Has anyone used ART to/from Hojo?

Angrose · Mar 30, 2015

I am considering a stay at Hojo in June, just me and DS7. I think the walk will be just a little too far for DS7, but he will LOVE the water play area. There is an ART stop there. Has anyone ever used it? It's so close to the DLR entrance I was wondering if HoJo is one of the first stops. It's kinda hard to tell on the ART route map.

keltiesmom · Mar 30, 2015

It really isn't a very far walk, it might feel that way at the end of the night but otherwise he should have no problems. That is if he is of average mobility anyways. It's probably only 10 mins.

pennym · Mar 31, 2015

We tried using ART but honestly, it was so hopeless. There is no fixed timetable, despite them saying when it is going to come, it's rare that they do come at the given times. Quite often if the bus is already full, they skip HoJo completely. On the way back it's usually really full, so you have to wait for another one. Once we caught it back in the middle of the day, and instead of doing the whole route, they went straight to HoJo which was great for us, but what about people waiting to get on at all the other hotels? It's just not well run, I wouldn't waste your money. HoJo is the last stop to be picked up or dropped off at for your info.

NannyBeBe · Mar 31, 2015

We always stay at HoJo. We have never found the walk to be a problem, even for the grandkids when they were younger. In the morning, they were excited about going to DL and in the evening they talked all the way back about their day, so the walk seemed easy.

ajrwdwgirl · Mar 31, 2015

I stayed there a couple years ago with my niece who was 7 at the time and the walk wasn't bad at all. Probably about 10 minutes at the most. She was used to staying at Disney World and she made the comment that the walk was a lot shorter than some of the walks from the bus stop to the hotel room at WDW. If you are taking a break during the day for the pool and a maybe even a nap that should help with the walking as the break should reenergize you.

cp11 · Mar 31, 2015

I don't think ART is hopeless. We have stayed at the HoJo but our main place to stay is WM over by Gardenwalk. We use ART every trip and love it. We are on vacation, so we don't have that rush rush can't wait feeling and my husband loves the feeling of letting someone else do the driving and he likes to just park the car and not worry about it.

I have also used ART when staying at HoJo after my mom fell and it was going to be a lot for her to walk that extra. I think it's just personal preference as I have found some people are really disenchanted with it and some do not have a problem with it, like us. This trip I ended up pre-buying our tickets through www.getawaytoday.com for a little cheaper rate.

I will agree with the above posters though and say the walk is not bad and it might surprise you.

SnowBelleAlice · Mar 31, 2015

It's a very doable walk, consider a stroller for your guy, depending how 7 he is, if he turns 8 a month after your visit he'll likely be alright without, barely 7, strongly consider one, my DD's Disney stroller for several years was a Mac Volo.

Angrose · Mar 31, 2015

Thanks so much everyone for your input. He is very capable of walking, but we do need afternoon breaks and the back and forth, especially after a long day, will get to him. Usually he will whine enough for DH to carry him for a little while, but there's NO WAY I could do that!
After posting this last night I started thinking about renting a stroller. No judgment please. Thank you SnowBelleAlice for confirming that I am not completely crazy for considering this! He will be 7 and some change, not close to 8 yet. We won't need it in the parks, just to/from Hojo, so I can see us just parking it somewhere and grabbing it on our way out. I just want us to have a nice, fun, non-stressful trip, and without DH I will need all the help I can get!

dotfurio · Mar 31, 2015

We usually stay at Hojo and use ART. The walk to DL isn't far but we like to save our youngest's energy for the park. The ART back to the hotel is our only option unless we want to carry her the whole way. I don't think we waited more than 20 min either way. Can't remember the exact number of stops but it seems like it was less stops until the park and more stops until the hotel. I've never been skipped at Hojo, though I could see during peak crowd days why that might happen if Hojo is near the end of the route.

SnowBelleAlice · Mar 31, 2015

I think you'll appreciate a stroller, from 5-7 DD would stroll to, and from the parks, and from land to land *area to area in the parks* I'd park it once we got to an area we'd plan to spend time in, grab it and go when we moved on. A stroller is most valuable for the trek back to your hotel, Disney is exhausting!

GatorChris · Mar 31, 2015

HoJo isn't a bad walk, but it's not great either. Actually, the ParaPier is about the same distance when going to DL. I can't imagine, though, waiting for 10-15 minutes for ART to show up when we could already be there at the gate. As for a stroller, my 7yo DS did just fine going back and forth for 7 days on our last trip. We have a stroller for our 3yo and probably will until about 5yo. For DLR, it's so small that a stroller for anyone older doesn't make much sense. Now at WDW, that's a different story. We did strollers until my oldest was 7yo there. Definitely needed. But not at DLR, in our opinion.

Angrose · Mar 31, 2015

Follow-up question... has anyone used the Disneyland Resort Express to/from SNA/Hojo? How long does it take? I'm guessing an hour since it needs to make other stops first. I would like to avoid renting a car, but I would consider it, especially if the bus takes forever. At least parking is free at Hojo!

keltiesmom · Apr 1, 2015

In California you will need at least a booster seat for your little one so if you plan to rent a car don't forget to pack the booster. If you take the bus you don't need the booster seat, for this reason alone we will be using the bus. We have 4 kids and all of them are still in booster seats and car seats

we rented a stroller from city select stroller rentals in 2013, they were great to work with!

Angrose · Apr 1, 2015

keltiesmom said:
In California you will need at least a booster seat for your little one so if you plan to rent a car don't forget to pack the booster. If you take the bus you don't need the booster seat, for this reason alone we will be using the bus. We have 4 kids and all of them are still in booster seats and car seats we rented a stroller from city select stroller rentals in 2013, they were great to work with!

Yes, he uses a backless booster in our car so we would bring that with us. I've also heard about the Bubble Bum, a portable blow-up booster, but I would need to make sure it meets CA regulations. It does say it meets Federal standards though.

nolenbelledavis · Apr 2, 2015

Angrose said:
Yes, he uses a backless booster in our car so we would bring that with us. I've also heard about the Bubble Bum, a portable blow-up booster, but I would need to make sure it meets CA regulations. It does say it meets Federal standards though.

I think the Bubble Bum is great in theory, but not great in practice. We have 2 and bought them for DL trips (flying from OK). The air seems to leak out, so it's not really like they are on a booster any more. I think it's worth just bringing a backless booster, they are really small. You can gate check them too.

Angrose · Apr 2, 2015

nolenbelledavis said:
I think the Bubble Bum is great in theory, but not great in practice. We have 2 and bought them for DL trips (flying from OK). The air seems to leak out, so it's not really like they are on a booster any more. I think it's worth just bringing a backless booster, they are really small. You can gate check them too.

Oh, that's good to know. I think I'll just bring the one we have then. After some cost comparisons I was able to get a good price on a car rental, so we will go that route. It will be nice to have that flexibility and not be tied to a bus schedule.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Thank you!

bumbershoot · Apr 2, 2015

We gave up afternoon breaks long before 7, because they are exhausting. Naps make us more tired. So does swimming. We realized that we would rather decide to be all done early and go to the hotel for the rest of the evening, rather than doing a break.

HoJo isn't a far walk at all. Cross Manchester, then cross Harbor right there and walk along the park side. Easy peasy.

SnowBelleAlice said:
my DD's Disney stroller for several years was a Mac Volo

Same.

GatorChris said:
I can't imagine, though, waiting for 10-15 minutes for ART to show up when we could already be there at the gate.

Same.

Angrose said:
Yes, he uses a backless booster in our car so we would bring that with us. I've also heard about the Bubble Bum, a portable blow-up booster, but I would need to make sure it meets CA regulations. It does say it meets Federal standards though.

Bubble Bum is fabulous. Totally fine for CA, it's just a backless booster. The regulations for CA mean how old/big the kid is and what he needs, not what the seats are. We didn't have a problem with the BB losing air; if we had, I would have contacted BB and talked to them about their faulty equipment! Weighs less than a pound and it was DS's responsibility to carry, either in his backpack or in his hand (in the included pouch).

wannagoback · Apr 4, 2015

I'm pretty sure the parking lot is further from the park entrance than the HOJO is. Unless you're going to ride the parking shuttle... walking from the HOJO is a much faster trip than driving in would be. We've stayed at the HOJO three times now. The second trip, my 6.5 YO got tired legs a few nights. Last trip, the two oldest were 8 and almost 10 and neither had any issues with the walk at all. A car could provide some other benefits, but you should give walking a try first

Angrose said:
After some cost comparisons I was able to get a good price on a car rental, so we will go that route. It will be nice to have that flexibility and not be tied to a bus schedule.

keltiesmom · Apr 6, 2015

nolenbelledavis said:
I think the Bubble Bum is great in theory, but not great in practice. We have 2 and bought them for DL trips (flying from OK). The air seems to leak out, so it's not really like they are on a booster any more. I think it's worth just bringing a backless booster, they are really small. You can gate check them too.

the bubble bum passes the crash test even while deflated to it is still safe to use if the air happens to leak out. I would contact bubble bum though as that should not happen. Booster seats are designed to position the seat belt only which is probably why it is still considered safe when deflated.

jina · Apr 6, 2015

We stopped taking our stroller with us on our last trip when DD was just over 5 as she announced she no longer needed it. She was fine with the walk - 2 round trips per day + walking in the parks and DTD. I do think the walk from our Poly room to the monorail stop at WDW was longer than the walk from HoJo's to DL.

Yes, we carried her a few times throughout the day for a couple minutes a shot but all in all she was fine. We also take a fair amount of breaks while at the park (dining, snacking, resting) as we are "old" parents (late 40's) so that may help w/ her endurance :crazy2:

I like your strategy re: stroller - it's always nice to have as a backup. And if for whatever reason you find after a day it's not needed, no big deal to leave it at the hotel. I do miss the stroller storage while in the parks!

The last time we stayed at HoJo's (just before Christmas) the ART stop had a bag over it so it was not even a stop anymore -unclear if that was temporary.

We're renting a car this time even though it will probably just sit in the HoJo's lot the whole time. Turned out to be cheaper to do that than to take a cab round trip. We'd never consider parking in a DL lot when staying at HoJo's - as others said, HoJo's is closer than the parking lots (at least the parking lot we'd get to park in for free using our AP).

Has anyone used ART to/from Hojo?

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