ART - hassle?

[disney4cam]

We are a planning a trip in late Nov/early Dec with my bil and his family. They want to stay in a suite, so they are willing to sacrifice location for the bigger room at a better price. They are thinking Hampton or Embassy.

We are used to staying close - GCH, PPH, and Carousel. I love having that 5-minute walk back to the hotel to change, rest up, whatever. We were planning on the Camelot this time.

My question is about how much of a hassle the shuttle is. Do you find yourself standing a while, possibly barely missing a shuttle? Or does it run so frequently (every 5 mins or so) that it's not an issue?

We've never been ones to hang out in our room, but sil thinks we may want to put the kids to bed and hang out. We usually just go to sleep when the kids do, since we are so wiped from being in the park all day. But, we aren't sure how it will be traveling with more than just our little family.

I hope that all makes sense. Thanks for your help!

 

[specialks]

GREAT question! I need to know this as well. We are going the 2nd week of Dec and staying at the RI Resort Area to get a 2BR/2BT with bunkbeds. It is nice to watch tv and hang out after the kids are in bed.

In addition to disney4cam's question about the hassle -- if you are listed first on the route does that mean you are picked up first and dropped off last or picked up and dropped off first?

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

Hi there- Desert Inn and suites- is right across the street- its very nice and has spacious floor plans too choose from. Also - if you can afford it- traveling with another family- assuming you will all be sharing the same room? The Residence Inn would be perfect as well. But for Residence Inn- you would need to take ART . The embassy and the Hampton- are cramped rooms- they say its a 2 bedroom- but really its 1 bedroom and a seperate living area. So after the kids fell asleep- not much room left to hang out in. but anyways- to answer your question about ART..... its a hassle. trying to time your shuttle pick up and drop off is annoying IMO... its a waste of time as you will be finding yourself making your daily plans around the pick up and drop off times- when you can just walk across the street. Have fun choosing though- its half the fun in planning your trip!

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

Also if I had to take the ART- and I couldnt afford the Residence Inn- there are 2 locations too choose from- I would try out the Hyatt Regency Orange County. Looks real nice!

 

[disney4cam]

Just wanted to add that we aren't staying in the same room. We considered DI&S, but would rather have our own rooms, plus the parking situation worries me. The price isn't all that fabulous, unless you do share a room, IMO.

The reason I am asking is because we may just tell them that they can stay in a suite and we'll stick with a hotel on Harbor.

Also, is the shuttle fee per trip, or per day?

 

[tdashgirl]

I don't like ART - it is a huge hassle IMO. The times don't always work for me, sometimes there are long lines, if you have a big family it gets expensive! (It's per person....) When we stayed at the Embassy, we found it was easier and cheaper to drive in and pay for parking at DLR. Which I didn't love either - thus we always stay in a hotel that's within walking distance. That's #1 priority for me.

 

[tinksdreamwishes]

The Art has multiple plans. The cheapest would be to buy a 3 day plan- some hotels have a kiosk in the lobby to buy tickets. There is also a location at Disneyland to buy tickets.

I also wanted to add- that the Art drivers take afternoon breaks for lunch- so make sure you ask your driver everyday what time they will be closed. Once we had to wait an hour. It was awful. And you waste alot of park time going back and forth to the park and hotel. Esp if you just missed the ART because it came early. LOL. Also- keep in mind that the ART will make you take out sleeping babies in strollers to get on the bus. Which is also a pain!

 

[pixiewings71]

We found ART to be a bother so we try to stay close or we drive and park. But when we were going we had AP's and had parking on them so parking was "free" for us. We found the shuttles were always overfull, we had to stand most times we rode or we were told we had to wait for the next shuttle, the driver's lunch was 2 hours which really messed us up if we wanted to take a pool break. For us it just wasn't worth it. I would stay closer or just drive personally.

 

[DanT]

we used ART last October during the big crowds and had no problems coming or going...We were over by Garden Walk at the LaQuinta.
Bus was always on time or a bit early and we never had a problem getting on...
a bit crowed going back late at night, but that is to be expected...
It is a shuttle Bus, not a personal limo
Our next visit we plan on bringing our RV again and staying at one of the Anahiem RV parks...and then we will probably use ART to get to and from the Parks...

 

[nsiordia]

We've used the ART many times from many different hotels and we've never had a problem.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I say stay where you want and have them do the same, all we do is sleep and get ready at our hotel/motel and we very much prefer to be within walking distance.

 

[sportbettor]

I also wanted to add- that the Art drivers take afternoon breaks for lunch- so make sure you ask your driver everyday what time they will be closed. Once we had to wait an hour. It was awful. And you waste alot of park time going back and forth to the park and hotel. Esp if you just missed the ART because it came early. LOL. Also- keep in mind that the ART will make you take out sleeping babies in strollers to get on the bus. Which is also a pain!

We had this happen to us a bunch of times also, but a couple of months ago when we took ART they said they used relief drivers now so there's no lunch break. But it might be just because it was summer also.

And to the person that asked about the routes, they drive a circular route so the first one picked up is the first one dropped off on the way back.

 

[Mister Toad]

We had this happen to us a bunch of times also, but a couple of months ago when we took ART they said they used relief drivers now so there's no lunch break. But it might be just because it was summer also.

And to the person that asked about the routes, they drive a circular route so the first one picked up is the first one dropped off on the way back.

I have always stayed at either the Marriott or Hilton near the convention center and I never could bring myself to use the ART. I just am not the biggest fan of being on a buses time table. I have just walked every time, but then again, no kids makes that possible.

 

[JH87]

I stayed in the holiday inn, i have no idea what street it was on, but it was not near DLR at all! So we had to use the shuttle. It was great, the shuttle was on time, plenty of seats, the kiosk was right in the hotel parking lot for us to buy our $4 a day ART tickets. We got picked up on time at DLR as well. Great experience with route 12! (i believe it was route 12 lol).
This was in March.

This August we stayed a bit closer to DLR, on Katella in a cheap but nice little place called America's Best Value Inn-Fatasy Inn (something like that). It was only about a 10-15 min walk to the park but we decided to use the ART one day and that particular route was TERRIBLE!! They didn't show up on time during the afternoon, the bus was ALWAYS full, and they picked up people at the WRONG terminal at the park! (I think it was route 16 and they decided to pick up people in line for route 1 instead!!) all of us waiting at the bus terminals in the correct spot were sooo mad! We ended up just walking back that night.

So, i guess it depends on which route you have. I have had a good and bad experience with ART.

 

[DahliaRW]

We used ART when we went a couple of years ago. We got a good rate on a 2 bedroom suite at the Residence Inn in Garden Grove. The ART bus for that hotel only picked up at one other and then went straight to DL. It worked well for us. The only issue is that they don't pick up early enough for early entry, so you have to get there another way (we drove that day).

 

[andymattmom]

We stayed at Residence Inn a few years ago and took ART...NEVER again! In the morning it wasn't bad...leaving park in middle of day it wasn't bad- guess we hit these times with not many other people wanting to leave. The issue was at night when everyone was leaving. People would line up nicely (there were no ropes or chain "lines" in the ART queue then (it might have changed by now)...you would get an ART bus there...doors would open and people would get off (if any one)....people at front of line would try and start to get on and people would just come storming up and push and shove (worst culprits were stroller people who would block everything and then take child out). People were so rude ...my kids were smaller then and I was afraid. After the 2nd day of this we drove to Disney and paid for parking (at the time we had gotten ART free as part of a package). IDK if it has changed now but I just remember leaving the park and it being terrible- don't understand how people can't wait in an orderly line...but guess they were the same ones who "held" places in line, pushed people out of way or arrived late at parade/Fantasmic and expected to stand in front of others who got there earlier or who had one person sit and "save" 10 seats while everyone else rode the rides! It might have changed but when we went this year we stayed at GCH and when we go back we will stay at a hotel within walking distance. Know some people have no option but to use ART and maybe it has changed so there is some order of a line...think they even opened 2 doors on the bus (front and back).

Good luck and have a fun trip~

 

[Eeee-va]

I think ART only has lunch breaks in the "off-season" (or possibly "not-summer"). Unfortunately, your trip is likely considered off-season regardless.

The stated schedule for ART (at least in summer) is every 20 minutes. I'm not certain if that changes during off-season. Since the last tram currently leaves at 12:30 AM when Disneyland closes at midnight, presumably that means there are only 2 trams per route after park closing. So if you like to shut the parks down, ART may not work very well.

All that said, if you DON'T mind getting to the parks later/leaving earlier and are patient, ART might work for you. My mom has fibromyalgia and found even a walk from a "walking distance" hotel to be too far, so she would take ART and meet up with us later. She was fairly satisfied with ART. That said, it would most often be 30+ minutes from the time she said she was waiting for ART, to the time she arrived, and I believe our hotel was at the end of the route! (To answer another question, I THINK the last hotel listed on the route is the last to be picked up in the morning and the last to be dropped off at night.)

 

[Brady's Mom]

When we first started going to DLR as a family about 4 years ago, we would stay in Garden Grove and drive and park. It worked out alright, and we didn't know any better.

After we discovered the joy of staying on Harbor and walking to DLR we thought we would never go back to driving.

When we went to DLR last April we stayed in a suite that was not w/in walking distance and figured we would just take ART. Our ART shuttle did NOT come every 20 minutes as it says on the schedule - it came every 30 minutes. We HATED having to be reliant on a bus schedule. When we were ready to leave the parks we never knew what time the bus had come and how long we were going to be waiting.

We did have a good experience with our bus driver who held onto my cell phone for me when I dropped it on the bus and then met me when she came around again to DLR. DL CM's at City Hall were super helpful, too and were willing to call the ART dispatch and talked to the driver who confirmed that I did drop my phone.

Having done all three transportation modes at DLR I would highly recommend walking. We've also traveled in big groups before (3 different families) and I like having my own hotel and my own space and not having to "check-in" with anyone before I go anywhere.

I would suggest that you just keep to your regular DLR routine and meet up with your extended family at designated times. That way, if they are not early park people and you are, you're not mad because you missed the best park touring time. Then, you have a great vacation and share it with someone close to you, but you are not disappointed in your trip if it doesn't go the way you like it to.

 

[specialks]

Thank you everyone for your advice. The route for our hotel has only 1 other hotel and ours is listed first. We have stayed offsite and driven for our previous 2 visits but wanted to avoid the whole parking garage/tram line up. Last year we walked from the garage because the tram lineups were horrible. And then you have the people with strollers (we have a huge one too) who put it next to them and take up 2 or more seats and waste shuttle space -- we sit across from each other and put our stroller between our legs so we aren't taking up bench space with a stroller. Sorry to ramble, but that drives me nuts. Anyway, I had planned to buy a 5 day ART pass but now I think I will buy a 1 day pass and give it a try then buy more if we like it and just drive if we don't. Thanks again for all the opinions/tips. Maybe one day we will stay onsite or in walking distance. With my mom coming with us we really need a suite and we like to save money on lunches by having a kitchen in our suite. My husband "requires" a free breakfast and won't settle for less. He and our kids both start the day better with a full belly. While we can afford to stay onsite -- I guess the shuttle/parking situation isn't bad enough to make me want to spend so much more to get no free breakfast and less space in our room. When we go in Dec I will have to take pics and keep logs of our ART experience to share with everyone.

 

[pixiewings71]

I understand you want a suite, but keep in mind most of the hotels on Harbor DO have a free bfast, the only one I know for sure that does not is the HoJo, oh there's another one a bit farther down....I've blocked the name from my memory, it's not the Carousel but it does look like a castle, don't stay there, it just sucks majorly. LOL