ART or Drive

[dismom22princesses]

We will be staying at the Anaheim Hilton at the end of March and need to know the best way to get to Disneyland. We have a 4-year-old, 2-year-old, and a 4-month-old. How hard is it going to be for us to use ART? We will have at least one stroller with us. I am just trying to figure out if it would be easier to drive to Disneyland each day or take the bus! We have never done either so any advice would help!! I am kind of dreading it because I am assuming the ART buses are the ones that are always TOTALLY PACKED at closing time.

If anyone has ever stayed at the Hilton I would also love to know what you thought of it!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Our experience with ART & having a small child & a stroller is DRIVE!

It was a nightmare for us trying to hold a sleeping 2 yr old & fold up the stroller & hold it & never getting a seat. We always had to stand while doing that & trying to balance. For older children & adults, ART would be fine....but I highly recommend not trying to do it with all your little ones.

 

[PinkBudgie]

With all those small kids I would lean towards driving. But then I am clearly biased against buses there. I swore off those buses years ago. I hate waiting for them, and squishing on. We have driven there the past several trips. AAA gives you free parking if you get tickets from them. I just don't like having to depend on the bus. At least in your car your kids have their car seats and you don't have try to keep track of your kids and your stroller. That's my opinion, anyway.

 

[WannaBeAPrincess]

I think it really depends on how busy that particular ART stop is. By that I mean, how many hotels have to share that one stop. I've had experiences like DizNee Luver described. It was amazing to me how many grown men wouldn't offer up their seat to a pregnant woman carrying a toddler. (Happened a couple of times) I don't know anything about the Hilton, but hopefully someone else can give you some advice. I will say though that driving to the park can take up quite a bit of time and in general just be a pain.

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

Oh I don't know...if you drive then you have to go and get the car...park and jump on the tram...so you might have to squish on there too...

I say take the ART bus!

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

I would drive, getting at least one park ticket through AAA for free parking. I would send DH on the tram to get the car while I waited with kids and stroller at pick up.

 

[dismom73]

We are a family of 5, staying at Residence Inn Garden Grove next week. We are going to drive because I would much rather be on our schedule than anyone elses. There's nothing worse than finishing a long day at the parks and then having to stand around with tired kids waiting for a bus, especially when you have to watch one or two leave full before you can get on one.
I vote for driving!

 

[dismom22princesses]

I think it really depends on how busy that particular ART stop is. By that I mean, how many hotels have to share that one stop.

I just thought every hotel had the same ART route and it ran like a public transportation system. I guess not. Do you have to catch a certain bus or do they all go to the same places?? I am totally clueless when it comes to using ART. We were misinformed about how far the Hilton is from Disneyland but we got a great deal so we still wanted to try this hotel and see how it goes!

 

[WhtMagick]

We don't have kids or strollers and we will never use ART again!!! Our hotel (in 2006 I think) neglected to tell us the busses are down for over an hour for lunch (don't recall the exact time) which meant when we thought we would catch the bus on the half hour we waited almost 2 hours for it. Not happy! When we got to DL, the driver said very clearly "Listen carefully to the rules for getting the bus for the way back!" then proceeded to speak in such broken English that no one on the bus could understand him. Not good! We were much happier with our own car. The price of parking wasn't that much more for 2 people on the bus!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

My cousins were just here this past weekend, and stayed at the Residence Inn Resort (Garden Grove). They opted to drive for the flexibility. They parked a couple of times at the Mickey & Friends, and one time at the Timon & Pumba lot, and preferred that to taking the ART. I tend to agree.

 

[DizNee Luver]

ART is like the public bus system, except each ART bus has a certain route of motels they pick up & return to. When you board, they will tell you what bus you will need to return & there are signs in the bus window that lists the motels they service.
We stayed at the Motel 6 & had 2 other motels on their route. We were the 3rd on the route, so if they were full, they ignored us. One morning we stood in line from 6am till 8:30 before we were picked up. The park opened at 7 & we had ToonTown early entry......we missed it & it was the only day we could have gone. We will NEVER use them again. It was miserable.

 

[WannaBeAPrincess]

I just thought every hotel had the same ART route and it ran like a public transportation system. I guess not. Do you have to catch a certain bus or do they all go to the same places?? I am totally clueless when it comes to using ART. We were misinformed about how far the Hilton is from Disneyland but we got a great deal so we still wanted to try this hotel and see how it goes!

I'm not an expert on the ART by any means, but from my experience, each bus serves a particular route, and where your hotel falls on that route will determine a lot. The bus could already be full from previous stops, etc. They will all take you to DLR. Your hotel will be able to give you specific info. We do use the ART pretty exclusively when we go to DLR now, but we've learned by trial and error which hotel works best as far as ART service is concerned as well as other things. I guess you just never know until you try it. Have fun!!

 

[dismom22princesses]

Thank you for all your help. I just have one more question. If we decide to drive is there anywhere else to park besides the Mickey and Friends parking garage. I have read about a parking lot on Harbor that you just have to walk from. Can anyone help me find the best place to park??

 

[mechurchlady]

The future home of Carsland is still there and there is a tram there is the lot is open so no walking. If you can get past CMs then you would park near Harbor but it is a couple of blocks of walking around DCA. Trams unload on the east side.

 

[noga]

We were there from Wed to Sun night and used ART almost every day.
We have had no issues with it except one single ride on Sat when the bus was packed and we had to stand (not a big deal).
We found that the busses were pretty much on time. We had a big jogging stroller and it wasn't a big deal to fold it. We just did all of that prep work before the bus came.
They do have a lunch hour from 1 to 2pm, but we did get a bus at 1pm on Sunday (so maybe they don't take lunch on weekends).
We also did walk back to the hotel a few times at the end of the day and it was not a big deal. We stayed at Residence Inn Main Gate.

 

[pixiewings71]

We can't stand ART, the busses are too small and almost always full, no one stands to let kids sit, makes us crazy. We drive if we are that far away.