the Embassy Suites South & the Hyatt Regency. We also like to be surrounded by lots of restaurant choices within walking distance.

 

[GrandBob]

Can someone give a list of some restaurants near CCI & the other motels near by?

My favorite link for motels and restaurants:

http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

Shows hotels/motels when it comes up. For walking distance, stay in the green areas. For restaurants, click on the "restaurants" button.

-Bob