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Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel
Rating Details »
1380 S Harbor Blvd
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 776-6120
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 776-6120
"Castaway Cove" only at the HoJo!
Castaway Cove - a watery pirate playground - is now…
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15 reviews for Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel
Stayed here with friends and kids for a Disneyland trip. It was great for families -- we were able to park, drop off our stuff and then take a shuttle to Disneyland ($4 per adult, $1 per kid). After several hot hours in the park, we came back to swim in the pool & Castaway Cove water play area before going back to Disneyland. Rooms were not beautiful, but were clean and comfy with amenities like microwave, fridge, down comforters and HBO. I also liked that there were two sinks in our bathroom, which made it easy to get out of there in the morning with all the kids!!
Pros: heated pool, Castaway Cove, large rooms with kid-friendly stuff, attractive check-in desk, souvenir shop, nice staff
Cons: so-so decor in rooms
We stayed at the Anaheim Howard Johnsons for a trip to Disneyland. We stayed for three days and two nights. As with anything.. there are positives and negatives.
The positives,
The room was comfortable. The beds were comfortable and the pillows and down comforter were wonderful.
The hotel is very close to Disneyland. We have stayed in hotels that said they were a "short few blocks walk" to Disneyland and really were about 1 mile away. This Howard Johnsons, is really about 5-10 minutes walk to the entrance gates. We were dealing with an injured hubby and I was 6 months pregnant, so we went ahead and used our parking pass, and parked at Disneyland. It is possible that it would have taken us less time to walk.
There is an on site mini mart. With beer, wine, food, and even souvenirs.
We arrived on a Sunday, around noon. We tried to check in early, but our room wasn't ready. The front desk was wonderful and put our suitcases in a secure room. They even had a fridge to put our small cooler in. We were assured that we were checked in, and our room wasn't ready, but we could pick up the key later.
We are Disneyland Annual Pass holders and we were able to use our Annual Passes to get a discount. (20 %)
THE WATER PARK was a blast. I have a 20 month old and she had soo much fun playing there. the toddler pool is perfect, and heated. There is another on sight pool, but we didn't go there. We played in the water and on the slides with our daughter all morning.
Here are the negatives..
We left and went to the park for the rest of the day. We got back to the hotel around 10:30, with an 20 month old, a six month pregnant mom, and luggage for the three of us. We were given our room keys. Room 212 in building 3. This building seems to be a holdover from the 50's. Our room was LITERALLY at the top of the stairs. There was no elevator for the building, only two flights of stairs. The door to the room is 2 feet from the top of the stairs. When my hubby complained about them putting a toddler at the top of the stairs, all they had to say was other children have stayed there.
The room is an old style and there is a vaulted ceiling with windows. The windows in the ceiling, are high up, and clear so sunrise fills the room with light. Even at night the room was well enough lit that I could find things, and change the baby without turning lights on. :( When the sun did come up, so did the baby. ( 6:30 in the morning and we had to start the day.)
The bathroom was VERY small. The tile is all pink and very retro.
The towels.... were barely larger than a hand towel, and only slightly better than drying off with a piece of sandpaper.
Would stay again, truly a short walk to entrance of Disney, felt safe to walk there and back at night with 3 kids under 10 years old. This is an ideal location, walking was less time consumed than parking and tramming from Mickey and Friends lot. Had heard of parking issues due to construction on new Carsland and fewer spaces this year, was very glad that we made choice to stay at Hojo to avoid that all together for Halloween trick or treat party event.
Mimi's is very good, open early with reasonable prices and kids menu; safe walk to restaurant with kids; they even give to go meals in micro safe containers. Hotel has microwave and fridge in premium double Queen bed rooms with Disney view (not much actually due to large pine trees blocking any skyline view). Plenty of room for our single air mattress for one of our kids without blocking room walkway area.
Bathroom is really tiny. Take a bit of effort to close / open bathroom door without hitting your chest/belly. Shower is very refreshing and good pressure. Only 1 sink and it' s in the bathroom, so only 1 person at a time can really get ready.
Internet access in room is free, but not set up in user friendly layout - the line was between two beds even though there is desk and table in room, it was too far to reach had to work uncomfortably from bed on nightstand. No wireless access and note to all mobile phone users, it does not work well in room or at all from pool area.
Kids loved the pool area, safe and very cleanly kept by staff throughout day. Plenty of seating around with shaded areas from sun.
Parking is abundant, note that this location has more than one building, if you are not in main building you are parking in back with own access to the building; this is a large property.
The week before Christmas + No reservations = Out of luck...
RIght?
WRONG!!
Raphael gave us a top floor king room, for less than $80 (after AAA discount) and let us check in right away, since the room was ready. It had been over a year since I'd visited, and I was so happy to see that he HoJo Anaheim has embraced its kitschy goodness, and turned it into a property-wide theme! Everything from the check-in booklet to the in-room guidebook has been overhauled with sixties styled graphics. The ugly bedspreads are gone, and replaced with some that are a little more retro, but without being gross. Even the bathroom has little touches, and the citrus scented bath products still win me over every time. I love smelling like a creamsicle!
The kids pool has been revamped to include a Pirate ship play area, and I can't wait to go back in the warmer months to try it out!
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/7/2008
Best. Birthday. Ever.
John, our two Irish housemates and I stayed here for four days in July, to… Read more »
Great location...whiny people might complain if the room faces the freeway (its very close) but since I don't have a problem with that I must say I enjoyed it.
Comfy beds, nice ambiance (fountains and such), Good walking distance, nice staff and close enough to walk for dinner/lunch/snack.
AWESOME pool and awesome water play area with slides for kids Didn't get a chance to try out the jacuzzi! It was nice to have a pool separate from where more children tended to hang out!
Not a bad place but for what it is, it seems a bit over priced.
The walk to Disney Land wasnt bad.
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I really, really enjoyed staying at this hotel. I admit my fellow Yelpers didn't pick this one for me (tripadvisor did...oops), but I did read the reviews here, too.
Pros:
Check-in was a breeze; polite and friendly desk personnel made us feel great from the moment we walked in.
This place looks more like a casual resort than a family hotel near a theme park. Seriously, had they served poolside drinks, this place would be a 2- or 3-star resort.
THE best hotel beds and pillows I have EVER slept on...and people, I do mean THE best. I hope everyone gets as great a bed and firm pillows as I did.
The courtyard pool (the more adult pool of the two pools open) was heaven. Pool-side towels were a wonderful touch.
Affordable! Our rate was $89/night. Disney hotels wanted $250. Apparently, our room rate surprised even the front desk guy. He said it must've been because we booked the room four months in advance.
Within walking distance to Disneyland. Seriously, it really is close. I'm a lazy-ass, but I didn't mind the 7-minute walk.
A room fridge and a microwave. Great for hauling in snacks from the Target just down Harbor Blvd or leftovers from a restaurant.
You're at the farthest end of motel row (Harbor Blvd.), which gets you that much farther away from all the other "we the people" places.
Cons:
I had to borrow a 15-foot cord to extend the DSL cable just so it'd reach between the phone and a desk. Writing of the DSL: I have never had such slow DSL. Honestly, it was like dial-up using a 33.6 modem circa 1997.
I found two long hairs on the bathroom counter (big deal...I've seen worse in 4-star hotel).
DO NOT STAY IN A ROOM NEAR THE FREEWAY SIDE if you are a light sleeper. It bothered us 5 minutes after we checked-in that we requested a room away from the highway.
The room's HVAC system (heat at night/ac during the day & evening) was a tad noisy but tolerable.
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I'm a Disney junkie. I'm also a Disney planning junkie. For me half the fun of the trip to either California or Florida is planning the itinerary, hotel, restaurants, activities, etc.
On my most recent trip to the land of the mouse I extensively reviewed all of my hotel (ok motel mostly) options since at Disneyland staying on property is sadly cost prohibitive for me. The HoJo had mostly stellar reviews, looked nice in the pics, and was less motel-like that its Harbor Boulevard counterparts. The clincher for me was the fact that they have a representative that participates on all the major Disneyland message boards answering people's questions about the hotel. Sounds like great service to me!
Well we made the right choice, not a 4 star hotel when you compare it to other 4 star hotels but 4 stars when you compare it to your other options on Harbor. The lobby was awesome and the staff is super friendly. Our room was lovely, large, and clean, although the toilet groaned at me every time I flushed it.
The parking lot was big enough so finding a spot at peak times was never a problem. Even though this is the last hotel on the same block as Disneyland, the walk is not bad at all. The grounds were lovely and overall I feel this hotel completely captures the Disney spirit and I felt like I was at a Disney owned resort.
My only complaint is that I was excited to have a pool view room however they were doing construction on the pool so that kind of ruined the whole ambiance since there was no water in it. I will for sure stay here again on my next trip!!!
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I was very pleased with this place during our quickie (one day) Disney. We stayed 2 nights and picked this place based on reviews on http://Tripadvisor.com as well as http://mousesavers.com. Big plugs on their sites were for proximity to DL, free parking and phone calls and the new waterpark pool for kids.
All was good, the 5-7 minute walk to the park, eating at Mimis next door and the $125 AAA rate for our room. Service was great, I had a problem with the plug my coffee maker was pluged into and was offered a 25% discount immediately.
But I have to confess the highlight was the new waterpark (pictures to be posted soon). The resort has 2 pools - one geared for kids, the other for adults. The kids pool has the hot tub so parents - like me - with tired old disney dogs - can rest their bodies and watch the kids run off whats left of their energy.
The waterpark opened in July - just a few short weeks before our trip - Thank God!!
The only reason that my rating is so low is that I am spoiled and would definitely rather stay at a hotel on Disney property. I have stayed at the Grand Californian a bunch of times and nothing in the area can compare ;)
I found a ridiculously cheap room rate by using the entertainment card. We decided to give HOJO a shot and stay for 2 nights. Well our room was located right next to the elevator and I could hear it all night. The wifi in our room wasn't working so my husband being an IT guy tried to fix it. It still didn't work so we ended up calling the front desk. They ended up sending the elderly night security guy to our room. It was pretty funny because my husband said "look they sent the sheriff to fix the internet!"
Nerds will be happy to know that there is an awesome "retro" arcade located on the property. I spent many quarters playing the Star Trek pinball machine.
Despite the two small issues HOJO wasn't really bad at all. It is within a 10 minute walk to the Disneyland gate. There are also lots of cheap dining options and convenience stores located nearby. Definitely a good choice if you plan on staying close to Disneyland and are on a tight budget.
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I needed a place within walking distance of Disneyland but also very reasonably priced for a girls trip to Disneyland. The Howard Johnson had decent reviews, so I gave it a whirl. Super glad I did! Me and a few friends headed to Disneyland on Saturday morning. We got there at 9:00am but check in wasn't until 3:00pm. No problem. They let us check in early, gave us parking, and held our bags until our room was available. Awesome! We headed over to Disneyland and the walk was less than 10 minutes to the gate.
Around 4:00pm we headed back over to the hotel so I could try and salvage some look of decency from the drenching I got on Splash Mountain (don't ever be point man on this ride unless you want to get pummeled by a tidal wave). We got our keys and luggage and headed to the rooms. We had two adjoining rooms with two queen beds each. The rooms also had a microwave, coffee maker, and refrigerator in addition to the regular fare. We had a nice balcony overlooking the second pool. The main pool is awesome for kids or ummmm me. It has all kinds of cool pirate looking towers and a big bucket that dumps water over the pool. I guess you have to see it but I really wanted to play in that pool. Anyway, the rooms were clean, towels and amenities were decent, the room was huge, and the over all hotel was good. They also have game rooms and laundry in case you have kids along. Here's the best part, I got the room for $135 each. DEAL!!!!! I will definitely stay here again if I make it back to Disneyland any time soon.
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This is it for a budget stay at Disneyland! We've stayed in three other locations along Harbor Boulevard and debated between here and the Candy Cane Inn for our late October '07 visit. Went with HoJo because of a slight price advantage and good reviews on TripAdvisor.
Loved it. Great sized rooms with refrigerators and balconies (Be sure to reserve pool/park view to not get a freeway side room in Building 1).
It has a convenience store with ample supplies for breakfast and the various sundries you always forget. The front desk staff are very helpful and the housekeeping is thorough.
For kids, the main pool area has a spray fountain and a sloped-entry wading pool. The pool area is pretty large for comfortable sunbathing. There's a second Garden Pool more oriented to adults.
The entire property has a resort feel even though it's between Harbor Boulevard and I-5. It's also a very short walk to the main entrance to the parks.
stayed here in august when we took the kids to disneyland. i liked the hotel's proximity to the park, but other than that, i didn't care much for this hotel.
when making the reservations, i asked for an early check-in time as we would be arriving there around 8am. they said okay. when we got there, they told us that our room would be ready at the standard check-in time of 3pm, after much complaining, they told us they would hold our bags for us and call us if something opens up earlier.
the rooms are okay...nothing to write home about. lots of parking...that was cool i guess. and to be fair, the staff was nice.
there's a small pool in the middle, along with a tiny, faux "beach" next to the pool for kids.
A group of us planned a trip to Disneyland.we were staying at different hotels.Unfortunately we needed to make several changes.We missed the 48 hour cancellation time period by an hour.We tried to make changes not cancel.This hotel was the only non flexible one any of our group had to deal with.Those staying at Marriotts and other chain hotels were allowed to rearrange their stays.After that our stay was not pleasant because we were forced to be uncomfortable. during our time there.If they looked at individual situations and were not as rigid it would have made us happy campers
we love this hotel, friendly staff, nice rooms, and good prices!
