Any info on the Explorer Hotel?

[G's mommy]

Has anyone stayed here? Considering November trip to Paris, interested in 2 or 3 days in parks and 3 days in Paris. How easy is it to get back and forth into Paris on the train?

Thanks!

 

[Disney owl]

Sorry haven't stayed at the Explorer Hotel but would like to say that getting into central Paris from DLP via train is very easy . Its just one train & once in Paris the Metro is very easy to use too

 

[goofiiee]

We got back several days ago, stayed at Explorer's and it is very easy to get into Paris and to the Park, of course. The shuttles are very frequent and we never had to stand in the morning. Only in the evenings when were taking one of the last ones, around 11:30pm (?)

You will take the same pink shuttle from hotel to get to the park as well as the train station. Across the street from where the shuttle bus drops you off is the train station, you cannot miss it. It should take around half an hour, depending on which stop you get off. Then use metro to get around w/in Paris.

Good luck!

 

[Ware Bears]

Goofiiee, how did you find the Explorers? We are staying there also. I would have preferred to stay at a Disney hotel but there are 5 of us and it is just too expensive.

 

[goofiiee]

Hi Ware Bear,
I didn't forget about you, just had alot to catch up on all the home/work/children fronts.

So, the Explorers....do you want the long version or the short one? I'll give you the short one...(for now )

Check in-no probs
check out-same

Room-we had booked a room plus the cabin room (total beds for 6) which consisted of 1 double, 2 twins and a separate room, with window and a bunk bed for the little ones. Considering the size of the main room, plus the number of nights we stayed (6) this was not a luxury, plus it only cost us about 20-25eur more a night. This, also allowing for the fact that we spent very little time in the room, naturally.

The cabin roon also had an extra tv plus drawer space in the bunk beds. It was spacious, and kept the kids out of our hair just to settle down before bedtime and pre-breakfast. So if you have children, I'd go for this.

The bathroom was fine, the toilet separate, which is a double-edged knife, if you know what I mean. There is a supply of liquid soap/showergel/shampoo. The shower was the nice, power-massage type, towels were enough. (We had asked for a couple more and no probs)

The beds were suprisingly comfortable and we didn't miss the a/c. There is a ceiling fan, though.

I must say that the rooms were very clean and well kept and that goes for the rest of the hotel most of the time.

Breakfast is somewhere between ok and good. They had continental-choc and butter croissants, bread rolls, ham and cheese diced in squares (!!! take a guess why, but that didn't stop most people) yoghurt, plain and fruit, creme caramel, etc. Optional cooked breakfast for a surcharge. Coffee not the greatest, the usual machine-poured, but the o.j. was fine.

The organization in the restaurant left something to be desired, especially on Sunday morning, it was chaotic, but on most other mornings it was much calmer. You could also sit outside, wheather permitting, which we did a couple of times.

The pool is really cool for the kids w/ a couple of slides, although the big 'dragon-mouth' one was out of order. Mine just loved it and on a couple of occasions they wanted to leave the park and go swimming. (We only did them that favor once! )

The staff in reception were mostly very helpful, but in a couple of instances (in the morning, around check out time) there was too long of a wait to enquire, so I would say they were definitely understaffed. Ask your questions in the evening, when they are just hanging out.

All in all a very child friendly hotel, with a games room for older children and soft play areas for younger ones.

There is a safe in the room as well as water boiler for instant coffee or tea. They offer complimentary coffee, tea, cocoa, but for two you will need more coffee if staying more than a couple of days, assuming you need it.

The shuttles were excellent, we never had to wait more than 5 or 10 minutes and were mostly always seated. It went directly to the park after the Explorers, except on one single occasion when it picked up afterwards at the other 3 (Movenpick, Holiday Inn, Kyriad).

We did not eat at any of the restaurants, except on our arrival night we had the pizza, as we were tired and wanted something simple, but trust me one serves at least 2 and not 1 as they will tell you when you order!

So, in my opinion a good value for the money, good service overall, clean adequate rooms (much better than the photographs, really) and very child friendly. And you get a separate bedroom for the kids. (I know what you mean about disney hotels, it was double the cost)

It looks like I gave you the long version after all , but if you need to know something more specific, ask away.

Have a good time, and let us know your thoughts after you visit,
cheers

 

[Ware Bears]

Thanks for replying so quickly, Goofiiee.

Glad it was OK, I'm not expecting anything fancy, I just want it clean and comfortable.
Think I'll take tea bags and coffee with me!

BTW, would love to read a full trip report!

 

[Cyrano]

I also enjoyed your report. We had decided against the Holiday Inn this time and narrowed our choice to Explorer or Davy Crockett.
In the end we went for DC but will probably try Explorer next time

Reid

 

[goofiiee]

Thanks for replying so quickly, Goofiiee.

Glad it was OK, I'm not expecting anything fancy, I just want it clean and comfortable.
Think I'll take tea bags and coffee with me!

BTW, would love to read a full trip report!

Don't take a hairdryer though, forgot to mention there is one.

Actually I think you may be pleasantly surprised, as we were since we also did not have high expectations. But all the areas, including reception, dining, play areas, etc are much larger and somehow impressive and pictures you see online don't do them justice.

As for the trip report, I didn't take any notes at the time, so now I have to look at the videos to recall what/when we did, as we spent 4/6 days in the parks...

 

[goofiiee]

I also enjoyed your report. We had decided against the Holiday Inn this time and narrowed our choice to Explorer or Davy Crockett.
In the end we went for DC but will probably try Explorer next time

Reid

Is there a particular reason you decided against holiday Inn or just wanted a change? Would like to know as we may consider it for our October visit.

BTW, this castle picture of yours!! (Which is great, well done) Every time I passed by that area in the park, I could not help but think of the picture, and the board

 

[uksaint]

Great to read such a positive review of the Explorer's - we'll be there in 9 days.

Andy

 

[G's mommy]

Please post your opinion when you return, we are still considering Explorer for our November trip.

Thanks!!

 

[Morveryn]

Nice to read a review of The Explorers, this where we will be staying in June.
Sounds like you had a good time Goofie, its good that the pizzas are large as DH can eat (how do I put this politely?) quite a bit!
At least I won't have to pack a hairdryer if there is one in the room. Thats good, more space in my case for my purchases!

 

[TinkBoo&ElliesMum]

Breakfast is somewhere between ok and good. They had continental-choc and butter croissants, bread rolls, ham and cheese diced in squares (!!! take a guess why, but that didn't stop most people) yoghurt, plain and fruit, creme caramel, etc. Optional cooked breakfast for a surcharge. Coffee not the greatest, the usual machine-poured, but the o.j. was fine.

The organization in the restaurant left something to be desired, especially on Sunday morning, it was chaotic, but on most other mornings it was much calmer. You could also sit outside, wheather permitting, which we did a couple of times.

The pool is really cool for the kids w/ a couple of slides, although the big 'dragon-mouth' one was out of order. Mine just loved it and on a couple of occasions they wanted to leave the park and go swimming. (We only did them that favor once! )

So breakfast hasn't changed since our visit in October 2003. It drove us nuts while we were there and it was middle of the week! We had to stalk people for a table, staff was apparently in hiding since we never saw them, and the food was out most of the time. It was a huge shock after staying at SL!

We enjoyed the pool also, though it was a tad cold! Our only problem was getting pool towels, the staff person there tried to speak English and it wasn't going well so DH took over in French which he informed me was worse than the English! We finally established that we would have to pay for the towels and it would be on our bill, it never did.

My only other complaint was the sit-down restaurant, it was slow even by French standards, we had a three and a half hour meal with two kids!

 

[Cyrano]

Holiday Inn is an excellent hotel, but now that youngest is 3 years old we would need two rooms
Given that they are 7, 5 and 3 year old and that there was no guarantee that we would get ajoining rooms, we decided to look for an affordable option while staying together.

Reid

 

[Cyrano]

Goofiiee

sorry, I forgot to say thanks for compliment on photograph
I think you can tell that I am quite pleased, hence it is my avatar.
Loaded it up to disboard and link in my signature so that it can be download.

The quality of others on this board and their websites are fantastic.
I'm making a list of other photographs I'd like to add to my collection - eg balloon.

Reid

 

[goofiiee]

Goofiiee

sorry, I forgot to say thanks for compliment on photograph
I think you can tell that I am quite pleased, hence it is my avatar.
Loaded it up to disboard and link in my signature so that it can be download.

The quality of others on this board and their websites are fantastic.
I'm making a list of other photographs I'd like to add to my collection - eg balloon.

Reid

Thanks, no need to apologize!
I was tempted to take a similar shot , but resisted, thinking there is no way I'd find the angle. What can I say, you can't imitate real art, huh?!!