Disneyland Paris Hotels w/Pts or Marriott Marriott Village d'Ile-de-France

[lilpooh108]

Hello there,

This isn't a direct DVC question, but it's DVC related. I know I can peruse Tugg but I would like to have the perspective of fellow Disney-philes/DVC owners.

We're considering extending our upcoming Europe trip at DLR Paris. We're considering staying 2 nights at either one of the DLR Paris hotels or booking through Marriott at their timeshare, the Marriott Village d'Ile-de-France.

Any thoughts? Any experiences w/the Marriott? Reviews on Tripadvisor are mixed....but how does it compare to say, DVC resorts in terms of quality/cleanliness?

I've stayed at the Marriott Maui Ocean Club and Marriott Newport Coast Villas. Does the Marriott Village d'Ile-de-France compare well to those properties?

Or am I better off staying 2 nights at the DLR Paris hotels?

Thanks!

 

[DVCBrian]

Our favorite DLP resort hotel is Sequoia Lodge. It's kind of a cross between Wilderness Lodge at WDW and Grand Californian at DLR. We just enjoyed the overall look and feel of the structure.

Two days is probably about right for DLP - we greatly prefer TDR (Tokyo) as a better theme park experience. On recent trips to Europe, we've been skipping DLP entirely.

 

[lilpooh108]

Our favorite DLP resort hotel is Sequoia Lodge. It's kind of a cross between Wilderness Lodge at WDW and Grand Californian at DLR. We just enjoyed the overall look and feel of the structure.

Two days is probably about right for DLP - we greatly prefer TDR (Tokyo) as a better theme park experience. On recent trips to Europe, we've been skipping DLP entirely.

Oh wow. I went to Tokyo Disney in 1997 and did not love it. It was really small and just kind of underwhelming (but I've never been to Disney Sea).

Is DLR Paris disappointing?

We live right next to Disneyland in CA if that matters at all....

 

[Pakey]

Oh wow. I went to Tokyo Disney in 1997 and did not love it. It was really small and just kind of underwhelming (but I've never been to Disney Sea).

Is DLR Paris disappointing?

We live right next to Disneyland in CA if that matters at all....

I thought the Paris parks were similar in size and layout to the California parks. I loved DLRP. We paid cash and stayed 2 nights at the Disneyland Hotel. I would definitely go again.

 

[lilpooh108]

I thought the Paris parks were similar in size and layout to the California parks. I loved DLRP. We paid cash and stayed 2 nights at the Disneyland Hotel. I would definitely go again.

Thanks, this is encouraging. I was a little concerned that we'd feel dumb for even going especially since we live so close to DLR...I'd hate to spend all that money for this sidetrip and be completely underwhelmed.

 

[zavandor]

The DLP onsite hotels have the very big advantage that you can walk to the park from the Hotel.
The Disneyland hotel is right above the entrance, the others are a 10-15 walk across the Disney Village (a scaled down version of Downtown Disney), so if you have the energy it's a nice walk. Otherwise there are free shuttles and in 5 minutes you are back to your hotel.
The feel of the resort is more similar to the Disneyland Resort than to WDW.

The Marriott Village instead is a bit further. To go to the park there is a shuttle or a public bus, both paid (not much, I think in the range of 1-2 euro each way).
The convenience of being in walking distance cannot be beaten, but the Marriott Village has 2 or 3 bedroom (sleepping 6-8 people), while the DLP hotels almost only hotel rooms.
Also hotel rooms in Europe are smaller than the average USA room, so you might feel a little cramped. If you are spoiled by DVC 2 bedrooms, the Marriott can be better.
There are family suites at the Disneyland hotel, but I don't have experience of those.


DLP is certainly worth a visit, but you should know in advance what to expect.
About the rides, in this post there is a list of rides or things that are different/better than in the USA parks:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2945868

However there are a few things that surprise USA visitors:
- the interaction with CMs is minimal. Sometime you might even find the occasional rude CM
- smoking only in the designated areas is not enforced. Inside the buildings none smoke, but if a queue is outside you might find someone near you smoking, even in presence of children
- there is much more line jumping than in other Disney parks
- some meet and greet are not organized, the characters walk in the street and people gather around them for a photo. People don't spontaneously queue and might be rude pushing others to get to the Character.

Re-reading what I wrote, it seems I'm describing a nightmare It's not, it's a lovely resort and your visit can be magical, however you should be aware that it will be different.

 

[dvc_john]

I've stayed at two of the onsite Disney hotels, and also the Marriott.

For a longer stay (like a week or so), I would recommend the Marriott, but for just a 2 day stay I would opt for a Disney hotel for the convenience.

Just to add: I liked Tokyo Disneyland, and didn't think it was particularly small, with 2 parks, Ikspari (like a Downtown Disney), 3 Disney hotels, Cirque Du Soleil, train station, monorail, and maybe 6 or so non-Disney hotels on the monorail line.
I also liked Disneyland Paris, although when I was there, I thought Disney Studios Paris was pretty small. But I understand that several rides have been added since then.

 

[lilpooh108]

The DLP onsite hotels have the very big advantage that you can walk to the park from the Hotel.
The Disneyland hotel is right above the entrance, the others are a 10-15 walk across the Disney Village (a scaled down version of Downtown Disney), so if you have the energy it's a nice walk. Otherwise there are free shuttles and in 5 minutes you are back to your hotel.
The feel of the resort is more similar to the Disneyland Resort than to WDW.

The Marriott Village instead is a bit further. To go to the park there is a shuttle or a public bus, both paid (not much, I think in the range of 1-2 euro each way).
The convenience of being in walking distance cannot be beaten, but the Marriott Village has 2 or 3 bedroom (sleepping 6-8 people), while the DLP hotels almost only hotel rooms.
Also hotel rooms in Europe are smaller than the average USA room, so you might feel a little cramped. If you are spoiled by DVC 2 bedrooms, the Marriott can be better.
There are family suites at the Disneyland hotel, but I don't have experience of those.


DLP is certainly worth a visit, but you should know in advance what to expect.
About the rides, in this post there is a list of rides or things that are different/better than in the USA parks:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2945868

However there are a few things that surprise USA visitors:
- the interaction with CMs is minimal. Sometime you might even find the occasional rude CM
- smoking only in the designated areas is not enforced. Inside the buildings none smoke, but if a queue is outside you might find someone near you smoking, even in presence of children
- there is much more line jumping than in other Disney parks
- some meet and greet are not organized, the characters walk in the street and people gather around them for a photo. People don't spontaneously queue and might be rude pushing others to get to the Character.

Re-reading what I wrote, it seems I'm describing a nightmare It's not, it's a lovely resort and your visit can be magical, however you should be aware that it will be different.

Thanks so much for these comparisons! We're definitely discussing pros/cons at this point.

DVC John---thanks for your thoughts as well!

 

[Anal Annie]

We spent 1 night / 2 days at Disneyland Paris before moving into the city of Paris for 3 nights prior to going to Barcelona for our Med cruise in 2011. I've given a lot of pictures and details in my trip report (the link is in my siggie) and I think you may find some things of interest if you check it out.

We felt like the points required (for a summer visit) were absurd and at that time they were still requiring you to purchase "length of stay" park tickets which we thought was a ridiculous requirement because we also wanted to sightsee in Paris a couple of days - that's why we just changed hotels - we didn't WANT 5 days of park tix. I think I've read recently tho that they may have stopped that requirement. I hope so. That was just plain wrong IMO. Anyway, we're really glad we went and I would stay onsite for the convenience if you're only going for a couple of nights. We booked a cash package at one of their "value" resorts that was supposed to be one of their best themed hotels. If you go onto the DLP website you can sign up for emails with special deals & they will send you emails - I booked with a 30% off one. I also frequented the DLP board a good bit while I was planning. Anyway, the Hotel Cheyenne was OK for the one night but I wouldn't stay there for more than that - but we knew we were only going to use it to crash for our first night (note that we have never stayed in a "value" resort at WDW so I cannot compare REALLY but I have a good hunch that the WDW ones are maintained better). I do not think that any of the properties there are maintained in nearly the same manner as the ones in the US. And zavandor is right that the CM's are not as friendly or as helpful and they smoke all over the place. They're not ALL horrible - we met some perfectly lovely ones but you have to keep reminding yourself that these CM's are not really Disney CM's. The Disneyland Paris resorts & parks are owned by a separate entity - it's like being in any generic theme park anywhere. But we really enjoyed a couple of the rides that are unique to DLP (like Crush's Coaster) and we're glad we got to compare the rides that are the same (but are still different - like the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder and Space Mountain).

We LOVED visiting Paris and we were really glad we started our big European adventure there. It would be hard to go back to Europe and NOT go there again. But I think we made the right decision to spend 1 night there then move for the rest of our sightseeing.

 

[lilpooh108]

Thanks everyone. We've decided to skip DLR Paris and save our budget and points to do Tokyo Disney Sea next year. I looked at the reviews/pics of Disney Sea and it looks incredible. For some reason DLR Paris just didn't incite the same reaction. The hotel choices left a lot to be desired.

DLR Paris would have been an additional 2 days to the end of our already 2-week long itinerary. We might have been too tired to love it

 

[McCrae]

If the main point of going to Paris is going to the Park I would stay at one of the Disney Hotels.... But if you are wanting to have a bit more of the French experience I wouldn't stay at Disney. It's easy to get to the Park by train from central Paris.

DP is a pretty small park and could easily be covered in a day trip.