Disneyland's Paradise Pier Resort

[LisainCalifornia]

Wanted to say that you may be able to book PPH suites on-line. They have never been available when I have looked on-line, although I've been able to get offers/quotes for suites at both DLH and The Grand on-line.

I think you were right to say to call in your first reply. I have only been able to find the prices for a suite at PP via a phone conversation, not at disney.com. I have stayed at the Disney resort hotels a few times a year for the last 10 years, and half the time when I am ready to book I just call (even though I could book online). This is because I can talk to a real human, and also give them my "requests" as far as tower, view, etc...

If you ask for a price quote on a message board like this, you have to know that the price is ever changing. Depending on the night of the week (monday vs. saturday) and the season (high-low-medium), the price will always change--many times dramatically. It doesn't help to get a price quote from a board like this. The only way to get a real price quote is to call for yourself, or log on to the website (either disney.com or other hotel selling website) and get the numbers for your dates.

 

[Fat Robot]

Is this hotel good for toddlers?

 

[Scribble Kitty]

Is this hotel good for toddlers?

I would think so. It's not a long walk at all and the rooms are quite large. There is a small open room near the lobby that plays old Disney shorts all day, great way to occupy time if you needed to wait for some reason.

Not having a toddler, I'm not sure what other not-so-obvious perks there might be to staying at PPH over one of the other Disney hotels.

 

[gman60]

We stayed here early Oct. Wonderful room with view of DCA. EZ access to DL and DCA thru GCH. Pool was lacking in services, but the slide was fun, just wish the slide was open after seven as we didn't hit pool till later at night. Good Valet and Bell service, car was waiting for us when we needed it. Nice work out facility, and lounge. We felt the service was Disney quality at an affordable price and worth it over a good neighbor hotel. We had heard about elevator problems but never experienced any great delays.

 

[larina]

My son was almost 3 when we went and it was nice for him because of how much space there was. The view was also really nice for my kids. We spend more time than average in the room because my 8 year old daughter got very sick. There are enough of us that we could trade out who stayed back, but it also meant numerous trips back and forth to the room.

BTW, I wanted to comment on the elevator thing. The elevators are VERY slow. And I totally agree that they are going to have to address this issue at some point. The glass elevator does seem faster and less used (don't understand this at all!!!!) but it can't make up for the elevator 'issue' they have.
*Tip: If elevator space is an issue by the time the elevator gets to you, take elevator UP first then come back down. It will still take forever because of all the stops, but at least you'll be sure to actually get ON an elevator. We were on a high floor and never had an issue, but several times people couldn't get on by the time we hit the lower floors.

 

[larina]

We never went to the pool area, so I can't comment on it at all, but from looking at pictures and lots of reviews, I think the reviews are fair. It is older, not fancy, but the slide it cool.

Does anyone know if it is heated?

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

Thought you might be interested to see this blog I did for the DIS on the suites at Paradise Pier. We stayed there one weekend and it was very nice!

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/03/19/the-suite-life-at-disneylands-paradise-pier-hotel/

There are a lot of photos. Also, I believe there are one or two PPH specific adventures. Check out my blog on these DLR offerings.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/04/16/bonus-adventures-for-a-disneyland-resort-hotel-stay/

Hope it helps!

 

[jasy]

I don't think that the pools are heated... I remember them being cold when we were there last may and it was hot, hot, hot outside we spent lots of time by the pool, actually more than in the park.

This is IMO a good hotel with a toddler, this is where we stayed last May with our then 18 month old. My son loved the toddler pool, it was fabulous.

I also never found the elevators slow, but maybe it's just me.

On my solo trip with my toddler son this Jan/Feb I plan on staying here again though I am debating giving the DLH a try since it's been years since I last stayed there but I kind of like the look of the PPH and the theme park view rooms are amazing!

 

[larina]

Thought you might be interested to see this blog I did for the DIS on the suites at Paradise Pier. We stayed there one weekend and it was very nice!

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/03/19/the-suite-life-at-disneylands-paradise-pier-hotel/

There are a lot of photos. Also, I believe there are one or two PPH specific adventures. Check out my blog on these DLR offerings.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/04/16/bonus-adventures-for-a-disneyland-resort-hotel-stay/

Hope it helps!

I remember reading these when I first found the DIS boards (I think anyway, that was in August). I thought it was a great review.

...

I also never found the elevators slow, but maybe it's just me...

It didn't bother us the way it does some, but they are a bit slow. Actually, I think they just have to stop a lot at peak times. When they don't make a bunch of stops, they aren't slow at all.

 

[krispin41]

Great review! I really enjoyed this hotel. We only made it up to the pool area once to use the hot tub, however they are currently in the midst of redoing the landscaping, so that didn't look so good, however, I thought the pool area was decent, if a bit crowded at the time we visited. (The weather was awesome during our stay 10/14-10/18.)

Since we don't have kids, a good pool is not on our list of must haves. We barely use the pool at our apartment. LOL.

I also really think the PPH needs it's own dedicated thread!

 

[Sherry E]

I've stayed at PPH lots of times, going all the way back to the year 2000. Initially, PPH was a last resort for me because the DLH - where I had previously been staying on all of my DLR trips - raised its prices and the PPH was cheaper.

Over time, I really grew to enjoy staying at the PPH. (And I'll be back there again in early December - for $99 per night!!)

The walk is not bad - when you step outside of the PPH's front entrance and look across the street, you'll see the GCH. You simply walk to the crosswalk and to the other side of the street, and then right on through GCH to Downtown Disney.

The view of DCA (which is the one where you can see the back side of WoC, without the projections on the water) is excellent and I couldn't get enough of it during my stay last December.

I have never been bothered by the elevators, and I have read so many comments about them. I suppose that sometimes it takes a little longer for a non-full elevator to arrive, but it's never been to the point where I have noticed it, I guess. I have a lot of big, busy office buildings in my neighborhood, and long waits for elevators seems to come with the territory, so maybe the PPH elevator situation didn't stick out in my mind because I am used to that sort of thing.

While I do agree that PPH doesn't have as much to it as the other two DLR hotels have - simply because it's not as big as they are and doesn't have as much property - I think Disney does what it can with the hotel, and adds as many Disney touches as possible.

During the holidays, the towering Christmas tree in the PPH lobby is just gorgeous, aglow in blue-green lights and jewel-tone ornaments. It's really eye-catching - even from outside the hotel. When my friend and I pulled up to the hotel valet area last year and I hopped out of the car so I could go check in, we both sort of caught sight of the tree and commented on how striking and pretty it was.

Yes, it's true, the overall environment of the PPH lobby is not as inviting as the GCH lobby is, so you can't really sit around and admire the tree in comfortable surroundings. But just as far as aesthetic appeal and color scheme alone, the PPH tree is my favorite of all the trees at the 3 DLR hotels. (The GCH tree is the one that fits best in its respective theme and context, though.) The DLH trees - there is one main tree for each tower lobby - while lovely as all Christmas trees are, are nothing all that interesting.

 

[ttig34]

Wow- $99 per night. That is definitely happy dance worthy!

 

[Jackie Psarianos]

Replies for Paradise Pier Resort:

Thank you all so very much for your information and photos, I really appreciate it.

Happy Halloween!

 

[JillyBean77]

Over time, I really grew to enjoy staying at the PPH. (And I'll be back there again in early December - for $99 per night!!)

WOAH!! I'm sure we'd all love to know how you snagged that deal I have a PIN code for that timeframe (35% off), but it would still be a budget stretch so I don't know if we're going to use it. However, $99 would be totally do-able! I just called Disney reservations and the sweet CM was blown away by that rate as well, saying she hadn't heard of anything that low yet (so obviously I didn't get it )

 

[Sherry E]

WOAH!! I'm sure we'd all love to know how you snagged that deal I have a PIN code for that timeframe (35% off), but it would still be a budget stretch so I don't know if we're going to use it. However, $99 would be totally do-able! I just called Disney reservations and the sweet CM was blown away by that rate as well, saying she hadn't heard of anything that low yet (so obviously I didn't get it )

It's a special rate!! It's not a general public offer. I'm not even going through the normal reservations office for any changes to my reservation. I'm going through a whole different office. The PPH goofed on a billing-related issue on my last holiday stay, and they are giving me one totally free night, and $99 for each additional night, along with free parking and VIP viewing/seating for the shows/parades of my choice. And I didn't have to put down any kind of deposit or anything. So I am going to use it for another holiday PPH visit.

But if I hadn't gotten this awesome offer because of the PPH goof, I would have used one of those 35% PIN codes you mentioned. I was trying to tell my friend that those 35% offers (generally putting the PPH somewhere in the range of $159 - $175 per night - is that what you got?) are actually great deals for the PPH, considering what the prices are without any discount. I've used them before and will definitely use them again, as long as DLR keeps sending them.

Once CarsLand opens next year and DCA's construction is complete, along with the DLH being finished as well, I don't even want to think about what the resort hotels' prices are going to be.

 

[JillyBean77]

I was trying to tell my friend that those 35% offers (generally putting the PPH somewhere in the range of $159 - $175 per night - is that what you got?) are actually great deals for the PPH, considering what the prices are without any discount.

We got PPH for $163 per night. This is our first trip to Disney, and we were originally going the route of 'most convenient walk combined with best possible deal' (neither of which applies to PPH, from what I've read), but when I got this offer I just couldn't resist seeing what it's like to stay at a Disney property. However, it's still more than we had budgeted for a hotel. The compromise is that we're staying two nights at the Park Vue (free parking, wifi, b-fast and social hour, plus very close walking distance, yay!) and then two nights at PPH. Here's hoping it's a great trip and that our billing gets messed up so that we can afford to stay again next year

 

[Clochette nordique]

bump!

 

[BlueBayou]

We were at the PPH hotel for 4 nights in October. We really liked it. If money wasn't an object - we would stay at GCH. But this was a really nice hotel.

Maybe we are odd, but we ended up liking the PPH better DLH. The walk though GCH was great, and another option other than Downtown Disney (with DD8 and DD11 - it's a fight to keep them out of stores)

Sure there were waits for the elevators (but we ran into that at DLH - just not as frequently) - but everybody was friendly.

One of the outlets in our room was damaged (the coffee maker one) - and they fixed it when we left the room (we scheduled the time).

 

[Kauinohea]

We are here at the PPH NOW. it is really a nice hotel with super comfy beds! The walk thru the grand is great. I made the mistake of waiting too long to book a view room, they were sold out by the time I made up my mind. We ended up with a room on the third floor that has a nice outside sitting area and easy access to the pool! Kids love it as they are still able to swim in the afternoon ( warm enough). I added concierge when I got here.....but cancelled it the next day. The food, rather snacks, was not worth the extra $100 a day to us since we would still need to buy lunch and dinner. They were nice about me requesting to cancel. Just could not see that huge of price tag for continental breakfast with bland fruit and my kids eating cookies and chips and goldfish for lunch and dinner.

So far love the hotel and location. Parks are really busy, but they are giving on site guests Mm entry every day of the week so that really helps!

 

[Kauinohea]

Oh forgot to add that we are not having any problem with exta long elevator waits . We always press the button for both the regular elevators as well as the glass one and one of the two arrive very shortly