Note: As of 2024, this hotel is no longer in operation, and has been replaced by the Pixar Place Hotel.Â
December 2000 – present
LOCATION
The Paradise Pier Hotel is tucked behind Downtown Disney, across Disneyland Drive from California Adventure. To find the hotel from the parks, walk through Downtown Disney, take a left and pass the Disneyland Hotel, and you’ll see it straight ahead.
BACKGROUND
The Paradise Pier Hotel didn’t start out as a Disney hotel. Originally, this building was the Emerald of Anaheim, which opened in 1984. Its owner, Tokyu Group, later renamed the hotel the Pan Pacific. Disney purchased the hotel in 1995, dubbing it the Disneyland Pacific. When the resort went through its major expansion to build Downtown Disney and California Adventure, Disney rebranded the hotel, officially re-opening it as the Paradise Pier Hotel in 2000.
EXPERIENCE
Details:
- Theme – beach boardwalk
- Dining Options – PCH Grill, Surfside Lounge, The Sand Bar
- Amenities – 1 pool, business center, dry cleaning
- Price Range – cheapest of the resort hotels, with rooms starting at $250+ per night
- Official Site
The Paradise Pier Hotel celebrates California’s beach boardwalks, with beachy and nautical theming across the rooms, restaurants, and shops. Whether you’re sitting poolside, hanging with surfer Goofy in the lobby, or looking out at California Adventure’s bay, you’re never far from the breeze and sunshine.
A standard room in the Paradise Pier Hotel
MY RATING: ★★☆☆☆
The Paradise Pier Hotel is a really strange experience. You pay almost the same price per room as the Disneyland Hotel, but the hotel itself is so…odd. I guessed before I researched it that Disney bought an old hotel and did a basic re-theming, because it absolutely felt that way inside. Aside from a statue of Goofy in the lobby, there’s really nothing about it that has that “Disney magic” and details.
Good:
- The view. If you upgrade to a theme park view, I actually think these rooms have a better park view than the Grand Californian. You can see most of California Adventure, and I could watch World of Color from my room with only a little distortion from the angle. I could even hear the music!
- Extra magic hour. This hotel offers the cheapest way to take advantage of extra magic hour. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this hour is just the best part of a day at the parks. Quiet, peaceful, and you can get a ton done.
Neutral:
- The rooms. The rooms were perfectly fine – no major complaints here. But compared to the magic headboards in the Disneyland Hotel or the wood carvings in the Grand Californian, you’re left looking at the basic rooms here thinking…I’m paying premium prices for a good neighbor hotel room experience.
- The restaurants. My feedback here is similar to the rooms – there’s nothing that makes you feel like you’re having a Disney experience, aside from the character dining option. They’re basic restaurants that will fill you up, but won’t leave a lasting impression.
Bad:
- The location. Getting to and from the parks is rough. You walk half a mile to get to the park gates, and the only transportation option is the monorail, which does not go to California Adventure. The walk isn’t terribly longer than that of the Disneyland Hotel, but to get from Downtown Disney to the Paradise Pier Hotel, you have to walk through a traffic circle and a parking lot. It’s a really weird path that I imagine would be tricky with a stroller.
- The grounds. This hotel is just ugly. The exterior, lobby, and rooms are dated, but the ugliest part is the grounds. The pool area is completely blue cement with virtually no landscaping or greenery. The discount hotels on Harbor Boulevard genuinely have prettier grounds.
- The front desk. During my stay, the front desk was brutally understaffed. The lines for check-in/check-out were long and slow-moving. I also tried to call the front desk 3 times during our stay, and no one ever answered the phone.
- The elevators. This was honestly the worst part of my stay. The elevator system is unique – you tap a tablet with your floor #, and it assigns you to an elevator. Inside the elevator, there are no buttons. The doors just open when you’ve reached the floor you select. At first, this seemed like a great idea – group similar floors together so you’re not constantly stopping. But this system just doesn’t work. The elevators took forever to arrive, even when the lobby was empty. Selections appeared to be random – we could find no logic to our groupings. And at night in particular, when lots of guests were returning from the parks, trying to get an elevator was hell. The system would assign 30 people to a single elevator. People would rush and jam in, leaving 20 others to repeat the nightmare selection process all over again.
Overall, I would only recommend this hotel to someone looking for the perks of staying at a resort hotel for as cheap as humanly possible. But if you can swing it, you’re much better off paying the extra $100 a night for the Disneyland Hotel. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this hotel, no bedbugs or excessive noise or anything like that. But you’re paying Disney prices for an experience that is just not magical…and it’s not worth it.
California Adventure as seen from a theme park view room
TRIVIA
When California Adventure opened in 2001, the hotel had a private entrance to the park, like the Grand Californian. The Paradise Pier Hotel entrance was between the Corn Dog Castle and Souvenir 66, in Paradise Pier. The entrance closed in 2004 due to low use, and was later incorporated into the Grand Californian’s grounds.
The hotel’s waterslide is named California Streamin’, after the iconic coaster across the street.
Next to the lobby you’ll find a special sandcastle-themed theater just for kids. They can rock in mini rocking chairs and watch classic Disney cartoons.
