Park Vue vs Tropicana - Family Rooms

[MNDisneyMommy]

Struggling with choosing a Disneyland hotel. We're sure we want to stay on Harbor - narrowed it down to the Park Vue Inn and Tropicana. Both have some sort of room configuration we like, and both are super close to the gate.

At WDW, we usually stay DVC in a 1-BR suite, with the kiddos (7 and 4) on a sofa bed and my husband and I in a king in a separate room. We like nice rooms, we like convenience (our home resort is BLT so we can walk to MK), we like the kids separated by us from a door.

While they are within $10 of each other for the room, Park Vue looks to include breakfast (how good is it, how much variety?) and includes parking too, we're guessing its around $300 cheaper overall since we'll have a rental car. Both kids love eggs, do they have scrambled eggs every morning or just some mornings? But the rooms at the Tropicana look nicer (we'd do the Executive suite, which has a firework/park view, which we also value a fair bit...and we could always just grab some bagels and fruit at a shop and make breakfast in-room). At WDW we love having kids in bed and sitting out at BLT watching the MK fireworks.

The rooms at Tropicana just LOOK nicer from the photos - they look like they have some style. We do like that. But not sure if I'm just getting fooled by some fancy pictures.

We also may have some grandparents with us...which means the lack of an elevator at park vue might cause me a little concern.

Any insight expert Land-ers? What little things might we be missing when comparing the two?

 

[cinnaminny]

I've never stayed at Tropicana but I did stay at Park Vue. We stayed in the two room with three queen beds. It was okay. I mean its a motel, older, its not fancy. But it was pretty good for what we needed it for. They have a breakfast that is upstairs and have some seating outside. The coffee was the absolute worst. lol We usually stay at the Best Western Plus though now. They have a nice breakfast.

I might try to the Tropicana if I were choosing between the two. The rooms look like they have been recently renovated.

We are staying at the Disneyland hotel on our next trip. I feel like its going to be too busy, I need those extra hours in the AM.

 

[Twinkletoesjohnson]

I’ve stayed at both, but haven’t stayed in the “family suite” configurations. They are both basic motels. If you’re expecting something comparable to DVC, you may be disappointed.

I’m normally kind of a hotel snob but at Disneyland I value location over luxury. Tropicana is my go-to these days. It’s clean. The regular rooms are small and strictly no-frills. The staff is very nice.

Park Vue gets good reviews here also but my one stay there was not great but that mostly had to do with a a large party of wasted people arriving around 1 am who whooped and hollered for several hours

 

[danceanddisney2010]

I've never stayed at the Tropicana, but I have stayed at the Park Vue. I definitely don't think it was anything fancy.. but it was okay and served it's purpose. We added a last minute trip to DL ..it was the 2nd trip for the year.. so it was a budget trip and staying there allowed us be able to go on the trip. We normally stay on property at the GCH, so it was very different. As for the breakfast, bleck. Honestly, I was not a fan.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

Thanks everyone. After sleeping on it, we booked the Tropicana.

 

[tarheelalum]

Good move. Park Vue now charges a resort fee so they are dead to me!!! Have a great trip.

 

[Aurora0427]

Bumping this thread.... we’ve stayed at the Park Vue Inn but looking to change it up for a trip in January. Any recent stays at the Tropicana? Have the rooms been recently renovated? Only extra fee is parking? Breakfast isn’t an issue... Park Vue got rid of their hot breakfast so we don’t even eat there anymore.

Thanks!

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

I’ve stayed in a suite at Park Vue. Like as mentioned, it’s a motel and nothing fancy. But it was clean and if I was saving $300 I would choose it over any other on Harbor. I haven’t stayed at Tropicana but a friend has and said it wasn’t good and she preferred Park Vue. Plus it’s closer to the gate.

 

[Aurora0427]

I’ve stayed in a suite at Park Vue. Like as mentioned, it’s a motel and nothing fancy. But it was clean and if I was saving $300 I would choose it over any other on Harbor. I haven’t stayed at Tropicana but a friend has and said it wasn’t good and she preferred Park Vue. Plus it’s closer to the gate.

We’ve liked the Park Vue.... maybe we’ll just stick with what works.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

We’ve liked the Park Vue.... maybe we’ll just stick with what works.

I would. I think all the motels in that area are pretty similar. My preference is to be close to the gate, unless it’s a lot more $ but park vue usually ends up cheaper for us

 

[AuntieMe3]

We love the Tropicana...the rooms are nice and the beds are comfy. They also give a great return guest rate so we keep going back.

 

[amyg1975]

We love Tropicana. The rooms have been renovated and this has been our go-to hotel for a while now.

 

[Cal-Pie]

We love the Tropicana...the rooms are nice and the beds are comfy. They also give a great return guest rate so we keep going back.

Do you get that rate by calling? How much of a discount? I've stayed there a couple times but never heard about this.

 

[brockash]

Bumping this thread.... we’ve stayed at the Park Vue Inn but looking to change it up for a trip in January. Any recent stays at the Tropicana? Have the rooms been recently renovated? Only extra fee is parking? Breakfast isn’t an issue... Park Vue got rid of their hot breakfast so we don’t even eat there anymore.

Thanks!

We just got back from a regular room at Tropicana Tues. night. We've stayed there before and it's always been fine. It's nothing like a Disney resort, but it's clean, relatively safe and close to the parks. I will say the hot tub was not very hot, but overall it was fine.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Do you get that rate by calling? How much of a discount? I've stayed there a couple times but never heard about this.

We used to get emails with codes but those stopped so the last couple times I just called. When I've looked at their website for prices, the return guest rate is cheaper than their annual pass holder discount but not sure of the exact amount.

 

[lalasmama]

Bumping this thread.... we’ve stayed at the Park Vue Inn but looking to change it up for a trip in January. Any recent stays at the Tropicana? Have the rooms been recently renovated? Only extra fee is parking? Breakfast isn’t an issue... Park Vue got rid of their hot breakfast so we don’t even eat there anymore.

Thanks!

Trop was renovated 2 years ago. It's got a beachy/surf feeling now. We enjoyed our stay last summer. Beds are comfy. I always have felt safe. Parking is the only extra fee that I'm aware of. Really, the only downside is the extra steps, in my opinion.

 

[Aurora0427]

Trop was renovated 2 years ago. It's got a beachy/surf feeling now. We enjoyed our stay last summer. Beds are comfy. I always have felt safe. Parking is the only extra fee that I'm aware of. Really, the only downside is the extra steps, in my opinion.

Thank you! It looks really beachy online which is kind of fun!

 

[lalasmama]

Thank you! It looks really beachy online which is kind of fun!

I much prefer it over the aesthetic of Park Vue's rooms.... I'm not a fan of the bright southwestern colors (unless they've repainted the rooms to a different colorway in the last 6 years). I understand it's to match the mission style of the outside of the hotel, but I just never liked it much.... I like the bright blues and orange accents at Trop much more.

Obviously, I have no idea on the make-up of your group, but if you can be in a king room, Trop's room 371 is our favorite--it has windows facing north *and* west, so the room is really light and bright. Sleeps 3 (2 in bed, 1 on pull-out chair).

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We just got back from our stay at Tropicana and we were very pleased with it.

Our family room or executive suite or whatever they called it was on the 2nd floor facing the parks. It looked exactly like the photos. The kids didn't complain about the sofa bed so I guess that worked for us as well (also - it was lower to the ground than a normal bed, which also really helped with the kiddos). The A/C was great (we were there in a 90-degree heat wave), the shower water pressure was good, the bed was very comfy and tons of pillows, the room was spacious, and the service was good.

We were super happy to be so close given the heat - we could see our room from the light at harbor so that always helped motivate for those final few steps.

The pool was actually bigger than I thought from the photos - started at 3.5 ft deep and went to 8.5 ft which was fantastic for my tall husband. Many families could hang out there without getting on each other. The kiddos hung around the 3.5 end and played around the stairs. It was COLD - which felt fantastic after all the heat. The hot tub was a perfect warm temp (not hot). No shade by the pool area until later in the afternoon, it was all direct sun.

We ended up hardly using the "park view" - no fireworks while we were there, and the sun in the evening came blazing right into the windows. Also, on the second floor we were pretty close to all the harbor noise if we went outside. It was really nice to be at the front corner of the hotel (closest to sidewalk), but the view element wasn't really worth a premium.

The cafe downstairs was awesome as well - the staff there were awesome at 6am and at 10pm, and they had a big selection of things and not unreasonably priced. It had a seating area out front we used to meet up with my MIL.

Honestly, if I was going there again we'd stay there in a heartbeat.

 

[Disnut4925]

Could I ask - was the family room/executive suite actually 2 rooms with a door you can close between them? Or was the sofa bed and regular bed all in the same room, if that makes sense. Thank you!