Disneyland Off-Site Hotel Review: Del Sol Inn
Del Sol Inn is a hotel located in Anaheim, California directly across the street from Disneyland. Being only approximately a 5 minute walk to the Disneyland Esplanade, it’s actually closer to the theme parks than on-site options like Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. Del Sol Inn is a 2 to 3-star hotel that offers basic accommodations at near-budget prices. It’s an affordable, safe, and relatively nice place to stay when visiting Disneyland Resort on a budget.
As there are a lot of questions about the best off-site hotels at Disneyland Resort, and because we’ve stayed at a good number of these “walking distance to Disneyland hotels,” we thought we’d put together some quick-hit reviews of each hotel along Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue in which we’ve stayed. You can read our overall comparison of the benefits of staying off-site versus on-site in our Where to Stay at Disneyland post.
Without a doubt, its location is the main draw of Del Sol Inn. This isn’t to say there’s anything necessarily wrong with the hotel–it’s perfectly serviceable as a simple “place to sleep and shower,” but that’s about it. The Del Sol Inn is priced at a premium given its proximity to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, so if you are not planning on visiting the Disneyland Resort theme parks, there’s absolutely no reason to stay here. You can find much nicer accommodations at this price point or similar accommodations at a much lower price point. The hotels along Harbor Boulevard charge about a 50% premium for location.
There is something to be said for the location if you are visiting Disneyland, and for us, it’s worth the 50% or so premium for the short walk to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Located behind a Denny’s on Harbor Boulevard and directly next door to our favorite off-site hotel, the Anaheim Desert Inn, Del Sol Inn is incredibly close to the Disney parks.
When we have stayed at Del Sol Inn, we’ve left our coats back in the room and dropped by in the early evening to pick them up (even in the summer, it can get chilly in Southern California at night) or have come back to the room for a mid-afternoon nap, when necessary. You can leave the park and be back inside in under 20 minutes, which is a huge plus.
As for the rooms, they are fairly standard for Disneyland off-site hotels. They’re clean and spacious, with decent beds and pillows, but nothing exceptional. The rooms are all non-smoking, although we’ve found that some have a light lingering smell of “old hotel.” Each room has a fridge, flat screen TV (a recent update), coffee-maker, and iron. The in-wall AC unit is very effective, although (like all in-wall units), it produces a bit of noise. We actually found this useful, as it produces a consistent light noise that masked out inconsistent outside noise.
Del Sol Inn’s rooms are definitely not luxury accommodations, as you can probably see from the photos, but if that’s what you’re expecting from one of the hotels along Harbor Boulevard, you’re out of your mind. Besides the on-site hotels and major brand hotels like the Hyatt Regency and Hilton, hotels like this are an elusive breed near Disneyland. If your expectations are reasonable, you will be perfectly satisfied with Del Sol Inn’s rooms. For a 2 to 3-star hotel near Disneyland, the rooms are perfectly fine.
With regard to rooms, we highly recommend requesting an upper floor room near the front of the hotel. Pick the upper floor because that keeps you away from the noise of breakfast in the mornings and so you have no one stomping on your ceiling. The walls are paper thin at Del Sol Inn, and while we haven’t had a problem with noise at this particular hotel, this request is our standard when staying at any multi-story off-site Disneyland hotel as ‘thin walls’ seems to be a problem at just about all of them. As for requesting a room near the front of the hotel, this can save you about 1 minute of walking time, as this is a fairly long hotel (rather than wide), front to back.
The Del Sol Inn has other amenities, such as a pool and hot tub, but the big thing for most guests will be the free continental breakfast. There is a small breakfast room that offers things like an orange juice machine, hard-boiled eggs, cereal, and waffles. It didn’t look all that appetizing to us, so we’ve always skipped it. I can’t think of any hotel along Harbor that has a continental breakfast that we’d consider good, so your mileage may vary on this.
Nightly rates for Del Sol Inn vary widely based upon season and demand, from approximately $75/night to $200/night. Even during peak season, if rates are over $125/night when you plan to travel, we would recommend looking elsewhere for a better rate. $100/night is about the sweet spot for this hotel, in our view. Remember that every hotel in Anaheim has high taxes and other fees added, so expect to pay about 25% more than the listed price. Parking costs even more, and is very limited at most off-site hotels, especially at the Del Sol Inn.
Overall, the biggest things Anaheim Del Sol Inn has going for it are price and location. While it is not the cheapest off-site Disneyland hotel, it is often the cheapest (along with Desert Inn) in this cluster of hotels that are right across the street from the Disneyland Esplanade. If proximity and price are your main concerns, you can’t go wrong with Del Sol Inn. If nice accommodations or luxury are greater concerns, Del Sol Inn is not the hotel for you. While its rooms are clean and acceptable, they offer basic accommodations, and nothing lavish. It doesn’t have a “resort” atmosphere, and you probably aren’t going to find yourself wanting to hang out at the hotel. However, that’s not the point of this hotel. For what visitors looking to spend the bulk of their days at Disneyland Resort, Del Sol Inn is an excellent option for a nearby place to crash, while providing safe and clean accommodations at moderate rates.
As for figuring out the rest of your Disneyland trip, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, the best restaurants for dining at Disneyland, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Trip Planning Guide!
Your Thoughts…
Have you stayed at the Anaheim Del Sol Inn? What did you think of it? Do you prefer staying off-site or on-site at Disneyland? Please share your thoughts or questions in the comments section below!
Thanks for all your Disneyland hotel reviews! After reading pretty much all of them, I was deciding between Desert and Del Sol, but ultimately went with Del Sol for the outdoor pool. Who knows if we’ll even use it, but I somehow felt like I had to have it just in case. Anyways, with a “Managers Special” discount, we booked it for $98/night for April 2018! So excited for our 1st West Coast Disney Parks Trip!!
I stay at the Del Sol every time I visit Disneyland and it is truly perfect. It is cheap and right across the street from the Disneyland entrance. No, it is not a nice resort, but the rooms are very comfortable and clean. I recommend this hotel to almost everyone, even those with kids. You can not beat being able to return in the late afternoon for a nap, or being able to quickly travel home for the night after a long exhausting day!
I have stayed at many of the hotels around Disney, I have been partial to Candy Cane for many years now, while not fancy the beds were cozy, and I say were, when visiting a few weeks ago the beds were a little worn out!
I am intrigued by your reviews. I do not need anything too fancy, my biggest concern is clean and comfortable, main concern is an old hard mattress, are the beds comfortable?
Thank you for your blog, even for us “seasoned Disney folk” it really helps to read your reviews!!
Thank you so much for your review! My mom and I are going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks and because my mom will be needing dialysis for one of the days during our visit, I decided to book a room at Del Sol Inn just in case she gets tired and needs some rest. Initially, I booked a room at a hotel near the dialysis unit, about 15 minutes away, but after reading some scary reviews thought better of it. Sooo glad I found your blog! I’ll let you know how it goes! By the way, I am renting a scooter for my mom through Deckerts so I’ll let you know how that goes too! The man I spoke with was super nice!! EXCITED!!!
Hope you have a great trip–look forward to hearing from you! 🙂
Which do you prefer: Del Sol Inn or Anaheim Desert Inn? (Or has another hotel recently trumped both of these on your list?) My friends and I will probably book one of the two for later this year. We aren’t concerned too much with luxury; we much prefer getting a good deal. But, since both of these resorts are inexpensive and fairly comparable to each other, I’d love to get your opinion.
I prefer Anaheim Desert Inn. None of the budget hotels on Harbor are super impressive, but I am partial to Desert Inn due to a combination of the rooms, location, and overall quality. Make no mistake, it’s still nothing special, but it gets the job done.
That’s exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks!
So there’s no free parking?
We are scheduled to stay there for 6 nights in October. I just called and requested a 2nd floor room, near the front, per your suggestions. Thanks so much!
Thank you for the information. We are staying here for a quick trip in July. Do you know if they will store your bags if you arrive before check in time? We want to get to the parks as soon as we can and will arrive in the morning.
Yeah, they do. If I recall correctly, they just set them to the side of the check-in desk. For a much more secure option, go next door to Desert Inn, where there are large, luggage size lockers you can rent for $1.
We stayed at the Park Vue Inn just 2 doors down from here when we went to DL in January. Great price, clean comfortable room, the breakfast wasn’t horrible and best part was they had rooms with 1 queen and a bunk bed which meant the 8 & 10 yr olds didn’t have to share a bed. BIG BIG Plus for families with 1 of each gender!
Thanks for the tip. We have yet to stay at Park Vue Inn because the rates have always been too high during our trips. Definitely one we intend to try, though!
Hi! We’re taking our first trip to DL in 2 weeks with our children, ages 4 & 5, and we’re staying at the Howard Johnson Water Park. I would appreciate any comments about the hotel.
This blog and the comments has provided a lot of really helpful information, but I haven’t seen anything about this particular hotel. The reviews on tripAdvisor, etc are all over the place.
Thanks.
Looks like an excellent option. We stayed at the Sheraton Park on our last Disneyland trip and it was very nice and in walking distance, but it was a credit card points deal. For those of us die-hard Disney Parks all day, quick nap, and then all night- this looks terrific. I can’t even imagine magic kingdom and Hollywood Studios being a five minute walk from an acceptable $100 hotel, which is essentially what you are getting at Disneyland! (And Hollywood Studios is certainly no California Adventure!)
Sarah feels a little differently about this, but I generally don’t care about the room quality (within reason) if I can score a 10 minute or less walk to the Esplanade for <$100. Just not in the room enough to care.
thanks Tom, I have already booked this hotel for our trip in September and was pleased to read your review. The reason I picked it was for its location and I am glad to see your review reinforces this.
Great review, as always Tom! Personally, I have stayed at many “Good Neighbor” hotels on Harbor Blvd. I have had great luck with the Camelot Inn & Suites, the one that looks like a gingerbread or Hanzel and Gretel house. During one visit, we were lucky enough to stay in one of the rooms facing the parks! Another awesome hotel, though a bit more pricey, is the Anaheim Fairfield. A lot of these rooms have great views of the park right outside the door! Also, the Fairfield offers Disney themed rooms! I stayed in the Nemo room my last visit but there are also Pirates, Princesses, Cars, Mickey, and more… The design is a lot more subtle than the Mickey/Disney overload at the Disneyland Hotel! Also, they offer great “last minute weekend” and AAA deals! I have had great experiences at Camelot and Fairfield and highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great option on Harbor!
Also, as you can expect from any Disney or Good Neighbor hotel, the hallways will be busy and loud after fireworks, World of Color, or any other night time activity or show. Unfortunately, that is unavoidable!
We stayed here for one night to attend an after-hours event at Disneyland last fall. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality & spaciousness of our room here. True. The breakfast is smattering of store-bought pastries & bulk cereal. Location is the selling point of this place. Closer to Disneyland than the actual Disneyland Hotel is.
The Anaheim resort transit (ART) works pretty well if you stay a bit further away. Doubletree on Harbor is nice and has a breakfast that includes eggs, pancakes, etc. also Hilton Suites is all suites and you can see the fireworks from the Angels baseball games but it is a bit further away. Still on the ART though. Have fun!
We stayed there a few years back. Wonderful location and hotel. We spent most of the days in Disneyland itself, so all we needed was a close place to sleep. We could walk back and forth from the park.
We found the Best Western Plus Annaheim Inn to be very similar, if a few step farther. Basic, but quite serviceable. (And we paid a similar rate to a WDW value resort.)
I mapped it out on Google, and the distance from the Disneyland hub to our hotel room was 0.1 mile farther of a walk than the WDW hub to the Pop Century bus stop. Definitely a plus for Disneyland.
Thanks for the review. We’re staying there for 2 nights in September for our honeymoon and then going to Paradise Pier for 3 nights. Can’t wait to be able to roll out of bed, walk across the street and be in Disneyland!
This hotel has been sold out for our past few trips, but we still plan to check it out at some point! We’re staying at the Candy Cane Inn for our trip in December. It’s part of our honeymoon, so we had originally wanted to stay on-site for the first time, but we just couldn’t justify the cost. Maybe for an anniversary instead!
I feel like all of the Harbor Boulevard hotels buy off-brand fruit loops and cheerios in bulk, then get some weird pastry things to round out the offerings. Probably the cheapest possible way that they can justify saying that they offer a continental breakfast 🙂
Glad to see you’re reviewing these, we’re planning our first Disneyland for December and the reviews for the across the street hotels are all over the place. I had a hard time choosing.
I originally booked the Del Sol Inn but changed to the Best Western Park Plus because they have king sized beds (my husband is 6’5″ and queen is just too short.) It was more expensive but I joined AAA and that brought it down to be about even. I’ve already saved more than the membership costs, only $42, and I’ll save even more when we buy or park tickets.
Orbitz is having a 15% off deal right now that the Del Sol Inn is eligible for, any dates from now until the end of September.
I’m looking forward to your reviews of the offsite hotels–thanks Tom! If there are any offsite hotels on Harbor that don’t have thin walls / worthless connecting doors, please point them out.