DLR Hotels.. WHICH one? *UPDATED*

[MaxnElliesMama]

Thank you all so much!

We are leaning DLH if we swing it, as well! I LOVE how Disney it feels.

They have a special running, if we stayed Sun-Thu..

So HELP me here, LOL!

Our options are!

A) 6 nights at HOJO in 2 bedroom kid suite.
2/27-3/5, 5 days in the park- 2/28-3/4
arrive in afternoon of 2/27, settle in walk around DTD get dinner, 5 days in park, check out of hotel AM of 3/5 and head to airport for flight.

B) 5 nights at DLH in a deluxe view room.
2/26-3/2, 4 days in the park. 2/26-3/1
arrive in morning of 2/26, either early check in or just drop off bags and head to park, then 3 more days, and check out on Thursday 3/2 leave and head to airport, after checkout!

HELLLLLPP! What do we choose?!?!?!

 

[nottellin']

Thank you all so much!

We are leaning DLH if we swing it, as well! I LOVE how Disney it feels.

They have a special running, if we stayed Sun-Thu..

So HELP me here, LOL!

Our options are!

A) 6 nights at HOJO in 2 bedroom kid suite.
2/27-3/5, 5 days in the park- 2/28-3/4
arrive in afternoon of 2/27, settle in walk around DTD get dinner, 5 days in park, check out of hotel AM of 3/5 and head to airport for flight.

B) 5 nights at DLH in a deluxe view room.
2/26-3/2, 4 days in the park. 2/26-3/1
arrive in morning of 2/26, either early check in or just drop off bags and head to park, then 3 more days, and check out on Thursday 3/2 leave and head to airport, after checkout!

HELLLLLPP! What do we choose?!?!?!

What if you did a standard view? The view type used to be really important to me until the last time we went. We ended up in Standard view because of bedding (we needed the sofa sleeper) but we could still see the fireworks from our room.

And the time of year you are there, I don't think there are fireworks every night.

Just a suggestion.

But if I had to choose between your scenarios, I would pick DLH

 

[Aladora]

***ETA #2-- We would stay at DLH! These would be our stay options:

A) 6 nights at HOJO in a 2 bedroom kids suite.
2/27-3/5, 5 days in the park- 2/28-3/4
arrive in afternoon of 2/27, settle in walk around DTD get dinner, 5 days in park, check out of hotel AM of 3/5 and head to airport for flight.

B) 5 nights at DLH in a deluxe view room.
2/26-3/2, 4 days in the park. 2/26-3/1
arrive in morning of 2/26, either early check in or just drop off bags and head to park, then 3 more days, and check out on Thursday 3/2 leave and head to airport, after checkout!

What do we choooooooose?!?!?

What about a combo of A and B? How much would 6 nights at DLH in a standard view be? I'm always pro more days although to be honest, the 2 bedroom kids suite sounds like it might be a better fit for your family.

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

What if you did a standard view? The view type used to be really important to me until the last time we went. We ended up in Standard view because of bedding (we needed the sofa sleeper) but we could still see the fireworks from our room.

And the time of year you are there, I don't think there are fireworks every night.

Just a suggestion.

But if I had to choose between your scenarios, I would pick DLH

The view change only saves us $74, worth the nicer view, to us!

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

What about a combo of A and B? How much would 6 nights at DLH in a standard view be? I'm always pro more days although to be honest, the 2 bedroom kids suite sounds like it might be a better fit for your family.

The cost of the 6 nights at HOJO in a 2 bedroom suite, is $1737 with 5 day park hoppers, it brings the total to $2984

The cost of the 5 nights at DLH in a Deluxe view room is $1593 with 4 day park hoppers, it brings the total to $2779

So essentially, very similar costs, just need to weigh the pros and cons of such, but we don't know the pros of staying on site, as i have only ever stayed off site.

The 4 and 9 year old can share a bed, no problem, and the baby still sleeps with us anyway, so bedrooms/size isn't a huge factor to us. The bigger room may be nice for night time, with the kids, but from experience the kids are usually pooped by the time we drag our butts back to the rooms, anyway, LOL!

AHHH, I am just confusing myself more here!

The ONLY real perk i see to doing the HOJO/Longer stay is not having to have 1 less park day, and a partial park day, getting 5 WHOLE days in the park, opposed to really 3 1/2 with the DLH stay.

 

[StormyCA]

Because we drive, we usually get to the area in the late afternoon. We're too cheap to pay Disney prices for that first night since we usually don't go into the parks that day, LOL. So we begin our stay at the Motel6 Maingate and get up early and check in at the Grand around 6 - 7 am (depends on when EMH starts).

So if you have a car you may want to consider option B with your first night at a less expensive place and an additional day added to your hoppers. If you don't have a car (but have car seats), you could use a taxi or UBER XL for the transfer.

Here's how we usually roll;

Sunday night, Motel 6 (or cheaper accommodation of your choice)
Monday AM transfer to onsite, day 1 in the parks with EMH
Tues - Fri Days 2-5 in the parks
Saturday, bid a fond farewell


'Practical' Pros of onsite:
EMH every day
Package Delivery (I think this is a HUGE 'pro')
Room Service order-ahead breakfast or for a late night supper/snack after a long day
Exclusive use of the Monorail in the morning (not sure if this is still true, though)
Ease of mid-day breaks/nap-times
I think I remember someone saying that there is a dedicated bag check line for onsite guests

 

[rentayenta]

DLH option for sure! I know I am not in the majority but I think Hojo is overrated. Plus you'll have EMH and all the fun Disney amenities.

 

[ADLFAN]

I vote for DLH!

The pool is so fun and the best resort restaurants are there- Goofy's Kitchen for the kids and Steakhouse 55 for the adults! Plus Trader Sams and Tangaroa Terrace!

And if there is indeed a resort guest security gate, that would be a much nicer experience than entering from the Harbor/Hojo side!

Your kids are still pretty young and they'll definitely be wearing out by the end of a 5 day trip.. I surprisingly felt like we had to kinda force kids roughly that age to do More Disneyland after the 3rd day! They were just not used to that much non stop action, I guess!

Have fun planning!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

I should have said, our go-tos are HoJo and DLH, and we love them both, but we also love being near Downtown Disney. If you could get an extra night at DLH by changing to standard view, I'd do it. DLH is magical no matter what view you have, and actually louder if you have a view overlooking downtown Disney.

 

[Aladora]

The ONLY real perk i see to doing the HOJO/Longer stay is not having to have 1 less park day, and a partial park day, getting 5 WHOLE days in the park, opposed to really 3 1/2 with the DLH stay.

3 1/2 days vs 5 whole days? No brainer for me, Hojo all the way!

For us, the benefits of onsite are:
Disney bubble
Early entry at both parks
ability to charge to the room
package delivery to the room
ability to pre-order room service breakfast

I love staying onsite but sometimes the benefits of offsite outweigh onsite and for me, this would be one of those times.

 

[sleepymouse]

I vote for the HOJO too. I have stayed at both, and they are both about the same distance from the esplanade. Definitely not warm enough at the time of year, in my opinion, to get much use out of the pools, but if the kids want to splash around, they can do that at the HOJO. All that aside, I mainly choose it because of the extra park days. I always want more time in the parks and am never ready to leave. We are actually going the week before you and staying at the Tropicana. It is directly across the street from Disneyland and 7 nights just under $1000 works for me. Enjoy!

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

So after some more number crunching, and flights factored in... it looks like, DLH would be about $250-600 more than HOJO (depending on room) but we could get almost 4 whole days, instead of 3 1/2 days I originally thought. (flights won't add too much, because we have credits)

So-
-DLH 5 nights, 4 park days with flights factored in $3376
-HOJO 2 bedroom suite, 6 nights, 5 park days with flights $3100
-HOJO 2 queen bed premium view room (disney view) 6 nights, 5 park days with flights $2700

Does anyone know what time check in is at DLH? If we got in at 10am, is there somewhere we could put all of our luggage and such to enjoy the parks prior to check in time?

Also, what time is average park closing, weekdays the last week of Feb/ First week of March?

Why are decisions so hard for me?! LOL!

I appreciate you all so much!

 

[MaxnElliesMama]

I vote for the HOJO too. I have stayed at both, and they are both about the same distance from the esplanade. Definitely not warm enough at the time of year, in my opinion, to get much use out of the pools, but if the kids want to splash around, they can do that at the HOJO. All that aside, I mainly choose it because of the extra park days. I always want more time in the parks and am never ready to leave. We are actually going the week before you and staying at the Tropicana. It is directly across the street from Disneyland and 7 nights just under $1000 works for me. Enjoy!

That is my issue, we won't want to swim if its cold, and we typically disney until we drop, literally, so we won't be at the hotel that often.

Is DLH a ton easier to get back to during the day, say if i needed to go back and rest with baby, or something?

 

[Aladora]

So after some more number crunching, and flights factored in... it looks like, DLH would be about $250-600 more than HOJO (depending on room) but we could get almost 4 whole days, instead of 3 1/2 days I originally thought. (flights won't add too much, because we have credits)

So-
-DLH 5 nights, 4 park days with flights factored in $3376
-HOJO 2 bedroom suite, 6 nights, 5 park days with flights $3100
-HOJO 2 queen bed premium view room (disney view) 6 nights, 5 park days with flights $2700

Does anyone know what time check in is at DLH? If we got in at 10am, is there somewhere we could put all of our luggage and such to enjoy the parks prior to check in time?

Also, what time is average park closing, weekdays the last week of Feb/ First week of March?

Why are decisions so hard for me?! LOL!

I appreciate you all so much!

You can check in early and leave your luggage with Bell Services while you enjoy the park before your room is ready. As for historical hours, HydroGuy has a great thread that can be found here.

That is my issue, we won't want to swim if its cold, and we typically disney until we drop, literally, so we won't be at the hotel that often.

Is DLH a ton easier to get back to during the day, say if i needed to go back and rest with baby, or something?

I would estimate it is an 8 minute walk as opposed to a 15 minute one for HoJo, more or less.

I think that there are a couple of important questions for you to ask yourself:

1. Will spending the extra $ for DLH be a stretch for you financially? Will it mean that there are other things you might want to do on this trip that you will skip?

2. Will you regret not staying at the DLH?

3. Will the extra room at HoJo make the trip more enjoyable?

4. Will the extra day at DL make a difference in your trip?