Paradise Pier or Good Neighbor

[GRandPsMommy]

We are trying to get our vacation booked and do not know where the best place to stay will be. We have a 13,8,and 2 year old. We were looking at Paradise Pier with the concierge service possibly. Is it worth it. Do you acctually get that much more out of it. We will be staying 4 nights or should we just go to a good neighbor we have stayed in the Anaheim Desert and it was nice but we will be moving to the mid-west after this trip and want it to be extra special any suggestions please I am going nuts trying to figure out what to do.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Depends on how you like to travel and how you visit the parks. For our family, NO, it wasnt worth it. We spend long days at the parks, with just a short afternoon break. We had conc. service at PP, for 5 days, in Oct. 2005.

We had thought that staying on site we would go back to the hotel more often. However, we quickly found the walk to be a little long, so we didnt go back like we had thought we would.

We did eat the little breakfast every day and took a few drinks back to our room. We never did borrow a dvd player or movies. We only had the evening snacks / wine/ beer once the entire trip.

I will say the staff was wonderful, and turn down service did make us feel special.

We've been back 4 times since that trip and have always stayed at the candy cane inn. The distance is about the same, however the CCI offers a shuttle. The breakfast is about the same, and the amount we save on the room more then pays for pop and water in the park, and we dont have to carry it with us!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I agree that it depends on how you like to travel. I don't think concierge is worth it at DL. I haven't gone that route but I have looked into it and to me, its not that big of a deal and very overpriced.

Paradise Pier is a really nice hotel. I love the oversized rooms, you get free internet access, a sofa that makes into a bed (other places you'll have to rent a rollaway which adds up), free parking and Disney customer service. I like to book a theme park view when I stay at that hotel, to me that is worth it!

If you stay offsite, you'll have a wonderful time, save a ton of money and be just fine. I think the Hojo is very nice, it has some nice grounds and the pirate splash area would be a big hit with your 2 and 8 year old and I am sure the 13 year old would have fun too! The rooms are nice sized and distance wise its about the same walk as the Paradise Pier is. And as Linda said, the CCI is another place to consider, it gets rave reviews and the free breakfast there sounds very nice. I rarely hear a bad thing about that place. Then of course you can go for convenience and stay at the crosswalk at Desert Inn as you did before or one of the other places right there at the crosswalk.

I think you just have to sit down and look at the budget, what you want out of the trip etc. You can't make a bad choice! But if you want extra special, staying onsite is awfully nice. One big perk is that as an onsite guest, you will be eligible for Magic Mornings each day they are offered vs. the one day your park hopper ticket gets you. That extra hour each morning to do Fantasyland and some of Tomorrowland is really nice. Not something that makes or breaks the trip, but a nice perk.

Here is a thread going right now with some nice pictures of the PP Hotel:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2050258

 

[GRandPsMommy]

Thank You for the advice I think my DH really wants to do PP. The bad news is we found out you have to pay for at least one night when you book that totally sucks because we had planned on using taxes to go and do not have the funds right now so hopefully they will still have a room available when we get the money to book.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Yeah, Disney always has you pay for one room upfront when you book a reservation. They do the same thing at WDW. I hope the rate is still good for your stay, its a great hotel! Enjoy your planning and good luck getting that rate!

 

[heatherleigh]

I would rather stay at Paradise Pier. We like to fully immerse ourselves in DL, so it is worth it to stay on campus. This may change as our kids get older, but for now I would definitely select PP.

 

[mesnowwhite]

We stayed at the Hyatt in a Kid Suite (has a 2nd bedroom with 2 bunkbeds and a fold-out couch bed), the main bedroom had a king. The room had a fridge and a microwave in the room. Pizza Hut in the Lobby was fast and Convenient and open until Midnight. The Hyatt also has a lobby restaurant where kids ate free lunch and dinner. They had a shuttle to DLR that ran every 15 minutes. We had our own car and it was a 5 min drive down Harber Blvd to DLR. The prices were better at Hyatt than at the Disney hotels. Next time I'll bring cup of noodles and more snacks for the microwave and use the fridge more. I did use the in-room coffee/tea maker a lot!

 

[PrincessIM]

We stayed at the PP in 07 and 08 and loved it. One of the reasons we decided to stay onsite was the extra MM days you are given. Totally worth it for us. We would hit the park first thing in the morning, head back to the hotel around noon for lunch, a swim and a nap and then head back to the park around 5 until closing. An added bonus was that anything we bought in the park could be shipped directly to our the hotel. My kids (DD7, DS3) really enjoyed the waterslide.