Considering last-minute hotel change

[mel2014]

I am heading to Disneyland for a quick two-day visit next week, arriving Sunday night and leaving Wednesday morning with my 64-year old dad and my two kids, 6 and 8. My dad isn't a huge Disney fan and is mainly coming along as a favor to me, since my husband has limited vacation time. His one hotel request was that he have his own room.

I got a great deal several months ago at the Best Western Plus Raffles Inn and Suites for a two bedroom, two bath suite ($390 for the three nights, including taxes, fees and parking).

However, now that our visit is approaching, I'm having second thoughts about the distance from the park. I'm not a hotel snob at all, so I'm not as concerned about mixed reviews of the hotel. My kids definitely still need a mid-day break and my dad just finished chemo treatment and while he's generally a trooper and a go-go guy, I can tell he's still weak. My plan has been to take the shuttle to and from the Toy Story lot, but I also have small booster seats for my kids (Bubble Bums) that I'm packing so that we can take Uber if we decide to do that.

My other options at this point would be:
(1) A three-room suite at Desert Inn and Suites (2 rooms with two beds and bathroom, plus a living area with a sofabed) for $730
(2) A two-bedroom suite at Camelot Inn and Suites for $620 (I'm not as inclined toward this one, as it only has one bathroom, my kids would have to share a bed (or I would have to sleep with one of them), and there's no breakfast).

Is the closer distance to the park worth an extra $300 for a short two-day visit?

For references, on our last three trips we stayed at Desert Inn, Quality Inn and Suites on Manchester, and HoJos, so I've always been fairly close.

 

[Aladora]

I am heading to Disneyland for a quick two-day visit next week, arriving Sunday night and leaving Wednesday morning with my 64-year old dad and my two kids, 6 and 8. My dad isn't a huge Disney fan and is mainly coming along as a favor to me, since my husband has limited vacation time. His one hotel request was that he have his own room.

I got a great deal several months ago at the Best Western Plus Raffles Inn and Suites for a two bedroom, two bath suite ($390 for the three nights, including taxes, fees and parking).

However, now that our visit is approaching, I'm having second thoughts about the distance from the park. I'm not a hotel snob at all, so I'm not as concerned about mixed reviews of the hotel. My kids definitely still need a mid-day break and my dad just finished chemo treatment and while he's generally a trooper and a go-go guy, I can tell he's still weak. My plan has been to take the shuttle to and from the Toy Story lot, but I also have small booster seats for my kids (Bubble Bums) that I'm packing so that we can take Uber if we decide to do that.

My other options at this point would be:
(1) A three-room suite at Desert Inn and Suites (2 rooms with two beds and bathroom, plus a living area with a sofabed) for $730
(2) A two-bedroom suite at Camelot Inn and Suites for $620 (I'm not as inclined toward this one, as it only has one bathroom, my kids would have to share a bed (or I would have to sleep with one of them), and there's no breakfast).

Is the closer distance to the park worth an extra $300 for a short two-day visit?

For references, on our last three trips we stayed at Desert Inn, Quality Inn and Suites on Manchester, and HoJos, so I've always been fairly close.

If you have stayed at the Desert Inn and Suites before, call the hotel and ask about a returning guest rate, you might be able to get option 1 lower than $730!

 

[mel2014]

If you have stayed at the Desert Inn and Suites before, call the hotel and ask about a returning guest rate, you might be able to get option 1 lower than $730!

$730 is actually a really good rate for that room -- right now, if I booked directly through their web-site, it would be $961.80 for the same room. I'm not sure why Booking.com had it so cheap (I pre-emptively went ahead and booked it and can cancel until Friday), but I doubt the returning guest discount would be over $200.

 

[Aladora]

$730 is actually a really good rate for that room -- right now, if I booked directly through their web-site, it would be $961.80 for the same room. I'm not sure why Booking.com had it so cheap (I pre-emptively went ahead and booked it and can cancel until Friday), but I doubt the returning guest discount would be over $200.

Fair enough...but it never hurts to call and ask!

 

[gottalovepluto]

No personal experience with your hotels but just a thought- with a short visit your time and energy are more valuable than on a long visit. (On a long visit you can take an extra long swim break, leave the parks earlier than planned if you get tired or even arrive late one morning if you're extra tired- but on a short visit you don't have that wiggle room in your schedule.) Personally, on a 2 day trip I would absolutely not waste any more time transiting to & from the parks than my budget required me to.

 

[smartlabelprint]

If your kids like pools Camelot is superior. You can get breakfast for less than the difference and desert inn breakfast is gross IMO.

 

[mel2014]

If your kids like pools Camelot is superior. You can get breakfast for less than the difference and desert inn breakfast is gross IMO.

I don't think we'll be using the pool on this trip. On Sunday night we will be coming from a day at Raging Waters, then on Monday and Tuesday I envision either being at the parks or napping/eating during the breaks. The breakfast at Desert Inn and Suites worked okay for us last time. The kids like hard-boiled eggs, so we did that plus milk as a get up and go and then brought our own peanut butter to make peanut butter and jelly bagels to take into the parks for a mid-morning snack. But the Raffles does have a full hot breakfast, which was one of the things that was initially appealing about it. I wish the bathroom at Camelot was at least a "jack and jill" to avoid barging into the other room to use the bathroom.

 

[bumbershoot]

With this trip I would stay closer and pay more.