Holidays- December 2009

Paradise Pier Hotel

PLEASE NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS INTENDED TO PROMOTE SALES AS A TRAVEL ADVISOR, I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS IF YOU DECIDE THIS VACATION IS FOR YOU.

Yes, I have gone to Disneyland once again.  As many of you know, I am a Disney fanatic.  So each year, when possible I try to visit Disneyland and do something different with each visit.  I stay at the different hotels, or go at different times of the year, dine at different restaurants, etc. 

I am not going to do a full review of the “Disneyland” experience as much of that stays the same, but I will review the hotel and the park decorations & festivities. 

I had the pleasure of being able to visit Disneyland during the Holiday festivities during the month of December.  I also love the entire Holiday Season, so here we merge two things that I love- Disneyland and Christmas.  We did our traditional two night trip and we planned it fairly last minute for us and decided to try out the Paradise Pier hotel.  I had never stayed at this resort, even though I have clients who I have sent there often. 

I will say that I always thought that even though it was a “convenient” Disney Resort,  in my head it was much farther away from all the action vs. the Grand California or the Disneyland Hotel.  Well, I was wrong.  This hotel is so easily connected and I think actually much closer to the parks vs. the Disneyland Hotel.  Just a short walk down to the corner and cross the street and you’re at the entrance to the Grand Californian Hotel.  Having said that, if you go out of the back door of Paradise Pier and take the walkways towards the Disneyland Hotel you are there or at the monorail in about 5-10 minutes. depending on how fast you walk.   So I found this to be a very affordable, convenient option to still stay “on-site”, but pay a bit less than the other two hotels. 

The Paradise Pier is a smaller hotel, the rooms are very nicely decorated in Disney themes and have all the modern conveniences.  The hotel has a standard pool and Jacuzzi and one restaurant- PCH Grill, which was home to the Lilo & Stitch character breakfast; however, that was just about to change after our visit to a Mickey/Minnie & friends “beach theme” character dining experience.  The hotel has a medium sized gift shop, so all in all, the hotel has everything you really need.  

Now Disneyland Resort is a fabulously, wonderfully decorated place from Thanksgiving through New Years with all the decorations.  There are Christmas trees everywhere, holly decorations, light posts with ribbons, Main Street USA is full of holiday cheer.  The characters are all decked out in their holiday attire.  You have nightly fireworks followed by snow on Main Street.  Santa also pays a visit and you can take your picture with him.   Christmas carols being played in the background.  Festive Holiday Parade, it’s just a place when the Happiest Place on Earth becomes even happier, if that is even possible! 

Usually, weather in December is decent for a park visit, we did end up with one day of rain and it rained pretty good- but we had our layered clothing and bought the “must have” Disneyland Parks rain poncho and we were fine.  Once the day was over, we chilled out by the fireplace in the Grand California with a glass of wine.

There are certain times of the year that you have to visit Disneyland and going during the Holidays is one of them- at least once in your lifetime!

DISNEYLAND IS

MAGICAL DURING

THE HOLIDAYS!!

To see more pictures of this visit, click HERE