Park Vue vs. Desert Inn

[ClaraOswald]

On recent trips, we stayed in a parlor suite at the Desert Inn. It had two queen beds and then a separate little living room with a pull out couch, 2nd t.v., fridge/microwave.

I recently saw someone mention the Park Vue hotel which I'd never looked at before. I went to their site and I see they have a similar sounding suite.

Has anyone stayed at both hotels? How would you compare the two?

It looks like for our dates, the similar suite at Park Vue would be about $45 more a night. I can't tell if the room is bigger/better or not though. But I do know breakfast is better at Park Vue.

 

[Cal-Pie]

I've stayed at both, and while I find DI&S suitable, I think Park Vue is superior in every way. Nicer rooms, better breakfast, better pool, better beds, easy parking, great service...Make sure you are comparing the total price at DI&S, as they have many more "fees" than PVI.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I was doing my math wrong because I forgot I booked extra days with Desert Inn (in case I wanted to change my dates up a bit) so I was looking at a total for 10 days instead of just the 8 I actually need. So in reality it's more like $85-$90 more a night. Not really sure if that would be worth it or not.

I suppose it would depend on if the room is larger/nicer/quieter maybe?

I wish I could see the floor plan of the suite at Park Vue.

 

[Cal-Pie]

At $90/night less, I would stick with DI&S. But I'd be thinking about how many Dole whips $90 would buy

 

[lalasmama]

On recent trips, we stayed in a parlor suite at the Desert Inn. It had two queen beds and then a separate little living room with a pull out couch, 2nd t.v., fridge/microwave.

I recently saw someone mention the Park Vue hotel which I'd never looked at before. I went to their site and I see they have a similar sounding suite.

Has anyone stayed at both hotels? How would you compare the two?

It looks like for our dates, the similar suite at Park Vue would be about $45 more a night. I can't tell if the room is bigger/better or not though. But I do know breakfast is better at Park Vue.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/park-vue-inn-or-desert-inn.3497791/#post-55466040 Here's the pictures from PVI's suite with 2Q/sofabed suite. These were taken shortly after they had a remodel. Somewhere here on the Disboards I have pictures of the 2Q part of the suite, but they aren't with this post... Ugh!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/cant-decide-between-three-hotels-at-dl-gate.3475350/#post-54989381 Here's a link to my breakdown of why I love PVI. (That being said, they have lowered their returning guest discount down to like $10-15, making them significantly more expensive than they used to be; their returning-guest discount, when paired with our military discount, would bring the price down $40-50!).

I was doing my math wrong because I forgot I booked extra days with Desert Inn (in case I wanted to change my dates up a bit) so I was looking at a total for 10 days instead of just the 8 I actually need. So in reality it's more like $85-$90 more a night. Not really sure if that would be worth it or not.

I suppose it would depend on if the room is larger/nicer/quieter maybe?

I wish I could see the floor plan of the suite at Park Vue.

While the link above doesn't show a sketch of the floor plan, you should be able to get the idea

As for it depending on if the room is larger/nicer/quieter, for my family would answer yes, yes, yes. The 2Q part of the suite felt larger to me than a 2Q room at DI&S. BFF and I felt the 2Q basic room at DI&S to be tiny--we couldn't really pass each other easily at the foot of the beds--but we never stayed in a suite at DI&S to compare to the suite at PVI. I feel like the PVI room was nicer overall--recently updated last time we stayed (which, to be fair, has been 2 years), beds were more comfy, linens were softer, carpet was lighter/fresher looking, and rooms felt lighter. The quiet aspect is kind of a draw... I don't hear my neighbors at PVI like I did at DI&S, and I don't hear people walking by the room much unless they are loud. However, if I'm trying to sleep when the fireworks start, I'm screwed... But, you can hop up to the breakfast deck in your jammies to watch the fireworks, so there's that!

 

[lalasmama]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...e-dlh-hojo-bwppi-di-s-cci-etc.1745747/page-36

There's a few more pictures of the 2Q/sofabed suite at PVI.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I got the square footage from both hotels and the suites are almost the same size. I think an 8 sq. foot difference.

On our last visit, we didn't have any issues with other guest noise at the Desert Inn. Though a few nights we did hear loud music coming from the roof top bar of a nearby hotel so that was super annoying. The time before we did have noisy people next door for a night but that was it. Our 2015 trip had uncomfortable beds but 2017 was fine.

I would really like to stay in the nicer hotel...but at the same time I keep thinking about how that price difference would pay for almost all of our food during the trip.

 

[lalasmama]

I got the square footage from both hotels and the suites are almost the same size. I think an 8 sq. foot difference.

On our last visit, we didn't have any issues with other guest noise at the Desert Inn. Though a few nights we did hear loud music coming from the roof top bar of a nearby hotel so that was super annoying. The time before we did have noisy people next door for a night but that was it. Our 2015 trip had uncomfortable beds but 2017 was fine.

I would really like to stay in the nicer hotel...but at the same time I keep thinking about how that price difference would pay for almost all of our food during the trip.

I think I remember that your son had some special needs, right?... Does he need to sleep in a separate room, or do you want the suite just for general extra room? If you just like the general extra room, you might want to check Tropicana. Their King rooms have a fold out single-size bed as well, but their prices are a bit lower than PVI; usually around $40-75 less. They also have suites that are usually around $200/night, but I've seen them down in the $175 range depending on dates.

 

[ClaraOswald]

He has autism. Last time he just ended up sleeping in one of the beds with us. We like the extra space of a suite since we typically eat breakfast in the room and also go back for breaks each day. We are currently booked in a parlor suite at the Desert Inn for $145 a night. I saw someone in a Facebook group talking about Park Vue and it looked so much better. Just not sure if it's worth it though.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Did you call Park Vue for pricing? They have a AAA discount and maybe others

 

[lalasmama]

He has autism. Last time he just ended up sleeping in one of the beds with us. We like the extra space of a suite since we typically eat breakfast in the room and also go back for breaks each day. We are currently booked in a parlor suite at the Desert Inn for $145 a night. I saw someone in a Facebook group talking about Park Vue and it looked so much better. Just not sure if it's worth it though.

At $80-90 more a night (even with my distaste for DI&S, lol) I wouldn't switch to Park Vue. Nicer, yes, much. But at 8 nights, that would be $400 even if it was just $50/night more... And $400 is a lotta Dole Whips!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Yeah....I think I'll just keep Desert Inn. Maybe we'll stay at Park Vue some other year.

 

[Athenaa]

We stayed at Desert Inn last year and we were pretty disappointed. Everything seemed run down, checking in took a really long time (and the lobby was miserably hot), you have to pay to put your luggage into outdoor lockers if you get there early or check out before leaving the parks (and that's not good for toiletries and food if you're there on a hot day) and the food was meh. Our room was always one of the last ones cleaned, so when we returned to rest at 2 pm it was still dirty so it didn't get done at all. When we asked if they could clean it sooner the next day they said they would try (but they didn't). Even though we didn't spend a lot of time there, the room felt aged.

In October, we stayed at the Park Vue in and it felt like a very different experience. The lobby was clean, cool and attractive, check in was simple, they held our bags inside, the food was better, the room was nicer, and the furniture, walls, bathrooms looked newer. We had the same issue with the rooms getting cleaned the first time but they accomodated us the rest of our stay by cleaning our room early each day. I also liked that there were plenty of outlets and even usb ports. Personally, I wouldn't stay at the Desert Inn again, but I was only paying a $25 difference per night for a room.

 

[smartlabelprint]

They charge to store bags?thats ridiculous.

I’m cancelling mine and booked bwppi. Just decided I couldn’t go This budget.

Clara will your child want to go in pool? No way id set foot in the desert inns.

 

[Bluewild79]

Super new member here and we *just* booked a 6 night stay at DI&S for the end of August. I read like every review available and the manager posted on several trip advisor reviews that they have just finished replacing all the furniture. Maybe it's better?!? I really hope so because we got a stellar deal and I have a soon to be 2 year old that needs to nap every afternoon. I can't afford a nicer but further away room because I lose precious park time by walking him back and forth for a nap each day. I checked Park View and they are are double the price for our dates. The manager also said they do hold larger pieces of luggage if needed so maybe that's changed? *fingers crossed*

 

[lalasmama]

Super new member here and we *just* booked a 6 night stay at DI&S for the end of August. I read like every review available and the manager posted on several trip advisor reviews that they have just finished replacing all the furniture. Maybe it's better?!? I really hope so because we got a stellar deal and I have a soon to be 2 year old that needs to nap every afternoon. I can't afford a nicer but further away room because I lose precious park time by walking him back and forth for a nap each day. I checked Park View and they are are double the price for our dates. The manager also said they do hold larger pieces of luggage if needed so maybe that's changed? *fingers crossed*

In my prior experiences with them, they promise a lot... But the follow-through isn't always there (like forgetting to cancel our reservations as requested). I'd love to hear some new experiences.

 

[DizMe]

I stayed 3 nights at Desert Inn with my girls last week. It was a decent motel that did what we needed and had enough space. I booked it because of the location and price, and I got a pretty good RapidRewards bonus for booking through SW. It was the 2 queen suite with the little living room with sofa bed. Not an exciting place to stay, but it worked fine for us. The living room is very small but again, we only used it at night for sleeping. I've stayed in better motels on Harbor but we liked the fantastic location (good access to Pizza Press and next door to the crosswalk). You have pretty much heard all of the pros and cons but if you're a RapidRewards member, check out the bonuses booking through SW, not only there but other hotels nearby. They were offering double points last week. I do have to say that we didn't use the free breakfast because there was nothing worth eating for us except bananas. They had basic pastries, hard boiled eggs, crappy cereal and toast plus coffee and juice so it's not worthless but nothing we like to eat. I think PVI would be better but I stayed at Anaheim Hotel (where Pizza Press is located) and it was far worse. I wouldn't pay an extra $500 for PVI over DI&S unless breakfast is super important to you. I'd just as soon buy a good breakfast in DTD or the parks than spend that much more. BTW, we never had to pay to hold bags and my friend was allowed to park her car when she came to the parks with us for the day (she had to pay $11).

 

[Bluewild79]

I stayed 3 nights at Desert Inn with my girls last week. It was a decent motel that did what we needed and had enough space. I booked it because of the location and price, and I got a pretty good RapidRewards bonus for booking through SW. It was the 2 queen suite with the little living room with sofa bed. Not an exciting place to stay, but it worked fine for us. The living room is very small but again, we only used it at night for sleeping. I've stayed in better motels on Harbor but we liked the fantastic location (good access to Pizza Press and next door to the crosswalk). You have pretty much heard all of the pros and cons but if you're a RapidRewards member, check out the bonuses booking through SW, not only there but other hotels nearby. They were offering double points last week. I do have to say that we didn't use the free breakfast because there was nothing worth eating for us except bananas. They had basic pastries, hard boiled eggs, crappy cereal and toast plus coffee and juice so it's not worthless but nothing we like to eat. I think PVI would be better but I stayed at Anaheim Hotel (where Pizza Press is located) and it was far worse. I wouldn't pay an extra $500 for PVI over DI&S unless breakfast is super important to you. I'd just as soon buy a good breakfast in DTD or the parks than spend that much more. BTW, we never had to pay to hold bags and my friend was allowed to park her car when she came to the parks with us for the day (she had to pay $11).

That's good to hear! Thank you for sharing. We basically only need the room for sleeping and showering. We will have a vehicle and are planning to hit up the grocery store for healthier snack/breakfast options. I would rather be able to afford a character breakfast and take my girls to get the princess makeovers than pay the extra $$$ to stay at Park Vue or any of the newer, nice hotels. We made our first trip last year and stayed at La Quinta which was way too far away. Luckily the little guy would nap in his stroller so I didn't have to walk all the way back to the hotel for his twice-daily naps. This year his tiny toddler self requires a nap in a bed and I want to make it as easy as possible without breaking the bank.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Bluewild79....

We stayed at the Desert Inn in a parlor suite in February 2015 (with a 17 month old) and June 2017 (with an almost 4 year old.) We have decided to stay again in December 2018. We had good experiences. In 2015, our bed wasn't very good at all. But in 2017 it was much better. The staff has always been very friendly to us. We had a pack n play delivered to the hotel a few days before our 2015 trip and there were no problems with that. In 2015, our sink did leak but they came to fix it and it was no big deal. We had no problems at all in 2017 (except for a nearby hotel having loud, thumping music.) The location as great. The breakfast is basic but we had our own breakfast in our room most days anyway. We've never used the pool as that's just not something that interests us on a Disneyland vacation.

I think whether or not you like your stay can also depend a lot on your expectations of a hotel.

Oh...parking can be a bit limited so there's a good chance you'll have to use their valet parking. But it's not really a big deal, IMO.

 

[Tabarr06]

I have a reservation for PVI in August and I noticed that people had mentioned a discount for guests that had been before. I have stayed there at least three time as and have yet to ask for this discount. So sure enough I called and asked them for the discount on my existing reservation... and boom, saved 13$ a night. Now for 8 nights that is a sweet discount. Thanks for the tip!