Thank you, why DISers are awesome, Hojo, & October

[Cinmon Toast & Tacos]

First off -- a big THANK YOU to everyone who ever posts information here and everyone who answered me when I had questions. I didn't post often, but I've read here every day for the last six months. I bought a travel guide to research our trip, and I completely forgot about it once I found you people. Our trip was planned almost exclusively from the advice I found here and we had a fantastic time! I want to thank you all again for being so generous with your time and advice.

Here are some of the great things I learned here, and how it all worked out.

HOJO

The Hojo was a great recommendation. The rooms are huge and clean, and the kids LOVED the water play area. We watched the fireworks every night we could from just outside our room, and they kids got a big kick out of hearing Disneyland right across the street. The walk was completely manageable on the way over in the morning and evening, but we did get some dragging feet and complaints when we were walking back for naps or when we were done for the night. All in the attitude, I guess, because they walked fast to get there and slowly to get back!

We all had tired feet at night, and our favorite thing to do was go sit in the hot tub and soak those tired feet and legs. Yay for hot tubs! Plus, it made it easy to keep an eye on the kids as they played on the slides.

Loved the Keurig coffee makers! The beds were so comfortable, and the extra sink outside the bathroom was very helpful when everyone is rushing around to get dressed in the morning.

We had several maintenance issues but each of them was taken care of immediately. The hotel was a bit shabbier than I was expecting (peeling paint, bathroom door warped a bit) but nothing that bothered us. Housekeeping was great and almost everyone was really friendly. We did get one kinda rude front desk guy, but other than that everyone was great! Also, we booked back in June and got a great rate, but at checkout we were charged almost $40 more a night. When I brought it up, they had no idea what I was talking about. I had to go into my luggage and get the rate quote emails they had sent me to get them to change it.

All in all, if we can get good rates again we will definitely return.

October without Halloween party tickets:

The pumpkins are great, as always, and I do love DL in the fall!

We had little kids, so we ended up skipping HM and GGSM entirely. I am still not sure if this was the right decision, but the lines for both were always extremely long when we checked them, the kids didn't display a whole lot of interest in them, and there was always something else someone wanted to do. So we didn't get the whole October experience, but I guess I'm okay with that. I was THRILLED to hear a tidbit of the original HM narration during the fireworks show, though, and that whetted my appetite enough so I could skip the HM this time around.

We were there for two Halloween parties so we were going to be "kicked out" at 6 pm on two of our days. I know we could have bought tickets, but there were 10 of us and we couldn't justify (or afford) the extra $500.

On Friday, we didn't want to even bother so we headed off to other places for the day and didn't hit the resort at all.

Tuesday was our last day there, so not being able to close the park was sad. We got there early and we tried to squeeze in as much as we could. It wasn't too busy in the morning, but it started to get pretty bad in the late afternoon. We got in one last line at around 5:50, then after 6 pm we kinda stood around for a while watching all the people in costume show up. We didn't try to do any of the special Halloween stuff because I figured we'd get rejected, and the kids wouldn't have liked that! So we watched for a bit (which was pretty entertaining!) then headed out. The only really bad part was walking past the Plaza Pavilion and realizing Phineas and Ferb were signing autographs. I had already explained to my kids that P&F only did the dance party in CA, so seeing them was a little shock and then all they wanted to do was get in line for pictures with PERRY. We couldn't! So -- our farewell to Disneyland was bidding the park goodbye while partygoers rushed past us on their way in to fun. I really wish Disney could have worked that another way.

Another not-so-magical part involving the Halloween party was from earlier in the day when we returned to the park in the afternoon after naps. Almost all the gates were reserved for the "event only" except for a few waaaaaay over on the DTD side. Talk about feeling like a reject! We couldn't figure out how to get in for a few minutes.

Missing the actual party wasn't a big deal to us except for being unable to meet Perry. (We did miss being in the park, but not the party activities specifically.)

More coming on the best parts about Disneyland!

 

[GrandBob]

Thanks so much for posting your experiences, Jayne! Sounds like you had a great time!

I have one question, though. What kind of room did you have at HoJo's? We always stay in the Deluxe rooms in Building 2, and they've always been in tip-top shape. So I'm wondering what kind of rooms have peeling paint and warped doors? That doesn't sound typical of HoJo's.

Thanks again for the review.

-Bob

 

[Cinmon Toast & Tacos]

I have one question, though. What kind of room did you have at HoJo's? We always stay in the Deluxe rooms in Building 2, and they've always been in tip-top shape. So I'm wondering what kind of rooms have peeling paint and warped doors? That doesn't sound typical of HoJo's.

Thanks again for the review.

-Bob

We were in building 4, in a standard 2 doubles room. I was perfectly happy except when the kids got stuck in the bathroom from the warped door! It looked like it was slightly angled off the hinges and so it didn't fit in the doorframe correctly.