Anaheim Desert Inn & Suites

I just went on a quick two day trip to Disneyland and wanted to give a review of the hotel that I stayed out. I went down with my mom and two sisters. We stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn & Suites at 1600 S. Harbor Blvd.

The Pros:

This hotel is CLOSE to the Disneyland main entrance. Basically right across the street. Very easy to find, and an easy walk. The hotel was clean (we got there after midnight and there was someone out sweeping the walkways. The room was clean and a good size. It had a fair sized refrigerator in the room, bigger than your dorm sized fridge that most hotels have. Plenty of room for the water we brought with us. There was a microwave, safe and small coffee pot as well. They had also given us a travel sized toothpaste, a small bag of dried cranberries and three packages of Emergen-C (very random).

Our room had two sinks, one in the room with the toilet and the shower, the other in the vanity area of the room. I’m not sure if that was because we were in a handicap room (room 328) or if that is the layout of all the rooms. Regardless, it was nice to have with four women getting ready each morning.

The room was quiet, though that may be because we were in the absolute furthest room from the road or if that was just the way the rooms were set up.

The Cons:

The beds were VERY firm. Like, sleeping on wood firm. Some people like that. I generally want my bed to be on the firm side and these were too hard for me.

The hot water was very inconsistent. When we arrived I took a shower that night. The water was warm enough at 1:00 in the morning to clean off in, but nothing I’d want to spend a lot of time in. My mom took the first shower of the morning at 6:00 and it was COLD. She called down and the front desk told her that when no one had used hot water for a while (overnight) it took a way for the water to heat up. Her entire shower was cold, unfortunately. However, the next two showers were plenty hot, according to my sisters. That night when I took my shower it started off the way my first shower started, warm enough to clean up in but not hot enough to really enjoy. Then in the course of the shower it heated up a lot and I needed to keep turning the heat down to avoid getting burned. Be aware of this if you have children that will be using the shower.

The breakfast was poor. It consisted of sweet rolls, bread (with a toaster) and cold cereal. There was coffee and juice as well as sliced oranges. What was very annoying, though, was that breakfast was served from 7:30 to 9:30. With the park opening at 8:00 I don’t think a lot of people would be able to make use of it before heading out, and I got the feeling that management did that on purpose to cut down on costs.

There was an underground lot to park in however it was cramped and there wasn’t a lot of space. Plus if you go down the whole lot to look for a place it was difficult to turn around to get out. The lot attendant told us that if we couldn’t find a place to park down there the valet fee was include in the parking fee we paid so they could park it for us (where, I don’t know).

Overall, I’d stay here again because of the proximity to the park, however it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Thanks for the info. We have often wondered about this place as an option for when we spend the weekend down there. :thumbsup:

Thanks for your impressions.

My biggest issue here was the parking. Unless policy has changed in the past two years, you were only allowed to park one vehicle on property per room. We had seven adults in our suite coming from four different areas/two different states. We had three vehicles. Two of us were given a voucher for free parking down at the Hilton by the Convention Center. I understand the policy due to the lack of parking on property, but it was kind of inconvenient.

I would probably stay there again with a large group. It was certainly nothing fancy. But we were just thrilled to have an affordable suite that easily housed all of us and was so close to DLR.

Thanks for the review. I know a lot of people ask about the Good Neighbor hotels, so it's good to have a first hand report.

The dried cranberries and Emergen-C weren't totally random. There has been a vicious respiratory illness circulating around Orange County in the past month. They were probably trying to offer some preventative medicine in the form of Vitamin C. ;) Kinda nice of them, I think!