Disneyland Hotel vs Paradise Pier

I am looking for feedback on which hotel you think my family would prefer based on the following qualifications (I have read the reviews for many hotels and have decided that we would like to stay ';on site'; this time ... have been to Disneyland once before years ago and stayed off-site):

1. Proximity (although our kids will be 11 %26amp; 13 yrs, so able to walk of course - no strollers anymore - but we would like to go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a bit of ';quiet time'; or a swim)

2. Swimming pool (fun, nice theming, hopefully a hot tub)

3. General ';atmosphere'; - since we will likely not be back to Disney for a long time, we may as well immerse ourselves in it!

I realize that the Disneyland Hotel may be a bit more expensive, but not that much more expensive than Paradise Pier to make that a deciding factor (The Grand Californian, on the other hand, seems a lot more expensive and we would likely be very happy with one of the other two).

Lastly, I have read comments about people staying in a suite at both the Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel (I think) although when I check out various websites, the suite option does not appear - just ';standard'; rooms. Any comments?

Thank you so much for any feedback / comments / suggestions - we appreciate it!

Disneyland Hotel vs Paradise Pier

We just got back from a magical stay at the Disneyland Hotel! We got a standard room which is 2 queen beds and a nice day/sofa bed. There are four of us, all adults, and we had plenty of room. The Disneyland hotel is, I feel, closer to the parks if walking. It is right next to Downtown Disney and you can catch the Monorail to Disneyland there. The walk to California Adventure is through Downtown Disney, but not too far to walk. We loved the Disneyland hotel because of all the traditional Disney touches. Lamps on the wall that are Mickey hands, Tinkerbell and pixie dust borders on the walls, in the lobby of one of the towers there is a wall of Disney memorabilia that is fantastic to look at and remember.

The Neverland Pool is fantastic - did not check to see if there was a hot tub, but I do believe there was.

Our room also had a small refrigerator and on check-in we requested a coffee pot. We had a corner room which had a walkout balcony(only corner rooms have this).

I would, if I were doing it again (I wish), stay at the Disneyland Hotel over the Paradise Pier.

Just our opinion. Hope it helps.

K

Disneyland Hotel vs Paradise Pier

We have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel several times. I have always enjoyed our stays there. In Nov. we switched and tried the Grand Californian which was amazing. The Disneyland Hotel would be my choice. Have fun! :)

I have stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier last year. I always wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel every since I was a kid but I was disappointed in the room size, the view, and service. I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel with my family (myself, husband, 4 year old, 2 year old) for one night. We stayed at the Paradise Pier for 2 nights and we liked it so much we came back this year in March and stayed 4 nights. We stayed at the Bonita Tower at the Disneyland Hotel and had a view of the parking lot after I asked for a nice view. The check-in took longer than PP and the cast member told me that they would put our family in the Bonita Towers because it was newer. I thought the room was smaller than PP which we stayed at first for 2 nights. The supposed glow in the dark border on the walls didn%26#39;t border if anything it looked like the wallpaper was peeling off. The proximity to Disneyland really isn%26#39;t that big of difference between DH and PP. You can walk through Downtown Disney to get to Disneyland or hop on the monorail which is convenient too. We didn%26#39;t use the pool at either hotel because we were having too much fun at Disneyland and California Adventure so I can%26#39;t give an opinion. The pool at the DH looks pretty fun with the Peter Pan theme. I lost my earrings at the DH and I don%26#39;t blame them for losing them, it was my fault, which I stated it was but the cast members didn%26#39;t seem that concerned. Also, at the Bonita Tower there is no desk with a live person to talk to if you have concerns you have to go to the main front desk in the main building or call on the phone which took forever. Paradise Pier was such a fun stay, which was why we booked it again this year and plan to do so again in the future. Again, I have to state that I had really wanted to stay at the DH since I was a kid and we stayed at the PP originally for 2 nights instead of Disneyland Hotel because it was less expensive and DH was booked. I am glad we did. Check-in took less time and the cast members seemed more personable. I told them it was our first time at PP and if there was any way we could have a view. Normally, it costs more but they upgraded us to a fantastic view of California Adventure (13th floor). The room was a lot bigger than DH. It seemed like there was more room to walk in the room itself compared to DH. Both had the same ammenities, fridge, tv, air, soaps, shampoo, two queen beds, pull out bed. The walk to Disneyland isn%26#39;t bad at all as I said above. Tip, you can use the monorail to get into Disneyland and it saves you from having to wait in the usually long lines at the front gate to get into DL. Or, you can walk across the street to the Grand Californian and use the private entrance into California Adventure. It is also nice to walk through Grand Californian because the lobby is so nice, reminds me of a hunting lodge which I believe was their intention. The pop machine at PP took my money one time and the cast member at the front desk gave me my $$ back as well as a free soda they had in their back room for our inconvenience. It was also nice to keep the door cards to our rooms as a souvenir. PP offered that DH never did. Our 2nd trip this March was a busier time there due to Spring Break and they weren%26#39;t able to give us a theme park view due to PP being booked but we got a nice view of the pool on the roof (we were on the 7th floor). They also gave the kids coloring books and stickers. We ate at the Lilo and Stitch Character Breakfast both times we were there and dinner at Goofy%26#39;s Kitchen. Have to say I liked Lilo and Stitch better. The characters came around more. I think it was also because the room for LS was smaller than GK. I have to say I just love the general theme of Paradise Pier. I have and will continue to give good recommendations and will stay there again in the future. (Sorry this is so long). : )

.. And to make your decision REALLY hard, I will put in a good word for the Disneyland Hotel. It seems to meet all your criteria. We stayed in a room, also in the Bonita Tower, but we had a LOVELY view, both of the grounds/pool AND the park. Had a wonderful view of the fireworks from our balcony. Our room was nice, and it had a connecting door to the next room, leading me to believe it can become a %26#39;suite%26#39; as needed/requested. Service by all staff was wonderful. When we checked in, our room wasn%26#39;t ready yet, so we left our luggage and headed to the park. WHen we got back, they had taken our bags up to our room. We really enjoyed the pool! Mom really enjoyed the jacuzzi! The heat soothed all my achy joints and re-energized me for a 2nd round at the park.

We loved being able to either walk through Downtown Disney or take the monorail into the park. The monorail saved us a lot of time and energy.

Everything all around the hotel is Disney-themed, so we felt so totally immersed, we almost forgot there was a real world out there!

We ate at Goofy%26#39;s Kitchen, and had a really good time, so that was part of the experience too.

I have not stayed at Paradise Pier, but like the previous poster, I have heard lots of good things about it. I think that either way, you will treasure the experience of staying in a resort hotel - it really enhances the %26#39;Disney experience%26#39; - have a great trip!

thanx for such great info!

Does paradise pier have balconys?

No PP does not have balconies and their windows do not go all the way to the floor. This is something I like since it makes the rooms seem so much bigger and is really nice if you have view out them.

Have stayed at all three hotels several times. Of course, I love the GC, but it is way over-priced and the rooms are much smaller. Of the other two, I think I like DH better. Contrary to some other posters, I think their rooms are bigger. It is the oldest of all the hotels (and maybe of any in the area!) so the rooms were much bigger when it was built. Yes, some of the complaints are valid...the Tinkerbell border that was supposed to glow in the dark used to when it was new...not any more. Actually this is a good thing since it kept us awake when we stayed their after their remodel! And I do think the cast members at PP and GF are nicer and more accommodating, but I don%26#39;t know why. But I think the overall theming of the DH is better and it really has more of a resort feel, while PP has just a hotel feel.

DH has two pool areas, one with a Peter Pan theme (pirate ship water slide) and the other has a sandy area next to it, and a great place for little kids since it has a shallow area. Sometimes this pool is quieter and a nice place to get away from the hubbub of the PP pool. The sandy area there has a slide/climbing structure and a volleyball court. Nice area.

If you want a suite, I think you need to call the reservation number. i would try that anyway, since you can sometimes get a better price (not always!) on some of the rooms. We found that when we go with more people (like the girls friends or grandparents) it is sometimes cheaper to get a suite than to get two rooms, that they can%26#39;t guarantee will connect. This has happened twice for us! If you get a good agent on the phone they will look at all the possibilities...including AAA discounts. Even if you don%26#39;t have a card, ask for the AAA price to see if it would be worth your while to get one just for the discount.

As mentioned, any hotel guest can use the GC entrance to DCA, and the lines here in the morning are way shorter than the main gate. And you are much closer to this entrance when you stay at either PP or DH than the main gate.

All the hotels have a hot tub.

I think the distance to walk from either is about the same, but for PP you need to go through the GC lobby and go through their entrance to get to the street, cross it, go left and you are in the PP lobby. For DH, you just walk through Downtown Disney...a bit more festive, but also more crowded on a summer night!

I%26#39;ll try to check the names of the towers to recommend which one to pick.

omnitravel...here is the link to a website that can give you more info on all the hotels...

laughingplace.com/Info-att-hotelm-dl-dlhotel…

Also, another option with the hotels is the concierge level.. This gives you access to a concierge suite where you can get a light breakfast in the morning (muffins, bagels, load of fruit, oatmeal) and snacks throughout the day. In the evening you get some hor doerve type snacks (crudite, dips, crackers and cheese, pb%26amp;j for the kids and usually one hot and one cold more adult snack) along with drinks and wine for the grown-ups. If you can get it cheap enough this is a great addition to the room....you save a lot on breakfast and you can take as many water bottles as you can carry to use in the park! And we have never had to eat a big dinner after snacking here in the evening. Usually come back to the hotel for a swim, nap or rest and shower, have our concierge dinner and hit the park again for the evening. Berst way to enjoy Disney!

Also, they serve cookies and hot chocolate or milk later during the fireworks, which you can see from the concierge suite in the DH, but not in the PP one or slightly in the GC concierge suite.

Sorry for the length...just don%26#39;t get me started on the hotels!

Have a great trip!

Thanks so much to everyone who responded (and if anyone else cares to add their opinion, it is still appreciated!). Based on the comments, I think we will be happy with either hotel ... I am leaning toward the Disneyland Hotel based on the majority of the comments and also it might fulfill a childhood ';dream'; to stay at the original!

One more idea/question, though ... do you think it might be a good idea to stay for 2 nights at one hotel and then move to the second ?? (I would not be doing this for price, just so that we could experience both). I have heard of people doing this at Walt Disney World in Florida so that they could experience the atmosphere or a couple of different hotels ... athough they were generally staying for a longer period of time. Would this be a fun thing to do or just a great big hassle? I realize this is somewhat personal preference, but any thoughts/comments?

Thanks again for the feedback!

omni, that%26#39;s a tough one. You can easily get an idea of what the other hotel is like just by visiting the lobby and perhaps going up in the elevator and peeking into rooms that are being cleaned. But you may not want to take the time to do this.

The other thing is, if you changed hotels, it would take some time to move everything from one room to another. If you have a ';down'; day while you are there, you might want to consider it (a day not spent in the parks), but between packing everything up, getting your luggage to the new hotel and getting checked in , you have used up a lot of time that could be spent having fun. While I love to see and try new and different hotels, I would be hard pressed to spend so much of my holiday time using it to move from one hotel to another.

That said, if you arenot going to be coming back anytime soon, you might want to do it just to try another hotel. If you do it, I would end with hotel that you want the most...that way you have that to look forward to.

Have a wonderful trip...when are you going?

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