Disneyland Paris

[everythingsgoingtobealright]

We are heading to Disneyland Paris for the first time in November.
We have the Explorers Hotel provisionally booked however there seems to be a decent deal through magic breaks which would include half board plus, and park tickets for all days we are there. We liked the look of Sequoia Lodge the best.

Would you say half board is worth it?
And any advice on hotels?

How old are the kids? We stayed in Sequoia Lodge last November, 2 adults and then 2.5 year old DD. We had a half board meal plan, but DD was free as she was under 3, I'm not I would have paid for her as she wouldn't have eaten as much as it cost. The half board does also limit you to certain restaurants, for example you can't use it in any of the 'external' restaurants in the village like Rainforest cafe etc.

We enjoyed the hotel, the room wasn't massive, it had 2 double beds, a bathroom and a small dressing area but the location was great, max 10 minute walk to the village and only another 5 minutes into the parks.

Sequoia Lodge is one of the best imho and has a pool so if you fancy an afternoon at the hotel it's perfect. We did half Board I think (was a few years ago mind) and could upgrade it a bit to eat at the Mickey Mouse Cafe which was v cool - food not so great but characters going round the tables are amazing.

Characters come to the Hotel too at breakfast for photos and autographs - some are free and some are bookable.

I wouldn't have gone 1/2 board. We liked the flexibility of eating wherever we were and making decisions based on how tired everyone was. For example, quick bite and back in or go back to the hotel and rest. We ate at Starbucks more than once!

We stayed at Newport Bay which was nice but pricey. Disney hotels give you the early extra time, which is VERY useful to get in all the big-queue rides. That's what we paid extra for, and the proximity.

We’ve only ever gone half board if it’s been part of a free offer as dd is coeliac so we eat mainly at Planet Hollywood as it’s about the only restaurant that we trust not to ‘gluten’ her and it’s not on the half board programme . It is worth paying extra for breakfast in the hotel rather than the park express offering IMO , although we stay at the Disneyland hotel and I’ve not had a Sequoia Lodge breakfast for over a decade .

I stayed at the Explorers Hotel on a trip to Disneyland Paris as a kid. It was amazing and I loved it just as much as the actual parks. The pirates theme, especially in the swimming pool/water play area is really good! I've also stayed at the Cheyenne when I took my son which is further out but just as lovely and quite a bit cheaper. It says a 20 minute walk to the parks but we could do it in 10 along the river. Not sure when I went as a kid but when we went recently we had half board plus. It meant we could pay a reasonable amount and still have some meals in the posher restaurants if we wanted (and meet some of the characters) and just pay a bit extra for those. You can use it for either lunch or dinner which we found a lot easier, if we were out in the parks and wanted mcds for lunch we could go out for dinner later, or if we knew we'd be tired we could have a nice lunch in the parks and have dinner in the hotel restaurant or just a snack later. We also went out to Paris one afternoon so we had lunch in the park and got dinner later in Paris :) I'd go half board plus if I went again.

We have stayed at the Explorers too...albeit a long time ago (it was a very nice hotel although I assume maybe a little dated now unless refurbishment had been done) ...We were annual ticket holders for a couple of years and personally I preferred not being tied to HB. If you have a younger child and would head back to the hotel earlier then HB may work for you...there are (or used to be) buses that ran from the Explorers Hotel to the parks.

The other hotel we stayed at a few times was Ibis Budget Marne-la-Vallee Val d'Europe...about £60 or less dependent went booked.
It was super value for money and just one RER stop from the parks and also worked out well if you wanted to catch train the opposite way into Paris...

It depends on whether you are looking for the whole Disney experience in terms of staying in one of their hotels or are just using the room for sleeping purposes and would rather spend more money on your experience within the Disney Parks and restaurants.