What to say about our hotel? We loved it. On our arrival day, we were at the hotel just before 11 am, but our room was not ready. That was OK with us... we had them store our luggage in their locked luggage room, went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe, just across the street, and then walked over to Disneyland for a bit. We arrived back at the hotel at 2:30 pm and our room still wasn't ready, even after I had called from Disneyland and been told it would be maybe a half hour. Seriously, this was the worst thing that happened to us, and not really annoying because check-in wasn't until 4 pm. Wasn't the HoJo's fault that we were tired and ready to unpack. We got into our room about 3:20, and when I walked in, I gasped. Just gasped.
Our view was magnificent. We were on the top floor of their tallest building, and framed through our windows was the Matterhorn. It seriously was wonderful to wake up in the morning, grab a doughnut and a pop, and sit in front of the window thinking about all the magic to come.
We stayed in a premium room, which had 2 queen beds with premium bedding. We had a rollaway for Brady and there was still plenty of room for us to move around the room. There was a closet for hanging clothes and storing empty suitcases, and plenty of drawer space (and believe me, I used every inch of drawer space). Our room also had a mini-fridge and small microwave. I had groceries delivered from Vons, and we had breakfast and snacks in the room every day, as well as picking up subs/pizza and taking it back to the room a few times.
One of my favorite amenities at the hotel was the pools. We spent a lot of time at the "quiet" pool. It was here that Chesney made good friends with the family staying 2 rooms from us, and they would play for hours. If you remember, it wasn't that warm while we were in CA, but the pool was mildly heated and good enough for Chesney (the rest of the family, except me, all got in this pool once or twice, too). There was also a small water park where we'd often go after our hour or so at the quiet pool. Chesney really enjoyed riding the slides and getting under the dump bucket with her friends. I really enjoyed the plentiful shade, the small tables, and the clean towels.
We walked everywhere. In addition to the Mimi's Cafe across the street, there was also a McDonald's, a Millie's Family Restaurant and a Quizno's between the HoJo and the Disneyland parks. I won't lie... our feet didn't particularly like all that walking, and we walk a lot normally. It wasn't so bad going to the parks the first time in a day, but going back for the evening... and even worse, walking back to the hotel for that second time... was not always fun.
The HoJo also has a little gift shop where you can find almost everything (except digital media cards, apparently) and a small arcade where my kids spent a ton of money playing air hockey. There was internet view ethernet cord, and an in-room safe.
The best thing about Howard Johnson Anaheim is that they honor the Entertainment Card rate for a limited number of rooms. We were lucky enough to snag it for our entire stay and only paid $79/night. I love this place so much that we'd stay again for full price. :)
