Non-Disney hotel advice for August trip

75disney

75disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We are going To Disneyland from 8/20-8/26. I currently have hotel reservations at the Howard Johnson (chosen for price, walking distance to park, Disney view room, and pool area), but I just got an offer for the Hilton (Disney view room) which would be slightly cheaper than the HoJo. Is the Hilton a nicer hotel than HoJo? Is it a much longer walk from Hilton to the parks? Are there more dining options near it? Thanks for any advice.
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
The Hilton is literally in front of, on the same block as, the Anaheim Convention Center, which itself is literally behind DCA. The walk from the Hilton is convenient, especially if you choose to walk around the Western edge of DCA and enter through the Great Californian Lodge or through the adjacent Downtown Disney. The Great Californian has a direct entrance into DCA as well as an entryway to Downtown Disney (which at DL is essentially the westernmost plaza between the two parks, which face each other. You literally exit on park and face the entrance to the other. The monorail can take you from Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland in DL Park, or just walk the distance from WDW's monorail to the MK to go in.

I believe that the HoJo is more centrally located to the between-park plaza, but the Hilton is still not far and is a pleasant walk if you go around the western way I just mentioned. So, I think either one would work. It is all within a two-block radius of the plaza (think the farthest being the distance of the Contemporary from the MK).
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
75disney said:
We are going To Disneyland from 8/20-8/26. I currently have hotel reservations at the Howard Johnson (chosen for price, walking distance to park, Disney view room, and pool area), but I just got an offer for the Hilton (Disney view room) which would be slightly cheaper than the HoJo. Is the Hilton a nicer hotel than HoJo? Is it a much longer walk from Hilton to the parks? Are there more dining options near it? Thanks for any advice.
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Hilton is a nicer hotel than HoJo, but a longer trek. You can't use the Grand Californian DCA entrance because you're not a Disney hotel guest. You would have to walk up Disneyland Drive to Downtown Disney to enter the resort and then walk or take the monorail. From HoJo, you can just walk down Harbor and cross the street to enter the Esplanade from the east.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Kira Nerys said:
All I know is the arctic themed one behind Cars Land is super charming from the outside.
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The backside of cars land from your hotel window is not super charming non is the giant watertank.

pool-and-located-right.jpg
 
Jedi Stitch

Jedi Stitch

Well-Known Member
HoJo, is our preferred non Disney hotel. Then again, we used to stay in some flea trappy places back in the day. The old Magic Lamp comes to mind. If you plan to go to Universal and such, you can catch a complementary Shuttle to the Hub for getting the bus to Universal.
 
Witchy Chick

Witchy Chick

Well-Known Member
75disney said:
Thank you for all of the advice. I decided to keep the reservation at HoJo due to its closer location to the parks. A shorter walk will be greatly appreciated after a long day at the parks.
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We're staying at the HoJo in a couple weeks; if you want any additional info, just let me know. :)
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
GiveMeTheMusic said:
You can't use the Grand Californian DCA entrance because you're not a Disney hotel guest.
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Not true. You just need a park admission ticket, which you can buy at the GC concierge desk, which is what we did the first day in 2015. They were more than happy to take our money, and once we had a ticket, any other time we went in from that entrance it worked like any maingate ticket entrance: they scanned the ticket and let us in. Just happened to be from the Grand Californian. The lobby and hallways of it are open to walk-in guests like any other hotel.

Driving in and parking there would be a different story, but walk-ins were welcome... which brings me to something else: Be sure to visit the Grand Californian and the original Disneyland Hotel while you are within walking distance. Both are nice diversions from the parks and are beautifully themed. The DL Hotel itself has a unique and wonderful history. And it also has a cool monorail-themed pool, along with the original tiki bar poolside. Any WDW resorts veteran will also recognize WDW's Wilderness Lodge design elements in the Great Californian, which came after it.
 
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truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
prberk said:
Not true. You just need a park admission ticket, which you can buy at the GC concierge desk, which is what we did the first day in 2015. They were more than happy to take our money, and once we had a ticket, any other time we went in from that entrance it worked like any maingate ticket entrance: they scanned the ticket and let us in. Just happened to be from the Grand Californian. The lobby and hallways of it are open to walk-in guests like any other hotel.

Driving in and parking there would be a different story, but walk-ins were welcome... which brings me to something else: Be sure to visit the Grand Californian and the original Disneyland Hotel while you are within walking distance. Both are nice diversions from the parks and are beautifully themed. The DL Hotel itself has a unique and wonderful history. And it also has a cool monorail-themed pool, along with the original tiki bar poolside. Any WDW resorts veteran will also recognize WDW's Wilderness Lodge design elements in the Great Californian, which came after it.
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They changed it this year. They no longer allow anyone to walk through.
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
truecoat said:
They changed it this year. They no longer allow anyone to walk through.
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So you can't even walk into the lobby? (That would be absurd.) Or just can't enter the park without having a GC room card?

Can you enter GC from the park, say to eat at a restaurant?

Sounds silly to me, and a loss of potential revenue gift shop revenue.
 
5thGenTexan

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
phruby said:
As for dining options. Stay away from Tiffy's and Captain Kids unless you want food poisoning and rotten service. Even the McDonald's is a better choice over those two.
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we ate at Mimis Café a couple of times and breakfast the morning we left. Not 5 star dining, but it was nice having a reasonable priced meal in good A/C after being in the parks most of the day.
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
prberk said:
So you can't even walk into the lobby? (That would be absurd.) Or just can't enter the park without having a GC room card?

Can you enter GC from the park, say to eat at a restaurant?

Sounds silly to me, and a loss of potential revenue gift shop revenue.
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They check reservation information for guests using the restaurants. I assume if you told them you wanted to eat there they'd be ok with it.
 

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