Disneyland Hotel vs Paradise Pier

[mmouse50]

Input please. The family (7 of us - 4 adults and 3 kids 3,10,13) are spending 2.5 days in LA before flying to Hawaii - we are planning on going to Disneyland for those days. I plan on getting 2 day park hoppers with max pass and currently planning on staying at Paradise Pier. But the more I think about it I was wondering if I should change to Disneyland hotel - yes it is about 700.00 more but I really think that we will not be using the park hoppers and spending more time in just Disneyland since we have a 3 year and an adult that doesn't ride anything with a dip in it. I was thinking that if we concentrate on just Disneyland for 1.5 days that would leave time for swimming, which I figure that the kids will want to do. The Disneyland hotel has an awesome looking slide for the older ones.

We get into Burbank at 3:30 on a Friday and have to be back at LAX at 8:00 on Sunday. Would it be feasible to think that we would be able to get to Disneyland in time to swim on Friday and maybe a little dip on Sunday before heading to LAX?

I will just promise the older kids that we will come back next summer and spend a week at Disneyland so they won't be too disappointed in not doing California Adventure.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Time of year will make a big difference. It's really cold in the pools at this time of the year.

You know your family best, but I wouldn't pay $700. more to go swimming and I also wouldn't avoid DCA with a 3 year old. There are plenty of rides for a 3 year old in DCA such as Little Mermaid, Monster's Inc, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, Toy Story Mania.... If there are 4 adults, a couple of them could take the older kids on the bigger rides.

Look more at the times for the pool slides - I know they close earlier than the rest of the pools. There's a pool slide at Paradise Pier, too. I think you can spend a lot of time swimming in Hawaii where the temps are better.

It's going to boil down to what you want to do with your time and money. I wouldn't switch from what you already have planned, but I have a pool at home, I hate cold water, cold weather and actually I hate public pools, lol. I do love to swim in Hawaii, though.

 

[Geemo]

Input please. The family (7 of us - 4 adults and 3 kids 3,10,13) are spending 2.5 days in LA before flying to Hawaii - we are planning on going to Disneyland for those days. I plan on getting 2 day park hoppers with max pass and currently planning on staying at Paradise Pier. But the more I think about it I was wondering if I should change to Disneyland hotel - yes it is about 700.00 more but I really think that we will not be using the park hoppers and spending more time in just Disneyland since we have a 3 year and an adult that doesn't ride anything with a dip in it. I was thinking that if we concentrate on just Disneyland for 1.5 days that would leave time for swimming, which I figure that the kids will want to do. The Disneyland hotel has an awesome looking slide for the older ones.

We get into Burbank at 3:30 on a Friday and have to be back at LAX at 8:00 on Sunday. Would it be feasible to think that we would be able to get to Disneyland in time to swim on Friday and maybe a little dip on Sunday before heading to LAX?

I will just promise the older kids that we will come back next summer and spend a week at Disneyland so they won't be too disappointed in not doing California Adventure.

Before you promise anything in the pool area, call and check with the hotel to see if the pool slides are even open and what the hours for the slides will be. The slide hours are NOT the same as the pool hours.
Weather and Temps do not bother my crew. They use the pool area even on our January/February.

 

[Whistlebee]

You have to decide what is more important to your crew. If it was me I would plan on more swimming time in Hawaii. PPH does have 2 big slides. 2.5 days at Disneyland is not a ton of time, I would swim maybe once if that is really important to you guys. FYI-the 10 & 13 yo’s would likely love DCA. GOTG and the Incredicoaster are a lot of fun! Several rides for the 3yo too.

 

[Jsoenning]

Second the pool being cold. We went and it was unseasonably warm last June, and the water was freezing cold. I did the slide at Paradise Pier exactly once with my daughter and said I would watch from there - think it was the wind that particular day, which made it so cool. We had a great time at Paradise Pier and would book again. I will say it adds a few additional steps to the 1/2 mile walk to the park gates through Downtown Disney. Disneyland Hotel is right by the security gates into Downtown Disney whereas the Paradise Pier is a bit further. We walked 8.5 miles per day total, and I may be wrong but it felt like a mile each day was just walking to and from the park entrance. Hotel to security to park entrance and back.

 

[mmouse50]

We are going the end of June - the reason that I thought about limited all the time to Disneyland is because for 2 of us it has been years (20 or more) since we have been the rest has never been - we normally go to World each summer. So basically it was to ride the rides that they don’t have in World. I just feel that we won’t be able to spend enough time to see all of Disneyland in 1 day and then the portion of the other the next day at DCA so that is why I was thinking of putting in a little swim time

 

[mouschievous]

wait...you have to be at LAX at 8 am or pm on Sunday?

 

[AndrewC]

I personally would invest the time in Disneyland and DCA. I think there is enough between the two parks to do with a little kid and adults that don't like wild rides. There is access to a pool at PPH so it's not like it won't be possible for them to swim. Put the extra money toward next year, or do something exciting. Both the larger kids could build a light saber if they want (it's very expensive, but the experience is really awesome and they're probably right in the right age to really love that) and have a couple of the adults be guests to watch the experience.

DCA is fantastic with Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians, Midway, and the Incredicoaster. They're all really fun and probably perfect ages for your two older ones. As mentioned before, there are some good low intensity rides for the little kid and adults that don't want anything intense. Those rides over at DCA often have much shorter lines too, maybe 20 minutes or less and sometimes almost walk on.

Add MaxPass to everyone, park hop, maybe plan to break up the older kids with thrill seeking adults, and just go crazy with the park. You should be able to hit all the major players in Disneyland and DCA in two days and some of the smaller fun things.

As is, it sounds like you'll have all day Saturday in the park and then maybe 3/4 of a day on Sunday. Factor in some packing time and check out time on Sunday, then factor in drive time with traffic. If you need to be at LAX at 8pm (assuming a ~10pm flight) you'll probably have to leave the Disneyland area around 6pm so as not to be stressed out, that means you'll basically be done with rides by 5:30pm and heading toward the exit of the parks. That's really only about 8 hours in the park. Still enough time to park hop (start in DCA and hit two or three major things and then head over to Disney, or other way around, etc) but that's not really enough times to swim and do Disney. If you're not planning to hit the pools right when you wake up (9-10am ish) then you need to factor in walk time. I would say with kids depending where you are in the park it'll be 15 minutes or more to walk back to the hotel, which means 30+ minutes is burned just on walking. Add in an hour in the pool and changing and stuff and you're probably burned 2 hours just to use the pool, but maybe more like 2.5 hours or more. That reduces your Sunday down to like ~5 hours Disney time, which goes by crazy fast in the parks.

Bottom line, I think your kids will love Disney. Let them swim Friday night if the pool at PPH is still open and they want to, but otherwise tell them the focus is on the parks and when you have a more "relaxed time" next year they can spend a couple hours in the pool each day.

 

[joseph brady]

Input please. The family (7 of us - 4 adults and 3 kids 3,10,13) are spending 2.5 days in LA before flying to Hawaii - we are planning on going to Disneyland for those days. I plan on getting 2 day park hoppers with max pass and currently planning on staying at Paradise Pier. But the more I think about it I was wondering if I should change to Disneyland hotel - yes it is about 700.00 more but I really think that we will not be using the park hoppers and spending more time in just Disneyland since we have a 3 year and an adult that doesn't ride anything with a dip in it. I was thinking that if we concentrate on just Disneyland for 1.5 days that would leave time for swimming, which I figure that the kids will want to do. The Disneyland hotel has an awesome looking slide for the older ones.

We get into Burbank at 3:30 on a Friday and have to be back at LAX at 8:00 on Sunday. Would it be feasible to think that we would be able to get to Disneyland in time to swim on Friday and maybe a little dip on Sunday before heading to LAX?

I will just promise the older kids that we will come back next summer and spend a week at Disneyland so they won't be too disappointed in not doing California Adventure.

I personally would invest the time in Disneyland and DCA. I think there is enough between the two parks to do with a little kid and adults that don't like wild rides. There is access to a pool at PPH so it's not like it won't be possible for them to swim. Put the extra money toward next year, or do something exciting. Both the larger kids could build a light saber if they want (it's very expensive, but the experience is really awesome and they're probably right in the right age to really love that) and have a couple of the adults be guests to watch the experience.

DCA is fantastic with Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians, Midway, and the Incredicoaster. They're all really fun and probably perfect ages for your two older ones. As mentioned before, there are some good low intensity rides for the little kid and adults that don't want anything intense. Those rides over at DCA often have much shorter lines too, maybe 20 minutes or less and sometimes almost walk on.

Add MaxPass to everyone, park hop, maybe plan to break up the older kids with thrill seeking adults, and just go crazy with the park. You should be able to hit all the major players in Disneyland and DCA in two days and some of the smaller fun things.

As is, it sounds like you'll have all day Saturday in the park and then maybe 3/4 of a day on Sunday. Factor in some packing time and check out time on Sunday, then factor in drive time with traffic. If you need to be at LAX at 8pm (assuming a ~10pm flight) you'll probably have to leave the Disneyland area around 6pm so as not to be stressed out, that means you'll basically be done with rides by 5:30pm and heading toward the exit of the parks. That's really only about 8 hours in the park. Still enough time to park hop (start in DCA and hit two or three major things and then head over to Disney, or other way around, etc) but that's not really enough times to swim and do Disney. If you're not planning to hit the pools right when you wake up (9-10am ish) then you need to factor in walk time. I would say with kids depending where you are in the park it'll be 15 minutes or more to walk back to the hotel, which means 30+ minutes is burned just on walking. Add in an hour in the pool and changing and stuff and you're probably burned 2 hours just to use the pool, but maybe more like 2.5 hours or more. That reduces your Sunday down to like ~5 hours Disney time, which goes by crazy fast in the parks.

Bottom line, I think your kids will love Disney. Let them swim Friday night if the pool at PPH is still open and they want to, but otherwise tell them the focus is on the parks and when you have a more "relaxed time" next year they can spend a couple hours in the pool each day.

Heads up you will hit A LOT of traffic going to Disney on Friday from Burbank. I’ve done it a lot. Disneyland hotel is the best out of all three in my opinion. The pool is great and the rooms are bigger than the grand Californian. Paradise pier was once a third party hotel that they purchased so it wasn’t built From scratch as a Disney property and I think it shows. I think your plan is good though when considering having a pool/relax day. Just always account for traffic traffic traffic for your airport traveling.

 

[Fishmango]

Probably going to take you a solid 2 hours to get to disney from burbank on sunday