Paradise Pier hotel...worth it or NOT worth it.

[Phroobar]

Did they ever reprogram the elevators at the PPH to be more efficient? I remember during the morning it would take forever because of the demand. You literally waited an half hour for a elevator.

 

[BubbaQuest]

That's correct. I think it changed in late 2016 or early 2017.

And that's the main reason I wouldn't recommend PPH anymore. Being able to walk through GCH and use the hotel-only entrance to DCA was a huge perk (although I heard the lines were getting bad in the morning).

The views of DCA are great at PPH if you luck out and get a view room, otherwise it's little more than a Holiday Inn with a Goofy meet-n-greet.

I'd save the money and see if you can find some time to walk through the Disneyland Hotel grounds.

 

[drizgirl]

And that's the main reason I wouldn't recommend PPH anymore. Being able to walk through GCH and use the hotel-only entrance to DCA was a huge perk (although I heard the lines were getting bad in the morning).

The views of DCA are great at PPH if you luck out and get a view room, otherwise it's little more than a Holiday Inn with a Goofy meet-n-greet.

I'd save the money and see if you can find some time to walk through the Disneyland Hotel grounds.

Yeah, that change killed it for me as well. Our stays were all prior to the change.

 

[Phroobar]

Tourists forget that a hotel is just a place to sleep. Your in the parks most of the day. You can still eat and enjoy everything about the Resort except for the pools. Is a pool really worth 2-3x the price? The PPH pool is pretty pathetic anyway. It is on top of the parking structure!

 

[Rich T]

No magic or benefit to staying there or DLH in my opinion. Unless losing out on 100s of dollars a night is a benefit.

There is nothing special about either hotel, short of paying a premium for fireworks viewing in DLH. Even then, it is not worth

The benefits are the incredible views of DCA and a very good character breakfast on site. The room rates can be a deal breaker.

 

[Rich T]

Did they ever reprogram the elevators at the PPH to be more efficient? I remember during the morning it would take forever because of the demand. You literally waited an half hour for a elevator.

Yes, the elevators got an upgrade. We stayed at PP last year near Halloween. The place was packed, but we never waited more than a minute going up or down. When you punch a button, you’re assigned an elevator shaft, and there are no floor buttons in the cabin. And it talks.

 

[Rich T]

This is if you get a park view room only. Most are not.

True. I wouldn’t stay at PPH hotel without the park view. In our five trips staying at PPH, we’ve never NOT been able to reserve one. That doesn’t excuse excessive pricing, but there are some benefits to PPH. It’s unfortunate that the Grand Californian shortcut is no longer one of them.

 

[TP2000]

And that's the main reason I wouldn't recommend PPH anymore. Being able to walk through GCH and use the hotel-only entrance to DCA was a huge perk (although I heard the lines were getting bad in the morning).

The views of DCA are great at PPH if you luck out and get a view room, otherwise it's little more than a Holiday Inn with a Goofy meet-n-greet.

I'd save the money and see if you can find some time to walk through the Disneyland Hotel grounds.

In defense of the Paradise Pier Hotel, the east facing rooms on the upper floors do have rather stunning views of the parks and the Orange County foothills beyond. If you luck out (or just pay a few hundred extra) you can get views like this above the 10th floor.

But half the rooms at this hotel are on the opposite side, where the view is dramatically less exciting. Basically a view of the pool deck, the hotel parking structure, and the massive sprawl of surface parking and west Anaheim flatlands beyond. I have no doubt they will call this a "Pool View Room!", but the difference in view is striking.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

These top photos remind me of what a poorly conceived park DCA 1.0 was! And from this view, it doesn't look at all that much better.

 

[TP2000]

These top photos remind me of what a poorly conceived park DCA 1.0 was! And from this view, it doesn't look at all that much better.

It's pouring rain here in VP suddenly, which makes me contemplative.

I think the biggest design flaw you see in that photo is that DCA still has no central icon. Grizzly Mountain tried to, and was even used as the park icon in marketing material in 2001, but as you can see from that photo it's short and squat and after a decade of tree growth disappeared into the treetops. They should have made Grizzly taller, which would have given them more usable square footage to put a second ride (mine train?) around its flanks with the raft ride, and used the base for a theater space (Country Bears 2.0?) underneath. Instead they built a squat flat bump with a raft ride and a wolf on the top.

They've worked wonders on DCA in the last decade, but there are some cheap design decisions from the late 1990's that really hinder what this park can become, no matter how many trendy IP mega-lands they add to it.

Can you imagine if DCA's Grizzly Peak was built on the scale of DisneySea's Mount Prometheus that offered this view from adjacent Disney hotels, a park and icon that was also built by WDI in 2001?

This is the type of view the Paradise Pier Hotel could charge $400 a night for, while offering mediocre and unpolished customer service and tired 1980's facilities.

 

[serendipity_ci]

If cost is not a consideration stay at the Grand Californian. It's by far the most convenient hotel to everything at DLR. For about the same price you could stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Better rooms and better staff but further away from everything. For a few dollars less you could stay at Paradise Pier. Tired, inconvenient, and still expensive. Pass. EMH or MM or whatever it's called these days is not a huge deal at DLR. Every day the first few hours are great no matter what.

If you want a great hotel that charges on average less than half of what Disney charges on a daily basis I recommend the Anaheim Marriott at the convention center. Great rooms, great service, an Uber ride to the parks (both ways) that costs less than Disney parking...always a great experience. It's where I stay when I go.

I am saving Grand Californian for a very short trip-off season for me and my husband only. I just think its soooo expensive. And I didn't mind paying big bucks to stay at a monorail hotel at WDW. But for me it was just more worth it there.

 

[smooch]

Yes, the elevators got an upgrade. We stayed at PP last year near Halloween. The place was packed, but we never waited more than a minute going up or down. When you punch a button, you’re assigned an elevator shaft, and there are no floor buttons in the cabin. And it talks.

I stayed there almost 2 years ago now in January and they had those elevators and they were extremely efficient, I hadn't used any system like that at first but I figured it out like immediately (I'm sure some families might get confused with them for the first time). When we went we got a great deal (apparently it was through one person's sister who has worked in the parks for a while, no clue how she got us a deal on the hotel though) of about $160/night for 2 rooms connected to each other so 4 beds 2 bathrooms total. Split between the group it ended up being like $20 per night per person. I literally have no clue how it worked out to be so cheap but there is absolutely no way I could complain about that price, the rooms were fine and the complimentary breakfast each morning meant we saved even more money by not having to spend money in the parks. We didn't do the character breakfast, but there was a little room with a breakfast buffet and they had a TV playing Disney movies so it was fun each morning seeing what we would half watch half talk over while having breakfast and preparing for our day in the park.

EDIT:

This is if you get a park view room only. Most are not.

I did not, our room was level with the pool on top of the parking structure so in the mornings and evenings we would walk from our "balcony" to the pool area and walk around / dip our toes in the water.