I've been going to Disneyland since I was a baby, and we've (almost) always stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel, even back before Disney owned it and it was called the Pan Pacific Hotel. We love the hotel and it is our preferred place to stay when we travel to Disneyland. I was able to get six nights for an average of about a hundred and thirty dollars a night with the new promotion. This was for a standard room.
We arrived around 9 am on June 15th. We had left Texas on a 6am flight from Houston. To make the flight, we had woken up around 3:30 Texas time, which equals 1:30am California time. Needless to say, we were very tired on Friday!
We checked in with a very friendly cast member who gave my 4 year old a Jonas Brothers necklace. Our room wasn't ready yet, and we headed to Rainforest Cafe, Build a Bear, and DCA. We checked but the room wasn't ready. We went back to the hotel around 2:30, and when I called a CM told me that rooms are generally never ready until between 3:00 and 5:00. I thought 3:00 was reasonable, but 5:00.....not so much. It was also frustrating having been there since 9:00 am, but seeing people arrive, check in at the front desk, and head straight to their rooms! I know that rooms are assigned upon check-in and our assigned room just wasn't finished, but still....yuck. Thankfully our room was ready a little after 3 and we headed to our room on the 5th floor. We were given a theme-park view room, although you can't see much on the 5th floor. I was happy with the upgrade, but I really hope they are not charging people extra for these lower-level theme park view rooms. Basically it is a view of construction and pretty darn ugly.
My daughter was asleep by 6:00 pm and my mom and I were hoping not to be far behind. Mom went into the bathroom and called to me that we had a leak. Sure enough, quite a bit of water is coming from the ceiling right over the toilet. I call and let them know, and they say they will send someone down. I called around 6:45. At 7:30 I call back and explain that I'm not trying to be rude, but we're really just waiting on them before we go to bed, had an early flight, etc. 15 minutes later a very nice maintence main comes up, checks out the leak and says, 'Uhh, I'll be right back." 20 minutes later he comes back and says that the leak originated two floors up with some people who were drinking, overflowed their tub, and had water all slung around the room. He said security was dealing with it now, but the room above ours was soaked and those people hadn't been in the room. He gave us the choice of staying where we were and having housekeeping come serilize, or moving. I told him I'd really rather avoid moving, as we were unpacked and my four year old was sleeping. He said that was fine and he'd send housekeeping. Unfortunately, by the time housekeeping got there the leak still hadn't quit, so it was pointless for them to clean up when more was just coming. At this point I'm trying to figure out what will get us to bed faster, and figure it would be packing everything up and moving. I call and the CM at the front desk tells me she'll have to call me back. 40 minutes later we get the call that they can move us and she is sending the bell captain up to help us. At this point, I think it's near 10 and we are zombies. The bell captain was VERY nice, and he helps me and our things to our new room on the 14th floor. This room was not park facing, but was larger than our old room and appeared to be an upgrade. It was a very nice room and after we slept, we were happy to have it.
It was nice that it seems the glass elevator only has down buttons for the 3rd, 14th, and 15th floors, so we didn't have to wait for the elevator. Upon checkout, I also noticed that the hotel had removed the resort fee from the bill.
Housekeeping was wonderful. We arrived back at the room around 11 or 12 every day and the room was already clean. My daughter loved the pool and the slide, and spend a few hours in the tv room over the week. Most of the rest of the staff was pleasant, although not as friendly as they've been in the past, a trend we noticed throughout Disneyland. I have to wonder if the HUGE crowds they saw last week didn't play a huge part in the service throughout the park.
Just wanted to give a recent update. Paradise Pier is still a great place to stay and we will be back in a year or so!
We arrived around 9 am on June 15th. We had left Texas on a 6am flight from Houston. To make the flight, we had woken up around 3:30 Texas time, which equals 1:30am California time. Needless to say, we were very tired on Friday!
We checked in with a very friendly cast member who gave my 4 year old a Jonas Brothers necklace. Our room wasn't ready yet, and we headed to Rainforest Cafe, Build a Bear, and DCA. We checked but the room wasn't ready. We went back to the hotel around 2:30, and when I called a CM told me that rooms are generally never ready until between 3:00 and 5:00. I thought 3:00 was reasonable, but 5:00.....not so much. It was also frustrating having been there since 9:00 am, but seeing people arrive, check in at the front desk, and head straight to their rooms! I know that rooms are assigned upon check-in and our assigned room just wasn't finished, but still....yuck. Thankfully our room was ready a little after 3 and we headed to our room on the 5th floor. We were given a theme-park view room, although you can't see much on the 5th floor. I was happy with the upgrade, but I really hope they are not charging people extra for these lower-level theme park view rooms. Basically it is a view of construction and pretty darn ugly.
My daughter was asleep by 6:00 pm and my mom and I were hoping not to be far behind. Mom went into the bathroom and called to me that we had a leak. Sure enough, quite a bit of water is coming from the ceiling right over the toilet. I call and let them know, and they say they will send someone down. I called around 6:45. At 7:30 I call back and explain that I'm not trying to be rude, but we're really just waiting on them before we go to bed, had an early flight, etc. 15 minutes later a very nice maintence main comes up, checks out the leak and says, 'Uhh, I'll be right back." 20 minutes later he comes back and says that the leak originated two floors up with some people who were drinking, overflowed their tub, and had water all slung around the room. He said security was dealing with it now, but the room above ours was soaked and those people hadn't been in the room. He gave us the choice of staying where we were and having housekeeping come serilize, or moving. I told him I'd really rather avoid moving, as we were unpacked and my four year old was sleeping. He said that was fine and he'd send housekeeping. Unfortunately, by the time housekeeping got there the leak still hadn't quit, so it was pointless for them to clean up when more was just coming. At this point I'm trying to figure out what will get us to bed faster, and figure it would be packing everything up and moving. I call and the CM at the front desk tells me she'll have to call me back. 40 minutes later we get the call that they can move us and she is sending the bell captain up to help us. At this point, I think it's near 10 and we are zombies. The bell captain was VERY nice, and he helps me and our things to our new room on the 14th floor. This room was not park facing, but was larger than our old room and appeared to be an upgrade. It was a very nice room and after we slept, we were happy to have it.
It was nice that it seems the glass elevator only has down buttons for the 3rd, 14th, and 15th floors, so we didn't have to wait for the elevator. Upon checkout, I also noticed that the hotel had removed the resort fee from the bill.Housekeeping was wonderful. We arrived back at the room around 11 or 12 every day and the room was already clean. My daughter loved the pool and the slide, and spend a few hours in the tv room over the week. Most of the rest of the staff was pleasant, although not as friendly as they've been in the past, a trend we noticed throughout Disneyland. I have to wonder if the HUGE crowds they saw last week didn't play a huge part in the service throughout the park.
Just wanted to give a recent update. Paradise Pier is still a great place to stay and we will be back in a year or so!
