Paradise Pier Hotel: Questions and Comparisons

[Dr.Mickey]

For my second trip to DL and California from the East coast, I am considering the Paradise Pier Hotel. I stayed at Candycane Inn last year, and I liked it. But I miss staying on Disney property like I often do at WDW. Paradise Pier is about as much as I want to spend (GCH is definately out). I've got some questions for you vets:

1. Is there a common area where guests can view the theme parks and World of Color if you don't fork it over for a theme park view room? Maybe the roof, or some other area? Do they pipe in the music, too?

2. The DL official website shows newly themed rooms for Paradise Pier that are different from the pictures here on the Dis. Has there been a recent renovation? I know the DL Hotel is undergoing renovation right now, but I haven't seen anything about PP.

3. Is there a counter-service style place to eat?

4. How long is the walk to the DL park entrances? Is it longer than the walk from Candycane Inn? Is there a shortcut? I got lost wandering through GCH last year, and I found out the hard way that the back entrance to DCA is for hotel guests only.

5. How close is self-parking? I'll be going to a continuing ed meeting each morning.

6. What are your general impressions of Paradise Pier Hotel?

Thanks for everthing. I can't wait to get back...

 

[blackjackdelta]

You may want to read this..http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2537980&highlight=paradise+pier

Jack

 

[motherhoodandmickey]

We stayed at the PPH in January of this year, and the rooms looked fairly new. The theme is a subtle surf motif - our favorite decoration was the Mickey Surfer lamp (DD2 loved it!).

There is a small lounge/cafe area near the lobby that serves both warm and cold meals, and we found them to be quite good. We would usually get a quick breakfast item (muffin/pastry) and coffee before heading into the parks early. Just get there well in advance of park opening (even on MM days), since there does tend to be a line closer to opening.

The walk to the main gates of the parks is about 10 minutes through the GCH. You'll likely be joined by many other guests, but it does take you through the GCH lobby and DTD, and is an enjoyable early morning walk. We rented a stroller at the parks for DD2, and mainly carried her to and from the hotel. I would recommend bringing your own stroller if you have young kids - we will be when we go back in three weeks (staying at DLH this time).

PPH is absolutely a nice hotel, and I would recommend it. Hidden gem for those with young kids: the small screening room off the lobby, where they can sit in child-size Adirondack chairs watching classis Disney cartoons while waiting for others in the party to get ready/check in or out. Just make sure one parent is there to watch the kid(s), as the area is unsupervised.

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Thanks for the info, guys. Jack, I saw in your thread the mention of a viewing area for fireworks. I can't tell from the pictures if the "rooftop swimming pool" has a clear view of World of Color. Any answers on this? Either way, I think I might pick PPH for this trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

I got lost wandering through GCH last year, and I found out the hard way that the back entrance to DCA is for hotel guests only.

Luckily, as a PPH guest, you are allowed to use that back entrance. If you look at the comparison for onsite resorts on disneyland.com, you'll see that all three onsite hotels get to use that entrance.



In case you can't quite figure out how the hotel is set up, the rooftop is actually on top of the 3rd floor on one part of the resort. The hotel actually is 14 stories high in the main part.


Go out the FRONT of the resort (do NOT follow the hotel's signs to the parks! don't make the mistake I did!), out past the front desk, go left to the crosswalk and cross to the Grand. Go in the front doors of the Grand (big sliding stained glass beauties), and go left down a corridor as soon as you can, if you are heading to Disneyland. Follow that corridor all the way down, go out the sliding glass doors on the right, follow along and you'll pop out into DownTown Disney across from Haagen Dasz and next to Sephora. Turn right, go to the bag check and esplanade, and go into Disneyland

If heading to DCA, instead of heading to the left to that corridor, NOW you can follow the signs to DCA. You'll go through the lobby of the Grand, out the opposite side, and just keep walking until you find it (there will be signage).

Review: do NOT follow the park signs while in PPH, but DO follow the DCA signs in the Grand. (following the signs in PPH leads you out the back/side of PPH, and ultimately to the side of DLH and allllll the way through DTD, which takes much longer (IMO) than cutting through the Grand.

 

[damo]

We're heading back to the PPH in two weeks. We've stayed there before and absolutely love it. The walk through the GCH makes a big difference. We really like eating at White Water Snacks at the GCH for a quick breakfast.

 

[Cinderpamela]

Thanks for the info, guys. Jack, I saw in your thread the mention of a viewing area for fireworks. I can't tell from the pictures if the "rooftop swimming pool" has a clear view of World of Color. Any answers on this? Either way, I think I might pick PPH for this trip.

PPH's pool area is on the backside of the hotel, and like a PP said, the pool area is on a rooftop but only about 3-4 stories up. The main high rise portion of the building blocks any view that one would have of the WOC.

 

[Babybears]

Most of the PP's have answered your questions, but thought I'd chime in on a few that either haven't been answered or to offer my thoughts. First off, we love staying a PPH. I think you will find the hotel very convenient, especially to DCA (using the hotel only entrance).

The self parking is super convenient, right on the back side of the hotel. You just pull up to the front, check in and get your parking pass and then just pull around to the back. I would advise that you take your luggage out "before" you pull around to the back and park as there is no elevator in the parking garage. However, once in the garage, you can just go through the backside entrance to the hotel to re-enter......takes no time at all!!

The rooms went through a minor renovation within the past two years. They changed the bedding, curtains and added beach ball pillows to the rooms. The carpet in the rooms may be new, too, I can't remember. We've stayed a the hotel in the rooms before and after and the differences were minor, but the rooms did have a fresh, newer feel.

There is a glass elevator that goes all the way up, as well as a glassed area near the glass elevator on each floor that offers some nice views of DCA. The fireworks can be seen from one side of the rooptop pool area and music was piped in last time we were there. There also were channels on "in-house" disney stations that played the WOC music and Fireworks music each night on the tv while it was going on in the parks. There were also two other "in-house" disney stations that played retro Disney cartoons and Disney Princess Bedtime stories all day/night long. My kids loved that! The other station played park ride Disney info nonstop and was fun to watch to see what we were doing the next day and plan. It was sort of like the DVD you get from WDTC but better.

As for CS dining, there is a coffee bar downstairs that does have some menu items. There is a link to the menu on allears.net as well as other sites.

Have a great trip!! PPH is a great place to stay, and I hope you love it as much as our family does!!

 

[barngro]

You will love the PPH! Before we joined DVC about 4 years ago, we stayed at all 3 Disney Hotels and the PPH was my 4 kids' favorite hotel. I think they would choose it now over our DVC rooms if they had a choice (which of course they don't!).

 

[8timesblessed]

Our first stay was in the GrandVilla at the Grand california. That is an amazing place but in December my husband and I had points to use and no rooms were available at the Grand so we opted to try PP. We liked it alot. It reminded us of the Boardwalk at WDW. The bathroom is nothing fancy but the short walk through the Grand was enjoyable and easy to get into DCA to get fast passes for WOC and into the parks.

Then in February I took one of our boys for a special trip and we stayed one night at the DL hotel with a pool view and it did nothing for me. It felt farther away from the park, the monorail wasn't working so you had to walk. Then we moved over to PP with a theme park view for two nights and had a great time. We did stay in one night to see how WOC was from our room and it was OK, alot of trees hid all the lower stuff but with the music piped in and if you've seen the show before it was still fun to experience. Especially the pirate sequence. I made a video of it and I'm sure you might be able to find some on youtube??

 

[Dr.Mickey]

Thanks for the great reviews. I love the details - it is so much easier to make a decision this way. I think you all have nudged me toward PPH. I'm going in July, so I'll try to post a report.