Paradise Pier Hotel

[disneylover]

Here's my review:

We have stayed her at least once a year since December of 2008 and have never been disappointed. The rooms are large. The beds are comfortable. The couch that folds into a bed is perfect for my 4 year old! There's even enough room to store all our clothes and keep the strollers unfolded so the kids can hop in them and go! The closet is large and I love that I don't have to haul my own pack n play with us because the rooms have a pack n play in them already. One less thing to carry with us. I have a 4 and 2 year old, but have been coming here since my oldest was 10 months.

As far a cleanliness, no other hotel can beat the Disney properties (Candy Cane is super clean too!!). The rooms are always spotless and I never have to worry about the kids touching things that are dirty. I'm super picky when it comes to cleanliness because the kids touch everything. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to anyone with children. The bathroom is fairly large and I've never encountered a water pressure issue before. The newly renovated rooms are super cute and well done. Just the right amount of the Disney theme.

We have had a view room twice (once we got upgraded). It is really very neat! Our last room we could even see the fireworks at Disneyland. It's nice that they pipe the music for World of Color and the fireworks onto the TV. It's especially nice at night to see all the lights and go to sleep with that view. Beautiful!

I've never used the pool, but it looks nice enough. The slide looks fun. I like that they have a bar and snack shack there. We have eaten in the restaurant for dinner a couple of times. Always had great service. The food selection is ok. The bar and little cafe is also nice in the morning for a quick breakfast and at night for dinner. We have ordered room service before and were satisfied. I would say it's not the best meal of my life, but nice to have the option and establishments right in the lobby.

We have never experienced the crazy waits for the elevators either. We have had to wait, yes, but never for very long. We usually don't leave at peak times, which is probably why. I would say the thing that is the most difficult for us is that the parking structure doesn't have an elevator. We always park at the front and unload the car for the bell hop to take MOST of our stuff. Traveling with 2 toddlers, we have a ton of stuff with us, and can't put it all on the cart. We always go back out to the car to get the rest, but with no elevators it can sometimes be a task. And our last trip, our room wasn't ready, so we had to drop our bags off, then park with the kids. We parked almost at the top of the structure and had to carry them down the stairs with their strollers. It was inconvenient, but we dealt with it.

The walk is not bad at all. I think the walk from the Disneyland hotel is a bit longer. It's Disneyland, you walk a lot. For us, it's not bad at all. I've stayed at all 3 Disney hotels and Paradise Pier is our favorite. It has the most quiet rooms (hardly ever hearing anyone in the hallway and never hearing neighbors) and it is usually the cheapest of the 3 as well.

Service has always been what I expected form a Disney property. Top notch. From the front desk, to the bell hops, to the housekeeping staff. One trip, my youngest got sick and had a high fever and terrible cough. It was 2AM and the front desk was more then accommodating. They gave me printed out directions for the drug stores in the area that were open 24 hours, got me a humidifier from the Grand Californian, and told me they have a 24 hour nurse line. I called the nurse, explained the symptoms and the nurse really put me at ease and helped determine what would be the best course of action. I was so thankful.

We just stayed for a week in December 2011 and have already booked another trip for March. When we can afford it, this is our place!

[disneylover]

Ok, I have to update after our trip in March. There were 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 children. The first room they gave us was a disabled room. Because it is set up for wheel chairs, there aren't any of the couch's that turn into a bed. Ok, we can work with that, I thought. But, going into the bathroom, I realized there is no bathtub! Just a shower! So I had to call and ask to be moved. I don't know why we weren't asked if just a shower was ok byt the CM at the front desk. In any case, we were moved to a higher up floor, and a view room, which was lovely. It took about 25 extra minutes to be moved, but it all worked out. Oh, and the room was a corner room, so it was much larger and had more room for the kids to run around.

I have read numerous reviews about this hotel and someone was always complaining about the elevators. I had never experienced this delay in elevators before this trip. There was a cheer leading competition going on the hotel seemed more crowded then usual. Every time we tried to take the elevators, it took FOREVER! The way up wasn't terribly bad (we used the glass elevator a lot), but trying to get down was a nightmare (as you cannot get to the glass elevator to go down from all the floors). The last day was the worst. We are trying to leave the hotel and I was literally stuck on our floor for well over 20 minutes. I had my 2 year old with me in a stroller. My husband and older son were down at the car waiting for us. We finally had to squish, and I mean squish on an elevator that was going UP just so we could eventually get DOWN. If I didn't have a toddler and a stroller full of gear, I would have been taking the stairs after the 5 minute mark. By the time I got on, there was about 20 other people still stuck on the floor trying to get on elevators as well. What a mess! And to make matters worse, my mom was super sick, so I had to go back up to the room and help her down to the car as well. Luckily, by that time it seemed like most of the mess was cleared up. I think Disney needs to seriously consider adding another elevator to the hotel. I know they cannot in the lobby, so maybe somehow on the outside of the building. Something needs to be done.

Other then that, our stay was as usual, fantastic!