Help me choose Hojo kid suite or GC

[lisaradz]

Please help me decide... we are a family of 5. If we go with GC we could only afford standard room. My kids are 15, 9 & 6. Would we be better off at Hojo in the kid suite with more space or at GC in a Standard with a rollaway for teen? Can anyone make a size comparison for me? Thanks in advance

 

[disneedee]

you will be very cramped in gch. last time we stayed there they did not have rollaway but provided sleeping bags. we've not stayed at hojo. you might consider dlh. it's a little less $ than gch and they have standard rooms that sleep 5.

 

[sierranevada]

Disneedee is correct - the GCH does not have rollaways, only sleeping bags. I don't know how tall your 15 yr old is but they do have rooms with a queen bed and bunks and the bunks have a pull out trundle. My 13 yr old son is okay in the bunks - he is about 5'4". The DLH rooms that sleep 5 are 2 queens with a day bed and are about 50 sq ft larger than just a 2 queen room.

Hope that helps.

 

[TheZue]

Yup it depends on your 15 year old. If he isn't too tall I think it would be okay with the bunks...but they won't guarantee room types and there aren't that many bunk bed rooms. We just stayed there and it was tons of room for us with four people.

 

[QueenDoOver]

I'm in real estate so forgive me...location, location, location. It would be The Grand for me, even if the kid was cramped. Also makes it easier if you are going to be dividing and conquering, like we do with my family. ie some of the folks like to go to ESPN Zone to play games and watch games. Some of us like to spend more time at the parks. Some of us like to drive IJ boats next to lost boy bar at DLH. I think your age group is a bit beyond the pirate play area, so it is only the room space that you are talking about. I would go with the Grand, request the bunk room and bring an air mattress, or go with DLH.

 

[bumbershoot]

The 3 of us in a standard room at GCH felt cramped. And my son is only 5! I can't even imagine 5 people in that room.

The beds were queen, and small queens IMO.


I'd go with some sort of suite. And the 9 and 6 year olds would still likely have fun at the hojo water play area, so the 15 year old would just have to: join in, lay out in the sun, play in the arcade, nap, or swim over at the proper pool.

 

[Queenbillabong]

If you go with the Grand, make sure you ask for a room with a daybed (same price as the standard, but it's a smidge bigger and with 5 people, you will need it!!). We just stayed there with four people and it was fine - my son (who is over 6 feet tall) just used the daybed mattress and moved it to the floor and he was fine They do not have rollaways, but do have sleeping bags and little mats.

FWIW - there is also only one washroom, but the sink is outside the loo area, so that makes it a bit easier to get ready.

One thing that we love about staying onsite is the opportunity for Magic Mornings

 

[lisaradz]

Thank you for all the input. We have ruled out GCH, and will save that for a couples trip and actually use the spa. We are now looking into DLH. I know it will be great to have the monorail, but 2 bathrooms at Hojo is hard to give up. I guess I will wait til Monday and see if they have any new deals for January. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[clb79]

Thank you for all the input. We have ruled out GCH, and will save that for a couples trip and actually use the spa. We are now looking into DLH. I know it will be great to have the monorail, but 2 bathrooms at Hojo is hard to give up. I guess I will wait til Monday and see if they have any new deals for January. Thanks again for all the help!

I was going to say there is something to be said about staying in a hotel that is literally inside of the park. However, if everyone is miserable that kind of negates the positive aspects of it.

There are already some really good rates online for all 3 of the Disney Properties for January. Word has it a new promo is going to be announced officially Monday, but the rates appear to already be active just by plugging in the dates.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We just got back from DLR and stayed at HoJo in a 2 queen room with a rollaway. Their 2 queen rooms are not small - but with 5 of us I felt cramped. I have vowed to only stay in a suite when we go again. It doesn't necessarily have to be HoJo, but it does have to have 2 rooms.

We have a 5, 7 and 13 that went with us this trip (21 yr old is away) and it was hard on the two little people who wake up early and want breakfast right away. It was hard on DH who wanted to sleep in a little and there was no where for the littles to go to not be a nuisance. There isn't much to do at 6:30 in the morning outside of your hotel room.

Of course changing to standard time didn't help and neither did the hour time change from Utah to California. My little kids were awake at 6 am and ready for bed at 6 pm. Totally messed up, let me tell ya!

Choose the suite, it will be so much nicer and make your trip more enjoyable and comfortable. Just my 2 cents.

 

[lisaradz]

We just got back from DLR and stayed at HoJo in a 2 queen room with a rollaway. Their 2 queen rooms are not small - but with 5 of us I felt cramped. I have vowed to only stay in a suite when we go again. It doesn't necessarily have to be HoJo, but it does have to have 2 rooms.

We have a 5, 7 and 13 that went with us this trip (21 yr old is away) and it was hard on the two little people who wake up early and want breakfast right away. It was hard on DH who wanted to sleep in a little and there was no where for the littles to go to not be a nuisance. There isn't much to do at 6:30 in the morning outside of your hotel room.

Of course changing to standard time didn't help and neither did the hour time change from Utah to California. My little kids were awake at 6 am and ready for bed at 6 pm. Totally messed up, let me tell ya!

Choose the suite, it will be so much nicer and make your trip more enjoyable and comfortable. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for your input Bradys Mom. Your kids are around the same age as mine and really my biggest concern is that in close quarters it will be much more difficult to get along. Sleeping is always an issue for us as well. DH is usually up by 6 am and the younger boys get up early. My 15 year old likes to sleep in.

 

[Ariel224]

We just got back from 6 nights in a HOJO kids' suite. It was me, DH, mother-in-law, DD8, DS6 & DD4. MIL stayed in the kids' room on the bottom bunk, one kid took top bunk, and we had plenty of room for a queen size Aerobed on the floor for the other two kids (didn't bother using the twin sofa sleeper). The Aerobed made things a little tight in the room, but we just stood it up against the wall during the day & everything was fine. There was still room for everyone to place their belongings out of the way & not in the middle of the floor.

From a parent's perspective, this setup was great. Two bathrooms made getting ready for bed and getting ready in the mornings soooo much easier. In the evenings, we just put the kids to bed and shut the door between the rooms, allowing me to get everything ready for the following morning without bothering anyone. And in the morning, I could be the first one up and shower in peace without EVERYONE waking up and crashing into the bathroom. (Of course, Grandma's perspective on this whole experience may be somewhat different.)

There are only two negatives I could find about the suite. For some reason, in the parents' room, there is no hanger bar in the closet area. The safe goes across the top of the closet. There is certainly room to put a bar right under the safe, so I'm not sure why they didn't do it. In fact, I'm going to email them and suggest it. Secondly, counter space in the bathrooms is very minimal. I expected this from reading other reports, and picked up a great tip from the Disney with Families DIS forum. I bought one of those plastic shoe organizers with 12 pockets that hangs over the back of the door. All of our toiletries items were unpacked and stashed in the pockets, eliminating the need to have anything on the counters and the need to have any travel bags in the bathroom on the floor. Worked great! I also got a couple of mesh laundry bags at the dollar store to stash dirty clothes and hung one on a hanger in the kids' closet and the other on the towel rack in our bathroom (used a caribiner to clip it on).

We were on the 4th floor, so freeway noise was a bit of a problem. Of course, we live in a semi-rural area, so traffic noise of any type is not the norm for us. Like others have suggested, a white noise machine or running the ventilation fan in the room would completely drown it out. By the end of the week, I was used to it, and so tired every night that it didn't matter!

The only other not-so-good thing, which I was totally unprepared to deal with, was the fact that the kids were totally in love with Castaway Cove (water park) at HOJO from the moment we arrived. In fact, we had to leave DL at 3:00 on our first day because they were BEGGING to go back to the hotel and play on the slides. Ten minute or less lines in the entire park & they wanted to leave. Go figure....

 

[Leofoenget]

The only other not-so-good thing, which I was totally unprepared to deal with, was the fact that the kids were totally in love with Castaway Cove (water park) at HOJO from the moment we arrived. In fact, we had to leave DL at 3:00 on our first day because they were BEGGING to go back to the hotel and play on the slides. Ten minute or less lines in the entire park & they wanted to leave. Go figure....

How was the water? There is quite a discussion about the pool temp at Hojo's in another thread

 

[Ariel224]

The Castaway Cove water must not have been too bad, as my son, who is Mr I-Hate-to-Get-Wet-&-Am-Always-Cold, eventually was coaxed in by his sisters & stayed in until the sun was going down. I didn't actually ever get in, but stuck my hand in the Garden Pool one afternoon & it didn't feel too bad. Then again, I don't know what it was like before they adjusted the temp upwards. I do know they took the complaints to heart about it being too cold. I follow HOJO on Facebook, & Lorealle was planning to don her bathing suit one recent afternoon to test it out.

 

[jenpace]

Hojo's Kids' Suite is really great. We have always stayed onsite at the GCH or DLH until our trip last month. I thought that Hojo's was a very nice hotel with clean, comfortable rooms and super friendly staff members. Being there was really pleasant.

For my family, the walk along Harbor Blvd, especially late at night turned out to be a deal breaker...but, if Hojo's was onsite, we wouldn't stay anywhere else....

 

[born_in_anaheim]

We recently stayed at the Hojo in the kids suite. We loved it. The kids loved it; and, my husband & I loved it. It was so wonderful to not be cramped in a hotel room, to be able to have two bathrooms, two tv's, and to separate rooms. We are a family of 5 too with a 12 year old. It worked wonderfully.

 

[jenpace]

I forgot to add that we've stayed comfortably at the DLH and GCH with 5 of us in the same room...Myself, dh, dd 10, dd 6 and ds 25.

If you decide to stay on property, just make sure to get the 2Q/daybed configuration. With 5 people in your party, they will really try their best to get you a daybed room if that's what you want

 

[bumbershoot]

We are now looking into DLH. I know it will be great to have the monorail...

If you haven't stayed there....

The monorail is in the place it's always been, but the hotel moved "away" so to speak, so you actually walk out of the DLH grounds, past ESPN Zone and Rainforest Cafe, to get on the monorail.

Unless you are starting every day and ending every day in Tomorrowland or further into the park from Tomorrowland, it might not save you any walking.

And just walking to the parks from DLH...HoJo I'm quite sure is a shorter distance.

How was the water? There is quite a discussion about the pool temp at Hojo's in another thread

Castaway Cove is the water play area, with spraying water and whatnot. Also the much discussed hot tub, and a toddler pool.

The water temp discussed is in the proper pool, which is in the courtyard of the hotel, well away from the Cove.


I'd still go with hojo!


Then again, when we booked DLH concierge, we did NOT get a daybed, and again, cramped room!!!!!

If anything, PPH rooms have been the biggest and most comfy ones for us, and they all seems to have the couch that pulls out (in a really weird way, took me until my 3rd stay there to figure it out) into a bed (it sort of flips over).

 

[Mazzy]

We just got back from 6 nights in a HOJO kids' suite. It was me, DH, mother-in-law, DD8, DS6 & DD4. MIL stayed in the kids' room on the bottom bunk, one kid took top bunk, and we had plenty of room for a queen size Aerobed on the floor for the other two kids (didn't bother using the twin sofa sleeper). The Aerobed made things a little tight in the room, but we just stood it up against the wall during the day & everything was fine. There was still room for everyone to place their belongings out of the way & not in the middle of the floor.

From a parent's perspective, this setup was great. Two bathrooms made getting ready for bed and getting ready in the mornings soooo much easier. In the evenings, we just put the kids to bed and shut the door between the rooms, allowing me to get everything ready for the following morning without bothering anyone. And in the morning, I could be the first one up and shower in peace without EVERYONE waking up and crashing into the bathroom. (Of course, Grandma's perspective on this whole experience may be somewhat different.)

There are only two negatives I could find about the suite. For some reason, in the parents' room, there is no hanger bar in the closet area. The safe goes across the top of the closet. There is certainly room to put a bar right under the safe, so I'm not sure why they didn't do it. In fact, I'm going to email them and suggest it. Secondly, counter space in the bathrooms is very minimal. I expected this from reading other reports, and picked up a great tip from the Disney with Families DIS forum. I bought one of those plastic shoe organizers with 12 pockets that hangs over the back of the door. All of our toiletries items were unpacked and stashed in the pockets, eliminating the need to have anything on the counters and the need to have any travel bags in the bathroom on the floor. Worked great! I also got a couple of mesh laundry bags at the dollar store to stash dirty clothes and hung one on a hanger in the kids' closet and the other on the towel rack in our bathroom (used a caribiner to clip it on).

We were on the 4th floor, so freeway noise was a bit of a problem. Of course, we live in a semi-rural area, so traffic noise of any type is not the norm for us. Like others have suggested, a white noise machine or running the ventilation fan in the room would completely drown it out. By the end of the week, I was used to it, and so tired every night that it didn't matter!

The only other not-so-good thing, which I was totally unprepared to deal with, was the fact that the kids were totally in love with Castaway Cove (water park) at HOJO from the moment we arrived. In fact, we had to leave DL at 3:00 on our first day because they were BEGGING to go back to the hotel and play on the slides. Ten minute or less lines in the entire park & they wanted to leave. Go figure....

Thanks so much for that review, and great idea for the bathroom stuff. We have a kids suite booked for next July, we have two teens so great to hear that your MIL fit into the bunk no problem.


Going back to the OP's question, we have stayed at the GC as a family of 4, and found it far too cramped, we are two adults and 2 teens, wouldn't do it again.

 

[disney-super-mom]

There are only two negatives I could find about the suite. For some reason, in the parents' room, there is no hanger bar in the closet area. The safe goes across the top of the closet. There is certainly room to put a bar right under the safe, so I'm not sure why they didn't do it. In fact, I'm going to email them and suggest it. Secondly, counter space in the bathrooms is very minimal. I expected this from reading other reports, and picked up a great tip from the Disney with Families DIS forum. I bought one of those plastic shoe organizers with 12 pockets that hangs over the back of the door. All of our toiletries items were unpacked and stashed in the pockets, eliminating the need to have anything on the counters and the need to have any travel bags in the bathroom on the floor. Worked great! I also got a couple of mesh laundry bags at the dollar store to stash dirty clothes and hung one on a hanger in the kids' closet and the other on the towel rack in our bathroom (used a caribiner to clip it on).

We were on the 4th floor, so freeway noise was a bit of a problem. Of course, we live in a semi-rural area, so traffic noise of any type is not the norm for us. Like others have suggested, a white noise machine or running the ventilation fan in the room would completely drown it out. By the end of the week, I was used to it, and so tired every night that it didn't matter!

The only other not-so-good thing, which I was totally unprepared to deal with, was the fact that the kids were totally in love with Castaway Cove (water park) at HOJO from the moment we arrived. In fact, we had to leave DL at 3:00 on our first day because they were BEGGING to go back to the hotel and play on the slides. Ten minute or less lines in the entire park & they wanted to leave. Go figure....

That is odd that their wasn't a hanging bar in the parent's closet. When we stayed at the HOJO in a kid suite there was definitely a hanging bar in the parent's closet (right under the safe) so I'm wondering if perhaps the suite you were in was missed somehow when they were doing the finishing touches/work before opening them.

Yep, our kids loved Castaway Cove too. Everyday we were there, they would first swim over in the Garden pool for a while, and then they would head over to Castaway cove and play play play!