Pictured: ride at California Adventure visible from Paradise Pier Hotel, view of hotel
Downtown Disney, Monorail to Disneyland and Disneyland Hotel next to Paradise Pier.

Disneys Paradise Pier Hotel
1717 South Disneyland Drive
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneys Paradise Pier Hotel is the Hotel California where you never want to leave.

You don't have to visit Disneyland theme parks to enjoy the Disney experience. Time-bankrupt Southern Californians can drive 45 minutes to Anaheim and have an incredible weekend getaway. We did so on a recent visit when friends called and said they were in Southern California to enjoy the Disneyland Resorts. As locals, if we attend the park every time a guest comes, we won't get any work done. So to save time and not have to take on lodgers, we checked into Disneys Paradise Pier Hotel. Our room overlooked the Big Orange and thrill rides at California Adventure, Disney's newest park in Anaheim.

The hotel has been around for many years under other names but when Disney Corporation acquired it, they put in all the magic...lamps with Mickey Mouse sitting in a lifeguard chair, Mickey Mouse soap, shampoo and things that you can pack up and give to others as gifts. What's great about the Disney hotels (there are currently three in Anaheim), is that they believe you've paid for your room so you get postcards, free Internet, free local calls and affordable room service. After feeling gouged at some business hotels recently where it cost $1 each time you pick up the phone in your room, this seemed like a perk you'd pay more for just so you don't have to worry that you'll get the wrong amount added to your bill when you check out.

Disneys Paradise Pier has a parking lot next to the hotel where you can securely park your automobile if you drive there. It also is connected to the great Downtown Disney shopping, dining and entertainment complex with jazz and musical acts at House of Blues. There's a little girls store where young girls can get fluff and frills, pink items and a kids facial with make-up for youth. Downtown Disney leads directly to the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks.