When choosing a hotel to stay at for your Disneyland trip, a quick google search will result in dozens and dozens of options. How to pick?!
For our family, it usually comes down to these 3 criteria:
- Walking Distance. The first time we went to Disneyland, we had a 1, 3 and 6 year old. Our two youngest were still taking naps and we weren’t sure we wanted to have to rely on a shuttle to get us to and from the park. We liked that we could come and go as needed, although we ended up not going back to the hotel for naps like we thought (turned out our girls took great naps in the stroller!). Fast forward, now our youngest is 7 and we still prefer to stay within walking distance. We don’t have to worry about parking at Disneyland or paying for the ART (shuttle) to get us to and from the park.
- Affordable. For us, we want to stay somewhere that doesn’t break the bank so we can spend our money at Disneyland! Paying a few hundred less for an hotel means we can splurge a little bit more at the Park on food, souvenirs and more food. Always food.
- Family Friendly. That can mean a lot of different things, but for us it means that the 5 of us can sleep comfortably in one room and the hotel is clean.
So, which hotels do we stay at? Read on below to see!
Castle Inn
1734 Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, CA 92802
Our kids love this hotel for obvious reason- it looks like a Castle! We like it because it often has special offers like pay 3 nights, get the 4th free. It is about a 20 minute walk from your hotel door to Disney’s entrance gate pushing a double stroller. Very doable. Our six year old easily walked the entire time. It is located on the South side of Disneyland along Harbor Blvd, along with many other hotels and food chains. They also updated the rooms a few years ago and have suites that can easily accommodate large families.
Breakfast Included: NO Outdoor Pool: YES Indoor pool: NO Parking Fee: FREE for one car
Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort
1460 South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim, CA 92802
This is probably the closest non-Disney hotel to Disneyland. It is right across the street from the entrance, on Harbor Blvd, giving it about a 10 minute walk to the park. This hotel consistently has low prices, but never really has deals or specials. They also have fun themed rooms and suites.
Breakfast Included: NO Outdoor Pool: YES Indoor Pool: NO Parking Fee: $19 per day
Holiday Inn and Suites Anaheim
1240 S. Walnut Street Anaheim, CA 92802
It’s no secret we are huge fans of Holiday Inn. They consistently provide quality rooms for great prices and offer great rewards to loyal customers. We love that this one is tucked behind Disneyland and our kids love that we can take the ‘secret’ entrance in to the Park. The secret entrance is really just the monorail located on the north side of Downtown Disney. After you’ve ‘activated’ your Disney ticket the first day, you can enter and exit the park here rather than walking all the way to the entrance. Time saver on those subsequent days for sure. It is about a 20 minute walk from the hotel to the Monorail entrance. A little extra if you walk through Downtown Disney and the enter through the main Disney gate. As the name suggests, they offer suites for large families included fun Disney-themed suites. We stayed in the Fairy room last time and our girls thought it was the coolest.
Breakfast Included: NO but kids eat free Outdoor Pool: YES. They also have a splash pad. Indoor Pool: NO Parking Fee: $12 per day
As always, to get the best deals, we always book with Getaway Today.
During our travels, we usually do opt to stay at a hotel that also includes breakfast, however with our Disney trip, that isn’t a priority. Certainly there are many hotels that offer complementary breakfast, usually further away from Disneyland which means we can no longer walk, and sometimes with an increased cost associated. The main reason we don’t care if the breakfast is included is because we often arrive at the park early- 8 am. Rather than spend time eating breakfast at the hotel, we’d rather get to the park! What do you we do for breakfast? Well, we often bring things we can eat as we move: granola bars, protein bars, Bel Vita Crackers, Go Gurts, fruit, trail mix etc. All these hotels have mini fridges that can keep stuff cool, even if they don’t have full kitchens. Another reason we don’t care if the hotel serves breakfast is because we LOVE to have breakfast at Disneyland with Minnie and Friends on Main Street during our visit. The buffet is awesome!
So, what are your favorite hotels to stay at when visiting Disneyland? What amenities or features do you look for?
