As proud owners of Disneyland premium annual passports my wife and I take every opportunity to squeeze all the use we can out of these treasured possessions. Since our home in Las Vegas is four hours away from Anaheim (on a good day), obviously a hotel room for a few nights is essential. The sheer density of hotels built to cash-in on Disney traffic means that most of the time you can pick up bargain priced rooms on Priceline.com and the Crowne Plaza, Anaheim was no exception -- The raffle that is Priceline presented us with three nights here at a mere $45 per night.


Location, Location, Location

The hotel is conveniently located in relation to Disneyland, while being a little bit further down Harbor Boulevard than other properties, thus avoiding some of the conjestion in the immediate vacinity of the parks, but still nice and close via either car or shuttle-bus. Also handily located are a cluster of restaurants right in the parking lot such as Red Robin, Joe's Crab Shack and the Outback Steakhouse (complete with its menu of ficticious faux-Australian delights). Also right over the boulevard is a Cocos and a large Target store which we have found a life-saver on a previous visit as the source of snacks for our room that weren't going to be hotel-priced.

I have read a few complaints about the parking and the location of this hotel online and I could see what people were driving at with regard to the parking. There's no multi-storey parking garage here, but a small lot surrounding the hotel and a larger, rectangular one out back. The larger lot has spaces slightly smaller than the norm and this creates a bit of chaos when bad or lazy parkers are thrown into the mix. There's SUV's taking up two spaces, cars parked diagonally or right on the line - a general mess. Fortunately the lot is huge and even if you have to park near the back of it there are always plenty of spots.

People have also commented on "low income housing" in the area. Im not sure there is *any* cheap land along Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, more likely what these people are referring to are the small, old looking dwellings just over the fence as you walk from the back of the parking lot towards the swimming pool and eventually the lobby. While some of these looked a little spartan, it didn't exactly look like the shanty-town I had been warned about.


The Hotel

While my wife took care of the check-in I lounged on the pleasant sofas in the lobby. From what I could see so far I was strongly encouraged and overcoming my misgivings about the smaller size of the hotel which had begun to plague me outside. A pleasant pool is situated just through the exterior doors from the lobby and there's an inviting cantina/restaurant which was very attractive and modern. We didn't eat there, but a quick look at the menu posted outside showed a surprising variety of foods, including several vegetarian options and all of reasonable price. It was pretty much what you would expect to pay at your average middle-of-the-road costing restaurant.

Whoever came up with the Y shaped hotel was a genius. A recent stay at the very square Anaheim Hilton had presented us with an insane criss-cross of halls which seemed to go on forever. The small size of this hotel and three arm-like corridors meant that our room on the 7th floor was easily accessible. The corridors appear very new, with some suitably faux-rustic furniture near the elevator exit and a centrally placed room containing an ice dispenser and a drink vending machine.


The Rooms

The rooms are where Crowne Plaza, Anaheim really shines. They have this whole concept going on there about the best ways to get a good night's sleep -- apparently as devised by some noted sleepologist (that's my layman's-speak for what was written in the brochure in the room). There's all sorts of little touches in the rooms with this idea in mind. We had a huge king-sized bed, literally overflowing with pillows of different shapes and sizes, which was easily the most comfortable hotel bed I have ever encountered. In addition to this, high quality (meaning not uncomfortable and sweat-inducing like the ones you get on airlines) sleeping masks are provided, the curtains are so good that they block out pretty much all of the exterior light, even during the day, and even come with a sturdy clip which fastens them securely together blotting out the last avenue for light invasion. The bathroom has a strange sort of oval-shaped pad plugged into the wall socket, the function of which wasn't immediately apparent to me. It had the word "sleep" on it somewhere so somehow this was also related to the sleep theme. It wasn't until nature called at 3AM that I discovered the strip bathed the darkened bathroom in a soothing green phospourescent glow which saves you from turning on bliding lights to rouse you further, or disturb your partner. The room even comes complete with a soothing lavendar linen-spray for the sheets and a CD detailing relaxation techniques and soothing sounds. I was suitably impressed by all of it and they worked very well. Other than all these goodies the room is pretty standard hotel fare, attractive and comfortable with ironing board, wireless Internet, television and so forth. As with many American hotels there is no fridge for you to store drinks and things, just an ice-bucket, but from what my wife tells me this is the rule here rather than an exception. There was; however, a mini-bar fridge containing beer, spirits, chocolate bars, nuts and soft drinks for those willing to pay insane prices - We left it alone. The glow of the information panel on the front of the minibar was the one piece of light pollution in the room, so I had to cover it with a shirt.


Other Stuff to Know

Visitors should be aware that like all hotels in the area there is a daily parking fee not included in the cost of rooms. Crowne charged $7 which is the cheapest we have so far encountered in the area (even Mickey charges $11!) and this includes use of the shuttle bus to Disneyland which departs from outside the hotel. We preferred to drive since we had free parking at Disney as part of our passes, but on a previous visit we had used this shuttle since it is shared with the Hyatt Regency next door where we stayed previously. The ride is fairly quick and comfortable, with regular departures, and is sure to be a winner for people without free theme-park parking.

During our three night stay we only had housekeeping fix up our room on one occasion. When we returned the room was as immaculate as when we first checked in, the sanctity of our stuff had been respected and our soap, towels and so forth replenished. Each day some newspaper was left at our door, although I still can't cope with US newspapers - I am not interested in the news here yet and the is very little non-US content. I imagine this would be nice for just about anyone else though.


The Bottom Line

Overall I found Crowne Plaza, Anaheim to be a real diamond in the rough of the close-to-Disney hotels. I had been hoping to get the Hyatt again this time and the size of the place had me worried that it was a budget operation. Not so, this property easily matches the Hyatt in class and service and is streets ahead in comfort. The small size of the hotel made the place much less stressful to negotiate. Fewer floors and rooms meant very little wait for elevators and there was never a queue if we needed some help at the front desk. All in all, a wonderful, restful experience that really helped regenerate our aching bodies after the gruelling daily trudges around Disneyland and California Adventure.


Recommended: Yes