Anyone stay at Hojo's and use ART?

JosieGirl71

Dreaming of sun...
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
We are staying at Hojo's next month and I am worried about the walk to and from the park. I know it is about a 10 minute walk which is easy but might not be so easy after a long day in the park and/or going back and forth a couple times a day.

If you have stayed at Hojo's and used ART, what has been your experience? Was the shuttle stop from DL to Hojo's full when you wanted to go back to the hotel?
 
Unless HoJo is the first drop-off in the evening, and the last pick-up of the morning, I wouldn't do it. In the time it would take to wait for the bus, board, leave the bus area, and get on the route to your hotel, you could already be "home" had you walked. It's an easy walk in the evening--just passing like 6 hotels. We made a game of the walks--"this hotel first, I love _____ about it," and so on for each hotel. We did this when staying on Katella--I still remember my daughter liking the fish fountain in front of one hotel, and a glass elevator, and the palm trees, and the castle hotel, etc. Sometimes we would count hotels. Or count restaurants.... You get the idea. Even as a solo traveller, I do this. Keeps my mind off the walk.
 
We are staying at Hojo's next month and I am worried about the walk to and from the park. I know it is about a 10 minute walk which is easy but might not be so easy after a long day in the park and/or going back and forth a couple times a day.

If you have stayed at Hojo's and used ART, what has been your experience? Was the shuttle stop from DL to Hojo's full when you wanted to go back to the hotel?
I guess if you aren't up for the walk at the end of the day, try Uber or a taxi.
Sounds like ART might take awhile.
 


ART was hopeless from Hojo. Never turned up half the time. I honestly would not bother! The walk is not that bad.
 
I guess if you aren't up for the walk at the end of the day, try Uber or a taxi.
Sounds like ART might take awhile.
I agree! It would take more time to wait for ART and deal with it dropping off at other hotels first then it would for you to walk back. I’d just call Uber if you really don’t want to walk back.
The first time we stayed at Hojo I was nervous about the walk being too long. I quickly realized it was not. I’ve stayed there on runDisney half marathon weekends and still walked back to the hotel at night after the half marathon in the morning and a full afternoon/evening in the parks!
 
No help, really, but we stayed there several years ago with an infant, a 4yo and a 5yo. No problem walking.
That said, we did have a stroller and a baby carrier, so the older two got to ride occasionally.
 


I second the suggestion to take an Uber or Taxi, rather than ART if you really can't make the walk. However, having stayed there with my two kids last year, the walk really is a *very* easy walk from the park. Taking any form of vehicle to/from the park would seem to really defeat the purpose of staying so close since, as others have said, you'd spend as much/more time waiting for your ride as you would walking.
 
We stay at HoJo's every time we visit Disneyland. We have never taken ART after the first time we did. It was HORRIBLE! It took well over 40 minutes to get us to the hotel and the walk time is between 8 and 10 minutes after a long day in the parks (depends on traffic lights). It is no farther to walk to HoJo's than it is to walk to the Tomorrowland Train Station from the esplanade.
 
We stayed there the first time we took the kids to DL. They were 5 years old. We always just walked. It was fine. We made a game about counting our steps.
 
I’d just call Uber if you really don’t want to walk back.

And isn’t the rideshare pickup the opposite direction from hojo? You could be that much closer to your hotel walking that distance the other way.

It is truly NOT a hard walk. At all.

I actually had no idea art included hj!
 
It's an easy walk. Cross Manchester in front of the hotel (Me? Jaywalk? Heavens, no. Although, most mornings the traffic on Manchester is sparse and it would hypothetically be easy to cross not exactly at the rather long stoplight... just sayin'. Not that I'd ever do that. Ahem.). Cross Harbor at the stoplight at Manchester and Harbor. Walk down the west side of Harbor. Go in the entrance across from the main crosswalk. Less traffic.

The one time I took a taxi from HoJo (before Uber was really a thing) was when we had reservations for dinner over at the Grand Californian and our feet were already screaming after a long full day of walking. So we grabbed a cab that just took us around the park-- down Harbor, along Katella, up Disney Way, and dropped us at the front door of the GCH. That was worth the ten bucks with tip, and with Uber it would be less.
 
I have stayed several times and used the ART. It will be the last pick up before they drop you off and when they pick you up there are only 2 stops. Sometimes we waited maybe 10 minuets but was not a problem for us. Never had a problem getting a seat. After walking all day I was glad for the ride.
 
I've stayed at HoJo on six trips (usually a week long) and we never took ART. There were days when we were tired and the wife and kids didn't want to walk back. But when we'd walk by the ART stop, we could see that you'd have to at least wait for the next bus, if not the third or fourth. And then it's a long loop to HoJo. You can walk back to HoJo by the time the next bus shows up to pick you up at the end of the night. I know it seems like a long walk, but it's actually shorter than a walk to Paradise Pier Hotel, and feels just about the same as a walk to the bus stops at Epcot or AK in Florida.
 
Many of our guest prefer to walk to and from DL, since it only takes about 8 to 10 minutes to walk to the Main Gates. And as another poster mentioned, if you cross the street, to the non-hotel side of Harbor, its quicker.

But if you did want to take the ART Shuttle, here a few tips:
  • The shuttle picks up roughly every 20 minutes from our hotel, so if you just missed it, walking would be faster than waiting for the next one to arrive
  • Going to DL: We are on Route 7. We are the last hotel on this route loop, so it takes you straight to DL (no other hotels along the way)
  • On the way back from DL: Take Route 8. This will drop off at Courtyard Marriott Theme Park Entrance, which is right next to us, and its the first stop of that loop.
  • You can walk to DL and at the end of the day, if you are too tired to walk back, there is a little ticket kiosk in which you can get a 1 time ticket.
HTH,
Kriss :tink:
 
Thank you all for the info! We stayed at Hojo's over 10 years ago and the walk back to the hotel was hard after a long day in the park. I was 70 lbs heavier then so I am hoping the walk will be much easier for me this time. Just wanted to know if ART was really an option since we will be there for 5 days.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the great info and tips! We will be staying at the HoJo Dec 10-13 .. so excited!
 

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