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jenmch
01-26-2004, 01:29 PM
We are looking into staying at this hotel in May with our 2 children, ages 2 and 6. I like that they have a kids suite, with bunk beds and the layout of the place looks big. I would like to hear from anyone else who has stayed here, and what you think. How was the breakfast buffet, the shuttle to the parks, the location, the rooms, pool, etc. The other place I'm considering would be Embassy Suites South. They both seem to be the same price, but the suite at Residence looks much bigger.

Thanks in advance for any comments!!
Jennifer

EandCDad
01-26-2004, 02:46 PM
I haven't stayed at the Embassy Suites South although I have stayed at several Embassy Suites in the Orange County area over the years. I've also stayed at the Residence Inn in Anaheim four or five times the last few years (both with family and without.)

Breakfast Buffet - The Residence Inn (RI) provides an adequate breakfast, cereal, bagels, donuts, maybe toaster waffles, fruit, juice. You can fill up. It doesn't compare to the Embassy Suites cooked to order breakfast (eggs, pancakes, bacon, etc.), but it's usually good enough.

Location - the RI is on a side street not far from the Disneyland main gate. I notice the RI website says it is "2 blocks" from Disneyland. I guess that is technically true but they are pretty long blocks. I've walked them and from my room to the Disneyland gate takes a good 10 to 15 minutes. The hotel is a long block from both Harbor and Katella which have lots of fast food and family restaurants.

Shuttle - The RI has its own shuttle (as opposed to a looping shuttle that covers serveral hotels). We took the shuttle and it was fine; however, I think it's smaller than some hotel shuttles and if you leave at closing and there are a lot of people going back, you might have to wait.

Pool - The pool is a pool. Nothing special. Big square pool. Well, not that big, but not tiny. It has a hot tub, too. There is also a basketball court and you can check a ball out from the desk.

Rooms - I haven't stayed in the kids suite at the RI, but I love the RI rooms. All the rooms have full kitchens, which helps with holding down the food costs. The one benefit of the Embassy is they have two seperate rooms so you can put the little ones to bed and stay up and watch tv or read in the other room. If your RI room has that, I'd say it would be an overall much better room than the Embassy. Also, the RI has VCR's in the rooms, so bring some Disney movies along for the evenings.

hefferdude
01-26-2004, 03:21 PM
EandCDad describes the RI pretty well. Can't add much except my sons and I enjoyed the ping pong table and basketball court while Mrs H got to nap in the sun.

The RI is more like a condo, than Embassy, big or small depending on your choice of rooms.
We have used the full kitchen too. Just brought along home-made dishes ready to pop into the oven. We've also stayed at the Buena Park Embassey Suite and can't say enough about the excellent staff there! The shuttle is large too.

Caveat about hotels to the south. If a large conference is in session at the center, the traffic along Harbor - south of Katella can slow your trip to and from DLR to better than 45 min each way around dinner time. This is when the conventioneers are all strolling back to their hotels.

Either way, small kids, suites are the best way to go.:)

jslivinski
01-26-2004, 03:24 PM
Just for clarification, are you talking about the Residence Inn in Anaheim or the Residence Inn in Garden Grove? I know that the Garden Grove has kids suites, but I didn't think the Anaheim one did.

jenmch
01-26-2004, 05:01 PM
I am talking about the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort Area - located on Garden Grove. It says it is brand new, and offers kids suites. It is very confusing because there are two Residence Inn's - the other one is located closer to Disneyland park.

EandCDad
01-26-2004, 07:30 PM
Originally posted by jenmch
I am talking about the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort Area - located on Garden Grove. It says it is brand new, and offers kids suites. It is very confusing because there are two Residence Inn's - the other one is located closer to Disneyland park.

Whoops. Ok, forget what I said about the location, but all the other stuff should still be valid. Sorry for the confusion.

natscrafts
01-27-2004, 05:31 AM
I have reservations at the RI in Anaheim right now, but I'm thinking about switching to the Garden Grove one. Garden Grove has the 2 bedroom kid suites for cheaper than a studio at Anaheim. And GG also has a kid's movie theater. Both have toddler wading pools. It might be 2 blocks further away, but if I can save another $100, I don't think I'll mind too much.

Brian Noble
01-27-2004, 08:33 AM
When we were making the same decision (RI-A vs. RI-GG) we asked around. Those who had stayed at RI-A had said that one *could* walk it, but they personally wouldn't, especially with smaller kids, and especially on the way *back* from the parks.

natscrafts
01-27-2004, 09:25 AM
I'm changing my reservations now to the GG hotel. I'm going to go with 1 Bedroom with 2 Queens and 1 Sofabed since my children are 6, 4, and 3. Since there is a seperate living room, my husband and I can put the kids down to bed and still watch tv without disturbing them. It's going to save me a total of $80. Yipee!

jslivinski
01-27-2004, 11:50 AM
Originally posted by natscrafts
... It might be 2 blocks further away, but if I can save another $100, I don't think I'll mind too much. These are VERY long blocks, definately not walkable by the average person.
Originally posted by natscrafts
... I'm changing my reservations now to the GG hotel. ... It's going to save me a total of $80. Yipee! It might be a little further, but I think you made a good choice. The extra room is great with family.

lisap
01-27-2004, 11:56 AM
posted in error

serendipityaey
04-12-2004, 07:40 PM
I'm also staying at the Residence Inn (Garden Grove) when we go in June and would love to get any more info about the rooms, shuttle, breakfast, etc. Thanks!

lilliesmom
04-14-2004, 08:50 AM
We also have reservations in June (the 12th - 19th) at the RI GG. My husband and I are traveling with our three children (8, 5, and 5) and our Au Pair and I've researched all the suites to death!

We got a 2 bedroom two bath family suite (instead of the kids suite) due to bunkbed phobia!

I found great information on Trip Advisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g32420-d278035-Reviews-Residence_Inn_Anaheim_Resort_Area_Garden_Grove-Garden_Grove_California.html

Also, their website shows great pictures:

http://www.residenceinnanaheim.com/

Finally, I've called the hotel directly with additional questions and everyone was very helpful.

Have a great trip!

Brian Noble
04-14-2004, 10:06 AM
Some quick notes:

The "parents room" in the kids suites has a door (that may even lock---I don't recall.) The "kids room" does not, but if you open the door to the kids bathroom it cuts off most of the light from the living room, even with the curtains open. This is relevant for naptime.

The shuttle service is quite good--shared between 3 or so S. Harbor hotels. It runs every half hour, without mid-day breaks (unlike many other shuttle services). Again, this is relevant for naptime--most shuttle breaks happen right when you want to come back for a nap. That said, we started driving about halfway through our visit. It might have taken an extra few minutes back and forth, but we found that the hassle of "we need to either leave *now*, or thirty minutes from *now*" to be not worth the $8 we would save by taking the shuttle.

We used the kitchen less than we thought we would, but it was still nice to be able to e.g. whip up quesidillas when we needed something to eat on a chilly day. The parks were not open early/late and we wanted to spend as much non-nap-time in them as possible. In high season, when the parks are open earlier and later, we would use the kitchen more.

In all, it was a nice hotel---in good shape, and the extra room to stretch out in the kid suites is heaven-sent, especially if you are there for more than a couple of days, and even compared to the Embassy. My short comparison: the Embassy provides more "services", but the RI has better "family space". So it's just a matter of deciding which way to optimize for your family's preferences.

lilliesmom
04-14-2004, 10:32 AM
How was the buffet breakfast and the hospitality hour?

My kids are big grazers and both of those features swayed me to the RI instead of the Hyatt next door.

Thanks!

serendipityaey
04-14-2004, 02:14 PM
Thanks for the links. Great info!