Best Hotel for Location

[Saskiwi]

Yes - I love hitting those big drugstore supermarket places - soooo cheap, even with our exchange rate!

And we also have fun wandering the aisles of your average US supermarket (don't laugh!) looking at crazy convenience foods we don't get here but have heard about via The Simpsons or on a million sitcoms (cheese whiz, pop tarts etc)

We've told the kids we will stop at a supermarket before we check in to Hojos, and they can choose the trashiest, sugariest box of cereal they can find for hotel room breakfasts while we're at DL (again, something we don't really have so much of in NZ - thank goodness, I guess!)

Tragically, DH and I are looking forward to a Cinnabon - have you tried them? mmmmmmmm...

Will post a trip report when we are back and down off our sugar-high!

 

[Flea]

Have a fantastic trip Saskiwi - Can't wait to read a trip report from a kiwi's prospective

I'm looking forward to the supermarkets almost as much as I'm looking forward to disneyland.

 

[Zeebs]

Me too, I am looking forward to a kiwi report.

You should have seen my husbands face after I went shopping at Walmart. I have a thing for ribbons I had rolls and rolls of the stuff at Christmas time.

Kirsten

 

[Saskiwi]

Don't know if you have decided on your accommodation yet Kiwitink, but I have just discovered the wonderful discussion boards on the Hojo Anaheim website - if you are thinking of staying there, have a browse - it gives you details on every class of room, amenities etc, plus they seem to have incredibly helpful staff who answer nearly every post!

There are even links to Flickr so you can see gazillions of pics of the place - right down to what products they stock in their hotel gift shop!

If only every hotel had such a great facility for those of us who like to know what to expect when we check in!

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

Don't know if you have decided on your accommodation yet Kiwitink, but I have just discovered the wonderful discussion boards on the Hojo Anaheim website - if you are thinking of staying there, have a browse - it gives you details on every class of room, amenities etc, plus they seem to have incredibly helpful staff who answer nearly every post!

There are even links to Flickr so you can see gazillions of pics of the place - right down to what products they stock in their hotel gift shop!

If only every hotel had such a great facility for those of us who like to know what to expect when we check in!

No, haven't decided on accommodation yet as there isn't any real hurry. I just wanted to get an idea of cost etc to do up a budget. I'm expecting the next trip (to LA) to cost considerably less that our last trip to WDW (Orlando!)

Thanks for the info, I will have a look. It will just be my friend and I travelling with no children. (we are just a couple of 40 off year old kids ourselves!)

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

Me too, I am looking forward to a kiwi report.

You should have seen my husbands face after I went shopping at Walmart. I have a thing for ribbons I had rolls and rolls of the stuff at Christmas time.

Kirsten

Kirsten, if I told you how long we spent in Walmart in Orlando, I think you would think we were crazy!

Jen

 

[Flea]

Me too, I am looking forward to a kiwi report.

You should have seen my husbands face after I went shopping at Walmart. I have a thing for ribbons I had rolls and rolls of the stuff at Christmas time.

Kirsten

Oh this will be me too - I made some friends on a disney sewing thread on this forum and they go shopping for me so i have a nice collection of disney fabrics and ribbons to make some fun things with

I'm also a knitter so I've been hunting down yarn shops - there is a gorgeous one in Santamonica and would you believe - we had plans of hiring a car and going there


As for accommodation - if you haven't set a date yet then look for off season (is there such a thing anymore) as you'll get things cheaper. My friend is in the travel industry and she stayed at the Annabella last time and has also stayed at Hojo's - she liked both but as we are travelling with kids she said Hojo's was the way to go. I believe the Annabella is further to walk. How close do you want to be to the park?? Do you mind walking??



Do you know how good it is to chat to kiwis I'm sure when I chat with some of my friends here they think we are being a bit extravagant with the current economic climate but the truth is we have been planning and saving this trip since early 2006, I'm not ready to give up on our dream just yet.

 

[kiwitravel]

We finally made the heartbreaking decision to defer to 2010. Made all the harder by the great special Qantas had ($1099 return to LA). In the end it was just too difficult as we had one frequent flyer seat and three paid seats, and the USD/NZD just didn't improve enough.

On the positives though the world of colour will be open so DCA will look a little better, hopefully the dollar will be back up to where it should be and we are planning to come back via Fiji and have an extra week there.

We will book our trip in August/September so everything will be a lot more organised and planned, it is our last big family holiday as my eldest DD will be 18 and we are really looking forward to it.

 

[Flea]

We finally made the heartbreaking decision to defer to 2010. Made all the harder by the great special Qantas had ($1099 return to LA). In the end it was just too difficult as we had one frequent flyer seat and three paid seats, and the USD/NZD just didn't improve enough.

On the positives though the world of colour will be open so DCA will look a little better, hopefully the dollar will be back up to where it should be and we are planning to come back via Fiji and have an extra week there.

We will book our trip in August/September so everything will be a lot more organised and planned, it is our last big family holiday as my eldest DD will be 18 and we are really looking forward to it.

2010 really isn't that far away and I'll be wishing the dollar up for you
Think of all the extra savings you can have between now and then for shopping

 

[platypus67]

My DD13 and I stayed at the BW Anaheim Inn for three nights back in October and found it to be quite good. Our flight arrived at 7am so we were at the hotel by 9am. They gave us a room straight away which was much appreciated after the long flight. The rooms were clean and the staff friendly. It is nice and close to restaurants and the park entrance. We are planning a trip in Oct and although we have booked at The Desert Inn and Suites because I managed to get a better rate, we may change to BW if the aussie dollar improves.

 

[Zeebs]

Kirsten, if I told you how long we spent in Walmart in Orlando, I think you would think we were crazy!

Jen

Go on, lets see if I can beat it. Mine wasn't as long as I wanted given we had two small children in tow.

Oh this will be me too - I made some friends on a disney sewing thread on this forum and they go shopping for me so i have a nice collection of disney fabrics and ribbons to make some fun things with

I'm also a knitter so I've been hunting down yarn shops - there is a gorgeous one in Santamonica and would you believe - we had plans of hiring a car and going there


As for accommodation - if you haven't set a date yet then look for off season (is there such a thing anymore) as you'll get things cheaper. My friend is in the travel industry and she stayed at the Annabella last time and has also stayed at Hojo's - she liked both but as we are travelling with kids she said Hojo's was the way to go. I believe the Annabella is further to walk. How close do you want to be to the park?? Do you mind walking??



Do you know how good it is to chat to kiwis I'm sure when I chat with some of my friends here they think we are being a bit extravagant with the current economic climate but the truth is we have been planning and saving this trip since early 2006, I'm not ready to give up on our dream just yet.

They just have a huge variety of stuff in the US, even more than we have in the UK.

Now is the perfect time to go, how is the economy to recover if we stop spending....... so you spend up large

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

Go on, lets see if I can beat it. Mine wasn't as long as I wanted given we had two small children in tow.

They just have a huge variety of stuff in the US, even more than we have in the UK.

And they have even more that we have in little old New Zealand! It's so much fun, isn't it! Well Kirsten, since you asked...... (it's a little embarrassing.....) but we spent 5 and a half hours! We did have lots of kids we were buying for etc..... honest!

 

[Zeebs]

Go on, lets see if I can beat it. Mine wasn't as long as I wanted given we had two small children in tow.

They just have a huge variety of stuff in the US, even more than we have in the UK.

And they have even more that we have in little old New Zealand! It's so much fun, isn't it! Well Kirsten, since you asked...... (it's a little embarrassing.....) but we spent 5 and a half hours! We did have lots of kids we were buying for etc..... honest!

ha that is so funny, I hope it was a super Walmart and not just a normal one!!!!!! I thought we were doing well at 2 hours with the kids, although I could have spent longer. I plan on this next trip to do some shopping trips ON MY OWN.

Kirsten

 

[kiwitinkerbell]

ha that is so funny, I hope it was a super Walmart and not just a normal one!!!!!! I thought we were doing well at 2 hours with the kids, although I could have spent longer. I plan on this next trip to do some shopping trips ON MY OWN.

Kirsten

I know! We had no children with us and my friend is the shopper from you know where!!!! Yes it was a super Walmart.