My family has visited Disneyland about six times in the past three years. We usually go with groups of five to six people and stay overnight in a suites hotel near Disneland but not on the property.
Why have we gone to Disney so often and with so many friends/family? Because three years ago, my husband started working at Pixar! As a cast member and cast member spouse, we can invite up to four guests to enter the parks with us for free. This perk allowed us to host our son’s birthday party at Disney twice, inviting 3 or 4 of his friends to go to the theme parks with us.
Another time, I hosted my daughter’s college friends for a Disney trip. And last week, I hosted four of my own friends for a moms’ trip!
(We also went to Disneyland Paris for free!)
On these trips, none of us wanted to pay for multiple expensive hotel rooms. So I have searched out the best hotels close to Disneyland where up to six people can stay in one suite for a low price. My family or I have personally stayed at all the Disney-area hotel suites in this post.
The 4 best hotels for large groups near Disneyland
Which cheap Disneyland hotels for larger families or groups offer the best experience? This post includes reviews of each of the Disney-area suites we stayed in. Each of these hotel suites has at least three double beds. Depending on how many people you bring, everyone might be sharing a bed with one other person.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I could receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
PEACOCK SUITES ONE BEDROOM 2 QUEENS
I just stayed at Peacock Suites with the moms and we all agreed we would love to stay here again! The overall vibe of this place was a little more peaceful than other Disneyland-adjacent hotels.
It is a Wyndham time share property, but they don’t have a super hard sell to go on a time share tour. After we checked in, the time share guy tried to tell us about all the benefits of going on the tour, but we cut him short by letting him know we were all married, and our spouses weren’t here. Usually, time share sales people won’t let you go to a presentation without your spouse.
But, if you do want to go on the tour, their current reward offer was a $200 Disney gift card.
The Room
Overall, our room at Peacock Suites was:
- Cute. I espeically loved the green and gold wallpaper in the bedroom.
- Highly functional for a crowd. Two dressers with huge drawers, a wardrobe for hanging and additional storage. A huge vanity and sink outside the bathroom. A table with 4 chairs. Two separate rooms (divided by a thin sliding door).
- Comfortable. I had no complaints about the bed or pillows. And the pull-out sofa is a real standout: It’s American Leather brand, which is considered the most comfortable pull-out bed that exists! (I have one in my own home for the grandparents.) Best of all, the AC worked great, cranking out cold air in both rooms.
- Spacious — to a point. There was actually enough space for the five of us to unpack our things and have room to walk around and sit at the table. (Well, there would have been if everyone had used the available drawers and stashed their suitcases away.)
One downside: There is not much kitchen counter space. And he only cupboard available for storing snacks is so high up that only some of us could reach it.
What We Liked
- We loved how spacious our Peacock Suites room was for the price!
- The small pool area was nice, with two hot tubs and a tiny splash pad for kids. The pool area has a roof over it. This may make the area feel gloomy, but when I wanted to take a pool break in the middle of my theme park day, I was glad not to add to my sun exposure.
- The staff at the front desk was always nice and accommodating.
- The premises always seemed clean.
- Security seems good: The stairwells lock at night and the elevator requires a keycard to operate.
- We didn’t bring a car, but the parking lot seemed easy to get in and out of.
What We Didn’t Like
- At 1 mile from the main gate, Peacock Suites is barely walking distance from Disneyland. And there’s no shuttle. On the upside, it was easy to get a Lyft here, with plenty of room for the car to pick us up and turn around in front of the small lobby.
- The front desk isn’t 24 hours — just 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. If you’re going to be arriving after that time, you’ll need to arrange for the valet (who sits outside the lobby) to have your keycards for you. (Just part of our party arrived after 11 p.m. and they found themselves unable to come up to our 3rd floor room without us coming down to rescue them.)
- The rooms aren’t cleaned during your stay.
- While the staff was nice, they were also quite busy. We had to ask twice for a sharp knife to cut up fruit. But they did bring one to our room eventually.
- Bedding supplies are apparently limited. The pull-out sofa came with just a thin blanket, no comforter. When we asked for a comforter, we were told we could only have two more blankets instead.
Who Peacock Suites is best for
Large families or groups who want a safe, clean space to stay near Disneyland — and don’t mind a long walk or a short ride.
ANAHEIM PORTOFINO INN & SUITES FAMILY SUITE
I stayed at Portofino when I brought my teenage son and four of his friends for a birthday Disneyland trip in June. Portofino offers a number of larger, 410-square-foot suites, including the Family Suite (which we stayed in), and the Galaxy Suite, a themed room for kids who love Star Wars.
Our Family Suite was like the one bedroom suite that Peacock Suites had, plus a separate bedroom with a king bed. While the bedroom with two queens is separated from the living room by only a sliding French door, the king bedroom has a real door. Because I was an adult traveling with a bunch of teens, I loved the separation and quiet that this bedroom afforded me. It helped that the king room was far from the door to the hallway — I didn’t even feel like I was in a hotel!
The hotel states that the Family Suite only sleeps 6 people. But with a full (or queen?) sized sofabed, two queens and a king, it could obviously sleep 8 people. The hotel certainly didn’t check how many people were staying, and you don’t have to walk through the lobby to access the rooms. Just keep in mind that this suite has only one bathroom!
Because we only stayed here two nights, while visiting the parks for three days, we didn’t try the swimming pool or hot tub.
The Room
Overall, our room at Anaheim Portofino Inn & Suites was:
- Well-laid out. One thing I really loved was that the bathroom was in a little hallway accessed by both the king bedroom and the main bedroom. This meant I never had to pass through a room with sleeping people to access the bathroom, and no one had to pass through my room either.
That said, the counter/sink is inside the bathroom, which is not as good as the set-up at Peacock. - Comfortable. The AC worked well and the beds were decent. The pull-out sofa, however, was not comfortable.
What We Liked
- The location. A 15-minute walk to Disneyland didn’t feel too long, even for taking a midday break. There are also lots of stores, like 7Eleven, and restaurants near the hotel.
- The staff. The folks at the front desk were very nice and accommodating. They didn’t mind when our Instacart order was dropped off at the front desk. And unlike at Peacock, they had no issue giving us a couple of extra comforters.
- The separate bedroom. Did I mention how much I appreciated the fully private bedroom??
What We Didn’t Like
- Cleanliness. Well, the room was clean. But some guests tracked sand all over the elevator and landing one night — a lot! — and the mess was still there late the next morning. It was so bad that we had to lift our rolling suitcases to get past it. I would have expected the cleaning staff to take care of that first thing in the morning.
- No extras: No free breakfast, no shuttle.
- Crowded parking lot. It wasn’t easy to find a spot to park in, and pulling in and out of the one-way lot was awkward.
Who Anaheim Portofino Inn & Suites is best for
Big families, more than a group of friends. I say this because the king bedroom is so much more private than the rest of the suite. If we had rented this suite for our group of five singles, the luxury of the king bedroom might have felt unfair for whoever got it! And the pull-out couch was uncomfortable, so an adult probably wouldn’t want to sleep on it.
HOME2 SUITES BY HILTON ANAHEIM RESORT 2 QUEENS STUDIO SUITE
The Home2 Suites is a bit of a step up from the other hotels I’ve stayed in near Disnelyand, and it costs a bit more too. The rooms are a bit nicer. The pool is nicer too — it’s big, it’s pretty and it has saline water instead of chlorine. There’s also a hot tub and even a splashpad for kids.
My husband stayed in a 2-queen studio suite when he brought three kids to Disneyland for one night about three years ago. So we haven’t stayed at the Home2 Suites recently. But I would love to stay there again sometime!
The Room
While it has the same number of beds as Peacock Suites, the 2-queens suite at Home2 Suites has less privacy, as the two queens and the sofa bed are all in one room. But the kitchen is nicer — it even has a dishwasher! The kitchen also has more counter space than the other hotels.
If you want more space, Home2 Suites also has a two-bedroom suite that looks huge, for around $100 more than the two-queen suite. The website says the two-bedroom suite only sleeps six, but it looks like it could easily sleep 8 people — especially if some are kids — with the option to have a full bed with a full trundle in one of the bedrooms.
What We Liked
I booked Home2 Suites for my husband and son for one reason: The short walk to Disneyland! The proximity made it easy to take a break during the hottest part of the day to jump in the pool.
Other than that, they really liked the hot breakfast. On a longer stay, that large fridge with a freezer would have come in handy.
What We Didn’t Like
My husband and son actually had no complaints about this hotel. But if I think hard, I can find a few areas where it could be better:
- Less privacy. With no door between the bedroom and the living room, staying in the 2-queen suite at Home2 Suites gives you a better chance of getting woken up by noisy suitemates.
- No self parking. You have to pay for valet parking.
Who Home2 Suites is best for
Groups who want to walk to Disneyland and possibly pop back to the hotel for some meals. The proximity and the generous kitchen make having lunch at the hotel — maybe by the pool — a realistic option.
HOMEWOOD SUITES BY HILTON ANAHEIM MAIN GATE AREA 2 QUEEN BEDROOM SUITE
A couple years ago, we drove to Disneyland and so decided to try to save money by staying a little farther from the park. However, comparing the prices of Homewood Suites to some of the closer properties, I don’t know that we actually saved money by doing this!
Don’t let the words “Main Gate” in the hotel name fool you! This hotel is about a mile and a half from Disneyland’s main gate.
We chose to drive to the park daily because, as a cast member spouse, I get free parking at Disneyland. However, if I had to pay the $40 per day to park there, I would have opted for the hotel shuttle to Disneyland, which costs just a few dollars per person per day.
The Homewood is the only hotel in this post that I would probably not stay at again. Besides having to drive to the park, the other reason is the customer service issue we had, which I’ll describe soon.
The Room
This room had the biggest kitchen of all the Disneyland-area suites I’ve tried. This would be great if you plan on eating full-fledged meals at the hotel. Unfortunately, I don’t think we touched the kitchen.
Our room also had a solid door between the bedroom and the living room, which was nice for privacy. Unfortunately, the bathroom was located inside the private bedroom. I really disliked this, since I slept in the living room and hated having to enter the bedroom and possibly wake everyone to pee during the night.
The hotel website says the room sleeps 5, but clearly if you pulled out the sofabed, it could sleep 6. Since we were only 5, I slept on the sofabed without pulling it out. It was comfortable enough.
What We Liked
The solid door made the bedroom very private and good for light sleepers. The room was spacious.
What We Didn’t Like
- Having to drive back and forth to the park wasn’t ideal.
- We had a pretty major customer service issue during our stay at this Homewood.
Somehow, I ended up with two rooms booked for our dates, instead of just one. When we checked in, the front desk staff said nothing about me having a second room booked. I didn’t learn about this error until my credit card was double billed.
Considering that we were five adults sharing a room with three beds, I would have appreciated the option to actually use the second room I was paying for.
After I complained, the hotel refunded the second night of the duplicate stay, as well as 60% of the first duplicate night. I’m still not sure if the duplicate booking was my fault or the hotel’s fault. Of course, I would have preferred to get a 100% refund.
Who Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Main Gate is best for
Groups who prefer to drive or shuttle to Disneyland. Groups who want a large kitchen.