Advice on April DR visit, Motel stay - thanks!

[MrsMears]

Hi Everyone! My husband and I are returning to Disneyland in APril and I've made some travel decisions that I hope are based on some logic. I was hoping to run them by you group of connoisseur for your advice, if you don't mind?

We will driving from Sacramento to arrive at our hotel by 10PM on Thursday April 26th. We are staying at the Motel 6 at the Disney Maingate, checking out around 3PM on Sunday April 29th. We chose the Motel 6 because our dog will be coming with us and can stay in the room for free. Also, because the rooms are refurbished with seemingly good reviewes, for a mere $56 and $66 a night, with an ART stop at the hotel. We will be purchasing 3 day park hoppers, turning them in on the last day to buy premimum annual passes, paying one outright and putting one on a payment plan.

Questions:
Any idea what the crowd prediction might be during this three day visit? I am confused as to which prediction is the most accurate and our on last trip we had a LOT of people in the park on Feb 15th! Not that it matters too much, since my husband said - "I don't care if it's crowded, I just want to be at Disney"

Which would be the best day to do MM? Saturday? Do we recieve an early entrance into DCA with our park hopper passes?

Being it will be our first time at Downtown Disney and DCA, what are the must see attractions for both? Aside from World of Color which sounds amazing, we can't wait!

Which would be the most logical morning to get Mickey Mouse pancakes? (every morning? )

I have read a lot of good reviews about the Motel 6, but most users of this board don't seem to use that hotel. Why is that? At the rate of sixty dollars per night, my husband and I can return to Disney at least once a month, so we are really hoping this is a great option for us.

Okay, I think that is all of my questions for now. Thanks so much everyone!

 

[coaches24]

I can talk about the motel 6 as I stayed there in Jan 2011. It was decent and I would stay there again. I think the main reason it's not used by many on here is the location. We (DW, DD 2 at the time, FIL, and myself) walke to and from the parks and it is quite a hall after all day in the park. I know they have a shuttle but we never bothered to find out how it works (probably worth looking into next time). Staff was very friendly and set us up with a room facing DL so we could see the fire works without us even asking. The beds were fine we had no issues sleeping. The bathroom doors were weird and don't lock (only an issue because we had a curious 2 year old) or stay closed on their own very well. But really the only real issue was that the non smoking room we had smelled of cigarettes. I think it's because people smoke outside in the hallway. DW bought some air fresheners she has read about from target down the street and it got rid of the smell. Even after all day in the parks we didn't smell it anymore after the first day. We didn't use the pool (it was Jan when we went after all) but I looked at it and it was your basic pool. Nothing special but I'm sure it's fine in the summer.

Oh we also had a smoke alarm with a low battery beep when we first got in the room but we called down and within 10 minutes they had a guy there fixing it.


Crowd wise you should miss spring break but you are going on a weekend so Fri and Sat will likely be somewhat busy but probably not too bad. You probably don't have to worry too much about it but you always want to be smart about when you go to busy rides. We did our MM on Saturday and it worked out fine. Hit SM 3 times in a row and did other rides. Star tours was closed then so we didn't get a chance to do that, otherwise we would have been on that as well for MM. Make sure you do PP in fantasy land as ell early as it gets a long line most of the day and night.

I don't know much about DTD but in DCA my must do's are Soarin, grand river rapids, and TOT. We missed toy story last time by mistake but it's on our list for next trip. Also some new rides like Ariel's is open now and I've heard it's good.

 

[MrsMears]

wonderful info, thanks so much!

 

[94bruin]

Which would be the best day to do MM? Saturday? Do we recieve an early entrance into DCA with our park hopper passes?

Being it will be our first time at Downtown Disney and DCA, what are the must see attractions for both? Aside from World of Color which sounds amazing, we can't wait!

AFAIK, DCA doesn't offer early entrance at this time.

Don't forget to see Aladdin in DCA. Well worth your time!

DTD is full of shops & restaurants. Not sure if there is a must-see there, other than the main Disney store. It's easy to meander in and out of different shops. No waiting involved.

 

[skiingfast]

Which would be the best day to do MM? Saturday? Do we recieve an early entrance into DCA with our park hopper passes?

Being it will be our first time at Downtown Disney and DCA, what are the must see attractions for both? Aside from World of Color which sounds amazing, we can't wait!

Which would be the most logical morning to get Mickey Mouse pancakes? (every morning? )

With your 3 day hopper you have one Magic Morning Credit to enter DL on either Saturday or Sunday. I suggest Saturday so you can get another hour of sleep on Sunday. Others suggest Sunday because less people go from being tired staying up Saturday.

There is no Magic Mornings at DCA. Though similiar, DCA opens at 9:30 but only a small section where you can ride Soaring and get WoC Show Passes. At 10am a rope will drop letting you into the rest of the park.

In DCA see Toy Story Midway Mania, ride Soaring, California Screaming. The Monsters's Inc and Little Mermaid Dark Rides. Turtle Talk and other things in the animation building.

 

[CamoMama]

I must second Aladdin, it's really a great show, and it's slightly different every time as the genie is played by a different actor who ad libs many of the jokes. Hilarious.

Turtle Talk is great if you've got little ones; it's fun to watch as an adult as well, but it's really awesome for kids. If you like roller coasters California Screamin' is one of the best I've ridden.The Grizzly River Run is a great water ride, prepare to get soaked. The zoetrope at the animation studios is one of the neatest things I've seen, make sure you check that out. I haven't done Toy Story Mania in California yet, but it can't be much different than the one in WDW, which was one of my favorite rides at DHS. Oh, and while not a thrill ride, the Golden Zephyr is really neat, and the view is lovely.

Thanks for bringing up Motel 6. It hadn't shown up on any of my searches and I hadn't yet booked a room for my May trip. It totally slipped my mind that it was even there. Since it's just me and that trip is actually for a job fair and I'm trying to save money, Motel 6 is absolutely perfect.

 

[coaches24]

Here is a trip report I did that includes pictures of my room at Motel 6 and probably has more details as well since I posted it soon after our trip last year.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2646065

 

[DisneyMomma81]

DD & I spent 2 nights at that Motel 6, we used our feet *well mine, DD strolled for that visit for the walks from and to the hotel and took mid day breaks. It was a little long but not bad, I wouldn't mind it at all if we stayed when park hours were 10am-8pm *no need for a mid day break, but we haven't visited with hours like that for a while.