Anybody ever rent a home near DLR?

[ntikos]

I'm starting to do some initial planning on a DLR/Southern Calif trip.

Our family of 5 now needs more room than a hotel. I'm starting to look into renting a home near DLR and was wondering if anybody has done so and what their experience was.

thanks.

 

[thewritegirl]

There are lots of threads on the forum that talk about what hotels to stay at with larger families. There are several hotels nearby that have 2-room suites, and some with kitchens. You may want to look into those, as well.

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

This was posted on this forum:

http://www.disneythemehome.com/

Too far for our taste & too big for a family who prefers NOT to cook while on vacation...but it sure is NEAT!

 

[cmputerdazed]

We wanted to spend some time at the beach so I was looking for rentals at Huntington and the other one that is close by. There were lots of them.

 

[8timesblessed]

Two people told me about frbo.com and told me they stayed in a 6 bedroom and it was really nice. That's all I know about it though, So you could check out that site.

 

[maberlyne]

I was probably one of the one's who posted about the Disney theme house, and it is amaaaazing. But possibly too big for your needs - two master bedrooms with kings (possibly CA kings), and two bedrooms with bunk beds. Actually, the girl room had a bunk bed, a twin bed, and I think there was a trundle under the twin. It really wasn't far, though. Probably too far to walk, but really close. And the owners are amazing to work with.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I agree that you should consider hotels with family suites right across the street from DLR ~ HoJo's might work for your family, Dessert Inn & Suites is liked by many here, even just 2 adjoining rooms @ HoJo's is a possibility ~ Dec. of 08 my kids and I were in a 2 Q room and right next door was my mom & Gma in a 2 Q room ~ each room was $59 per night (ent rate) here's where you can view current availability of the ent rate @ HoJo's ~ http://www.hojoanaheim.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14 *dates are often added last minute, there are other discounts available at all times around 15% off.

 

[ntikos]

thanks everybody for their input so far!

 

[the donut]

We've done it all on separate trips - rented a house, stayed offsite within walking distance, stayed offsite with a hotel shuttle, and stayed onsite. The time we rented a house, we were with the grandparents, and we just thought everyone should be comfortable. It was really great, but we have little kids and only went back to the park half the time after we came back for the afternoon nap (sleep is very important for everyone's mood in our family!). We did make sure we got there at open every day and really felt like we got a lot done. Plus, we obviously go a lot so we weren't concerned with seeing everything. Since your kids are older, I'm sure you'd be much more likely to return every night.

The things I liked about staying offsite included:
Having 2 full bathrooms
Lots of space to run around including a sizeable backyard
A bbq for cooking dinner as well as a fully stocked kitchen (we cooked dinner pretty much every night)
Lots of games and dvds available for the nights we didn't go back to the park

Didn't like:
Driving back and forth from the park - very time consuming compared to just walking over

I found the rental on vrbo.com. If you're interested, I can PM you the listing page. It was a reliable 10 minutes to the Mickey & friends parking structure driving on surface streets (no traffic concerns to speak of) and was really clean (a thing for me) and nice.

 

[ntikos]

We've done it all on separate trips - rented a house, stayed offsite within walking distance, stayed offsite with a hotel shuttle, and stayed onsite. The time we rented a house, we were with the grandparents, and we just thought everyone should be comfortable. It was really great, but we have little kids and only went back to the park half the time after we came back for the afternoon nap (sleep is very important for everyone's mood in our family!). We did make sure we got there at open every day and really felt like we got a lot done. Plus, we obviously go a lot so we weren't concerned with seeing everything. Since your kids are older, I'm sure you'd be much more likely to return every night.

The things I liked about staying offsite included:
Having 2 full bathrooms
Lots of space to run around including a sizeable backyard
A bbq for cooking dinner as well as a fully stocked kitchen (we cooked dinner pretty much every night)
Lots of games and dvds available for the nights we didn't go back to the park

Didn't like:
Driving back and forth from the park - very time consuming compared to just walking over

I found the rental on vrbo.com. If you're interested, I can PM you the listing page. It was a reliable 10 minutes to the Mickey & friends parking structure driving on surface streets (no traffic concerns to speak of) and was really clean (a thing for me) and nice.

Thanks for the info! If you could PM me that would be great.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We are renting a large house across from the Convention Center in June for our large family vacation. But there are 20 of us going (10 adults, 10 kids), so $350 split between 5 families is a fabulous rate! It's walking distance (as long as we cut through GCH), can see the fireworks from the house, each couple gets their own room (only sharing with our little ones), the big kids are sharing a room with bunk beds, and each family has their own bath room!!! For a family of 5, a kids suite may be more economical than a house.