Pixar Place Hotel: Is It Worth It for Your Disneyland Trip?

Pixar Place Hotel sits at 1717 S. Disneyland Dr. in Anaheim — it’s one of the three Disney-operated hotels at the Disneyland Resort, freshly and completely renovated from the old Paradise Pier Hotel. I stayed here for two nights so I could give you the full, honest picture — not just a quick walkthrough. Here’s everything you actually need to know before you book.

Location & Walkability

As one of the three on-site Disneyland Resort hotels, Pixar Place is an easy walk to both parks, no shuttle required. If proximity to the gates is your top priority, this is already one of your shortest-list options.

View of Grand Californian hotel from Pixar pool deck

The Room

I booked a standard room through my travel partner, Get Away Today, and was upgraded on arrival to a Premium View Room on the 7th floor, facing east into Disney California Adventure. A quick honest note: my upgraded room was ADA-accessible, so a few details below (bathroom, closet) reflect that specific room type rather than a standard layout — worth asking about when you book if that’s relevant to you, or if it’s not, expect a few small differences.

What stood out in the room:

The view: if you get a park-facing room, you can tune the TV to the World of Color channel or the Disneyland fireworks channel and watch (and hear) the show right from your window, chair, or bed. This was genuinely one of my favorite things about staying on-property.
Comfortable bed and pillows; towels were just okay, nothing special
Dimmable lighting controlled from a bedside panel and a second panel by the door
Keurig coffee maker with pods and accessories, plus a separate drawer of reusable cups, and a mini fridge
Plenty of outlets and USB ports, plus one wireless charging pad
Only one extra blanket in the closet — call down if your party needs more

The bathroom (ADA): large, with a roll-in shower and grab bars. The closet was also set at lower, ADA-friendly heights. If accessibility is a factor in your booking, this hotel handles it well based on what I saw.

Price & Value

Rooms at Pixar Place run consistently $300+/night. That’s on the higher end, as you’d expect for an on-site Disneyland Resort hotel — you’re paying for the walk, the theming, and the perks below, not just a bed. If you’re looking for discounts, my friends at Get Away Today always have the in for you.

Food On-Site

The Great Maple, right off the street entrance: I ate here a couple of times and everything was solid. My pick is the mint iced tea — genuinely refreshing on a hot day. The signature maple bacon donut and fried chicken were fine, but not a must for me personally; you might feel differently. There’s a nice patio if you want to eat outside in the California sun.
Sketch Pad Cafe: the morning coffee-and-pastry stop, with plenty of seating and a kid-height TV — a good spot to camp out if you arrive before your room is ready.

Pool & Amenities — the real highlight for families

This is where Pixar Place earns its recommendation for families with young kids:

The splash pad and slide area is the star of this hotel, in my opinion the best splash pad of all three Disney-operated Disneyland hotels — Grand Californian doesn’t even have one. If you’ve got littles who are splash-pad age, this tips the scale toward Pixar Place.
The pool itself was crowded when I visited, so set expectations accordingly during busy periods.
At night, the pool deck turns into a fun little scene: yard games (not just at night) themed to actual Pixar shorts (chess/checkers from Jerry’s Game, shuffleboard from La Luna, and a game based on For the Birds), string lights, occasional evening live entertainment, and Anger’s fire pit surrounded by a few other fittingly fiery-headed characters.
Small Bytes: A pool snack bar decorated with a genuinely beautiful mosaic tile mural of Pixar characters — I liked it enough to grab the postcard version. This makes your pool day genuinely carefree.

entry to the pool deck from the parking garage

The Little Details That Make This Hotel Fun

A hidden-character carpet in the room hallways doubles as a mini scavenger hunt for kids on the way in
Rotating art exhibits on the second floor (mine was tied to the Disney+ show Win or Lose)
An Art on Demand kiosk in the gift shop is genuinely unique to this hotel — you can order prints of the hotel’s Pixar animation art (including pieces not even on display), pick a frame, and have it shipped home
The gift shop itself, The STOR-E, has the usual essentials plus Pixar Place-specific gear; I was there during the 70th anniversary and the merch was some of the cutest I’ve seen
Character meets: Bing Bong shows up in the lobby or by the pool regularly, and Wall-E (with Eve joining in 2026) appears around Earth Day. You do not need to be a hotel guest to meet them — walk over from the park and get in line.
A quirky elevator system worth knowing about: you select your floor on a pad and get assigned a lettered elevator that goes straight there, cruise-ship style. It can run slow during peak “rush hour” times (Cast Members are aware of it), but was fine outside of those windows.

Who This Hotel Is Best For

Families with toddlers or young kids (that splash pad, again) and anyone traveling with a Pixar fan of any age. If a park view with a front-row seat to World of Color or fireworks matters to you, ask specifically about view rooms when booking.

The Verdict

4 out of 5. Pixar Place delivers on theming, the splash pad genuinely sets it apart from the other two on-site hotels for families, and the in-room fireworks/World of Color perk is a real treat if you land a view room. Book through Get Away Today, and grab my free Disneyland hotel guide below if you’re still deciding.

Check current prices for Pixar Place Hotel through my travel partner, Get Away Today, HERE.

Still narrowing down where to stay? Grab my free Disneyland hotel guide with recommendations across 10 categories HERE!

Prefer video, instead of just still photos? Check out my YouTube tour HERE.

Until next time, stay comfy.