Euro Disney - where/not to stay?

[paso]

Planning a trip to euro disney, would appreciate any in put on where is good to stay/eat, any experiences etc. Little ones are 2 and 5.

First trip to disney so we stayed in the main hotel in the magic kingdom. it meant the kids and we didnt get too tired going to and from and there always seemed to be characters around for breakfasts etc. we had a family room and found them to be good quality. if you are going to do it then you may as well push the boat out and have the best. however, be aware of the weather which is very british and even disney struggles when it is pouring with rain all day and cold!

Although the Santa Fe is generally the cheapest onsite hotel, I'd avoid it if you can afford it. It's very busy, I felt like it was more akin to a cattle market, and hated the whole experience. The flip side is you don't spend a lot of time there but you are in the furtherst hotel from the parks so the walk back is longer (not good for tired feet of your LOs) or the queues for buses long, with a free-for-all to get on/off the bus. I stayed at the Sequioa Lodge Hotel the 2nd trip there and it was MUCH better, more pleasant/organised mealtimes and very close to the parks.

Food wise, there is a McDonalds if you want to try and keep cost down, but you should def go to Cafe Mickey for the character dining. Fab experience for the LOs. The other character dining is at the Lucky Nugget Saloon in the park. I've got to go now but hopefully others will add their recommendations too!

We are going for 3 nights as part of our holiday in the summer. We are going to stay at the Davy Crockett ranch. We have stayed once before and it was fine. We want the flexibility and need the extra space. And we spend very little time in the accomodation as we spend all our time in the parks.

If your going to go for an off site hotel the explorers inn is very good, has a swimming poool and lots of food options (iirc there is a bar, restaruant and pizza place in the hotel). O have to admit i haven't stayed here since i was 16 so it may have changed a lot. Stay away from the hotel d'ellisse (I think that's what its called) it was a dump and a huge let doen. There was a shuttle bus, but it wasnt very frequent and went to 2 other hotels first so very packed. One night we left the park at 5 and didnt get back till 9. Overall awful experience. I've also stayed in the santa fe and didn't think it was that bad. Quite busy, the busses can be packed, but the walk wasnt that long and was quite pleasant (along the river and through the shopping bit).

Admittedly I didn't have any children with me the last 2 times (1st time was with parent and younger siblings, but i was goinh through a selfish stroppy teenager phase so don't remember what it was like for everyone else ). Im planning on taking dds in 2014 (mil and fil coming with us and fil needs an op before then) and we are planning on staying in the magic kingdom hotel to eliminate so much walking.

Depending on the time of year I suggest having lunch in the parks in one of the lovely resturants then dinner in mcdonalds or American diner. The other way of doing it is to take advantage of the all you can eat breakfast (take some for a light lunch) then have an early dinner. But with little ones cant see they would be happy with that!

We've stayed twice in the Newport Bay at Xmas time both holidays. very nice but quite expensive. The alst time we went in may and satyed here which is near davy Crocket's resprt. It was lovely and meant we could escape the Disney madness. Pool is small but lovely and they had a mobile van thingy that sold rotisserie chickens and other delights! It was nice to come back ad BBQ, makle our own breakfast and take packed lunches in.

I stayed at the Explorers Hotel which is not an officially Disney Hotel (so cheaper) but affiliated apparently - so we got free parking at Disney with our check in card. Its lovely and not that far from the parks, and as we had our car we didn't have to wait for the buses anyway. We only ate breakfast and it was lovely - dinner looked far too expensive, couldn't justify it so we went to McDonalds.

I also stayed at Explorers Hotel as it had a kind of 2 bedroom suite room that fitted my 3dc in.
A free shuttle bus was provided to the parks that was very convenient . We enjoyed evening meals in the hotel in a smallish restaurant called something like Captains Libary but booked that on a half board basis. If you can try and do one of the buffet character lunches as the characters spend a lot of time at each table and the help yourself buffets are really yummy.
Have a great trip.

I know it is not everyone's cup of tea, but we camped 20 mins away. Cost £25 a night for a really nice campsite. Kids could come back from disney and play. It meant that the trip was not a silly price.

Hi, I've been over there twice and stayed on site both times at the same time of year. Stayed at the Sequoia Lodge and the Newport Bay, both very nice but the Sequoia Lodge is much more child friendly - great lounge area with open fires and cosy atmosphere with lots of children playing while parents recover from the parks. There seemed to be nothing like this at the Newport Bay and it had a much stiffer atmosphere.

We stayed at the Sequioa lodge the first time (it has a pool) and the Disneyland Hotel the second.
If I was to go back, if budget allowed I'd deffo go for the Disneyland Hotel (that ain't happening anytime soon tho!) as it was definitely part of the whole experience...sigh....
The Sequoia Lodge was OK but if I was on the budget for it I'd actually rather downgrade to the Davy Crockett etc, as it was a bit like a Travelodge really!
Foodwise, we tended to eat VERY well at breakfast, and a few random pieces of fruit etc from breakfast would find their way into our bags
In the park itself, we loved Annette's Diner-real 1950s American diner feel, along with roller skating waiters and waitresses, "impromptu" performances from them, it was great fun, but there were always loooooong queues.
Mickey's Cafe was great fun but I'd definitely advise booking. Loads of characters about all through the evening, and again, impromptu performances-it was fab

I WANNA GO BACK!!!

We stayed with out 5 & & yr olds in the big pink hotel and it was fantastic! Right next to the park, characters about the place every morning and really really child friendly. Magical!

We went last summer and stayed at the Elysee in Val d'Europ. Room was nice and breakfast was good. Only problem was the free shuttle bus didn't ever arrive for the return journey. We got on the train instead, but obviously that was an expense we hadn't budgeted for.

we stayed at the vienna castle (something like that) its one of the non disney ones, but was lovely, still on the bus route but too far ot walk. its got a castle/princess/knghts theme and swimming pool.

i am taking dd in feb half term and staying in cheyenne, no idea what its like!

We stayed at the Marriott, self catering but you get a house away from the resort with transfer bus. Absolutely lovely with cheap deals on the Internet.

Hi I have one more question that will benefit OP for sure.
I want to go this April for my DD 5th B'day I am not sure about getting the half board meals or full board meals though....
Should I go for a less expensive hotel (Davi's Crokket Ranch is out of question as we are not driving) and get full board meals so we don't need to worry about being hungry or spending loads of money on site for food (as it will be paid beforehand anyway)
or...
Should we go to Disneyland Hotel and get the half board...(meaning that we can eat as much as we can at breakfast and have few bits and pieces like bread, juice and biscuits in our luggage and go back to hotel bedroom for lunch?
or...should we just buy food there when hungry?

I always read people saying they put food from breakfast in their bag, is it ok? do you have to hide it from the staff members? can you do it openly? can you eat it at the site openly too?

when i went nearly 3 years ago, it was so busy (june) that staff didnt notice anyone taking anything, there was even people making sandwiches to take out with them. i took fruit, but thats all, you cant get fruit anywhere else in the park.

and imo, whatever hotel you choose, i would get hte half board option as food is so so expensive. i wasnt given the option of full board, but got half board plus where you can exchange a meal voucher for a meal with muckey at hte cafe mickey. oddly this turned out to be less expesive than the regular half board

We stayed at sequoia Lodge.

Upsides: the food is said to be best in whole of Disney and we were very pleasantly surprised by it. really fresh sea food and gorgeous cheeses at dinner, huge platters of all kinds of fruit. It definitely wasn't all fast or mass-catering food.

The pool and sauna were lovely and the kids really enjoyed relaxing there after a day traipsing round the park, but beware - the pool is very deep in the wave-making area and quite fast flowing. I took 5 yr old twins in armbands and it got a bit scary as my feet didn't touch the ground and the current when waves are switched on could have dragged them under. (Unless they've changed that. We went 4 years ago.)

Downside - the room was tiny and the lodge we were in was very badly staffed. I ended up nipping into the cleaners' cupboards to help myself to loo roll and lightbulbs, when none had been sent to the room, despite about five calls to reception.

It's not far to the park either. Just a stroll past some of the bigger hotels. We LOVED it. I'd be happy to go back to Sequoia Lodge as it was very cheap in comparison with other deals.

We stayed at the Marriott-Village-DIle-De-France on a self catering basis. www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/pardp-marriotts-village-dlle-de-france/

We drove to Eurodisney (approx 10 mins) and parked in the RER car park (?12 for the day) but the hotel does run a shuttle bus.

I definitely wouldn't bother with full board or going back to your hotel for lunch as this would really break up the day and it can be nice trying different places to eat when you get hungry.

does anyone know if the cheyenne has fruit at mealtimes? my dd is abit of a fruit freak and i want to smuggle some out at breakfast for throughout the day

If you go half board, you don't have to go back to your hotel for lunch, you get a voucher per person per day, and you can use that in a number of restuarants within the parks, for either lunch or dinner.

Ds(4.5) and I went to DLP in Novemeber, we were half board at the New York hotel, so had breakfast there on a morning, then a snack at lunch time (macdonalds or earl sandwich or similar) then used our vouchers on an evening, once at cafe Mickey, once at the Ranch (although this was lunch) and once at the Sequonia Lodge. Worked well for us.

Another vote for the explorers ! On site soft play area and swimming pool. The rooms could have and adjoining small bunk room of needed or in our case 4 singles ! Free shuttle bus to the parks, breakfast was great.
We enjoyed watching the kids in the soft play area as we are pizza and drank a glass of wine

Hi, thanks everyone for all your really helpful comments - looks like its got to be the disneyland hotel, as its our first trip and want it to be as magical for little ones (and easy on us) as possible. Like the half board voucher idea and takeing a few nibbles away at breakfast to keep you going. Will definately book up at mickeys cafe. Good to bear in mind sequonia and explorers if we do go back. Fingers crossed for some half decent weather. I usually come back off holiday feeling more exhausted than i was beforehand - i'm in no doubt that this will be the case, i'll think of it as more of an experience than a holiday! Can't wait XX

Hotel Cheyenne was good when we went a couple of years ago - planning to go back in April. There was fruit as art of the buffet then lizandlulu.

Would be lovely to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but alas the budget doesnt stretch that far. Hotel Cheyenne was fairly basic, but all you need when you are in the parks all day, and the food was tasty.