Paradise Pier or Disneyland Hotel

[Lulu2323]

Hi! I'm a newbie planning our first trip to Disneyland for my daughters 4th bday in December. We are deciding between staying at PP or DLH. Can anyone help me out?
Considerations:
We will be traveling in December, are the pools (which is a benefit of DLH) generally open and useable in the winter?
How is the view of the fireworks from PP?
It is a $300 more to stay at DLH....worth it?
Distance to the park between the 2 hotels?
Thanks for any insight/ general thoughts!

 

[thatgrljme]

I stayed at PPH with my son in May and we had a wonderful time. We stayed concierge level and the view into California Adventure was AMAZING. We watched WOC from our room every night as my son is young and couldn't stay up in the parks.

We didn't watch fireworks from the hotel, but I know you can watch them from the pool deck. I do not think any rooms have fireworks views.

I think the walk to the park from PPH, if you go through the GCH and either out through Downtown Disney or to the hotel entrance to California Adventure was shorter than walking from DLH through Downtown Disney. Although you can stop at the monorail station and take that in, but for EMH I would just go straight to the gates.

We're staying at DLH in February and really looking forward to it. My goal is to stay at all three properties at least once. We did really enjoy all the CM's at PPH though.

I think either hotel you pick you will have a magical time

 

[StyledSugar]

I've never stayed at DLH but have stayed at PPH twice now, with another upcoming trip in February. We LOVE that hotel! The people are amazing, the walk to the parks is great and as the previous poster mentioned, certain rooms will give you a great view of the WoC show at night. We had that view once when we stayed in a one bedroom suite and it was great.

 

[GeneralTso]

I love the Disneyland Hotel. Just love it.
It's definitely got a more "magical" feel to it. The lobby at PP is very small. It's a refurbished, Disneyfied normal hotel. It's as fun and festive and Disney as they can make it, but you can tell the original bones are just a small hotel.

You have an absolutely perfect view of fireworks from Concierge level. They have a nice dessert buffet and pipe in the music during the show. All the payoff, none of the overhead of being in the park.

While we were at DLH this past week, Pluto showed up at the pool and the kids just went nuts. He was on the bridge and waving to kids who just lost their little minds. It was the cutest thing ever.

You can take the monorail into Tomorrowland or walk all the way through Downtown Disney to the gates. It's farther coming in from PP. You cut through Grand Californian and then through Downtown Disney to the gates.

 

[ashnjam]

You can read my trips reports in my signature I give my thoughts of both in there. We loved both for different reasons but DLH would be the one we would return to next time. Really can’t go wrong though!

 

[Cheshirecatty]

I agree with ashnjam, that we like both the PPH and the DLH, for different reasons.

If you are wanting the best pools, then I'd go with the DLH. They are heated, and are usable in the Winter.

If the extra $300.00 isn't a strain on your budget, go ahead and try the DLH. If you are wanting to save that money, I personally don't think you would be disappointed in the PPH.

The walk from the PPH(across the street and through the Grand) to bag check, is a shorter walk than walking from the DLH through Downtown Disney.

You can cross the street from the DLH, and catch the Monorail in Downtown Disney, but it dumps you out in Tomorrowland, which makes you backtrack if you want to go elsewhere in the Park---not a huge deal, but we find this to cause us lots of extra steps---especially if we want to be on Main Street.

Both Hotels are nice, and each have their pros and cons, but we could stay at either and be very happy.

Good Luck deciding---this is a very nice dilemma to have!!!

 

[BriannaRuth]

I've stayed in both and much prefer the DLH. It just feels more Disney, more magical. To me, the PPH just feels like a regular hotel with a few Disney touches added on. Especially the lobby -- the difference checking in to the DLH and checking in to the PPH is just a different experience. The rooms themselves are also less Disney. If the $300 is something you can afford, I would go for it. The DLH pool is hands-down better.

The walk from the PPH to DCA is probably shorter from the PPH if you take the entrance directly into the park from the GCH, but I didn't feel like the walk from the PPH to DL was much shorter. It seemed to me the walk from the PPH to the Grand, then through the Grand, to the point in DTD where you backtrack to the entrance was not much shorter than the walk from the DLH to the same point.

I can't speak to the fireworks view from Concierge at the PPH since we didn't do that. I do think there are some better views from the PPH since you're so close to DCA. But there can also be more noise if that's any concern.

I agree, though, either way you'll have a great time!

 

[Lulu2323]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like I can't go wrong!

 

[ashnjam]

Welcome to the DISboards also!! The people here are so friendly and helpful makes it fun to plan!

 

[Lulu2323]

Welcome to the DISboards also!! The people here are so friendly and helpful makes it fun to plan!

Thanks! It's a bit overwhelming, but I've got lots of time to figure it all out. Grateful to find this resource to make our trip extra magical!!

 

[larina]

I have stayed at both with my family (my parents - in their early sixties, my children -DDs, 11 and 20, DS 6, and myself -40) and friends of my oldest daughter. We prefer PPH. I like DLH okay, but I love the view at PPH. The pools are far superior ar DLH, but if you really think you'll have some pool time, you can always use some of the money you save staying at PPH to do a half day cabana rental at DLH ( we rented a cabana for the first time last Christmas and we will be doing that again).