Where should we stay? Anaheim edition.

My boss just returned from a conference there and stayed at the Marriott. Right there. She said it was great to be in such close proximity. Her earlier booking was at the Hyatt Regency Orange County, which is about a mile away but looked more modern. Have you also ever checked out AirBnB? You rent people's houses or apartments. Since you have so many people, maybe you could find a house to rent and it would be cheaper than a hotel and have more creature comforts...although probably without the pool.

Oooh, Annual! Anaheim is kind of a barren wasteland (I have zero rec's for things to do there--except rent a car if you want to be a tourist and then get out of Anaheim and say, go to the beach) and Annual is always exhausting, but I'm sure you'll have fun between your friends and your family and the rest. Here's my advice: first, watch out for rollaway bed charges (some are nightly!), additional person charges, resort fees, and other lovely Disney-fueled add-ons. Second, I have had tons of luck using hotels.com to narrow down the list of hotels (they include helpful listings of things like resort fees and parking fees while also including a listing of amenities like pools and breakfast); alternatively you can use http://disneyland.disney.go.com/hotels/good-neighbor/ to book a hotel (they know families travel together, so the option for suites is right upfront; no, you don't have to be going to Disneyland to use this service and prices are great). Third: here's part of the list of hotels I sent to my colleagues. The prices are from January so I left them in only to give you a sense of perspective; my colleague just booked their rooms last week and said prices had gone up drastically (so I won't recommend any one hotel in case it's booked already). 1) Red Lion Hotel ($139/night, rollaway bed add’l $10/night). Block away from convention center, good reviews. Includes free internet; no breakfast. 2) Cortona Inn and Suites (between $146 and $155/night). Adjacent to convention center, decent reviews. Includes free internet and breakfast. 3) Anaheim Islander Inn and Suites ($120/night for three beds; resort fee $2.50/night). Near convention center, decent reviews. Includes free internet and breakfast. 4) Desert Palm Hotel & Suites (variable, ~$150/night and up). Quick walk to Convention Center, good reviews. Includes free internet and breakfast. 5) America’s Best Value Inn and Suites (between $68 and $85/night, family suite with three beds is $99/night; $2.34 resort fee/day). Near convention center, adequate reviews. Includes free (light) breakfast. May include free internet. Of this list, I prefer Desert Palm Hotel and Suites and I did just check and they have suites for about $237/night (+taxes and all, I'm sure) during Annual so there's a baseline for you. Finally, note the existence of the Anaheim Resort Transit, which is $4/day (or $16/5 days) and covers pretty much every hotel and almost all routes go to the Convention Center (and/or Disneyland, which is of course right next to it). See http://www.rideart.org/ for more details.

Disney is opening the new Carsland June 15, which is a huge deal to Disney freaks like me, and which means that I think there's gonna be a lot of competition for local hotel rooms. For a suite, what I'd do is look at renting from an owner at Worldmark Anaheim-nice suites, way cheaper than any hotel suite, full kitchen. Check eBay and redweek.com. It's what I plan to do for our Disney trio this summer with three kids, including a toddler. I've been researching and it's well reviewed. VRBO is another positive option.