hi there! been to WDW many times with the family over the years with the last trip being 2011. Our twins are now 18 and graduating HS in May. we are going to DL 5/30-6/3 to celebrate. i am clueless on hotels but narrowed down to a few and I would appreciate greatly some advice. we’ll need three separate beds (boy girl twins lol), we are not renting car. I’ve narrowed these hotels based on that and the price with airfare…
Camelot with 1 king and 2queen
Courtyard by marriott 2q 1 bunk
Desert Palms 2 q and i sofa bed incl breakfast ( cheapest by far)
Castle Inn and suites 1 king 2 queen
what are your thoughts? Thanks again in advance!!
Hi! We love the Park Vue Inn. We’ve stayed at different ones and even on property but we really like that one. We have 4 kids and stayed in a room with two queens, a fold out couch, and a kitchen. It was great to have the kitchen. The best part about it was the walk-it is super close. The hotel is right in front of the cross walk to the parks. Whenever we go, it’s the first place I check rooms at. HTH!
Without a car. have u looked at swan dolphin? Although they aren’t my favorite their location is awesome and u won’t need a car. Have u looked at any of the hotels at Disney springs as your transportation options may be a bit better.
I have not stayed at any of the hotels you have list above, so this might not be helpful, but these are my favorites.
Best Western Park Place Inn (next door to the Park Vue Inn) is also right across the street. These two hotels are the closest to the entrance. BW has rooms that can fit 4-6 people. (Either 2 Queen and sofa bed or 1King with sofa bed.) The kids could easily have their own bed. They offer breakfast, which is ok.
The other is the Marriott Fairfield just up the street. It costs a little more but is next door to McD’s if that is important and a couple of other restaurants.
Of your list, we really like the Camelot for it’s location both very close to the parks as well as affordable food being next to the McD’s and also close to other food options Panera & Mimi’s Cafe. One of the only reasons we haven’t used them lately is that they tend to be full every time we finally decide on a date to take a trip (usually within 30 days of our trip…). Their prices seem to have gone up recently as well. But they are a great option and I have always been very comfortable in their rooms for the price.
The courtyard marriott has had some really good reviews, but for the price they charge, I personally would rather stay onsite. It is brand new though and one of the common themes I see in the good reviews are that it’s quiet with spacious rooms. It’s farther away than the Camelot, but you would pass by all the same affordable food options mentioned above.
Desert Palms and Castle Inn are longer of a walk but are also very short walking distance to the corner of Harbor/Katella with both a CVS and Walgreens which are convenient to be close to for snacks, drinks that are much more affordable than park food. I don’t have any personal experience with either of these hotels, but I’ve never seen a review that said to stay away. I just like other closer and/or more convenient options than these two.
Other options that we’ve tried within close walking distance are Sheraton Park Anaheim, Portofino Inn & Suites, Grand Legacy Hotel, Tropicana Inn & Suites (sister hotel to Camelot), and Desert Inn & Suites. Grand Legacy, Desert Inn & Tropicana are all AWESOME locations, very close to the parks.
Sheraton Park is the farthest of everything, but is a comparable price to what you pay for being right next to the parks in a nicer hotel and we love the Starwood points we get and then get to use by going to Sheraton. It’s also two doors down from the CVS so makes it really easy to get bottled water & any snacks we want on our way to/from parks and only have to go next door. My only complaint is that the room doesn’t have a microwave.
The Portofino is right in between the Sheraton Park & the CVS so still a bit of a walk but we have scored some great rates there and have twice been upgraded to a room with a bunk, queen sofa sleeper and king bed so plenty of beds for all. Nice to have all the space. Their prices recently haven’t been those great rates that got us to book there, but if you get a good rate, they are a decent option. Their rooms don’t have microwaves but they do have a common microwave with the laundry/vending.
As for the closer ones, Grand Legacy Hotel gets great reviews and is a nice quick walk. We tried it for the first time on our most recent trip and were happy with it. Room size was decent and it was comfortable but I’m not sure how their prices compare in the needing more beds department. They also provide a quick-start bag of snacks for you to pick up on your way into the parks. It came with a bottle of water, apple, granola bar & string cheese every morning. My kids are grazers and don’t love to eat a huge bfast right away so this was a perfect way to get some energy and go to rope drop and I loved that it was pre-bagged for us.
Tropicana is even closer than Grand Legacy and it used to be the only hotel we stayed at until we branched out to try all these others. The best thing about it is the location. The room is just fine, if on the small side and they don’t provide any kind of breakfast. But they are one of the cheapest ones along Harbor with a great location and unless the hotel provides me full hot bfast, I don’t usually count the “free bfast” in my price.
Lastly, Desert Inn & Suites usually has some pretty affordable suites & has a continental bfast that was just fine, but more of a snack on the way to rope drop than a full on meal. I need to go back and try this one again, but from the one time we have tried it, of all the ones we’ve tried along Harbor, Desert Inn & Suites had the shabbiest rooms with the most uncomfortable mattresses & pillows. It is a fantastic location though and a lot of the hotels on Harbor have varying conditions on their rooms so it could be that we just got a really bad room and they are (possibly) generally just as good as the others along Harbor (I know that some people feel that Tropicana has pretty shabby rooms, but I have yet to see a shabby room there in our many stays at Tropicana). Desert Inn also charges a resort fee that inflates their rate once you look at the totals and so usually when I compare full prices to full prices, Tropicana & Camelot are still cheaper, BUT I’ve never priced for more than a 2 queen as we still only need 2 beds, so maybe take a look.
Good luck choosing and congratulations on the twins’s graduation, what a great way to celebrate!
Thanks so much Lolabear-la!!
Hi, I don’t know if this will be too late. Like someone else said, I haven’t stayed at any of the hotels you listed, but I can without reservation highly recommend the Hotel Menage for your family. Their customer service is close to WDW hotels in my experience. I also love it because they have a great breakfast buffet every morning to get a good meal in before you hit the parks at a little lower cost than Disney breakfasts. They are the last stop in the ART (Anaheim Resort Transit) loop, so when the bus picks you up in the morning, the next stop is Disneyland–about a 5 minute or less ride.
I have to say, my favorite part of this hotel is the pool area. They have an amazing view of the fireworks for nights you are not in the parks (usually my first night is a travel day only). They have great happy hour drinks and apps. The pool area is also very well landscaped so you are sitting out among trees, rather than surrounded by a parking lot. The best part, for me, is the pool and hot tub are open 24/7. That means you can come back from a long day of walking around the park and soak in the hot tub for a bit before heading to bed. I have a bad knee and this absolutely makes my time in the parks much more enjoyable. My 9 year old daughter loves jumping in the non-chlorine pool to cool off after walking around all day. I like that its a saline pool so you don’t have the chemical feel and smell when you get out too!
Hope this helps