Disneyland Paris - 3/4* Hotel choice for 1st timer (DC 9 & 10)

[lynholmerpark]

Hi there from an 'old' user whose had to re-register under a new name!

I'm planning on taking the DC to Disneyland Paris for 4 nights in the Summer holidays prior to travelling further down into France. This will be our first Disney holiday.

As with all such things, trawling Tripadviser has left me more confused than ever in terms of hotel choices so turning to trusted Mumsnetters for help. Requisites are a pool given we will be there for a few days and over the Summer hols.

Initial thoughts were Disneyland Hotel but wonder if you're simply paying (over the odds) for location and look - as DC not young have no worries about them being able to walk to/fro hotel to various parts of Park.

Newport Bay is the one I've always liked the look of best but believe lots of renovations going on so concerned about impact of this on our trip, also seems very large indeed and slightly concerned about this in view of being there over the summer (e.g. breakfast chaos).

Sequoila Lodge looks nice (? more of a winter hotel), but doesn't look quite in the same league as two above.

Any ideas/tips from Mumsnetters who've been recently and stayed in above/different hotels to help me make up my mind?

Many thanks.

I've been several times, most recently last December for the Christmas specials.

Trip Advisor's DLP forum is REALLY useful and up to date, but it does take a bit of wading through.

The pink hotel is marvellous, but isn't worth the extra megabucks.

The food in the parks is so bad I wouldn't bother with meal plans. Make use of the shop and cafe in the railway station, or pop over to Val d'Europe for your evening meal.

If you stay in a Disney hotel you'll get the extra magic hours. This is the ONLY way to get to see Anna and Elsa in the Princess Pavilion. Plus avoidng the scramble for shuttle buses by being able to walk home is a real plus.

I completely disagree. val d Europe is 10 minutes on a shuttle bus from the park gates - quicker than some of the on site hotels. Some of the hotels are nicer than those on site. Each to their own I suppose.

Thanks for the tip about the Tripadviser forum MelanieCheeks, I hadn't seen that previously - will take a look as appears full of lots of useful information about the Park.

The walk home to the Sequioa is really lovely at the end of the day. You go through the hubbub and excitement of the Disney Village to the near silence of the Lake. Its a lovely time for winding down and talking about the day.

Shuttle buses, and getting on trains , and the french on trains are no fun with a wheelchair so that is a factor for us.

Bad meals I remember: the Steakhouse in the Disney Village, chalet de marionette, toad hall, sequoia table service and all the hot fast food joints in the Studios. I did a bit of research and Places we go back regularly too: Sequoia buffet is undoubtedly my favourite, Colonel Hathis (fast food,main park), Eating with the stars (Buffet, studios). Last time we did Plaza Gardens (buffet main park) as it was in the meal plan, it was busy but the food was good. Next time will probably replace with lunch at walts or blue lagoon because we can . Walts was nice but haven't eaten there for years

Interested to see this as I was planning a couple of days at Disneyland Paris on the way back from the French Alps in August.

However ..... a quick google to price it up the other day nearly gave me a heart attack!

2,000 for two nights in a family room wtih breakfast, and tickets into the park for two days. TWO GRAND!! for four of us! For two days.

I think it was the New York hotel.

Thank you once again Toffee, great information there.

MyballsareSandy - with the current Disney offer if you can organise to stay longer its pay for 2 nights, get 2 nights free, this includes School summer holidays and is the deal we are considering pre our trip further down into France. I fully appreciate though that a good element of the overall cost will be on meals/associated spending which will obviously be higher if you are staying longer. 4 nights in Sequoila is coming out at £1300, around the same for Newport Bay, for 4 of us in a standard room, which obviously includes park tickets. Disneyland Hotel is nearly £2500 for same duration as a comparison. The 2* hotels are cheaper.

The key IME to getting a good price for DLP is to book early and keep an eye out for offers. Last time we went we stayed 2 nights in the Disneyland hotel over May half-term one adult and 2 children and I paid just under 800.

This time we are going for 4 nights over the Easter holidays staying in Sequoia Lodge with the upgrade to the Golden Forest and it's costing 694. When I priced for 2 adults it wasn't much more but DP refuses to darken the doors of Disney so I just take the DCs on my own.

Both times I booked nearly a year in advance.

Last time I didn't buy any meal plan and I won't this time either probably. Last time we had one character meal in cafe Mickey, one in the auberge princess place, breakfast in the hotel and then I brought snacks with me which they ate whilst queuing.

Sequoia lodge is fine and recently refurbished, the buffet dinner is decent. New York has slightly nicer rooms I think, feels a little more luxurious. Disneyland Hotel is great if you have little ones and has a bit of wow factor when you go arrive but not actually worth the extra money and was looking pretty shabby when we went.

The Ratatouille buffet in the Studios is really good, lots of choice. Blue lagoon is a favourite of mine as I love seafood and it has a good atmosphere. The kids set menus everywhere are pretty poor so buffets tend to be better.

Cafe Mickey food was awful last time we went and really not worth it. The fast food place in the Studios is appalling as well.

For food I say avoid meal plans. The breakfast at sequoia lodge is good but the rest pretty horid. You have to do some sort of eat with characters if you want the full Disney experience. Cafe mickey is the best for this in my opinion (you can use meal plan vouchers for this) but book in advance. We take food with us like fresh fruit, snacks etc. have a baguette from the train station at lunch and then one of the less evil places in the village. There was one on the park selling pasta and pizza that actually was edible when we went in oct half term this time. Defo do early hours of princesses r your thing and I still can't work out how the fast pass allocations work but some of the ride unless you are happy to wait for an hour are impossible to get on.

Meant to add the food at cafe mickey is indeed awful and you have to go for the characters rather than the food.

Buffalo Bill Wild West show is worth doing if you've not been before ,although the food is pretty crap , the show is fun .

Brilliant advice/info thank you all again.

Think we will definitely do the Buffalo Bill show given we will be there the 4 nights. DD bit beyond princesses now but Cafe Mickey probably we shall do but appreciate forewarning re the food Jinglebells. Thanks for the other food information too Princess, much appreciated.

Can I add to the Café Mickey that the food is pretty variable, I've done café mickey six times (that I can remember). I have had one poor breakfast one good. One very poor meal (towards the end of service), 2 good enough, 1 excellent.

On the whole I wouldn't go for breakfast, unless they return the deal where you can have it there at no extra cost (not likely). Book early and book towards the early end of a time when the characters are there (they break between lunch service and Dinner service last time I was there). But you really don't go there for the food, you go for the experience, and unbeatable pictures.

Get an autograph book, before you even enter the park. If you only buy one thing make it that, gives the kids a way into interacting with the characters

Buffallo Bill is superb. We all liked the food

I've posted this before, but when I stayed at the Disneyland hotel my iPd was nicked from my bedroom drawer and there was poo in the jacuzzi. The staff could not have been less apologetic.

Buffalo Bill is good, DD2 was chosen to shoot with Annie Oakley and won the competition! I bought the tickets through a French events agency rather than Disney and saved ££. Don't bother getting the upgraded tickets, the seating is no better and there's hardly any difference in the food.

The Earl of Sandwich (near Planet Hollywood) serves the best value food in the entire place, and it is ACTUALLY NICE.

Hi op. We had a 3 night stay in sequoia lodge before xmas and it was awesome. It's actually a bit closer to the park than Newport bay. It is basic though. But it has had all it's refurb done.

If you can afford disney hotel then I would definitely do that. It's an entirely different experience. The character buffet is really lovely but costs a fortune if you don't have the hotel half board thing.

All breakfasts are chaos. The only option is to get there first thing. Or eat in the park.

The trip advisor forum is very good for info and help.

If you choose the premium half board meal plan you can use it for Buffalo Bill's, Auberge (we loved this as princesses were really chatty with the children), Explorers and California Grill (wasn't open when we went) and most of these have characters . You also get a teatime treat of a muffin and coffee or juice from a kiosk but you have to queue a long time for this which is ridiculous. You can also use the voucher for either lunch or dinner. To be honest though as your children are not at the princess stage Buffalo Bills is probably the only must out of that list.

One of our favourite meal foodwise was walts, which is also included in the tier below premium as is cafe Mickey.

Full board is too much food and disrupts the day too much as you have to book ahead.

All breakfasts are not chaos , I've stayed at DLP at least yearly since it opened and the only chaotic breakfast ive seen was at Newport Bay ,and fortunately we had a Captains Cabin upgrade so didn't use the main breakfast room . The breakfasts at the New York ( which is our main haunt) are lovely and a very relaxing experience . I agree that the food at Cafe Mickey has gone downhill in recent years and we have had a couple of terrible meals at Planet Hollywood . I've had nice meals at the Blue Lagoon and Silver Spur

Hi, I am in the same position as you and trying to book a cheap deal for the summer holidays. I came across this article www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/10849879/Savings-tricks-how-to-take-your-family-to-Disneyland-for-500-less.html and have discovered that the hotel I want is £200 cheaper on the french disney website! So I am planning on calling the french reservations number and booking it through them. I just thought I would let you know as it seems that they give better deals to the french. You can't book it on their website unless you have a french address (or a nice french friend!) but it looks like you can do it over the phone via the french booking department. Try going to the french disney website (it just has .fr at the end instead of .co.uk and look for the deal you wanted to compare prices. Good luck and perhaps see you there!!!

Apologies for delay in acknowledging most recent replies as was on a shift last night. Thanks again for all the great information.

Chickletickle - I'll take a look at the french site in that case - sounds similar for booking European Centerparcs - if you use the Dutch or French websites the cost works out cheaper than going via the UK site.

Thanks for the info too T'Bex about booking Buffalo Bills through another site - again, I shall look into that further.

The breakfast is in a separate area in the Golden Forest rooms in Sequoia, thus minimising (one assumes) any breakfast chaos!