Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey Gottaluvdavillans, You mentioned you are an PAP, so am I...however I have never used the parking. Do you think that is easier than riding the ART shuttle? Where do you go get to the parking structure?
Originally Posted By Darkbeer I MUCH prefer walking or using ART as compared to parking at the Mickey and Friends Structure... Being lazy, here is an old post of mine... I am one who is NOT a fan of driving, I live close by and have an Annual Pass that allows me to park at no charge, but I still avoid it if possible. I sometimes get a room at Howard Johnson's, and I either walk or use ART. I will park at the Pummba lot off of Disney Way (near the Ramada) instead of dealing with the hassle of the Parking Structure and/or the Timon Lot off of Harbor Blvd. Let's start with close by Hotels, using the center of the Main Entrance Plaza as the end point, the distance (from the Hotel Lobby) from Howard Johnson's, the Candy Cane Inn and the Paradise Pier Hotel are all the same distance, about 6/10th of a mile. The closest hotels are actually the Park Vue Inn and the Best Western Park Place Inn, even closer than the Grand Californian. If I am at any of those hotels, I will walk and not use the shuttle unless I have someone who needs assistance, but you are still walking about the same distance as going from the Main Turnstiles to Splash Mountain in the park, it isn't that much as compared to the rest of the day. If you need a shuttle, most hotels use the ART system. <a href="http://www.rideart.org" target="_blank">http://www.rideart.org</a>. They usually run every 20 minutes, and the hotel front desk knows the approximate time they will arrive (Such as 5, 25 and 45 minutes past the hour). Find out the arrival time. Gather the family together and make it to the ART pick up point a few minutes early, and have you ART passes available (the Hotel will sell them to you, or point you to an automated machine). Load the ART and ride it to the park. Get off, go thru security and enter the Main Entrance Plaza. Now, let's look at driving. You have to gather everyone up and load the car. Start up the car and head to one of two main entrances. The one off Harbor Blvd (crossroad is Disney Way) is close to the hotels, but in my opinion the worst choice. You line up and pay the toll (currently $11 for cars) or show your parking pass. Then you will be directed to one of three parking lots. On very busy days, they will send folks to Simba, in which you are sent down a road behind California Adventure and across Disneyland Drive, and you park behind the Paradise Pier Hotel, which as mentioned earlier is the same distance as the HoJo's or CCI, so you unload the car, and then walk FURTHER than if you just walked in the first place! Talk about a lose-lose, you had to pay to park and save NOTHING! The second choice is the Timon Lot (next to the Tower of Terror building), which tends to only be open or busy days, after Simba is full, if they expect very large crowds. If you get directed to Timon, count your blessing, you can park near the Trams, and it is convenient. But the lot is not that big, and more than likely will be getting smaller in the future as they need the space to help add attractions to California Adventure. Most folks who enter the Harbor Blvd entrance currently are handed a receipt and a printed slip that tells you how to get to a back entrance to the Parking Structure. This is basically the same road as going to Simba, but making a right onto Disneyland Drive to Magic Way, where you make a left to the parking entrance. This entrance is also used by others, so they have another set of Parking Toll Booths, where you will show your receipt to be allowed in. To find out the rest, just read the description below... Most people who drive from the LA area take 5 south to the Disneyland Drive exit, and go directly to the Parking Structure, as does all AP holders with the Parking Pass, because the AP states it is only good at the structure (though they do not enforce the rule). If you are close by, you get onto Ball and take that to Disneyland Drive and follow the signs. Now depending on the day, you can get lucky with very little wait (usually later in the day), or the average 10 to 20 minute wait in the mornings, or on very busy days, I have seen the cars backed up to the freeway entrance (that is over a 40 minute wait just to pay or show your pass). Once you get by the 10 toll booths (not all are open, 4 to 6 is average) they have to blend the traffic (along with those who entered from Magic Way) into two lanes of traffic (sometimes one), plus filter out those who didn't pay (EXIT flyer posted on windshield), over-sized vehicles, Bus parking, 15 minute parking, etc. Once you get past the merge, which is just awful when they have all 10 booths open. you are sent to a parking level using a ramp, and then you get to find out where you are told to park, you are directed to a space, you don't get a choice. And we are talking about one of the largest parking structures in the world. And the way the structure is designed, there is only one pedestrian entrance/exit, on the south-east corner. So if you are told to park in the North-West corner, you can have a walk that is over a 1/4 mile just to get out of the structure. Once you finally park, and unload the family, you join the other families and the strollers to the escalators to the tram loading area. The strollers have to go to 1 of just 2 elevators, as they are not allowed to take kids sitting in strollers on the escalators, which creates long lines at the elevator, which can get nasty if they are parking two levels at the same time. The elevator fills up at the first stop, and then goes to the other level, where folks are stuck, as they elevator is always full. So they start to hit the "up" button, and fill up the elevators to get on, which upsets the folks at the other level, who want to board, but the elevator is full. Then there is the Tram loading area itself, I parked at the structure twice this weekend, and both times ended up walking due to the long waits for trams (and the walk is about 1/2 mile, the same distance as the Paradise Pier, HoJo's or CCI). The trams hold 5 person per row, and people tend to try and cut in many cases to get their entire group on the same tram. Also, ALL children have to be removed from strollers, and folded up, with the exception of a few spaces in the front and back of the tram, where you can leave the stroller unfolded, but the child MUST be removed. The front area is usually already filled up with folks in wheelchairs (which load in a separate area). So if you want to keep your stroller unfolded, go to the BACK of the tram, as that space is used only for strollers. You take the tram, and then unload near the World of Disney store, and then get in line to go thru Security and enter the Main Entrance Plaza. So let's look at the 3 choices. A. Walk... 1. Simple, easy, no real steps. B. Shuttle/ART 1. Arrive at the Stop 2. Load the van/bus 3. Unload at the park C. Personal Vehicle 1. Load up the vehicle 2. Drive to the Parking Entrance 3. Pay the toll or show the parking pass 4. Get directed to a parking space 5. Unload the vehicle 6. Walk to the Tram Loading area 7. Load up onto the Tram (sometimes a long wait) 8. Unload from the Tram at the park So, IMHO the all day parking lots are a pain and not worth the hassle, in fact, I will park at the Pummba lot when it is open, since it tends to not be very busy and just walk, which is about the same distance as staying at the PPH, HoJo's or CCI. Another option I use is the Downtown Disney lot, which is near the Disneyland Hotel. This only works if you will be there three hours or less, but I would rather walk than deal with the Parking Structure.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains C. Personal Vehicle 1. Load up the vehicle 2. Drive to the Parking Entrance 3. Pay the toll or show the parking pass 4. Get directed to a parking space 5. Unload the vehicle 6. Walk to the Tram Loading area 7. Load up onto the Tram (sometimes a long wait) 8. Unload from the Tram at the park Darkbeer you left off the stop at Starbucks on Ball and Harbor... I did drive each day as my ankle was acting up and didn't want to chance having to get back to the hotel on foot if continued to get worse - on Sat I was parked outside of mickey and friends closer - this exit is very easy to use. The walk to the trams was less than a minute - The parks weren't busy and no tram wait - Sun we were checked out and leaving from the parks anyway - we were going to park in DTD but couldn't get over (thanks Motorhomes) so ended up in Daisy in the second row near the front - again no waits on the trams I do agree on busy days the trams can be a pain - during candlelight weekend I stayed at the Hilton and did use ART...
Originally Posted By mater4 Darkbeer I am glad they have the more comfortable beds even though I slept on the other one just fine. Did your room include the microwave? I know that they are in the process of putting those in all of the rooms.
Originally Posted By dlkozy In November we requested and received a microwave-GREAT for coming back to the room on a cold night and having hot chocolate!
Originally Posted By Pollyananana I am hoping for a heavenly bed when we go in March.... Bldg. 1...upper floor, park view.... sounds like a dream come true.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Yes, my room did include a Microwave. As I understand it, the goal is to amke sure that every Premium room will have a Microwave by the time the improvements are finished later this year. If a Microwave is important to you, I would contact HoJo's ASAP and have them add that request to your reservation.
Originally Posted By liveforvacations I love the Carrot Bread and I cannot imagine how wonderful how it would be warm and with butter! We usually stay at Hojos and walk. Last time due to circumstances stayed at Residence Inn Garden Grove and took the ART and drove one day. We personally found driving to be a major pain and would never do it again. The ART was much more convenient in our opinion but staying close and walking is the most convenient of all.
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey Thanks for all the info Darkbeer! I figured that driving would be a pain. We always walk from HOJO's in the morning and then usually wait for ART in the evening. Seems like a lot longer of a distance at the end of the day! I was just curious about everyones perspectives on driving instead. I have stayed at BWPPI and found it nice to walk right across the street, but I love the idea of the HOJO with the nicer rooms and the wonderful hot tub that is open late. The HOJO hottub has saved my tired aching legs and feet many times. And being able to sit and soak as the fireworks are going off is amazing.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Just got back. I don't know if we had a "Heavenly" bed, but I will say that the blanket was the nicest of any hotel I've stayed at. We stayed in building 2, I didn't think the walk to the front of the hotel was very long at all (nothing like the walks you get at the WDW All-Star resorts). I would have liked the garden pool to have been open. But the boys just used the big pool the morning of our last day. It really was too cold for swimming when we got back from the parks in the evening anyway. I only had a chance to make the walk to and from the parks once and it wasn't bad at all. Certainly much closer than the Katella hotels I've stayed at before.
Originally Posted By DisneySuiteFreak We stayed at Hojos in the first week of January and loved it as usual. We always stay in Bld 1. Now on this trip, I had booked the wrong room type by mistake. I contacted Lorealle ahead of time, and she was most helpful and was able to get us into the type of room that we wanted. I understood that it wasn't guaranteed, but just the fact that she responded so quickly to my emails made such a difference. I have emailed other properties in the area and never even gotten a response from some. We had the new Heavenly beds on this trip, but I must say I don't understand what all the fuss about the beds is about. I loved their older, firmer beds (I have back problems) and my Hubby and son loved the new Heavenly beds. Actually, either is fine for me, I just prefer a slightly firmer bed. My husband and son liked either one, but prefer the plush new ones. The new beds were so plush and thick I felt like I had to get a running start to get up on it. LOL! I'm joking, it wasn't that bad! We always walk and barely use the car in DL. I guess the walking distance thing is something that each individual should measure for themselves. My feeling is, after all the walking around the park for 12+ hours a day, what's another 7 minutes? If I had a youngster too young to walk that far, or if I felt she would fall asleep before getting back to the hotel, I would bring my own stroller from home or buy a cheap one. Years ago, we bought a cheap $12 umbrella stroller just to haul around all our junk from like Kmart or something, and when we were done, we gave it to another young family that looked like they could use it. What's another $12 when going to DL where it costs almost that much for a 1 day stroller rental that you can't use outside the parks. We always stay at Hojos, and this trip didn't disappoint at all. As usual, the room was clean & comfortable. Lorealle and staff are excellent. We had no issues or problems w/ them. The people at the front desk helped me to find a nearby pharmacy when I got sick... They always seem to take good care of us and go the extra mile. And I do say that honestly. Even though I post on a couple of DL related boards, I am not on a first name basis w/ the staff at Hojos. They have just never disappointed us and we've stayed there every year since 2001 or so...
Originally Posted By Pollyana Thanks for the good report. I know that I will enjoy Hojo's in just 28 days as a first time customer.
Originally Posted By drawbridge Does anyone (or Lorealle) know if you can change your rates during a stay w/o having to physically check out etc. I'm checking December dates and only 1 night out of our 6 nights in not available for the Entertainment Card rate. Can I make 2 seperate bookings?
Originally Posted By dlkozy This is what we always do when we are staying over a Fri or Sat night somewhere. If you tell a reservationist that you will be staying a (for instance)a Wed thru Sunday night-you will be charged per night whatever the higher cost of the room is. Almost always a room is higher on a Fri and Sat night than other nights of the week-I don't know about HOJO but this is true on all of the major brand hotels that we frequent including the DLR hotels. We find out what the cost of the room is for the weekand AND during the week BEFORE we say what the dates are that we are looking at. Then we make 2 seperate reservations if that means less $$$. Sometimes they make us switch rooms-but that is just fine with me!
Originally Posted By Hojoanaheim Hi drawbridge! We can definitely book two different rates for you through one reservation if you call and talk to our In-House Reservations office! Our number is 714-776-6120 Hope to hear from you soon! Lorealle
Originally Posted By karlutz Has anyone ever paid for their HOJO's stay with a gift card? For instance, I have the ability to trade in my Aeroplan points for a Travel gift card. The fine print says it can be used to pay for hotel stays anywhere American Express is accepted...
Originally Posted By cinderella143also Lorealle, Thank you for your great customer service! You are wonderful!
Originally Posted By Jenn31 Did room 2213 have a microwave and fridge? Is it a larger room? I ask because my son has a medical condition that requires us to refrigerate his medication, and bring medical equipment that takes up some space. We booked this Disney trip through Disney.com and unfortunately aren't able to select our own room type. We've stayed at HOJOS in the past and absoloutly loved it! This trip, it's me, my infant son, and his grandma and grandpa. Through our disney travel package it just says we'll get a standard room type. I'm so worried we won't have ample space, and no fridge. Any info, on the best room to get for us would be great! Also will the pool renovation be completed by june?
