Anabella Hotel is a welcome oasis of rest and refreshment for post-Disneylanders. Photo / Supplied
Anabella Hotel is a welcome oasis of rest and refreshment for post-Disneylanders. Photo / Supplied
Location: A 40-minute drive from LAX and a 15-minute walk to the main entrance of Disneyland.
Check-in experience: As my daughter and I arrived, a busload of other guests from the four corners of the globe also pulled in. We all entered reception together. They hesitated. It was the kindof situation where the person with the nicest manners will be the one who gets their room key an hour after everyone else - not an option when you have a 4-and-a-half-year-old on your hands. I identified this fact and moved with ruthless efficiency; seven minutes later Zoe and I were walking into our room with the sound of Mid-Westerners tut-tutting rising up through the air.
The style: Mid-70s Southern California classic, so plenty of Mission Revival gables, whitewashed arches, wood-laminate floors and a fizzy-drink machine by the laundry. On a quiet evening you can just about hear the echo of Don Henley on the breeze.
Rooms: We had a Mission Suite, where the generously sized main area holds a king-size bed and a sofa sleeper. In a separate room, there's a large single bed. Decent-sized tub in the bathroom.
Something to eat or drink? The hotel's Tangerine Grill & Patio does a tidy line in post-Disneyland kids' dinners and cold beers for frazzled, post-Disneyland dads. We sat poolside for a drink most evenings. What does a warm colita smell like anyway? Next door, Tiffy's Family Restaurant do hamburgers and kids' grub. Their dinnertime crowd is full of families at the end of a long Disney day. If you're a sports fan, you need to bust up to the ESPN Zone up on Downtown Drive, where there are - by my count - about a gazillion TVs screening every single sports event in the world. Provided it was a sports event played in the United States. I hit up a nearby 7-11 for fruit, yoghurt and nuts to get us through our breakfasts. And a couple of six-packs to get me through the evenings.
Mission suite at the Hotel Anabella. Photo / Supplied
What's in the neighbourhood? The front of the hotel looks out on to the back of Disneyland's California Adventure park, with a certain mouse's illuminated ears shining into the night air on the frame of Mickey's Fun Wheel in Paradise Pier. If you're getting around other amusement parks, you could try and figure out the public transport system or hook up with Karmel Shuttles who run door-to-door services around Anaheim.
Exercise: The hotel has a gym. I poked my head in there and it's pretty well kitted out, but travelling with a 4-and-a-half-year-old was exercise enough for me: between shoulder rides to the gates of Disneyland and then carrying her back home afterwards.
Entertainment: A big telly and wifi in every room.
A room with a view? From our second-floor perch we looked down on the driveway. After a day of over-stimulation at the theme parks in the area, that was about all we could handle.
Noise: It's a family crowd, so everyone's tucked into bed pretty early, making for a quiet scene. We were in a second-floor suite, and a fellow guest at the bar told me that, from their first-floor room, they could occasionally hear people in the room above. "But it ain't such a big thing, y'know."
