We plan on going in October and doing the Halloween party and want to stay at Paradise Pier. I realize this is pretty far in advance, but since we've never stayed there before and I've heard that it's booked up earlier than the non-Disney hotels, I wondered when might be the ideal time period for booking our hotel? TIA!
You can book PPH as early as you want to. You can do it now, if you want. In fact, you might be better off booking waaaaaaay in advance. Don't wait if you have the money to reserve a room right now. See, in the past (like pre-2008), October was typically considered an 'off-peak' season in the world of DLR attendance and hotel bookings/rates. However, due to some hotel discount promo offers that floated around in summer of 2008, many folks took advantage of the even lower hotel rates for fall, and since PPH is the least expensive of the 3 DLR hotels anyway, those discounted rooms essentially flew off the shelves! When I was at PPH in October, it was all full. Inside
Disneyland it was very crowded in October - more so than usual Octobers - and I think that was largely due to the people who had used the hotel promo offers.
The funny thing is that hotel bookings were substantially down in 2008, especially during the November-December holiday season. December is usually jam packed and totally booked up at all 3 hotels, but I went on 12/19 - 12/22 and stayed at PPH, and there was plenty of availability even just a couple of days before my arrival - at all three hotels! DLR is already beginning to circulate some new hotel discount promo offers that last all the way to mid December BUT seem to skip October totally. This could either mean that because they had such success with hotel bookings and attendance in October 2008, they don't want to lower rates for that period in 2009 in hopes that hotel bookings are booming again, OR it could mean that because the October rates are usually lower anyway (being 'off-peak') then there is no reason to make them any lower than they would normally be. Either way, even though hotel bookings were down in 2008 around the holidays, October was still filled to the brim, off-peak season or not, so if I were you, I would book PPH ASAP just to get a room secured. You will have to pay one night's deposit plus 15% tax to hold the room. The rest can be paid in advance or upon check-in. You can cancel up to 5 days before the date of your arrival and get a full refund, too. After you book a room, if for some reason, you stumble upon a way to get a cheaper rate - maybe some different promo discounts will be offered closer to October - you can call Reservations back and ask to be switched to the cheaper rate and they should be able to do it for you with no trouble. PPH is a cute little hotel - you should like it. And you can still walk around and see the nice features of the other 2 hotels. In any case, I wouldn't wait to book the PPH room any later than, say, July, simply because October is becoming such a popular month at DLR with the Halloweentime stuff and could fill up.
A LOT of people are getting Annual Passes now, and with the AP's comes discounts on the hotels. It remains to be seen whether or not having the AP's will encourage more folks to stay onsite, or whether most local AP holders will continue to choose offsite hotels which are even cheaper - or just go home and not stay at any hotels!!
