Anaheim on a Budget

Anaheim vacations, in addition to being especially tough for parents struggling to control hyped up children rearing to hit Disneyland, also mean a big chunk of change being put down for hotels, airfare, restaurant bills, park tickets, shopping, local transport and other assorted expenditures. Hitting $2000 is no biggie, for a family of four on a 3 day trip to Anaheim.

But it doesn't necessarily have to be like this. The major expenses are for accomodations, airfare and food. Other than finding the best and cheapest fare for flights using travel search sites like Kayak or Yahoo's Farechase, there's pretty much nothing to be done about the air ticket cost. But as far as hotel charges and food are concerned, you can so easily wipe out more than 70% of your costs, and yet not have to compromise on any of the basics necessary.

As a start, listed below are some cheap Anaheim hotels which will accomodate entire families at bargain basement rates.

Photo by Ned Raggett via Flickr (creative commons).

Candy Cane Inn (price from $97)

Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel Anaheim Resort (price from $84)

Tropicana Inn and Suites (price from $99)

Staybridge Suites Anaheim (price from $100)

Embassy Suites Anaheim - North (price from $109)

Ayres Hotel Anaheim (price from $109)

Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort (price from $119)

Anabella Hotel (price from $110)

And these are the cream out of the list of budget family hotels in Anaheim. There's even more which offer rooms for around $50 to $80, and some for prices as low as $25 per night. But these are basically simple rooms which won't be offering all the facilities and amenities that the ones above will. Be that as it may, here's a few of them listed below:

Americas Best Value Inn (prices from $80)

Anaheim Carriage Inn (prices from $59)

Now I'm not listing hostels here since we're talking about family vacations, but there's two things you can consider - Bed & Breakfasts and Vacation Rentals which rent by the day or week. The B&B's are not only cheaper than hotels, but will cut your food costs with a free breakfast and use of a kitchen. This can be invaluable if you have small kids and babies. And if you have a large group, of 6 or more people, you'll find vacation rentals are much cheaper and more luxurious and spacious than what any hotel can offer for 6 to 12 people.

Here's some B&B's in Anaheim, and here's a list of currently available vacation rentals.