QUICK LOOK RANKINGS
Best
Stanford Inn • Alamo Inn • Hotel 414
Mid
Capri Suites • Courtesy Inn by Best Western • Motel 6 Anaheim Maingate
Last
Magnolia Tree
Hello and welcome. I’m Stacey, your Disney hotel lady. And today we are going to talk about the budget hotel tour I was just on in October of 2024. I’ve uploaded all of the videos of the properties that I visited, and now we’re going to get them all together, discuss all of them, compare them, let you know what all the differences are, what the perks are, so that you can figure out if one of these budget hotels will work for you on your Disneyland stay.
So let’s get right to it. Our first hotel we’re going to discuss is the Stanford Inn. This hotel had the most amenities of all of the budget hotels that we saw, as you can see on the screen here. They had a gym. They had a laundry. They had the pool and the hot tub and they had breakfast So they had the full gamut of amenities. And then in the rooms, you could get a family suite with bunk beds.
So you see, it also came with two queens. I believe you can get a king family suite as well, if you just are a family of four, but you want more space. Um, but the kids are in a separate room. If you see the door right down there, next to that one queen bed, that’s going into the bunk bed room that you see at the top there. So this is a really great option for larger families because there’s so much more room there.
Next we had the Alamo Inn, which I really liked because of all the greenery they had. The plants and the trees and everything. It was really secluded and really peaceful and calm and you can see the room is pretty simple. There is a fridge and a microwave and all that.
There’s one of those at the Stanford as well. I didn’t mention that.
But otherwise here at the Alamo Inn, it’s pretty simple and pretty basic. I did like the fact that they had the patio outside the front door. So it was kind of like you had a balcony, but it was out the front. So you’re looking in on that courtyard and not, like, another hotel room or, you know, where you’re staring at your neighbors and you’re awkward if you’re out there at the same time.
So this was I thought — in my opinion anyway, it was better. So let me show you real quick. That’s what I’m talking about. So you could still get some of that awkwardness if you have a direct line of sight, but you see all the trees really helps with that. So it helps you feel just that seclusion. As I said, it gives a — kind of a fairytale vibe too, because you come under the awning, the overpass, and then you park in the center there. It’s really nice.
Another simple one that I really liked was Hotel 414 here. This, like I said, simple. There’s just a pool here. No other amenities to speak of. Bed, coffee maker, microwave and fridge. There is a microwave and fridge. So just real basic and simple and clean. I like really enjoyed how clean it was. You always want it — for me to feel comfortable anyway, cleanliness is very important.
Also, we stayed at the Best Western Courtesy Inn. This is called the Courtesy Inn. This had a hot tub and a pool. They offered breakfast here. This was a great property as well.
Moving on, also Motel 6 we stayed at. Another property that had a lot of amenities. There was a laundry room here as well. Another hot tub — hot tub and pool. And Motel 6 I think was the only one — only property we stayed at on our budget tour here that had a store in the lobby where you could pick up some snacks, some drinks, maybe even a souvenir if you forgot something or maybe something, you know, got lost or broke. There wasn’t a huge selection, though, of the souvenirs. It was mainly for, you know, some snacks and drinks. They did have a little like, um, pharmacy section where you could get your, you know, your Benadryl or your cold medicine or, you know, toothbrush, different things that maybe you might have forgotten. So Motel 6 was the only place that had a store.
Next is the Capri Suites. This hotel is all suites. So it’s all two rooms. We had a king room, so just a king bed. And then in kind of a small,– I almost wouldn’t call it a room, but it’s like a foyer, you can see there the couch. It did pull out. I had trouble figuring it out, but it did pull out. You could put a kid maybe on that pull out couch, but there are suites. You can get more beds in other suites. We only had the king bed, but this hotel,– what was special here is the pool area. You might notice here it’s covered. It’s like on the first floor under some rooms. So it’s going to be away from the sun, from the rain, from anything. You can get in the pool, get in the hot tub, whatever you want. It’s covered if that’s something — it’s not something I see. It’s not common in California because everybody comes to California for the weather, right? So that’s,– if that’s something you’re looking for, maybe for a child who’s sensitive or an adult who’s sensitive to things like that, it’s not completely enclosed, but it is covered.
Also pets are welcome there. Pets were welcome at Motel 6 as well. I think those were the only two of the budget hotels that we stayed at where pets were allowed.
Next was the Magnolia Tree Hotel. Now, this was super cute. I really liked what they were going for with their decor and the — bunk beds! I don’t know why that just slipped my mind, but the bunk beds. It was really cute. But it fell flat in areas. Like in the bathroom. Cute sink area, but if you are getting your toothbrush, your toothpaste, your makeup, your sunscreen, your– all the kids stuff, there’s not enough space. There just wasn’t enough space. It was a great shower. It was our favorite shower actually of our whole week tour that we went to all these budget hotels, but the rest of the bathroom just was,– and then in the room itself, it has a microwave and a fridge, but there was no ice bucket and there was, you know, no– just little things,– little things that– there was some attention to detail that was lacking here.
I was talking in another video with another creator another day. Hot tubs, we,– we like the hot tubs for our feet, right? Even if you’re not getting fully immersed, it’s good for your feet. So of the seven hotels, these five did all have hot tubs. The Stanford Inn, the Courtesy Inn,– which was the Best Western property,– the Motel 6, Anaheim Maingate, uh, the Capri Suites and the Alamo Inn all had hot tubs.
So that just left Hotel 414 and the Magnolia Tree that did not have hot tubs.
And just a side point here, I did write on the screen here, you can see, Motel 6 Anaheim Maingate. For some of these hotels, it’s really important the whole name because there might be more than one property for that brand, or even a separate brand, but similar wording for the hotel names. So it’s important– Like, there’s one we’re going to talk about later. It’s a very similar name to another property that’s in a completely different location. So just be mindful of that.
Breakfast. I was not expecting to find breakfast as an amenity at some of the budget hotels, but you can. Breakfast was included at the Stanford Inn, the Courtesy Inn, the Best Western, and the Capri Suites.
Now Capri Suites was just a continental breakfast, no hot foods. So just, you know, like your bagels and your fruits and your yogurt and just stuff like that. They did have a waffle window though. You could go up to a lady behind the wall– through the window and order a waffle if you want. That was the only hot food item that they had. Stanford Inn, unfortunately– they do offer breakfast, but we were so tired that day that we completely missed our alarms and we completely overslept the breakfast there.
So I asked, I think in the video, if anybody knows about the breakfast at the Stanford Inn, please drop some comments, let people know how that breakfast is. I know it is offered, but unfortunately on my one night there, I didn’t get a chance to experience it. But it is offered there. So please share your knowledge. Come join us in the hotel discussion group or drop some comments here or on the Stanford Inn video itself on my channel here on YouTube. Let us know about the breakfast, please. My fault there. My bad. Sorry about that.
So now let’s– the main events. Rankings. What was the best one?
Well, um, I hate that actually.
I hate best. So I’m going to give you my top three here. Stanford Inn, Alamo Inn, Hotel 414. So Stanford Inn, we already said all the amenities, you got breakfast, you got a hot tub, you’ve got a laundry, you had a gym even. So just it hits all the boxes and it was all,– all of the hotels on our budget tour were, less than 200, I think. There might have been one or two that were just over 200 a night, but I think most of them were under 200 a night, these seven budget hotels here. So, that’s a great, great deal near Disneyland, let me tell you.
So Stanford Inn, Alamo Inn, again, I think for me there, the reason it’s on my top three list, it just,– you felt peaceful there. It felt calm, it felt secluded. And with the plants around you, it just,– you felt very unplugged there too. If that’s what you’re going for, I highly recommend it. You are going to achieve that there.
If you’ve got all the devices and you’re trying to like, charge iPads and phones and portable chargers and all kinds of stuff that– that’s not the place for you, unless you’re bringing all your extension cords and your power banks and stuff like that. Alamo Inn is really kind of a simple unplugged type of experience. That’s,– and sometimes that is, you know, really nice, really nice.
So Hotel 414, also a pretty simple hotel. And I think the top thing there,– why it’s in my top three is the cleanliness. It was– it’s probably the cleanest hotel of our budget hotels on our week there, out of our seven. I think it might have been the cleanest. But also in the parking lot, you can see fireworks. So that’s kind of nice too. A lot of these budget places are just a little too far away to get any kind of view of the fireworks. So, you can’t get it from your room, but if you just walk into your parking lot, you can see the fireworks. Or maybe you can sit in the pool area. You could probably see them because the pool’s kind of in line with the parking lot at Hotel 414. So those are my favorites.
The ones that are kind of in the middle now are– medium ones– are chains .Motel 6 and the Courtesy Inn, the Best Western, nothing wrong here. I just felt those other three were more my favorites. But if you have– if you like to go for a chain, Motel 6 or the Courtesy Inn are great options.
So I guess my top three are really more of the boutique, independent hotels. So I put the chains here in the medium.
Capri Suites also kind of a medium. You do get some space there, but it just didn’t have the same feel as those other three, I guess is really all I’m saying there. The only reason it’s in the middle.
And that means the least favorite was the Magnolia Tree and the reason for that was there’s literally no amenities here. There is no pool. There is no breakfast. There’s– there’s nothing. There’s a room. You could come here and it’s a room. And the room was not the cleanest. It wasn’t like we- have- to- go- stay- somewhere- else dirty, but it was, you know, like a little cobweb here and there, a bug here or there, like– it’s just a little wear and tear more so than the others.
Even though it looks like it was updated super recently and what they’re going for,– I can see what they’re going for. It’s super cute. Like, the potential is there. But I think management just needs to, if you’re watching this, you just need to step it up a notch and maybe provide the guests something a little more than just a room.
If you need just a room though, this might fit you. If you’re not looking for anything else, you could get a room here and a great shower. Remember, this did have our favorite shower. Even though it’s on the bottom of our list, it’s our favorite shower. Top of the list shower- wise. So. Interesting how that worked out.
So I’ll go back to the favorites again here. Stanford Inn, Alamo Inn, Hotel 414. I do want to give honorable mention though. This– these were not in our budget tour, but they are hotels that I have stayed at already. I already have posts about them. They’re not on the Youtube channel yet, but they are on my website. So you can go look up Hotel lulu, which is also a Best Western property, Desert Palms Hotels and Suites, and the Double Tree Suites Anaheim Convention Center.
So here’s two more– remember the specific name of the property can be important in Anaheim. Desert Palms Hotel and Suites is on Katella, right behind California Adventure, right next to the Candy Cane Inn, if you know where that one is. But then, up closer to the crosswalk on Harbor, that’s more directly across the street, there’s another hotel that’s also Desert something. I’m forgetting what it is now, but it starts with Desert too. So you can’t just say Desert. You have to be specific. Also Double Tree Suites. There’s another Double Tree. They’re both on Harbor actually. So one is suites– all suites, which is the one I’m recommending here. There’s another one down the street. That’s just a regular Double Tree, both regular rooms and suites I believe.
So again, keep in mind what you’re looking for and try to be specific if you’re Googling or, you know, looking through a third party site like Expedia or Booking dot com or something like that.
These are my favorites. You can take note of those. Stanford Inn, Alamo Inn, and Hotel 414 all have their videos already up here on my YouTube channel.
My Honorable Mentions– uh, sorry, I don’t know where to point. We’re,– we’re learning together, people.
This is– Honorable Mentions all have posts on my website, Disney Hotel Lady dot com.
Remember you can also find me on Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook. On Facebook, we have a hotel discussion group. It’s pretty small right now. So we need more people. We need you to come share your knowledge, share your questions, share your tips. Let’s help each other out.
But that’s it. That’s the recap of the budget hotel tour 2024. We stayed at each of these hotels one night in October of 2024. Please leave comments, tell me which one’s your favorite, which one do you hate. Maybe you hate one of these hotels, had a super bad experience. Tell us, let us know, let me know, drop some comments.
Again, I’m Stacey, your Disney Hotel Lady. Be sure to check Disney Hotel Lady dot com for all my latest hotel reviews. And subscribe to the YouTube channel for all the latest videos. Thanks for watching.
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