Good neighbor hotels

[jenseib]

I am thinking of seeing if DH would like to try out DL next trip instead of WDW to try something new. For us flight to CA are just outrageous usually, but if we can find a deal, or fly into Vegas on a deal, I might be able to get him to agree.
So I figured I should gather some info in the mean time and see what the costs would be. I am very unfamiliar with DL. I know bits and peices, but have a lot to learn yet.
So the good neighbor hotels...we would be looking for something in the cheaper range, and with a pool. What is good, and what would you stay away from. Also, what about transportation to the park. Are they walking idstance, or do they have shuttles, and if so are they included? We may have a car, (DH prefers to have one usually) so would parking costs at the parks, if we drive? Or is that included.
Sorry I sound so dumb, I just never did much research on DL yet...but I plan to look into it.

 

[firefly87]

http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

Here is a map with some of the close Good Neighbor Hotels. It gives you a visual on how close they really are. The ones in the green shaded area across from the pedestrian entrance are super close and about a 5-10 minute walk. Going to DL is much different than going to WDW. Everything is within walking distance (parks, hotels, DTD, etc) so you don't really have to worry about transportation when you get there. If you rent a car to get to the hotel, there will most likely be parking fees. If you stay that close to the parks, you won't need to drive to the park and also pay the daily DL parking fee. I think most of the hotels that are a little farther away do offer shuttle service to the parks.

There are many Hojo's lovers on this board and you can sometimes get rooms there for $59. I've never personally done it but MANY people on here have and I'm sure will chime in about it!

I would recommend HydroGuy's sticky about WDW vets coming to DL:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

In fact, I would read all of HydroGuy's advice.......he's got alot of great info!!

Good luck planning!

 

[HydroGuy]

So the good neighbor hotels...we would be looking for something in the cheaper range, and with a pool. What is good, and what would you stay away from.

There are some good links here:

"HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

Most of the walking hotels on Harbor have pools. Not sure how cheap you are looking for. BWPPI is closest. I have stayed there a few times. HoJos and CCI (Candy Cane Inn) are also popular around here.

Also, what about transportation to the park. Are they walking idstance, or do they have shuttles, and if so are they included?

As mentioned in the above link, there are lots of walking distance hotels where transportation is of course a non-issue. Many of the hotel room doorways are closer to the DLR park gates than the bus or boat dropoffs are to the WDW park gates. It is one of the areas where DLR has some advantages over WDW. Some WDW vets accustomed to long commute times to the parks do not appreciate this as much as maybe they should.

Some hotels have DLR shuttles (most do not) and that is probably the next best thing to walking distance.

We may have a car, (DH prefers to have one usually) so would parking costs at the parks, if we drive? Or is that included.

Parking costs like $12-14 a day.

Here is a lot more info if you are interested: "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I am thinking of seeing if DH would like to try out DL next trip instead of WDW to try something new. For us flight to CA are just outrageous usually, but if we can find a deal, or fly into Vegas on a deal, I might be able to get him to agree.
So I figured I should gather some info in the mean time and see what the costs would be. I am very unfamiliar with DL. I know bits and peices, but have a lot to learn yet.
So the good neighbor hotels...we would be looking for something in the cheaper range, and with a pool. What is good, and what would you stay away from. Also, what about transportation to the park. Are they walking idstance, or do they have shuttles, and if so are they included? We may have a car, (DH prefers to have one usually) so would parking costs at the parks, if we drive? Or is that included.
Sorry I sound so dumb, I just never did much research on DL yet...but I plan to look into it.

Here's a link to the Hotel room review thread. I highly recommend Fairfield Inn by Marriott; Howard Johnson's Anaheim Plaza if you can get the Entertainment rate discount. The walk to hojos is about 5 minutes further than Fairfield Inn. There is no need for a shuttle if staying at FFI, however, there were some times at the end of a long day/night at the park when I wished I paid for the shuttle to get to/fro Hojo.
Hojos has a nice water play area for kids, but the pool for swimming is in an entirely different area. Yet the jacuzzi is near the kids play area, so a lot of kids play in the small jacuzzi.
Candy Cane Inn is also highly recommended and they have their own private shuttle as well as a nice continental breakfast. They are one of only 2 or 3 properties to be grandfathered in and allowed to keep their own shuttle. Everyone else uses ART and you have to pay for that.
The green areas of this map are walking distance, although I wouldn't go further South than Candy Cane Inn. That is easily a ten minute walk. Also the Quality Inn next to Fairfield Inn is not accurately represented on that map because you'd have to walk all the way around a retaining wall past the backside of the Fairfield Inn and around the entire block to get to Quality Inn and that's a further walk than to get to Hojos.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks everyone so far. I'll have to get looking at those maps.
One other thing too... We always do the dining plan at WDW. And I was looking to do this at DL as well, though I do know it is set up differently. Would it be better to book through Disney and get the plan, or book from another site with cheaper rates and just pay out of pocket for food? Do all or some of the GN hotels offer continetal brekafasts? And what sites offer the best rates for these hotels.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks everyone so far. I'll have to get looking at those maps.
One other thing too... We always do the dining plan at WDW. And I was looking to do this at DL as well, though I do know it is set up differently. Would it be better to book through Disney and get the plan, or book from another site with cheaper rates and just pay out of pocket for food? Do all or some of the GN hotels offer continetal brekafasts? And what sites offer the best rates for these hotels.

Cheaper to book everything on your own and pay out of pocket for food. DL doesn't have the quality/selection of restaurants like WDW/Epcot especially does. If you pay out of pocket and decide you want to eat offsite somewhere, you aren't chained to the dining plan. The DL dining plan is not worth it unless you absolutely want everything pre-paid in advance with minimal out of pocket expenses. Basically they give you coupons worth pre set dollar amounts. So for example if you have one for $10, you should spend at least $10 because you won't get change. We ended up usually spending a little more, like $10 coupon for a $12 purchase and then paid the difference out of pocket because otherwise you lose money on the DL dining plan.
Some of the GN hotels offer Continental Breakfasts, but they are not impressive. The Candy Cane Inn has probably the most impressive Continental breakfasts out of all of them. Some are reported to be downright nasty. Mostly pastries, donuts, cold cereal...
You'd usually get the best rate by going directly through their website. I've had good luck with Expedia & Hotels.com. Getawaytoday often has good package prices. Usually I do better pricing everything out on my own via the hotels' website.

 

[jenseib]

Ok, thanks. I didn't realize that you didn't get change back. If you get the dinding plan, does it have to be used in so many days? Like if we got a smaller package, but went for 4 days, could we spread it out over the days so that we could eat off site if wanted as well?

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Ok, thanks. I didn't realize that you didn't get change back. If you get the dinding plan, does it have to be used in so many days? Like if we got a smaller package, but went for 4 days, could we spread it out over the days so that we could eat off site if wanted as well?

Hmmm...it's been a few years since I did the dining plan. Honestly, I don't remember it's been so long, and I don't want to give you inaccurate info. I do remember that on our last day there we had so many coupons left that we ended up going to Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street and buying a ton of DL treats to take home with us. Sorry, that doesn't answer your question...Hopefully someone else will chime in who may know...
...I just re-read your question, and I think you are asking if you go for 4 days do you have to use x amount of coupons per day or lose it, is that correct? If so, the answer is no. You could save them up like we did and use them on the last day or have 5 meals in one day and maybe one on another day. I hope that answered your question. When we last used them, they were like coupons. They weren't tied to your room key or anything like that, so you could eat as much or as little as you wanted. I held all the coupons for our entire group and just doled them out as needed to pay for things. No one questioned the amounts or said anything about the fact that we had 1 child, and 3 adults in the group. I was able to order and pay for anything with the coupons at the CS and restaurants, also churro stands, etc.

 

[HydroGuy]

One other thing too... We always do the dining plan at WDW. And I was looking to do this at DL as well, though I do know it is set up differently.

As you are coming up to speed it is worth noting that especially when you abbreviate to "DL" it can get confusing sometimes whether you mean the Disneyland park (DL) or the Disneyland Resort (DLR). See "Disneyland Resort Lingo for Newbies" - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2214012

 

[Kim_Possible]

So the good neighbor hotels...we would be looking for something in the cheaper range, and with a pool. What is good, and what would you stay away from. Also, what about transportation to the park. Are they walking idstance, or do they have shuttles, and if so are they included? We may have a car, (DH prefers to have one usually) so would parking costs at the parks, if we drive? Or is that included.
Sorry I sound so dumb, I just never did much research on DL yet...but I plan to look into it.

I've been go to Disneyland all my life and we have only ever stayed at the good neighbor hotels. There hasn't been one yet that I thought was inadequate and you can usually found rooms for a great price in off seasons.

Many of the good neighbor hotels are within walking distance but if not you should call and ask about the shuttles. Many of the hotels do have shuttles but some charge, and some say they do but what they really have is a local bus/shuttle which you have to pay for each way and you buy the ticket from the hotel. Many hotels will say they have a shuttle and when you show up, this is what it is, I've had this happen before so just make sure you ask them and ask if it's free.

Also, if you do have a car you may want to call the hotel and ask if they charge for parking. It's insane but a few times back when we stayed at Hayatt, they charged us $10 a day to park our car and it seems like more and more hotels are doing this around there. Before I looked last time I just called the hotel and asked about this along with the shuttle.

If you do drive to the park you will have to pay daily parking, I think it's $12. I never really find this worth it unless we're trying to go for an early morning because everything is so close and you won't really need your car during the day.

We're taking our first WDW trip this Jan. so I can't really compare, but I have to say there's something magical about being in a place where you know Walt himself stood and helped design and plan.

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for the info. Does DLR have a Magical Express type system? If so, how does it work?
Looking at GN hotels, I think the HOJO looks fun. I think the pool area would be right up my DD's alley. Do they charge for parking?