The Courtyard Theme Park Entrance Hotel is consistently ranked in the top spots of hotel review websites. Find out what all the hype is about in this honest hotel review.
Hello Friends! Today I'm thrilled to share my review on The Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance Hotel by Marriott located at 1420 South Harbor Boulevard at the Disneyland Resort! This is one hotel I have ALWAYS wanted to stay at but never did until now, simply because it was either totally booked or REALLY expensive. As usual, this review focuses on 5 categories, Overall Experience, Hotel Amentities, Room & Value. Along the way, I'll rate each category out of 5 then will give it an overall hotel rating to help compare it to other hotels I've stayed in at the Disneyland Resort.
"...even my no view room had a view of the Matterhorn and I could see the fireworks at night!"
Overall Experience: 4.5/5
From the photos, it's easily the nicest looking and most comprehensive hotel located right across the street from the South Harbor BLVD entrance to Disneyland Park and that's exactly what it was! At a quick pace it took me about seven minutes to walk from the hotel entrance to the park which is AMAZING!!! Especially for coming back to the room for those mid-day breaks.
This hotel is well appointed. Everything was a breeze! The staff were very friendly, my room was ready when I arrived early at 10 a.m. and everything was clean & comfortable. Even my no-view room had a view of the Matterhorn and I could see the fireworks at night. How cool is that!?!? The location is not only close to Disneyland, it's also close to a variety of restaurants. Mimi's cafe, which has excellent breakfast and amazing muffins, is right in the parking lot. Plus there's a Panera Bread McDonald's and IHOP all on your walk to Disneyland. Want to see what the walk looks like? Here's the link to my real-time walk video: https://youtu.be/Yq76TyqrAuA
I had such a good experience here I gave them a 4.5 out of 5.
There were only 2 things that took them down a notch. #1 - The water park needed reservations and you could only book a two-hour time slot. #2 - this hotel is literally surrounded by two water parks; their Surfside Water Park AND the water park located at the Howard Johnson next door...so no matter where your room is if that balcony door is open during the day you're going to hear a clanging sound!!! But that's just me splitting hairs I guess.
Hotel Amenities: 4/5
The Courtyard Inn and Suites has some amazing hotel amenities and that Surfside Water Park really takes the cake. So tempting I ALMOST went and played in it myself. For a family with kids, it's hard to imagine a better place to chill out when you're looking to escape the heat and crowds. You can even see the matterhorn across the street! The pool deck has plenty of lounge chairs, tables and umbrellas however those Santa Ana winds were howling while I was there so we were asked not to use the umbrellas. Being super fair-skinned that left little options for me, but I did find myself some shade beside the two water slides.
They had very attentive lifeguards on duty. The hot tub was undergoing some work while I was there and the pool here is quite small and quickly became overrun with kids. It's for these reason that I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to you if you're traveling solely with a group of adults or as a couple, unless you don't plan on spending any time in the pool. But I will say it's an epic place to splash around if you're a kid.
One thing I loved about this hotel is the water bottle refill stations!!! There was one near the restrooms on the pool deck as well as one in the lobby close to the elevators. This saves you from those super pricey Disneyland water bottles.
While there's no proper restaurant at this hotel there is a FANTASTIC bistro that not only serves Starbucks coffee but it also serves amazing food. I ordered the breakfast wrap and it was so good I had to get it twice during my stay. It came with a side of fresh fruit, fresh guacamole, and pico de gallo. If you're not finding what you need here there's a gift shop that sells snacks, beverages, sundries and souvenirs. There's also a quick grab-and-go right beside the front desk.
There were other hotel amenities that were great to have but were not stand-out like the ones I mentioned previously. The fitness center was clean and had everything you'd need. They had laundry machines available for guests to use for a fee. There's also a small business center with a couple computers right in the lobby. Overall, the amenities here were definitely better than average so i gave them a four out of five.
Room: 4/5
I booked a two queen, no-view room and it had everything a family needed, and more! In addition to the two queen beds there was a bunk bed so this room could sleep a family of six comfortably. One thing you don't see at many hotels that they have here is a little table nooked right into the corner with enough seating for two to three adults or four kids. The beds were on the firm side but comfortable, but I really appreciated that they were CLEAN!!! Not a spot or a stain on any of the sheets or blankets.
The bathroom was also geared towards larger families. The vanity had two sinks AND there were TWO showers! One was the shower tub combination in the same room as the vanity and the other was the standalone shower in the same room as the toilet
Other amenities in this room:
A mini fridge that was actually a decent size
A microwave that was spic & span
Flat screen TV with access to Netflix & YouTube
Lots of outlets for charging devices
Full sized hair dryer in the bathroom
Keurig coffee machine with Wolfgang Puck coffee
A good sized closet with lots of hangers, a luggage stand, iron & ironing board
There was even a little nook right beside the door with an outlet that looked big enough for a scooter
The staff weren't doing room cleanings during my stay, so they left extra garbage bags and sanitizing wipes which I thought was a nice touch. One thing i found a little strange is the toiletries were kind of hastily placed. I don't know if I'm just being too particular here, but since some of them were placed backwards or upside down it had me wondering if they were in such a rush did they rush over some of the cleaning too...but the room was definitely clean so don't worry I didn't knock them down for that.
The room is one place i would say the photos looked better than it did in person. This is such a popular, very well used hotel, so there were scuffs and dings around the room. Even so these rooms are in the best shape when I compare them to all the hotels directly across the street from Disneyland.
Now even though I booked a no-view room I was so excited that when i opened my sliding door I could look out and see the Matterhorn and even watch the fireworks from the comfort of my own room in my pjs at night. That was a huge plus!!!! The rooms were fairly quiet, except I could really hear the stomping and crying child in the room above me at 11 pm lol. Honesty, this was a lovely room so i gave it a 4 out of 5.
Value: 4/5
This hotel is PRICEY but its location and quality is hard to beat...especially if you're a family of more than four. This hotel allows families of six to not have to deal with the hassle of renting adjoining rooms which can be really stressful. So even though it's pricey, we gave it a four out of five for value
Overall Rating: 4.13/5
This gives the Courtyard Theme Park Entrance Hotel by Marriott an overall score of 4.13 out of 5! Which ranks it right up there with some of our favorite hotels. I would 100% recommend this hotel, especially if you're a family of five or more and it fits your budget. BUT, if you're on an adult's only trip and want a good pool, I would probably tell you to look elsewhere. That said, this is definitely the cleanest hotel I've experienced directly across the street from the park which can be a struggle to find.
Want a more visual review? Check out the video: https://youtu.be/3cyLcerfbeI
I'm Julia and this has been another Honest Hotel Review. Happy travels!
Comments