Anaheim Plaza Hotel

On our trip to the Disneyland Resort (DLR) in March 2003, we stayed at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel located "directly across the street" from the DLR. This term is somewhat misleading. Although the hotel is in fact located "directly across the street" from the DLR (situated across from the new Tower of Terror), it still is a long walk to the Main Entrance. Our rooms were located along the back of the hotel property which meant we had to walk through the hotel complex itself, cross the street, then along Harbor Blvd. to the pedestrian walkway leading to the Main Entrance. At the beginning of the day it didn't seem so bad, but at the end of the day it seemed to stretch into eternity and every effort was made just to put one foot ahead of the next enough times to reach the room. Once in our rooms we would collapse on our beds and hope the pain in our legs would subside long enough to get up the next morning and do it all over again.

The hotel itelf was a pleasant surprise and nicer than I expected. The lobby was clean and spacious, the grounds nicely landscaped and the pool was very large and looked extremely refreshing. There was also gift shop where you could purchase cold drinks, ice cream, snacks, etc. Here we rediscovered Cactus Cooler, a pineaple-orange flavored soda not available in the Portland area.

Our room was located on the ground floor in the building along the back of the hotel and was quite roomy with two queen beds, dresser, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, hair dryer, TV and a table with two chairs. The bathroom has a shower/tub combination and toilet in one room, with a large double-sinked vanity just outside. The beds were quite comfortable and the air conditioning worked wonderfully.

The only drawback to the room was that the remote control on the TV did not have a sleep timer! We're used to going to sleep with the TV on so that was a bit of an adjustment. Also, the hotel does not particpate in the Anaheim Resort Transportion system (ART) which would have helped cut down the amount of walking done each day. In retrospect, it would have been worth it to pay the $8 or $9 to park in the Disney Resort parking lot at least a few of the days during our visit.

It was 10 years since our last visit to Disneyland and the trip was absolutely wonderful in so many ways. We decided the only thing that would make it even more perfect, would be to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.