Anaheim Hotel vs. Cambria

[EddieK76]

Booked our first trip to DL as we are WDW people (DVC Members at that)and originally booked the Anaheim Hotel; however, I noticed the Cambria is about $500 cheaper for the stay. I'm sure we won't utilize the breakfast at the Cambria all too often as we will want to try breakfast foods at the park but knowing the price difference would the Cambria be the better option? If so, how hard is the ART shuttle to navigate and how busy is the shuttle at rope drop/closing time?

 

[crystal1313]

Wow! With the huge savings, I would pick Cambria. It’s a newer hotel. We stayed in a 2 queen suite and loved it. It was also very quiet since the bedroom had a door and you could not hear hallway noise. Loved having a full size fridge as well. We walked to the Toy Story lot and used the free shuttle. But there is an ART stop right next to the Cambria. We also loved getting food at jersey mikes, habit burger and Starbucks (they share the parking lot with Cambria). I’m sure you already know, but they do charge a resort fee and a parking fee. Depending how many people are in your party, it may be cheaper to Uber to the parks, since ART is $6 a person I believe.

 

[DizMe]

The pictures of Cambria hotel look nice, but I have no experience there so keep that in mind.

My answer depends on several factors. First, how many people in your party? Kids/ages? Touring style?

Second, don't underestimate the convenience of walking back and forth to your hotel. That location would definitely discourage going back to the hotel for a nap, rest, swim, etc. Even if it's all adults, that's a considerable amount of walking/waiting for a shuttle or uber, not to mention the added cost. You'll obviously be doing a lot of walking at DLR so you don't want to add too much to that.

Are you rope droppers? Do you take midday breaks? Do you plan to access the amenities like pool, play areas, etc?

My *personal* view is that I'd much rather stay as close to DLR entrance as possible. I realize that $500 is a chunk of money, but how often (if ever) will you be back?

How many days are you staying? When is your trip? There may be better options and prices for your dates. There are lots of good hotels/motels closer to DLR that are fairly reasonably priced.

My short answer is that I personally would find somewhere closer to the crosswalk to DLR, preferably right across the street on Harbor. I've not heard great things about ART.

If you're looking for a way to save money, maybe look at the Anaheim Majestic Hotel. It has a free dedicated shuttle and it's old but it is a full service hotel and tends to be very reasonably priced.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I’d stay at cambria because it’s newer. But it is a 20 min walk. That’s rough-we used to stay at the homewood suites, also a 20 min walk.

Can you look at these 10 min walk hotels to compare prices? Home2 suites, Hilton garden inn, holiday inn express. Courtyard Marriott theme park entrance is the most expensive hotel on harbor but you could check.

 

[crystal1313]

If distance isn’t a big deal, we also just stayed at Candlewood suites. It’s across the street from Cambria. It will depend on your party size, this trip it was just my husband and I, we stayed in a 1 queen bed, queen suite. It was awesome! Full kitchen, large bathroom, a living room with a separate bedroom with a door. It was so quiet. The room was super clean too. And having a microwave and a full size fridge did come in handy. Usually this hotel is fairly cheap compared to others in the area. There is also an ART stop next to this hotel as well. We just walked this trip…although at the end of the night, it felt very long!

 

[StarlitNight05]

Maybe the megaphone guy actually tried out Disneyland and realized how amazing it is, and that it definitely couldn't/wouldn't condemn a person to hell!

But in all seriousness, I am glad it is scaling back from recent experiences. That isn't the best way to start your day.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We've tried a few hotels on Katella and further down Harbor. I keep coming back to the fact that you just can't beat the convenience of the Harbor hotels directly across the street from DL. We stayed at The Anaheim Hotel once and that's about the furthest away I would want to stay. We booked a suite at Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites for our trip next month. It's a fairly basic hotel, but it's always been clean and we've never had an issue there. That said, the closer hotels tend to be more costly so you just have to weigh what price is tolerable for you. If you do stay at Cambria, Uber is a fairly cheap option for transportation and is sometimes quicker and easier than ART or the Toy Story shuttle.

 

[kikismom]

We stayed at.thr Cambia in December and we really didn't like it. My husband said we can never stay there again. The regular rooms are the smallest hotel rooms we've ever stayed in, breakfast was inedible, the pool area was great but also kind of weird. We've never stayed anywhere that you couldn't take a drink in before. We didn't know that was a rule, my husband had a beer and the guard was unhappy that he was going to walk in with it. It was no big deal for him to just go finish it in the lobby by the guard made a really big deal about it. That combined with the walk was awful. If you can't stay across the street I suggest the Homewood Suites Convention Center. The walk took us 8 minutes from the hotel to the shuttles at the Toy Story lot. Cambria took 20 minutes. The Homewood Suites is a bit older but we thought the service was better and the breakfast better.

 

[alleighboo]

We stayed at The Anaheim Hotel last June and have it booked again for this October. We really enjoyed it and it suited our needs well. This was a girl's trip and just two of us. It's a little cheaper than the hotels right across from the entrance (which book up quickly!) and just a 3-4 minute longer walk. I think it was a total of 8 minutes for us to walk to the entrance sign. The Anaheim Hotel is nothing fancy but it was clean and quiet. The grounds are beautiful and the pool/hot tub were great. We are rope drop-close people but ended up coming back most days for pool time or a nap for an hour or 2. If it were something crazy like $500 a night difference...we would be at a hotel further away. But for $500 total? I would be for sure as close as possible. I think it just depends on what suits your needs the best and how $500 works into your budget!

 

[crystal1313]

I think the OP will need to determine if 1. A motel is ok with them, since it sounds like they are used to staying at DVC at WDW. And 2. If they prefer to be super close walking distance or further away.

I would argue that none of the motels across the street are similar caliber to DVC. Some hotels that are closer to DVC standards are what @smartlabelprint mentioned: Home2Suites, Hilton garden inn, courtyard Marriott theme park entrance, holiday inn express. Then there are those that are on the corner of harbor and Katella, residence inn, Hyatt house, springhill suites. We search hotels in the area fairly often, (always planning “possible” trips, lol) and Cambria is usually one of the more affordable options, and that is because it’s quite a trek to the parks.

I would also highly suggest reading the most recent reviews for the hotels on TripAdvisor and Yelp if you can.

 

[mich311e]

We've tried a few hotels on Katella and further down Harbor. I keep coming back to the fact that you just can't beat the convenience of the Harbor hotels directly across the street from DL. We stayed at The Anaheim Hotel once and that's about the furthest away I would want to stay. We booked a suite at Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites for our trip next month. It's a fairly basic hotel, but it's always been clean and we've never had an issue there. That said, the closer hotels tend to be more costly so you just have to weigh what price is tolerable for you. If you do stay at Cambria, Uber is a fairly cheap option for transportation and is sometimes quicker and easier than ART or the Toy Story shuttle.

Same, totally agree.

We stayed at Cambria once and the room was nice, the hotel was newer. We had a little kitchenette. We didn't utilize the pool. We did utilize the breakfast and it was a madhouse, very crowded. It was farther than we wanted to walk most of the time. We did half walking and half taking the Toy Story shuttle. We were there for two days but only had one park day, for an Oogie Boogie Bash. So it worked fine for that since we weren't doing typical all-day park days.

The nearby food choices were very convenient. (We have also stayed at the Comfort Inn right across the street from Cambria, which is just as good and less crowded. Again, it's farther than I want to walk for full park days.)

For all-day park stays we only stay on Harbor Blvd, usually Desert Inn or Grand Legacy.