12021 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove, CA 92840, 714-867-5555, anaheim
Rates: Standard rooms start at $109 a night. A daily $12 resort fee covers parking, Internet access, Disneyland shuttle and use of the pool, hot tub, fitness center, business center and games room.
Stay here if you: don’t want to be Mickey Moused around in your Disneyland hotel choice. You get a lot of hotel for your money, unlike some other Anaheim options.
It’s close to: Disneyland, about a mile, as well as California Adventure and the Anaheim convention center. A shuttle runs to Disneyland every half-hour.
The rooms are: comfy and sleep-friendly. Crowne Plaza worked with a sleep expert to come up with its Sleep Advantage program — a little goodie bag with an eye mask, earplugs and lavender aromatherapy spray for your pillow; a CD with soothing sounds; and a clip to keep the curtains closed tight. The beds have pillow-top mattresses and plush duvets. There also are “quiet floors,” which I wish I would have known about before being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by the children in the next room screeching in anticipation of their trip to Disneyland.
They put all of the money into: thoughtful amenities. The pool is large enough to swim laps and beautifully landscaped. The fitness center is open 24 hours. There’s also a coffee shop with cheap lattes, a gift shop where you can pick up sunscreen and all the other stuff you forgot to pack, and a passable bar and restaurant.
The bottom line: This hotel manages to be all things to all travelers — family- friendly for the Disneyland crew and swank enough for the convention crowd — without breaking anyone’s budget.
Vicky Uhland
