Disney hotel or not?

[Disneyfirsttimer]

I’m looking for advice as I’m planning our first trip to Disney and hoping to make it as cheap as possible (aware that “cheap” and “Disney” don’t go together!) whilst also getting the most out of it. We’re planning to go maybe Mon/Tues or Tues/Wed in September so hopefully not too busy.

Is it worth us spending £800 to stay in a Disney hotel and make use of the extra hour in the morning? Or because of the time we’re going, should we stay in a cheap hotel and would we then still be able to get on lots of rides during the main hours? Our little girl is 3 so we won’t be going on any of the big rides anyway.

Thanks for any advice!

Sorry I should have added that this is Disneyland Paris!

We went at Easter. It was amazing!!! In our experience not all the rides were open first thing, especially small ones suitable for little ones, so no massive advantage to you going for the Disney hotels. Though if you could get a good deal we stayed in the Santa Fe and it was great being able to walk in and we did avoid the main queue for Disneyland... Whatever you do I'm sure you'll have a great time!

If you were going to Disney World I’d say it’s worth it if it’s still comfortably within budget. The non-Disney hotels can be a fair distance away, and some of the perks make the price premium almost worth it.

For Paris, no way. The parks are much smaller, and with a dc that age it’s not worth staying the extra hours if they are tired and grumpy.

We’ve done Paris with toddlers twice and stayed at the Explorers Hotel which was a five minute free bus journey from the park gates. It was considerably cheaper, and also had a pool and big soft play area which the cheapest Disney Hotel didn’t have.

Good point on hotel facilities FirstFallopians! Santa Fe was v basic - comfortable but no frills. And my 6 and 8 year old kids were exhausted so we skipped the magic hour twice!

Thank you so much for the advice - very glad to hear that it isn’t worth all that extra money!

I stayed at explorers in Feb this year, it is WONDERFUL!

my DS is 9 but even he can’t manage a full 12 hours in the park. Forget the extra hour, go to the park as soon as everyone is awake and has had a hotel breakfast. Do the morning then when your little one gets fed up of walking around go back to the hotel for a splash in the pool and a relax in the room. Go back later for fireworks at least once (these happen at park closing time after dark, so 9/10pm)

the free bus picks up right outside the hotel and runs regularly.

Would say definitely do it because we have just been and didn't stay in a Disney Hotel (only because I don't like the decor). The issue is, if you want to use Genie+, all the slots are gone by the time the other non-Disney Hotel folks get to pick at 9am so you basically can't get on any decent rides without queueing for about an hour and a half. Maybe it will be better if you're not going at Easter/Spring Break because it was beyond busy....
The new Genie+ system is terrible and for four costs another £120 a day per park but at least if you stay at a Disney Hotel you will at least get to choose some decent rides and not have to stand in the queue all day which rather ruins the enjoyment...

We’ve been going to DLP since it opened and have always stayed on site , it’s worth it just for the convenience for us .

We stayed at Cheyenne last year, and would definitely do again. The extra hour was worth it for us, plus the convenience of hopping on a bus that only took a few minutes to get back to the hotel for a rest in the afternoon.

We’re going to Disney in May half term for 2 days as part of a longer break near Paris. We planned to just drive there and back to our accommodation (about 25 minutes each way) but the park tickets were over £460 plus €60 for parking. I booked 1 night in Santa Fe for £612 which includes parking and magic hours both days and we got a year’s free Disney+ which I usually pay for so very similar overall. I’d stay offsite to save a decent amount but for us it wasn’t much different so worth being onsite and going early. We won’t do fireworks.

We stayed at Newport Bay a couple of weeks ago. On balance I wouldn’t stay there again.

Pros - Main pro is the convenience factor. The shuttle was handy and it was within walking distance of the parks.
DC liked Disney theme.
Room was well equipped.
It also had a swimming pool (although it was cold and I developed a bad ear ache after using it).

Cons - food was EXPENSIVE.
We got up early for the 8:30 am “extra hour” and most of the rides were shut; felt pretty conned as that was one of our main reasons for staying in Disney hotel.
Hotel was massive but room was pretty small.