JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort is a luxury hotel within walking distance of Disneyland. Residing on the edges of GardenWalk, this hotel offers more of an upscale stay than many of the other hotels around it. It’s also near the Anaheim Convention Center for those in town for business. In this post, we’ll review JW Marriott’s rooms, amenities, value and whether it’s a good spot to stay for a Disneyland Resort trip.

The latter is a safe spot to start, although it won’t be advantageous to this website’s stats. How noble of me, right? You probably had to scroll past an ad to see this paragraph. I’ll get right to it, if your Disneyland vacation only consists of very full park days then staying at the Anaheim JW Marriott is not worth your money. There are places that are half the cost (if not a better deal), offer nice enough rooms and are closer to the parks. If you’re coming to Disneyland to do 12+ hour days in the park then there’s no need to keep reading this review unless you just like my undaunted wit and charm. I don’t know if any of those people exist.

With that out of the way, JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort (I can’t stand that comma in the title and probably will be forgoing from here on out, just fyi) does offer something fairly unique in the Disneyland area. There aren’t many luxury hotels in the area that aren’t run by Disney. We ended up here because we had a credit that we needed (a very loose term) to use from our Chase Sapphire Reserve card before it expired. This was the only place in Anaheim that showed up on The Edit, a luxury hotel component of Chase Travel. After staying at our share of Disneyland Good Neighbor motels, walking into this one was definitely a different experience.

The JW Marriott joins 4 other Anaheim hotels in being named as AAA Four Diamond Hotels. Two of those five are the Disneyland Hotel and Grand Californian. The other 2 include the similarly priced Westin and The Viv, which has a cheaper price tag but is farther away from the parks. Suffice to say, the JW Marriott fills a void in the Anaheim hotel scene whether it’s for park goers or not.

Speaking of, the map above shows the hotel’s location in relation to Disneyland. The walking time and route is a little misleading, as there’s a route from the hotel lobby through GardenWalk that will save you a few minutes and is a more interesting walk. No matter how you slice it, the walk will be somewhere between 15-20 minutes. The hotel does have easy access to the freeway if you’re driving somewhere but that’s the norm for this area.

A 15-20 minute walk isn’t especially great. That’s slightly longer than a number of hotels on Harbor and about even with convention center hotels. Location isn’t an asset here but it does stay quieter than most of the hotels in the area.

JW Marriott touts “elevated experiences at every corner” in their bio, and there are quite a few offerings, but our favorite aspect of the hotel was the room. This was among the nicest hotel rooms I’ve ever been in, with comfortable bedding, beautiful artwork and design, and nice furniture throughout.

The room is very modern, leaning into beige and wood tones. There was plenty of space here with the room being 390 square feet. Nothing felt cramped or dated.

As someone who almost always prefers theme over all, I have to admit that this room’s sleek design won me over.

This massive tub is another gorgeous spot of the room. I guess if there’s a bone to pick, it’s in the bathroom. That tub is very long. I’m 5 foot 10, and Melissa is a few inches shorter than me. I laughed when Melissa told me that she kept sinking into the water because her legs had to stretch to keep her up. Then I experienced the exact same thing!

Our other complaint was the water pressure in the shower. It just wasn’t up to par. But those are minor quibbles for an absolutely gorgeous space.

I’d put this up there with the Disneyland Hotel room we stayed in. In fact, this one’s probably nicer but just doesn’t have as many fun touches.

Moving to the amenities, here’s a look at the pool. This is just outside the door of the second floor (which is really probably the third story) lobby so there is a view of the east side of Anaheim. Confusingly, the pool deck faces away from the parks and is placed on the side of the hotel with shade more often than not. I’m sure they were just working with what they had but this was the most disappointing aspect of the hotel.

I should say that this area is nicer than most Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotels but I’m grading on a curve here because of the price. The pool area was kept very clean and the cabanas and seating fit in with the luxury the hotel promised. But the lack of hot tub, small pool size, very cold water and strange placement had us puzzled. This feels like a misstep in trying to make something feel exclusive when, in reality, the hotel grounds have space for something better.

The pool may disappoint but the rooftop view and bar does not. This spot is called the Parkestry Rooftop Bar and it’s open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner. Parkestry has a great view of the fireworks if you time it right. Even if you don’t, looking out over the parks and Anaheim is fantastic. The website says this is the highest rooftop bar in Anaheim and I have no reason to doubt them. You don’t actually have to be staying at the JW Marriott to dine here, reservations are available on OpenTable.

The same is true for both the restaurant and bar in the lobby. The restaurant, Tocca Ferro Italian Chophouse, is well thought of. We dined there for breakfast and enjoyed the offerings but missed eating here for dinner. The menu looks intriguing. We did eat at the bar for dinner and enjoyed the experience.

The entire lobby and common grounds are inviting. There are a number of experiences offered, including mimosas, wine tasting, and yoga classes. I didn’t think the hotel’s design was spectacular but it is apparent that they’re going for something more sophisticated and modern. It looks really good and feels more relaxed than it does buttoned up.

On the opposite side of the lobby as the pool is the JW Garden. This is very pretty, with flowers abound and plenty of other plants. It’s an interesting use of space and pleasant to sit by. The garden leads into GardenWalk (they share no relation. Okay, maybe 3rd cousins.) and is the best route to cut through to get to Disneyland.

Other amenities include an exercise room (termed by the hotel as a wellness center), a downstairs coffee shop, plenty of big convention space rooms and more. Where the amenities really excelled were in all of the different activities offered. The service here was second to none and there was always something to enjoy in the lobby regardless of the time or day.

JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort typically costs between $300-$400 per night. That can climb to close to $500 on the weekends and might drop below $300 during less busy times of the year. We like the hotel, loving the rooms, service and a few of the amenities. But I have a hard time recommending it for anyone who wants to visit Disneyland. Guests could stay at the Disneyland Hotel for nearly the same price and we prefer that option.

If you do want a quieter, more luxurious spot for your stay then this is a strong hotel. Maybe you’ve added a few resort days to a Disneyland trip and the Disney owned hotels are priced highly during that time – booking here would make some sense in that instance. Also, if your Anaheim trip is more convention focused then this is a strong spot to stay if you’re willing to pay the price.

That’s a narrow scope of guests that the JW Marriott makes sense for. This is an excellent hotel with only a few misfires but the location and price make it hard to recommend for a Disneyland trip.

Overall Rating – 8/10

What do you think of the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort? Let us know your thoughts, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below! If you are planning a trip to Disneyland Resort then check out our planning guide. Looking for discount Disneyland tickets? Check out this site! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. You can do all of that on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!