Hotels?

[halfwaynowhere]

I'm brainstorming here. I'm trying to plan a nice casual elopement/wedding night/honeymoon on a budget. We're looking at a weekday in August. I'd like to do our civil ceremony in the morning, then head to Disneyland to spend the day/night/next day. If all goes well in the next month or two, we'll have APs by then.

Originally I had thought it would be fantastic to stay at the Grand Californian. Then I saw the price for a night there. I can't spend anywhere near $400+ for a night. That's going to have to wait for an anniversary someday. So my dilemma is, we need a budget friendly room somewhere that is also going to be wedding night special. Closer to the resort is best, as I'll be 7+ months pregnant by then and I know I'll want to head back to rest. I don't plan on spending too much time in the room, but I still want it to be an enjoyable experience. We live about 20-30 minutes from Disneyland, so I've never really thought about hotels before.

Any suggestions?

 

[sonnyjane]

Yay! Congratulations!

Can you be more specific about what you're looking for in a room that would qualify it as being "wedding night special". I'm familiar with a lot of the hotels that are close to Disneyland but I'm having a hard time thinking of nicer ones in the immediate vicinity. There are some that would be about 15-20 minutes away but considering you only live about 20-30 minutes away, that seems silly!

If you have an AP during that visit, do you think you could swing a night at Disneyland Hotel? Still "special", in my opinion, but not quite as expensive as GCH, and if you have an AP you could get a bit of a discount as well?

 

[Drinehart811]

If you aren't picky about which hotel, just that it is really nice, I would recommend Priceline name your own price. You can pick the Disneyland area, so you'll be close to the park, and you can pick your star level, so you know your getting a nice hotel. We have had extremely good luck with that in the past. Usually if you pick at least 3 stars you can get a Hilton type hotel for about $50-60. I live is San Diego, so when we don't want to have to drive home, or want to get an early start this is how I usually book the hotel. The majority of the time the hotel is on Harbor ave, right down the street from the park, the farthest it's even given me is an exit or so down the freeway (but this isn't the norm). Good luck!

 

[babyatlas]

i say call the disneyland hotels. it doesn't hurt to ask. explain what you are celebrating and see what they can do. worst case is it's too expensive (which you already suspect) so it won't be a big disappointment.

when we called a couple of weeks ago - last minute - they gave us a discount over the phone. i don't believe that we got a crazy good deal but it helped us save a couple of hundred dollars.

congratulations!!!

oh...and what about the hotel menage? i've never stayed there but considered it. reviews were good and the pictures are nice (though i realize this can be deceiving).

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm trying to budget this whole thing for as little as possible, somewhere between 600-1000 for the ceremony and our fun day afterwards (APs not included).
I'll try calling the hotels and see if there's anything they can do. Ideally I'd like to spend under $100 for a room, but can splurge a bit if I can get something closer to what I really want, I'll just make cuts elsewhere. Otherwise, the Priceline name your price option sounds great!
Unfortunately, I have to wait a few weeks before I can really get the ball going on this. I'm waiting until we can pay for our marriage license so we can set up our appointment for the civil ceremony, as this has to be done in person, and I don't want to make multiple trips to the courthouse. So I won't know the date yet and can't start booking things. I think it will help a little that it's during the week, and I'm thinking towards the end of August might be better because people are going back to school already, but I don't know if that makes a huge difference in prices.

 

[sonnyjane]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm trying to budget this whole thing for as little as possible, somewhere between 600-1000 for the ceremony and our fun day afterwards (APs not included).
I'll try calling the hotels and see if there's anything they can do. Ideally I'd like to spend under $100 for a room, but can splurge a bit if I can get something closer to what I really want, I'll just make cuts elsewhere. Otherwise, the Priceline name your price option sounds great!

I think if you want to keep it under $100, if that's a pretty firm number, Priceline is one of your better options. With the popularity of Carsland for the last year, I haven't seen anything decent for $100, let alone anything worthy of a honeymoon night. It's just a darn expensive place

 

[halfwaynowhere]

I think if you want to keep it under $100, if that's a pretty firm number, Priceline is one of your better options. With the popularity of Carsland for the last year, I haven't seen anything decent for $100, let alone anything worthy of a honeymoon night. It's just a darn expensive place

I would love to have a bigger budget. But since we're doing this on our own, and with a new baby on the way, every dollar matters. I'm hoping we'll get some gift money from a few family members that will help out a little, but I don't ever expect anything from anyone, and since we're not really going public with this until afterwards, Not many people are going to know anyways. Where's my fairy godmother when I need her? lol.

 

[sonnyjane]

I would love to have a bigger budget. But since we're doing this on our own, and with a new baby on the way, every dollar matters. I'm hoping we'll get some gift money from a few family members that will help out a little, but I don't ever expect anything from anyone, and since we're not really going public with this until afterwards, Not many people are going to know anyways. Where's my fairy godmother when I need her? lol.

Disneyland announcing the price increases today certainly doesn't help either I feel you. I am still upset I didn't win Powerball!

 

[halfwaynowhere]

Disneyland announcing the price increases today certainly doesn't help either I feel you. I am still upset I didn't win Powerball!

At least $20 extra for the year isn't quite so bad, although I never was able to renew after last year's crazy hike. We're really trying, though. I need my Disney day trips. I spent a few days a week there last summer, and it was the best summer of my life. I made a lot of new friends and had so many great experiences. I need to get more exercise and reduce stress now, and Disneyland is the best way for me to do that! And I can take the little one for a few hours at a time once she's born and old enough, and it will be good for us.

 

[lalasmama]

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

We're getting married next month. (OMG, NEXT month?!?! It always seemed so far away, and now it's so close!) At any rate, we're in Portland, so not a quick trip to DL for us--we have to fly out, so we decided to stay at a local hotel, and fly out the next day (better prices, better flight times, less stress for the wedding day/night)....

At any rate, for our DL honeymoon, we decided to stay at Park Vue Inn. I seem to be singing the praises of PVI on here lately. I know PVI has gotten some bad press on here, and I'm not denying that person's experience at all, I just know our experience was very different. At our stay in Feb, our room was white-sock clean, and no appearance of bed bugs (and I tore the room apart just to be sure). When we checked out and accidently left my engagement ring in the room, they were quick, efficient, and helped find my ring. They are right across the street too, which is pretty darn close, in my opinion! We chose the jacuzzi suite just for fun--because who doesn't want a jacuzzi suite for their honeymoon?!? (Okay, so I know pregnant women aren't supposed to go in jacuzzis because of the increased heat, but you could dip your tootsies in!). PVI, obviously, isn't a 5-star hotel, and isn't on most people's "honeymoon" destination list, but we liked it, it was across the street, and it was under $200 a night. (I know you said your budget is a bit lower than that, but I really believe it's worth the increase!). They have a "honeymoon" package (maybe called a celebration package?) as well, and I added that on. Can't remember exactly what comes with it at the moment.

 

[TheZue]

Candy Cane Inn. It's slightly above your 100/night, but it's close & very cute. There is free breakfast which helps. The grounds look nice too. It also has a shuttle which when pregnant would be nice