Disney Resort Anaheim Hotels

Are You Experienced?

Here are my Californian Screamin’ tips for saving money and time during your visits to Disneyland.

1-Disney Resort Anaheim Hotels

2-Disney Resort Anaheim Parking and Transportation

3-Disney Resort Anaheim Food, Drink and Fine Dining

4-Disney Resort Anaheim FASTPASS basics.

Disneyland/California Adventure is a learning curve experience. When spending as much as $500 to $1,000 a day for a Disney parks trip you want to get up to speed quickly.

Paradise Pier rides in Disney California Adventure. Disney Paradise Pier hotel is seen just behind the park.

While I am no expert in visiting Disney Parks, I picked up some pointers on hotels, parking, FastPass for rides and food for the Disney Anaheim experience.

Just type “Disney tips” in Google and you will find many blogs loaded with more tips for the Disney Parks experience.

1. Hotels near Disneyland, Anaheim

There is an extremely high density of hotels within the square mile around Disneyland. The Disney site lists 3 Disney hotels with Disneyland Hotel ($400 to $600 range), Paradise Pier ($300 to $500 range) and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa ($500-$700 range) along with a list of 41 Good Neighbor hotels around the Disney Resort.

Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) operates shuttles to travel between Anaheim hotels and Disneyland on nearly 20 routes. Tickets are $4 for 1-day travel from time of first use to 3am the next day. ART shuttle multi-day passes are 3-days for $10 and 5 days for $16.  Some of the larger hotels may operate their own shuttle to Disneyland.

Hilton Anaheim and Marriott Anaheim by the Anaheim Convention Center seen from the Sheraton Park Anaheim elevator.

These major chain hotels by the Convention Center tend to have lots of convention traffic and rates can be sky-high, although likely still less expensive than the three Disney hotels. Smaller hotels like Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn and Best Western Plus Park Place Inn and Mini-Suites, Ramada Inn Maingate are brand hotels situated directly across the street from the Disneyland main entrance.

Disney map of Anaheim hotels around the parks.

Sample Sunday July 15 rates:

• Sheraton Anaheim = $139
• Fairfield Inn Anaheim Disneyland Resort = $169
• Quality Inn = $88
• Howard Johnson Plaza Anaheim Resort = $179
• Residence Inn Anaheim Maingate = $189
• Days Inn & Suites at Disneyland = $88
• Ramada Maingate at the Park Anaheim = $148

How far away is too far to stay from Disneyland?

When Disney Anaheim is your destination then hotels in Buena Park, Garden Grove and Fullerton, cities within 5 miles around the Disneyland Resort, simply just add to the commute time to the Disney Parks.

Disney promotes its three hotels as being right in the Resort Complex and a time saver. The Disney hotels add to the entire Disney experience just due to the environment and ambience of these hotel settings adjacent to the parks and the Downtown Disney entertainment center.

Other Anaheim hotels generally place you within a mile of the Disney entrance. The Disney website offers a comprehensive listing of hotels in the vicinity. In Disney-friendly fashion the hotel directory link is called “Good Neighbor Hotels”.

Disneyland Anaheim is located in an urban area and the environment is quite different from the vast undeveloped spaces around DisneyWorld and Epcot Center in Florida. Two years ago I traveled for about an hour to move from one DisneyWorld area hotel to the Walt Disney World Dolphin. Shuttles were vital to access the parks in Florida.

View away from the Disney parks from Starwood’s Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in March 2010.

Related Disney Resort Anaheim posts:

1-Disney Resort Anaheim Hotels

2-Disney Resort Anaheim Parking and Transportation

3-Disney Resort Anaheim Food, Drink and Fine Dining

4-Disney Resort Anaheim FASTPASS basics.

Disney California Adventure Park – Fun in the Sun

Armed Forces 3-Day Park Hopper Disney Resort Anaheim for $99

Ric Garrido, writer and content owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.