We booked our room on the concierge level because my husband wanted a patio area so he can lounge outside and enjoy the lovely78 degree weather. I would encourage anyone to upgrade to the concierge level just for the fact that they offer snacks, wine, beer and soda throughout the day, plus a fresh continental breakfast. Other services on this level are helpful if you need assistance with tickets, tours or just want to lounge around somewhere besides your room or in the parks. The pools at the hotel are great, plus they have a huge waterslide that my son absolutely loved. The restaurants and bars in the hotel are fabulous and offer a character breakfast. The gift shop is also nice for the last minute gifts that you might have forgotten to buy at the park. We visited the hotel for my son’s 13th birthday and we were upgraded to a suite. It was a beautiful room with an obvious care for cleanliness and presentation. Even 4 to 5 star hotels in Las Vegas cannot match up to the attention to detail that was found in this suite. Walking distance to the parks takes around 5 minutes; make sure you cut through the other Disney themed hotel for the most direct route. Plus in case you get turned around somewhere there is always someone there to help get you in the right direction. Also since I’ve also stayed at hotels further away and even those on main streets just outside the park, the convenience of staying at Paradise Pier is when your walking back at 10:00 pm or later at night you don’t encounter as much of the non-Disney pedestrians that can be out late at night. The last benefits I would like to mention is that since you’re paying for parking you can leave your car there at the hotel on the day of check-out. The bell desk even held our bags for us until we returned to pick them up later that night, over ten hours after the time we checked out of the room. This is nice for those who want to squeeze a day at Disney in, on the day of their departure. The convenience, attention to detail, friendliness and theme of the hotel are all things that will definitely bring me back to The Paradise Pier.

We have stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland many times and found it wonderful. This time we stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel for a change.

What a lovely hotel!!! It felt warm and friendly. If I had small children this is definitely the hotel I would take them to. Every staff member was friendly. The rooms are pretty much the same layout as the Grand Californian but the prices are cheaper at Paradise Pier.

I have to commend Karen at the Bar. She was so warm and friendly. She could not do enough for us. She was never short of a story and a good laugh.

I have been going to the Disneyland Resort for 20+ years now and almost always stayed at a "Good Neighbor" hotel for budget reasons. I could not stomach the idea of spending $250-400+ a night at a Disney property when I could get other accommodations around the park for under $100. We decided to give the Paradise Pier a try for one reason only: location. Except for the Grand Californian, there is no closer hotel to the parks. So having given Disney a shot, I can see the differences. The property was CLEAN, and I mean SPOTLESS. I have never seen a property this well cared for. Our 5th floor room was nice and comfortably fit the five of us with 2 queen beds and a sofa sleeper. The couch bed wasn't your typical futon or pullout, but the seat panel flipped over and became a very comfy mattress that our kids actually fought over. The check-in paperwork identified our room as a "city view" but it actually faced the park - although not high enough for us to see anything. Check in took a long time, which was a bit frustrating, but the staff were very nice about it. Everyone from the front desk to the bell desk have obviously been trained to provide the famous "Disney magic." There are planned activities every day, so it has more of a resort or cruise ship atmosphere than your average hotel. The pool looked great, although we didn't use it (despite the fact that it was January, and 50 degrees out, there were guests swimming...they were clearly insane). We didn't even think of eating at the PCH Grill because it's a character breakfast and therefore outlandishly expensive. I had thoughts of grabbing a bite at the more affordably priced Surfside Lounge, but it looked more like a bar and wasn't very inviting for my family. Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney ended up as our typical breakfast hangout, although I also vouch for Flo's V8 Cafe in California Adventure. The walk to the park is short, as walks go - 5 minutes to the Grand Californian's "secret" California Adventure entry, and 10 minutes to the front gates of Disneyland. Staying at a Disney property gets you some status around the resort, including "Extra Magic Hour" entry at whatever park is opening early. Another perk is you can have your purchases delivered back to the bell desk, so you don't have to lug your bags around while you enjoy the parks. They can be picked up after 7 the next morning. Other reviews mentioned long waits for the elevator during the morning rush, and while we didn't have any issues, it could be a problem during peak season. There are only 4 elevators serving the resort, and I think 1 of them is dedicated to the concierge floor only.

We stayed here for 2 nights on an LA stopover and really enjoyed our time here. We are regular guests in Disney hotels in Orlando, Florida and were interested by the differences.

Check in was smooth and friendly, and concierge/bell services were very prompt and helpful with our cases and getting a wheelchair for me. Room was spacious, clean and modern with a subtle theming to Disney. This was really the major difference with Florida Disney hotels, the theming was minimal at Paradise Pier. There was one large (Donald Duck) poster which was fun, and a few small "mouse" touches, but it didn't scream Disney in the way the Florida properties do but was nicely decorated and welcoming.

The walk into Disneyland and California Adventure wasn't too far - around ten to fifteen minutes (I was in a manual wheelchair with my husband pushing). We did get a bit lost going through the Grand Californian hotel on the way, but staff quickly helped us.

If you don't want to go into the park you can see some of DIsneyland's firework display from the pool deck - they pipe music onto the area behind the bar but not into the pool area itself. The view was good but not great, since it's designed to be seen from the park!

While at Paradise Pier we ate dinner via room service one night. The service was prompt, the food hot and tasty and reasonably priced. The only frustration at the hotel was the odd divide between drinks sold in the shop and drinks sold at the cafe/bar. We had to buy bottles of diet coke from one but bottles of vitamin water from the other! It was a small glitch in an otherwise excellent stay. I would thoroughly recommend it to others.