New HoJo Ent/AP rate dates opened up

[Kayla's Mom]

And just for anyone else that might be needing an entertainment card - you can sometimes find them on Ebay for a couple of bucks.

 

[tracyvansmith]

Which book do you get the one for Orange County?

 

[QueenDoOver]

Oh, keep checking daily!! It can change from one day to the next. I remember waiting for the kids suites to open up for our trip this past March and although it never did, I saw other rooms opening up from time to time, (many people are considerate enough to cancel their ressies with a lot of notice) AND we still got a VERY nice premium room we were thrilled with it. I just can't believe how clean the rooms are. In-room safes. Comfy beds and pillows, Great tasting coffee with cups and lids to go, Fridges.Microwaves in the rooms. Free wireless internet now. A hotel, not a motel. Friendly staff. Computer kiosks in the lobby, free to use. Free use of the printer if need be for plane tickets, etc. NO resort fees. The kids play splash area is great, so is the garden pool. Lovely grounds. Laundry machines on site. Great gift store. McD's and Mimi's are so close to the hotel. An arcade for the kids.

I am spoiled in regards to hotels now that we have stayed at Hojo's all of the time. Years ago we stayed at BWPPI and will have to do that if the dates don't open up for the 17-23. I will keep checking daily, it was nice to hear that more dates can still open up.

I am curioius to see such an endorsement for HOJO and then a statement that if ENT rates don't open up you will have take BWPPI. I usually find that the non ENT rates are fairly comparable, and provided I can get a room at HOJO, will always take that over BWPPI, even with just the rack rate minus 20%. For all the reasons stated above! We love HOJO, second only to staying on-site.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Which book do you get the one for Orange County?

If you are buying it for the entertainment card you can buy any book, and the card is the same in each one. Just buy the book that has the discounts you will use most.

 

[jory29]

I am curioius to see such an endorsement for HOJO and then a statement that if ENT rates don't open up you will have take BWPPI. I usually find that the non ENT rates are fairly comparable, and provided I can get a room at HOJO, will always take that over BWPPI, even with just the rack rate minus 20%. For all the reasons stated above! We love HOJO, second only to staying on-site.

It all boils down to finances - I work only casual part time to stay at home to school our special needs son, so money is sparse. Disneyland has been a priority for us to make the trip once a year in the past 5 years but it has always been by getting every special we could get - during one trip, we got a very nice consolation prize from Hojo Anaheim for entering a video contest that they sponsored, and it was a generous discount off of the room! I am one on the boards who always puts my 2 cents in for others to go to Hojo's and I always rave about it because I believe in it 100%! Where else can you get completely individualized service, such as from Lorealle, who stays in touch with us on the boards and who gets to know us, too? Top notch customer service, for sure!

The BWPPI will cost us $722.40 + 15% tax = $830.76 USD (around $888 in Canadian Dollars after our credit card makes the conversion) for the mini suites which has enough beds for us (the kids need their own bed because at night they kick out a lot and could hurt someone. Sharing the bed with Mom or Dad is the only option since they are too old to stay together, and having my daughter sleep in my bed and our son sleep in my husband's bed doesn't work at all; we have been kicked or been hit at night by flailing body parts. ) We have a 13 year old boy and an 8 year old girl.) In addition, because we collect Canadian 'Air Miles' we have been saving our points to use toward Best Western Gift cards for the past several months, (points earned from groceries, gasoline, dental charges, etc. on credit card) - so far we have enough points saved for a $150 gift card, which means the stay would cost around $738 Canadian dollars, total.

At the HOJO's, we have always managed to stay there whenever the Entertainment rates are on, having specifically set dates to that. This year, we set dates according to what our airline air miles could take us, and so far it doesn't match up with Hojo's entertainment rate dates. I initially had booked the kids suite thinking that the room would likely go for $99 since Sept. has usually been quite wide open with ER dates. We received ER in mid Oct. last year and the parks and everything were hideously crowded... I would think they want the ER's to be there for when the season will be lighter, as it should likely be in mid. Sept. There are no more cheaper rooms at Hojo available for us now, but we don't want to have to pay extra for a sofa bed, which is what we would have to do if something else opened up, and it still wouldn't be at Entertainment rates. It would be one day at Entertainment rates and the rest at 20% off rates, if another, less expensive room opened up, and even then I doubt we could get the entire cost to be less than $788.

Anyway, currently I do have one night at Hojo's in the kids suite secured at the $99 rate, and the other nights come in at a grand total of $1267.66 CAD. ($152.20 a night (annual pass rate) for 6 nights plus 15% tax plus min. 7% conversion rate from converting CAD to USD funds.) Yes, we have an annual pass that we had bought using our air miles, then we upgraded back in October, as it was much less expensive to do it that way since we knew we would try to come back.

Here's the final breakdown:
$1267.66 Hojo's - 1 night Entertainment Rate, 6 nights 20% AP rate
-$738 BWPPI (thanks to a $150 gift card we will have)
______________
$529.66, (more this time for us to stay at Hojo's over the BWPPI.)

For us, that is our day's food for 4 of us when in Disneyland for at least 6-7 days. We just can't justify spending an additional $500 + on a room. Many DISers know that I am a HUGE HOJO's fan. I won't lightly be canceling my ressie if the rates don't come in at the entertaimnent rates, believe me, it will be with heavy, sickening heart.

Some people make different things their priorities - we make Disneyland ours, (no smoking, gambling, we don't go out to the movies, we find 'free' activities during the year such as going to the library or taking our dog for walks) - Although our tickets to DL have not expired, and our flights from our home to DL were 'free' this time around with air miles, we had to pay $900 CAD for flight tax and travel/health/accident insurance for the 4 of us, so the trip is still not cheap by any means. We watch how we spend our money year round so that we can try to save for our DL trips. We live 2000 miles away, too.

We have never stayed on site, it's simply too expensive. What we can save by staying off site more than covers our food expenses. Besides, Hojo's offers us everything we could ever want or need.

Anyway, we consider ourselves very blessed just to be going to DL and we understand that some families never get a chance to go. We have thoroughly enjoyed every stay at Hojo's and will continue to give high praise for such a fine establishment, whether we are able to swing staying there, or not, this next trip.

 

[jory29]

This is why I love the Dis! We have some great people on here.

Very nice! : )

Aw, Thanks!

You folks are awesome on the boards, too!

(Thanks, VictoriaAndMatt for your comments to my questions in another posting about crowd levels.)

 

[hotmama2010]

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH...you are such a lifesaver. I can't explain how happy I am right now.....it's nice to see such amazing people being so thoughtful! I sent my info to you....THANKS AGAIN

 

[jory29]

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH...you are such a lifesaver. I can't explain how happy I am right now.....it's nice to see such amazing people being so thoughtful! I sent my info to you....THANKS AGAIN

You are very, very welcome, and I am so glad you got the entertainment rate for your stay at Hojo's. You will LOVE it!! I'll pop the entertainment card in Monday's mail for you.

 

[mikeeymike]

I too am very happy. I called in and got Sept. 7,8,9 discounted entertainment card rates. No problems, and no hassles!!!

 

[danceanddisney2010]

you can use your disneyland annual pass for a discount at the howard johnson on the stated dates??? i never knew about this. that's so great!

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

You're welcome Jory!

you can use your disneyland annual pass for a discount at the howard johnson on the stated dates??? i never knew about this. that's so great!

Yes, and even on dates that aren't listed above you can recieve a 20% discount.

 

[QueenDoOver]

It all boils down to finances - I work only casual part time to stay at home to school our special needs son, so money is sparse. Disneyland has been a priority for us to make the trip once a year in the past 5 years but it has always been by getting every special we could get - during one trip, we got a very nice consolation prize from Hojo Anaheim for entering a video contest that they sponsored, and it was a generous discount off of the room! I am one on the boards who always puts my 2 cents in for others to go to Hojo's and I always rave about it because I believe in it 100%! Where else can you get completely individualized service, such as from Lorealle, who stays in touch with us on the boards and who gets to know us, too? Top notch customer service, for sure!

The BWPPI will cost us $722.40 + 15% tax = $830.76 USD (around $888 in Canadian Dollars after our credit card makes the conversion) for the mini suites which has enough beds for us (the kids need their own bed because at night they kick out a lot and could hurt someone. Sharing the bed with Mom or Dad is the only option since they are too old to stay together, and having my daughter sleep in my bed and our son sleep in my husband's bed doesn't work at all; we have been kicked or been hit at night by flailing body parts. ) We have a 13 year old boy and an 8 year old girl.) In addition, because we collect Canadian 'Air Miles' we have been saving our points to use toward Best Western Gift cards for the past several months, (points earned from groceries, gasoline, dental charges, etc. on credit card) - so far we have enough points saved for a $150 gift card, which means the stay would cost around $738 Canadian dollars, total.

At the HOJO's, we have always managed to stay there whenever the Entertainment rates are on, having specifically set dates to that. This year, we set dates according to what our airline air miles could take us, and so far it doesn't match up with Hojo's entertainment rate dates. I initially had booked the kids suite thinking that the room would likely go for $99 since Sept. has usually been quite wide open with ER dates. We received ER in mid Oct. last year and the parks and everything were hideously crowded... I would think they want the ER's to be there for when the season will be lighter, as it should likely be in mid. Sept. There are no more cheaper rooms at Hojo available for us now, but we don't want to have to pay extra for a sofa bed, which is what we would have to do if something else opened up, and it still wouldn't be at Entertainment rates. It would be one day at Entertainment rates and the rest at 20% off rates, if another, less expensive room opened up, and even then I doubt we could get the entire cost to be less than $788.

Anyway, currently I do have one night at Hojo's in the kids suite secured at the $99 rate, and the other nights come in at a grand total of $1267.66 CAD. ($152.20 a night (annual pass rate) for 6 nights plus 15% tax plus min. 7% conversion rate from converting CAD to USD funds.) Yes, we have an annual pass that we had bought using our air miles, then we upgraded back in October, as it was much less expensive to do it that way since we knew we would try to come back.

Here's the final breakdown:
$1267.66 Hojo's - 1 night Entertainment Rate, 6 nights 20% AP rate
-$738 BWPPI (thanks to a $150 gift card we will have)
______________
$529.66, (more this time for us to stay at Hojo's over the BWPPI.)

For us, that is our day's food for 4 of us when in Disneyland for at least 6-7 days. We just can't justify spending an additional $500 + on a room. Many DISers know that I am a HUGE HOJO's fan. I won't lightly be canceling my ressie if the rates don't come in at the entertaimnent rates, believe me, it will be with heavy, sickening heart.

Some people make different things their priorities - we make Disneyland ours, (no smoking, gambling, we don't go out to the movies, we find 'free' activities during the year such as going to the library or taking our dog for walks) - Although our tickets to DL have not expired, and our flights from our home to DL were 'free' this time around with air miles, we had to pay $900 CAD for flight tax and travel/health/accident insurance for the 4 of us, so the trip is still not cheap by any means. We watch how we spend our money year round so that we can try to save for our DL trips. We live 2000 miles away, too.

We have never stayed on site, it's simply too expensive. What we can save by staying off site more than covers our food expenses. Besides, Hojo's offers us everything we could ever want or need.

Anyway, we consider ourselves very blessed just to be going to DL and we understand that some families never get a chance to go. We have thoroughly enjoyed every stay at Hojo's and will continue to give high praise for such a fine establishment, whether we are able to swing staying there, or not, this next trip.

Thanks! That all makes perfect sense and for that savings, I would likely make the same trade off!

 

[jory29]

Thanks! That all makes perfect sense and for that savings, I would likely make the same trade off!

Thanks for your comments. I'm really glad that you understood where we were coming from.

 

[akashellrae]

They just added a couple of days for August. Wishing for more September dates!

 

[cepmom]

They just added a couple of days for August. Wishing for more September dates!

I was just coming here to post this too! I was able to change one of our dates to the ET rate but will keep checking for more dates. Now I just have to get an Entertainment card before we go!

 

[luvgoing2disney]

OK, just to make sure I'm correct on this, if I book rooms for next May (I know, I know, early start) but don't have the card or even know if the dates will be available, I can reserve with at an Entertainment Rate in the hopes our dates will work. THEN, when the card for 2001 becomes available, just use the card for the Card rates or at least 15% off if our dates are not Entertainment Rates days.

This sound right?

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

OK, just to make sure I'm correct on this, if I book rooms for next May (I know, I know, early start) but don't have the card or even know if the dates will be available, I can reserve with at an Entertainment Rate in the hopes our dates will work. THEN, when the card for 2001 becomes available, just use the card for the Card rates or at least 15% off if our dates are not Entertainment Rates days.

This sound right?

Yes you can book now. If your dates (all or 1) come open as ET days then call the in house reservations and they can switch it to the better rates. Worse case scenario you just get the 15% discount.

 

[ginnyhowes]

yay- those are my sept dates- was booked somewhere else but will cancel now

anyone know if i can book online for the ent rate0 is there a code- I am in Australia so its a bit tricky to call.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

yay- those are my sept dates- was booked somewhere else but will cancel now

anyone know if i can book online for the ent rate0 is there a code- I am in Australia so its a bit tricky to call.

The code for the entertainment rate is SD50, in my experience it doesn't ever work though! It will bring up the discounted rate but always takes me all the way to the end, and then says the rate is unavailable. I always just call directly now.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

OK, just to make sure I'm correct on this, if I book rooms for next May (I know, I know, early start) but don't have the card or even know if the dates will be available, I can reserve with at an Entertainment Rate in the hopes our dates will work. THEN, when the card for 2001 becomes available, just use the card for the Card rates or at least 15% off if our dates are not Entertainment Rates days.

This sound right?

This is correct technically. I will point out though that you can't book HOJOs for May right now. I was just talking to in-house reservations and checking dates and rates. The woman I spoke to explained to me that she could tell me the rates for April, but she couldn't actually book them for me until August. So I guess you can't book HOJOs further out than 8 months. When dates are available though, do as you say and book them using either the Entertainment or AP rate. Then keep your eye on the rates, and if they drop call and request an adjustment. I regularly re-check my dates because they seem to yo-yo a bit even if they don't come down to the very best rate possible. Sometimes I've booked months out and even though the best 50% discount never came up, prices have dropped $10 or $20 a night sometimes.