Paradise Pier Hotel - a pleasant surprise
Written: Oct 03 '04 (Updated Oct 04 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Lowest cost on property hotel, very friendly staff, exclusive entrance to DCA, large rooms
Cons: More "beachy" not as "disney", slighter fewer walk to DL
The Bottom Line: Staying on property at Disneyland is such a treat and major convenience and it is nice to do that on a smaller budget.
|
|
|
| sierrra's Full Review: Disneys Paradise Pier Hotel Anaheim |
We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel (PPH) last December to specifically be able to have stayed at all three Disneyland (DL) hotels and compare them. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by PPH when we stayed there. We were on the 9th floor (Upper Theme Park View) and had an awesome view of Disney's California Adventure (DCA). They do not turn off the lights at night and it is great to enjoy the site. If Electric Parade (EP) is showing, you can even view it from your room. Check in was easy - no wait and our room was ready (about 2 hours before official check in). They give you a parking pass for your car which we did not use but it looked like the parking lot was convenient to the hotel.
Our room was not one of the remodeled rooms but I thought it was quite roomy. It had 2 queen beds, a desk, side chair, hair dryer, mickey soaps and shampoo, coffee maker and small frig. I believe the rehab is set to be completed by May and they will be replacing the chair with a sofa/daybed. The bathroom was adequate - one sink, bathtub with shower and toilet all in one room.
I had read alot of comments about how far PPH is from everything. Yes, the entrance to DCA is across the street but honestly, it took us at most a few minutes to cross that street and walk down the path into DCA. If you want to catch the Monorail, go out the BACK of the hotel and follow the brick path and it will take you right there. It is only a few minutes longer than walking from the Bonita Tower at Disneyland Hotel (DH) (furthest tower). If you want to walk directly to DL, go out the front of the hotel, cross the street and CUT THROUGH THE Grand Californian (GC) LOBBY. We found this easily saved us 7-8 minutes. As for the elevator wait, we never waited more than a few minutes for an elevator except for Friday morning check out when we waited at most 6 -7 minutes.
As far as the pool goes, it was just a bland rectangle pool when we stayed there. However, it has been refurbed and is a "roller coaster" theme so it sounds like they are trying to bring it in line with the pools at DH and GC. We did not swim in it but did notice alot of people in the pool - it was great weather for December. One nice thing, you can watch the fireworks from the pool area and they pipe in the music. They are working hard to tie in PPH with the Paradise Pier area of DCA. The renovated rooms will have surfboard room numbers on the door, Mickey with surfboard lamps, new carpet in hallways in coordinating colors. They are redoing lobby to also fit into the theme.
We had two meals at PPH. First was Breakfast with Minnie. It was suppose to be at PCH Grill but they had a major pipe burst so it was moved to a conference room. So, unfortunately, we lost the ambience but there were still lots of characters. We order dinner one night from room service. I don't remember exactly what dinner salad I had but it was a Sante Fe type chicken salad that was delicious and huge - easily big enough to share. The other two adults both had club sandwiches which they said were terrific - again, big enough to share! The service was prompt and extremely friendly - we almost had to push the waiter out the door!!
Check out is express - they slip the bill under your door the night before so no waiting in line. I really was expecting to be let down when we stayed at PPH after numerous visits to DH and a concierge suite stay at the GC. I actually think the service is better at PPH than at GC (my heart still belongs to DH!!). I came back from that trip very impressed and have recommended it to several people.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
sierrra
|
|
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.