This is why we have such a hard time justifying on-site prices. On a Disney trip we’re never in a hotel room longer than to sleep & shower!
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I agree. Unfortunately DH HATES to travel and staying onsite is how I get him to agree to go, otherwise I would be good with staying off site as well. I have to admit I am a little spoiled now with EEs every morning and that would be tough to give up, but I am sure I could adjust.
I think that if a hotel is just a place to sleep, then a clean, comfortable place is all that is needed. If you want a resort holiday with a pool and other services, then you want to consider staying on-site.
Sometime we just want to use it as a place to sleep, sometimes we want to have the resort experience so we stay on site.
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I tried to talk to DH about staying offsite on our next trip. EE is too valuable to him! His favorite time of the day in Disney is from EE to about lunch.
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Sounds like our husbands would get along 
. Normally I am fine with it because I can usually find a deal, but it is much tougher in summer, but I really wanted to go to DL for my birthday, so I am paying through the nose!
We really liked Candy Cane Inn. Good breakfast, short walk to the parks, small but nice pool, relatively convenient shuttle and free parking.
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Do you remember the breakfast buffet they had there before it was the pizza press? It was our fave. 10$ and kids were free. While I absolutely love the changes at the hotel, and the Pizza Press, I sure do miss that breakfast!
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Breakfast buffet sounds awesome! We didn’t first stay at the Anaheim until this year so I didn’t ever know it. When we first started going and our kids were 2 and an infant, we didn’t want to be very far so after liking the Tropicana/Camelot we didn’t venture very far. Now that their prices are so much higher, we rarely stay there.
Yeah our first and only time actually staying at the Anaheim they had just changed the name and the construction for the Pizza Press had just started.
So would you recommend the tropicana? looks like they have a good deal for my birthday trip!! I just want to stay somewhere close. was gonna splurge for a onsite and I just can’t justify the cost!
I haven’t tried the Tropicana since they refurbished their rooms but whenever we’ve stayed it’s met the needs of being a clean, comfortable, safe room to crash. The biggest plus is the location. Love not having to walk very far at all to be back in the room!!
Do any of them offer breakfast? Right now I am torn between Tropicana and Park Vue
I’m staying at Park Vue in March. They have breakfast and are super close to the parks.
No bfast at Tropicana but it isn’t too far away from McD’s or Panera which offer good options at relative lower costs than in park food.
Park Vue has a great hot bfast that fully replaces a meal. They also have free parking which I love & fabulous customer service which I love even more! If Park Vue Inn isn’t too much more, it wins my businsss. Be sure to factor in the cost of bfast & any parking that you would be paying if booking at Tropicana. That said, if Trop has a good rate that will fit the budget they are a great option!!
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Coming back to this thread to update my take on the Portofino.
When I wrote my initial response above on it, our experience for 2 separate stays had been exactly that.
Then a few weeks ago we stayed there for a weekend & had a quite different experience. There were a few small issues with customer service, parking, room keys working but all of those while definitely slightly annoying, would have been just fine by us and the room still would’ve been a fine place to crash.
Except that the room was not. We found several bed bugs on the wall above the sofa sleeper and upon finding the first one immediately inspected all the beds. No trace to our (untrained) eye of them in the beds, but in our inspection of the mattresses they were very poor condition, and in one of the bunk beds, a baby burp cloth (that didn’t belong to us) had been made into the bed suggesting that they hadn’t laundered the sheets and/or had not inspected very closely/thoroughly. The response from the hotel seemed to indicate that they weren’t unfamiliar with this situation as they immediately refunded us & offered to move us to a different room. We didn’t feel entirely comfortable that they would have anything better so we moved to a new hotel.
So just wanting to make sure that everyone is aware of the potential since the hotel’s condition and lack of upkeep make it easy for this to happen and to be wary if you do decide to book here.
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Ugh! And the hotel personnel didn’t seem too surprised by the bedbugs?!? Thanks for the heads’ up. So where did you end up staying, and how was that place?
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The short(er) story: the Marriott Residence Inn next door and it was FANTASTIC (it was our 2nd time there & before we left on this trip, even though the Portofino had a great rate, we had thought we should look for a room on our SPG points at the Residence Inn or Sheraton Park since those points are now good for both Starwood & Marriotts). What sold us on staying at the Residence Inn specifically is that because of parking difficulties at the Portofino, we were already in the Residence Inn’s garage & so didn’t have to move our car, just us & our stuff. As for the Residence Inn itself, it is definitely a pricier option, but a very good use of points if you are on a Marriott/SPG rewards program. The hotel is gorgeous & brand new, has many different room layouts most of which include 2 separate sleeping areas (some with bunk beds) and in some a full size kitchen. AND it has a full hot breakfast buffet at 7am that is very delicious & filling. It felt like paradise after the crummy room at the Portofino.
The (very) long ( so long I don’t blame you if you don’t read it) version: We didn’t get back to the Portofino until late after our day at the park (I think 10-11pm) and with the issues checking in, getting keys to work & moving all stuff from our car to our room put us in the room very close to midnight. By the time we decided to most definitely leave, it was past midnight and when we called the Residence Inn were told we couldn’t use our points unless we called corporate & worked something out & the walk-up rate for that hour would’ve been even more than the rack rate and was something like $230. After we physically left the Portofino we walked into the Marriott lobby to try to figure something out but the gentleman really couldn’t do anything for us unless we paid the walk-up rate. We just weren’t willing to pay that for just a few hours. While in the lobby, we did book an available room for the following night & he promised us he could get us into the room as early as 7am with our reward status (which also meant the room was empty at the time we were homeless, but he didn’t have the power to give us the room at anything other than the ridiculous walk-up rate). We went to our car at that point & the kids were all sleeping soundly even after being moved from the beds at the Portofino to their strollers to their car seats. We tried to call a few other hotels in the area and SPG/Marriott corporate to see if we could work out a use of points for that empty room that we were guaranteed to get at 7am and just move into it a few hours early. All of it was a no-go to get a reasonable rate or use points for just a few hours. On top of that, we had originally planned to go to an event in LA very early so weren’t going to be in the room past 3-4am so we REALLY didn’t want to spend an exorbitant amount of money for 3 hours tops. When I had dressed the kids for bed, I had given them each 2 layers to bundle up for the event in LA (which was outdoors) so we decided to stay put in the car & let the kids continue to sleep. This was about 2am and since my husband & I were both so tired & stressed about the situation, we also decided to not go to the event in LA either (weather was also a factor because the forecast was also 100% rain the whole morning). But the happy ending is that right at 7am we wheeled into the lobby of the Residence Inn, got the room, moved our stuff into it, got everyone dressed & hit up the amazing buffet before heading into the parks, so it all worked out. Just with a lot more stress & hassle than it usually is on our trips.
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Wow - that is one nightmare of a hotel story. We’re long-time Marriott Rewards members and the way you were treated is so awful. I would have been just a physical wreck the next day from lack of sleep, not to mention the stress of having gone through all that. Just out of curiosity, have you now relayed this to Marriott Corp. customer service? At the very least, they owe you some points or something.
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Wow, that is quite a story. I have to say I love your, “how do I solve this problem” attitude, positivity and always your generosity with sharing information and advice!
I am booked at desert inn and suites for a split stay, one night at Paradise Pier for EE benefits, and then at the desert inn. For the super close hotels it is $50 cheaper (including parking) than anything else I can find. Just want to make sure there are no horror stories like this one!
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You are so kind! Finding a way to talk about the parks on a near daily basis helps me not be so “homesick” so I am happy to yap anyone’s (virtual) ear off about Disney LOL!
No such horror stories here! They are very bare bones basic, but their rooms are clean & safe for sure & their location is prime! The one common comment is that their beds/bedding are less comfortable. The one time we stayed here, we followed the great advice of @Wahoohokie to bring our own pillows and were glad we did! If they were to come up as our cheapest option I would book them again (we usually don’t plan too far ahead though so they rarely do come in as our cheapest option).
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