Anyone stay at the Desert Palms?

[bigb83]

Had to move our trip and now bwppi isn't available. Next closest option with our airline miles is desert palms. We are a rope drop to close kind of family. Any opinions?

 

[bigb83]

Bump

 

[bumbershoot]

We liked it. Free parking, free breakfast. Wait for the waffle station as they are tasty. The hallways are odd and long and our room was odd, but that's ok.

We would be staying there this time but there's another favored hotel we chose to go back to instead.

 

[KelsBleep]

I stayed there back in 2013 and it was okay. It's definitely walkable, but doesn't feel as much that way at the end of a long Disney day. For some reason during our stay the hotel felt super humid and sticky inside, not sure why and nothing we did seemed to fix it. The free breakfast, free parking, and price were great for us, but I wouldn't say it would be a top choice for me to return to.

 

[PlutoRocks]

We stay there when we go - we've tried other places but always go back to Desert Palms. The walk is doable - it does feel longer at night but honestly, any walk at the end of a long Disney day feels longer. The hotel is worth it in my opinion. We'll be back there at the end of January - can't wait!! We try to get a room on the 4th floor along the north side of the hotel - you can hear the screams from Tower of Terror and see the fireworks from the room (if you're in the room at that time that is )

Have a great trip!

 

[staceylacey1]

We stayed there back in January 2014. We really enjoyed staying there. The free breakfast was great with hot items. I'm not sure if they still do this or not, but the breakfast was on a higher floor with outdoor seating which was nice if the weather is good. The morning walk was very doable for all of us. The first few evenings we walked back, but there was a couple of nights we opted for the shuttle back to the room. The hot tub was great for those tired feet at the end of the day. It was close to good restaurants as well. We would stay there again.

 

[challer]

I made reservations at Desert Palms for June. I am curious why someone would choose BWPPI over this one. (BWPPI has no free breakfast?)

 

[bumbershoot]

I made reservations at Desert Palms for June. I am curious why someone would choose BWPPI over this one. (BWPPI has no free breakfast?)

PPI is literally across the street from the entrance. DP you have to walk up Harbor to get to the entrance area. Proximity and cost (DP can sometimes show up with a pretty high cost) would be huge factors in booking BWPPI.

 

[challer]

PPI is literally across the street from the entrance. DP you have to walk up Harbor to get to the entrance area. Proximity and cost (DP can sometimes show up with a pretty high cost) would be huge factors in booking BWPPI.

Thanks. It seems to me according to Google Street View that DP is separated by BWPPI by an IHOP and that's it. I think I can handle that walk (especially with breakfast in my belly). Good to know.

 

[azdisneylover]

The hotel that is by BWPPI next to the IHOP is Desert Inn and Suites, not the Desert Palm. I think the Desert Palm is located on the same street as Candy Cane Inn.

 

[tlovesdis]

The Desert Palm is not on Harbor, it is on West Katella. You walk past Candy Cane Inn to Katella and make a right and then it's on the right. Desert Inn is right across the street on Harbor.

 

[bumbershoot]

Whew, glad that got worked out!

Desert Inn is, indeed, very close to the entrance area. Desert Palms isn't as close. It is on Katella, but I skipped that part because you just go out and turn the corner and your on Harbor.

 

[challer]

Sorry - got it. Desert Inn & Suites. My bad. That's where I got my reservation.

 

[bigb83]

BWPPI does have breakfast also. We settled on the newer Hyatt Place a few hotels down from Desert Palms. Got it for 5 nights with airline miles. All paid for. Reviews were awesome.

 

[Reepicheep]

BWPPI does have breakfast also. We settled on the newer Hyatt Place a few hotels down from Desert Palms. Got it for 5 nights with airline miles. All paid for. Reviews were awesome.

Staying at a Hyatt is certainly always an excellent choice. I don't think you'll regret it.

************

In case another person comes across this thread and is curious about the Desert Palms, I thought I'd share my experience with the hotel. I basically agree with all comments about the hotel that have already been made within this thread.

In late August 2014, we had a two day stay at the Candy Cane Inn, followed immediately by 7 days at the Desert Palms. On earlier trips, we had almost always stayed at a hotel along Katella (usually either the Super 8 or the Quality), so we were used to walking to and from hotels. Until we stayed at the Candy Cane Inn, I never understood why people put such a high value on taking hotel shuttles or the ART busses. Now that I've experienced the Candy Cane shuttle first hand, I really appreciate it. The seven days we spent walking to the Desert Palms seemed unbearable at times, when compared to the convenience of the Candy Cane shuttle.

The Desert Palms offers both a Disneyland Passholder rate and a large discount for stays of 7 days or longer. By combining both discounts we got an excellent rate, although I was a bit annoyed at check-in to discover they had a $10/day resort fee and a $1/day safe fee which were not mentioned when I made my online reservation.

Breakfast was excellent by my standards: scrambled eggs, bulk oatmeal, sausage or bacon on alternating days. They also alternated fried potatoes with biscuits and gravy. Waffles from the waffle stations were very good, especially the flavoured batter (usually cinnamon, sometimes strawberry (I think?)). Very nice deck as already mentioned within this thread, although we prefer to eat indoors.

The large lobby is two stories high, which results in a maze on the second floor which is where we stayed. The main lobby elevator doesn't stop on the second floor, so it was necessary to use another elevator which required a circuitous route to our room. I did some reconnaissance on our second day and found a stairwell between the pool and front desk that lead straight to our room, so we used this much shorter route on subsequent days.

Wifi was free, but it was impossible to connect to it from our room. There were three shared computers in the lobby which I rarely had to wait for.

There was no Disney Channel which is a deal breaker for my two daughters. And, yes, I realize there is a certain irony in us sitting in a hotel room watching the Disney Channel, when we could instead be inside Disneyland going on rides and watching live shows.

There were two types of flavored ice water in the lobby which were nice (usually orange flavoured and lemon flavoured). We filled up water bottles with the water on the way to the parks.

All in all, an excellent stay.

 

[clori]

We stayed in a 1 bedroom Sahara suite at Desert Palms on West Katella the the end of July early August 2013. Dh and I are not in the best shape but found the walk to be easy - its nextdoor to 7/11 which is on the corner of Harbor then turn and walk down Harbor no big streets to cross. I think it was 10minute walk. We had prepurchased an unlimited ART shuttle pass so we used that sometimes. While there is a stop in front of the hotel it is easier to walk to Harbor and cross and just get on the next shuttle (any ART that stops) and Disney is the very next stop about 2 minutes away so we never waited long. Going back we took the correct ART bus and got off near the hotel though sometimes we walked.

Our room was nice - two beds, a door that fully closed (important to my dd13 who hates the sound of dh snoring). We had a full kitchen and did a free grocery delivery the day we arrived. The hotel staff put things in the room and put perishables in fridge or freezer We ate breakfast in the hotel just about every day minus one day that we did early entry. We ate dinner at the hotel several nights. My girls were 9 & 13 on the trip and my dd9 and dh preferred to come back by 7, eat and swim and dd13 and I would often go back to the parks on our park days. The pool was not visible from the street and was basic but I loved talking to people in the hottub while the girls played with kids they met at the pool. I did laundry one night which worked fine.

We also stayed one night at Disneyland hotel to have early entry to California Adventure. We had a standard room book but somehow got upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite there. That was our arrival day and the kids swam, played on the water slides, did pool games, ate a character brunch and did Downtown Disney that night etc but actually preferred Desert Palms for the rest of the trip.