Kaos Creator
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
Here is a post I made back in September, which many people found helpful. Thought I would re-post it here!
Here are reviews on the 3 places we stayed this past September......Westcoast Anaheim
Sept 16-22/00
I LOVED this hotel. It has the feeling of a deluxe hotel for a fraction of
the price. Bellmen, room service, large pool with pool bar, 2 restaurants on
site, etc...
My 4 yr old daughter loved the glass elevator and the pool. The pool is
pretty big and has a shallow end and a deep end up to 10 feet deep! The
rooms were large and a fridge only cost $11.00 for the entire stay! Plenty
of towels (we had 6 bath towels fresh each day), and plenty of shampoo,
soap, etc.. I really felt like I was staying at an upscale hotel. We had a
big balcony on the 9th floor and overlooked Disney and DCA. We had a perfect
view of the fireworks and watched them testing the lights at DCA every
night. I would highly recommend staying here. The ONLY thing I didn't like
was that the hotel didn't have laundry facilities. There was a laundramat
about 1/2 mile away.
Park shuttle is a nice little red trolley car. Cute and fun for the kids to
ride on. Always on time and pleasent drivers.
There are 2 restaurants and we only ate at the coffeeshop restaurant. Our
package included 4 free breakfasts. The breakfast portions were huge....you
could easily split one meal between 2 people and still be full. Kids ate
free in the restaurant for lunch and dinner. We ate dinner there one night
and the food was really good. We also had room service dinner once and it
was also good. The other restaurant is a steakhouse, and I heard it was
good, but we were not in the mood for steak while we were there!
The pool was advertised as olympic sized, and it is large, but I dont
believe it is olympic sized. It has a 10 foot deep end, which is fun for the
kids jumping and diving. There is a nice hot-tub that fit alot of people.
Beside the pool was a pool bar where you could get drinks and appetizer type
food. We had virgin strawberry daquris one afternoon, and they were very
good. Room charge is available at the pool bar.
I highly recommend this property. It is in the same price category as many
of the motels on the strip. I also stayed at the Candy Cane Inn on this
trip, and they were both the same price (79.00 a night). This hotel FAR out does the Candy
Cane!
Candy Cane Inn
Sept 12-16/00
Pretty grounds, very clean. I liked it here, but would not stay again. It is
just a basic motel with pretty grounds and fancy bedspreads. The breakfast
was nice, but got boring to eat the same thing over and over. Noisy in the
early morning. The maids start rolling their carts up and down the walkways
at 7am. I didn't feel like we could leave the curtains open and have
privacy. Always someone walking past the window. No where to sit outside
your room and enjoy the atmosphere. Just not my kind of accomodation. We
paid the same here as we did at the Westcoast Anaheim, which is a full
service, high rise hotel. I don't think the Candy Cane is worth over 49-59 a
night. It is clean and comfortable for a short 2-4 day vacation, but would
not stay there longer then that. If you go to this motel, request a room
near the front of the buildings. Our room was at the far back and felt like
a long walk after a hot day. They also charge 10.00 extra per night for a
fridge/microwave. At the other hotel it was 11.00 for the whole stay!
There was no restaurant on site, which is someting I wish it had. We ordered
alot of pizza because we were too tired to go out to a restaurant. (we did
not have a car).
The shuttles were very reliable, clean, courteous drivers. Small shuttles,
some people had to stand.
The pool was small, but nice. It was perfectly heated, not too hot or cold.
Kiddie wading pool was nice too. The hot tub is in a gazebo.
I wouldn't stay here again unless the bigger hotels were sold out. We got
more value for our money at a bigger hotel. The staff here were also quite
clueless to questions we asked about the area. It is a very nice, clean
little motel, but nothing more. It seemed to be one of the nicest motels in
the area.
Country Inn and Suites Newport Beach
About 20-30 mins from the park, near SNA airport.
Sept 22-24/00
The main building of the hotel houses the regular rooms, and across the
driveway is the suites building. We booked a suite through Hotel
Reservations Network for a fraction of the cost of making a reservation
directly with the hotel. The hotel is BEAUTIFUL!! It is decorated with
antiques in the halls and lobby. A beautiful courtyard with a fountain, 2
swimming pools, flower gardens everywhere. The ambience gives reminded me of
a french B&B. Our suite had 2 four poster beds that were 3 feet off the
floor. A stool was provided to get into bed. My daughter is 4 and thought
this was really neat, but I was so afraid of her falling out of bed I called
for extra pillows and had them beside her in bed. There was a large armoire
with the tv inside. We had a wet bar with fridge and microwave. The bathroom
had a large jacuzzi bathtub that could easily fit 2 people. If you stay in
the suites building, you get a free buffet breakfast. It was really good,
hot and cold foods. I highly recommend staying here if you want to be in the
airport area for a couple nights. We took the bus to Balboa Island and
Newport Beach. It was one bus with no transfers and took about 20 mins. The
bus stops right at the beach! They also have a free shuttle to Southcoast
Plaza (a very upscale mall).
No shuttle to park, but free airport shuttle and towncar service for a fee
to area attractions.
I am not sure of what the restaurants were like to eat in, but they looked
nice. There was a bar with outdoor patio and a restaurant. Judging by the
room service menu, I think the restaurant was more upscale and pricey. There
were several places within a 2 min walk (Denny's, Chinese Food, Mexican fast
food, etc..). There was also a Mcd's and a BK about a 5 min drive away.
There were 2 nice pools, one for each building. We found the water a bit too
cool for swimming. Small, quiet pools.
This would be a nice honeymoon spot. We did not see many children there, and
the place is very quiet. If you can avoid it, do not do laundry here, it
took about 45 mins for the wash and about 2 hrs to dry normal loads! We
started our laundry at 8pm and it was nearly 11pm when we finished! In the
suites building, request a first floor room if you want a patio.
http://www.countrysuites.com/newportbeach/
We booked our room through hotel reservations network and paid about 1/2 of
the going rate. We paid 109.95 for a suite.
Here are reviews on the 3 places we stayed this past September......Westcoast Anaheim
Sept 16-22/00
I LOVED this hotel. It has the feeling of a deluxe hotel for a fraction of
the price. Bellmen, room service, large pool with pool bar, 2 restaurants on
site, etc...
My 4 yr old daughter loved the glass elevator and the pool. The pool is
pretty big and has a shallow end and a deep end up to 10 feet deep! The
rooms were large and a fridge only cost $11.00 for the entire stay! Plenty
of towels (we had 6 bath towels fresh each day), and plenty of shampoo,
soap, etc.. I really felt like I was staying at an upscale hotel. We had a
big balcony on the 9th floor and overlooked Disney and DCA. We had a perfect
view of the fireworks and watched them testing the lights at DCA every
night. I would highly recommend staying here. The ONLY thing I didn't like
was that the hotel didn't have laundry facilities. There was a laundramat
about 1/2 mile away.
Park shuttle is a nice little red trolley car. Cute and fun for the kids to
ride on. Always on time and pleasent drivers.
There are 2 restaurants and we only ate at the coffeeshop restaurant. Our
package included 4 free breakfasts. The breakfast portions were huge....you
could easily split one meal between 2 people and still be full. Kids ate
free in the restaurant for lunch and dinner. We ate dinner there one night
and the food was really good. We also had room service dinner once and it
was also good. The other restaurant is a steakhouse, and I heard it was
good, but we were not in the mood for steak while we were there!
The pool was advertised as olympic sized, and it is large, but I dont
believe it is olympic sized. It has a 10 foot deep end, which is fun for the
kids jumping and diving. There is a nice hot-tub that fit alot of people.
Beside the pool was a pool bar where you could get drinks and appetizer type
food. We had virgin strawberry daquris one afternoon, and they were very
good. Room charge is available at the pool bar.
I highly recommend this property. It is in the same price category as many
of the motels on the strip. I also stayed at the Candy Cane Inn on this
trip, and they were both the same price (79.00 a night). This hotel FAR out does the Candy
Cane!
Candy Cane Inn
Sept 12-16/00
Pretty grounds, very clean. I liked it here, but would not stay again. It is
just a basic motel with pretty grounds and fancy bedspreads. The breakfast
was nice, but got boring to eat the same thing over and over. Noisy in the
early morning. The maids start rolling their carts up and down the walkways
at 7am. I didn't feel like we could leave the curtains open and have
privacy. Always someone walking past the window. No where to sit outside
your room and enjoy the atmosphere. Just not my kind of accomodation. We
paid the same here as we did at the Westcoast Anaheim, which is a full
service, high rise hotel. I don't think the Candy Cane is worth over 49-59 a
night. It is clean and comfortable for a short 2-4 day vacation, but would
not stay there longer then that. If you go to this motel, request a room
near the front of the buildings. Our room was at the far back and felt like
a long walk after a hot day. They also charge 10.00 extra per night for a
fridge/microwave. At the other hotel it was 11.00 for the whole stay!
There was no restaurant on site, which is someting I wish it had. We ordered
alot of pizza because we were too tired to go out to a restaurant. (we did
not have a car).
The shuttles were very reliable, clean, courteous drivers. Small shuttles,
some people had to stand.
The pool was small, but nice. It was perfectly heated, not too hot or cold.
Kiddie wading pool was nice too. The hot tub is in a gazebo.
I wouldn't stay here again unless the bigger hotels were sold out. We got
more value for our money at a bigger hotel. The staff here were also quite
clueless to questions we asked about the area. It is a very nice, clean
little motel, but nothing more. It seemed to be one of the nicest motels in
the area.
Country Inn and Suites Newport Beach
About 20-30 mins from the park, near SNA airport.
Sept 22-24/00
The main building of the hotel houses the regular rooms, and across the
driveway is the suites building. We booked a suite through Hotel
Reservations Network for a fraction of the cost of making a reservation
directly with the hotel. The hotel is BEAUTIFUL!! It is decorated with
antiques in the halls and lobby. A beautiful courtyard with a fountain, 2
swimming pools, flower gardens everywhere. The ambience gives reminded me of
a french B&B. Our suite had 2 four poster beds that were 3 feet off the
floor. A stool was provided to get into bed. My daughter is 4 and thought
this was really neat, but I was so afraid of her falling out of bed I called
for extra pillows and had them beside her in bed. There was a large armoire
with the tv inside. We had a wet bar with fridge and microwave. The bathroom
had a large jacuzzi bathtub that could easily fit 2 people. If you stay in
the suites building, you get a free buffet breakfast. It was really good,
hot and cold foods. I highly recommend staying here if you want to be in the
airport area for a couple nights. We took the bus to Balboa Island and
Newport Beach. It was one bus with no transfers and took about 20 mins. The
bus stops right at the beach! They also have a free shuttle to Southcoast
Plaza (a very upscale mall).
No shuttle to park, but free airport shuttle and towncar service for a fee
to area attractions.
I am not sure of what the restaurants were like to eat in, but they looked
nice. There was a bar with outdoor patio and a restaurant. Judging by the
room service menu, I think the restaurant was more upscale and pricey. There
were several places within a 2 min walk (Denny's, Chinese Food, Mexican fast
food, etc..). There was also a Mcd's and a BK about a 5 min drive away.
There were 2 nice pools, one for each building. We found the water a bit too
cool for swimming. Small, quiet pools.
This would be a nice honeymoon spot. We did not see many children there, and
the place is very quiet. If you can avoid it, do not do laundry here, it
took about 45 mins for the wash and about 2 hrs to dry normal loads! We
started our laundry at 8pm and it was nearly 11pm when we finished! In the
suites building, request a first floor room if you want a patio.
http://www.countrysuites.com/newportbeach/
We booked our room through hotel reservations network and paid about 1/2 of
the going rate. We paid 109.95 for a suite.
