Review of Home2 Suites & Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Near Disneyland

I've now stayed in dozens of hotels around Disneyland, so I know well what features matter most to family travelers visiting Anaheim: location, spacious rooms with plenty of beds, and convenient kid-friendly amenities. It helps even more when all of these are available at a reasonable price.

I recently had the chance to stay at a dual-branded property just minutes from Disneyland - the Home2 Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort and Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Resort - that checks all of the right boxes.

Here's my complete review of both hotels, with everything you need to know to decide whether the Home2 Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort and Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Resort are the right places to stay for your Disneyland vacation.

Hotel Basics

First things first: why am I covering two hotels in a single review? Because a single building is actually home to two separate hotels.

Dual-branded hotels have become an increasingly common sight in recent years. A property will still have a single owner and operator and often just a single lobby and some shared spaces. The property can offer a wider variety of amenities and room layouts to meet the needs of more travelers by partnering with two different but related brands under one roof.

Home2 Suites and Hilton Garden Inn are both brands in Hilton's portfolio. The former tends to cater to family and extended stay travelers who want suite-style accommodations with kitchens, while the latter usually works best for business travelers, couples, or those on shorter stays.

Disneyland attracts a wide variety of traveler types, so having both of these brands in one place so close to the parks is quite valuable.

The Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim property opened in 2021 as brand new construction. Fun fact: The building is located on a tract of land that formerly was home to a cute OG budget motel called the Penny Sleeper. My husband and I stayed at the Penny Sleeper on our very first trip to Disneyland a couple of decades ago long before we had kids - talk about full circle!

The hotel is a Good Neighbor property and has quite a few Disney-themed touches and pieces of decor in the lobby and common spaces.

Location: Walking Distance to Disneyland

The building housing the Home2 Suites and Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim is located at 1441 Manchester Avenue. The property is directly behind the Fairfield and Courtyard on Harbor Boulevard, occupying the back half of that same block.

As you might imagine, the hotel's location is within easy walking distance of Disneyland.

When my son and I stayed there in late August to visit on the first day of Halloween Time, we timed our walks to and from the parks several times. Even during an Anaheim heat wave that slowed our pace a bit, the walk averaged right about 12 minutes from the hotel's front door to the Harbor Boulevard security checkpoint stands on the esplanade between the parks.

Guests need to cross just one crosswalk to make the short walk to Disneyland (the one over Harbor itself). The only slight time variable on the walk is whether you catch the crossing sign right away or have to wait most of a full cycle for it.

Although the hotel's location is quite close and definitely walkable for the vast majority of guests, it's important to note that it isn't the absolute closest of all the off-property hotel options. A lot of the closest hotels, however, don't have as many amenities, are quite a bit older, and often are more expensive. In my experience, an 2-5 extra minutes on foot can be well worth it for the overall experience and cost savings.

While I am on the topic of location, there's one other development when it comes to location that I have to mention. The hotel property is immediately adjacent to the construction Disney just started to build a new parking lot and pedestrian entrance on the eastern side of the resort (sometimes called the "Eastern Gateway project"). I got a sneak peek of the recently-broken ground during my stay.

When this entrance facility opens in a few years, the hotel's location will be as prime as it can get. Guests will be able to walk out of the hotel's doors and through official Disneyland security, entering the Disney bubble almost instantaneously. The gateway will include a post-security pedestrian overpass over Harbor Boulevard, so there won't even be a crosswalk to navigate on your way to the parks.

That construction will undoubtedly take awhile, but in the meantime, curious guests are going to enjoy getting a optimal view of the work underway from the Hilton Garden Inn rooms that face that side of the property.

Room Types & Amenities

The two different brands at the Home2/Hilton Garden Inn offer several different room types. I was able to tour all of the most common options during my stay. All of them would work very well for the vast majority of fellow family travelers.

Home2 Suites Anaheim Rooms

My son and I stayed on the Home2 Suites side of the property, in a standard studio suite with two queen beds and a queen sleeper sofa. This room type sleeps 6, so it is ideal for larger families or even families of 4 like mine if kids don't want to share a bed - increasingly important to my kids now that they are teens.

The Home2 Suites also has are also a few king studio suites, larger 2 bedroom suites, and accessible versions of standard room types.

Rooms at the Home2 Suites are incredibly spacious - much larger than you'll find at the vast majority of hotel properties within walking distance of Disneyland. There's definitely extra square footage to set up a Pack 'n Play for a younger child or store a stroller out of the way without needing to fold it up. (Note: Pack 'n Plays for babies and toddlers are available at the hotel free of charge. I recommend calling ahead and letting the front desk know if you require one so it is more likely to be ready and even set up in your room in advance.)

Related: 20 Tips for Disneyland with Toddlers

The room has tons of drawers, cabinets, and shelves to unpack clothes as well as counter and desk space aplenty. Instead of a regular closet with a door, there is an open curtained hanging area for clothes with an ironing board and safe on the far end of the room by the window.

Home2 rooms have a full kitchen that includes a full size refrigerator with freezer, microwave, dishwasher, plates/cups/utensils, and coffee maker. The hotel will also provide cooktops upon request.

The bathroom is behind a single sliding barn door. That's not entirely ideal for light and sound, but it's much better for families than open concept bathrooms with vanity areas that can't be closed off from the rest of the room. The bathroom has one sink with ample counter space, a toilet, and tub/shower combination.

The Home2 rooms either face Manchester and I-5 or face in the direction of Harbor Boulevard towards Disneyland park. Ours on the 6th floor gave us some enviable views of the evening fireworks over the Disneyland castle, but lower floors may have some buildings that partially obscure a fireworks view.

A few other notes about our experience staying in the Home2 room:

• My queen bed was super comfortable and the bedding was very high quality - I had the best night's sleep I've had in Anaheim in a long while!
• AC/temperature controls were responsive and easy to adjust and kept us very cool even during a 93 degree Anaheim heat wave.
• There are lots of USB ports and plugs on nightstands on both sides of each bed as well as at the desk area.
• Blackout shades in the room were very effective (there's a sheer shade you can use during the day for privacy that lets in light and a blackout one to pull down at night).
• We could hear a little conversation-level noise from our neighbors through the connecting door in our room, but far less than at older construction hotels in the area I've experienced (and less than the noise I have experienced at Disney's Grand Californian in their connecting rooms).
• Kudos to housekeeping for actually stocking 6 bath towels in a room with a 6 person occupancy. (It is a total pet peeve of mine when hotels skimp on towels, forcing guests to request extras just so everyone in the family can have one!)

Check out my video room tour of our stay in this room type:

Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Rooms

Over on the Hilton Garden Inn side, the most common standard room type sleeps 4 and has 2 queen beds. These rooms have everything you'd expect in a modern construction Hilton Garden Inn, as you can see from the images.

The bathroom layout is a little bit different, but similar in size and functionality to the Home2 rooms.

Hilton Garden Inn rooms also have a closet area that is large enough to roll a stroller into for storage as well as a nook with a mini-fridge, microwave, and coffee maker.

The Hilton Garden Inn also has a smaller number of larger rooms that sleep 6. These look fairly similar to the Home2 standard rooms with two queen beds and a queen sleeper sofa. The only major physical difference between these larger rooms and the Home2 standard rooms is the lack of a full kitchen.

In my experience, a microwave and mini-fridge may be more than sufficient for most family travelers. Even when my kids were younger and we needed to juggle bottles and sippy cups of warm milk, I could get the job done in rooms that had both of those.

Pools & Hotel Amenities

The property has a shared pool space on the back side of the building. The pool isn't enormous, but it is more than sufficient for guests who want to take a quick dip to cool off in warmer months. Lots of lounge chairs circle the perimeter. There's a separate large hot tub with several cabanas around it on one end of the pool as well.

Adjacent to the pool on the other end is a separate space that has a cute and colorful splash pad with several sprayers and drench buckets. It's not as large as the full water playgrounds at the Howard Johnson or Courtyard nearby that have waterslides, but it's a lot more than most other hotels offer in the area for young kids to enjoy.

The two properties share an enormous fitness center as well, located on the second floor.

Other hotel amenities include free WiFi as well as a self-service guest laundry facility.

The hotel has valet only parking, at $44.46 a night. There's no additional fee to park earlier in the day if you arrive before your check-in time. Cars can remain until 12 noon on checkout day (if you plan to park longer, the hotel charges a $50 parking fee and offers a 50% discount for Hilton Honors Diamond or Gold members).

If you are flying into Disneyland as my son and I did, you probably don't need a car if you plan to just do Disneyland. We took Lyft/Uber to and from the airport and just walked to and from the parks daily.

The hotel doesn't charge any other extra resort or hidden fees.

Restaurants & Dining

Quite a few hotels that are closest to Disneyland have minimal dining on site, so I thought the Home2/Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim is standout for its dining options.

If you are staying in the Home2 Suites rooms, free hot breakfast is included. The breakfast buffet is located in a separate room on the second floor of the hotel. It opens at 6:30 am, which is more than early enough for guests who are (like me) aggressive with their Disneyland morning rope drop strategies.

The Home2 buffet includes waffles, eggs, toast, cereal, yogurt and more. I especially loved the make-your-own breakfast sandwich option which is ideal if you need to grab something to eat on the run while you are racing to the parks.

For Hilton Garden Inn guests looking for breakfast, there is a restaurant located off of the ground floor lobby open in the mornings from 6am-10am daily called Luke & Lara. Prices are very reasonable ($12 for a classic American breakfast, with eggs, bacon or sausage, potatoes, and toast), and kids will love the Mickey pancake on the menu.

The property also has a bar and restaurant Manchester 1441 that is open from the mid-afternoon through 11:00pm, making a great option for happy hour, dinner, or late night bites and drinks.

My son and I dined here on our arrival day for an early dinner and were super satisfied. Food was tasty American fare with so many choices on the kids menu that it took my son awhile to decide. Everything was served speedily with friendly service. Again, it was quite reasonably priced (if we had eaten at a quick service restaurant in Downtown Disney that night instead, the check there would have been double what ours was here).

Guests staying on the Hilton Garden Inn side with Hilton Diamond status get a daily food and beverage credit of $10 for one guest (or $20 total for 2 or more guests) that can be used at either restaurant.

Finally, there is one more location for food at drink at the hotel just adjacent to the front desk. Common Grounds Cafe is the hotel's coffee shop and is open from 6am-2pm daily serving Starbucks coffee.

Right next to the coffee is a 24-hour snack store and gift shop, Common Grounds Market. There you can grab a wide variety of snacks and drinks as well as pick up essentials like medicines and sunscreen or grab a Disney-themed souvenir. Simply scan and pay at the self-service kiosk. (For those of you who prefer your morning caffeine in a cold Diet Coke bottle like I do, it will come in quite handy!)

Prices: How to Book + Find the Best Discounts & Deals

Like all Disneyland area hotels, room prices at the Home2/Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim can fluctuate considerably based upon seasonal demand.

Generally speaking, the Home2 rooms tend to be priced a little bit higher than the Hilton Garden Inn rooms, which makes sense given that Home2 rooms include breakfast and a full kitchen. Both properties tend to charge rates somewhere in the $200s most of the time.

As of the time of publication of this article, I see non-refundable rates that range from $157 to the low $300s for the Hilton Garden Inn and $165 to the mid-$300s for the Home2 Suites (I scanned using the Hilton website's flexible date rate tool which shows 11 months of availability).

If you prefer to spend Hilton Honors points for a stay, a standard room at the Hilton Garden Inn is usually 60,000 points and one at the Home2 is usually 65,000 points. Most miles and points sites value Hilton points at about .4 cents per point, meaning the hotels can be solid points redemptions when room rates rise above $240 (Hilton Garden Inn) or $260 (Home2) per night.

Interested in booking a stay at the Home2 Suites or Hilton Garden Inn for your own vacation? I find it always helps to price compare a variety of different booking sites to find the options that have the best prices and cancellation rules that work for your family.

Here are a few places I recommend checking:

Book Home2 Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort

• Direct on the hotel's website
• Expedia
• Booking
• Hotels.com

Book Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Resort

• Direct on the hotel's website
• Expedia
• Booking
• Hotels.com

Guests who love earning Hilton Honors points or who have Hilton status should prioritize booking direct with Hilton, as this is the best way to ensure you get all of those perks. Hilton's site usually has multiple different rate types, including non-refundable, flexible, and semi-flex options, usually with slight discounts for Hilton Honors or AAA members.

(Remember that no matter where you book your hotel, be sure to book your park tickets through Get Away Today to save off of the Disney ticket rack rates!)

Bottom Line on the Home2 & Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim Near Disneyland?

So would I recommend the Home2 Suites and Hilton Garden Inn Anaheim to fellow Disneyland travelers? Absolutely.

The rooms are still fresh and new and the hotel was designed with a modern audience in mind. Depending on what amenities matter most your family - free breakfast, more beds, or a microwave or fridge, you have a lot of choices in the various room types across both hotel brands. Plus, the hotel's location is fantastic. Both properties continue to rank near the top of TripAdvisor's rankings in Anaheim, so many other guests seem to agree with the experience I had.

My 12 year old loved our mother-son stay on this trip, and we look forward to coming back on future Disneyland vacations with the whole family!

Disclosure: Home2 Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort provided me with complimentary accommodations and meals for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own.