Disney hotels or offsite?

[Toraliina]

Hi

I am planning a trip to DLP from Dec10-13 this year. We will have spent a week in London and a few days in Paris prior to moving to the park, and flying back to Singapore on the 14th.

I'm really agonising about whether to stay on site or offsite. I would love to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but the reviews of the insure hotels aren't great and I'm wondering if they will be worth it?

Some background, when our family visited Disneyland we stayed at the Grand Californian, and at WDW we stayed at the Contemporary. We loved both especially the Contemporary! Will we be disappointed with the DLP hotels?

Offsite I am considering the Hotel L'elysee due to ts proximity to the mall and train , and the free shuttle.

Any inputs welcome! We are two adults and three children aged 13, 11 and 6.

 

[micksn]

For the convenience of being able to walk to the parks and for a first visit I would recommend on site. The Sequoia Lodge is very good and so is the Hotel New York. However, you would need 2 rooms in both of these. Both include breakfast, but the HNY has hot items and the Manhattan restaurant is really lovely. Sequoia Lodge has newly refurbished rooms and the bar area is lovely especially at Christmas, with a roaring fire and comfy sofas. They both have nice pools, SL has a slide. The DLH is lovely and right next to park entrance, but it is a lot more I think you would be happy in either of the other 2.

 

[sky13]

On-site benefits are mainly EMH (can get so much done in that hour - though slightly negated if you get an AP that also gives EMH benefits - the price difference between a 3/4 day park hopper and an AP isn't that much) and an easy walk to the parks.

I really liked the Sequoia Lodge - it's newly refurbished and has a fantastic atmosphere, and was maybe a 10 minute walk from the parks. Would love to stay in the DLH for proximity to the parks and how pretty it looks, but it's way too far out of my price range! Wasn't fantastically impressed with the Cheyenne - thought it was in need of a refurbishment, but the western theming is done quite well.

I would go for on-site though just for the Disney bubble effect...

 

[Danauk]

I would definately stay onsite if I were you if this is going to be your 1st visit to DLP. We have stayed at the Grand Californian and at WDW we stay at either the Beach Club Villas or Animal Kingdom Lodge. At DLP if I had a choice I would stay at the Disneyland Hotel, but that is very expensive and you would need 2 rooms. We have stayed there and the New York in the past and enjoyed both of these hotels. I don't think you will be dissapointed with the hotels at DLP, I have not felt that way when staying onsite.

 

[micksn]

Another thought! If you book now on UK site you get 2 nights free, so could have 4 nights for price of 2 for onsite stays

 

[Ware Bears]

With your children's ages you'd be able to stay in a family room at the DLH. It's a lovely hotel and is vastly overpriced (like all Disney hotels!) but of course you're paying for the location which can't be beat.

If your budget can cover it easily then I'd say stay there (remember the rate includes a hot breakfast as well as park tickets), if it means a bit of a stretch then go for one of the other hotels.

We've stayed both on and offsite and have found the magic on all of our trips.

 

[jothp]

We have stayed both offsite and in the onsite hotels. We like staying onsite more because everything is within walking distance so no need to drive/get the bus/train. The Disneyland hotel is lovely and you can't beat the location but it is very expensive.

If we do stay offsite we find the residhome val d'europe basic but good value for money and it is just opposite the RER station to take you the one stop to DLP.

 

[Toraliina]

Thanks everyone.

I got a quote from World Travellers (seems so darn hard to book online, unless i want to pay all upfront!) for New York @ 1356 GBP for 2 rooms, and Elysee @ GBP1474 (strange but true). The Disneyland Hotel is coming in at a whopping 2220GBP haha! (all these for 2 rooms. We prefer the space... lol)

Another consideration I have would be the size of the parks, since we are going in winter, and park hours are shorter. I have 3 full days in the area, planning on 1 day 1 park, and then the third day (a Saturday) at the outlet and the shopping centre.

The online rate for Elysee is coming up at Euro 918 for the duration but I would need to get the tickets and breakfast etc separately. argh! too many decisions.

what would you do?

 

[Chlo83]

The bonus with booking onsite is you get park tickets for all the days - so for 3 nights you would get tickets for 4 days - so you could pop into parks day you arrive, or for a bit on the last day if you get bored at the shops. If you do offsite you wouldn't be able to do this unless you bought extra tickets

 

[Chlo83]

I would also say if you want a bit cheaper look at the Sequoia - we stayed here in January and really liked it - probably also has the best pool with a slide and hot tub. You could do GF room for character breakfast if you're doing before Nov as well and might still be cheaper than HNY.

We stayed in Yellowstone lodge, which was close to main building and pool - and easy to walk right out onto trail to parks

 

[Ware Bears]

I'd go for the New York if you don't want to spend all that extra for the DLH - the standard of the hotels are the same, you're paying all that extra purely for the location. I think it would be very hard to spend more than a couple of hours at the shopping centre/outlet so you may be glad of the chance of a third day at the parks.