GCH VS HOJO

[BayGirl22]

DtD view are likely to be closer to the esplanade (main entrance to both parks) and Theme Park View will be closer to the back entrance because they overlook DCA.

You have a lot of good advice above. Just wanted to mention that we always rope drop at least one day at DCA, even when my kids were very little. With RSR and Toy Story there are plenty of rides to get out of the way. We park hop in both directions, but are sure to have at least one rope drop day at each park.

If not for the discount, I would say DLH too, but given the discount and this being a once in a long while trip I'd go for GCH. I think HoJo is fine, but if you can pull it off your stay at GCH will feel magical in comparison.

 

[Geemo]

Thanks! Yes, it's a sit and stand type. Even before they changed their requirements I wouldn't have wanted to navigate one of the large side by side strollers at Disney.

Thanks for the room tip. Do you by chance know which room views are near the lobby? If we're going to do it, I figured we might as well go for the theme park view/ dtd view. However, I would think those would be far from the lobby.

Thanks!!

I have a couple of maps. One is a copy from GCH and the color coded one is from a DisBoard Members. Unfortunately I can not remember who....

I would be careful with a DTD view. While the view is nice and enjoyable... The night-time NOISE, I feel is TERRIBLE. The blasting music might make it difficult to get to sleep.

I hope this helps.


RED Standard, all floors
BROWN Courtyard view, all floors
BLUE Upper floors are Premium (Pool View)
GREEN Upper floors are Premium (Park View)
YELLOW Upper floors are DTD view
The color coded map has three numbers for the rooms. The actual room numbers are four numbers. The first number is the floor it is located on. We like rooms on the fourth floor. Something around 4103 to 4119 or 4203to 4216 are the preferred room zone. When my grandkids we little they like a room over the Monorail. Now we like one close to the lobby, to save steps at the end of the day.

 

[BayGirl22]

Helpful maps - I could not remember the views. We had a courtyard view room in the 303-325 area when the kids were little and they loved watching the monorail go by, and it was fairly quiet and not a long walk from the entrance to DtD. I would not pay extra for DtD view, possibly for theme park view to see WoC (if its back).

 

[amy85]

I'd say that purely because you can get the GCH at a discount makes it worthwhile for you to stay there. I think that switching days 3 and 5 would be a good call. And don't quote me on this but I want to say that if you're parking at car the GCH they *might let you keep it parked till the end of the night after your check out because they assume that you're going to be in the parks.

Your flight being at 11pm will make it a long day no matter what you do. I think the easiest, most relaxing way to spend that last day would be request a late check out, get some pool time in the morning, then hangout in Downtown Disney for the afternoon and grab an early dinner before heading to the airport. A day trip to San Diego would be exhausting and that redeye to Orlando would be torture (been there done that).

As far as staying in LA vs Anaheim for the first couple of days I'd recommend staying nearing the destinations that you want to visit. Driving back and forth from LA and Anaheim will be tough. Did you have specific LA things to do in mind? I ask because there may be things in Orange County that are similar to what you would want to do in LA. Personally the touristy LA things don't really appeal to me and I enjoy Orange County much more. OC has nicer beaches too in my opinion.

Food for thought. Hope you have a good trip.

Thank you!! Yes, I assumed it worked like wdw in terms of parking and using the pool the day of check out. I'll double check before we book.

Yeah I think we'll probably end up skipping San Diego. The idea was to tire them out so they sleep the whole red eye back, but it sounds exhausting to me, and I also don't want two overly tired kids on a plane. Lol

The only thing we really planned to see was the walk of Fame and Hollywood sign. We were also planning to go to Santa Monica pier/beach. Maybe we'll do Hollywood stuff when we get in on Saturday, and then go stay by a beach south towards anaheim .


Thanks so much for all your advice!

 

[amy85]

DtD view are likely to be closer to the esplanade (main entrance to both parks) and Theme Park View will be closer to the back entrance because they overlook DCA.

You have a lot of good advice above. Just wanted to mention that we always rope drop at least one day at DCA, even when my kids were very little. With RSR and Toy Story there are plenty of rides to get out of the way. We park hop in both directions, but are sure to have at least one rope drop day at each park.

If not for the discount, I would say DLH too, but given the discount and this being a once in a long while trip I'd go for GCH. I think HoJo is fine, but if you can pull it off your stay at GCH will feel magical in comparison.

Thank you so much!!! Yes, definitely planning to rope drop. RSR is the one ride my 5 yr old is really looking forward to!! Thanks for the room tips

 

[amy85]

I have a couple of maps. One is a copy from GCH and the color coded one is from a DisBoard Members. Unfortunately I can not remember who....

I would be careful with a DTD view. While the view is nice and enjoyable... The night-time NOISE, I feel is TERRIBLE. The blasting music might make it difficult to get to sleep.

I hope this helps.
View attachment 579980

RED Standard, all floors
BROWN Courtyard view, all floors
BLUE Upper floors are Premium (Pool View)
GREEN Upper floors are Premium (Park View)
YELLOW Upper floors are DTD viewView attachment 579981
The color coded map has three numbers for the rooms. The actual room numbers are four numbers. The first number is the floor it is located on. We like rooms on the fourth floor. Something around 4103 to 4119 or 4203to 4216 are the preferred room zone. When my grandkids we little they like a room over the Monorail. Now we like one close to the lobby, to save steps at the end of the day.
View attachment 579983

These maps are perfect!!! Thank you so much. I've spent a long time looking for something like this, exactly what I needed! Thank you!!!!

 

[amy85]

Helpful maps - I could not remember the views. We had a courtyard view room in the 303-325 area when the kids were little and they loved watching the monorail go by, and it was fairly quiet and not a long walk from the entrance to DtD. I would not pay extra for DtD view, possibly for theme park view to see WoC (if its back).

Yes, I think the courtyard sounds the best. The would love watching the monorail, and while I would love it, I'm not hopeful WOC will be back by then!

 

[DLgal]

Yes, I think the courtyard sounds the best. The would love watching the monorail, and while I would love it, I'm not hopeful WOC will be back by then!

Courtyard is the best view choice, IMO. Standard is second best, because the rooms are closest to the lobby elevators. We are doing standard view for our upcoming trip. Our last courtyard view was a LONG walk from the elevators.