Help to ease my mind about Garden Grove & ART?!

[AussieMumma]

We (family of six) have only ever stayed within walking distance to DLR, at the Camelot Inn and Residence Inn Maingate, I've also stayed at the Sheraton with my sister, also walking distance.
For this stay we decided to snap up a fantastic deal to save some money and booked the Residence Inn Garden Grove, 12 nights in a 2 bedroom suite for $1580 AUD.

But now that we are only a few weeks away I am starting to stress about using the ART. We really liked the convenience of walking, and have always looked at all of "those poor people" waiting for their bus, and now that's going to be us, with four tired cranky children and a stroller!!!

I'm not sure there is even any point talking about it because most of the hotels are booked out and we aren't likely to be able to get a room anywhere closer anyway, (I looked at the Camelot 24 hours ago and got a price and now the room is gone ) but can someone that's had experience on the ART ease my mind at all?? I know plenty of people stay in the Garden Grove area and I know there are some benefits but I'm just having a bit of a stress attack over it for some reason!

 

[ten6mom]

I have used ART once about two years ago. It was not terrible ..... but I prefer to stay close enough to walk. IMO, the biggest inconvenience is waiting for the correct tram for my hotel and waiting at the time share for the tram. The ride itself is easy and stress free although on occasion (particularly late at night) it could be crowded. My kids are now 8 and almost 6 so they should be able to walk a little longer next time we go.

 

[yaya74]

Is ART "stroller friendly??" We will be travelling with a double stroller and I wonder if there is any room to store our stroller once on the bus.

 

[AussieMumma]

ten6mom the waiting around was my concern!

yaya74 if the buses are anything like the ones we used at WDW you just fold the stroller and have it sitting in front or beside your legs.

 

[ten6mom]

I am sorry.... I can't remember about stroller space. I think it is correct that you would just fold it up and keep it with you. The one bus I have a photo of, the seats go around the edges of the bus as opposed to rows.

Yes the waiting is not wonderful ... however if you got a great deal on the room...... !

 

[indygirl99]

We (family of six) have only ever stayed within walking distance to DLR, at the Camelot Inn and Residence Inn Maingate, I've also stayed at the Sheraton with my sister, also walking distance.
For this stay we decided to snap up a fantastic deal to save some money and booked the Residence Inn Garden Grove, 12 nights in a 2 bedroom suite for $1580 AUD.

But now that we are only a few weeks away I am starting to stress about using the ART. We really liked the convenience of walking, and have always looked at all of "those poor people" waiting for their bus, and now that's going to be us, with four tired cranky children and a stroller!!!

I'm not sure there is even any point talking about it because most of the hotels are booked out and we aren't likely to be able to get a room anywhere closer anyway, (I looked at the Camelot 24 hours ago and got a price and now the room is gone ) but can someone that's had experience on the ART ease my mind at all?? I know plenty of people stay in the Garden Grove area and I know there are some benefits but I'm just having a bit of a stress attack over it for some reason!

WE stayed at the Residence Inn in May and our experience with ART is the exact reason we are at Paradise Pier as I type this.

It was not as they tell you. The front desk and the ART people tell you a shuttle comes every 15 mins. Well I can tell you that in 8 days there in May they only came once an hour. And waiting for them to come at the park to return at night is worse than labor. We saw all the other bus's come twice while we waited for the bus to go back.

When we complained the ART people told us there was nothing they could do about it. They even stood there in the park and timed the bus and told us we were correct they were not coming as often as advertised but again they could not do anything about it.

So this visit we booked PPH and have not had to stand around and wait for transportaion to get to the park. And we have the added advantage of getting in to either park an hour early every day. Much more magical trip for us this time.

WE will ask Tinkerbell to sprinkle some fairydust your way for you and your children that your experience with ART will be exatly what you need it to be.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I'm not sure about the distance, but is it possible for you and your family to walk to the Toy Story lot on Harbor (south of Katella, at Convention Way, north of Orangewood), then take the Disney shuttles to the park? There is no charge for this; you do not have to park a car in the lot to use the shuttles. Also, since there will be six of you, you might want to email your hotel to ask about cab prices to the parks. (You probably will need a minivan taxi to accomodate your family -- and depending on the ages of your children, you should ask about car seats.) These are just some suggestions to give you a few options besides ART.

 

[Bungle]

I've only taken the ART once and that was a LONG time ago. It was on time and there was room for all of us, granted we didn't take the first of the day. I'm interested to see how this turns out for you since on our next trip we will be staying farther away as well.

 

[AussieMumma]

Still stressed!
We've been looking at other hotel options but we'd have to go down to a one room type set up with two queens and a sofa bed and one bathroom, or spend three times the money......argh why oh why didn't we just book something closer right from the start and forget the budget

 

[kkmcan]

We stayed at that RI in May and it was a nice place to stay, loved the rooms and breakfast! Major downfall was the ART. Sorry to say but it never showed up on time. Either we just missed it or it came lat but we almost always had to wait 15 min.

Then it makes a couple of stops on the way to the park so that eats up another 20 or so minutes. Right there you've already wasted 30-40 minutes of the morning.

We took breaks so when we added up our time using this shuttle is was like 2 hours of our day was waiting for or riding the shuttle.

I hate to give such a bad review but that was our experience. Wish they had one of those RI's a bit closer to walk back and forth.

 

[I❤MICKEY]

We used the ART last Christmas (at another hotel). We have a large double stroller which We folded and carried on. No issues there. We had great experiences on weekends (10 min wait) but terrible on weekdays (average 45 mins). I think it's a mixed bag depending on how busy the park is.

 

[Brian Noble]

We stayed at the RI/GG many years ago. We did not use ART---back then, they had a hotel shuttle that ran on the half hour, shared with the Hilton just behind it. It ran on the half hour. That was just infrequent enough to get us to drive back and forth to the Mickey & Friends lot. These days, I'd be inclined to drive to the Toy Story lot from there instead, as it is closer.

That said, we thought it was a great spot for a DLR trip. The breakfast is good, the rooms are spacious and well-equipped, and it's usually a pretty good price. The suite-style places closer to the park entrance are generally not as nice, and more expensive, but you just have to decide what you want to give in on.

 

[KalamityJane]

Have you looked at the Residence Inn Maingate on Clementine? It is within walking distance.

 

[T0rrent]

With the exception of our last visit in June, we have used ART our last 4 trips and have had zero issues, and we were in different hotels each time. Your mileage may vary but we never waited more then 15-20 minutes for our bus.

 

[VanRy5]

We used ART last May and never had any problems at all. We are booked to stay at the same RI in just 2 weeks, so I will let you know what our experience is when we get back!!

 

[AussieMumma]

Have you looked at the Residence Inn Maingate on Clementine? It is within walking distance.

Yep, we've stayed at that one before, the thing that is really sad is that we had a 1 bedroom booked there originally for $2400 then we saw the great deal at the other RI for a 2 bedroom and thought "why not", and now all we can get at RIM is the penthouse bi-level for over $4600

 

[AussieMumma]

We used ART last May and never had any problems at all. We are booked to stay at the same RI in just 2 weeks, so I will let you know what our experience is when we get back!!

Thanks, but we'll be on our Disney Cruise in just over two weeks so I probably won't be online to see your review.


ps: off topic....how do you do more then one quote in a reply?!!