Hyatt Regency Orange County

In September 2024 we spent 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency Orange County.

HOW WE BOOKED IT

The purpose of this visit was a quick birthday trip for my son. We were attending Disney’s Oogie Boogie Bash & spending 1 day at Disneyland. We wanted to use points at a convenient hotel. While the Hyatt Place Anaheim Resort & Hyatt House Anaheim Resort are walkable to Disney, they were not accepting Hyatt points for award stays.

So we booked the Hyatt Regency Orange County, a Hyatt category 4 hotel. Award nights range from 12K/night (off peak) – 15K/night (standard) – 18K points/night (peak).

For our 2 nights we used 1 Hyatt free night certificate (category 1 – 4) and paid 15K points for the other night. One thing I love about Hyatt stays is that you do not pay taxes or resort fees on points stays. So we paid $0 out of pocket for this stay. Here is our strategy to earn points for Hyatt stays.

LOCATION

We flew Southwest direct from Denver (DEN) to Long Beach (LGB) airport. What a wonderful tiny airport with great outdoor seating! If you are flying here, I recommend this airport on John Wayne (SNA) for easy access.

We took an Uber to the hotel. The ride to the hotel was about 35 minutes.
On our return trip to the airport, we did hit some of that “LA Traffic”, so give yourself a little extra time on the return just in case.

The hotel is about an 8 minute drive from Disneyland and according to Google Maps a 40 minute walk. There are lots of restaurants around the hotel.

SHUTTLE TO DISNEY

I was super impressed by the hotel’s shuttle to Disney. It is $6 per person per day and you can pay right at the hotel bus loading area (there’s a picture there with a QR code so you can do it before you get on the bus).

Hyatt Regency Orange County Disney Shuttle Schedule:
Hotel to Disneyland shuttle: Twice an hour, 15 after and 45 after
Disneyland to Hotel shuttle: Twice an hour, on the hour and 30 after
And it runs like clock work!

The shuttle driver in the mornings (with the hat) played a cute Disney playlist and had a bunch of Disney stuffed animals at the front of the bus. Super cute touch!

One issue you may run into (we did) – if you are leaving the park when everyone else is (at close or 30 minutes after close) the shuttle fills up super fast. We were not able to get a seat to ride the shuttle home from Oogie Boogie. We could have waited for the next one, but we decided to grab an Uber instead.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

The hotel seems to cater to Disney guests and conference guests. It’s a pretty large hotel. From our hotel window we could see the outdoor pool, fire pit, tennis courts, corn hole, shuffleboard and basketball courts. It looked nice and clean and a great way to keep families entertained if you weren’t at Disney.

Our room was clean and had the typical Regency vibe. Nice-ish but nothing special. Our room had bathtub/shower combo with shower curtain which is my least favorite (hotel shower curtains are just ew).

We were given 2 free waters a day as Globalists (Hyatt’s top tier loyalty status). Elevators were quick and we never waited more than a few minutes. The lobby area as a bar, convenience shop, Starbucks & a restaurant.

We received breakfast with our stay due to our Globalist status. There is a buffet with an omelet station or you can order off the menu. The first day we ordered off the menu (breakfast burrito & Chilesquiles) and the 2nd day we did the buffet. In general, one of the least impressive Regency breakfast’s I’ve experienced.

No speciality coffee at all (literally nothing offered besides standard drip coffee – the table next to me asked and they were told they’d have to go to Starbucks in the lobby for that). Most items available at the buffet had gone cold. The highlight was the omelet station – the omelets were very good and the gentleman making them was warm & welcoming & super fast.

Tips for earning Hyatt’s Globalist status.

13th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

I had let my Hyatt concierge (a benefit of Hyatt Globalist) know ahead of time that we were celebrating my son’s 13th birthday. At check in they wished my son a happy birthday. She also asked him what his favorite flavor of cake was.

Which was super weird… because after that there was no acknowledgement of his birthday. I absolutely understand that hotels can’t always accommodate leaving a birthday note or doing anything special. And this was the case at this hotel.

WOULD WE GO BACK?

We almost always will pick a Hyatt hotel over other hotels because the points are so easy to earn. And because we have Globalist status, having breakfast included is a huge benefit.

However, in the past we’ve stayed at the Marriott’s Westin Anaheim with Marriott points. And I did prefer it. It was walkable and just prettier.

But overall, yes we would go back and I think it’s a good option when visiting Disney California.

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Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.