8lovesmickey
Down at the Laughing Place is where I'll be!
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2006
We just returned from a long weekend at DLR (Friday morning through Monday morning). We decided to save a little money and try the Paradise Pier Hotel rather than our usual Disneyland Hotel or Grand California choices. I was honestly a little nervous -- would it be a super long walk? Would it feel 'un-magical' to be across the street? Would the room be ok? Good news - it was fabulous.
We had great CM's across the board, from check in to the nice Guest Services guy who printed my airline boarding passes ("Don't go to the business center - you'll have to pay!").
Breakfast at the PCH Grill was very good and fun and our only chance to see Mickey since we didn't want to wait in Toon Town.
The room was decent sized, and the bathroom had lots of counter space. There was also a separate mirror / counter outside the bathroom which sped up our morning routines! Beds were comfortable, and the extra sofa bed was a bonus since we have 2 teenage boys who don't really enjoy bunking together. The fridge was also handy.
I had read rumors that the elevators were slow, but we didn't experience that. I did request a room on a lower floor just in case (we were on 3), but there are 4 elevators and we rarely waited longer than a minute.
The walk was surprisingly short. I would say it was substantially shorter than walking from the DLH (although the DLH does have the monorail option if you're going to Tomorrowland). We walked on a nice flower-lined path from the PP, crossed one street, went through the Grand Californian and out either the DCA exit or the DTD exit depending on our destination. Super easy.
I would also say that, as usual, the extra magic hour in the morning was a huge bonus. We arrived right at 7:00am both Saturday and Sunday and had minimal lines. We got tons done and both days we were back at the hotel by 1:00 for a swim / rest / shopping break, then back to the parks for evening activities. The parks were plenty crowded but we avoided long waits with the help of the morning hour!
If you need laundry, it's a little out of the way but very efficient -- all run with credit cards and a computer screen. We decided to finish our last night at Grizzly River Run and thus needed to dry a load of clothes before packing them -- no problem.
My only negative review is for the pool. It's very small and pretty boring, especially compared to the other Disney Hotel pools. There is also a weird cement deck a few steps below the pool - very stark but at least there were lots of chairs there. The pool-side bar was a good bonus, but if you plan to spend lots of time at the pool, this hotel may not be your best option.
Overall we would definitely stay again. For our 3 nights, we saved $400 compared to the DLH, and we still got the Disney magic. For us it was a great choice.
We had great CM's across the board, from check in to the nice Guest Services guy who printed my airline boarding passes ("Don't go to the business center - you'll have to pay!").
Breakfast at the PCH Grill was very good and fun and our only chance to see Mickey since we didn't want to wait in Toon Town.
The room was decent sized, and the bathroom had lots of counter space. There was also a separate mirror / counter outside the bathroom which sped up our morning routines! Beds were comfortable, and the extra sofa bed was a bonus since we have 2 teenage boys who don't really enjoy bunking together. The fridge was also handy.
I had read rumors that the elevators were slow, but we didn't experience that. I did request a room on a lower floor just in case (we were on 3), but there are 4 elevators and we rarely waited longer than a minute.
The walk was surprisingly short. I would say it was substantially shorter than walking from the DLH (although the DLH does have the monorail option if you're going to Tomorrowland). We walked on a nice flower-lined path from the PP, crossed one street, went through the Grand Californian and out either the DCA exit or the DTD exit depending on our destination. Super easy.
I would also say that, as usual, the extra magic hour in the morning was a huge bonus. We arrived right at 7:00am both Saturday and Sunday and had minimal lines. We got tons done and both days we were back at the hotel by 1:00 for a swim / rest / shopping break, then back to the parks for evening activities. The parks were plenty crowded but we avoided long waits with the help of the morning hour!
If you need laundry, it's a little out of the way but very efficient -- all run with credit cards and a computer screen. We decided to finish our last night at Grizzly River Run and thus needed to dry a load of clothes before packing them -- no problem.
My only negative review is for the pool. It's very small and pretty boring, especially compared to the other Disney Hotel pools. There is also a weird cement deck a few steps below the pool - very stark but at least there were lots of chairs there. The pool-side bar was a good bonus, but if you plan to spend lots of time at the pool, this hotel may not be your best option.
Overall we would definitely stay again. For our 3 nights, we saved $400 compared to the DLH, and we still got the Disney magic. For us it was a great choice.
