hookedup
<font color=navy>radsmom <font color=blue>(Mom to
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
We are home from a few great days at the park. Although we have AP's and go to the park often it is always a treat to stay on property. This time we thought we give the Paradise Pier a try - and being spring break it made the most affordable choice as well.
All and all we had a very good experience - I would stay there again and would also recommend it to others too.
We stayed on the 14th floor and had a great theme park view of DCA. During part of our stay the hotel (and the other hotels too) were completely sold out. I was very concerned that this might impact our enjoyment and use of the concierge lounge but that was not the case.
Each morning they had a basket with a variety of bagels (and a toaster to use) and a few choices for cream cheese, they also had butter and jelly too. Along with a nice fruit platter with melons and pineapple. There were also whole fruits too. There was a pastry basket with 3 different types of mini breakfast pastries each morning. There were also cereals (in the bowl boxes) and milk & OJ. Of course coffee and hot water for tea too.
During the day they had a nice basket of cookies they kept stocked up and whole fruit like bananas, oranges and apples as well as a few types of chips that you could take with you. There was always water in 16 oz bottles, coke & sprite in small glass bottles, and apple juice in boxes and cranberry juice in cans. They had a sign up that said "only 2 to go drinks per person" but it did not seem like they were really monitoring that.
For the evening reception from 5-7 pm they put out a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of guacamole and a bowl of salsa. They also had a large cheese platter with fruit and a large cracker platter, and a vegie platter too. They served wine (red, white or pink) and were very good about bringing refills when your glass was getting low (my dh liked that
) The evening spread was not as elaborate as when we stayed at the GC before, but it was still adequate and a nice treat before we headed out to the parks for dinner.
Was it worth it? That is what people often ask in posts - I think it is IF - you are going to eat breakfast at the lounge (so don't plan on character breakfasts that cost about $20 pp) Also, when park hours are longer then you can enjoy the evening reception before heading back out to the park for the evening. It was really nice to have a couple of glasses of wine, mozy over to the park, grab a bite to eat, watch the parade and fireworks and still have time to do rides too!
One year we did concierge when the park hours were short in the off season and it was a hasssle to rush back for the evening reception and then try to eat dinner before closing. I would do concierge again but only when the park is open until 11 or 12 midnight.
The lounge also offered a wide selection of VHS videos that you could check out free of charge. Our room had a TV with a VCR combined in it. We knew this and brought a few tapes along. The lounge also had some games to play (monopoly, Mr. Potatohead, etc.) and magazines. There was a big 35 inch TV in the lounge too - usually on Toon Disney but one night the NBA game was on and the couches were filled with Dads, not kids! LOL!
My other thoughts:
The private entrance into DCA is very convenient. The express monorail line back from DL is awesome and we never had to wait in the evenings when it was time to go back to the hotel. If you are staying at PP or DL Hotel it is the way to go after a long day!
The pool area is very basic - we did take a quick dip one afternoon. They had a lot of towels poolside and small lifevests that my 3 yr old ds liked to wear. It was not too crowded either. Their pool area is quite large - they probably could remodel it and spice it up if they wanted too.
At night you can watch the DL fireworks from the pool area and they pipe in the music (we did not do this but heard others talk about it) the bellman told us it was very pretty neat.
If you stay there try to stay on the upper floors if possible. A theme park view is really cool and you can watch the ELP from your room too!
Really my only complaint about the hotel is their elevator situation. The elevators are really small and not adequate to accomodate peak traffic. Since we were staying on one of the top floors it was never an issue but I could see how those in the lower floors would have trouble catching one to go down in the morning hours (I would not stay in the middle floors there during a busy time!). Two strollers or a couple of suitcases and the elevator is packed. We did not have to wait to get one in the evening but heard others complain that they had. This is a problem for this resort and unless they fix it by adding more elevators I dont ever seeing it resovled.
The housekeeping staff was great and did an excellent job on our room. Our room was clean and comfortable and we had no complaints there. We had a king bed and a sofa bed too.
One of our concierge hosts told us that hotel would be undergoing a huge rennovation starting in September that would be includes rooms, lobby and a new pool with waterslide.
I will file our park report in a seperate post.
All and all we had a very good experience - I would stay there again and would also recommend it to others too.
We stayed on the 14th floor and had a great theme park view of DCA. During part of our stay the hotel (and the other hotels too) were completely sold out. I was very concerned that this might impact our enjoyment and use of the concierge lounge but that was not the case.
Each morning they had a basket with a variety of bagels (and a toaster to use) and a few choices for cream cheese, they also had butter and jelly too. Along with a nice fruit platter with melons and pineapple. There were also whole fruits too. There was a pastry basket with 3 different types of mini breakfast pastries each morning. There were also cereals (in the bowl boxes) and milk & OJ. Of course coffee and hot water for tea too.
During the day they had a nice basket of cookies they kept stocked up and whole fruit like bananas, oranges and apples as well as a few types of chips that you could take with you. There was always water in 16 oz bottles, coke & sprite in small glass bottles, and apple juice in boxes and cranberry juice in cans. They had a sign up that said "only 2 to go drinks per person" but it did not seem like they were really monitoring that.
For the evening reception from 5-7 pm they put out a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of guacamole and a bowl of salsa. They also had a large cheese platter with fruit and a large cracker platter, and a vegie platter too. They served wine (red, white or pink) and were very good about bringing refills when your glass was getting low (my dh liked that
) The evening spread was not as elaborate as when we stayed at the GC before, but it was still adequate and a nice treat before we headed out to the parks for dinner. Was it worth it? That is what people often ask in posts - I think it is IF - you are going to eat breakfast at the lounge (so don't plan on character breakfasts that cost about $20 pp) Also, when park hours are longer then you can enjoy the evening reception before heading back out to the park for the evening. It was really nice to have a couple of glasses of wine, mozy over to the park, grab a bite to eat, watch the parade and fireworks and still have time to do rides too!
One year we did concierge when the park hours were short in the off season and it was a hasssle to rush back for the evening reception and then try to eat dinner before closing. I would do concierge again but only when the park is open until 11 or 12 midnight.
The lounge also offered a wide selection of VHS videos that you could check out free of charge. Our room had a TV with a VCR combined in it. We knew this and brought a few tapes along. The lounge also had some games to play (monopoly, Mr. Potatohead, etc.) and magazines. There was a big 35 inch TV in the lounge too - usually on Toon Disney but one night the NBA game was on and the couches were filled with Dads, not kids! LOL!
My other thoughts:
The private entrance into DCA is very convenient. The express monorail line back from DL is awesome and we never had to wait in the evenings when it was time to go back to the hotel. If you are staying at PP or DL Hotel it is the way to go after a long day!
The pool area is very basic - we did take a quick dip one afternoon. They had a lot of towels poolside and small lifevests that my 3 yr old ds liked to wear. It was not too crowded either. Their pool area is quite large - they probably could remodel it and spice it up if they wanted too.
At night you can watch the DL fireworks from the pool area and they pipe in the music (we did not do this but heard others talk about it) the bellman told us it was very pretty neat.
If you stay there try to stay on the upper floors if possible. A theme park view is really cool and you can watch the ELP from your room too!
Really my only complaint about the hotel is their elevator situation. The elevators are really small and not adequate to accomodate peak traffic. Since we were staying on one of the top floors it was never an issue but I could see how those in the lower floors would have trouble catching one to go down in the morning hours (I would not stay in the middle floors there during a busy time!). Two strollers or a couple of suitcases and the elevator is packed. We did not have to wait to get one in the evening but heard others complain that they had. This is a problem for this resort and unless they fix it by adding more elevators I dont ever seeing it resovled.
The housekeeping staff was great and did an excellent job on our room. Our room was clean and comfortable and we had no complaints there. We had a king bed and a sofa bed too.
One of our concierge hosts told us that hotel would be undergoing a huge rennovation starting in September that would be includes rooms, lobby and a new pool with waterslide.
I will file our park report in a seperate post.
