I did it. I stayed at a Disney hotel while it was under construction. We know, we know — we tell you to avoid this all the time but I just couldn’t help myself.

I booked Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel ages ago when the renovation was announced secretly hoping that everything would be done by the time I arrived. I thought to myself “OOO, maybe if I book this now, I will get a good deal and end up in one of the new rooms. Either way, I’m staying on property so it will be fine.” Well, I was wrong. I did not get a new room and I learned what it’s like to stay at a Disney Hotel during a hefty renovation. I’m here to tell ya the good, the bad, and the annoying of the situation!

Fire Alarms

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Listening to this while your baby is trying to nap was a highlight of my stay. Now, I must say, Disney does warn you that there may be fire alarm testing between certain hours of the day but that didn’t make it better when I found myself in this situation.

Moral of the story, if you plan to be at a hotel under renovation during the daytime hours, it wouldn’t hurt to ask a Cast Member when or if you can expect a fire alarm that day so you can prepare and be in a better situation than I was!

Strange Smells

Now, the lobby area of the hotel was clean, stunning, and great. When we were checking in, I was like wow, I did get one heck of a deal and this is going to be one amazing stay. Then, once we found ourselves on our floor, I was shocked for a different reason. After we stepped off the elevator, there was a long dark hallway blocked off by a curtain. I assume that this is a section of rooms that construction workers were actively working on.

We couldn’t see anything, of course. But, there was a bit of a chemically smell in the hallways throughout our stay that we weren’t too fond of! Luckily, we didn’t smell anything once we were in our room.

Outdated Rooms

Now, like I was saying above, the lobby and the restaurant area at the hotel were STUNNING. I am so impressed by all of the new decor. So we were pretty disappointed when we opened our door to our old outdated Paradise Pier room.

Disney had tried to Pixar them up by placing a large Luxo Ball on the bed. But nonetheless, the room was still it’s old self. And I know what you’re thinking, “Sierra, you knew that was what the room looked like when you booked.” And you’re right, I did! But it was still just such a weird juxtaposition to the hotel downstairs. The lobby felt like a Disney hotel. Our room however felt sort of like a motel that you’d find down the street from Disney and I truly didn’t feel like it was worth the hundreds of dollars we paid for each night.

Here is what the completed rooms look like!

Long Waits for a Service Elevator

The guest elevator was closed during our stay, so we ended up in an area that is typically only for Cast Members. It wasn’t in theme, of course, and we had to share it with all of the other Cast Members and construction workers. Everyone we met was lovely but since both guests and Cast Members were sharing the elevator, there were a lot of delays!

It took quite a bit of time for an elevator to arrive, so if you have a reservation or are planning to rope drop, take the stairs or leave extra early! We had our stroller, so stairs weren’t an option for us!

Closed Amenities

Disney did send me a reminder email before my stay to share that the resort would be under construction and that not everything would be available. While we were there, the pool area was already open and so was the new Great Maple restaurant.

The new cafe was closed throughout our entire stay, so there was no Quick Service location open at our hotel.

The area was already renovated, it just hadn’t opened yet.

Okay, it’s time to talk about the GOOD things we experienced during our stay at Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. It wasn’t all bad, folks.

New Restaurant

The hotel’s new restaurant Great Maple was open during our stay. We were able to walk up with a large party of 7 with 2 babies and get a table within a few minutes.

If you know Disney restaurants, you know that it’s not easy to walk up with a large party, especially at a new restaurant so this was a very pleasant surprise.

Read our full review of Great Maple here!

Easy Access to the Parks

Even though there were some hiccups, having easy access to the parks is so nice. We loved using the new entrance at Disney California Adventure! We didn’t have to wait in long lines and leaving through DCA instead of walking all the way through Downtown Disney really did save us time!

Shiny New Lobby

And of course, we loved the shiny new lobby and other new areas. The theming is beautiful, the Cast Members were amazing, and we love hunting for the little Pixar characters around the halls. We know that this will be an amazing place to stay once it’s completed, it can just be tough to stay at a hotel during it’s renovation.

A few Disney World hotels are currently going through some renovations. Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Lodge are just two of them! So, be sure to check the Disney World website when you book your trip. There should be a banner on the hotel’s page stating if there are any renovations going on!

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Have you stayed at a Disney hotel during a renovation? Share your experience with us below!