lodging for family size of 5

Mousefan mom

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 21, 2015
Hello,

We are huge WDW fans, and thinking of changing things up a bit with a west coast trip next summer. We'd like to fly in to the LA area and spend about a week or so. We would probably schedule 4 days for Disney, but might also enjoy doing WB tour, Hollywood, maybe LEGOLAND (my youngest is begging), and Universal for a day. On the Disney part, we'd likely want to stay with Disney--but what works best for lodging outside of Disney? With our family size we need something that accommodates 5, and from what I can tell, I would likely get a Paradise Pier room at Disney for under $400 a night (does that sound right?)...is this the going rate for all hotels in the area, or can I find a nice family friendly one for a better price?
 
The big problem you have is timing. Next summer is the opening of Star Wars land so expect big crowds which probably means big price increases. During the summer you can easily stay off site for way under $400. That might change your timing of coming west.
 
I agree, that timing is really bad (meaning expensive) for DL due to the Star Wars opening. If you want to stay on site book now because the pricing probably won't go down. For everywhere else (LA/San Diego) you should be able to find many family friendly spots for way under $400/night (more like $200+ range).
 
It really depends on how far you're willing to be from Disneyland. $400/night is actually kind of high.

I haven't specifically stayed at the location in Anaheim, but I'm familiar with the Hyatt Place concept. I stayed at one location (got it on Priceline though) with two rooms and 8 total people. I think they allow a maximum of 6 in a room, but 5 (including 3 kids) will be less than maxing out. It's a casual concept with more or less mini-suites with a divider. I priced some random weekdays this August and got "high floor" two queen beds and a sofa bed for $165/night. A larger room (also two queen beds) is $190/night. They might also have bunk beds, although I'm not sure how to choose that. It also comes with breakfast. Here's a room photo of the two queen (the sofa bed is on the right foreground):

hyattplace01.jpg


https://anaheimresort.place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

I fiddled around with the schedule, and it looks like the bunk beds are only available with a king bed.
 


These threads have lots of helpful information:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/choosing-the-right-dlr-area-hotel-for-you.3656512/

A DLR Guide for WDW Vets

There are now several all suite hotels in the DLR area walking distance to the parks (e.g. Residence Inn Maingate, Residence Inn Convention Center, Homewood Suites, Springhill Suites, etc.). There are also hotels with suites that sleep larger families, e.g. Desert Palms on Katella. Staying on site does come with perks at DLR, but is not as necessary or the same as staying on site at WDW. And the money saved (which can be substantial) by staying off site can be used well on lots of fun extras in the parks. Some of the off site hotels are actually closer walking distance to the gates than the on site hotels!
 
I'm planning a California road trip for my family of 5 for next summer as well. You shouldn't have trouble finding a Disney hotel - many seem to accommodate 5. In Hollywood / Universal Area, I'm considering the Loews Hollywood Hotel and The Garland. Hope that helps! I completely understand the struggle. So far, I've tracked down rooms for us in San Francisco and Yosemite - still trying to make my choices for Monterey Bay area, Disney, & Hollywood.
 
I'm planning a California road trip for my family of 5 for next summer as well. You shouldn't have trouble finding a Disney hotel - many seem to accommodate 5. In Hollywood / Universal Area, I'm considering the Loews Hollywood Hotel and The Garland. Hope that helps! I completely understand the struggle. So far, I've tracked down rooms for us in San Francisco and Yosemite - still trying to make my choices for Monterey Bay area, Disney, & Hollywood.

If you are interested in staying in Monterey next summer I highly recommend that you look into the schedule of car events. Those events book out every hotel in the area. It’s fun driving around and seeing fancy cars like lambourghinis parked in dive motels. Things can get booked up really early so making reservations is a must. The Embassy Suites in Seaside is the only really big reasonably priced hotel so it’s rates can be good depending on the time of year. Plus it has an inside pool which is great for kids.
 


If you are interested in staying in Monterey next summer I highly recommend that you look into the schedule of car events. Those events book out every hotel in the area. It’s fun driving around and seeing fancy cars like lambourghinis parked in dive motels. Things can get booked up really early so making reservations is a must. The Embassy Suites in Seaside is the only really big reasonably priced hotel so it’s rates can be good depending on the time of year. Plus it has an inside pool which is great for kids.

Thanks for the recommendation of the Embassy Suites and for the insight about car events / scheduling. I am hoping we can get an Airbnb or VRBO type rental in that area as it will be in the middle of our trip. We will be ready for a little space, and we will need to do laundry by that point. I understand there are some licensing issues up for vote in November concerning the legality & permitting of private home / condo rentals. I certainly don't want to book anything that's not legit or allowed, so I'm waiting to see how that plays out. Perhaps I should go ahead and book a refundable standard hotel setup now (or soon) as a back-up just in case. Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the recommendation of the Embassy Suites and for the insight about car events / scheduling. I am hoping we can get an Airbnb or VRBO type rental in that area as it will be in the middle of our trip. We will be ready for a little space, and we will need to do laundry by that point. I understand there are some licensing issues up for vote in November concerning the legality & permitting of private home / condo rentals. I certainly don't want to book anything that's not legit or allowed, so I'm waiting to see how that plays out. Perhaps I should go ahead and book a refundable standard hotel setup now (or soon) as a back-up just in case. Thanks again.

Yes, the short term rentals are always a point of contention around here. Those will book up too if there are car events so keep that in mind. If you want a beautiful place to stay right by the ocean you could check out
https://www.visitasilomar.com/lodging/asilomar-lodging-experience/

There are a lot of options if you want to book a hotel just in case. Prices here are weird and fluctuate a lot depending on events. Also be aware that we call it June gloom here because the fog dominates. Not sure where you are coming from and what you’re preferred weather is but that’s something to consider. Tourists usually think summer here is going to be sunny but it’s not. San Francisco can be the same way. My in-laws live by Yosemite and the fire season has been awful these last couple of summers. If it could work fall might be a better time to plan a trip and you’d miss the craziness of the Star Wars opening. Monterey is getting Indy Car back for the first time in decades in September though so I’m not sure how that’s going to impact hotels then.
 
I'm planning a California road trip for my family of 5 for next summer as well. You shouldn't have trouble finding a Disney hotel - many seem to accommodate 5. In Hollywood / Universal Area, I'm considering the Loews Hollywood Hotel and The Garland. Hope that helps! I completely understand the struggle. So far, I've tracked down rooms for us in San Francisco and Yosemite - still trying to make my choices for Monterey Bay area, Disney, & Hollywood.
Getting lots of good ideas from this thread! We are WDW vets, and its not totally shocking for us to pay $400 a night for Disney hotels, as we often do this range at the World. However, I figured with a city like LA this might just be the going rate for a hotel anywhere, so I am pleasantly pleased to see there is some variety. I'm more concerned at this stage with crowds at CA Disney due to Star Wars land opening too. In the world, you get the crowds but they tend to congregate to that one park or one land the new thing has opened (i.e. Pandora, TSL, etc.) and we've found the rest of the park is often less crowded so you can enjoy the other things. I suppose the downside to having the only 2 parks and more intimate size is that the whole thing is packed when something new like this opens? Thank you all so much for the ideas! Its appreciated so much. I'd like to try and find a good travel agent that specializes in the area--we've never used one for our WDW trips because we've been so often now we are familiar and enjoy the planning...now how to find an agent?? :-)
 
Yes, the short term rentals are always a point of contention around here. Those will book up too if there are car events so keep that in mind. If you want a beautiful place to stay right by the ocean you could check out
https://www.visitasilomar.com/lodging/asilomar-lodging-experience/

There are a lot of options if you want to book a hotel just in case. Prices here are weird and fluctuate a lot depending on events. Also be aware that we call it June gloom here because the fog dominates. Not sure where you are coming from and what you’re preferred weather is but that’s something to consider. Tourists usually think summer here is going to be sunny but it’s not. San Francisco can be the same way. My in-laws live by Yosemite and the fire season has been awful these last couple of summers. If it could work fall might be a better time to plan a trip and you’d miss the craziness of the Star Wars opening. Monterey is getting Indy Car back for the first time in decades in September though so I’m not sure how that’s going to impact hotels then.
Unfortunately, I'm a teacher so its a no go with coming out in the fall. I'm so envious of those who can (especially for the cruises--SO much cheaper!), but sadly just not an option.
 
Unfortunately, I'm a teacher so its a no go with coming out in the fall. I'm so envious of those who can (especially for the cruises--SO much cheaper!), but sadly just not an option.

When do you get out for the summer? I know some schools that end in May where it seems like CA is June. That might help you if you had a jump on crowds. Or you could try spring break if there was any chance of your schedule being different from ours here.

I think if you are interested you could easily plan a trip here without the costs of an agent. As you know this is a much smaller park so it’s completely manageable to walk to both throughout the day if you want to bounce around. Given what could be a huge crowd it might be worth staying on site to have the early morning access that you get. I wonder if they will do any promotion to encourage that or if they just know they can guarantee bookings without it. They had a promotion for the Grand I think that allowed after hours access to Guardians which sounded great so they might add something like that in. Or to save money stay off site. There’s a recent thread that discusses how close and easy many of the motels are. They really are just across the street. The Best Western Park Place Inn got rave reviews and I think was suites. The Park Vue Inn and Tropicana did too do we booked rooms at those based on the postings here. Just pay attention to locations. At the end of the day you might not want to walk far. Or you could even consider staying further away and taking a shuttle. We are staying at the Hyatt OC strictly because that’s where my husband has a conference there but it has a dedicated shuttle and had a lot of positive reviews here. Sometimes further out hotels are nicer and well priced. Much less posters ever seem to look here as on the main Disneyland board so consider posting any trip planning questions there to get answers. I think you’d get quick answers to all your questions here. Also how old are your kids? Do you want to have afternoon breaks? For napping or swimming? That could affect your hotel choice. On site hotels are great for taking breaks. I’ve done it both ways. Sometimes we just power through and my youngest has napped during the day at shows or on the train and/or at night waiting for shows/fireworks. At least any east coast time change would work for you maximizing early hours. Night shows could be harder since in the summer they are around 9 which is hard on young kids and could be harder for you with a time change so you might want to consider that.

My son loves Legoland and the hotel is amazing for kids. They are opening a new Castle Hotel. Whenever we tried to book the now old hotel the prices fluctuated insanely (like from 200 to 600/night). Check out their website which will actually show you the prices for different nights so you can try to plan a good night if you want to do that. There is a beautiful hotel next door that shares a parking lot so it’s an easy walk to the park too. We got a better rate there and it was a very nice hotel.

My son is all about Harry Potter and can’t say enough about how great Universal is. But if you can easily go to the one in Florida it might not be worth it unless you are interested in the tram tour. Driving from Disney to Universal was easy early in the morning but horrible in the afternoon on the way back. If you are doing any driving around LA definitely plan around the traffic!
 
These threads have lots of helpful information:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/choosing-the-right-dlr-area-hotel-for-you.3656512/

A DLR Guide for WDW Vets

There are now several all suite hotels in the DLR area walking distance to the parks (e.g. Residence Inn Maingate, Residence Inn Convention Center, Homewood Suites, Springhill Suites, etc.). There are also hotels with suites that sleep larger families, e.g. Desert Palms on Katella. Staying on site does come with perks at DLR, but is not as necessary or the same as staying on site at WDW. And the money saved (which can be substantial) by staying off site can be used well on lots of fun extras in the parks. Some of the off site hotels are actually closer walking distance to the gates than the on site hotels!
Wow, thank you! I just now had the time to read these in detail, and what a wealth of information! Thank you so much!
 
Excellent suggestions! My youngest would LOVE to go to LEGOLAND. We've been to the one in Florida as day guests, but it is crazy expensive (like more than a Disney deluxe hotel at WDW) to stay the night there for some reason. Since the heat and humidity of Florida in the summer always zaps us--I must say my memories are not fond of "our" LEGOLAND, ha ha....

From reading your post as well as the moderator's post I think the biggest mental leap for me will be getting past the "you can only stay on Disney property" leap...one question--if I understand correctly, do the actual 3 Disney hotels give you Extra morning magic hours each day (different park each day) while the Good neighbor hotels only give you a partial early morning magic benefit? If so, this might help with some of the crowds due to Star Wars.

We do get out right before Memorial Day, assuming we have no snow days to make up. However, I must admit I love having a mid-late summer vacation as then I get to look forward to it all summer. We used to go in August, but now our schools start earlier, and this makes August more challenging. At WDW, we've noticed July and August crowds are down quite a bit compared to other times of the year as compared with 5-6 years ago (i.e. Disney is doing a better job shifting a lot of them to fall, spring, etc.) I don't suppose this holds true for CA?

One tip I'll certainly do is plan our Disney days in the week versus holiday or weekend!
 
If you are interested in staying in Monterey next summer I highly recommend that you look into the schedule of car events. Those events book out every hotel in the area. It’s fun driving around and seeing fancy cars like lambourghinis parked in dive motels. Things can get booked up really early so making reservations is a must. The Embassy Suites in Seaside is the only really big reasonably priced hotel so it’s rates can be good depending on the time of year. Plus it has an inside pool which is great for kids.

My wife wanted to go to Monterey one time after our company picnic at Gilroy Gardens. I looked at even cheap motels. Some rooms were actually available with less than a week advance reservation, but even a Super 8 was charging about $300 for a room since it was Monterey Car Week. We just stayed in Gilroy overnight and drove to Monterey, since even rooms in Salinas were expensive.

We saw a lot of their tents set up in town. One time I went to see a makeup day (in August) of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and it was odd because they were loading up Ferraris that were on some of the fairways at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
 
On site Disney Hotels do give your early access everyday, it just depends on which park on which day.

I don’t think the off site hotels, even the ones that are called Good Neighbor hotels, have any actual benefit. I think the only thing you can do if you stay off site is to get the minimum 3 day park hopper which gives you one day where you can choose to use to get in early.

I’ve never been to DW but DL has been more and more crowded. I was shocked by the crowds in October, regular school time, weekdays and tons of kids. I asked some people about it and they said was normal. It was a huge change from our last trip there in 2014. We are going next week and it looks like it’s going to be really crowded. You can subscribe to Touring Plans for a small fee and see their crowd calendar. It’s supposed to be very accurate. It lists our weekdays next week as 8s out of 10. Of course who knows how accurate the SW thing will make it. Maybe a ton of people go early...and maybe a ton of people go late hoping to avoid all the early crowds. I would keep reading the boards on Disneyland to get an idea what’s going on. There’s a lot of speculation about the potential blocking of days on AP passes when it opens. Experts here usually recommend going when passes are blocked. It might be worth booking when things open up to guarantee rooms. You could do on site or off site and watch prices for deals. If you are used to the crazy high hotels that maybe consider staying on site if you want to maximize any early access time to SW.
 

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