Anyone have a HoJo review?

[MickMan]

We are looking to stay at the Howard Johnson hotel just outside of Disneyland.

Anyone stay there recently?
What did you think?
How are the rooms?
How is the pool?
How is the walk to the parks?

I am sure I can come up with some more questions.

Let me know what you think of the HoJo.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I have not stayed there recently (been a year and half). For recent reviews, try www.tripadvisor.com If you plug in the Howard Johnson, Anaheim, CA you should get plenty of recent reviews. This motel always rates pretty high. I would suggest you request a non freeway side room. Some of the rooms are literally feet from the I-5 freeway and very noisy! For our stay, staff was wonderful, room large and clean a bit dated but a great value. It is a 10-15 minute walk to the main gate of Disneyland. They have nice gift shop with all kinds of snacks, cereal, juice, soda and milk. Also there is a McDonalds, a Mimi's and another restaurant (Millie's I think) next door. It is located on a busy street with a lot of traffic. There are lovely grounds and two nice pools. Hope this helps!

 

[lucky1]

We stayed there in Sept 2004. I did post a trip report on tripadvisor. We got a good value through mousesavers and felt it was worth the money. We were in the very back of the hotel on the 3rd floor over looking the pool. Our room did not face the freeway but the hallway was just feet from the freeway. We never did hear any noise, unless we had the door open to the hallway.

Nothing to write home about in the rooms, 2 double beds and not much room to get around in the room. Beds were comfortable and bathroom was clean and well stocked. They did have free high speed access then. I can't remember if they had wireless.


The quiet pool is in the very back of the hotel, it was never crowded. The main pool had a kiddie area as well as a large pool area. During a hot, sunny day the bricks around the pool can be very hot on feet and you might need to have swim shoes for kids. I don't remember any slides in the pool area.

The most disappointing thing to us was the walk to and from the parks. While it is not that far, it was just not that pleasent. You have to cross a street between HoJo and the Mimi's cafe, that can be very busy with cars that do not watch for crossers and cars that speed. You can then cut through Mimi's parking lot and walk the sidewalk past the fairfield inn, McDonalds and 2 other hotels before crossing Harbor to the tram stop for Disneyland and then on to the entrance into the Disneyparks. I guess with a small child we felt trying to cross that one street by HoJo's was always an adventure.

The Staff was very friendly and accommidating.

 

[cariacros]

We just returned from Hojo's this past Saturday. We spent 6 nights in Premium Disney View rooms.
The rooms are clean, carpet clean, furniture clean, not stained like you see in some hotels. Housekeeping was great.
The rooms are spacious with 2 queen beds. We were in Building 1. The problem we had was that we weren't able to control the temperature in our rooms. The front desk said it was controlled by the lobby. They did bring up extra blankets but my sister's room was always freezing. The other problem was the showers, low water pressure and it is pointing toward the tile so you hit the cold tile when trying to rinse and they must use a softener as it seems hard to rinse the soap off. Sink outside of the bathrom also is nice.
The balcony is great, can watch fireworks from there or from bed.
The walk wasn't that bad, except when wanting to just take packages back to your room. I did use ART one day when not feeling well.
The beds are comfortable, hot tub was nice. Gift shop has everything you need. Elevators are slow, only one works and it was getting busy the Saturday we checked out, took forever waiting for an elevator. Was on 7th floor.
Mimi's is good.
Was a nice stay but it went by way too fast, all a blur now.

Carrie

 

[Amy&Dan]

The most disappointing thing to us was the walk to and from the parks. While it is not that far, it was just not that pleasent. You have to cross a street between HoJo and the Mimi's cafe, that can be very busy with cars that do not watch for crossers and cars that speed. You can then cut through Mimi's parking lot and walk the sidewalk past the fairfield inn, McDonalds and 2 other hotels before crossing Harbor to the tram stop for Disneyland and then on to the entrance into the Disneyparks. I guess with a small child we felt trying to cross that one street by HoJo's was always an adventure.

This is exactly why I am not sure we would stay there again in spite of an okay experience with the hotel itself! My son and husband were literally almost run over by someone turning into the parking lot and not yielding to us and the pedestrians. Because he was coming in from behind us we couldn't see him until he was almost running over us. I guess we have gotten spoiled staying onsite and walking up a pleasant and traffic-free DTD. If I ever stay offsite again it will be someplace that has their own shuttle like the Candy Cane Inn. Harbor is a very busy street and that near miss was not fun for us.

 

[Tahoe]

This is exactly why I am not sure we would stay there again in spite of an okay experience with the hotel itself! My son and husband were literally almost run over by someone turning into the parking lot and not yielding to us and the pedestrians. Because he was coming in from behind us we couldn't see him until he was almost running over us. I guess we have gotten spoiled staying onsite and walking up a pleasant and traffic-free DTD. If I ever stay offsite again it will be someplace that has their own shuttle like the Candy Cane Inn. Harbor is a very busy street and that near miss was not fun for us.

Yes! I will second this! I stayed just one night in June with two kids (3 & 7), and we were way in the back building. The walk was quite long, esp the walk back, and esp since we still had a lot of walking to do after we made it through Mimi's parking lot and across the street (the short cut). You can take the "long" way and cross at the signal. It looks close, but there's still quite a walk through the shuttle area.

Our room was clean and pleasant and quiet. We, too, are used to staying onsite. Next week however, I have chosen the Candy Cane Inn just because of their shuttle. I think the walk is about the same (maybe a little safer), but the shuttle (and the cozy looking comforters!) were the deal breaker for me. A shuttle does stop at HoJo, but it also stops at other hotels, so it takes a while, according to the woman who checked us in. We never tried it.

The pools were nice, but VERY crowded when we were there.

 

[spazzyjazzy]

I love love love love the HoJo. We have stayed there for 7 years. The freeway noise has never bothered us when we have stayed on that side of the hotel. We love the pool area. The gift shop is great. The people are always nice that work there. We don't mind the walk at all. My son was small when we first started going there but, we always kept a watchful eye on him when crossing the road. We always cut through the parking lot of Mimi's Cafe to get to our very favorite Millie's. We plan on staying there in April for our honeymoon. The beds are nice. We always bring our own pillows but, drive there so it's always a bit easier for us to lug extra stuff to make it feel more homey. My son loves that the maids will always fix his toys on the bed or if he gets something like a stuffed character the maid will always arrange it somewhere nice on his bed that he sleeps on.

 

[carinv]

We stayed at HoJo's in buliding 2 in a home office room (slightly bigger room, microwave-great for 5 of us) from 15th November for 5 nights.

It was the least expensive hotel we had during our 3 1/2 week vacation, and the most comfortable. We just loved it! Clean, comfy-our beds were superb, nice grounds, great gift shop, lovely staff.

We ( kids 11, 13 and 15) did DL comando style and were on the go from dawn to dusk. I was the only one who found the walk a bit of a drag, but I am quite unfit!

Those comfy beds were the one thing that kept me going. I did look longingly at all the hotels that were closer, but none did look as nice as HoJo's. I really liked the internal corridors, they felt more secure.

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

We were in Building 1. The problem we had was that we weren't able to control the temperature in our rooms. The front desk said it was controlled by the lobby. They did bring up extra blankets but my sister's room was always freezing.

Carrie

We stayed in November (the dreaded 11/11 weekend, in building 1) and had the same problem. Apparently the heat does not kick on until the thermostat in the boiler room hit 65 degrees. There is no manual override and of course the location of the thermostat is less than logical. That's been my only complaint in 6 visits and we're going back next month and in Feb.

 

[stampinshauna]

We stayed there in September of this year. It was okay. I may stay there again, just depends on prices, etc. It was quite a walk to the parks, so we never came back to the room during the day. The pool area was nice, there is a fun area for the kids to splash in. Our room was clean, but sometimes had a musty smell in the bathroom. It was great having a fridge in the room so we went to the store and bought milk & juice for breakfast. Our building (I think it was either 6 or 2) had large windows at the tops of the rooms, this was nice to let light in during the day, but it also let light in early in the morning so we couldn't really sleep in--maybe that was a good thing so we didn't waste our time there. I had heard such great reviews of this hotel that I was a little disappointed because it had been hyped up so much. If you go expecting an average hotel, you won't be disappointed, just don't expect a fabulous hotel and you'll be fine. My travel agent told me it was her favorite next to the Disneyland Hotel (that got my hopes up a little too much). Where ever you decide to stay, have a great trip!

 

[carinv]

Thats the thing with the hotel....it is not a 4 or 5 star luxury hotel. I think because it gets such good reviews, people expect it to be more than it is.

I also think that some of the smaller buildings (3,4,5,&6)looked older than building 2, which was really nice.

My only complaint would be the walk was a little long (for me anyway!) but to feel so comfortable and secure was definatley worth the walk!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I had heard such great reviews of this hotel that I was a little disappointed because it had been hyped up so much. If you go expecting an average hotel, you won't be disappointed, just don't expect a fabulous hotel and you'll be fine. My travel agent told me it was her favorite next to the Disneyland Hotel (that got my hopes up a little too much). Where ever you decide to stay, have a great trip!

This is exactly my experience. I had read all of these fabulous reviews so my expectations were just way too high. It rated higher on tripadisor than the Disneyland Hotel which still shocks me. I recommend it to people who want a clean, affordable motel but I am always honest and tell them if they have stayed onsite at either Disneyland or WDW to be prepared for an older property situated on a busy street/highway. The staff was the best part, they were wonderful. You have to be careful being honest with this place however, I once got quite a lashing on this board for saying I thought it was dated and that I had been somewhat disappointed! I would still stay there again if I got a very good rate but the last few times I have checked, I have been able to find what to me is a better deal someplace else.

 

[Simba's Mom]

That light thing really bothered me-it was bright out at 6:30 in the morning. Also, I didn't like that there was no door on our building, so anyone could just walk in. That lack of security bothered me. Also, I came back one night to find the ice machine in our building broken and a sign directing me to go to a particular building for ice. So I went and sure enough, that ice machine was also broken! So it took me 3 places before I got ice. Maybe I was expecting too much since there'd been so many great reviews here, but I was sort of disappointed. Especially the lack of security on the buildings-since I was traveling alone, I'd really looked for a hotel that had indoor corridors. Well, HoJos does, but they might as well not have.

 

[LucyKate]

Well, we loved it.

Luxury hotel? No

Great value, clean, safe, moderate standard hotel with great housekeeping, very good pool, good restaurant across the street, short walk from Disneyland? Yes.

Never understood the gripes about the walk - it's about 10 minutes. My five year old did it four times after a long day in the park - it's shorter than her walk to school.

It's a wide, brightly lit safe street.

The only criticism I'd agree with is the freeway noice - make sure you get a room facing away from it (as we did) and it's fine.

If you want to spend a lot more and stay at DL, by all means do so. If you'd rather spend your money in the parks and just want a nice, close, clean safe place to stay - stay at HoJo.

 

[MickMan]

So is the walk just about as long as it is from the Disneyland Hotel to the parks?

Thanks!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Very close, maybe a little further. I prefer the walk back and forth from the DLH because it is up DTD so there is only pedestrian traffic. The HoJo seemed further, probably because it is slightly uphill when you return from the parks and there is less to distract you as there is on DTD. The walk is not bad, you can take the ART for $3 (you can buy a pass for cheaper right there at the HoJo). We found that to be almost more trouble than it was worth however. We only took it because we had my elderly father in law with us. I didn't find the length of the walk to be a factor, just didn't like the traffic. Since I had always stayed at the Disneyland Hotel I guess the walk just seemed more of a bother. If you want to stay offsite on Harbor, the Best Western Park Place Inn is the closest. If you click on the thread on this board titled Official Disneyland Resort Good Neighbor Hotels you will see an aerial map on there that can show you all of the Good Neighbor Hotels and their proximity to Disneyland. Another thought is the Candy Cane Inn. It ranks very high, I have never seen a bad review of this place. They are about an equal distance from DL as the HoJo but have their own shuttle that is free. They are on Harbor as well, but on the opposite end from the Main Gate. Meaning you would make a right on Harbor and not a left as you exit the plaza area as you leave.