Newbie here....

[Harlie]

Hi,

I am currently planning our first Family Vacation to DLR. So far I have ordered our 5 day Park hopper though our airmiles and I have booked a suite at the Islander Inn and Suites.

Has anyone else ordered thier tickets using airmiles?

Has anyone ever stayed at the Islander Inn and Suites?

We like the discription of our room with this hotel as with three kids it has enough beds for all of then to sleep in their own bed and in a separated area from our room so if we don't want to go to sleep after it's bedtime we don't have too. We found that other hotels in the area that had similar rooms were really expensive for this feature and the price was right with IIS.

WE are travelling from Southern Saskatchewan. It is about a 24 hour drive. We allowed a day of rest after the drive (no DL that day) and were looking in to going to the Medival Times Restaurant show until I read in a post on this board about the Pirates Restaurant and now we are torn at what place to go to! They both look like our kids would have a blast! I am trying to convince DH to do both but they are rather pricey to do both

Does any one have any tips or hints for a newbie?

I have so far booked all of our DLR character meals(Minnie and friends,Ariels Grotto(just for DD and I)Goofy's Kitchen, and Lilo and stitches Aloha Breakfast, BB, Cafe Orleans, and Rainforset Cafe.

I also have made an appointment for DD to experience Club Libby Lu!

I am disappointed that the It's a small world ride and the Jungle Cruise rides will be down aswell as Fantasmic. I think it sucks that its our first time there and we will totally miss out on it!

Thanks for reading my novel! I am soo excited to be Going to DLR! It has been a lifelong dream!

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Welcome!

I have never even hear of the Islander Inn and Suites. You should check out the Desert Inn and Suites. Their 2 bedroom suites are very reasonably priced and they are right across the street from the park It's like a 5-7 minute walk. We just stayed there last month and had a very nice time. Very clean and you get a free breakfast (continental).

 

[blackjackdelta]

WELCOME, having riden ART a few times and Islander was one of those stops, I have never seen anyone get on or off at that stop. If you have the opportunity I would look around a bit.

Jack

 

[DangerMouse]

I've stayed at Islander (8 years ago) and have friends that have stayed there often (until I introduced them to the HoJo). It's an older motel, but I understand they've recently rennovated. Very standard fixtures but clean. Not fancy by any means. You get what you pay for and this has always been one of the lower-cost motels in the area. It's a long walk to DL (about 15-20 min) or you can take the ART.

 

[Harlie]

Welcome!

I have never even hear of the Islander Inn and Suites. You should check out the Desert Inn and Suites. Their 2 bedroom suites are very reasonably priced and they are right across the street from the park It's like a 5-7 minute walk. We just stayed there last month and had a very nice time. Very clean and you get a free breakfast (continental).

Oh here is the link for their website its about a 15 minute walk

anaheimislander.com

We read about 100 reviews and they were all decent. We are not looking for a five star hotel just a clean place with with two bedrooms for the right price. We got our room for $90/night. Our whole vacation is 2 weeks and because it is so long we want to be careful on spending too much on Hotels. I have troubles justifying paying more then 2ce what our mortgage costs a month for a one weeks stay in a hotel that we are hardly going to be there for other then to shower and sleep.

We thought about an on resort hotel but could not justify the benefits for the extra cost and the other hotels were limited in what we were looking for. I looked at the Desert Inn and was not really impressed with the room layout.

We figure maybe in the future (we are already planning on making subsequent visits) we would stay on resort with a shorter stay. I love Airmiles! I am really happy about how much we are saving by using them for our park hoppers!

 

[mindylovesmickey]

Congrats!! It sounds like you have planned a fabulous vacation for your family. I'm actually probably going to take your idea for Club Libby Lu for my own DD on our next trip.

Just my opinion, but I think you might have a little bit of overkill for the character dining. I love character dining, but I think doing all of those withing one vacation, you are going to have a lot of repeat characters, and it's really an expensive thing to repeat. Don't get me wrong, the food is good and it's a lot of fun, but I think it might get kind of repetative. If it was me, I would keep one character breakfast and Ariel's Grotto. All the other dining sounds great! But again, just my opinion.

I can't really give you advice on any of the other stuff since I haven't experienced them myself.

I hope you have a great time!!

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

We decided on Desert Inn & Suites after measuring the distance to the gates on Google maps - 443 yds. We're getting a 2 bdrm suite (4 queens, 2 bath) for $129/nt. I felt like I landed the jackpot when I found this place. Definately look into this place if you have the time.

I hear Pirates vs Knights were about the same except the food was a tad better at Pirates - we won't be going but I went to a Knights show in Vegas & it was pretty bad fare. But it WAS fun!

Haunted Mansion will be down for us & I've gotten over it, when you get there you forget what you're missing out on bc there's so much to see!

Take a visit at Hydroguys tip thread - lots of good info for Newbies!

 

[Harlie]

I've stayed at Islander (8 years ago) and have friends that have stayed there often (until I introduced them to the HoJo). It's an older motel, but I understand they've recently rennovated. Very standard fixtures but clean. Not fancy by any means. You get what you pay for and this has always been one of the lower-cost motels in the area. It's a long walk to DL (about 15-20 min) or you can take the ART.

Thanks that was great to hear! That is exactly what we are looking for in a hotel this time around...clean! lol!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

we are doing pirates next time in OCT. We did knights they are right next to each other and Ive been hearing good things about both. I love knights so did my son and fionce.
We will be staying at desert inn this time in OCT 99 a night for 2 queens and fold out couch. They have bigger swiets and seem the best. not far at all from what i ehar you walk out the hotle and the cross walk is like right there that takes you to disney land.
I did goofys ariels and and minnies.we are going to do the three again we liked minnies becouse all the charcter interaction we seemed to get more there
the princess lunch was awsome had every one we wanted, we will do again becouse maybe be diffrent charcters if not it still be good
goofys dinner is much better to me then the brekfest but thats couse i hate brekfest foods lol
dont for get goffys and ariels 32dollers is how much each the photos cost that they will try sell you. its hard to say no so might want to rember there there lol
oh and 20 at midevil times for you'll pic. and its well worth payign extra 10 to be a royal guest get dvd and frot row seats

 

[Ferry Joy]

Just another Canadian trying to get ideas.