Disneyland with 2 kids and grandparents; accommodation, ticket, and itinerary help

[happy2beamom]

We are going to Disneyland April 21 -28. This is going to be the kids first trip (3 and 5 1/2). There will be 4 adults and 2 kids.

Where do you recommend staying on a budget? We were hoping to be within walking distance to save on parking. ETA: We also want to be able to go to and fro if the kids needed a break in the day (ie. a nap or downtime).

Where is the best place to purchase park tickets? Is there a discount to buy in advance? or at the gate? We were thinking 3 day hopper passes i think. The kids won't be able to do full days i don't think.

What else should we do? We want to go to a beach (at the kids request). And mostly want it to be relaxfulish as much as possible.

 

[skiingfast]

Staying close or far to save on parking is a little odd. Many of the close places charge in the $4-$10 range. The further locations, near the convention center almost all do, 8-15 is common. Stay close to be able to walk to the parks, it will make it easy to do a midday break if your must.

With those little kids you may want to go to the Hojo(get the DIS rate), and on the non park days use the pool, it has a great splash play area for kids. Other hotels across from the parks will be convinient too, somce have simple breakfasts.

For tickets go to Disneyland.com and buy etickets. They are $15 off right now. You print out the confirmations and take them strait to the gate where they exchange them for your actual ticket.

With those kids I would suggest a day trip to Legoland, perhaps a night down there may work to, SD has lots of beach options. You may want to start with two days down there.

 

[soaringirl]

How sweet! Your kids will enjoy so much, and you will enjoy when you see those little faces brigth up!
I'll stay at the HoJo, they have great rates if you have an Entertainment Card, you can see the rates directly on their website. Park Vue Inn is also highly rated on TripAdvisor, you might check that one too, I'm sure the experts will give you their opinion soon... do you want to stay all in one suite? or are you going to split between 2 rooms? There are several motels (as Park Vue) across the entrance, HoJo is more hotel-like.
To buy the tickets you can go directly to the disneyland website, pretty easy to use (do that all the time!), they have a $199 special for your dates (though check the blockout dates), for a 3-day parkhopper.
Good luck!

 

[happy2beamom]

Staying close or far to save on parking is a little odd. Many of the close places charge in the $4-$10 range. The further locations, near the convention center almost all do, 8-15 is common. Stay close to be able to walk to the parks, it will make it easy to do a midday break if your must.

With those little kids you may want to go to the Hojo(get the DIS rate), and on the non park days use the pool, it has a great splash play area for kids. Other hotels across from the parks will be convinient too, somce have simple breakfasts.

For tickets go to Disneyland.com and buy etickets. They are $15 off right now. You print out the confirmations and take them strait to the gate where they exchange them for your actual ticket.

With those kids I would suggest a day trip to Legoland, perhaps a night down there may work to, SD has lots of beach options. You may want to start with two days down there.

Sorry, i thought that parking would be close to $30 a day - close to what it is where we live. I thought $30 a day savings would be huge.

I tried the HoJo site but it is having issues right now (tried calling the reservation number after getting repeated error messages). I guess i'll have to look at that later. What is the DIS discount? Do i need a code?

How sweet! Your kids will enjoy so much, and you will enjoy when you see those little faces brigth up!
I'll stay at the HoJo, they have great rates if you have an Entertainment Card, you can see the rates directly on their website. Park Vue Inn is also highly rated on TripAdvisor, you might check that one too, I'm sure the experts will give you their opinion soon... do you want to stay all in one suite? or are you going to split between 2 rooms? There are several motels (as Park Vue) across the entrance, HoJo is more hotel-like.
To buy the tickets you can go directly to the disneyland website, pretty easy to use (do that all the time!), they have a $199 special for your dates (though check the blockout dates), for a 3-day parkhopper.
Good luck!

I don't have an Entertainment card. I'll have to check with my mom to see if perhaps they do.

We were going to do whatever room option was the cheapest. We also didn't know if perhaps a rental would be best for us?

 

[mabdallah]

If you want to book through HOJO just call them directly there have been many conversations on here calling directly to the hotel vs calling the 1-800 number. I think its 714-776-6120, you can ask them about the dis rate or even the entertainment rate. At the HOJO u do not have to pay for parking and it is about a 8- 10 min walk to the main gates. We always rent a car to go the beach our faviorte beach is Huntington, we always have to eat at the end of the pier i think its called Ruby's. Three days should be enough for your family and you can take a break in the afternoon at the hotel. HOJO does not have a breakfast so keep that in mind, if you love breakfast and want something at the hotel this might be a deal breaker for you.

 

[skiingfast]

I don't have an Entertainment card. I'll have to check with my mom to see if perhaps they do.

We were going to do whatever room option was the cheapest. We also didn't know if perhaps a rental would be best for us?

What the poster above said about calling direct is the best thing to do. Just ask for the DISboard member rate. If your call is picked up by someone at the hotel verse the nation call center they will know what to do. It's 15% off.

Don't worry about the entertainment card, there are no rooms available at that rate anyway.

If you need cheap, call try the Ramada Maingate. Better than average pool with some kid friendly features, better than standard cold breakfasts, close and usually has very good rates for a close hotels.

There are a lot of rental options all within a walk from the gates. Compare the rates you may get a better weekly rate than a 2 day rate. You will definitely need a car for going to a beach but not the days at DLR.

 

[coaches24]

http://printfreemaps.com/maps/freedisneylandareamap.pdf

Here is a map of the hotels near DL. I used it to look up each one and find the one that fit what I was looking for. We are staying at the Desert Palms our next trip. Havent been there before but seems ok from what I have read.

Last year we stayed at the motel 6 anaheim maingate with our then 2 year old. Its a little bit of a walk (15-20 minutes with stroller) but it also has a free shuttle to and from DL (though we didnt use it).

As for your kids making it through the day I guess it depends on the day. My DD at 2 went all day (riding in the stroller mostly) and then passed out in the stroller between 8:30 and 9:00 each night. She slept through F! and WOC on consecutive nights after falling asleep shortly before they started. We did not return to the hotel during the day at all. When we wanted a break we found a bench or table out of the way to sit down for a while. We also found that when we did the ride swaps that was a good break time as well for both us and our DD. We took water and snacks in with us and only ate lunch and dinner in the parks (and one breakfast at the Plaza Inn Minnie and friends).

But Im one that likes to go all day and then some. By myself I could go from opening to close without an issue. My DW and FIL werent quite as gun ho as I was but they still lasted a long time. My DD for being that young is like me though. We call her the terminator because she never stops. If you make her lie down she will fall asleep, but if you dont then she will go all day.

 

[Tgl2011]

We booked at the park vue for the week before, it is suppose to be right across the street from the entrance and has a free hot breakfast and even a simple supper for free, we thought that would save us some money! Good luck!!

 

[farmgirljen]

I reccomend the del sol...it is reasonably priced, closer walk to the park than the hojo, and has rooms that have 2 queen beds and a bunk bed....we stayed there last fall and while certainly not fancy, it was more than adequate and worked well being so close. has a pool, but nothing like the hojo pool. Have a great time!

 

[happy2beamom]

So, i guess we must be late to the game. The HoJo, Park Vue, and Del Sol are all booked during that week for a room that would accomodate us all. I hadn't really wanted to book 2 separate rooms, but maybe that is what i'll do.

Otherwise i'll just keep looking on that map at the hotels and then contact to see if they have any openings.

 

[chttyangel]

I like the Anahiem Plaza Hotel and will be stay here for the 3rd time next month. If your going to spend allot of time at your hotel and in the pool; then yes....go with HOJO. We spend as much time as possible in the Parks and DTD thou and it works great for us. Good rates, clean, walking distance. It is just older.

 

[mrs.ariel]

we stayed in a suite at the Carousel Inn and Suites with 4 adults and 2 kids. Clean, comfy, cont. breakfast, walking distance.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Did you try Desert Inn?

 

[starshine514]

We like the Desert Inn & Suites when my parents are along. With that many people (and the age variances), it's important to stay w/n walking distance so everyone can come/go as needed. We're also considering the Del Sol for our May trip (I actually have 3 ressies made for that trip, one at the DI&S (4 queens) if everybody goes, one at the Del Sol (2 queens and bunkbeds) if just we and my parents go, and one at Hojo if just we go).

I would recommend checking all the hotels along Harbor (between Manchester and Katella)'s sites individually (external websites often only purchase one or two room types, while the hotels themselves may have more types available on their individual website) and also be open to getting two rooms.