Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Convention Center Hotel Review

Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort – Convention Center is a hotel near Disneyland and Disney California Adventure with family accommodations and full kitchens. This hotel review features room photos, thoughts on amenities, and pros & cons of booking at this hotel versus its nearby competitors.

Note that this is one of two Anaheim Homewood Suites–the other has “Main Gate” in the name, and despite the connotation, it’s much farther from Disneyland than this hotel. The “Main Gate” hotel is also significantly cheaper, but don’t be lured in by the lower prices–the Homewood Suites Anaheim Resort is the better option for Disneyland trips.

This Homewood Suites is directly across the street from the Anaheim Convention Center, and is about a 15 minute walk to Disneyland. While the walk might seem excessive, the good news with the Homewood Suites Anaheim Resort Convention Center is that it’s right next to the Toy Story parking lot.

Most days we stayed here, we’d do the 5 minute walk to the Toy Story parking lot, and take a shuttle bus to the front entrance of the Esplanade. These are free shuttles, and make this hotel’s location far more appealing.

Here’s a look at the hotel from the Toy Story parking shuttle pick-up area:

Before we get into the actual quality of the Homewood Suites, let’s start with a bit of background. This is a Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotel, is classified as a “Suites” type of accommodation, and is listed as being located “across the street.” While that last one is technically accurate–Homewood Suites is on the opposite side of the street as Disneyland, it’s also about a half-mile away.

If you want to know how the Homewood Suites compares to the competition in my opinion (which is based on the perspective of someone who has stayed in nearly 50 different hotels near Disneyland), check out our Disneyland Hotels Reviews & Rankings post. You can also read our overall comparison of the benefits of staying off-site versus on-site in our Where to Stay at Disneyland post.

If you’re considering the Homewood Suites or any hotel in Anaheim as part of a Disneyland vacation, you can book a hotel + ticket vacation package via Get Away Today to save money. In addition to the package discount, some hotels have ‘4th night free’ promos, and there’s currently a ‘5th day free’ promo on park tickets.

In addition to their normal discounts and special packages, you can save an extra $10 by using code TOURIST at checkout. Click here to check out the package discounts available. We normally recommend Get Away Today in our Tips for Buying Discounted Disneyland Tickets post—booking a vacation package makes an already great deal even better.

Now let’s take a look at the pros & cons of the Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort – Convention Center…

The downstairs lobby is modern and sleek, with a lot of seating options including booths and a fireplace with a television over it.

This isn’t a lounge per se, but it serves that function for the complimentary evening social (that’s right–free beer and wine!), and provides common area space for breakfast.

Breakfast is free, very good, and incredibly crowded–all three of these characteristics are becoming increasingly common among the recently-built family suites/extended stay category of hotels near Disneyland.

One thing I appreciated about the breakfast here was that each morning a different ‘staff pick’ was offered; one morning, there were delicious chilaquiles.

The fitness center is large and overlooks the pool area.

Unlike older hotels in Anaheim that feel as if spare space has been retrofit into a gym to check a box off on an amenity list, this feels like it was built to be a fitness center. It’s nice.

Likewise, the pool area is really nice. The pool is large, it offers nice privacy from the parking lot, and there’s plenty of seating.

About the only downside (as compared to some other pools) is that it’s not on an elevated deck, so it’s not a good option for fireworks viewing.

As for the guest rooms, the Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort – Convention Center offers studio and one-bedroom suites. There are also family suites for kids that are equipped with bunk beds.

We stayed in a suite, which is definitely the way to go if the price difference is minimal (as is often the case in our price comparisons).

The hotel’s suites feature separate living and sleeping areas. The kitchen is equipped with full size refrigerator, microwave, two burner stove, garbage disposal, and dishwasher.

The living room features a full-sized sofa bed, chair, television, and dresser with storage space for clothing.

The bed arrangement depends upon what you book, but we had two queen beds that were comfortable. Slightly firm for my tastes, but clearly high quality and nice.

There’s also a chair (I can’t recall if it’s a recliner–I don’t believe so) in the far corner and a desk with office chair, as well as a television and another dresser.

The bathroom is nothing special.

This is common of Anaheim hotels but nonetheless unfortunate because we feel like the Homewood Suites is near-perfect otherwise.

Oh well, can’t win ’em all, I suppose.

Despite this, Homewood Suites is a very strong hotel, and doing the little things right, like the specialty breakfast items, complimentary social hour (free booze!), having ample and easy parking, and nice fitness center scores it points in what’s a competitive niche of Anaheim hotels. It leaves something to be desired in terms of style, but this is a minor quibble and we doubt most families will care.

Right now, the Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort – Convention Center is the hot property in the area. It currently ranks as the #1 hotel in Anaheim on TripAdvisor, a position it has held for at least the last few months. (The screenshot below is “proof” of this, as TripAdvisor seems to toy with these rankings on occasion, and it could be out of the top 10 with the exact same score a month from now.)

We really liked the Homewood Suites, but it wouldn’t be our #1 pick. It’s definitely up there, arguably in the top 10, but of its direct competitors, I think the Residence Inn Anaheim Resort is superior, and my personal preferences would also skew towards a few of the directly across-the-street hotels. Still, the Homewood Suites belongs in the ‘Best of Anaheim’ conversation, which is really saying something considering the sheer number of hotels in the area.

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 Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort – Convention Center? What did you think of the room layout? Does the full kitchen, living room, or separate bedroom space appeal to you? Thoughts on the breakfast? Do you like the idea of a social hour with free booze? Considering the Homewood Suites? Any questions about this hotel? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!