HOJO or Paradise Pier for extra $300

[bumbershoot]

I like the idea of staying onsite and figure that the quality of the rooms at PPH might be better than the HOJO overall, and possibly in terms of noise from adjoining rooms, would that be right?


I would put a hold on both, but dreamsunlimited and other travel companies charge $100 if you cancel the booking at any time.

The only difference in sound muffling I've noticed is with the scary-loud HoJo toilets. Those are pretty noisy.


If you can book with the Entertainment Rate, or even the 15% off with the disboards rate, you don't book through agencies, and there's no fee to cancel. You can generally find better rates if you do that. And I hear that Australians have access to some amazing ticket deals, with a 14 day ticket for less than the cost of an AP? Not that you need 14 days, but still, that's awesome.

We prefer the Garden view rooms at HoJo. The only time they are noisy is during the day when kids are swimming, but even that seems diminished now that the kids are in the water play area instead of the proper pool. At night it's tranquil and lovely. We've stayed at hojo now...3 total times, I think...2 times as a family and then I was there on the recent ladies trip.

The two times we've stayed at PPH we've had really good luck. The first time we booked a standard room through a travel company with a package, but we were upgraded to a DCA view. (note that that is the only disney view they have, as far as I know...you're not going to see disneyland, just DCA) Of course that was hardly an upgrade, as they were just starting the Villa construction for Grand Cal across the street and it was NOISY very very VERY early in the mornings. The construction is ongoing, but I doubt they have bulldozers and diggers anymore.

And the second time we stayed we randomly were chosen as "big kahuna family of the day" and were upgraded from our AP-rate, cheaper-than-HoJo's-rate-at-the-time, room to a suite for our stay, and that was pretty cool.

However! The walk is about the same. And unless you're in Tomorrowland every time you want to leave, and you want to start in Tomorrowland...taking the monorail won't help at all, b/c you still have to walk walk walk to and from the monorail station. So really, the walk is about the same.

Having access to every Magic Morning during your stay (including check-in day if you're there early enough and also check out day if you have time for the parks) is lovely but on an 8 day stay, it might not be important to you. You'll have plenty of non-MM days to enjoy Fantasyland and Nemo, so it might not be important to get up an hour earlier.


Then again, $300 spread out over 8 days is not all that much. If your HoJo rate is as low as you can get it. Others have mentioned the Entertainment Rate, and you can use the Australian Entertainment Book for that (so we have all recently found out in other posts, including posts by Lorealle, who is in management at HoJo). Someone here listed the days, but know that those dates can change. Dates might drop out of availability, and dates might be added. So assuming you have the lowest possible rate, and it's still only $300 difference, that *might* make it worth it.

But if you're comparing packages, well, you might be able to get things lower on both sides. HoJo almost surely will be lower in other ways. And PPH might be lower too.

To me, when they were equal in price, we chose PPH for the MMs. $300 for a short stay isn't worth it to us. But $300 for a longer stay, IF we knew we would take full advantage of those MMs, would definitely be worth thinking about...

Oh and we never used the package service either. Tried to, but when we tried, the stores didn't have the paperwork...so we just carried stuff with us.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

We stayed at both HoJo & PP this past Dec. and we very much prefer HoJo! The walk, the price, the room! Our PP room had a view of the parking lot, our HoJo room faced the garden pool, nice & quiet ~ $59 per night (now up to $69 I think) The only benefit at PP was the MM (we're AP holders so no MM for us) since you'll get one with your PH and you said your kids don't care to spend much time in Fantasy Land I'm sure 1 MM would be enough. You could always stay at both places ~ start at HoJo and switch over to PP at some point or vice versa. Our 1st two nights we're at HoJo, our last night at PP. Have you looked into the new Kids Suites @ HoJo's? They can be as low as $114 per night with the Dis boards 15% discount. Earlier this month we spent our last night at the DLH ~ mostly for the MM again, while I preferred it to the PP it's still a lot of $$$.

 

[munchkinsmom]

How was the king suite compared to the premium rooms at HOJO? Was the noise in the king suite alot greater, I think they are all highway side? The king suite is $150 more than the premium room for our stay.

Thanks for the detailed response, it is great to hear direct from someone that has stayed at both.

The bed in the King Suite and the beds in the Premium Rooms are of the same quality (comfy). Noise from the outside is not an issue at all with any room. The "white noise" from the central air conditioner can be heard when it's running, but after a while it's not a big deal. The King Suite and most (if not all) Premium Rooms are on the Disneyland View side, not the freeway/highway side. The extra money for the suite pays for more space, like a living room and separate bedroom, a dining room, and a desk. The Hojo website has a pdf with the layout of all the rooms so you can get an idea of what the room layouts are:

http://www.hojoanaheim.com/assets/pdf/room_layouts.pdf

HTH!

 

[gapoochi]

Can someone help me figure out how to get the Entertainment rate for HoJo?
Thanks!

 

[cccdisney]

Here you go!

http://www.hojoanaheim.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14

You need to make sure and call IN HOUSE reservations only during regular business hours. The dates are also updated on a regular basis so check it often!

HTH!

 

[marvel]

wow.great info.

the internet only showed a King Room /fwy side when I look at the internet, I am guessing you can only request a building and not book one?

Going by the floor plan, the deluxe, premium and king rooms are all in building 1 or 2? From other threads I think building 2 is the preferred one in terms of noise and views?

The king is a bit extra but appears that noise isn't an issue from what you guys are saying. The booking mentioned king bed plus bunk bed but i didn't see that in the floor plan.

 

[Kauinohea]

the Bunk Bed room is the new kids suite. I don't think they have the layout yet. We are staying there in the Kids suite in July (peak season) with the 15% off it came to 139 ish + tax. I went thru the same thing...couldn't figure out where to stay, wanted best price and location. HOJO's won out by far. I don't think you can go wrong with HOJO. Good luck to you. Believe me...its such a relief when you make the final decision

 

[marvel]

We just booked the kids suite for $107 which was an amazing price and much cheaper than I expected, my only issue is the hwy noise but going by all the great people on DIS it isn't a major issue. But I am very happy to have made the decision. On the phone they said it has bunk beds and a pirate theme and is very big so the kids are excited.

 

[Kauinohea]

Wow! Staying off peak season really makes a difference in price. You got a great deal.

Yes, the kids suite sounds really spacoius...don't forget we also get 2 bathrooms!

 

[QueenDoOver]

Wow! Staying off peak season really makes a difference in price. You got a great deal.

Yes, the kids suite sounds really spacoius...don't forget we also get 2 bathrooms!

I got that same rate at peak Xmas season! I was shocked to say the least. That is with the AP pricing, but on the website it showed at $164 a night and that is more than 20% by anyone's math. I am happy as a lark and can't wait to check it out.

 

[marvel]

that's even better for peak, well done. I am pretty sure our price was over 15% cheaper than the internet rate as well.

 

[allgrownup]

I have no experience with onsite accomodations, but I will say we just stayed at the HoJo for 6 nights. We had a room that looked directly onto the kids swim area, and it was one of the rooms with the skylights.

We had no trouble at all with sleep. 3 adults, a 4yo, a 6yo and an infant. We actually enjoyed being able to let 4 and 6 go out on the little deck and watch the bucket fill and dump in the play area.

Noise was not a problem when the door was closed, kids playing out there in the evenings was not a problem, the water park portion actually shuts down at 9pm, although grownups were often out in the hot tub later than that.

The only time I noticed how light it was due to the skylights was the morning we were preparing to leave and I was actually up and moving between 5:30am and 6:30am.

It was great!

This is the view looking out from the deck.

 

[Kauinohea]

wow its closer thant I thought. What kind of room did you have?
Was the 6 year old able to walk on hs/her own to the park?

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I dont think I am going to be able to make your decision any easier because I like both of the properties...HOJO is my offsite hotel...the only place I stay but if I have the money to be able to stay at a property onsite and still have money to do with what I want then I would stay onsite...the only reason in my opinion to stay onsite is the easy access to DD and thus the hotels and the fact they are disney owned properties...I dont think IMHO that any of the properties with the exception of GC are comfortable..I have to have a ladder to crawl up on the beds at all of the properties...towels are older and bathtub and bathroom amenities arent all that either but I love the fact that Im on property and I will pay for the experience...once a year I splurge if I can get a good AP rate and stay on site but for the other trips during the year its HOJO....

 

[allgrownup]

wow its closer thant I thought. What kind of room did you have?
Was the 6 year old able to walk on hs/her own to the park?

4 and 6 both walked on their own both ways. The only time we took both strollers was the night we planned to stay late for the second Fantasmic showing. Both kids fell asleep just before/during the show, as suspected would happen, thus the idea of bringing the rides.
We had a high weight limit stroller with us every day, but the baby (5 months) had priority and he was in it for the walks to/from the hotel every time. Both older kids got turns to ride during the day, but those rides were usually only about half an hour. They walked the rest of the time.

 

[marvel]

thanks for the such a current update. glad you enjoyed it. PPH was going to be over $500 more than HOJO and I just couldn't justify the price, especially with all the great reports from people having stayed at HOJO.

Good to hear that it is such an easy walk.