Where would you stay? updated list!!!! post #9

[iheartdisney]

Hi all. We are looking for a hotel on the cheap-side for next week when we are hoping for light crowds.
I've been on expedia, yahoo, and various travel sites, and now am aproaching the experts.so...what are your experiences?

1. Vagabond- looks nice, military discount for a $90 kids suite. Cont. Breakfast and in room fridge to allow us to have tv.dinners at night, and so we'll only have to buy lunch in the park.

2. Parkside Inn & Suites- I know, most of the reviews are bad. But are they bad enough to off-set the $67 family suite? Plus, walking distance to the downtown disney monorail station

3. Ramada Convention center- 89.00 family suite, indoor pool and hot tub, and a cont breakfast and in room fridge, so again, tv dinners.

4. La Quinta- 109.00 family suite, breakfasst looks good, but unsure how far it is

Any opinions would be welcome before next tuesday! Thanks in advance!

 

[DangerMouse]

I honestly haven't heard positive reviews on any of the hotels you listed. Sorry.

Have you considered the Anaheim Plaza (http://www.anaheimplazahotel.com/) They have rates right around $70 a night and are within walking distance.

The Motel 6 at Disney Way and Clementine is a reasonable walk (less than a mile and on ART route) and under $100 a night including tax and free parking. It is one of the better Motel 6's, and if all you are looking for is a clean room and pool/hot tub, this might be a good choice.

Del Sol is right across the street and usually has reasonable rates.

 

[kiwitravel]

Of the hotels you have mentioned, probably the Vagabond. Definitely would not recommend the Parkside, rated number 95 of 99 hotels in Anaheim by Trip Advisor.... Sounds positively unsafe.

As mentioned Anaheim Plaza has some good rates, HoJos has entertainment book rates of $54 and $69 and is a really good hotel. Other than that if you are going for anything longer than a week then haggle, we got the Carousel Inn last year for $69 for a 15 night stay...

 

[Disneyluvr2]

DO NOT STAY AT THE PARKSIDE INN!!!! I mentioned to friends that we always stay at the Park Vue Inn and they confused it with the Parkside Inn and stayed there instead. It was a total roach motel!!! There's a good reason it's only $67.00 and night...and that's probably over priced for what you get! I haven't stayed at any of the places you mentioned but I just wanted to tell you what I heard about Parkside Inn so you don't pick that place!

 

[iheartdisney]

DO NOT STAY AT THE PARKSIDE INN!!!! I mentioned to friends that we always stay at the Park Vue Inn and they confused it with the Parkside Inn and stayed there instead. It was a total roach motel!!! There's a good reason it's only $67.00 and night...and that's probably over priced for what you get! I haven't stayed at any of the places you mentioned but I just wanted to tell you what I heard about Parkside Inn so you don't pick that place!

thanks for the input everyone! After the 10th review about bugs, even my husband, the tightwad, said cross that one off the list. So no Parkside!
I think after 3 travelsites reviews, I'm leaning towards La Quinta. Even with the construction (since we won't be there during the day) it meets our needs the best. I love the kids suite, as we have 3 little ones, the seperation at night is very nice for some well-needed adult time. And their breakfast loks the most substantial than the other coffee and toast contenintal breakfasts.

 

[JessGWisc]

I know its not one of the ones that you mentioned, but my best friend and I just returned from 3 nights at the Alpine Inn. It was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! And the best part was that it was only $65 per night. With tax for three nights our total was $220. The rooms were more than clean and also have a refrigerator and microwave as well as a coffee maker. Granite sink and tile in the floor. Very nice! You could also see all of Paradise Pier, Grizzly Peak and the Tower of Terror. Also a very short walk to the park because you can cut through the Timon parking lot and take the tram right up to the park. Probably my favorite thing about this hotel was the fact that we arrived into Anaheim at 10Am after a red eye flight from Chicago, and our room was ready! So we were able to put our bags up in the room and head off for the parks right away. Our return flight left at 1AM on Tuesday, and they held our bags at the front desk so we could enjoy the park all day. I just can't say enough nice things about this hotel. I've stayed at both the Doubletree on Harbor and the Hilton during previous visits and the room was on par with the rooms at both of these properties, not kidding. I'm finishing up my travel agents license in the next few weeks and would reccomend this hotel to any client over the others because the value just cannot be beat.

 

[bumbershoot]

I haven't stayed at the Alpine, but trusted people on another Disney message board have talked about it in the past, and say how great it is.

 

[JulieNMM]

We're staying at the Embassy Suites. It's $125 a night, BUT they include a full cooked to order breakfast and a 2-hour happy hour with beer and snacks. So you could easily save money by not having to eat breakfast and could have a light lunch and then come back for snacks.

We stayed at the Park Vue Inn before and it is very close!

JULIE

 

[BillyFan]

I know its not one of the ones that you mentioned, but my best friend and I just returned from 3 nights at the Alpine Inn. It was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! And the best part was that it was only $65 per night. With tax for three nights our total was $220. The rooms were more than clean and also have a refrigerator and microwave as well as a coffee maker. Granite sink and tile in the floor. Very nice! You could also see all of Paradise Pier, Grizzly Peak and the Tower of Terror. Also a very short walk to the park because you can cut through the Timon parking lot and take the tram right up to the park. Probably my favorite thing about this hotel was the fact that we arrived into Anaheim at 10Am after a red eye flight from Chicago, and our room was ready! So we were able to put our bags up in the room and head off for the parks right away. Our return flight left at 1AM on Tuesday, and they held our bags at the front desk so we could enjoy the park all day. I just can't say enough nice things about this hotel. I've stayed at both the Doubletree on Harbor and the Hilton during previous visits and the room was on par with the rooms at both of these properties, not kidding. I'm finishing up my travel agents license in the next few weeks and would reccomend this hotel to any client over the others because the value just cannot be beat.

That's great to hear about the Alpine, we used to stay there often. They had a great view of the DCA construction, and rooms were seriously $39 a night then!!!! It's also good to know that you can still use that back entrance into the parking lot. That was the best part of staying there. I wonder if that will change once they start construction in the parking lot area for Carsland?

 

[iheartdisney]

OK..so another day comparing hotels...I swear, I'll be an expert soon...if I don't go blind from staring at the computer screen first!

here's the new list
1. La Quinta
2. Vagabond
3. Comfort Inn Main Gate

these are my top 3 due to:
1. kids suites at around the same price
2. good reviews on the breakfasts provided (comfort in and La Quinta mostly, love Comfort Inns pictures, good job on the website)
3. Easy driving to to Timon lot (i am a big fan of the lot over the structure.) and for 2 adults, the $3 shuttle ends up being 1 more than driving...and no hassle of waiting for shuttles.

If anyone has experinces staying at these hotels in the past few weeks, I'd appriciate it. Trip advisor reviews say that there is construction around the La Quinta, and I was wondering if it is disruptive to our stay.
Thanks again in advance!

 

[Vanvmom]

We've never been given a choice for parking. Anytime we drove in the front entrance, we were directed through the lot, along the backside of CA Adventure, and out to the street to cross into the entrance of the parking structure. How do you manage to be able to park in the Timon lot?

 

[staley7580]

I stayed at the La Quinta last year, and we LOVED it! We stayed in the kids suite, and it was so nice to be able to put the kids to bed and SHUT THE DOOR! We could watch Tv, or... whatever.. They were doing construction over there last year, and our room was right next to where they were doing it, and it didnt bother us at all. I think that now they are n the later stages of the same project, from the looks of things. The beds were on the hard side, but we have noticed that at most of the places we have stayed at, including the PP. The breakfast was okay... nothing to write home about, but it will do the job. The staff was really nice, when they made up the beds, they would fold up the kids jammies, and lay it on the bads for them, and arrange the toys for them...VERY cute! We really enjoyed our stay there, and would totally stay there again.

Oh, and the Timon lot was really easy to get to... Right around the corner, if I remember right!

 

[iheartdisney]

We've never been given a choice for parking. Anytime we drove in the front entrance, we were directed through the lot, along the backside of CA Adventure, and out to the street to cross into the entrance of the parking structure. How do you manage to be able to park in the Timon lot?

Instead of following the signs for the theme park, turn on Harbor and drive PAST the park, and then under the Disneyland Resort sign. I'll park there until they pave it over for carsland. Mainly becasue you don't have the TRAM-BATTLE you have when you park at the structure.

 

[LindaM]

We stayed in LaQuinta last year as well, and we really enjoyed it. We also drove our rental instead of taking the shuttle because we didn't want the hassle of waiting and if we wanted to leave DL and eat elsewhere offsite we already had our car with us. The breakfast was good, they had a variety of food (eggs, sausage, fruit, muffins etc) each day.

There was more than enough room for the four of us, and it was nice that there were two tv's, plus fridge and microwave.

 

[shamrockshake]

We stayed at the desert inn and suites and were pleased. 4 queen beds, 1.5 bathroom, fridge, micro, coffe and free breakfast. you could take juice up to the room for later. bonus it is rigtht accross the street form DL. free parking.

We also like hojos. It is a 10 minute walk, but the pool is great and rooms clean and entire hotel is non smoking ( an area is set up for smokers) And some rooms have a balcony.

We stayed at the plaza and castle inn, both were OK. Castle inn has suites and plaze gives you connecting rooms as your family suite. Both are walking distance.

Have fun!

 

[nurse.darcy]

Like others have said, DO NOT stay at the parkside. . .horrible. The only good thing there is the pool. . .Okay, that being said, I like the others you have mentioned. . .I don't stay family suite because its only me and my son so not sure about that, but these others are nice. . .

So for those die hard DLR fans. . .how many of you think that Disney needs to commandeer the prime real estate that is the Parkside Inn. Its WAY TOO close to the Disney entrance for this type of trashy place. . .

 

[nurse.darcy]

One side note about parking in Mickey and Friends VS Timon. . .we happen to like the Mickey and Friends structure due to its proximity to the tram to the main entrance. . .also, many times I have tried to park in Timon and been "directed" to Mickey and Friends. . .I never try for anything else now. . .and honestly, it always works out best. . .

One other thing, from Mickey and Friends you can walk to DTD and go through the shops. . .Its not really very far and its so much fun. . .also, at night from the top of the Mickey and Friends Parking you can watch the fireworks - they appear to be shooting directly over your head. . .very nice. . .