This Wyndham Garden Anaheim review is a little different from my other pic-heavy Disneyland hotel reviews because the main point I want to make here is that you should always stay at a hotel within walking distance to Disneyland!
Updated May 2018: The Wyndham Garden Anaheim hotel at 515 W Katella Ave in Anaheim was formerly named the Ramada Plaza Anaheim. New look, new name!
It’s never too early to plan your Disneyland vacation for Halloween Time! I’m a huge fan of quick Disneyland trip planning, but hotels near Disneyland fill up fast for late September through October because of the amazing Halloween Time at Disneyland theming and Mickey’s Halloween Party.
Related: Don’t Miss a Trick or a Treat! 10 Tips for Mickey’s Halloween Party in Disneyland!
I’m bringing this post to the top because I checked Disneyland room rates for October and Wyndham Garden Anaheim has 2-Queen rooms with sofa bed for $135 a night! (That’s the room type detailed in this post.) Book now via Ebates through the Wyndham site to book a refundable room.
Read on for our detailed review of the newly remodeled Wyndham Garden Anaheim near Disneyland!“
We visited Disneyland to celebrate Jameson’s 11th birthday over Columbus Day Weekend—The Busiest Weekend On Earth at The Happiest Place On Earth! The Anaheim Hills fire happened during our trip. The dark skies, smell of smoke, and ash falling down on us was a little spooky, but the fire was far enough away that Disneyland was not in any danger.
Halloween Time is my favorite time of year at Disneyland…but the Disneyland Christmas season with snow falling down after the fireworks show makes it a close call.
The new Halloween decorations in Disney California Adventure (DCA) are outstanding! I really miss the old Halloween experience at Big Thunder Ranch, so it’s great to have lots of new Disneyland details to check out in California Adventure.
We had an amazing Disneyland vacation, touring the Parks and figuring out the new MaxPass system (app-based Fastpasses). We stayed at the Wyndham Garden Anaheim to check out the new rooms and find out if Wyndham Garden Anaheim really counts as a hotel within walking distance to Disneyland! The hotel was still under construction (back in October), but the rooms at Wyndham Garden Anaheim were already totally revamped. We’ll return soon to take loads of pics now that the hotel looks spiffy inside and out.
Related: Is Disneyland’s MaxPass Worth It? 9 People Who Shouldn’t Buy MaxPass
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review: Disneyland Hotel within Walking Distance?
I’m going to bottom line you: The Wyndham Plaza Anaheim hotel is a full 15-minute walk to Disneyland.
That may make you want to click the “back” button immediately, or you might want to read one of my reviews of our favorite hotel across the street from Disneyland, which is a 6-minute walk to Disneyland:
Hotel Near Disneyland: New Suites at Grand Legacy At The Park!
Or, 15 minutes might not seem like a big deal to you. I’ll go into what a 15 minute walk from your Disneyland hotel really means when you visit Disneyland with kids a bit further down in this post, but first, I’ll go over the hotel highlights.
Make sure you’re viewing the Wyndham Garden Anaheim on Katella Ave. at Harbor Blvd. The address for this hotel is: Wyndham Garden Anaheim 515 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802. Note: The Wyndham Garden Anaheim used to be named Ramada Plaza Anaheim.
There are several Wyndham hotels in the Disneyland area, so don’t accidentally book the wrong one!
A great Disneyland hotel has to be
- Close
- Clean
- Cheap!
Let’s see how Wyndham Garden Anaheim measures up against my Disneyland hotel checklist.
This post includes affiliate links.
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review: Is it Cheap? Yes!
I’ve found rates at Wyndham Garden Anaheim as low as $135 a night for a room with two queens and a sofa sleeper! I expect rates to go up now that all construction is complete—and as Star Wars Land (Galaxy’s Edge) opens of course, so book early while rates are great!
I booked Wyndham Garden Anaheim just as they finished up the room renovations. Most people don’t want to stay at a hotel during construction, so Wyndham Garden Anaheim was one of the few hotels across the street from Disneyland with availability. Wyndham Garden Anaheim has finished construction on the lobby and the grounds and the new Wyndham Garden signage and name change as of May 2018.
- The last minute rate I found was $157.49 per night for a room with two queen beds and a sofa bed. You can get rooms as low as $135 a night if you plan a bit earlier!
- Parking at Wyndham Garden Anaheim is FREE! That’s very important since we stayed for 4 nights.
- Hotel tax in Anaheim is 17%.
- Total for 4 nights at $157 per night including tax: $737.06
Since I booked just two weeks before a trip during a very busy time at Disneyland (Columbus Day weekend has been a madhouse since schools started those silly Fall Breaks several years ago), I was very happy to find a room with three beds for about $150 per night!
How I got that great rate at Wyndham Garden Anaheim:
- I booked about two weeks early. Even on the busiest weekends at Disneyland, you’ll find available hotels as people cancel their reservations.
- I started at Ebates:
- First, sign up with a new ebates account with my link to get a $10 gift card. Buy yourself a cute Disney t-shirt from Kohl’s. You’re welcome.
- Search 3 times in Ebates:
- Wyndham Garden
- Wyndham
- Orbitz
I check all three sites on Ebates, because each hotel brand under Wyndham can have different cash back rates, and Orbitz sometimes has coupons. Note that you’ll have to prepay on Orbitz to use a coupon.
- Click through Ebates to whichever site offers you more cash back!
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
- At the time I booked, Wyndham Garden offered 2.5% cash back and Wyndham offered 1.5% cash back.
- I had already used my Orbitz coupon on other trips (Orbitz usually just lets you use a coupon code twice, even if you cancel a trip).
- So, I booked Wyndham Garden Anaheim through the Wyndham Garden link on Ebates to get 2.5% cash back on my stay.
- I booked the AAA rate. If you don’t have AAA, Wyndham also offers deals like 15% off 2 nights that can actually save you more than AAA. Just poke around the Wyndham website to find the best offers. Wyndham Garden Anaheim does not currently offer a Disneyland Annual Passholder rate.
- I signed in with my free Wyndham Rewards account to earn points on my stay.
Want to get 2 FREE nights at the Wyndham Garden Anaheim? Read my Disneyland on a Budget Resource page for all the details!
5. I paid with my Costco Visa (Citibank) that gives 3% cash back on travel.
OK, so Wyndham Garden Anaheim is Cheap! Win!
How would you like to stay at Wyndham Garden Anaheim for FREE?
Check out all the details on how I leverage credit card bonuses to take a 2-day, 2-night Disneyland vacation for 4 people for just $294! That’s total—not per person! This scenario includes 2 free nights at Wyndham Garden Anaheim OR Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Waterpark! (HoJo is so fun for little kids!)
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review: Is It Clean? Yes!
The rooms at Wyndham Garden Anaheim have been completely remodeled so they’re brand spanking new! The rooms remind me very much of a Hyatt Place: hip and modern with earthy colors.
Our room was HUGE for the four of us!
My daughter just turned 11 on this trip, and my son is 13. The kids don’t like sharing a bed at hotels now that they’re older, so I look for rooms with two queen beds and a sofa bed. (You can use a rollaway at a lot of hotels, but most 2-queens rooms near Disneyland are already small, so it’s a squeeze.)
Room 309 has two queen beds and one double sofa bed. It’s equipped with a microwave and a really large fridge, and a Keurig coffee station.
There is also a large desk with a chair, a large dresser that doubles as the TV stand, two large ottomans with storage, a huge upholstered bench, and a bedside table with storage. There’s a big closet, too! Do you see a pattern here? Everything is supersized at Wyndham Garden Anaheim—except the price!
The bathroom is big too, but I actually hated the bathroom—more on that later in this review.
We take A LOT of luggage to Disneyland! We always take a ginormous suitcase, a huge ice chest, and the kids just upgraded their cute kiddie suitcases to these big Minnie Mouse and Boba Fett suitcases!
Then there’s the giant bag filled with junk food, a big bag for toiletries, and myriad other bags (computer, backpacks, etc.).
Seriously, it’s ridiculous. But we drive, so really our only luggage limit is how much we can pack into the car!
ANYWAY, Everything fit in our huge room—with room to spare! I’m not sure how big the regular 2-queens rooms are, but we’ll definitely choose the 2-queens plus sofa room if we stay at Wyndham Garden Anaheim again!
#1 Happy Point for this hotel, super important: The service is extremely friendly and helpful!
Every staff member greets you on your way in and out of the hotel lobby throughout your stay!
The check-in clerk gave my kids Halloween-themed goody bags with a bottle of water, a bag of chips, and a piece of candy. That was a great treat for the kids and the parents—my kids were really excited and grateful to receive this unexpected gift, and Mom & Dad were happy that the bags weren’t over the top—not too much sugar, and water is always needed at Disneyland!
I called down to request a blanket at midnight, but I didn’t want housekeeping to knock on the door and wake up my kids so I said I’d go to the lobby to pick up the blanket. When I got to the lobby, they had the blanket out and ready for me.
One of my pet peeves is when hotel staff act like they don’t remember who you are or what you just asked for, so I appreciated that the night staff connected my phone call with my arrival at the front desk! The woman who checked us in also greeted us by name every time she saw us during our stay!
More great guest service news from Wyndham Garden Anaheim!
I overheard another guest asking for an upgrade at check-in after he had booked the hotel on Hotel Tonight. The front desk clerk certainly could have chosen to get snotty with that guest, because “everybody knows” that when you book with Hotel Tonight, you don’t get to choose your room type—you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit!
Instead, the front desk clerk kindly explained how Hotel Tonight works and that he was able to find the guest a room with two beds to accommodate his family, though they unfortunately couldn’t upgrade him to a suite. I certainly didn’t keep a straight face when I heard this guest asking to get something for nothing! That front desk clerk has excellent manners—and that is so important when you work in a hotel, but it’s a character trait that’s getting harder to find.
We absolutely loved the guest-centered service at Wyndham Garden Anaheim!
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review: Fast Facts
Before I get to the “Is Wyndham Garden Anaheim Close to Disneyland?” part, here are a few points of interest, minor whines, and selling points of the Wyndham Garden Anaheim hotel.
- All rooms are inside a hallway, not outside. Some people are really into staying at hotels with inside corridors, so that may make you very happy.
- There are two elevators, and they run efficiently.
- There is no breakfast at Wyndham Garden Anaheim, but some rates include breakfast at the Indian restaurant that is attached to the hotel, and they serve an American-style breakfast.
- Someone installed the shower shelf crookedly in room 309, so our shampoo and body wash wouldn’t stay upright. Grrr.
- Speaking of the shower, there are two shower heads. The tall one is a rainfall shower head (no water pressure) and the short one has awesome water pressure.
- Our room did not have a bathtub. If that’s important to you, call to see if some rooms have bathtubs.
- The shower entrance is on the end opposite the shower heads, which means you will have to get into the shower with your kids if they need help.
You Must Be This Tall To Ride—or, To Stay at Wyndam Garden Anaheim:
- Someone installed the toilet paper holder really, really far away from the toilet! And, the top of the toilet is curved, so you can’t put the toilet paper on the toilet.
- The sink will be impossible for kids to reach, let alone turn on or off, because it’s that super modern style that put form over function. Moms prefer a lot more function.
- The parking is FREE, and it’s also mostly underground and gated. It’s pretty creepy going into alone at night because of the closed gate. Send your husband down to get your earbuds.
- There are 4 drugstores right by Wyndham Garden Anaheim: CVS, Walgreens, 7-11, and a weird gift shop/convenience store called (not kidding) A Market. If you’re a coupon queen or forgot to pack something, Wyndham Garden Anaheim is in a great location for you!
- The housekeeper replaced our towels with 4 of everything every day! I usually have to leave detailed notes and/or call housekeeping every day at other hotels just to get enough towels to clean and dry us all off each day. I love seeing nice stacks of 4 towels and washcloths when I come back to the room after a long day at Disneyland!
My top complaints about the bathrooms in the newly remodeled rooms at Wyndham Garden Anaheim are small problems that can easily be remedied, and I hope they do fix these issues so the bathrooms are easier for families to use.
Why don’t hotels near Disneyland consult moms when they’re planning renovations?!
- We’re the ones who will have to run into the bathroom to hand the kid the toilet paper, and run over to CVS to get more shampoo because a kid left it open and it tipped over on the stupid, crooked shower shelf.
- We’re the ones who will have to hoist a kid up with one arm and yank up the handle of the stupid, stiff sink handle, and then change the kid’s clothes because the stupid, form-over-function sink leaks EVERYWHERE.
- These small but annoying design details would keep me from staying at Wyndham Garden Anaheim if my kids were small. Even with my big kids, I didn’t like having to keep toilet paper on the floor so my daughter could reach it, or wipe down the mess at the sink every time anyone washed their hands.
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review: Is It Close? Eh.
It took us 15 minutes to walk from our room to the security checkpoint that’s just inside the Disneyland pedestrian entrance on Harbor Blvd., and 15 minutes back.
That may seem fine to you if you’re European, or if you’re a runner and your kiddos ride in a stroller.
I have to say, 15 minutes to Disneyland seems a lot longer when you walk down Harbor Blvd. than when you walk from the Disneyland Hotel, even though they’re about the same distance!
Maybe it’s because you have to cross at 3 stop lights to get to Disneyland from Wyndham Garden Anaheim. Maybe it’s because there’s more to look at as you walk through Downtown Disney from the Disneyland Hotel than as you walk along Harbor Blvd. from Wyndham Garden Anaheim.
Family Travel Tip: Walk on the Disneyland side of the street all the way down to Katella (on your way back from Disneyland), and cross Katella towards Disneyland when you’re headed to the Parks. You’ll avoid passing the bus stop at Harbor and Katella where we noticed a surprising number of homeless people camped out (or passed out) each night.
I remember when my kiddos were little and the 7-minute walk to the HoJo felt far too long at the end of the day! Since the kids are big now, I thought it would be OK to try a new hotel a bit farther down Harbor Blvd. than the hotels we frequent that are right across the street from Disneyland.
But, I didn’t account for the fact that since the kids are bigger, we also tour the Parks faster and stay longer than we did when they were little. That 15 minute walk back to the hotel at the end of the night got painful right after we passed Grand Legacy, the hotel we usually stay at.
Our family likes to take a break back at the hotel in the middle of each Disneyland day for a nap and to relax. We spent 30 minutes walking round trip for our afternoon break instead of the usual 6-12 minutes round trip it takes when we stay closer, so the walk between Wyndham Garden Anaheim and Disneyland ate into our rest time. Losing time in the Parks due to extra walking was enough of a problem that we didn’t go back to the hotel for a break on the third day of our trip.
Will we stay at Wyndham Garden Anaheim again? Yes!
You may be surprised by that answer since I just listed several problems with the functionality of the bathroom, and complained about the 15 minute walk to Disneyland!
But, let’s go back to CHEAP.
What if I can book a room at Wyndham Garden Anaheim with two queens and a sofa bed for $135 with free parking, or book the same room configuration (though much smaller) at the Best Western Park Place Inn & Mini Suites for $179 plus $10 per night parking?
- That’s a difference of $63 per night once I include parking fees and taxes!
- Would I walk an extra 24 minutes each day of a 3-night stay to save $189? Of course I would!
- In that case, would I walk even farther to save money?
Nope.
After this trip, I’ve decided that 15 minutes is the absolute max I’m willing to walk with kids, and the room rate had better be awfully cheap to justify that walk. It’s super important to book a hotel within walking distance to Disneyland! I won’t even walk one more minute past Wyndham Garden Anaheim over to the Hotel Indigo, which looks pretty cool.
Wyndham Garden Anaheim Review Bottom Line:
Stay there! —if you can do both of these things:
- Get a rate under $150 with free parking.
- Accept the 15 minute walk to Disneyland—and back to the hotel at night.
What We Love about Wyndham Garden Anaheim
We love the huge, new rooms and the friendly service at Wyndham Garden Anaheim!
More All Day Mom Disneyland Hotel Reviews:
Best Western Stovall’s Inn Review: Is it Really Close to Disneyland?
Hotel with a View of Disneyland Fireworks: The Fifth Rooftop Lounge at Grand Legacy At The Park
Read my book Disneyland on a Budget: How Our Family Spends 30 Days a Year at Disneyland Without Breaking the Bank!
Disneyland on a Budget $5 Challenge: What Can You Get for $5 at Disneyland?
Be Part of the Story at our Favorite Hotel Across the Street from Disneyland!
Which hotel would you love to stay at on your Disneyland vacation?
