Airfares booked at great prices! Still working on the hotel....

[JessL]

Air NZ has some great deals at the moment. I just booked return flights for November for myself, 14yo and 11yo (so 1 child price and 2 adults) for $2658. Really happy with that!

The hotel is proving harder to pin down. Last time my husband came as well and we had a junior suite at HoJo's which was perfect. This time I want something closer to the gate, and something cheaper!

I've narrowed it down to Castle Inn, Best Western Plus Park Place, Camelot and Tropicana. Castle Inn actually has the highest ranking of the 4 on Trip Advisor, but it's the cheapest. I'm trying to determine if the ranking is based on people's perception of value for money. Tropicana has the lowest ranking of the 4. My problem is that I tend to research the crap out of stuff and then have too much information! I need to just learn to go - "That looks good. I'll take that."

Anyone care to weigh in on their hotel preferences?

 

[aussie shaz]

Best Western Park Place Inn. Never stayed there, but stayed at Park Vue and there's absolutely nothing like being directly across the road from the Disneyland sign!

We too have stayed at Hojo, and the walk is just too far with so many other great hotels closer.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Best Western PPI has a pretty good reputation with the Dis-sers.

 

[JessL]

Thanks to both of you!

I've just had a look at the Park Vue and it looks really nice, but I can't find prices anywhere! I've tried a variety of dates on a variety of sites and keep getting a variation of "We have no information for those dates". Even the hotel website! Out of interest, do you remember what you paid per night?

 

[zanzibar138]

We liked Desert Inn & Suites when we stayed there on our 2014 RunDisney trip. Nothing fancy, but comfortable, spacious, and super close to the parks! They offer some pretty great rates too if you book far in advance.

 

[JessL]

Thanks Zanzibar138. I just went and looked at their website and it does look good! Another to add to my spreadsheet!

 

[Montanabel]

Hi JessL
Congrads on the awesome airfares - very well done.

We usually stay at Desert Palms Hotels and Suites, but its about a 10-12 minute walk to DLR so might not meet your needs for this trip. It does have a 7/11 next door which is very handy for those late night snacks/drinks (cos we didn't eat enough junk food during the day )

 

[aussie shaz]

It was 2011 when we stayed at Park Vue. We had a queen plus bunk bed room. I can't remember what we paid, but I'm pretty sure it would have been around the AUD150-AUD170 mark. The $ was about parity then though. They also offered quite a few extras then than they do now.
I just looked at some September dates. The queen plus bunk bed room is approx $200USD per night, including tax. Doesn't look like the November rates have been released yet. You might be able to email them? We booked direct.

 

[aussiegirls]

We have booked desert inn and suites also. I think you can only book directly-they don't sell through travel agents, third party sites etc.

Our stay is $1200 usd for 14 nights

 

[Zosha]

Wow, good price on the air fares! I have booked at Hyatt Place for December. I know it's a bit of a distance, but the bed bug stories for some of the closer hotels were scaring me...!

 

[JessL]

I'm still waiting for Park Vue Inn to post their November rates before I decide. Apparently they won't be available until February.

I've started making notes already on restaurants that offer discount vouchers online and a variety of tips. We're going back to the U.S. the following year for a road trip so working hard to keep costs down on this one. We will have a couple of small splurges though. I want to eat dinner at Blue Bayou one night and I want to do the Walk In Walt's Footsteps tour.

 

[zanzibar138]

If you stay at DI&S, you get a discount at the Denny's next door (can't remember what percentage it was). Denny's is already ridiculously cheap (when we were there they had a $2 range of whole meals that I couldn't even finish). Getting an extra discount makes it as close to free as you're gonna get lol! They have a huge variety of meals on their menu too. Best place to go when you're on a budget.

BB and WIWF are definitely worthwhile splurges. Are you also considering a character meal at all?

 

[LivingforDisney]

We had 4 nights at the Camelot Inn in Dec, perfect, clean, friendly. Our flight was early landing & we ended up getting to the hotel at around 8am by super shuttle, 4th time I have used and they were great both ways . Anyhow, when we got to the hotel we were tired and I was silently cursing I hadn't reserved the room for the night before, but the lovely guy said, I can give you guys a room now as I know that is a awful long flight you just got off.

 

[rosaciri]

Air NZ has some great deals at the moment. I just booked return flights for November for myself, 14yo and 11yo (so 1 child price and 2 adults) for $2658. Really happy with that!

The hotel is proving harder to pin down. Last time my husband came as well and we had a junior suite at HoJo's which was perfect. This time I want something closer to the gate, and something cheaper!

I've narrowed it down to Castle Inn, Best Western Plus Park Place, Camelot and Tropicana. Castle Inn actually has the highest ranking of the 4 on Trip Advisor, but it's the cheapest. I'm trying to determine if the ranking is based on people's perception of value for money. Tropicana has the lowest ranking of the 4. My problem is that I tend to research the crap out of stuff and then have too much information! I need to just learn to go - "That looks good. I'll take that."

Anyone care to weigh in on their hotel preferences?

I wouldnt recommend Camelot - we stayed there and didnt like it at all. Not a nice place. Room service wasnt nice and rooms wee blahhhhh.

 

[LivingforDisney]

I wouldnt recommend Camelot - we stayed there and didnt like it at all. Not a nice place. Room service wasnt nice and rooms wee blahhhhh.

Oh really, we enjoyed our 4 nights there in Dec.
The staff were really friendly and our room was nice, clean, ect.
Didn't know u could order room service??

 

[rosaciri]

Oh really, we enjoyed our 4 nights there in Dec.
The staff were really friendly and our room was nice, clean, ect.
Didn't know u could order room service??

Staff werent friendly with us and not very helpful when they threw out my daughters Build A Bear stuff from DL b/c they thought it was rubbish. Room we had was tiny as, when we landed we slept a few hours and then ordered room service before heading to DL and we found it wasnt nice - we ate at DL at The Rainforest (much nicer). Close to DL so that was the only advantage for us with 2 girls. Not my cup of tea I guess - just a personal opinion. I guess there are good and bad experiences.

 

[JessL]

We ended up booking the Park Vue Inn. Fingers crossed for a clean room and good service. I can cope with most other things!