How do you choose your hotel?

[mlm]

How do you decide on where to stay in DL??????? I have been reading these boards and reviews on tripadvisor and I am so overwhelmed. there are good and bad reviews for them all, how do you choose? I know I want a moderate hotel really close as we have small kids and are not renting a car so I have a list of ones to choose from (from looking at a disney map) but I am finding it hard to choose...

HELP!! Where did/are you staying? How did you decide where to stay? do you book online?

we are going Dec 28- Jan3 and this is our first trip to DL!

 

[amw]

You said you had small children... do you want a separate sleeping area for them or is one room for the family OK?

I wanted a separate room for the kids. I picked the King Suite at the HoJos so we could be walking distance. There's also Desert Inn & Suites across the street, but I heard the customer service was questionable so I thought I'd stay with a reputable hotel. Now my husband has massive Hyatt points, so I may switch my ressies to the Hyatt Regency Orange County that has kidsuites and a free shuttle to the park (but not walkable).

If you don't mind having everyone in the same room, then I think the most recommended place is the Candy Cane Inn that has free breakfast and a free shuttle, and is close by. (and is reasonably priced).

 

[almacdonald]

Stay at Howard Johnson. There, decision made. There's even a McDonald's on the way to grab a McMuffin in the morning!

 

[darph nader]

Location,location,you know the rest. Price is a real close second.If we use Getaway Today,the criteria is avalibilty first,(price),then location. When we were there last week,I picked the Alpine Inn for some friends of ours. They could ride the parking shuttle,but were still close to our hotel.

 

[Sosai X]

Best Western Anaheim Inn. Everytime. Strong Internet connection (as a geek, that's the most important thing when selecting a hotel). Across the street from the Harbor entrance. Spitting distance to Denny's. You can see the fireworks from the balcony. Case closed.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I stay at the Sheraton Anaheim if I cant stay on property...I love that hotel ...however, Im thinking about getting an AP and if I go cheap route I might just stay at Park Vue Inn...gonna check it out one of these visits I think

 

[mikayla73]

I have stayed at the Anaheim Plaza Inn and Ramada Maingate, both on Harbor, both in walking distance. They were both OK, nothing spectacular, but were clean and we didn't have any problems with service at either place.

 

[Captjackson]

How do you decide on where to stay in DL??????? I have been reading these boards and reviews on tripadvisor and I am so overwhelmed. there are good and bad reviews for them all, how do you choose? I know I want a moderate hotel really close as we have small kids and are not renting a car so I have a list of ones to choose from (from looking at a disney map) but I am finding it hard to choose...

HELP!! Where did/are you staying? How did you decide where to stay? do you book online?

we are going Dec 28- Jan3 and this is our first trip to DL!

Hey, I think any motel will have good and bad reviews. Look for a trend. How many good reviews for each bad one? One thing I like on Tripadvisor is their rankings. While not 100% accurate, I'd bet the chances of a good stay are better in a highly ranked motel than one in the bottom 10%.
I haven't stayed at any of the walking distance motels so I can't give any specific recommendation.

We are staying at the Residence Inn in Garden Grove (Harbor and Chapman). One reason: space. We stayed at the same motel back in Feb. 2 BDR plus a living room. Nice for those naps, both kids and parents. Last time my folks came down with us. This time my MIL will be joining us.
The one drawback is that it's too far to walk. We had our van last time and this time we'll probably use the ART. If MIL were not traveling with us this time, we'd probably try one of the motels across from DLR on Harbor.

DW makes the reservations. We almost always book online.

 

[hlbtimes2]

For us its:
1) location- we like to be a short walk
2) price- mid priced- about $100 a night
3) has to be clean!

We have stayed a few different places. The most recent: fairfield in Dec 2003, Paradise Pier in Oct 05, Candy cane inn March and May 2006. Oh, and dh stayed at the GC in May for work.

The PP was nice, but it was a bit of a walk with small kids. For the price, they should offer a shuttle. The fairfield was nice enough, the walk wasnt bad. Candy cane was our favorite (as you can see we returned). The CCI is about the same prce as the fairfield. The rooms are a bit smaller, but they offer a free shuttle and a decent breakfast. Dh says the GC was very nice, but because you have to enter through the lobby to get to the rooms, its a bit of walk. The price is too high for us to stay there as a family.

 

[1Robins]

Location,location,you know the rest. Price is a real close second./QUOTE]

I'll agree with this.

We're planning on going this weekend . As much as I wanted to stay at one of the 3 hotels on the DLR property, and since I have 2 teenagers we need 2 rooms, I couldn't get a ressie (probably because of the 1/2 marathon). So we're staying at the Anaheim Marriott.

 

[mystic_path]

I got a good deal through Travelocity that I couldnt pass up, but the hotel attacted is "Americas best inn's". They have a shuttle that takes your right from the hotel to Disneyland and back which is good, as this hotel isnt walking distance. But the reviews arnt bad and the prices are really inexpensive.

I wish I could stay at the HJ or something, but for budget travellers this is ideal. But if you have children, it maybe easier to stay somewhere a little closer to the park incase they get tired, and its only a short distance back to the hotel for a nap if needed.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

We're taking our first trip next week. DH wanted to splurge and stay onsite, so we're staying at DLH. It sounded like the best one for young children, lots to see and do, plus that fabulous pool!

If we were not staying onsite, we'd probably choose by:

1. Price: To narrow the field
2. Location: Close so we don't have to drive & park
3. Reviews: Clean, good customer service
4. Nice pool area - Both our boys really love to swim, so we'd probably pay a little extra for a better pool.

We would have loved to get a separate room (like a suite) for the boys' sleeping, but weren't willing to splurge that much onsite.

 

[CindyH]

For example, I know that many people here (and on tripadvisor.com) are happy with offsite places like Candy Cane Inn and HoJo's. For us, taking a shuttle would never work (kids couldn't be patient enough to wait for it) and walking to HoJo's, while fine for others, would be too long a walk for my kids (I can hear DS5 saying "My legs hurt").

I also wrestle first with staying onsite - can I be happy with the high prices? If not, then next is location of offsite - closest to the crosswalk, yet clean, is what we need.

 

[crossfamily]

Hope you don;t mind I'm subscribing. I want to take my 2 little ones to dl in jan while dh and ds9 go skiing in oregon. I need to know where to stay too. Hoping for some good deals before we go.

 

[ZoZo]

I did some research, too, and decided to try the Candy Cane Inn when I go in December.

It's listed as the #1 hotel/motel in Anaheim (out of about 100 hotels) on tripadvisor.com. From all accounts, it's a nice motel, walking distance to Disney, clean, reasonably priced, has a pretty good complimentary breakfast, and has its own, dedicated shuttle (not a shared shuttle like some other motels).

I don't spend a lot of time in my hotel room when I "do Disney," but it's important to me to have a nice, clean, safe room. Nothing fancy is required. Some friends of mine stayed there a couple of years ago and loved it. That helped make my decision.

 

[darph nader]

Location,location,you know the rest. Price is a real close second./QUOTE]

I'll agree with this.

We're planning on going this weekend . As much as I wanted to stay at one of the 3 hotels on the DLR property, and since I have 2 teenagers we need 2 rooms, I couldn't get a ressie (probably because of the 1/2 marathon). So we're staying at the Anaheim Marriott.

Cool! We stayed there many years ago. My son won a contest at school,the grand prize was 2 free nights @ A.M. Kinda freaked me out though,the elevator is nicer than my house. Not that my house is a dump or anything,but inlaid mirrors in oak handle hold rails is ritzy.To me anyway.