One night hotel before park?

[808Mom]

Hello can I ask for help please? We are arriving at SNA at 6pm on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend after a DCL cruise (flying in from Vancouver). Half of our party have reservations at DLH for 2 nights (sun-tues) and the other half thru Wednesday. We have 2 and 3 day park hoppers. We booked a resort hotel to take advantage of EMH on the busy weekend. Sunday is the first park day for everyone. Want to check into DLH early as possible on Sunday and I think Memorial Day Sunday EMH is historically at 7am. Advice on where to stay on Saturday night for 7 adults and 2 kids under 7years old? I am seriously afraid of the logistics of packing up 2 rooms, checking out, getting 2 tired kids out the door, schlepping everyone's luggage to DLH AND getting to DCA EMH. Oh and the kicker is we got in on the Orbitz park hopper deal so need to redeem 7 vouchers. Too ambitious? Help please!

 

[larina]

I can't help you with the rest, but you can most likely redeem your vouchers at DLH (there are some exceptions that MUST be taken to the gate/a kiosk.
As far as the motel for Saturday night, I would just start seeing what, if anything, is available that night. I'm not sure you will have a lot of options at this point on that incredibly busy weekend.

 

[808Mom]

Thank you! After thinking about it I guess we just have to find a hotel for the night and take a cab early Sunday AM to drop off the bags at bell desk, check in and redeem vouchers. Ugh, guess i wasn't looking for advice so much. Just didn't want to face the facts that I should have planned the flight times better. Thanks again.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

Just remember that after you make the hotel change, and get your admission tickets, you'll have a wonderful day ahead of you at Disneyland/DCA!

It will probably go more smoothly, and more quickly than you think---cheer up!

Your idea of taking a cab is a great one, and will be so much better than hoofing it to the DLH! I'd call and double check if they can with out the vouchers for you, for peace of mind,and one less thing to hassle about at the ticket booths!

Good luck!

 

[Barry Browning]

If you are going to make it the night before while happy hour is going on the Embassy Suites is a deal.It has happy hour and a nice pool and then you could have breakfast and catch the cab.They start serving pretty early like 6:00 so this should not be a problem.The Embassy Suites Garden Grove here is the one I would recommend.We do a lot of first nights there.They have the two room suites.

 

[DarthMole]

If you are going to make it the night before while happy hour is going on the Embassy Suites is a deal.It has happy hour and a nice pool and then you could have breakfast and catch the cab.They start serving pretty early like 6:00 so this should not be a problem.The Embassy Suites Garden Grove here is the one I would recommend.We do a lot of first nights there.They have the two room suites.

With EMH starting at 7am, a 6am breakfast is not going to happen at a separate hotel. They would be cutting it way too close if their goal is to be in the park at 7am when EMH begins. They should be trying to get to the DLH around 6am so they can check in, get their vouchers exchanged, and walk to bag check.

 

[crystal1313]

On lastminutetravel.com, the Hilton is under $100 a night. LMT has a free membership deal right now too. Just go to the club tab and they give you the code for the free membership. I haven't stayed at the Hilton in years, but we are staying there for the 24 hour event in May.

And when you get to the DLH while you get checked in, someone else in your party can go grab breakfast/coffee from the coffee shop there. Then eat on your way into the parks. Have fun!!!

 

[Watchtower]

For our upcoming trip in May, I knew the first day would be just a travel day and didn't want to spend premium $$$ on a Disney hotel on a day we weren't even going to the parks. All the hotels on Harbor pose the problem of carrying all your luggage through the security check at the esplanade on your way to the Disney Hotels, so I picked the Best Western Stovall's on Katella. It's a 7 or 8 minute walk from the Paradise Pier Hotel (where we're checking into the morning of our first park day). There's also the Annabella Hotel just a few feet away from Stovall's.

 

[awinangie]

My recommendation is to pack your stuff up in the morning, but don't bother checking out.

If you need to check in to the onsite hotel to get your early entrance, then send a couple of folks over early to do that (taking whatever bags are easy).

Then get the crowd over to the entrance 45 minutes before park opening and ENJOY yourselves the early morning.

Send 2 or 3 folks back to the original hotel right around checkout and have them move everything from one hotel to the other.

Just make sure the folks doing the two jobs are NOT the same people!!

 

[Nonsuch]

My recommendation is to pack your stuff up in the morning, but don't bother checking out.
If you need to check in to the onsite hotel to get your early entrance, then send a couple of folks over early to do that (taking whatever bags are easy).
Then get the crowd over to the entrance 45 minutes before park opening and ENJOY yourselves the early morning.
Send 2 or 3 folks back to the original hotel right around checkout and have them move everything from one hotel to the other.
Just make sure the folks doing the two jobs are NOT the same people!!

That is an excellent plan, and what I was going to suggest
The "bag transfer" team can get a taxi at GCH (there are always taxis waiting there), which will make the luggage transfer from the motel to DLH very easy.

 

[sleepymouse]

I second the suggestion to stay at Stovall's. We are arriving tomorrow and staying at the DLH. However, when I first booked our flight, we were arriving at LAX at 7:30/8:00pm. So I booked Stovall's for 1 night and planned to relocate early the next morning. It seemed to be the best location for moving to the PP or DLH the next morning. We ended up changing our plans since our flight was rescheduled to a much earlier time, and I was able to eventually secure a better discount on the DLH.

 

[808Mom]

My apologies on the late response. Thank you so much for the advice and encouragement! Off to investigate LMT and other suggestions