advice on adding an extra night at a different hotel needed

[LisainCalifornia]

Hello,

I am taking my daughters on a girl's only trip to disneyland in a few weeks. We got a really good deal on a room rate (3 nights at Disneyland Hotel) through expedia.com. We are so excited!

I bought my parkhoppers online through the disney website, and since I could get the 5 day parkhopper for the price of 3 days, that is what I purchased.

This started me thinking, though--about leaving a day earlier than we planned and checking into a cheaper hotel for just one night. We are driving down from the Bay Area (so about 6.5 hour drive) and had planned to leave on a Tuesday morning, very early. Then we would check into the Disneyland Hotel by about 2:00, and spend the rest of the day in the parks. The next two days would be park days as well.

But now that we have these extra parkhopper days for free, I thought that it may be a good idea to just check into a less expensive motel for just one night. We would be able to use the parkhopper on monday that way.

But I don't know if it will be a big hassle to check into a place for just one night, only to check out and move to the Disneyland hotel. Has anyone done this? Many hotels are sold out, too--like: Hojos, Farfield, BWPPI. There is space at Park Vue, Carousel, and Tropicana. Which one would you pick? Or would you suggest a cheaper place further way since we will only be there one night?

Hojos does NOT have entertainment rate or availability for the night I would need. (I know some of you were thinking that! )

Thanks for any help you could provide.
Lisa

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I can't comment on those hotels. But since its only for the day you can always ride ART from a further hotel.

As far as packing and moving: I'd pack a small duffel for the first day/night so you won't have to majorly unpack/pack. You can always get up super early the next morning, get over to DLH, check your bags and even get MM (Tuesday right?) if you so choose.

 

[amamax2]

We did that for our trip in May - we stayed at the CCI our first night then moved to PPH for the rest of our stay. It really was not a hassle at all. I packed one small bag with our toiletries, pjs, swim suits and clothes for the next day, and then a second bag with the rest of the clothes. When we got up the next morning, we grabbed breakfast and ate in the room while taking turns showering/dressing, threw the pjs and toiletries in the second bag, and were on our way by 8 am. It took 5 min to drive to PPH. Surprisingly, our rooms was ready at PPH, but if it hadn't we would have had them hold our bag. We were at the parks by opening. It worked out great and gave us that extra day. I say do it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I would definitely do it!

Especially for the reason 3M1M gave, in that you can check out really super-early, check in to DLH (stash bags with Bell Services), and take part in MM!

We once went through hotwire and ended up with Hilton for the same rate as Motel 6 would have been (except we had a car, and therefore had to pay $15 or something like that for parking at the Hilton). Checked in around midnight, got up at around 5, got to PPH, had fun at Magic Morning! (oh, and at checkin got picked as the PPH Big Kahuna Family of the day, which mainly got us upgraded to a suite)

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Okay, so this isn't such a hairbrained idea afterall!

I thought maybe I had crossed the line over to disney-mania in thinking of this new plan.

What you guys have suggested with getting up really early for our magic morning on Tuesday is exactly what I was thinking. Our room likely will not be ready by that time at the DLH, but we could just pre-check in and have them hold our bags, then have the benefit of early entry and a full day at the parks, rather than driving half the day away on that Tuesday.

I will check out hotwire--I have never used them. I get kind of nervous with the bidding without knowing what hotel you are bidding on. Is that what you did bumber?

 

[kim3339]

I've stayed at the BW Anaheim Inn before and that one was nice. It's a little further than Park Vue and Tropicana. Desert Inn & Suites is not bad either. Not sure how close you want to stay. I do know that in recent trips there are people standing on either side of the driveway entrance to Park Vue trying to get passerbyers to listen to time share information. They've been there from pretty much park open to close. So that might be something to think about. It just gets annoying after awhile. I don't think it'll be that bad swapping hotels, I'm doing the same thing next month!

 

[bumbershoot]

I will check out hotwire--I have never used them. I get kind of nervous with the bidding without knowing what hotel you are bidding on. Is that what you did bumber?

It was a bit scary! We had a room booked through hotels.com already, at Motel 6. And then I studied betterbidding.com. Find the hotwire section, then the hotel section, then the Disneyland area section, and read read read. As you get brave and start going into the hotwire site, try to identify the hotel being described. If I recall correctly, the description of the hotel I was being given matched both the Hyatt and the Hilton. Either would have been OK, especially since we weren't worried about visiting the parks from the hotel. It was good to know that it would be one of those b/c they both had nasty parking fees, and I liked knowing that ahead of time. Hotwire has a blurb about how there might be parking fees, but they don't tell you how much...so it's good to be able to check out the websites. So once I had sort of ID'd the possible hotels, I went forward with the booking (final, no canceling, etc etc), and then they told me it was the Hilton.

You know, hotels.com is good too. It's not "blind", and the prices don't go as low as they do with the blind sites, but it could be a good place to check out.

And FYI, the Motel 6 just west of Disneyland is not bad at all. Good reputation. And very recently updated with furnishings and floor; it's all "euro" style now. Just in case they have a room and you don't want to play with those other websites....

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Thanks, Molly! I may try this! Hotels.com had the same deal as expedia for my DLH room--and now those are totally gone, so I guess I got lucky to find those at such a great rate.

I am off to look for some good deals! I figure if we can get some more use out of this 5 day park hopper, then that has to be a good deal in itself.

I can't wait till we go!

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Okay, I got one! We will be staying at Best Western Park Place Inn. I got a room with a king sized bed and pull out sofa, which should be fine for one night with my girls. The girl on the reservation line was very helpful--she told me I could get a better rate with my Costco Card than with the entertainment card, so I will pay 95.00 for the night. I think that is a pretty good deal for being right across the street.

Thanks for your help, guys!

 

[amamax2]

Excellent - have a great time!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

This is a great idea ~ we've done it several times. But I did want to mention about the MM ~ you get one with your PH right.... so if I were you I wouldn't be in such a hurry to check in to the DLH - enjoy the MM and then around 11am check out of your 1 nighter and make the move to the DLH, maybe your room will be ready and you can take a nap. Have fun.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

That is a great suggestion, thanks!

I was honestly a bit worried to add to the trip because I tend to miss home after about 3 nights, but I really think it will help make the most of our park days. We will be waking up there, starting fresh--which is a added bonus. Picking a very close hotel was important to me as well, so that the transition will be quicker.

But best of all my girls are so happy that we are now going a day sooner! They were dancing and happy when I told them last night that we will now have this additional night.