Paradise Pier Pool Closure

[eargal]

I am booked this weekend at the Paradise Pier Hotel and noticed someone post here that the pool is closed. I called and was told by the hotel staff that it is closed until March 15th.

Urgh. We splurged on a concierge room and requested a cabana room specifically to enjoy the pool. We are too late to cancel the reservation. I am really irritated. I understand the need for occasional closures but I have been researching my options for months and have seen nothing about this on their website. I also was not notified when booking the room or when calling back to request the cabana room.

Why would they not tell people this ahead of time? I am going to talk to my family tonight to see if they want me to try and switch to the Disneyland hotel without concierge since that is the pool we will have access to anyway.

I thought I had a question but evidently, I just needed to vent!

[bumbershoot]

Dang, I'm sorry.

It's so odd that it's closed again. It was closed last year in Feb and I think a bit of March, too, so I really don't understand. I read here the other week that someone was given a cabana room, even though the pool was closed. That would be odd. And it's not what our experience was last Feb; we booked cabana but were given another room (upgrade to a suite, if I recall correctly). NOw that I think about it, though, I don't know WHY we had that upgrade. Was it just pixie dust, or was it because the cabana rooms were closed? I don't know.

We enjoyed PPH concierge, though. The combo of that and getting to explore DLH's pool was fun. Now if you had a chance to get DLH concierge...

[faith313]

This happened to us too, last January I believe. We didn't know until we got there when they informed us. We were a bit bummed.

[dreeger]

We also had concierge at PPH, but the pool was a deal breaker for us, so we switched hotels. I too discovered the closure from this board and not from the CM when I booked. Very disheartening! They should mention when amenities are not available.

[scottibb]

I guess I'll have to call them tomorrow--grrr. I spoke to the reservations desk last week and the hotel directly today and discussed the pool both times (first time-asked if it was heated and was told of course, there are people enjoying it all year long, etc--today asked specifically about the waterslide), both times while discussing my specific dates next week, and no one mentioned it being closed. Very frustrated!

[dreeger]

They told me it reopens march 15, so if going after that date you should be good

[Lewdannie]

But that means you will be able to use the pools at the DLH or GCH which unlike the PPH are awesome

[blaqjaq]

Well that sucks!!!! Hardly want to walk from our hotel to another one over the road in order to use the pool

I also asked if pool was heated when booking, was told yes, nothing about it being closed :<

We fly out from Australia tomorrow so too late to change our booking realistically - what are my chances of getting an upgraded room type given we are staying 5 nights, paying a lot of $$$ and its now not even a 3 star hotel without a swimming pool :/

[NVDisMom]

Originally Posted by blaqjaq

Well that sucks!!!! Hardly want to walk from our hotel to another one over the road in order to use the pool

I also asked if pool was heated when booking, was told yes, nothing about it being closed :<

We fly out from Australia tomorrow so too late to change our booking realistically - what are my chances of getting an upgraded room type given we are staying 5 nights, paying a lot of $$$ and its now not even a 3 star hotel without a swimming pool :/

I don't know about that, but you can make the best of it... Ask to utilize the GCH's pool and pack your suits into the parks. When you need a break from the afternoon crowds especially from DCA, go thru their exit and you are practically at the pool. There are bathrooms to change in (both outside of the pool area an within) and they have poolside service for lunch during the busiest times. Or White Water is right there too.

This is by far the best reason to pay the $500/nite for GCH, but you can take advantage of it while paying PP rates

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by Lewdannie

But that means you will be able to use the pools at the DLH or GCH which unlike the PPH are awesome

They will let you use the DLH pool. They are not going to let you use the Grand's pool.

But the DLH pools are great, and the grounds are lovely, and it's not a long walk at all. There are changing rooms there (sort of under the restaurant), so go and relax.

I don't mind the PPH pool, but it IS just a big rectangle, and their slide goes into a trough of water, NOT the actual pool, so really the DLH pool is a bit more fun.

[eargal]

I let my family know last night and my husband had the optimistic, "well, the pool is nicer at DLH anyway" response.

I am just irritated with the lack of communication and feeling dumb about my request for a cabana room.

[danaesacto]

Originally Posted by eargal

I let my family know last night and my husband had the optimistic, "well, the pool is nicer at DLH anyway" response.

I am just irritated with the lack of communication and feeling dumb about my request for a cabana room.

Ugh husbands and their optimism

No reason for you to feel dumb- you did nothing wrong. I would be LIVID. There is nothing on the website still about the pool being closed. You can book a room for next week and it says part of that booking is access to the pool. Read your fine print carefully- if it doesn't say pool subject to closure- they broke their part of the agreement. It isn't just the money- it is the hassle of going to the DL hotel- you booked a cabana room- so what 3 minutes and the kids are in? Now you have to add in the extra time, plus the wet walk in the cool air- I would be talking to the top hotel manager- they need to make this right somehow.

[sherilaine]

I would personally want to change to the DLH if that is the pool you will be using - concierge or not, as the pool is always a big part of the trip for our kids, even on ski holidays.

I think it is easier for the husband to be optomistic as they never consider how much work any form of inconvenience is going to be until they are in the middle of it, unlike mothers who see the reality of inconvenience before it even blips on the radar.

[Amommy21]

I was just there and posted about this. I too was super frustrated because I didn't even think to check. I think they gave us a cabana room because it was clean ready and empty. They will not let you use The Grand pool. The walk to DLH is not bad... Just across the parking lot. But annoying, especially knowing we could have been swimming or using the hot tub. We would have used it twice as much as we did.

I will say this was our first time doing concierge and I would never seek it out again. Totally not worth it for us. We have only myself , dh and DS. We are daily somewhere nice like Blue bayou, Carthay Circle etc...

And running back to make the appetizers was so annoying. We only went back for them three times. We were there a week. Note that other lounges are open until 10 but PPH closes at 8. There was always plenty of ONE hot choice, but the fun things like Brie was not refilled after the first plate was set out at 5pm

Breakfast is bare bones- cereal, toast, fruit, milk, coffee, juice.

We don't drink coffee or alcohol.

And during the day well you can only eat so many bags of chips.

And they desserts... Cookies, unripened choco covered strawberries, mini tarts and cream filled pastries.... Same every day.

I'd rather have a good breakfast with a protein like room service or white water snacks, have our nice leisurely main meal of the day as I have stated at a nicer place and buy my own snack.


Back to the pool yes they said due to extreme weather it was being resurfaced yet again.



I would totally stay PPH again at a good rate. It is much closer walk than we thought. No elevator issues for us.

Gift shop seemed to have more tacky items... And we didn't feel any of the on site dining options were exciting.

[larina]

Originally Posted by Amommy21

I was just there and posted about this. I too was super frustrated because I didn't even think to check. I think they gave us a cabana room because it was clean ready and empty. They will not let you use The Grand pool. The walk to DLH is not bad... Just across the parking lot. But annoying, especially knowing we could have been swimming or using the hot tub. We would have used it twice as much as we did.

I will say this was our first time doing concierge and I would never seek it out again. Totally not worth it for us. We have only myself , dh and DS. We are daily somewhere nice like Blue bayou, Carthay Circle etc...

And running back to make the appetizers was so annoying. We only went back for them three times. We were there a week. Note that other lounges are open until 10 but PPH closes at 8. There was always plenty of ONE hot choice, but the fun things like Brie was not refilled after the first plate was set out at 5pm

Breakfast is bare bones- cereal, toast, fruit, milk, coffee, juice.

We don't drink coffee or alcohol.

And during the day well you can only eat so many bags of chips.

And they desserts... Cookies, unripened choco covered strawberries, mini tarts and cream filled pastries.... Same every day.

I'd rather have a good breakfast with a protein like room service or white water snacks, have our nice leisurely main meal of the day as I have stated at a nicer place and buy my own snack.

Back to the pool yes they said due to extreme weather it was being resurfaced yet again.

I would totally stay PPH again at a good rate. It is much closer walk than we thought. No elevator issues for us.

Gift shop seemed to have more tacky items... And we didn't feel any of the on site dining options were exciting.

Amommy21, what a disappointing experience. I just thought I would present the other side. My family really utilizes concierge and we totally got our monies worth. We are big fruit eaters! Breakfast seemed to have many choices for us. While they don't have meat, when we were there they did have protein choices including cheese (slices and cream, for the bagels) and yogurt ( and I want to say hard boiled eggs, but I'm afraid I'm confusing it with the place we stay in Pismo Beach). Oh, and they have those little Crustables things, the prepackaged PB&J sandwiches. While my kids won't touch them (we are not big packaged food folks) they seemed to be a very popular item. So for the adults, breakfast was usually fruit and/or yogurt. The kids, cereal and/or fruit (we thought there was a great selection of fruit, including melon and pineapple, which was nice). It was just like eating at home for us in the morning.

Lets talk drink options. They have coffee, of course, but also juice, both juice boxes (apple and fruit juice) which are always available, and orange juice and milk in pitchers in the morning (I'm sure milk is available all day, we don't drink it, but someone here will know more) Additionally, they have cans of soda (another popular item that just isn't big with us) you can take. We got at least 2 water bottles a day for all 6 of us. We love not having to pack it or go get it once we arrive. They have packets of hot chocolate and apple cider as well a decent tea selection, which I loved!

The afternoon hot appetizers seem to be hit or miss (I wouldn't go back just for that, but we are afternoon break takers and it often just worked out that we're in the room at 5). Some are good, some, not so much. The chocolate covered strawberries were great (fresh, ripe strawberries) both times we stayed in 2011, but fruit is dicey, I'm sorry the PP had a different experience. Also, we never saw the Brie gone, but that could have just been timing. While we sometimes are drinkers, we did not take advantage of the beer (Bud and Miller, if I remember correctly) or wine offered.

"You can only eat so many bags of chips," lol, so true. But, they are good chips! Besides chips, when we were there they had goldfish crackers and snack mix that the kids often munched on in the afternoon.

The deserts are cookies (warm if you catch it at the right time), the delicious chocolate covered strawberries (so disappointing they weren't good when you were there, they get talked up a lit on DisBoards, usually a hi point for concierge stayers), and mini pastries. They aren't great, but that was good for us, as it kept the kids from trying to load up on them.

I must say, I didn't notice anything any more tacky in the PPH gift shop than I did in the gift shops of DLH and the Grand, and we visited all multiple times (we are resort explorers) so I'm not sure what you mean, but every one has their own experience.

Lastly, we LOVE the PCH grill, both as the regular dinner/lunch restaurant and as Mickey's Surf's Up. We will be having Christmas dinner there our next trip (anyone know if they did the character dinner on Christmas 2012, like they did Christmas 2011?) if all goes as planned.

So my point is only that it depends on your family and your priorities. I don't think it would be worth it for under 4 or 5 people. Concierge is by room, not party size, and suites pay the same as regular rooms. So what you paid for 3 people, we pay for 6-8. Totally different perspective.