August 20, 2005 - L.A. to Port Canaveral - Eastbound Repo Cruise - The SHIP OF FOOLS

[rae519]

Will talk with Janis per Ivanova (Susan) and as long as the hotel (HI San Pedro) has transportation to DL, we will be there for 3 nights -

I think Grumbo has a good idea - maybe charge $10/head for hotel to park transportation - that way he can have his cruise paid for! I'm taking him up on the REAS, by the way!!!!

Rae

 

[Mom2Belle&PeterPan]

Hi all,

The drive from San Pedro to DL one way is from 45 minutes to an hour and that is without traffic (35 minutes very best scenario). You may want to do your DL stay close to DL/DCA, then transfer to San Pedro the last night. (remembering that Friday afternoon and evening traffic is horrendous here. Dh and I will be happy to map out alternate routes for you all, and if you get stuck, stop by our humble home to wait out the traffic!)

A friend posted on the below threads about DL hotels. I trust her, she's an expert on DL! We've only stayed at the DL Hotel for fun as we are local. Loved the convenience of it. It will be very hot here in August (even with our drier heat), and most would probably enjoy going back to a room or pool for cooling and R&R. I/we recommend the Sierra Tower, DTD view, floor 5 or above. You can see the fireworks at night, it's awesome! You do hear the DTD music a bit, but noise bothers me and this did not. I/we loved it. Next time, we plan to stay on the concierge level as in the end it saves us $. We are lucky and get AP rates though.

That being said, look at this info. for DL hotels from my friend dsnylndmom. Scroll down to the bottom for hotel info.

~~~~
DL HOTELS INFO:

There are a couple across the street. The Best Western Park Place Inn is my favorite is the closest hotel(besides GC)to DL. They have 2 queen beds and a sofabed seperated by a half wall. The rooms are VERY spacious and there is a full closest with doors(great for storing luggage)and there are two spots to park a stroller out of the way. They have a frig and microwave too. You get a continental breakfast at the restaurant next door or strawberry pancakes.

Desert Inn & suites down about 2 hotels and a restaurant, has tons of different floor plans to choose from www.anaheimdesertinn.com they are very basic but the sofabed is in it's own seperate room and they also have a frig and microwave. They also have a continental breakfast. I've stayed at both of these two and Desert is fine, very basic no frills, but I did like Park Place Inn better. (Note from Barbara - only an indoor pool here.)

There is also the Park Inn International 2 hotels down the other direction, they have suites that sleep 6 also have the frig and microwave. I haven't stayed there but I know others that have and they reallly liked it.
~~~~~~~
MORE:

Hotels-the closest offsite motel is the Best Western Park Place Inn. It's a great little place with great staff. You get either a contintental breakfast or strawberry pancakes at the restaurant next door and have a fridge and microwave in the room.

Desert Inn & Suites-different floor plans, frig, microwave and small breakfast (Note from Barbara again - only an indoor pool here).

Carousel-I stayed there 5 years ago and didn't care for it but I hear it's be very nicely refurbed!

Park Inn and Tropicana-Never stayed there but heard very good things about both! Both have fridges and microwaves I'm pretty sure

Hojos-I have NEVER heard a bad report from Hojos but it's a bit more of a walk, not bad about 7 minutes but not right across the street like the rest I listed.

Stay AWAY from-
Castle Inn & suites
Del Sol
Park Vue
Fairfield
All are dumps!!!

~~~~~~~

Hope this helps! Hey, let's all get together to ride Soarin' Over CA, and then ride the the Grizzly River Rapids, then the Matterhorn, and Indiana Jones, and you must see our It's a Small World.......!!!

Barbara

 

[TDC Nala]

Already worried about the fact that I need to fly in either overnight on the 19th or on the day of the 20th. How can I know if I need to book a hotel at the port or not? yikes.

 

[Bmwdsny]

Originally posted by Mom2Belle&PeterPan
Hi all,


I/we recommend the Sierra Tower, DTD view, floor 5 or above. You can see the fireworks at night, it's awesome! You do hear the DTD music a bit, but noise bothers me and this did not. I/we loved it. Next time, we plan to stay on the concierge level as in the end it saves us $. We are lucky and get AP rates though.

Barbara

Barbara,

I will be using DVC points to stay in one of the DL hotels. Do you know anything about Paradise Pier?? Is DL Hotel the best of the 3?? I probablry won't be staying at the Grand Califorian since the points are high to stay there so it is really a choice of DL hotel or PP. You recomended the Sierra tower?? I heard from another source that the Bonnita tower is good too. Which is better?? What is the difference between the 2 towers?? I never stayed at a concerige level, what exactly is that??

Grumbo,
keep me posted about the car rental business, any good deal, good car rental companies...... I need a minivan from approx. 8/8/05 either from LAX or John Wayne airport (depending which airfare is better), to dropping off in San pedro, which we are staying at the Holiday Inn (with all of you crazy folks, LOL!!) on the 19th or are we better off dropping off the car back at the airport (to avoid drop off fees) and get a shuttle to the hotel...

the Partridge Family bus looks good!! I am with Kpgclark, regarding getting to the port early and such...

 

[izzinmac]

We are planning on arriving in LA on Wednesday and hooking up at DL with my oldest son and his family who live in Northern California. Years ago when the kids were young we used to spend vacations every year at DL, so this will be a mini homecoming for us. We used to stay at HoJo when it was a new hotel. For sentimental reasons I wanted to stay there again, but was afraid it would not be the same all these years later. Looking at it on MousePlanet, it looks every bit as nice as it was way back then, and prices are still reasonable. For anyone looking for more than just a motel, reasonable prices, and beautiful grounds, check it out. I'm not a HoJo fan, but this was an exception years ago and still looks good according to reviews and pictures. Prices look like they will be around 80-100 per night. Transportation wise we will rent a car and have my son drop us at the port Saturday before he heads to the airport to fly home.

 

[Scratch42]

Originally posted by rae519
Checking with Buckaroo's Dad to see what his plans are - can't get enough of Steve's wit and humor!!!

Rae

OMG!

If we added Buckaroo's Dad humor to this thread, we would all be wearing Depends!LOL



Scratch


PS As of right now we are staying at the GC starting the Wednesday prior. As the time gets closer will try to set up a DisMeet for those of us not lucky enough to be staying at the HI!

 

[twhipple]

izzinmac - we just got back from HoJos at DL about 2 months ago. They hotel was nice, new pool too (you can see the fireworks from there), but just make sure you don't get a king room. The rooms with one king bed that are in Building 1 overlook the freeway. It was very loud every night. We had to turn up the fan in the room to drown out the sound. Other than that, it was a nice walk to the park and a nice place to stay.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Barbara,

Thank You so much for the hotel info!!! I have been craving any input on the "off property" hotels near DL. I've been checking the AAA book and the Unoffical Guide to DL plus Birnbaums book and I'm going crazy!!! Thank you for all your help!!!

Lynda

 

[kpgclark]

Do you guys think we should start a thread with just info about the cruise? I'm glad we have this thread to chat but it will really be difficult to locate the information such as hotel and port after we add another few hundred pages. We could team up with the W. bound repo cruisers and begin a thread with just information posted sans chatter. What do you think? I'd love to have everything in one place so it would be easier to find.

 

[wide awake]

Mississaugamom,
A friend just returned from AllStars and said it was horrible, she would never stay there again...I've stayed at Candy Cane and that was fine so know at least that one is a better deal than AllStars. Her complaints on AllStars were that the beds were full instead of queen, very chintzy with the towels, maid service very slow and did not respond to requests, and that the buses were not nearly as prompt for the value resorts as for the deluxe. We had none of those problems at the Candy Cane.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Originally posted by kpgclark
Do you guys think we should start a thread with just info about the cruise? I'm glad we have this thread to chat but it will really be difficult to locate the information such as hotel and port after we add another few hundred pages. We could team up with the W. bound repo cruisers and begin a thread with just information posted sans chatter. What do you think? I'd love to have everything in one place so it would be easier to find.

Well, I started the Yahoo group for the chatters, but no one uses it. If you think you can start one that will be info only, have at it, but bear in mind people like to chat!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Originally posted by TDC Nala
Already worried about the fact that I need to fly in either overnight on the 19th or on the day of the 20th. How can I know if I need to book a hotel at the port or not? yikes.

Get a hotel reservation at the Holiday Inn, if you don't need it cancel it later, but by having it now you are guaranteed a room if you have to come in early. Better to have it and not need it than not have it and have to share with Grumbo.

 

[ivanova]

Originally posted by Scratch42
As of right now we are staying at the GC starting the Wednesday prior. As the time gets closer will try to set up a DisMeet for those of us not lucky enough to be staying at the HI!

I've been scoping out some locations for a possible onsite DIS meet for those not staying at the HI in San Pedro. Once we have an idea of how many people will be on-property Aug 19th, a location can be chosen.

 

[izzinmac]

twhipple,
Thanks for the HoJo info...especially the King Bed rooms in Bldg 1. We really want to stay in one of the older courtyard rooms (2 story bldgs), since that is what we used to enjoy. Do you know off hand how they identify them. Was probably going to book on line when they become available and noticed some rooms designated "no attractions view - pool view" or "no attractions view- garden view" I'm assuming those are in the courtyard bldgs.
Bob

 

[Bmwdsny]

Originally posted by kpgclark
Do you guys think we should start a thread with just info about the cruise? I'm glad we have this thread to chat but it will really be difficult to locate the information such as hotel and port after we add another few hundred pages. We could team up with the W. bound repo cruisers and begin a thread with just information posted sans chatter. What do you think? I'd love to have everything in one place so it would be easier to find.

i agree!!! Now that it is getting closer to exactly one year before the sail and we folks are going to go nuts planning the airfare,(although i think airfare is 10-11 month before) hotels, car, etc.....We should have 2 sections, one for general chatting and the other for specific vacationing planning....

kathy, look for my PM....

 

[Denine]

WOW! Tons of hotel info. Thanks. We don't know what we are doing yet.

 

[invaderzim]

Wrong thread

 

[dletz]

Living less than 20 minutes away I've only ever stayed at GC and only because they were offering great CM rates after the xmas party and my daughters birthday was the next day so we decided we'd go to the party, spend the night at GC and spend her birthday at DL. This year if we get good rates, I may try it again at one of the other hotels for her birthday.


Paradise pier just underwent a complete redecoration/remodel? They've revamped the pool and put in a slide, so now all 3 hotels have a slide. DL hotel has 2 seperate pool areas, the other hotels only have 1. Sierra tower overlooks downtown disney and you can see DCA/DL from there, if you're on the West side of the building. East side faces the pool. Its wider North and south (with rooms facing East and West) and has no rooms on the north and south ends. This is the Eastern Tower.

Bonita tower is the southern tower, its wider side runs East and west (meaning most of the rooms either face north or south). I'm pretty sure they do have some rooms at the ends that face East and West but I could be wrong. I know that if you're on the west end of the building you get a good view of Fantasy waters. South view will be some smaller buildings and the parking lots. North view will be the fish pond, pools, etc. West view (if there are rooms there) will look towards the wedding gazebo and Downtown/DCA.

The building with the lobby the rooms face North and south. North faces the parking lots and parking structure, south faces the neverland pool.

Paradise pier has most rooms facing East and west. West rooms have a DCA view, East rooms face pool, parking structure and parking lot.

GC faces all different directions. Some face the street and paradise pier, others face paradise pier area in DCA, other face the pool and you can see either Grizzley area or PP area in DCA. Others face a small courtyard that the monrail goes through. Some in the courtyard also face towards Downtown disney and you can see DLs fireworks from here. Still others overlook right out onto downtown disney.

 

[Jazzman]

Press Release source: JGE, Inc.


JAZZ/GRUMBO ENTERPRISES LAUNCHES LOW-COST CRUISE EXCURSIONS


July 14, 2004 11:15AM EDT


Jazz/Grumbo Enterprises, Inc. (herein referred to as JGE) is proud to announce the first in a new series in low-cost cruise excursions. This set of adventures is designed to reduce the financial strain of cash-strapped cruisers who have already committed themselves to an expensive cruise and wish to save money while still getting a taste of the excitement of normal excursions.

In a phone interview from his Canadian headquarters, the head of JGE said of the initial offering: "There are many cruisers out there who want to take their families on glamorous excursions. But having already invested thousands of U.S. dollars (and of course much, much more if they are paying in Canadian funds) for cruise fees, they find themselves in a position of having to choose between not taking a cruise at all, or else taking the cruise but remaining quietly on board while wealthier passengers get to participate in these wonderful adventures. Well, this will no longer be the case. Today we are introducing our first low-cost excursion, patterned after the very popular “Swim with the dolphins” packages. Since dolphins are expensive to feed and maintain, we have been able to offer approximately the same experience in our new “Swim with the jellyfish” package at a greatly reduced price.”

Company officials indicate that for a fee of $99.99 (US), a person can sign up for a 30-minute encounter with a large number of one of the world’s unique creatures. In addition, they receive a prepared lunch including a (small) serving of California Zinfandel wine, and a medical kit including bandages, aspirin, and Bacitracin. The excursion includes transfers from the ship to the muddy pool where the passenger will get to swim with hundreds of jellyfish, sea cucumbers, Portuguese Man ‘O Wars, and other exotic invertebrates.

About JGE

Founded in 2004, JGE is intent on offering gullible cruisers the finest cruise experiences that limited money can buy (while maintaining a healthy profit for the company). Offerings to date include the “Real Expensive Aphrodisiac Stuff” (REAS) which includes sauna, surreal mud-bath, wine, and other valuable amenities.

 

[mississaugamom]

As one of those "cash-strapped" Canadians, I'd better sign up! Do you take Canadian Tire money???

Arlene