Where to stay

Everyone has their thing that makes a vacation enjoyable to them. For some it is where they eat. For others it is the activities. Some people just want a good book to read or some want a great pool to hang out by. For me, it is the hotel.

This is where I may differ from many dads. My guess is a lot of dads would argue that you won’t be spending a lot of time at the hotel while on your Disney trip, so why spend the money there. I can’t disagree. The problem is me. My wife calls me a “hotel snob”. She probably isn’t wrong.

I don’t need room service or anything fancy but I do want to know it is a clean, updated, safe place to house my family.

I have a few suggestions based on where we have stayed in the past and other places that I have researched. There are a few things you may want to decide for yourself before deciding where to stay.

First is location.

How close is it to Disneyland? Can you walk there or do you have to ride a shuttle? If there is a shuttle, how much will it cost?

Second, what about food?

Do they offer a free breakfast? Do they have a fridge in the room? Is there a restaurant your kids are willing to eat at on the hotel property?

Third, how’s the pool?

We all know that you could drive your kids to a tiny Utah town and the trip will be a success as long as the hotel has a pool. So if you plan to take a Disney break and go swim for a bit, how’s the pool? Did you know some of the hotels near Disneyland have installed small water parks at their hotels? Is that of interest to you, you may want to check one of those out.

Does the room work for your family?

My wife and I have sort of created a bad habit for when we travel. We’ve often spent a little more and gotten a suite that allows she and I to have our own room with the kids’ beds in the room next to us. It is nice when they go to bed early so you can stay up and chat or watch a show while they sleep. There are a few hotels near Disneyland, that are even on the more affordable side, that allow you to do this, but if you plan to sleep when they sleep and everyone can fit in one room, then you have plenty of options.

Those are the top things I consider when looking at places to stay. Here are a few of the hotels we have enjoyed staying at on our trips:

Embassy Suites South Anaheim

We have stayed here multiple times and have enjoyed our time at this hotel. You do have the option to have a king bed in one room of the hotel suite and have a queen pull out from a couch in the second room of your suite (all rooms are suites at this hotel). The hotel also offers a free breakfast (I use the word free carefully as I’m sure you pay for it in the cost of your nightly room rate). The breakfast includes an omelet bar, cereals and pastries. It doesn’t disappoint. The pool is nothing fancy but our kids enjoyed it. This is a hotel that you want to use a shuttle for to get to and from Disneyland. The shuttle does cost extra money, nothing crazy but something to be prepared for. To learn more about this hotel, click here.

Anaheim Marriott Suites

This is another “suite” hotel that features a bedroom and a living room in the room that you stay in. Again when we stayed here we had a king in the bedroom and our kids used the sofa sleeper to sleep on, as well as a crib. It was a great hotel. They do not offer a daily free breakfast but there is a restaurant in the hotel. It also requires a shuttle to get to and from Disneyland. You can visit the Marriott’s website here.

If you aren’t into taking a shuttle and want to stay at one of the hotels across the street from the entrance of Disneyland I would suggest the Camelot Inn & Suites. It is near the entrance and does have a family suite with a king bed in one room and two queens in the room next door. We haven’t stayed there but are considering it for a future Disney trip. I also have heard good things about the Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim Theme Park Entrance hotel (this has the fancy water park-ish pool) as well as the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground.

To get a good feel on what hotel may fit you best, you might want to try one of the pricing websites to see how much the hotels cost, along with your tickets to Disneyland. If you are a Costco member, I find the Costco travel website to be a good way to navigate through the different price options of hotels. Sometimes you can even get a Disney gift card to use on your trip (we usually have used it to pay for a character breakfast) when you book through Costco. You can also try different travel agencies like Get Away Today or even just price it out through the Disneyland website.

I enjoy using sites like Costco or the Disneyland site to look at a different hotel options. It give me a chance to compare and consider my options as we plan our trip. Make sure to google search your hotels and see what the latest pictures are that have been posted about your hotel and the latest comments. That will give you a snapshot of what you are looking at. Like I said at the start of this, this is one of my favorite things about at trip. I enjoy a good hotel. There are many good ones near Disneyland, if you find one you enjoy, please feel free to share it with me and we’ll add it to our list on this page. My email is utahdisneydad@gmail.com