Family Stay at The Red Lion Anaheim Hotel

Disneyland Park and standard ones with no park views. The property also has ADA compliant rooms with wider doorways, lower grab rails, and TDD capacity and connecting rooms for larger families.

Transportation

The hotel is within walking distance of Disneyland and the Convention Center, so there is no need for guests to drive to the park and pay an additional parking fee. If visitors want to spare their feet for walking around the park, they can get a daily 5$ pass for the Anaheim rapid transit vehicle that passes every 15-20 in front of the property or hop onboard the Disney’s resort express bus.

Fellow travelers

The hotel is a favorite with families and a few business travelers because of its proximity to the park and Convention Center.

Our room

Our room decorated in contemporary with dark woods and geometric patterns had two queen-sized beds, a comfortable ergonomic chair with a work desk and a small sitting area by the window. Lit by several standing the lamps, the room also boasted two phones one of which is conveniently by the bedside and multiple outlets to power up electronics. Additional room amenities helpful for traveling families include a flat-screen TV with free cable channels including HBO, ESPN and Disney, an in-room safe, Keurig coffee maker, a microwave and mini refrigerator. Since the building didn’t have a central air conditioning /heating system, every room was equipped with its own individual with unit and thermostat.

Bathroom

The bathroom was average sized for L.A based hotels with a black granite counter top and the shelving underneath that provided ample space to store cosmetics and medicines families’ travel with. The tub had a showerhead (if you need a hand held the shower head to wash young kids you should bring a plastic one that fits over the tub spout) and a curved shower curtain. The hotel provided eco-friendly toiletries for guests that included soaps and hair products.

Restaurants

The property’s restaurant Red’s Pasta Kitchen was open for Breakfast Lunch, and dinner in case guests returned hungry and exhausted from their day in the park. The breakfast spread for $10 per person (free for kids under 10) included cereals, bagels, pancakes scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and sausages. Parents with children that are picky eaters should head on to the 24 hour House of package’s next door.The hotel also offered a Grab and Go venue food alternative called Café2Go, a good option for those rushing to get to the theme park for those early magic hours.

Hotel amenities

The heated outdoor pool  (no life guards on duty) and weekend roasting s’mores in the outdoor fire pits can help with entertaining kids to recover from a Disney overload. The hotel also boasted a gym with cardio and weight lifting equipment for those wishing to maintain their exercising regime on vacation.

Useful idea

Like many other hotels in resort and theme parks, areas this hotel was equipped with laundry facilities.

Service

The hotel staff was courteous but looked a bit overwhelmed by the line of travelers checking in or out. We did call housekeeping asking for additional towels that were delivered promptly.

Cost

Join the Red Lion Club before booking for a 15% discount and other perks like bottled waters or check websites like Expedia and Priceline.com to find the best prices. Since the daily parking fee of $14 can add up, travelers should try to book a nightly hotel rate that includes parking.

Autism Travel Tips

• Since the building has minimal soundproofing travelers should ask for a quiet room in the main building on middle floors (3-7)  away from noises of parking lots, boulevard traffic, elevators, ice machines or roof fans especially if their special needs child is noise sensitive.
• The room A/C can get noisy at times so guests might want to have their kid sleep as far as possible from the unit if they are noise sensitive.
• Guests may wish to bring a night light to supply the hotel room with some continuous light as the bathroom light is controlled by a motion sensor and will turn off at night.
• For those kids who tire quickly or are uncomfortable in large crowds, the premium hotel rooms are a good option as they enable the guests to watch the fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle from the comfort of the room.

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