What is so great about Hojo's?

[moniquem]

So, I need to know, what is the appeal for Hojo's - I know the location is a little down the way. I have BWPPI booked for our next trip, but I am having second thoughts.... should I try booking Hojo's?

How do I get the entertainment rate? I have AAA and used that, and the price is comparable to BWPPI - so.... what are your thoughts???

 

[camouseketeer]

The Entertainment rate is not available for all dates and rooms. When it is available, you get the entertainment rate by showing the Entertainment Card that comes with an Entertainment coupon book. Rooms are then 74 or 59/night depending on the room.

What's so great:

Great price
Fabulous new water play area
Nice pool
Inside halls
Very comfy pillow top beds
Fridge in all rooms and microwaves in some
Large safe that's easy to use
Free internet access in room
Gift shop well stocked with breakfast and snack items
Management that clearly cares about its guests

We're here right now for our first time and will return simply because of the first two items I listed. The walk is a bit longer than others, but it's a clean, comfortable room that is more than just a place to shower and sleep.

 

[RuthieT]

you need to call in house reservations and ask for the entertainment rate. Its a nice hotel, nice pool and grounds. The people there are great and yes it is walking distance to the parks. we were there in December and really enjoyed the hotel and we will be returning. you cant bet the price for the great service and things that they have to offer.

 

[moniquem]

So, what do I need to do to get that entertainment rate? Where do I buy a book? Do I need to buy a book? Can I call and make the reservation asking for the E rate and get the card in the meantime?

This place sounds GREAT!!! Thanks for the input!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jory29]

Another 'bump' for Hojo's - the personalized customer service - particularly from Lorealle - - is Stellar!! I haven't even stayed there - yet... but plan to in the future!!

Also - BWPPI was far more $$$ without the entertainment rate, and rooms were dim, and the 'free breakfast' was nothing special. I am a complete money saver (penny-pincher? I like pressing pennies at the DLR!) and found I could only eat there a few times a week that we stayed there. The breakfast was not impressive.

P.S. As we watched 'Fool's Gold' movie we were cracking up about the plate that Matthew M. found... "It looks like a HoJo's plate" his friend stated. - Gotta' Love Hojo's.

 

[jory29]

So, what do I need to do to get that entertainment rate? Where do I buy a book? Do I need to buy a book? Can I call and make the reservation asking for the E rate and get the card in the meantime?

This place sounds GREAT!!! Thanks for the input!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes!!! You can call in the meantime for entertainment book dates up to the end of Jan. 2009 for in-house ressies, (714-776-6120) before you arrive at Hojo's, you will need to buy the book from www.entertainmentbook.com or bookstores (DIS'ers, please help me out here, which bookstores?) sometimes have them. YOU MAY buy a book FOR your own area, it does NOT have to be for the O.C. area, as there are apparently not many useful coupons for those who are staying in the Disneyland area UNLESS you have a car and wish to travel a ways for other restaurants... Upon check-in, you will be asked to show your entertainment book card (blue one, for 2008.) The dates for 2009 entertainment book for Hojo's from Jan. end and on, have yet to be determined, so if you are staying there from the end of Jan. 2009 on, perhaps check with the hotel as to if you need the 2008 (on sale!) book, or the 2009 book. I believe the 2008 entertainment book expires in November. Hojo's may not know about the rate dates for 2009 far into the year, but at least they will be able to let you know when the 2008 books expire. The rate you must ask for is the SD50 rate, (for 2008, as far as I know, and maybe for Jan. 2009?) which means, the entertainment book rate. GOOD LUCK, and keep us posted!!
There are some dates in 2008/Jan. 2009 that will not be available for that rate, so you will need to go to the hojoanaheim website and see what dates are available... Lorealle has listed the dates there...http://www.hojoanaheim.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14

Please also note! As taken from the Hojo Anaheim Website: The 50% discount is subject to availability and may change without notice.

Note: Lorealle, feel free to edit my post as needed!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I would invite you to check out 3 posts from my recent trip report, to give you an idea about how minimal the walk really is from HoJo compared to the others. YES it's further, but barely.


This post chronicles leaving DLR and walking on the Disneyland side of Harbor to get back to HoJo.

And in the following two posts I did a time-stamp watch on my pictures as I went.

HoJo lot to McDonald's/Fairfield Inn here.

Camelot to the crosswalk pretty much at the PPI here.



If you can get the entertainment rate (once again, can't be mentioned enough, that you have to contact the Anaheim HoJo's people directly, making sure they are "in house", actually AT the hotel...I've had an 800 number person that I was shunted to at lunchtime LIE to me until I grilled her on her location) it's really an incredible value. I haven't had the luck to stay in a room with the updated mattresses, but even with the regular mattresses it's still a terrific bargain. When I haven't been able to get the rate, I have jumped around to two other hotels, but that's just for curiousity.

 

[Mortimer Mouse]

Good value hotel esp. with ent. rate, the walk is not bad at all. The only warning I could give is to not get a room facing the freeway, I'm a sound sleeper and the freeway noise kept us restless, with that said other room locations were fine.
If you can't get an ent. rate you might consider CCI one of our favorites for may reasons i'm to lazy to list......back to my

 

[tink2dw]

Hojo's does Not have a Continential Breakfast!! Which I find to have cut the cost of snacks and food until lunch time. So facter this into your move to Hojo's. And check this map for distance to the DL Entrance. And concider tired feet at the end of the Day.
http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

 

[moniquem]

Hojo sounds great, but unfortunately we can't use the E Rate the entire month of August. I wonder if I tried I could still get a better rate. I have stayed at Fairfield Inn and that walk was not hard at all. For some reason, I always confuse HoJo's with the Jolly Roger?? I dont know why.

So, the price to stay @ Hojo's is the same as bwppi, but I have 6 ppl in my party and the max is five. Sure would be great to have such a great rate like the E Rate this trip!

 

[DangerMouse]

Hojo's does Not have a Continential Breakfast!! Which I find to have cut the cost of snacks and food until lunch time. So facter this into your move to Hojo's. And check this map for distance to the DL Entrance. And concider tired feet at the end of the Day.
http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

If you get an ent. rate, you can buy a huge box of cereal, milk, instant oatmeal, fresh fruit, and juice to keep in your room for a fraction of the cost of the difference in per night stay. Plus, you don't have to leave your room and fight people in a tiny breakfast room for a stale pastry. IMO the cont. breakfasts offered at the other Harbor hotels are a joke (except for CCI). And from what I understand the BWPPI won't even let you take food back to your room from the breakfast area.

As Bumbershoot mentioned above, the 7-10 min walk is really quite doable. It's about 5 minutes walking time from the BWPPI, but shorter if you use the West side of Harbor and use the shortcut.

Yep, I'm a HoJo fan, and proud of it.

 

[4Ollies]

We were there in June for the first time and liked HoJo. The Entertainment book rate was great and allowed us to stay an extra day. Our room was in Building 2 and we looked out over the pool. We found it to be very clean, quiet, and comfortable. We could see parts of the fireworks and if the door was open we could hear the music coming from DL.

We loved the safe and found it to be much bigger than the ones we have had at WDW Port Orleans Riverside. It held our laptop, three Nintendo DSs plus all their stuff, a camcorder, small digital camera, and DH's huge camera system. We could also toss in anything from my purse or DH's wallet when we didn't want to carry it around. Even with that amount of stuff, we had room left over!

Internet access isn't just free, they provide the cable too. It is a pretty short cable so you will need to sit on the bed to use it but still that is one less thing to pack with you. Or if you are like us, one less thing to buy since our house is wireless.

All the staff that we interacted with were friendly and helpful. Have to say the other guests that we met at the pool were fun and friendly too! I swear the walk was shorter than the one we have at Animal Kingdom from where the Disney buses drop you off to the entrance. Our two six-year-olds did fine with the walk. It also allowed DH to run back over and pick up more FPs while we swam. I have a great DH!

There's my plug for HoJo. LOL

 

[4Ollies]

Oh, forgot to add, use Bumbershoots less traveled path. Very few people and just a little quicker.

 

[vossjemi]

Does increasing rates mean there are expected to be busy? Back in May, I booked my Hojo stay for Aug. No ent rates avail for my dates, at least not yet. Rack rate for disney view room was $159. Got 15% disboard discount for $135.15. I barely got a disney view room (had to book pool view first, but finally a room became available, so I switched). But, yesterday a disney view room was available and I noticed that rack rates had increased from $159 to $179 for my nights. I'm just curious what that means.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Free parking and plenty of it.

The walk isn't that far. I'm plus-sized and can do it in a few minutes, even with tired feet and shopping bags.

I'm one of the few not happy about the new water playground...I WANT MY POOL BACK!!!! Or hey, why not add a Jacuzzi to the other pool...there's an idea!

I love the room size, the bathroom size, the balcony, the service, the computers in the lobby, I can go on and on.

 

[camouseketeer]

Hojo sounds great, but unfortunately we can't use the E Rate the entire month of August.

Keep checking for availability. I am here now and my dates did not open up until 3 days before our trip. For the last three months the chart on the Hojo website has said N/A for the entire month of July. Then, suddenly, on July 4 almost half the month opened up for the Entertainment rate.

So just because it isn't available today doesn't mean it won't be for your dates in the future.

I had ressies here and the Desert Inn. Once I got my Entertainment rate, I canceled the Desert Inn. I believe most hotels have a 48 hour cancellation policy.

 

[bumbershoot]

Keep checking for availability. I am here now and my dates did not open up until 3 days before our trip. For the last three months the chart on the Hojo website has said N/A for the entire month of July. Then, suddenly, on July 4 almost half the month opened up for the Entertainment rate.

So just because it isn't available today doesn't mean it won't be for your dates in the future.

I had ressies here and the Desert Inn. Once I got my Entertainment rate, I canceled the Desert Inn. I believe most hotels have a 48 hour cancellation policy.

I agree.

For my January trip I booked Carousel, and then in the week of my trip an E Rate for HoJo showed up. Alas, I had mis-read the cancelation policy for Carousel, and I was too late to cancel. So I had to pay more for a hotel I wasn't thrilled about staying at.

I justified it with the distance and the b'fast. Bwa ha ha. Nasty tiny donuts, awful coffee in TINY cups, and nothing else I would touch. The fruit was sad and small and didn't look tasty. And yes it was closer, but if you look at my walking tour posts with the timestamps, it's something like 3 minutes from HoJo even walking with horribly blistered feet (my feet are still recovering from those blisters, and they happened May 25!)!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

im even gona keep calling tho my dates arent avalible right now they were a few weeks ago maybe they will be again i should of booked then lol

 

[moniquem]

FANTASTIC!!! Thanks for that tip! I think I will keep doing that - I really want to get that rate! I hope I will get that rate it would make such a big difference in our trip! Do you suggest calling every day or checking the list??

 

[bumbershoot]

I found the e rate for my date by using SD50 online. I don't know if they fixed the bug, but I go one day at a time for my needed stay (on that stay it was only one day anyway).