Hello! I am a WDW vet as well, but after trying DL in August of 2012 I haven't bothered to go back to WDW! I am a total convert and it's no small feat given that I live on the East coast...
I have been to DL four times now since 2012 and am headed back THIS THURSDAY!! I've stayed at the Candy Cane Inn each and every time and would stay nowhere else unless someone gifted me a room at the Grand Californian.
I was scared to death to stay there because I was a Poly and Wilderness Lodge girl for ten stays. Staying at a tiny motel down the street sounded so wrong!! I chose it based on all the reviews here. I also toyed with Howard Johnson's but chose Candy Cane due to the free breakfast and the shuttle.
Okay, obviously I LOVE it. It's so PRETTY. It's COVERED in hanging baskets of pink flowers. Like seriously, these hanging baskets are everywhere. The cobblestone parking lot is so quaint and the lobby gives out candy canes. The breakfast is cereal, yogurt, pastries, bagels, fruit, coffee, juice, hot cocoa... There is a tiny white tray in the tv armoire that everyone misses, but it's there and you can go gather your breakfast and bring it back to the room, or you can eat it outside along the pool.
The shuttle runs every half hour to the parks and back. It leaves on the hour TO Disney and picks up on the 15 to the HOTEL. So like it would leave Candy Cane at 7:00 pm and drop off guests at the Park at 7:05ish and then stay and wait to pick up guests at 7:15 to take them back to Candy Cane. Then it would wait at Candy Cane for guests going to the Park and would leave at 7:30 to take them there and pick up more returnees at 7:45. It's very timely. We usually walk, however, as it's a ten minute walk. Sometimes it's nice to walk there in the morning when you are energized and excited and then take the shuttle back when your feet hurt. If you miss it though, you do have a half hour wait until it returns. I can't recall how early and late it runs, but I want to say at LEAST an hour before and after. You can call the hotel, though. A real person immediately answers, there is no menu or voicemail of any sort.
Parking is free if you have a car, they sell Disney tickets and park hoppers right at the desk, and even a few souvenirs. There is a 7-Eleven and ABC Mart RIGHT next door and I always immediately go to one of them and buy a big pack of water bottles and a bottle of pump hand soap cause I can't stand bar soap getting all over the place on the vanity.
There is a fridge, coffee maker, and ironing board. Yes, you can see the fireworks from the motel! Ask for a fireworks view but if you don't get it you can just walk to the other side along the U-shaped outer balcony and watch from there. The hotel is right in front of Cars Land and you can see Tower, too. You don't have to cross any major streets, just one small bus turn-a-round area, you literally just walk out of the hotel and turn left and go along the palm tree studded sidewalk with lots of other people where you are perfectly safe. Here's a hint...if your feet are killing you walk on the grass. The difference is amazing.
Ask me anything, I LOVE it there! Oh, last visit was November, 2016. And again, headed there Thursday!
They are so well cared for and the staff is always great with the kids. Our friends love everything about the CCI and return there every time they visit DLR. 
