After talking to friends and literally spending a few hours checking out hotels online (because I like to stress myself out) I booked us at the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort Area/Garden Grove.
I wanted a suite so the kids would have their own room and we would have a fridge for E’s food. Our suite was spacious with two bedrooms, each with their own TVs and adjoining bathrooms, a living room with another TV, a dining table for 4 and a full kitchen (full-sized fridge, dishwasher, stove/oven, and microwave). Having all that space was great and meant we could easily separate the kids when they got cranky/or when Mimi needed to take a nap.
Pros
- Good price for the space (I booked our plane tickets and hotel together and saved money).
- Friendly and helpful staff (I was trying to find a vending machine with something other than soda in it (which they didn’t have) and when I asked the front desk they gave me a couple bottles of Snapple from their break room and wouldn’t let me pay or tip them for them)
- Decent complimentary breakfast with hot items like waffles, eggs, oatmeal, and sausages in addition to bagels, fruit, and cereal.
- Grocery-shopping service: In the morning you can fill out a card requesting the items you want and they will shop for them and drop them off in your room in the afternoon along with a photocopy of the store receipt. We had a rental car but were always too tired to go out by the time we got back to the hotel so this was a nice option.
- It’s the first stop of the shuttle going to Disneyland which only stops at one or two other hotels so we always got seats and the ride was fairly short.
- Quiet rooms and good water pressure even on the 17th floor.
Cons
- It’s further away from Disneyland than several hotels and walking with kids isn’t really an option. (But the shuttle was easy to use).
- The shuttle stop at Disneyland was out by the street and a long walk from the park gate but it wasn’t a huge deal.
- The hotel is a little older and showing some signs of wear–it didn’t really bother me though since then I wasn’t worried about my kids damaging things 😉
- Housekeeping’s routine was to clean our room in the mid-afternoon which was when we were back in our hotel room for some down time so we missed them two days in a row.
- There are only 2 elevators so in the morning rush they get crowded.
- Parking costs about $14 a day and the lot was crowded and the spaces were tight.
Overall, we really liked the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort Area/Garden Grove. I think it’s a good place to stay if you’re going to Disneyland and you don’t mind not being able to walk to the park.