Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Orange County (Costa Mesa-Irvine) Doubletree Santa Ana

[808geek]

Need a little help in deciding which area I should bid in. It looks like Priceline has divided the Disneyland Anaheim area. They now added Disneyland-Orange-Garden Grove to the map. Before they only had Disneyland-Orange County. Are they dividing it into a North and South area like on Hotwire?? Before when I bid in the Disneyland area and wanted a 3.5* hotel I pretty much knew I would get either Hyatt, Hilton, Crown Plaza, Marriott Suites, Hilton Suites. So by adding this other new area it makes me uneasy about bidding because I would think they have added other hotels that I'm not familiar with.

Any recomendations or advice? I'd like to be able to get into one of the hotels that I'm used to dealing with.

[thereuare]

I never really paid too much attention to the zone boundaries of this area, but have they actually added more area to either zone, OR have they simply divided the Disnelyland into two separate zones ('Anaheim' to the North and 'Orange County-Garden Grove' to the South?)

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[808geek]

They did actually add a zone there are 2 seperate Disneyland area's you can choose from. And it looks like if they divided it and made each area to include a bigger area too, well at least for the Garden Grove area its expanded on the map more so than previously.

[808geek]

Okay went for it and had to haggle on Priceline for it. Used all my "free" re-bid zones and got rejected. Took a chance with Buena Park area while raising price and still got rejected. Added Costa Mesa area, again another chance taking since 3.5* and more is available in that area and Doubletree Santa Ana/Orange County Airport took it at $47.00 a night. A bit more than I wanted to pay and a little further away than I wanted but I only had a few days left. Of course I had second thoughts after winning since it was further out, and thinking I should have just waited my 24 hrs. But after looking up other hotels that are closer and actually in Garden Grove area which is what I wanted most of them are sold out directly with their websites. Hyatt, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Sheraton, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, all sold out. So that made me feel better knowing that I would NEVER have won any of those.

Bidding went as follows:

Disneyland-Orange-Garden Grove $35- rejected

re-bid added Anaheim Hills $37- rejected

re-bid added Laguna Beach $38- rejected

re-bid added Laguna Hills $40- rejected

re-bid added Seal Beach $41- rejected

re-bid added Disneyland-Anaheim $43- rejected

re-bid added Buena Park $45- rejected not a free re-bid zone took a chance 3.5* was available in this area

re-bid added Costa Mesa-Irvine $47 won again not free re-bid zone and took a chance

Still trying to figure out if parking is charged or not. Tripadvisor reviews say yes and no. Someone who stayed in June 2009 said parking was free and someone who stayed in November 2008 said it was $14 a night. Checked Doubletree's website and it says self parking is $14 a night. So I'll assume that parking is charged. Someone else mentioned that there really isn't anywhere else to park besides the garage if you were trying to avoid the fees. Hope I like it here. Never stayed here before and I read mix reviews about it. Some say it's nice others say it's not worth a 3.5* rating. Others complain about a/c not working all the time and that the hotel shuts it off at night. I'll be unhappy if that happens.

[808geek]

Sorry forgot to mention that I changed my dates to 10/1-10/4

I'll post hotel reviews when i get back.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Hope you're happy with the results and this will work well for your needs this stay.

I'm sure the hotel will work out fine and you'll enjoy your stay... if not, just ask for more chocolate chip cookies to cheer you up :)

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.