Location is minutes from Beach and Disneyland. Loved that.
The backyard is unreal. Completely secluded. Hot tub and pool worked great. It’s unreal—tropical plants. Even some shade. Seating for large groups. Tables. Lawn chairs. Chaise lounges. BBQ. We spent all of our time there.
A couple of things to note:
—the backyard! Seriously unlike anything in the are (and we are originally from this area).
—home is SO large! We had 10+ adult kids and never felt crowded.
—plenty of pool towels included.
—if you are spending long hours at the home, I’d bring books and games. There is the ping pong table and pool table. Those are in the garage extension. Super fun, but not really central to the common area of home. We spent time swimming, but if you are inside for hours, you’ll find yourself with only TV as entertainment. Kinda not our family’s thing. I wish we had brought games.
—the washer is SO loud. Like earthquake loud. Even with small loads. If you try to run a load with kids sleeping, no shot.
—the water is HARD. We found it difficult to clean dishes. You absolutely cannot drink tap water. We hand washed bc the dishwasher didn’t seem to clean the dishes. (And if you cook, bring some kind of pan spray. The pans are not non-stick. That was a bummer bc we cooked with a large party. Lots of scrubbing.)
—check in and check out are easy. (You cannot enter even one minute early due to the electronic nature of check in process. I guess you could arrange this. We asked, but never heard back on early check in.)
—we had some questions right when we arrived. We heard back immediately and that was awesome. Especially bc our contact was at a graduation ceremony—on a Friday at 5pm she still called us back!
—super clean when we arrived.
—the city ordinance for limited outside hours was a bummer for us. We read it in overview of properth, but we didn’t realize how strict it is (like, the video records during this hours: you just can’t be outside.)
—another great feature if you have non-swimmers, is that the outside pool door has an alarm. Requirement for city. So doors do not open without sounded an alarm EVERY TIME). There is a button you push to go in an out without triggering that alarm.
—on the downside, if everyone swims in your party, the alarm is a PAIN. It’s so loud. So loud. And you have to push the bypass button every time you go in or out from backyard. It’s kinda a bummer.
Overall loved.