Originally Posted By fidoprincess We decided to go "last minute" Nov 22-27 for Thanksgiving and naturally, most everything is already booked. We want to stay right across the street so the little one can walk. (2 adults, 2 kids) In the Spring we stayed at BWPPI in the QQ minisuite and liked the room for the space and easy walk, last year at HOJOs but it was a little tougher walk-only thing available this time is Kings. SO far, this is what I've found: BWPPI-"standard room" ie 2 double beds!-tight fit for us for $665 OR Del Sol: 2 Queens for $877 OR Park VUE:2 Queen for $1141 OR Tropicana:2 Bedroom Suite with Kitchen for $1207 That's about all that is left to choose from in that easy walking block. Opinions please on what to choose. I can't seem to decide. Thanks for any and all comments!
Originally Posted By ThreeBittyBoys Personally I'd go with BWPPI. I've stayed in both the QQ minisuites and the standard room and honestly, I couldn't see any difference in the sizes of the rooms. The minisuite has a sofa; the regular room has a table and chairs where the sofa would be. That's all I see that's different. However, I would caution you if you're getting that good of a rate through expedia (or the like). We booked a minisuite at BWPPI last minute once.....and they gave us a smoking room. Yuck! Complained to both BWPPI and expedia (who was just horrible), and ended up being downgraded to a standard double room with a pool view. Now THOSE particular double-double rooms were on the small side. The layout is different, I guess. Anyway, we survived and now we always just book the regular sized rooms at BWPPI. The space is the same and for us, we really don't need the couch, so why not save $10/night? Your issue seems to be the bed size though, is that correct? I can understand that. Some alternatives: 1) Are there King rooms available at BWPPI? Those include a sofa sleeper (not sure on the size). If your kids are young enough to fit it, it might be work for you. 2) How old are your kids? If bed room is too tight for us, we'll sometimes sleep in separate beds, each of us with a kid. 'Course, manytimes our kids'll fall asleep on the floor (and I wouldn't dream of tempting fate to move them, lol), in which case we could get a whole bed to ourselves.
Originally Posted By tapdancemom I've never stayed at any of those four but have heard HORRIBLE stories about Del Sol and Park Vue. Tropicana sounded just barely ok and have heard good things about BWPPI. We almost stayed there once but got a good deal at Marriott Residence Inn and chose that instead. Have you thought about the Candy Cane Inn. It's not really a short walk, but has an exclusive shuttle. It also has a really nice breakfast, comfy beds and a great staff. We paid $89 per night in August of 2004 for the standard room w/2 queens.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess I think you are right, 3bittyboys! It is silly to pay more for something we don't know vs. the BWPPI that we do know and liked. I'll just go for the cheapest which also seems like the best even if the bedding isn't perfect for us. I'll just bring along the aerobed and see if there is room for it. I didn't think the rate was very good. We paid less for spring break in the QQ minisuite over Easter but that time I had booked very far in advance. DD is 5 and ds is 10 but they won't share the sofabed if we get the standard king room. I don't like the double/double because DH is 6'3" and I'll be squished-lol. I've had to sleep with dd but in a q or K, not sure how we will do in a double. I don't think we even "get" to pick "which" standard room because it was through Hotel Kingdom. The only thing they "let" me pick was non-smoking. I called the hotel directly and asked why they couldn't book a room for me and they said they were all full but they "sell" rooms to the other providers and it was legitimate and I would definately get a room if it was confirmed. I wish I would have asked them about the "standard" rooms then because some places it says either 1 king and sofabed and 2 queens and others say 2 doubles-hey those few inches between a double and a queen mean a lot-lol! Do you know for sure what the standard rooms have? I think I'll try to call the hotel tomorrow and see what I can arrange. Last time they let me block a specific room because we wanted to be on the top floor away from the noise. Maybe they will work with me especially since we won't get in on our first night until really late around midnight. Gosh, we don't even stay in the room-lol. I can't believe I was even considering paying more! We get up, feed the kids in the room while we shower and dress and head to the park right away. We stay the entire time until one of the kids collapses and then come back. We don't do naps, pool or anything other than the parks. DD got sick once and we were very glad to be staying at HOJOs that time because they were so nice. They let us add another night on and came all night long bringing us fresh sheets and towels. Almost wish they had room because I prefer the QQ minisuite for the walk and extra bed, then Hojo's for the balcony & disney view room but now I have to settle for last choice. Tapdancemom, we'd go to the candycane in a heartbeat if they had anything available but most everything is booked for Thanksgiving. Oh Well, at least we are going!!! Hmmm, what to do for Thanksgiving Dinner....
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub i have been casually looking and can not find availability. if you can get anything at BWPPInn You better grab it before i do!I might try HoJos but CCInn is not available. Will BWPPinn provide a rollaway? Good Luck and grab something.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Mickeymouseclub, I used Hotel Kingdom (travel axe first) and found the BWPPI, I did book it! I also "reserved" the other rooms just in case since I couldn't decide but will cancel them so if you are interested they should at least have "my" room left. Those were through the hotels direct websites. If you don't mind just a king, Hojos has rooms and other than the little longer walk, I thought they were much nicer imho. It's just that the 6 year old always ends up being carried home and DH said it killed his back-lol! Good luck and get something quick now if you want to go.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Thanks I changed my date to 11/28 closer to my bday.Hope you have lots of fun.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Oh you are so lucky! It will be much better on the 28th-not as crowded and still all the wonderful holiday things. We changed from 12/28 because I am convinced that week will be worse than Thanksgiving week. Heck, if I had it my way, we'd always go off peak but can't pull the kids out of school anymore. They are so strict now and they punish the kids for missing-ugh so we go when all the other kids go and it is packed. Have a Happy B-d there. We will celebrate dd's bday there too-not sure if we want to do Goofy's Kitchen or Birthday at the Plaza. Did that one in the Spring for ds, seems silly to do it again.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Oh No, Threebittyboys, you were right! I called PPI in this morning and was told we got the very last room but it is the worst of all possible rooms-2 double beds and SMOKING-ugh. She was so nice and said to call back in a week or two and see if they had any cancellations but now I am rethinking the whole thing-ugh. Maybe we shouldn't go at all? I can't imagine anyone cancelling for Thanksgiving. Base price for just hotel and tickets is $1500 and we aren't even getting a "nice" room! On top of that my ds has allergies and I can't imagine putting either child in a smoking room. They said they would put a "green machine" in but that sounds doubtful it will be much help. On the plus side, we did get BB ressies for Thanksgiving lunch with a birthday celebration for dd. What should we do? Help, can't decide at all!
Originally Posted By mickeynewe If your son has allergies I would definitely try to find an alternate room. My allergies are minor, but I can't handle a smoking room.
Originally Posted By ThreeBittyBoys Oh man! I'm sorry to hear that, but glad I mentioned it. Better to find out now than once you get there and are stuck. Expedia's showing availability and not too bad of rates for some of the further hotels. Is that something you'd consider? I looked at Hilton's website and they're showing two double beds for either $92.65/nt (if you pay when you book, no cancellations allowed) or $109.00/nt (book it, pay later, can cancel). Their self-park is $11/nt, and then there'd be the cost of the ART passes. Maybe try and research for some further hotels who offer free parking and a nice breakfast buffet. Embassy Suites Anaheim South (11767 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove) is on my "to do" list once the boys get a bit older. Reasonable rates, you get a free niiiiiice buffet breakfast, and no parking fee. Another on my list is Residence Inn Anaheim Maingate, aka Marriott Residence Inn Maingate, aka Residence Inn by Marriott Anaheim Disneyland (lol), 1700 S Clementine St, Anaheim. Free breakfast (I think??), free parking, and they say it's a 10 minute walk to the park or you can go with the shuttle.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess We have to be able to walk so I found another "regular" room at the Tropicana for less than the 2 BD suite but still $75 more than PPI-725 vs 665. Should I do it? If I book Tropicana and then cancel PPI, I have to still pay $20. If PPI comes through with a better room and I have to cancel Tropicana, $25 fee-ugh. I never heard anything nice about the tropicana in all these years but have had our terrible stays at Castle and Ramada-really awful-so if tropicana is like those, don't want to do it. Is it okay? At least it is 2Qs and non smoking.
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Well, can't you book the room at the Tropicana and cancel out if the better room becomes available at the PPI? Or, do you incur a penalty at the Tropicana?
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Awww, Mickeynewe, you are so sweet to try and help me but yes penalty to cancel ppi($20) and penalty if I book and then cancel Tropicana ($25)plus I had to pay for first night at PPI already so I'm sure getting that refunded won't be a breeze either. BUT, I found a solution and booked HoJos again. It is a much longer walk in my 6 year olds eyes (and Dh's coming back carrying her!) but so worth it to me to have a reliable nice clean place that we have all stayed in and love. We are just not that willing to take a risk on an unknown and we were really lucky that something opened up at HOJOs. At least I know it will be clean, nonsmoking and 2 queen beds and can even get a rollaway!
Originally Posted By mickeynewe Congratulations! So happy it worked out for you! There is nothing worse than getting to a hotel and finding it unsuitable for you. That happened to us once. We had a reservation and were supposed to have two adjoining non-smoking rooms. Well, all they had were smoking rooms when we got there. When you opened the door, it could have knocked you over the air was so stagnant (Desert Inn & Suites). The management was not helpful at all. At 1:00 a.m. in the morning (we had driven down and hadn't gotten in until midnight) there we were trying to find a new hotel to stay at.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess Thanks to you both and to 3bittyboys because I would never have imagined we would be in smoking. esp. when they did let us choose nonsmoking without any disclaimer. And Mickeynewe, your post about ds's allergies really made me think hard. It would be so difficult for him in a smoking room. We've never stayed in a smoking room and I really can't imagine what it would be like-lol. Kept thinking, how bad could it be? but when I read your post, it really made me reconsider! Thanks so much. At least I learned that you really have to plan far ahead, even if you think you may cancel. Personally I would have picked DH-lol. The kids love it so much and even PP overlooking CA is wonderful but Dh wouldn't let us go so much and still do Hawaii every summer and our ski trip every winter-lol!
