starting to plan for the 2020 Trip to Disneyland (and other places) feedback and tips + hints wanted

which hotel do you think would be best for the party?

  • DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Anaheim Resort - Convention Center

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9

Patrick Shaffer

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Starting to think about plans for next year, saving up, deciding on overall plans and how we are going to drive down from Elko to Disney.

Dates I can't set yet because I am going to do this trip like the one I just did while the little man is on Spring Break from school.

more or less there's like 3 routes.

by way of Death Valley, Las Vegas or I-80 and the 5.

I am thinking of a day of travel, a dash to Universal Studios and check in to our hotel, 3 days in park and either one or two days travel home.

I liked the DoubleTree suites by Hilton down by the convention center but I want to get closer.
Tempted to pull the trigger on either Paradise Pier (even though I hear Big Pete on the vlog/podcast wasn't to pleased with the room and some of the service), the Disneyland Hotel, or Castle Inn and suites.
With the Castle Inn being first choice of offsite then the DoubleTree batting cleanup.

depending on cost I may book again through Costco or I may send some business to Dreams Unlimited (I know they are a sponsor but I have to ask how good are they? I had decent service from Costco)

the party being made of 5 adults, a ten year old and a toddler (pending dates maybe 1 or maybe 2 or almost 2). {was 4 adults but edited to 5 adults because my dad wants to go and I am gonna force him to share our space}

so anyone got any hot tips besides Maxpass and the app?
anything I need to avoid?
let me know what you got for some good thinking material.

Thanks in Advance.
 
Last edited:
the school calendar came out and pending other things are dates are as follows.

April 5th travel
April 6th Universial Studios (may change)
April 7th through 9th (Disneyland and maybe other things)
April 10th travel.
yes I know I travel on Palm Sunday and Good Friday.
 
It will be nice to stay in a Disney owned resort and there are some benefits to that, but I think you'll have more room to spread out at Castle Inn and Suites.

Are you planning on staying in Anaheim when you visit Universal? Because of traffic coming and going between the 2, I prefer to stay a night next to Universal. There is a Hilton that is basically across the street from Universal and also a Sheraton a little further down the hill. You'll be visiting during spring break and all amusement parks will be busy. You'll probably appreciate the few extra hours at Universal vs. sitting in traffic coming and going.

For the Disneyland stay, will you be up early and ready to visit the parks every day before they are open to the public? If so, stay in one of the Disneyland Hotels so you'll have early entrance every day. That first hour coupled with the next hour allow you to go on many of the rides that normally have a very long wait time. If you don't think you'll be up and out for early entrance, you might prefer staying in a larger room somewhere else.

If you don't mind staying about a mile away, there are Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, which all have suites and full hot breakfast for a much lower hotel cost.
 


Starting to think about plans for next year, saving up, deciding on overall plans and how we are going to drive down from Elko to Disney.

Dates I can't set yet because I am going to do this trip like the one I just did while the little man is on Spring Break from school.

more or less there's like 3 routes.

by way of Death Valley, Las Vegas or I-80 and the 5.

I am thinking of a day of travel, a dash to Universal Studios and check in to our hotel, 3 days in park and either one or two days travel home.

I liked the DoubleTree suites by Hilton down by the convention center but I want to get closer.
Tempted to pull the trigger on either Paradise Pier (even though I hear Big Pete on the vlog/podcast wasn't to pleased with the room and some of the service), the Disneyland Hotel, or Castle Inn and suites.
With the Castle Inn being first choice of offsite then the DoubleTree batting cleanup.

depending on cost I may book again through Costco or I may send some business to Dreams Unlimited (I know they are a sponsor but I have to ask how good are they? I had decent service from Costco)

the party being made of 5 adults, a ten year old and a toddler (pending dates maybe 1 or maybe 2 or almost 2). {was 4 adults but edited to 5 adults because my dad wants to go and I am gonna force him to share our space}

so anyone got any hot tips besides Maxpass and the app?
anything I need to avoid?
let me know what you got for some good thinking material.

Thanks in Advance.
Try posting this on the Disneyland (California) forum, too. You'll get good help there with your DLR questions!
 
It will be nice to stay in a Disney owned resort and there are some benefits to that, but I think you'll have more room to spread out at Castle Inn and Suites.

Are you planning on staying in Anaheim when you visit Universal? Because of traffic coming and going between the 2, I prefer to stay a night next to Universal. There is a Hilton that is basically across the street from Universal and also a Sheraton a little further down the hill. You'll be visiting during spring break and all amusement parks will be busy. You'll probably appreciate the few extra hours at Universal vs. sitting in traffic coming and going.

For the Disneyland stay, will you be up early and ready to visit the parks every day before they are open to the public? If so, stay in one of the Disneyland Hotels so you'll have early entrance every day. That first hour coupled with the next hour allow you to go on many of the rides that normally have a very long wai
It will be nice to stay in a Disney owned resort and there are some benefits to that, but I think you'll have more room to spread out at Castle Inn and Suites.

Are you planning on staying in Anaheim when you visit Universal? Because of traffic coming and going between the 2, I prefer to stay a night next to Universal. There is a Hilton that is basically across the street from Universal and also a Sheraton a little further down the hill. You'll be visiting during spring break and all amusement parks will be busy. You'll probably appreciate the few extra hours at Universal vs. sitting in traffic coming and going.

For the Disneyland stay, will you be up early and ready to visit the parks every day before they are open to the public? If so, stay in one of the Disneyland Hotels so you'll have early entrance every day. That first hour coupled with the next hour allow you to go on many of the rides that normally have a very long wait time. If you don't think you'll be up and out for early entrance, you might prefer staying in a larger room somewhere else.

If you don't mind staying about a mile away, there are Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, which all have suites and full hot breakfast for a much lower hotel cost.

Gonna stay over closer to Universal for the first night.

I enjoyed the doubletree suites on our trip this year but I want to try to stay closer.
 
If you book thru Costco and stay onsite, you can pay your balance with gift cards. Buy gift cards from Target with Target red card to get 5% discount. Combine cards at disneygiftcard.com to make it easier.
 


If you book thru Costco and stay onsite, you can pay your balance with gift cards. Buy gift cards from Target with Target red card to get 5% discount. Combine cards at disneygiftcard.com to make it easier.
I was thinking about that. Things are in motion that makes planning this trip interesting. As of now we will be moving to Montana in the spring so I am thinking of doing this trip towards back to school.
 
Plans have changed, looking at December 13th through 19th with 5 maxpass hopping tickets.
Are we mad or would it be a good time?
 
Great time to go. That's my favorite week at DL and Knotts, all the Christmas festivities but less craziness as the kids are still in school!
 

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