Element Anaheim Resort Convention Center — Hotel in Anaheim

As a travel agent specializing in Disney vacations, I like to stay in nearby hotels so I can recommend them to my clients. I really wanted to like this hotel because it has a lot of what clients are looking for... Here is our experience: BREAKFAST: Breakfast was decent. They have fruit, cereal, breads, eggs, oatmeal, cooked peppers/onions/mushrooms, and yogurt everyday and then they have rotating hot items.. Here were are complaints about breakfast: there was never any pork bacon or sausage. They only served chicken sausage, turkey sausage, and turkey bacon which we were not a fan of. Everything was also put out in very small portions and would run out quickly. I wasted a lot of time waiting for them to set out more fruit. Breakfast ends at 9:30, but they start cleaning up around 9. So, if you want breakfast, make sure you go early or you won't get much. We went down at 9 one morning and I felt like we were just getting scraps.

ROOMS: We were in a queen suite with a view of Disney. It came with 2 queen beds and a sofa that turned into a queen size bed. The layout of the room was great and there was a good amount of storage. The kitchen area also had basic cooking supplies. Our bathroom only had a shower which can be tricky to bathe your little kiddos. They had large bottles of a 2in1 shampoo and body wash. If you want conditioner, you will have to bring your own.

Here is where our issues started.... We checked into our hotel alright and quickly got settled so we could go out for the evening. When we got back, we noticed our room was a little warmer than expected. By the middle of the night, we woke up to our room being 82 degrees and the heater was on and blowing hot air even though our thermostat was set at 65. I ended up sitting in the hallway with my baby because she was overheating. We reported the issue first thing in the morning and they said they would call maintenance to work on it. By afternoon, we called to check on our room and they assured us that our AC was fixed. Well, we went back to our room late at night and the hot air was still blowing and our room was 82 degrees again. We also found that housekeeping had not finished cleaning our room. They had left a bucket of soapy water and sponge in the bathroom along with our garbage can in the sink filled with water. We asked the front desk to come pick it up and they never did. We went to the desk at 2 in the morning because our room was so hot and they said all they could do was bring us a fan. The fan they delivered was broken and couldn't be used. So, I sat in the hallway with my baby for a second night. We talked to the desk in the morning and they said that the maintenance guy was out the day before and would be coming today (which was not what we were told the day before). The couple behind us in line were having the same issues and were told that a specialist had to come out. So..... We were getting told all sorts of stories. This happened our entire stay. We were told there was nothing they could do except give us a fan. We were at the desk 3 times a day and were told different stories each day. We had to prop our door open whenever we were in our room and the coolest we could get our room was 77 degrees. I spent every night in the hallway with my baby which meant I got little to no sleep our entire trip. On our last full day, we went back to our hotel at 5PM to take a little break. We came to find our room door open and unattended and housekeeping had not come. The hotel AC was never fixed (we were there for a week) and we were miserable whenever we were in our room. After all of our complaining to the front desk, all they did was tell us they would comp our parking. But, looking at our credit card statement, we were still charged parking (as of the time of this review). Overall, I was very disappointed in this hotel and I was hopeful I would like it because it is newer and has an easy walk to Disneyland. Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this hotel to my clients due to all of the issues we (and other...

The Element Hotel: My stay here was excellent. The staff was great. The hotel is new and modern. So there isn’t any of that old musty hotel smell I have encountered in many older establishments. My room, the double queen was perfect for my family. It was me, my wife, and our 7-year-old daughter.

These are the details I liked about our room: The room was like a small city apartment it had a kitchen/living room and a bedroom and bathroom.

The sleeping space was separated from the living space by a heavy sliding door (which had a soft close) I felt comfortable eating and watching TV while my wife and daughter took mid-afternoon naps or slept at night, and I wasn't going to disturb them.

The living and bedroom both have large TVs with interfaces that make setting up your home Netflix account easy.

One outlet in the kitchen, one under the living room TV, and one at the nightstand all have USB ports. None of these were rapid charging ports but very handy to have.

The kitchen was stocked with basic but nice equipment. A small frying pan, a small saucepan, A large stock pot, a colander, a cutting board, and an 8-inch chef knife. Plenty of silverware and plate wear. For appliances, we had a full-size microwave, a toaster, a dishwasher, a two-burner electric range, and a small “full size” fridge, so not the typical mini-fridge you’d find in a hotel room.

The beds were very comfortable, not overly firm while not being super soft. The pillows were down-filled, not my personal favorite but for me not bad. My wife on the other hand brought in the pillows from the couch for more support.

The breakfast buffet was really good, probably the best I’ve had at a hotel. There was a cereal bar with Cheerios, Lucky charms, and granola dispensers. For milk options, they offered whole, 1%, almond and I think soy. They had plain and vanilla yogurts with fresh fruit on the side. A toasties tray with sliced bread, English muffins, and Udis gluten-free bagels. A huge pot of oatmeal with canisters of brown sugar, raisins, sliced almonds, and chunky granola mix-ins. They had an egg bar with three options, regular scrambled eggs, scrambled egg whites, and mini spinach and mozzarella frittatas. They alternated turkey sausage patties and turkey bacon every other day. Finally, they offered two roasted veg options for vegetarians.

Overall our time at the hotel was excellent. We were close enough to have breakfast in the morning and could walk over to the park for rope drop. Then head back to the room when it got really hot, have lunch and catch a quick nap before heading back to the park for more fun and our dinner reservations later when the sun started to go down.

The only drawback from our trip is the lack of a shuttle from the hotel to the park which was a common hotel feature when I last visited like 20 years ago. I recently had knee surgery on my left knee and have a newly developed heel spur on my right foot. Walking is totally possible for me but I wanted to minimize the time on my feet at every possible opportunity so I got us bus passes for the Anaheim Regional Transportation (ART) system. Our hotel had a bus stop right out front and I thought this was going to be a great way to save some time on my feet, especially after a long day of walking around the parks. Overall I think the ART system is terrible. The system is slow and inconsistent and overall very frustrating. So typicall of every other public transportation system in the US.

The bottom line is the hotel is great and we would definitely stay again, but might not use the bus to get to and...

The layout of the room was good for what we needed, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to stay here again. For reference: it was me, my husband, and our two adult children (ages 19 & 21). This was our first time at Disneyland (at ANY Disney park as a family!). I didn’t want to pay Disneyland hotel prices where we would have to get two rooms when we could stay here for the price of just one room. I only wish there had been a door between the king bedroom and the rest of the space - even like a pocket door. The lack of privacy was a bit odd but our family is close 😂 AND I get that it’s geared towards families for whom a lack of privacy is the norm right now. We are past that stage, fortunately!

Bring something to cover the motion sensor in the bathroom unless you want to blind yourself and draw the ire of everyone in the room at 3 am when you stumble in on your blistered feet to go potty.

The beds are comfortable but - do be warned, although they say they will refresh the room every other day, in the four nights we were there we never received a room refresh. Totally fine with us, the only thing I would have liked was the bed being remade because by the end of our stay I’m not sure what was up and what was down 😂

We did have to call down for extra towels and body wash (ran out 2nd day) and they brought it quickly without issue! Service staff were great it just seemed like maybe the hotel was short staffed? Idk. I do know it’s tough to be in hospitality in Los Angeles right now for a multitude of reasons. So cut them some slack, ok? Everyone’s just doing the best we can.

OH! The breakfast is included with every rate. It is complimentary. Everyone gets it. For some reason we were charged “member rate with breakfast” and paid like $40/night more than we should have. Didn’t realize it til we got home - so just know that, and pay attention to the rate you’re being given, Bonvoy members!! They had a meat option every morning (no pork while we were there), a potato option, a sweet option (pancakes, French toast), your standard continental fare, and scrambled Eggs and egg whites. Plus fajita veggies and mushrooms. For the veggiesaurs among us. Free coffee, and one night they had hot tea service. That was lovely. I believe it was Thursday. Not sure. They have a time in the early evening where they do a “relax hour” with complimentary wine and beer. We never made it back in time for one. Sad face.

It’s a close walk TO Disneyland and California Adventure. It feels less close when you are walking BACK, I’m not gonna lie to you 😂 BUT - it really is very close and completely walkable to the parks. It is NOT, however, close enough to walk back for a little nap and come back, in my opinion. And I am At the age where I need that. So next time, I’ll likely stay at a Disneyland resort hotel only because at my advanced middle age I need an option to monorail back to the hotel and rest my feet. I still haven’t recovered from day two’s blistering of my feet. We walked an average of 22,000 steps a day at each park/including walking to and from the hotel.

You really can’t go wrong here. Solid hotel for families. Everyone is super nice. Just at my age I want a little higher level of service and...