Jeeves

I agree that the ES in Buena Park can be had for much lower rates than the other Disney-Area hotels. The trick with the Anaheim Hilton has to do with the Convention Center calendar. If there is a convention going on, the rates can be in the $170-200 range. If you catch them between events, you should be able to score a night for less than $100. They also charge something like $12/night for parking.

I often stay at the HGI on Harbor Blvd., as it is often the cheapest HH hotel in the area. I have found the HGI to be consistently cheaper than the adjacent Hampton Inn. I'll take a HGI over a Hampton almost any day.

The HGI/Hampton/ES on Harbor are now charging $5/night for parking.

safetymom

Thank you both for your ideas.

Skyman65

Let me put in a kind word for the Anaheim Hilton. I stayed there for one night with my family a couple weeks ago. I booked the room on a govt rate (I think it was $84.00). They put us in a nice room on the top (executive) floor. The room looked like it had recently been remodeled, and had those new ultra-comfy beds.

That evening, from the exec lounge, we had an excellent view of the fireworks at Disney. Wow! They know how to do fireworks! Very impressive.

Yeah, the $12 parking sucked, but what-a-ya-gunna-do? Almost all the "full-service" hotels in the area charge for parking, so you pay it. [shrug]

Bulldog King

I agree.

I was in that lounge on the 4th of July and enjoyed watching the fireworks while munching on cookies and drinking a 50/50 mix of strong coffee and hot cocoa.

I also have to say that I liked the type of bed that was in my room.....it was quite comfortable.

All in all, I will most likely choose to stay at this hotel during my next visit to the Anaheim area.

A.J.

safetymom

We stayed there last year on the top floor and really enjoyed it. That is why I was trying to find a better rate than AAA. Glad to hear others enjoyed this hotel.

slippahs

Had the opportunity to stay at this hotel last month. As Gold, booked an Executive Room because the rates weren't that much higher but as opposed to SEA_Tigger's earlier post, did not receive any sort of discount on the bill.

Here are a few pictures from our Executive Floor room:
http://slippahs.smugmug.com/gallery/913077 (password: flyertalk)
(Please do not reproduce photos)

Pros:

• Lounge open on weekends with continental breakfast in the morning and good snacks at night
• Hotel in walking distance to the parks, walking the pathway between the hotel and the convention center, crossing the street and taking the Lion King Tram to the main entrance. Just a note on this, however. The Lion King Tram does not operate everyday--only when the Pumba parking lot is open. We didn't realize this until we got to the parking lot, only to find that we had to walk all the over to the park. Also, when walking back to the hotel from a midnight park closing, the allyway between the hotel and convention center was quite errie. No other pedestrians or even cameras for security.
• Reasonable parking cost at $11/day with in/out privs.
• Friendly executive lounge staff
• Given breakfast coupons for restaurant, likely because we were on a Bounceback rate

Cons:

• Ants in our bathroom took a nice feeding on my toothbrush. Called and let the front desk know about it.
• Poor shower pressure, perhaps from the hotel's age. Called front desk and they fixed it up pretty quickly. Still, water pressure very low.
• Room given had no view at all--well, a view of the other side of the hotel. Could hear elevator noise from room. Might be a reminder for me to remove the "Close to Elevator" preference on my HHonors profile.
• Anaheim Resort Transit shuttle can be pricey. The Sheraton Anaheim offers a free shuttle to the park. With the size of the Hilton, you'd think they could have a bus to/from the parks.
• Sheer size of the hotel--def. a convention goers hotel. Not much Disney magic, though I'm not so sure where to find any Disney magic in Anaheim.
• Wired high speed $12.95/day.

So, I'm left neither dissatisfied nor satisfied on this hotel. Again, it's Anaheim, so my expectations weren't high.

NW-A332

I'm so glad there was a recent report from here. I recently spent a night there last month and had a not so great experience yet again at the Hilton Anaheim. I don't know when I'll learn. We've stayed there 3 times as Gold and each time was crappy. The first time was on New Year's Eve a couple of years ago and the front desk agent was so incredibly rude to me I couldn't believe it. The second time we stayed there was a year ago on Labor Day weekend. We stayed 2 nights and the first night they put us on the 5th floor in a Lanai room. It has a sliding door to the pool area. It was so loud all night because our room was at the end and bordered another hallway with kids screaming and laughing all night. After getting very little sleep I called management and they moved us to the executive level which was very quiet.

This past stay we booked a generic room and were upgraded to Executive Level before we even got there..I checked online. We had an amazing "Disney View" room although all the rooms are so dated in 80s pastels and the bathroooms are tiny. If you've stayed at the Hilton LAX then you've stayed at the Hilton Anaheim, I think they got a 2 for 1 on those hotels...they even look similar.

So, what went wrong this time is that our room was next to the service elevators. We didn't realize that the employees are very loud with their roomservice carts etc until we went to bed at 1am. We were at the parks all day, so we had no clue. It was too late to request another room. I called the manager's hotline and complained, but still haven't heard anything. We told the front desk guy how unhappy we were with the room and he just said, "oh yah, sorry." What makes me mad is that we are Gold members first, and not treated so well. And it's not like we just spent money on the room...we had meals in the hotel, and spa treatments too, so we spent a lot of money at the hotel.

I can't wait until the Doubletree opens up so there will another Hilton property close to the parks. The proximity of the Hilton Anaheim is the only reason why we keep going back. We have this love/hate relationship with this property.

jaynyc

Checked in last night. The fireworks are back...and the executive lounge stays open until the fireworks show ends.

~Sness~

Just returned from a quick, 2 nite stay with my 16 yr. old niece at the Anaheim Hilton. The reviews have been pretty iffy and I was expecting the worst as I typically only stay at the higher end resort Hiltons. It was her first trip to D-land and the Hilton really did a wonderful job! We were upgraded before check-in to Exec Lvl. with a Disney View. The room was fantastic. It appeared freshly redecorated and was a corner room, more like a suite actually, with a large separate sitting area and view windows ceiling to floor on two entire walls. We found a nice welcome letter when we arrived and a very nice, large box of beautifully gift wrapped chocolates. We were quite a hike from the lounge and elevators, but enjoyed the complete quiet and spectacular fireworks views. The bedding was lovely, pristine high thread count, white duvets & sheets and new down pillows. It all looked brand new and unused. The beds were also seemingly unused and very comfy. The exec lounge was understandably crowded with conventioneers and Spring breakers, but offered a nice assortment of hot and cold app's in the PM (cheese tray, fruit, hot satay sticks, egg rolls) and the usual continental breakfast fare, my niece especially enjoyed the cappucino/mocha machine. We were at the Parks late both nights and found ourselves starving at 1am in the room. Two nights in a row we ordered special request meals (nothing super fancy, just items not shown on the in-room menu). Room service was unusually good and unbelievably fast, they got our orders to our room in under 10 minutes, piping hot and with substitutions 100% correct..really amazing. The vacation desk had our tix, etc..but they don't offer the local deeply discounted So. Cal. Residents 2 day tix we would have preferred. I used a special hotel rate which incl'd. $50 credit for D-land tickets, so we used that towards the purchase of an annual So. Cal. Residents' pass instead (which they did offer) and everyone was happy, especially considering our $164 rate during such high occupancy. We were given a very late checkout also, which allowed us another full day at the Parks..all in all the service and accomodations were A+!! BRAVO Ananheim Hilton!!

acysb87

February stay this year,and as a Gold status member,was on Executive Floor.
All you need to know is that this is a convention hotel.IMO,always too busy,and gets worn out quickly.Exec lounge is always busy,lots of infants and children in lounge(not meant to be a negative)Pay for drinks at this property in lounge.Breakfast is a very modest continental,I have seen many better stocked and more selections provided continental breakfasts.


My room was comfortable.Was not expecting a resort property.As others have noted ,does not stand out but is OK.

Braswch

mid week in mid june - what's the walking to the tramp story? I read earlier in this thread that sometimes you have to walk further.

Jeeves

Do you mean the tram? I suppose if the parking lot is not full, they might not send the tram as far south (towards Katella). Disneyland is all about walking, they get you one way or another.

doglover

Arrived at 11pm Monday night. Here's a summary of my first 20 minutes at the hotel.

Walk up to the front desk and 30 people are trying to check in (with just 3 people working the desk). Fortunately there is a separate Diamond checkin line that's empty. My wait was just a couple of minutes.

I'm sorry mr. doglover we are out of regular rooms, I can offer you an unused suite parlor room and a roll away bed.

No thanks. I'd rather stay someplace else. Can you get me a room at the new doubletree suites?

Let me check sir, I'll be right back.

Heads off to speak to manager. Returns 5 minutes later. We've found you a room on the 8th floor. It's got 2 double beds, will that be ok?

Sure, that beats a rollaway.

I walk upstairs, room has a do not disturb sign on it. Since the place is full of kids racing up and down the halls I figure it might be a prank. I knock. No answer. Open door and sure enough someone is either still in it or the room was never made up. Bedding and towels everywhere, room reeks of cigarette smoke (so much for a non smoking room).

Head back downstairs and get back in line.

How may I help you sir?

The room you gave me is either in use or not made up, plus it reeks of cigarettes.

I'm sorry sir let me see what I can do.

5 minutes later (heads off to speak with unseen manager - reminscent of how you get treated at many car dealerships) I have another room for you sir. Have a nice stay.

This time I head up to the 9th floor and wander thru the maze and find a corner king room. Why I wasn't offered this first intead of the parlor room with the rollaway bed was beyond me, but perhaps explained next.

Turns out the room was crap. HOT & HUMID with barely functional AC. No water pressure in the shower. No hot water in the shower either.

Never received any form of diamond amenity other than access to the crummy upstairs lounge. I asked for breakfast certs instead and was told no dice.

Summary -- poor service for diamonds at the front desk, no diamond recogition except exec floor access, crummy rooms with no water pressure or even hot water, long elevator waits, no breakfast cert option, no new comfortable hilton beds, no wireless in conference rooms, wireless access in common areas horrible -- only a handful of locations that had a signal would actually provide an IP address, $13.00 a day for internet, you have to pay to park, it's really hard to find anything at all positive about this poorly managed and run down property.

If you can -- vote with your $ and take them to some other hilton property or chain when staying in Anaheim.

flyinbob

Mid-summer. Right across Katella Avenue from Disneyland. They treat Diamonds like crap because they think they CAN treat Diamonds like crap. They consider themselves the flagship of CA Hiltons, and the attitude is carried around by the employees. Business travelers would do well to avoid this place at all cost.

MaxJPN

I am so glad that I didnt stay there when I was in Anaheim last month. I was thinking to do it, but I had read some comments about how bad it was that match what the OP is saying. Seems this place is to be avoided. I have had better experience at the Holiday Inn Express on Katella and the HI on South Walnut.

I am on this new kick now, that if I am going to PAY for "quality" by having a higher room rate, I expect to actually get it. I havent been, so I just go ahead and stay with Holiday Inn, its not the "best" but you pretty much know what you are getting. With Hilton, especially in California, I havent found that. Its either really good or really bad and I pay the same high price for a room either way.