Which resort to choose: Paradise Pier Club Level or Disneyland Hotel?

[xxcourt]

Hi! I'm taking my girlfriend for her first trip to Disneyland and can't decide which resort to stay in. I've been before with a friend who is DVC and we stayed at the Grand Californian, but unfortunately that's just not in the budget for this trip. For our dates I can get club level at Paradise Pier or standard at the Disneyland Hotel for just about the same price. I don't really know the pros and cons of each place, other than Paradise Pier seems to be a little bit further of a walk. If you had to choose between the two resorts, which would you choose? I think I'm leaning toward Disneyland Hotel, but the club level at Paradise Pier seems appealing.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Disneyland hotel is what I’d want on a couples trip. The PP is beach themed.

 

[Shanti]

Hi! I'm taking my girlfriend for her first trip to Disneyland and can't decide which resort to stay in. I've been before with a friend who is DVC and we stayed at the Grand Californian, but unfortunately that's just not in the budget for this trip. For our dates I can get club level at Paradise Pier or standard at the Disneyland Hotel for just about the same price. I don't really know the pros and cons of each place, other than Paradise Pier seems to be a little bit further of a walk. If you had to choose between the two resorts, which would you choose? I think I'm leaning toward Disneyland Hotel, but the club level at Paradise Pier seems appealing.

If the club level room at Paradise Pier has a theme park view, I'd go with that. If not, I'd stick with Disneyland Hotel.

We had a standard view room at the Disneyland Hotel in the Fantasy Tower, and had a great view of fireworks, btw.

 

[3monkeys4me]

I agree with Shanti. If the PPH room is a theme park view I would probably pick that as I love the theme park view rooms there and really love the beachy theme anyway. Otherwise I would go with the Disneyland Hotel as nothing really beats the magic of the DLH.

 

[gottalovepluto]

How big of a deal is some extra walking to you and would you utilize the club? The club is great for an easy continental breakfast and beer/wine & appetizers in the evening. If you won’t take advantage of both I’d skip it. If you will & you can handle some more walking then I’d go PP CL in this case. I’ve never done PP CL full disclosure but the general CL experience (unless your GF has stayed club-level at hotels before, then PP CL will be sad) really feels like an extra special upgrade to someone who hasn’t had the chance to try it before.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Also when is your trip? If it’s between now & spring I found my DLH trip from a couple weeks ago lacked that extra magical feel this time with Tangora being down, Trader Sam’s running the limited menu, and the tiki torches being dark at night.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't really know the pros and cons of each place, other than Paradise Pier seems to be a little bit further of a walk.

“Little bit” is right.
I love PPH and I enjoy club. The combo would be excellent, as long as you will use the club.

 

[ParkHopper1]

While I love the PPH, between your two options theming and location of DLH outweigh PPG Club Level. Lounge is not all that impressive IMO.

 

[StarlitNight05]

I'd pick Disneyland Hotel. I've never stayed there (first time next month!) but I have stayed at Paradise Pier and it was very "meh" to me. As others have said, it has a beach theme, but nothing screams Disney about it. I also think Disneyland Hotel edges over Paradise Pier with being right next to Downtown Disney. I know it's only slightly longer for Paradise Pier, but I like the idea of just having my walk be back/forth through Downtown Disney. We are also park open to close types of people (with a brief afternoon break), so club level doesn't make much sense to us. If you are the type of people that like to lounge and take slow park days, I could see Paradise Pier being a better fit -- but only if it's a Theme Park view as those views are AMAZING. Otherwise the longer distance and lesser amount of Disney theming isn't worth it to me.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for the first time in my life on my trip last week! We had originally planned an off-site stay but things didn't work out with the other hotel, and we ended up booking on-site (for many dollars more, but that's neither here nor there).

The Disneyland Hotel was awesome! The room has awesome theming and everything was perfect. The access to the parks and Downtown Disney is awesome (only the Grand Californian is better), and the only thing we missed out on was Tangaroa Terrace (under renovation). The pool was a blast on one of our non-park days.

Our favorite part was the fiberoptic fireworks headboard with "A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes" that made our kid so happy at the end of each night.

It convinced my wife (who prior to this trip never liked staying on site due to the money factor) that we will always prioritize on-site at Disneyland.

So with all that said, I'd choose the Disneyland hotel.

 

[pharmama]

I would also go DLH unless you think you'll really utilize the club/concierge benefits at PPH. Though PPH Theme Park View rooms are great (well, the rooms are average but the view is awesome- especially if WoC is back up).

DLH is much nicer, IMO, as far as theming and overall lux feel of the rooms. I'm looking forward to my stay there next month.

 

[Malcon10t]

Concierge Level is open 630am-8p. Will you use it. If so, go for it. If you won't take advantage of the lounge, I'd go with the DLH.

 

[xxcourt]

Thank you so much for all your help!! We are going at the end of January, and I think we'll go with DLH!