I didn't read all the comments, so I don't know if anyone mentioned this. We stayed at the Peacock Suites a few times. It is on the same route as Hojo. The bus goes from the park to the Peacock, then another nearby hotel, and then goes to Hojos last before getting to the park. So the trip to the park is very quick, but in the morning you'll likely have to stand because all the seats will be taken. The ride back would be LONG because it has to go to all the other hotels first. We've stayed at Hojos before and walked. If you don't mind pushing your son in a stroller to and from the park, then do it. Who cares what others think. Maybe you can find a friend to borrow one from.
Thank you, the ART route is good to know. I think if we have the stroller as back up then we won't need the ART.
I will only be using the rental car to/from the airport and to make a Target run when we arrive. We won't use it to go to the parks. I got a great rate on the car, $56 for Sat to Tue, so I figured we'll bring the backless booster from home and get the car instead of taking the
Disneyland Resort Express bus to/from the airport. Having the car will give us more flexibility and it's free parking at Hojo, so I think it's a good deal.
Here's our plan so far:
SAT: arrive SNA 2:15pm. My AP is blocked that day so we will just go straight to Target to get some drinks/snacks and then check-in at Hojo. I'm thinking we'll then walk over to the ticket booths to change the Cheaptickets voucher for my son's parkhopper, maybe dinner at McDonald's (DS7's favorite) then some water play and an early bedtime. Since we will have the car, we could also pop over to DTD for a few hours (free parking for 3 hours) if we feel like it.
SUN: Rope drop at DL. I LOVE Sunday mornings at DL, so quiet and we will get a ton done. We'll take an afternoon break then head back for parades and fireworks. I can't wait for the new night parade and new fireworks!!!
MON: Sleep in a bit after the previous late night. DS is almost incapable of sleeping in, so we'll probably still be in the parks fairly early. We'll just go with the flow this day and see where we end up, but I do want an early bedtime so we can be up bright and early the next day.
TUE: Rope drop at DCA. We'll grab FP for RSR and try TSMM for the first time. Yay! I can see us wrapping up around noon, then heading back to Hojo for some water play (they said that we can still use the facilities on check-out day). We can play there for a few hours, then I'm thinking we'll pack up the car and park in the DTD lot, take the Monorail in for our last few hours in the parks. We'll head back to the airport around 5pm.
This will be a pretty quick trip, but I think we'll have a blast. I can't wait!
Thanks everyone for all your advice. Much appreciated!
