There is no such thing as a great resort close to Disneyland. Trust me, I’ve stayed at and reviewed over 50 of them. Every single one has flaws that will turn off some customers. The Disney-owned accommodations are extremely expensive. The 5-star comfort hotels all suboptimal sites.
Most of the apartments are lodgings, and many of them are old. And cheap! This has been the biggest shift we’ve seen in a while, putting the top of our Anaheim Hotel Reviews &, Rankings at the top. Many of the budget-friendly resorts across the street are today whatever but, as visitors are willing to pay a premium for the perfect location.
Another growth during that period that’s causing us to reconsider our positions and assessments more and more is lodge horror stories. This is not a shift to the resorts, but quite our frame of reference. Now that we have a child, our tolerance for this has decreased. We’re less willing to take chances because the old-school resorts have a much higher desire for issues and lodge horror stories than the contemporary hotels close to Disneyland.
These possible issues run the gamut, ranging from big red flags like reports of base bugs to extreme sound to robust rooms to a lack of amenities. I’ll be completely honest with you, even apparently trivial things like a low coffee maker then find my indignation.
I’m not much of a resort hipster or singer. We’ve stayed in some questionable sites over the years. When paying less than$ 100 per night, it’s one thing to tolerate crappy coffee, dreaded rooms, scratchy towels, or anything else.
It’s another entirely when that hotel that was under$ 100 per night a decade ago is otherwise exactly the same as it was a decade ago, except triple ( or more! ) the value. The truth is that many of these motels are absolutely phoning in their guest experiences, charging exorbitant rates, and resting on the laurels of their site.
So portion of this is price changing the math, and expecting quality commensurate with the ever-increasing rates. However, there is another aspect, our unique perspective as kids.
Granted, I didn’t say that I’ve always wanted bugs, but there was a time when my chance taste for them was higher. As we often pointed out back in the day, there have been studies of bedbugs at nearly every hotel in Anaheim, so it didn’t really look like anything you could actively prevent.
Although I still largely agree with this, I also think it’s accurate to say that many older motels have had a higher annual incidence than the more recent hotels. That’s my anecdotal perception, I cannot corroborate it with hard data. However, it’s enough to make me feel like I should stay at an older motel with lower hygiene standards.
Noise is a more acute issue and one with which we have extensive experience at the old motels. Whether it be from the rooms above, which seem to be occupied by a herd of hippos, or the exterior hallways, which are veritable hippo highways, we’ve constantly had issues with noise at the motels.
This isn’t really an issue for me, for me alone. I could sleep through an earthquake (quite literally– I’ve slept through several ). The only way I can tell if something is wrong is because I get up early to work, and it’s always obvious how paper-thin the walls are.
Like her father, our toddler is a heavy sleeper…except when she’s not. She once slept through an ear-piercing fire alarm, but somehow, the light creak of our bedroom door at home can wake her. I can’t even begin to explain this; I don’t believe science has a solution. Regardless, we try to move around the room like we’re avoiding the velociraptors in Jurassic Park so we don’t disturb her. Very similar effects.
Optimizing for all of that, one hotel that has been in our top 10 for the last decade, but has slowly crept further up the rankings is the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance by Marriott.
This is a hotel ~5 minutes from Disneyland, featuring large family accommodations. This includes revisiting this hotel ten years after it first opened, new ideas about the newly redone rooms, common area changes, and our experiences. We’ll cover whether it’s still worth staying at this hotel if your visit to Southern California is primarily for visiting Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
We first reviewed this hotel shortly after it opened in 2016. At the time, we were impressed. The rooms were spacious and the design felt chic. The Courtyard established a new standard for accommodations away from Disneyland. We’re revisiting it a decade later to see how it’s held up, and offer a verdict on the recent renovations.
Spoiler alert: it’s complicated. We didn’t bury the lede in our opening line. The perfect hotel near Disneyland ( still ) does not exist…but the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance might just require the fewest compromises for families.
The” New” Rooms at Courtyard Anaheim
Let’s start with what hasn’t changed. The 530+ square feet of the rooms are still significantly larger than the average rooms in an Anaheim hotel. With the ability to sleep 6 people ( two queen beds plus twin bunk beds ), these rooms continue to be ideal for families that would otherwise need two separate rooms.
Structurally, the Courtyard is the same as before, meaning it’s a modern’ big box’ chained-brand hotel built a decade ago as opposed to 60+ years ago. It has the feel of a deluxe hotel with all amenities. It has interior hallways, thicker walls, upmarket amenities, and upgraded fixtures and decor as compared to the Anaheim norm.
The accommodations are similarly comfortable and upscale ( ish ). It’s not the Westin or JW Marriott, but there’s also nary a scratchy towel or cheap coffee maker in sight. When we first started staying at Anaheim mom &, pop hotels, most had mattresses salvaged them from the Goodwill dumpster. An increasing number of people now have plush bedding. Even among the hotels with high-quality bedding, the Courtyard ranks near the top in terms of bedding comfort.
With the workstation, booth seating, and essentially everything else, it’s a similar story.
We’ve now stayed at the Courtyard a few times, and every single stay we’ve had a view overlooking the water park with Disneyland in the distance. I’m sure there are worse views, but this is lovely. It’s also a testament to the hotel’s soundproofing that it’s open when the balcony door is open but closed when it’s closed.
The rooms have a host of other amenities: Keurig machines, microwaves, mini-fridges, Netflix, and more.
Here, things start to get stale. The hotel underwent room renovations last year, which would normally be a good thing. There are dozens of hotels that would benefit tremendously from a room refresh!
We frequently object to Disney fans ‘ complaints that their new rooms are boring and bland. Most of that criticism is misplaced, as average guests ( rightly or wrongly ) don’t want garish and over the top designs. Well, well, well, how are the turntables.
Below are two photos, one of the old/original rooms and another of the new rooms:
Can you tell which is which? The first room is the original, and the second is a circa 2026 room.
Sadly, the Courtyard was not one of them. The coastal California design that we praised in our original review is no longer the same. In its place is what Marriott calls “modern decor with cozy finishes”. Corporate speak for” we made it look indistinguishable from every other mid-tier Marriott”.
The original rooms had a nice balance of contemporary and traditional, with thoughtful design elements and pops of color. All of this was punctuated by the feature wall wave art. When I looked through photos, I could immediately recognize the Courtyard.
This, on the other hand, is instantly forgettable. The renovated rooms are generic. They’re tidy, up to date, and …fine, I suppose. It’s not even that they’re chasing trends or whatever!
These updated rooms appear older simply because of their ho-hum design. Maybe I lack taste or a discerning eye, but if you asked me to point out which of these rooms were the newer one, I’d guess the old rooms. They look cooler, more modern, and hip. Or at least hip-adjacent. Why on earth can’t a hotel within walking distance have fun room designs? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here are more photos of the new rooms:
The bathrooms, thankfully, remain solid.
The walk-in showers are still popular, and the size of the bathroom overall makes for a large party in the mornings. The presence of both walk-in showers and tubs is a thoughtful touch, especially given the practical realities of getting ready for rope dropping Disneyland with a party of 4-6 people in one room.
Cool Courtyard Common Areas
The good news is that the common areas have also been renovated, and the refreshes made to these areas are actual upgrades.
Everything feels a bit more polished and updated, lighter and breezier. Yes, you could make up your mind that this hotel resembles other Marriotts in terms of appearance and is” corporate.” We spotted several business travelers and families alike lounging around the public spaces, which are nice and inviting.
I think the entire renovated lobby level area is a big win. I really like this space, especially the indoor-outdoor nature. It feels like the Courtyard leaned into this with the refurbishment, and it’s quite lovely.
Nice common areas are an outsized selling point to me as someone who inevitably ends up in the lobby using my laptop early in the morning and late at night.
The Surfside water park is still there, and we’re still hesitant to call it a water park. It has a glorified pool and a water play area, which is far superior to a regular pool but far too close to a water park.
Still, it is light years ahead of almost every other pool in Anaheim, so it doesn’t feel fair to even poke fun at Surfside. By Anaheim standards, it is a water park. It would be more like a puddle if this were Orlando. ( Seriously, the pool disparity between the coasts is enormous. )
Cuisine from the courtyard
The dining scene around the Courtyard has also changed in the last decade. All around Anaheim, new options are popping up. You would have a wealth of new options if you persisted down Disney Way or along Katella.
Here, not so much. Pizza Press moved ( several years ago–this is not new news ), and it is not on par with the move that has filled the void. The closest thing is Calaca Mamas Cantina, a Day of the Dead-themed Mexican restaurant, replaced the infamous Captain Kidd’s buffet.
Otherwise, there are a lot of convenient and reasonably-priced options, including but not limited to Mimi’s Cafe and Panera in the parking lot, as well as McDonald’s, Denny’s, and IHOP all between the Courtyard and Disneyland. I’m a huge fan of using the McDonald’s app to make mobile purchases because it’s a great way to score deals ( and hassle-free ).
Aggravating Elevators
The Courtyard has only 2 elevators that reach 6 floors and 221 rooms. When the hotel was brand new and presumably operating at a lower occupancy, this flew under our radar.
In 2026, with the hotel regularly at capacity? And with a toddler now, what? ( Okay, that last one isn’t the Courtyard’s “fault”. ) It’s not ideal, really.
Wait times of what seems like forever ( probably 5-10 minutes ) during peak periods are common. We’ve watched families with strollers, exhausted kids, etc., crammed into lobbies, waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. I experience Roz’s constant, watchful observation. And we have been those families, unable to pivot to the stairs due to a sleeping child in a stroller.
This is a fundamental design flaw that becomes more apparent as the hotel ages and occupancy increases. Budget for additional time for vertical travel. Ironically enough, that can increase the walking distance time to Disneyland–or at least make it enough of a wild card–that a few hotels that are technically farther away become” closer”.
Maybe some of you don’t think this is all that important. Like I said, it wasn’t even on our radar before. But the last two times we’ve stayed here, it has been noticeable. And one of those involved a toddler and stroller was before baby. YMMV.
Another issue is that parking is now only available online and is now$ 46.50 per night. That’s not a typo, it’s nearly$ 50 per night to park here, and there’s no self-parking option. This is absurd for Anaheim. It’s not as though there isn’t space and that they are either trying to make do or not. The hotel sells parking to day visitors ( also$ 50 ) as an alternative to Disneyland’s parking structures.
Courtyard’s ( surprisingly ) Competitive Pricing
Speaking of pricing, now for the good news! A decade ago, we noted that the Courtyard was one of the more expensive non-Disney, non-suite hotels in Anaheim. Given the size and quality of the rooms, we initially believed that$ 200+ per night was exorbitant.
Fast forward to 2026, and rates are now routinely above$ 300 per night depending on the season. That may seem like a significant increase, but it is. Or it would be…if the motels right across the street weren’t charging even higher rates!
In my searches, the Best Western Park Place is more expensive than the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance. Despite having to travel a little further away, having annoying elevators, and having bland rooms, I still prefer the Courtyard over the Best Western if the prices are even a little bit more reasonable. It’s not even a remotely close call.
If you’re thinking about taking a trip to the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance as part of a Disneyland vacation, you can use Get Away Today to book a hotel + ticket vacation package to save money. You can also save an extra$ 10 by using code TOURIST at checkout.
We also recommend Get Away Today in our Guide to Buying Discounted Disneyland Tickets—booking a vacation package makes an already great deal even better.
Alternative Accommodations in Anaheim
The most direct comparison is the Element Anaheim Resort Convention Center, which is our overall favorite family hotel near Disneyland. The drawback is that it’s a little longer to walk, but the plus is that it’s nicer and younger. In our view, the Element is all about balance, straddling the line between extended stay features and upscale accommodations. We usually book the Element over Courtyard, but we don’t mind a bit more walking. Both are fantastic.
Less comparable is the Westin Anaheim, which is our favorite luxury hotel in Anaheim. This outshines the JW Marriott primarily because it’s a simpler walk, and it’s where we spend a good deal of time both at the resort and in the parks. It’s a great” staycation” option when the primary purpose isn’t parks non-stop. It offers good value for money considering the fact that it’s a luxury hotel.
The Tropicana Inn &, Suites, which is our# 1 overall pick close to Disneyland, is our next go-to pick. This offers an unbeatable location, competitive pricing, and remodeled rooms. The parks are accessible via a 5-minute walk directly across the street. At the end of the night, that 5 minute walk can be so worth it–especially if you’re pushing a stroller or carrying a sleeping kid. We usually do the Tropicana when park time is top priority, especially during late Halloween and Christmas seasons, or during the winter.
Other contenders
Fairfield by Marriott Anaheim Resort
Water Playground by Wyndham Anaheim Hotel &
Best Western Park Place Inn
SunCoast Park Hotel Anaheim
Park Vue Inn
None of these are perfect comparisons, especially for larger parties. There are several locations that tick all the right boxes in terms of proximity, room &, amenities quality, modernity, and space. Each have their own distinct pros &, cons, as well as differing dealbreakers for some Disneyland visitors.
Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance Verdict
In the end, the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance is not the ideal hotel close to Disneyland. Remember, that’s not a thing! We enjoyed our first ten years of staying here in some ways, but there are some flaws. The room renovations are devoid of character, the elevator situation is more irksome, as is the valet-only parking now given that it approaches$ 50 per night.
At the same time, the fundamentals remain strong. These are the most modern and spacious rooms in the hotel chain close to Disneyland’s” cross the street on Harbor district.” The new lobby is lovely, a great common space. Although the price has increased, the price increase is less noticeable than the nearby motels. Not only that, but our personal tolerances for the weaknesses of those motels has decreased, and to a greater degree than our tolerance for the annoying elevators.
The end result is that I think the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance is actually a worse overall hotel than it was a decade ago…but at the same time, most of the other nearby hotels have gotten “more worse”. So the Courtyard has actually improved in comparison, if that makes sense. As the title says, the Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim Theme Park entrance is the best family friendly hotel across the street from Disneyland.
When I start looking for hotels that are a little further away, though, this fails for me once. As someone who doesn’t mind walking about ~5 minutes or so, the Element or SunCoast remain our top choices in this category. Of course, not everyone is us, and there’s absolutely something to be said for these hotels right across the street. That’s the reason they all command chequing in the first place!
Planning a Southern California vacation? Read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets for park admission deals. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews &, Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. Check out What to Pack for Disney for fresh ideas of things to take with you on your trip. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. For more information on places to visit in Southern California, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many others!
Your Thoughts
Have you stayed at the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance? Do you concur or disagree with our assessment? Thoughts on the redone rooms or common areas? Any inquiries? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Sign up for news, Disney deals &, free planning tips
Email:
