Anaheim Maingate Inn Review
I’m pretty sure Guy Selga is trying to kill me. He has the motive: I’m way better than him at both Walt Disney World Magical Racing Tour and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. And, about a month ago, he had the opportunity: he booked a hotel for us to share during Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend.
Honestly, I should’ve seen this coming. Regular readers of the blog will recall that last year, Guy pulled this same stunt, booking us in a hotel that literally collapsed on its guests. After I narrowly escaped bodily harm there with Indiana Jones-esque agility, I guess he had to come up with a new plan.
I’m not sure whether his judgment is suspect (he also thinks that Crystal Pepsi doesn’t taste like regular Pepsi!) or if he’s actively trying to catch bedbugs, but has become an ongoing problem. A national epidemic, you might say. None of you probably care about this at all, so I’ll spare you further words of warnings about Guy Selga’s reign of terror through Southern California, and cut to the chase on this review of Anaheim Maingate Inn.
The thing is, this review only needs to be one sentence long: Anaheim Maingate Inn should not just be avoided by those looking for a place to stay near Disneyland, it should be condemned by the city of Anaheim.
What was wrong with it? Well, the photos say a lot, but not the whole story…
The television didn’t work, the beds were uncomfortable, and most of the furniture looked like it was found along the side of the road. This place was a dump.
It currently stands as the #110 of 117 hotel in Anaheim on TripAdvisor, which makes me wonder what those other 7 hotels are doing to their guests to rank worse than this?! Even an actively haunted hotel might be superior to Anaheim Maingate Inn, so long as the ghosts were only mildly spooky and not malicious.
Completing “the look” of this hell hole, the picture frames and lamps were cattywampus, really helping the “We Don’t Care…And It Shows!” motto of Anaheim Maingate Inn.
In addition to being a dump, the room quite literally smelled like a dump. Too bad photos can’t convey scent yet (actually, in this case, that’s for the best)…
The bathroom smelled like there was a sewage leak, and we had to keep the door closed because it was nauseating. (In hindsight, we should have refused the room. I have no doubt that this was a Cal. Health & Safety Code violation.)
In “fairness,” we did pass by other rooms that looked like they had seen a more recent refresh, and these did not look totally inhospitable.
However, other rooms we passed looked exactly like ours, so booking a room here means a 50/50 roll of the dice (at best) as to whether you get an awful room or “luck” into a mediocre one.
There were two silver linings to our stay here. First, we discovered a new Disneyland hack, and that’s cutting through Cast Member parking to access Mickey & Friends (through a new-ish public walkway), which makes hotels in this area much more attractive than they’ve been in the past. Fortunately, this hack can be utilized for guests of several other hotels in this area, so you don’t have to stay at this dump to take advantage. I’ll detail that hack in a separate post.
Second, no one got bedbugs or any number of the other diseases lurking in the shadows of our room. It’s the small victories.
In short, the takeaway from my experience at Anaheim Maingate Inn? Don’t be friends with Guy Selga. He has a penchant for booking rooms at sketchy hotels, and someday, this will end in tragedy. (I will take one for the team and continue being “friends” with him so he subjects me to these awful rooms instead of you. You’re welcome.) Also, don’t stay at this hotel because at least half of the rooms are totally disgusting. It’s not worth saving $10-15/night.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our take on Anaheim Maingate Inn? Hopefully you haven’t had the “pleasure” of staying here, but if you have, please comment on your experience! Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
We stayed at the Anaheim Main Gate in July 2021 for 4 nights. They were skimpy with towels so my son went to the office to ask for more. They said oh we are short on towels. Then a lady handed him some but they were dirty and used. So we went without until the next day. Then one evening when we got back from the park , the door wasn’t locked. The maids hadn’t locked it. They advertised breakfast muffins in the office but there were never any available.
To the management and owner,
My name is Charles Greer III. I booked 2 rooms for my family vacation to Disneyland & Downtown Disney. We viewed your website and were impressed with the quality of the rooms. Upon our arrival we could not believe the conditions of both our rooms. Room 101 has a window unit that made loud noises throughout the entire night. Before we departed the hotel to go to the park I informed the woman at the front desk that we had loud annoying noises coming from the heater window unit. She stated that she would have the maintenance man look at it when he arrived. After we returned nothing had been done to repair or replace the unit. Additionally all the white towels in our rooms were grayish and looked like they were not clean. My 80 year old mother stayed in room 217 and complained to me that her face towel had irritated her face. I have attached pictures of the room we took with our concerns. This morning I spoke with Mary the front desk receptionist and informed her of the problems we are experiencing. She came to room 101 and heard the noises coming from the window heater unit. She stated that she would have the maintenance man repair the unit or exchange it for one that worked properly. Additionally there was a fire in room 218 next to my moms room 217. One of our cords for the microwave in our room was missing the ground plug. This place is a fire trap. As much money as you charge you should put some back into the hotel for much needed repairs.
I have stayed at this motel about 4 times, the most recent one being in February of 2016. Although I don’t think that it is as nice as a Hilton or Marriott, I consider it to be completely acceptable and a good value for the money. I can’t remember exactly how much I paid for it but I think it was $70 per night, I could be off on that, but it saved me a lot more than just $15 or $20 per night. My room did not have any unusual smells or anything like that, and my bed was perfectly comfortable. I tend to stay at Motel 6’s and other economy motels so maybe my standards are lower than everyone else’s. Also, I could see the fireworks at Disney from just outside my room, which was on the second floor, and I got free wi-fi. Like you, I really appreciated the “back door” route to Disneyland. I should note, however, that when I stay here I stay at least 5 nights, sometimes 7 nights, so maybe the management gives me one of the better rooms. By the way, my room looked pretty much the way your pictures showed, but I considered it acceptable.
Hi there Tom,
Did you post the details to the walkway through the employee parking lot to the Mickey & Friends lot hack mentioned here by any chance?
Thanks!
Not yet–it’s still on the agenda, though!
Awesomeness. Can’t wait! Thanks for all that you guys do!
That’s the ONLY thing I didn’t care for about staying off site. We stayed at HOJO… which is a bit of a walk with kids… and had to head down Harbor every night. Every night we walked past people pulling their carts up to sleep on the benches and I felt like a total heathen from having been to the parks. It was a good teaching moment for my kids, helping them understand not everyone is so lucky. I was just surprised at how prevalent the homelessness was there.
Next up, I want to see a review of Little Boy Blue Motel on Katella and Harbour. It’s 91 out of 117, and I get to stay there!
Haha, no thanks! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the forums, though! 🙂
We once stayed there when the regular hotel we stayed at had a water main break and it was the worse except for the access to the Mickey and Friends parking.
Now I’m not saying it was anyone there but I had 5 charges to MetroPCS on my credit card that had only been used to book our room there! Good thing the bank thought the transactions were sketchy and called me for verification!
It is so shabby that there are people actually living there permanently, really we talked to a couple that had a room under the stairs that had been there for over 6 months!
Sadly, people living paycheck to paycheck, below the poverty line, or worse, and having to live in hotels is a real issue in Anaheim. Many of these people are families who are struggling (some are even Cast Members) but are trying their best.
Other people that loiter around these hotels are less upstanding citizens…
I keep tapping for the upvote button… but there is no such thing here. Tom, I’ve read your blog for a couple years now and have always appreciated your diplomacy.