coopersmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 839
So, we are currently planning our first family trip to Disneyland to check out Carsland this fall/winter (early Oct or Dec). We are looking at on-site and off-site hotel options and the conclusion I've come to is that we can either stay five-nights off-site in a suite (Hilton Anaheim), or four-nights on-site at the Disneyland Hotel in a regular room.
Even with the extra night, the off-site option is still about 60% of the cost of on-site (for a larger, likely more luxurious room), but doesn't come with the on-site perks, most importantly easy walkability and EMH. With Carsland being so new, the latter (EMH) is, honestly, what I'm most worried about losing.
Do you experts think that five-days is enough time that we won't have to worry so much about that extra morning hour in DCA? (This is my husband's thought, especially a few months from now when kids are back in school.)
Another idea is, with the savings from the off-site stay we could use VIP tour services for at least one day and still come out ahead, cost-wise. But, since I know that doesn't come with line-skipping potential, does that actually help us better tour California Adventure (we've never been to that park at all before), more efficiently enough to balance losing EMH? (As a Disney junkie I'm kind of interested in what a tour guide could tell us about the park; but not sure my son, 5, would be, though he'd love the attention.)
The final option is spending one night at a Disney hotel, to get EMH and use that to tour Carsland and do everything at least once, and then moving off-site for rest of the trip. The downside of this is, of course, the hassle in moving.
Any advice from DL experts about what they think will, or won't, work, and why? (And, yeah, I know with Carsland literally just days old at this point, it's hard to predict so, don't worry, I won't hold anyone to their speculation.
Even with the extra night, the off-site option is still about 60% of the cost of on-site (for a larger, likely more luxurious room), but doesn't come with the on-site perks, most importantly easy walkability and EMH. With Carsland being so new, the latter (EMH) is, honestly, what I'm most worried about losing.
Do you experts think that five-days is enough time that we won't have to worry so much about that extra morning hour in DCA? (This is my husband's thought, especially a few months from now when kids are back in school.)
Another idea is, with the savings from the off-site stay we could use VIP tour services for at least one day and still come out ahead, cost-wise. But, since I know that doesn't come with line-skipping potential, does that actually help us better tour California Adventure (we've never been to that park at all before), more efficiently enough to balance losing EMH? (As a Disney junkie I'm kind of interested in what a tour guide could tell us about the park; but not sure my son, 5, would be, though he'd love the attention.)
The final option is spending one night at a Disney hotel, to get EMH and use that to tour Carsland and do everything at least once, and then moving off-site for rest of the trip. The downside of this is, of course, the hassle in moving.
Any advice from DL experts about what they think will, or won't, work, and why? (And, yeah, I know with Carsland literally just days old at this point, it's hard to predict so, don't worry, I won't hold anyone to their speculation.
