How cheap are you...would you do this?

[Todd&Copper]

I would wait until I had enough money to vacation the way I wanted to vacation. No freakin way would I stay in a hostel.

ITA! Even if it meant one nice vacation every 2 or 3 years, I would not under any circumstances stay in a hostel.

 

[nataliela]

Is it $15 for all of you to stay there a night or $15 per person?




I wouldn't do it either way- esp. with children...just trying to get a clearer picture of the cost

 

[westjones]

I would not do it. Just give yourself more time to save up (or find other ways to save money through out the year so you can afford a hotel).

Honestly, I would rather save up for a couple years and go back to WDW rather than go to Disneyland. We have been to DL twice and enjoyed both times, but it can not compare to WDW.

Good Luck,
DJ

 

[LilGMom]

Haven't you ever seen the movie "Hostel"?!?!?!

While I think it might be fun (aka adventerous or interesting) as a young adult I wouldn't stay there with children.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I've stayed in plenty of hostels throughout Europe when I was in college. Thinking back now...I clearly wasn't thinking at the time You have no where to store your stuff (which means that you sleep holding onto your purse!) And by sleep I mean the couple of minutes that you let your eyes close from shear exhaustion. You don't actually want to sleep with strangers in your room.

 

[lillygator]

no way would I do it.

 

[jenm2878]

I'm sorry if this has been brought up already, but isn't there usually an age limit on using hostels? If I remember correctly, the ones we looked into in Europe were for people under the age of 25. I think that is usually pretty standard to have an upper age limit.

 

[momof2disneybabies]

No,I couldn't do that. I would put the money you'd spend towards a budget WDW trip.

 

[Buckleigh]

I have stayed at hostels all over the US and Europe and never had a problem. Yes, being male has something to do with it. Many hostels had NO other occupants in them while I slept. Many hostels offer male rooms only, female rooms only, co-ed rooms and there are even "family rooms" in some hostels. Go to Hostels.com and you can do some comprehensive research on hostels in the area you want to stay at. In addition to low cost, I found hostels to be very enlightening. Meeting people from all over the world. I'll never forget a night in DC discussing American baseball with two young women from China, a young man from England and others...part of the experience of traveling is open yourself to new experiences and I'll prolly never have that experience again.

 

[lntsmom]

Uh, no .. but ..

I just scheduled a Disneyland trip because the price couldn't be beat. My kids' schools just reinstated a short Oct. break (21-24, a Tues - Friday + Sat and Sun of course). Flights from Denver to LAX were $69 each way, and I got the Entertainment rate for the Hojo's for $59 / $74 - we took the $74 - could have done the $59.

Come over to the Disneyland board, and you'll see lots of great tips and ideas.

I'll come back on over there! I keep trying the Mousesavers rate, and even this week it was coming up at around $110 a night! I guess I need to come back to the Disneyland boards and get the inside scoop!

BTW...to all who questioned, the hostel was at an outreach of Stanford and the whole family would have been in the same room...so we would have had half the room. Yes, we would have had to take our things with us each day, but that would just be part of the adventure, lol!

 

[lntsmom]

I have stayed at hostels all over the US and Europe and never had a problem. Yes, being male has something to do with it. Many hostels had NO other occupants in them while I slept. Many hostels offer male rooms only, female rooms only, co-ed rooms and there are even "family rooms" in some hostels. Go to Hostels.com and you can do some comprehensive research on hostels in the area you want to stay at. In addition to low cost, I found hostels to be very enlightening. Meeting people from all over the world. I'll never forget a night in DC discussing American baseball with two young women from China, a young man from England and others...part of the experience of traveling is open yourself to new experiences and I'll prolly never have that experience again.

Ah, someone else who embraces adventure! Once, when I was about 10, I convinced my aunt to book us on Grayhound cross-country from St. Paul to Colorado Springs...instead of flying as planned. Why? For the adventure!

One of the best experiences in my life was waiting in the foyer at the Stepenwolfe in Chicago, trying to get the cheapie day-of tickets for a friend and I to see Picasso at the Lapin Agile on New Years Eve, 1993. You couldn't have asked for a more diverse, more interesting, and more fun group of strangers! I even ended up being invited to the after-party for the cast, which we passed up to spend midnight at a bar with a bunch of salty older folk, lol!

I've traveled on my own nationwide since I was 9 years old. I taught in the inner city for 10 years, so those people who freak most of you out are folks I rubbed shoulders with daily.

Not that you can't meet interesting folk at the 5 Star joints, but there is a certain color and charm that you can only experience if you're willing to chance going off the beaten path!

 

[kelleigh1]

Nope. Wouldn't do it. We know we can't go again until 2011 and we're just dealing with it. We're working on paying off debt and that is our light at the end of the tunnel. That is what we're focusing on. We know that if we want to go we need to get the debt paid off completely and save enough to go. So we're going to do that. And in the meantime, I'll bury myself here and read trip report after trip report to live vicariously through other.

 

[bumbershoot]

An offshoot of Stanford, eh? I'll keep searching. I'm so curious!

I once went to the DC July 4th fireworks by myself. Took Metro in, the whole bit. Met the most fun group of people! Would never have happened if I had been with others.

Definitely come over to the Disneyland side, we'll help ya out.

 

[ShellChelle]

DH, the kids (3), and I HAVE stayed in a hostel while on vacation, and had a wonderful time. We've stayed several times in the family room in a hostel on Martha's Vineyard. However, that is the only hostel I would take my children to. I wouldn't take the chance of staying with kids in a hostel in CA.

I agree with mostly everyone else who says to keep searching for rates through online discounters. Or, postpone the trip. We just pushed our WDW back 4 months in order to allow for more time to save and pay off the trip.

 

[iwannago!!]

JMO,
Adventure & Safety are 2 different things. I teach my kids 'stranger = danger', but they are little people. I want them to be afraid of strangers so that they don't wind up someday taking candy from the nice man driving the box van!!! If it was you and a friend going to stay in a hostel, more power to ya! There are plenty of nice & safe hostels. The kids, OTOH, would be much safer in a hotel room - with a lock on the door. Again, JMO. As a mother of 3 myself, I cannot imagine even trying to close my eyes myself while my kids slept in a room with complete strangers all around us. I would be worried sick & probably replaying the movie "Hostel" in my head all night long....

I hope that you find the bargains that you are looking for and can have a nice trip.

 

[thomas998]

Okay... lets assume you save 50 bucks a night on the hotel... hey, I'll give you $100 a night savings... BUT consider that there are any number of other expenses you might incur doing that that you wouldn't by staying in a normal hotel... Lice... bed bugs.... Meningitis... or the emergency room stay after you or someone in your party is raped... or the cost of a casket and associated funeral expenses because you were killed in your sleep so someone could take your sneakers.

Yeah... you saved a lot on that one.... not.

 

[DevilDuckie]

I could imagine the atmosphere in a hostel becoming positively hostile

.

Thank you.

 

[mrsklamc]

This could be taken as snarky but I am totally serious. Maybe you and bumbershoot's family could share a room. There'd be six of you- the whole room. And while I wouldn't typically advocate sharing a room with someone you meet online, I'll take DIS strangers over random ones any day. Besides, Bumbershoot's been around awhile and has always seemed pretty normal.

 

[Imzadi]

Hmmm...

Savings on Disney trip staying in hostel = $400
Amount for years of therapy after staying in hostel = $7,000
Advice on The DIS for warning in advance, to stay elsewhere! = PRICELESS

 

[RunDanceSkate]

I have stayed at hostels all over the US and Europe and never had a problem. Yes, being male has something to do with it. Many hostels had NO other occupants in them while I slept. Many hostels offer male rooms only, female rooms only, co-ed rooms and there are even "family rooms" in some hostels. Go to Hostels.com and you can do some comprehensive research on hostels in the area you want to stay at. In addition to low cost, I found hostels to be very enlightening. Meeting people from all over the world. I'll never forget a night in DC discussing American baseball with two young women from China, a young man from England and others...part of the experience of traveling is open yourself to new experiences and I'll prolly never have that experience again.

As a family of 4 we have also stayed in hostels all over North America and Europe. We have never shared a room with anyone else, always getting a 4 or 6 bed room. The rooms have lockers to store your stuff. You can lock your room as well. The washrooms are down the halls but they have always been very clean. Breakfast is often included and introduces you to local foods. It is so nice in the evenings to wander down to the lounge and watch tv or chat with people from all over the world. The youngest I can remember my DD being is 8 the first time, and DH was 44 last summer when we backpacked Europe. You do have to select them as carefully as you do any hotel.

I once spent an hour taking photos of my kids playing wizards chess on a giant outside board with the sun setting in the Swiss Alps. Not once did anyone walk into the photo frame, or try to interrupt their game, try doing that at a "normal" hotel.

We love bed and breakfast places too but rarely are they a cheap place for a family of 4.

We have stayed at University dorms as well but find them noisier and the beds horrible.