Late April Trip Planning Help (Hotels/Day Choice)

[CallCaedmon]

We're looking at going for a single day park hopper pass in the last week in April and I was hoping to get some advice from some seasoned Disneyland veterans on our trip choices

1. Hotel Choice - We have 3 kids (9, 7, and 4) and want to be able to walk back to our rooms mid day and return and lose minimal park time. We're also planning a hotel day afterwards and given the ages of our kids, we're leaning toward the Courtyard for the proximity and pool. I thought about renting some DVC points for a studio at the Grand Californian, but it looks like they wouldn't let us stay there with 5 in our party. Any other hotels we should be looking at?
2. Day Choice - We'll only be in the parks for a day so I want to maximize our time (and the amount of rides we can get to). I was initially looking at a Tuesday or Wednesday since those seem to have lower crowds; however, I'm wondering if a weekend day would be better due to the longer hours. If our goal is to maximize rides, would anyone have any suggestions on whether the lower crowds on a Tuesday/Wednesday would be better vs. the higher crowds and extra 3 hours of park time from 9-12AM on a Friday or Saturday?

Thanks in advance for reading!

 

[gelatoni fan]

I think the Courtyard is a good way to go if you have kids who will enjoy the pool. It's not worth the hassle of renting DVC points for such a short trip in my opinion.

If you have a very good plan, you'll be able to do more in a longer day with more hours on the weekend. But if you're someone who gets tired waiting in line and rushing, a shorter day would be easier. With kids that young, I'd actually lean towards the weekdays because they likely won't have energy the entire weekend day anyway.

 

[mdmost]

Courtyard will absolutely meet your needs. Get the room with the 2 bunk beds and 2 queen beds. The kids will probably fight each over who gets the bunk beds. It also comes with 2 showers connected via one large vanity room. There are doors to each shower. We really enjoyed this so we could maximize our time. It's maybe a 10 minute walk to security. There's a coffee lounge in the lobby to help you get your day going.

I always prefer weekdays to weekends. I agree with above that you might be hard pressed to get all 3 kids to be able to do a marathon weekend day but you obviously know your kids and how they are. If you only have 1 day, the extra time could be worth it. I would do a Friday though and not a Saturday. Feel like a Friday would be less crowded than a Saturday. However, you'll get 2 of the lower level Keys blocked on Saturday. You only get the lowest level blocked on Friday.

 

[Pluto468]

The Courtyard gets very good reviews, I bet that would be fun. Hojo is really nice, too and right next to Courtyard Marriott. We stayed there once and my son loved the pirate water park. They have a family suite with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

There are other hotels right across the crosswalk, like Park Vue, Best Western Park Place Inn, Tropicana. I guess it depends on how much space you need.

I'd go with weekdays. We are going at the very end of April, too and I'm hoping the hours might be extended since April is spring break season. Even if they aren't most kids wouldn't stay up until midnight, anyway.