Paradise Pier Hotel

[CalGal]

Okay, so instead of fighting the crowds in DL we can watch the fireworks right from the pool deck of the Paradise Pier where we will be staying? Is this correct?

You will miss many of the effects of the new fireworks show watching it from outside of the park. I recommend you fight the crowds at least once to watch it from the hub, or at least Main Street.

 

[psimon]

It's just as nice as the Disneyland Hotel...we stayed there about two months ago. There is more of a walk to Disneyland from this Hotel...you have to walk across the street, thru DCA, thru Downtown Disney and then you arrive at the park. It's a nice little walk but not too much fun when you're tired or carrying lots of packages...

Sounds like you just layed out my plans..... I need to find a "quickie" breakfast for the crowd, and I suspect I can get that at the backery in DD, as opposed to something at PP.

Thanks..... getting close!

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[CamColt]

I just returned from my first stay there and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the theming was fun, everything was clean and in order. CMs were friendly and housekeping did a great job. I would stay there again.

 

[GrumpyCAdad]

We stayed there on our first family trip there and liked it. The only thing I did not like, because we were on the upper floor, was how slow the elevators were. Overall though, we enjoyed it, although we all like the GC much much better! We are actually staying there again in March due to the price.

 

[Amy&Dan]

We have stayed there twice and enjoyed both stays. Last month we got an upper floor, theme park view, what a treat! The staff was wonderful, they really outdid themselves at checkin for my daughter's birthday, balloons, goodie bags and an autographed 8 x 10 photo from Mickey and Minnie. Then upstairs in the room they had turned down the bed, put chocolates on the pillows and left a plate of four huge Mickey Rice Krispy treats.

The walk is a bit further but its a pleasant walk up DTD so its not too bad, maybe 10-15 minutes like others have said.

We never experienced elevator problems like others did, don't know if we lucked out or if maybe they fixed that problem somehow.

For breakfast options, we usually stopped in at Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street at night as we left the parks and then we had breakfast for the next morning.

The pool itself is boring but the slide is very fun. I was annoyed that the pool bar was closed everytime we swam. We have always enjoyed getting drinks and snacks from the Lost Boys Bar and Crocs Bits n Bites at the Disneyland Hotel pool area. This is where PP lacks in my opinion.

The Lilo and Stitch character breakfast was wonderful. Great food, wonderful character interraction, especially from Stitch and Pluto who played fun games with all of the kids.

I would definitely recommend PP, especially if you can get a good rate. If its not much cheaper I still love the Disneyland Hotel the best, it is just very special to our family! But I would gladly stay at PP again, wish I was there right now in fact!

 

[got2travel]

Sounds like you just layed out my plans..... I need to find a "quickie" breakfast for the crowd, and I suspect I can get that at the backery in DD, as opposed to something at PP.

Thanks..... getting close!

---Paul in Southern NJ

A better bet for a quick breakfast is White Water Snacks inside the Grand Californian. (It's back by the pool). You can get the usually cereal, bagel, yogurt, etc. But they also have hot breakfast sandwiches and burritos. The portions are big and the prices are low.

 

[momzilla59]

Last month we got an upper floor, theme park view, what a treat! The staff was wonderful, they really outdid themselves at checkin for my daughter's birthday, balloons, goodie bags and an autographed 8 x 10 photo from Mickey and Minnie. Then upstairs in the room they had turned down the bed, put chocolates on the pillows and left a plate of four huge Mickey Rice Krispy treats.

We were there for my bday the first week of October - I got balloons, a pin and a picture - and our first NS room smelled so strongly of smoke I immediately called and requested a room change. That went smoothly enough (no upgrade though). The parking lot view is okay - although if the Santa Ana's are blowing you can see downtown L.A. -a Very rare sight! Otherwise the only view you have of DCA is during the ride in the glass elevator.

We never experienced elevator problems like others did, don't know if we lucked out or if maybe they fixed that problem somehow.

You lucked out. We had to wait for elevators for a long long while. There are only 3 two way elevators, the glass elevator only goes down if you have concierge priveleges. Check out time was madness, as was park closing time.

The pool itself is boring but the slide is very fun. I was annoyed that the pool bar was closed everytime we swam. We have always enjoyed getting drinks and snacks from the Lost Boys Bar and Crocs Bits n Bites at the Disneyland Hotel pool area. This is where PP lacks in my opinion.

This is where I have to totally agree with you. The pool and hot tub were CLOSED our entire visit. The slide and the kiddy pool were open but woo, we aren't kids. We were invited to use the Disneyland Hotel's pool and tub ( big perk- it is already allowed). I tell you after walking all over the park the Last thing we wanted to do was to have to walk over to another hotel's pool. It's not That far, but coming back you get good and chilled unless you have the foresight to bring a change of clothes - I'm just not that prepared. Add to this you had two hotels crammed into one pool - I was not happy about that at all. The least they could have done was open the Grand Californian facilities to us. I suggested that to guest relations and was told very frostily that that would NOT be possible. A great opportunity missed for them to make some magic happen.

I would definitely recommend PP, especially if you can get a good rate. If its not much cheaper I still love the Disneyland Hotel the best, it is just very special to our family! But I would gladly stay at PP again, wish I was there right now in fact!

I will never stay at PP again. While it IS a hotel on site, you could have stayed at an equivalent hotel off site for a LOT cheaper. The CM's could use a little goose in the pixie dust area, as could the decor. We just didn't FEEL like we were staying at Disneyland. "Similar to a Sheaton" was a phrase used earlier, and yes, except for the Giant Goofy in the lobby, that is exactly where you could be staying.

On the food side, we never ate at the hotel. The park closed at 8. We got to the hotel by 8:45 and were told that they stopped serving at 9. "Sorry". What? You would think they would keep a snack bar open at least until 2 hours after park closing. Not everybody wants to eat at those overpriced underwhelming restaurants of Downtown Disney. We ended up driving out to find dinner all three nights we stayed on property.

Can you tell I'm one of the few who didn't like the hotel? I didn't let it spoil my trip, but boy, my memories will definitely influence my future trip planning. It's the Disneyland Hotel or nothing for this Mom.

 

[Amy&Dan]

You lucked out. We had to wait for elevators for a long long while. There are only 3 two way elevators, the glass elevator only goes down if you have concierge priveleges. Check out time was madness, as was park closing time.






I will never stay at PP again. While it IS a hotel on site, you could have stayed at an equivalent hotel off site for a LOT cheaper. The CM's could use a little goose in the pixie dust area, as could the decor. We just didn't FEEL like we were staying at Disneyland. "Similar to a Sheaton" was a phrase used earlier, and yes, except for the Giant Goofy in the lobby, that is exactly where you could be staying.

On the food side, we never ate at the hotel. The park closed at 8. We got to the hotel by 8:45 and were told that they stopped serving at 9. "Sorry". What? You would think they would keep a snack bar open at least until 2 hours after park closing. Not everybody wants to eat at those overpriced underwhelming restaurants of Downtown Disney. We ended up driving out to find dinner all three nights we stayed on property.

Can you tell I'm one of the few who didn't like the hotel? I didn't let it spoil my trip, but boy, my memories will definitely influence my future trip planning. It's the Disneyland Hotel or nothing for this Mom.

I paid for that upgrade which is how I got it and it was worth the extra $23 a night. I have had the parking lot view before and while it didn't ruin my trip it didn't exactly add to it either, so that's why I upgraded. I was also able to go up and down in the glass elevator (both trips we stayed at PP) without concierge privilidges so I don't know about that. I have heard complaints about the slowness of the elevators, you are not alone in that department, but with our two trips (both in September) we never had a wait. It sounds like you had a bad experience, and that is always a shame when you are paying to stay onsite. I recommended PP because our experience was great and we paid $129 a night for the first 4 nights and $155 for the last three. I thought the rooms did have some nice Disney touches and enjoyed the beach theming which is what this resort is really about. I do agree with you, the Disneyland Hotel is the better of the two but it would have cost me around $700 more to stay there so I was pretty happy with PP. I agree with you about the lack of dining options, we really missed the Crocs bits n bites but then again there are so many dining options in the park and DTD we made out okay.

 

[Albertan mom]

Wow. Lots of different experiences!!
For $129 a night--that is a great deal.
The best I could get was $1805 for 9 nights. So $200 a night. I was not willing to pay that. After reading some of these reviews, glad I didn't book there.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Wow. Lots of different experiences!!
For $129 a night--that is a great deal.
The best I could get was $1805 for 9 nights. So $200 a night. I was not willing to pay that. After reading some of these reviews, glad I didn't book there.

While we did have a great experience there, I would not pay $200 a night for the PP. I have paid that for Disneyland Hotel and even that is kind of crazy when you think about it! And you are right, the reviews of this hotel are all over the map which leads me to think we were really lucky on both of our stays. The $129 a night was through Expedia incidentally and for a very off time of year.