Park Vue vs. BWPPI

[ClaraOswald]

We likely aren't heading back to Disneyland until December 2023 but I've always got to be planning a trip!

So in the past we've stayed at the Desert Inn (parlor suite, 3 times.) On our recent trip, last month, we stayed at Park Vue for the first time. We were in a 1-queen bed/1 bunk room. Our experience was decent. We were at a room right at the front of the hotel, on the 2nd floor. Only cons were that AC didn't work very well and the carpet was super dirty.

We are thinking of staying there again next time. But are also considering BWPPI, which we've never stayed at.

How is the noise from the bottom/2nd floor over there? We usually stay on the top floor when we go places but my husband isn't sure he wants to truck our luggage up and down 2 flights of stairs.

Any other things we should know about BWPPI? I've read some reviews but they seem to be all over the place. People love it or hate it.

The reasons we are considering it over Park Vue would be because they have breakfast available. And we like that their 2-full/queen rooms have a little table in them, which our room at Park Vue didn't but we really could have used one.

But...not sure if the breakfast at BW would be a huge hassle if it's super crowded every morning or not. At Park Vue we eat in our room. We just buy things from Target ahead of time. But it would be nice to not have to do that.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

(Also slightly considering Candy Cane Inn but not sure if we want to fuss with a shuttle since we take a break every afternoon.)

 

[Cal-Pie]

I always compare the 2 when planning, and find that PVI usually comes out better price wise, but for this year's trip, BWPPI was the clear winner, so I'll be trying it for the first time. It was nearly $80 less per night less, booking in Jan for a trip in Oct. I like PVI, but when they started charging mysterious fees beyond just tax, and then stopped serving breakfast, it rubbed me wrong. Just to note, BWPPI does have elevators.

 

[purple figment]

BWPPI has always let us get breakfast and bring it back to our room to eat so one person goes while the rest of us continue getting ready.

It has 2 elevators.

 

[asumom]

The 3 best westerns managed by stovalls (2 on Harbor and 1 on Katella) all have a good breakfast, enough to get you going in the morning. The 2 on harbor are very close to the entrance of Disneyland, the one on Katella is about a 15 minute walk to the gates (you will use the downtown disney security, less crowded so that's a plus). Candy Cane Inn is very convenient and not too far to walk if you don't want to wait for their shuttle. It is nice to have that option though.

 

[Aurora0427]

We likely aren't heading back to Disneyland until December 2023 but I've always got to be planning a trip!

So in the past we've stayed at the Desert Inn (parlor suite, 3 times.) On our recent trip, last month, we stayed at Park Vue for the first time. We were in a 1-queen bed/1 bunk room. Our experience was decent. We were at a room right at the front of the hotel, on the 2nd floor. Only cons were that AC didn't work very well and the carpet was super dirty.

We are thinking of staying there again next time. But are also considering BWPPI, which we've never stayed at.

How is the noise from the bottom/2nd floor over there? We usually stay on the top floor when we go places but my husband isn't sure he wants to truck our luggage up and down 2 flights of stairs.

Any other things we should know about BWPPI? I've read some reviews but they seem to be all over the place. People love it or hate it.

The reasons we are considering it over Park Vue would be because they have breakfast available. And we like that their 2-full/queen rooms have a little table in them, which our room at Park Vue didn't but we really could have used one.

But...not sure if the breakfast at BW would be a huge hassle if it's super crowded every morning or not. At Park Vue we eat in our room. We just buy things from Target ahead of time. But it would be nice to not have to do that.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

(Also slightly considering Candy Cane Inn but not sure if we want to fuss with a shuttle since we take a break every afternoon.)

The park Vue is our go to, but the key is getting a two queen room at the back of the motel. We hate the one queen bunk rooms. They’re part of the original motel, the rooms are small, and they don’t seem as clean, and I think it’s because they’re smaller and older.

We always book a two queen room, second floor, back part of the motel. My husband will even request specific numbers… 238, 237, 236 etc. It’s much quieter back there and the rooms are nicer.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I always compare the 2 when planning, and find that PVI usually comes out better price wise, but for this year's trip, BWPPI was the clear winner, so I'll be trying it for the first time. It was nearly $80 less per night less, booking in Jan for a trip in Oct. I like PVI, but when they started charging mysterious fees beyond just tax, and then stopped serving breakfast, it rubbed me wrong. Just to note, BWPPI does have elevators.

I didn't notice any weird fees last month. Just the usual taxes like other places.
I'm glad to hear BW has elevators. I have a weird phobia about them but will use them, especially if they aren't too creepy. Ha! The elevator at Desert Inn was kind of rickety and I wasn't a fan of using it every day but we were on the 4th floor there.

BWPPI has always let us get breakfast and bring it back to our room to eat so one person goes while the rest of us continue getting ready.

It has 2 elevators.

Good to know. We definitely prefer to eat in our room, even moreso now with Covid.

The park Vue is our go to, but the key is getting a two queen room at the back of the motel. We hate the one queen bunk rooms. They’re part of the original motel, the rooms are small, and they don’t seem as clean, and I think it’s because they’re smaller and older.

We always book a two queen room, second floor, back part of the motel. My husband will even request specific numbers… 238, 237, 236 etc. It’s much quieter back there and the rooms are nicer.

I didn't realize the rooms at the back were nicer. How was the air conditioner? I noticed in the pictures online, the AC seems kind of shoved in the back of the room of the 2-queen bed. I wondered if the cold air got trapped back there. In our 1-queen, 1 bunk room...the AC wasn't great.

 

[Cal-Pie]

I didn't notice any weird fees last month. Just the usual taxes like other places.

It's not noticeable because they lump it together as "taxes and fees," but if you look closer, you're paying about $12/per night in "fees" above and beyond Anaheim's whopping 17% hotel tax.
You're also not the only one who finds Desert Inn's elevator rickety

 

[ClaraOswald]

Are the elevators at BWPPI better than the rickety ones at Desert Inn??

 

[Aurora0427]

I didn't notice any weird fees last month. Just the usual taxes like other places.
I'm glad to hear BW has elevators. I have a weird phobia about them but will use them, especially if they aren't too creepy. Ha! The elevator at Desert Inn was kind of rickety and I wasn't a fan of using it every day but we were on the 4th floor there.



Good to know. We definitely prefer to eat in our room, even moreso now with Covid.



I didn't realize the rooms at the back were nicer. How was the air conditioner? I noticed in the pictures online, the AC seems kind of shoved in the back of the room of the 2-queen bed. I wondered if the cold air got trapped back there. In our 1-queen, 1 bunk room...the AC wasn't great.

The room was freezing. I’m from Texas. I like it ice cold when I sleep.

 

[ClaraOswald]

The room was freezing. I’m from Texas. I like it ice cold when I sleep.

Good to know. Thanks! Looking at that pic above, is that accurate for how the room looked? Was there a table or anything? Or just that desk?

 

[Aurora0427]

Good to know. Thanks! Looking at that pic above, is that accurate for how the room looked? Was there a table or anything? Or just that desk?

The room looks just like that.

They have a coupe of suites that have a separate sleeping area and a table. We’ve stayed in their big suite once…. But those book up really quickly.

 

[Jrog92]

The park Vue is our go to, but the key is getting a two queen room at the back of the motel. We hate the one queen bunk rooms. They’re part of the original motel, the rooms are small, and they don’t seem as clean, and I think it’s because they’re smaller and older.

We always book a two queen room, second floor, back part of the motel. My husband will even request specific numbers… 238, 237, 236 etc. It’s much quieter back there and the rooms are nicer.

Would an ADA 2 queen room on the first floor in the back also be one of the newer nicer ones? Trying to book for a trip where we might need an ECV/scooter.

 

[Aurora0427]

Would an ADA 2 queen room on the first floor in the back also be one of the newer nicer ones? Trying to book for a trip where we might need an ECV/scooter.

It should be. The only time we’ve ever had a room I didn’t like was when we booked one of the bunk rooms. The hotel is kind of an upside down L shape, and the rooms we like are located in the back, short part of the L. The bunk rooms are along the side of the long L, same side as the office. Not sure if I’m making sense.

All of the rooms are updated, I just think the bunk rooms are in the OG part of the hotel and they just seem really old and small, even though everything has been renovated.

 

[Jrog92]

That makes total sense, thank you!

We have no need for bunk beds, so hopefully we'd be in a good spot no matter what, but if we stay there I will request a room towards the back just in case. Thank you for the advice!

 

[crazycatlady]

Can I ask why you stopped staying at the Desert Inn? We are currently booked at PV for 3 nights but DI would save us a couple hundred bucks, so considering the switch.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Can I ask why you stopped staying at the Desert Inn? We are currently booked at PV for 3 nights but DI would save us a couple hundred bucks, so considering the switch.

For the most part, we liked our stays there. We were in a parlor suite on the top floor each time. One issue I had was that I could hear thumping music from a hotel roof bar down the street. I didn't hear it at Park Vue even though they aren't much farther from the loud hotel.

And this is dumb, but I didn't like the elevator at the Desert Inn. It didn't malfunction or anything...I'm just weird about elevators.

We haven't been to the Desert Inn since December of 2018 so I'm not sure if anything has changed or not since then. I did like the size of the parlor suite a lot and had no other issues with the hotel. It's probably in need of some new furniture/mattresses/carpet though if they haven't updated since our last visit. The carpet looked the same in 2015, 2017, and 2018.

 

[crazycatlady]

Thanks for the reply, ClaraOswald! The pictures of the rooms at DI do look like they could use a renovation. We've stayed at PV a few times and liked the rooms so maybe we will just eat the difference and keep our reservation.

 

[avalon451]

Can I ask why you stopped staying at the Desert Inn? We are currently booked at PV for 3 nights but DI would save us a couple hundred bucks, so considering the switch.

We've stayed there, hmmm 4 times? Usually simply because it's often quite a bit cheaper than the others. It's about as basic as you get, like a Motel 6. We've found the rooms to be clean. Back of the property is pretty quiet, but it's just that much farther to walk. The water pressure in the showers suck, and the shower heads are low-- you have to duck a bit. The air conditioning is noisy. The carpet is awful, they SO need to replace the carpet. The breakfast is very basic, just cereal, cheap pastries, hard boiled eggs, coffee, juice. However, we usually have breakfast stuff in the room and eat while getting ready.

All that said, we've liked the parlor suite rooms. Last fall we stayed in the family suite, which is 2 double queen rooms with a connecting door, on the top floor, each with its own bathroom, and the second room has a sitting area. That was quite a bit cheaper than 2 rooms anywhere else. I always ask for top floor, as far forward as possible (don't always get it). I think the key is having a plan for white noise. Bring a fan, a white noise machine, or get used to using ear plugs. Ever since I went to ear plugs, I find I can sleep anywhere.

By the way, Park Vue literally shares a wall with Desert Inn. And BWPPI is right next door to that. I've stayed there, too, and it's marginally nicer than Desert Inn. I'll be there in 3 weeks, and this time they were both booked (D23, I think) but Tropicana had an okay deal. So that will be my first time there!

 

[ClaraOswald]

I'll be curious to hear what you think of Tropicana. We haven't stayed there but it's always on our short list.

 

[avalon451]

I'll be curious to hear what you think of Tropicana. We haven't stayed there but it's always on our short list.

I'll report back!