Tropicana Inn & Suites — Hotel in Anaheim

This is tough. We have been staying at this hotel for more than a decade -- at least 20 Disneyland trips -- and have absolutely loved it. We always recommend it first to friends as our go-to hotel for Disneyland. However, we just stayed there last week for the first time since before the pandemic, and I really feel that hotel management needs to hear some honest feedback from a loyal customer. The Tropicana is definitely a 5-star-worthy hotel, but due to some unfortunate (and IMO, unnecessary) policies we just returned from a 2-or-3-star experience. Here's my biggest concerns:

When we first checked in, I was asked to read and sign a paper outlining their new housekeeping policies. Strange feeling to be signing a disclaimer, but OK -- I get it. COVID and stuff... The policy reads that rooms will only receive a full cleaning after each guest checks out, or after your 4th consecutive night's stay. Each other day fresh towels will be brought, and old towels removed, and garbages will be emptied and replaced. Seems reasonable, but we realized over the next 7 nights that the result of this policy being in place for the past few years is that the overall cleanliness and upkeep of the rooms has really suffered. I'm sure our room received a full cleaning before our arrival, and our bedding and towels were all very nice, but it's the carpet and bathroom fixtures that are just getting absolutely hammered from not being vacuumed and wiped down regularly. The bottoms of my white socks would become black with dirt after walking around without shoes for just a few minutes. It's easy to see how those carpets can track in a lot of dirt from outside but it was seriously disturbing to look at the bottoms of our feet after walking around the room.

Our room (118) also had a very strong moldy smell in the bathroom area -- I'm not sure exactly where it was coming from, since I didn't notice any visible mold. But that's almost worse! Leaving the fan on did nothing to dissipate it. I noticed some caulking around the shower faucet had deteriorated which may be the cause... Speaking of the shower faucet, ours kept falling off. A minor annoyance, but those are the types of things that are going unnoticed. Again -- if the bathrooms are getting a full or even partial cleaning each day I don't think you have those problems. But with the housekeeping policy as it is that room is getting cleaned 1-2 times per week after very heavy use. Not good enough.

The last policy that is a minor annoyance, but still a concern of mine has to do with parking. In just the past few years they've started contracting with a valet service to help handle parking. (It's a motel -- you're supposed to pull your car up to the hotel room door. How many customers are there actually asking for valet services?) There are limited spaces to begin with, but the valet uses cones to hold/reserve about 50% of the available spaces, so when you pull in to find a spot, all the regular spots are almost always completely filled and 90% of the valet spots are wide open. After hunting around for an empty spot for a while you either have to drive up to the front to get the valet to open up a spot for you or just move one of their cones and park where there are clearly a number of open spots. Frustrating and unnecessary.

Even with these changes and cost-cutting measures, room rates have still risen about 20%. But I guess so has everything else.

With all that said, we still love the Tropicana. The staff are always extremely nice. I'll gladly change this review as things improve. There are only a few hotels that can make an argument for being the most conveniently located to the parks, and the Tropicana is definitely in that conversation. It is cute, quaint, and the redesigned rooms are bright, modern, and have all the amenities you'd expect from a hotel in this price range. I just wish hotel management would revert some of the current policies and focus on giving customers a cleaner, more traditional guest experience, not a...

So this is one of the many "across the street from Disneyland" properties so keep that in mind as you read.

This is a 3 star property loaded with kids going to the park; two levels and if you get a bottom floor, you WILL hear people stomping above you. This will happen every morning, every night and yes - even during the day if you're a mid-day power napper. Sound carries - people outside talking will sound like they are in the room with you. Neighbors slamming their room door will sound like YOUR door.

The standard room is small but it was clean and the linen was fresh. Our room had a small safe, coffee machine (don't bother), a small microwave and a very tiny fridge (don't bring perishables hoping to have adequate place to stash them).

There is a TV with all OTA channels. Remote is okay, but this is hella low tech. There is a "channel guide" but fully non-interactive ... Remember the old cable TV when you sat and watched a guide channel for 5 minutes? That's what this is. I forgot my Shield TV power supply, so we were stuck with it and when you just want to sit and watch TV at night after aing day at Disney? It kinda sucked.

We had an ironing board, iron, a small hanging area. The one sink has a large counter and is outside the toilet/shower area.

Bathroom is small, of course. But the shower is actually really good sized with TONS of shelf space. Water pressure was good and the water actually got hot. Lots of linens. Toilet is one of those low to the ground ones. Flushing power is adequate (after Disney junk food all day, this is important).

We had the two queens + chair bed room. The chair bed flips out and works really well for a small kid. Queens have a small nightstand between and three is a bit of space to the left of the queen against the wall.

Almost worth a star of its own? TONS of power outlets! Thank you thank you thank you!

There is a pool and hot tub, but unless you love others people and their oft-unruly kids? Probably plan to sit that out. They provide towels and there are adequate seats and loungers. I prefer the "adults only" hot tub scenarios, but this one was always filled with rowdy kids.

Lots of ice machines and soda machines scattered around.

There is laundry facilities on premise; 2x washers and 2x dryers. $2 per unit. We did laundry while there and found them very handy and easy to use. No place to sit, though. So you have to fire and forget. The lids lock during the load, but if you're concerned about your clothes, better hang out. There is some outdoor seating within earshot, provided it is available - it is the seating for these coffee shop.

There is a small shop with drinks, snacks and essentials (almost a full pharmacy). Overpriced as hell, of course - but you pay for convenience.

The coffee shop is serviceable but check their hours. Prices were ok. No Starbucks but it was okay.

Yes, it is very close to Disneyland. 5 minute walk and it is hard to place a value on the ability to hop out of the park with purchases (or screaming feet) and make a 10 min round trip.

Plenty of food nearby (see our other reviews) - recommend a slight walk down to Pizza Press.

Couple things to know; parking is $20 a day. Check out at 11, just leave the keys in your room and go. Parking is very tight and cutthroat. If you leave in your car? Your place WILL be gone within minutes. Only half the place is self park; the rest is valet. Fortunately we spent 5 days there and never needed to move.

Another word of warning; the wifi is flakey and I wouldn't count on it for anything important. What's worse? Even 4G/5G was spotty - at least where we were (room 104). Sometimes wifi required a sign in, sometimes not. Really weird and unreliable. For the hyper connected family, this could be a killshot.

Would we stay there again? Sure. You just have to know what you're getting yourself into. Every night? We were so pleased we stayed that close. Bring a loud sound machine and maybe you can drown out the...

We just finished our stay here and there are some good things and some less good things.

Location 5/5 it's is hard to beat the location. There are only a few hotels that are truly worth it to walk from to get to Disneyland and this is one of them. That being said you are charged accordingly for that perk.

Amenities 4/5 rooms are set up in a standard hotel manner. Not a lot of room to move around or do anything but since most people staying here are likely spending the day at the parks it's not a deal breaker. You can tell they updated some things recently but not everything. Our sink had huge cracks in it that looked like they had been there for a long time.

There is a pool that looks well kept up.

There is a very overpriced convenience store that has seemingly the wrong hours listed. The employees there brought their friends in and spent the entire time I was in there chatting with them and ignoring the customers until you could wave them over to check out. If you're in a pinch it's nice to have it available.

Though you might end up there just so you don't lose the parking spot you miraculously found or have to text and wait for the valet to bring your car up.

The microwave couldn't even handle popcorn. Didn't even pop 1/2 the bag, and we tried twice.

There is also only elevators on one side of the hotel. So if you're on the wrong side you either drag you crap up the stairs or walk all the way around.

There are lots of restaurants in the area which are fairly close.

On site laundromat is nice but for $3 per wash and $3 per dry it's super overpriced.

AC is great, got super cold super fast. Though it did smell a little funny when we turned the heat on one time.

Beds 3/5 beds I think are worth their own category because really that's where you spend most of the time in the room since there is no where else to sit. Hard mattress with thin blankets, and very soft but unsupportive pillows.

Parking 2/5 honestly this was the issue that almost made me say I would never stay here again. Is having a valet nice for some people? Sure. Is it convenient for most? No. I don't trust other people driving my car but I didn't have a choice since there was literally no open parking to pick from. Possibly because they sell spots to non guests at a premium for those who don't want to pay for Disneyland's parking lots. Though really Disney's cost is probably cheaper and you could park your own car at Disney's lots. Also, since they know a lot of guests spend their whole day at the park I would have forgone the pool to have more parking. It doesn't seem like it was used much, but then again it was already in the 60s while we were here so that could have been why. Maybe it's a hot commodity in the summer.

Cost 4/5 again you get what you pay for with that location which is hard to beat but I won't say it's not a little pricey.

Overall, if you find a good deal and you don't care about other people parking your car this isn't...