Disneyland Paris

[Sammie]

Any of you been? Where did you stay? Would you stay there again?

Any imput is greatly appreciated.

 

[dinkerbelle]

We went to DLP in March of 2008. We stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triumphe in Paris. Nice hotel. We would stay there again. We stayed there because we were doing most of our site seeing in Paris. We only went to DLP for the day.

We took the train from Paris and got there before it opened. It was easy to
take the train. I don't remember how much it cost, but I don't remember it being outrageous. We were able to do both parks in one day. However, we are two adults that have been to WDW many times and so we were okay with not seeing certain things. If you have kids, it might take longer.

The Crush Coaster was our favorite thing of the trip. Space Mountain is also cool. If you have any questions, let me know and I'll do the best I can!

 

[Sammie]

Thanks, very much. I am looking for info on the DLP hotels as to who has stayed in them and which one they liked.

 

[punkin712]

Thanks, very much. I am looking for info on the DLP hotels as to who has stayed in them and which one they liked.

Been to DLP twice and stayed at the Hotel New York both times. During both trips, using DVC points meant you also got length-of-stay park tickets so it was a great value. Hotel New York (and possibly a few other DLP hotels) offers a breakfast buffet as part of the room stay. Nice selection of cereals, yogurt, fruits, bread/rolls, and a few hot items along with the obvious coffee, tea and juices.

Although length-of-stay passes are no longer included with DVC point redemptions, I would still consider staying at a DLP hotel. Close proximity to the parks as well as the train station that can take you into Paris. We took the train frequently so we decided to purchase multi-day tickets. One stop away from DLP is Val d'Europe which has outlet stores, a mall, additional dining options and a large grocery store (Auchon).

Have fun!

 

[donald...really]

I have been to DLP twice, staying at the resort both times. The first time we stayed at the Newport Bay Club. The second time we stayed at the Sequoia Lodge. They were both very convenient with a short walk to the parks. The Newport Bay Club was CROWDED (common areas and restaurants)!!! The Sequoia Lodge was spread out in different buildings, so it didn't seem as crowded. I would stay at both of them again. Truthfully, the hotel I would stay at if I could afford it is the Disneyland Hotel. The location of the hotel can't be beat. But my favorite hotel is the Hotel Cheyenne. We took a walk around the grounds and it looks like so much fun. Very well done.

The rooms are a little different than rooms we are used to here in the States. They are smaller and squarer with less detail. But they are very nice rooms.

DLP is an AMAZING park. Every area is so full of detail and theming. And even though some of the rides look like they would be the same as the rides in WDW or DL, they are all really different adventures. The only ride I wouldn't bother with is the Indiana Jones looping coaster. Nothing but a loop. But other than that (Pirates, HM, SM, BTMRR, etc) are great.

We stayed a few days at DLP and then a week in Paris. But if you are only at DLP, getting in and out of the city of Paris is easy.

 

[wintergreen]

We've been to DLP twice on points. We stayed once at the Newport Bay Hotel, and once at the Disneyland Hotel. We liked both, but the Disneyland Hotel was in a much better location (right at the park entrance). Newport Bay has more of the feel of the Yacht/Beach club, and the Disneyland Hotel more like the Grand Floridian. Newport Bay is HUGE, and we thought that was a bit of a downside. Breakfast included in all DLP hotels, although you may have to sign up for your preferred time in advance, depending on how crowded things are. The pool at Newport Bay is larger, and can be opened to the outside during warm weather. "Hot tubs" at both pools, but not really very hot. The room we had at Newport Bay was pretty small. We got lucky at the Disneyland Hotel, and got a corner room that was very large, and had a daybed in addition to two doubles.

As mentioned above, tickets are no longer included with your points, and you have to buy length of stay tickets for everyone in your party if you are staying on points. This is fine, as long as you plan to visit the parks each day of your stay.

We really like DLP, and would probably go back.

 

[Inkmahm]

Been to DLP twice and stayed at the Hotel New York both times. During both trips, using DVC points meant you also got length-of-stay park tickets so it was a great value. Hotel New York (and possibly a few other DLP hotels) offers a breakfast buffet as part of the room stay. Nice selection of cereals, yogurt, fruits, bread/rolls, and a few hot items along with the obvious coffee, tea and juices.

Although length-of-stay passes are no longer included with DVC point redemptions, I would still consider staying at a DLP hotel. Close proximity to the parks as well as the train station that can take you into Paris. We took the train frequently so we decided to purchase multi-day tickets. One stop away from DLP is Val d'Europe which has outlet stores, a mall, additional dining options and a large grocery store (Auchon).

Have fun!

Val d'Europe also has hotels that are more reasonably priced than the DL hotels on property. We stayed literally across the street from the train station. The train stop at DL is right at the intersection of Downtown Disney, the studios and Disneyland. You couldn't get any closer or have less walking! All of the DL hotels on property (other than the DL hotel itself) were on the other side of Downtown Disney and could be a bit of a walk.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel way back in 2002 for a GF's 40th BD. I agree with the others that the location was terrific! Since I haven't stayed at any of the others I'm afraid I can't offer more than that but I would stay there again.

 

[bwvBound]

We went to DLP in March of 2008. We stayed at <some major chain hotel near the Arc de Triumphe> in Paris. Nice hotel. We would stay there again. We stayed there because we were doing most of our site seeing in Paris. We only went to DLP for the day.

We took the train from Paris and got there before it opened. It was easy to
take the train. I don't remember how much it cost, but I don't remember it being outrageous.

Ditto for us with changes noted in the quote. We purchased roundtrip rail passes with DLP admission in one single transaction through the rail ticketing system. Could not have been easier or more efficient.

 

[dvc_john]

Stayed 3 times at DLP: Newport Bay, Hotel Cheyenne, and Marriott's Village d'lle-de-France (a timeshare a short shuttle bus ride away.)
Loved the convenience of being on-site. They were expanding Disney Studios Paris last time I was there - should be all open by now. The only on-site hotel I would probably avoid would be Hotel Santa Fe - just didn't care for that one. Got an annual pass as it was cheaper than a 3 day pass and included discounts at most restaurants. Used a Metro Orange card (Carte Orange) for travel into Paris - cheap and easy to use. Good for the train into Paris as well as the subway in Paris.

 

[Sammie]

If you are coming from Paris on the train, which Disney hotel is the most convenient? Or does it matter.

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[McCrae]

DLP to me is probably the worst disney park in the world... have visited most of the others. The weathers tends to be very unreliable, and its just not the same as other parks. It was a poor location to choose. Spain would have been a better location. Culturally Disney and Paris are a bit of mismatch.... if you go to Paris my advice would be avoid Disney stick to the main tourist attractions. The happy smiling service we are used to receiving at WDW is generally missing!
I love Paris as a city and have been many times, I have been to DLP 3 times and wouldnt go again!

 

[Sammie]

DLP to me is probably the worst disney park in the world... have visited most of the others. The weathers tends to be very unreliable, and its just not the same as other parks. It was a poor location to choose. Spain would have been a better location. Culturally Disney and Paris are a bit of mismatch.... if you go to Paris my advice would be avoid Disney stick to the main tourist attractions. The happy smiling service we are used to receiving at WDW is generally missing!
I love Paris as a city and have been many times, I have been to DLP 3 times and wouldnt go again!

Thanks but I am interested in help with planning a trip to DLP, got the rest covered.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We were there last June and stayed at Marriott's Village d'Ile-de-France. The staff was very friendly and we loved the villa. They have a little grocery in the main building and it was very reasonable. There is a resort shuttle that will take you to the train station/Disneyland (5km). We had a car, so I'm not sure of the cost (if any).

We would definely stay there again.

BTW...we enjoyed the park. It may not be as "grand"..as some of the other "Disneys", but we had a blast!

 

[wintergreen]

If you are coming from Paris on the train, which Disney hotel is the most convenient? Or does it matter.

Thanks everyone for your help.

You can walk from the train station to the Disneyland Hotel, as long as you do not have too much luggage. There is a free resort shuttle at the train station that will take you to any of the resorts.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are booked on a DCL Med cruise for July 2011 and hope to add on some nights in Paris. I wish DVC would publish point requirements earlier than they do now for the other parks & properties. 2010 is online but not 2011. They appear to change a lot from year to year so it makes planning hard. In looking over the choices as published right now for DLP there are only 4 choices available on points for DLP. A couple of the other properties mentioned above are not available on points (Hotels Cheyenne & Santa Fe). It looks to me like they only offer their "deluxe" resorts for points. IMHO the DHNY and DLH are both an enormous use of points for a summer trip (36-45 per n at DHNY and 60-76 per n at DLH). The Sequoia Lodge & Newport Bay range from 27-34 per n at SL to 31-38 per n at Newport. Those are steep enough to probably push us to go with the Sequoia Lodge. We will simply not be spending that much time in the room if we're only there for 3 nights. I DO hope they continue to include breakfast at least!!

I know using points there is not the best value BUT we also want to add a few nights in Barcelona AND then of course there's the cost of the cruise & excursions so I am looking to save our cash for other things. It does irk me that they require you to purchase length of stay tickets. It's not an option, it's a requirement, whether you use the parks or not. I will have to price the park tix and compare to staying off-site and just buying what we need and compare it to how much an off-site property would run. I have a feeling we'll be using our DVC points. When I called MS about it & to ask some questions they told me the availability isn't out there as early as what we're used to. I think DLP is only available to book between 4-6 months out for some reason. They just don't release them as early for some reason.

Anyway, I am tagging along here for all the info. I can gain!!

 

[cruisedad]

We went to DLP in April 2008 and stayed at Newport Bay with a standard view room using DVC points. The view we had was really nice, it overlooked the lake in front of DLP and other resorts. It was a 5 minute walk to the park altho it was unusually cold and snowed a couple of days!! Breakfast was crowded but we had no problem getting a seat. It's a buffet breakfast, rolls, fruit, cold cuts, cereal. Most of the crowd was British and I had to laugh one morning when someone commented on how much coffee "you Yanks drink"!!
Parks are smaller than WDW and both can be seen in one day if you want too. A few rides were much better there than WDW (Pirates, Thunder Mtn, Haunted Mansion, Crush).

There is easy access to Paris by train but like any railway and big city, watch for pickpockets. At Eiffel Tower they have signs posted for them too. The people we met ranged from very helpful to ignoring us, nothing new for a big city. Just have fun and take in everything!!
There is a mall one stop away from DLP that has a bigger choice of food FYI!!

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

I've been to DLP twice, both times at Thanksgiving. This past year, the weather was a tolerable temp but rainy. In 2008, it was frigid.

In 2008, we stayed at the Sequoia Lodge and I was sorely disappointed. I expected something more WL, and it wasn't at all. Sure, you can walk to the parks from Sequoia Lodge, but the Disneyland Park itself is very large, so you end up doing A LOT of walking...really too much for a 4 year old. Sequoia Lodge is across the lake, so you have to walk past either the New York or Newport Bay, then through the Disney Villiage, past the train station then through the security check point, under the Disneyland Hotel and into the park. It's quite a hike.

My friends stayed previously at Hotel Cheyenne and really loved it. The theming is great, and there's a shuttle (I believe) to the parks, since it's further than either the Sequoia, New York or Newport Bay.

This past year, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. It was a major splurge, but the convenience was great. When the cafes and restaurants were mobbed, we could just go back to the hotel for a snack or a meal. I didn't think the common areas were that great for the price/level of the hotel, but the room was nice and the location was great!

I have been disappointed with the service at the restaurants in the parks and at the resorts, so my recommendation would be to save money by doing counter service. We have never been to Disneyland in CA, so we did enjoy the restaurant in the POTC, but the service was SOO slow. I would factor that in if you eat any sit-down.

 

[DopeyDave]

We were just at DLP this past October on DVC points. We were quite dissapointed.

We stayed at Sequoia Lodge. As a previous poster mentioned, they no longer include the length-of-stay passes, however they now require you purchase them. This was annoying as we stayed there for a week, but were only visiting the parks two days. The other four days we were sightseeing in Paris. But the cost difference between the length-of-stay passes and 2-day passes we would have purchased was still cheaper than paying for a hotel in the city. We didn't mind the train ride in and out of the city, but by the fourth day it did get a bit old.

We found the [included] breakfast at SL boring. 7 days of cereal, pastries, yogurt, fresh fruit, lunch meat and instant coffee gets old quick. They had two restaurants which served identical buffets. It appeared they also have identical dinner buffets, but we always ate elsewhere.

Walking around, it seemed all the resort hotels are in major need of maintenance/refurbishment. Newport Bay Club looked like it had just weathered about 3 New England hurricaines! Very sub-par for Disney standards.

DLP, like any Disney resort, is still a happy place. It's just a bit lacking.

 

[dvccruiser76]

My DH and I went to DLP in Sept 08. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel b/c I wanted to do it up right and had points that I needed to burn. Would I stay in DLP again, probably not. I think I would have been better off staying in Paris and taking trips out to DLP, but I digress.

DL Hotel - Reminded me of the GF in WDW, but the lobby smelled of old smoke covered by a gross air freshener. I'm guessing since it's the oldest of the hotels and smoking used to be more common in hotels, now that it's not they are trying to cover it up. It doesn't get any more convenient that this hotel since you walk out the door and can go through a DL turnstyle in probably less than 30 seconds.

DL - I agree with previous posters Space Mountain here is better than WDW. It goes upside down and reminds me more of Aerosmith's Rockin Rollercoaster. The Indiana Jones Roller Coaster was also a let down.

DS - Once again I agree, Crush's Coaster was incredible. I wish they had it in FL.

The food - One word "disgusting!" I was so disappointed with the quality. We ate at the burger place in the downtown area and everything else was terrible. On days that we went into Paris I would make sure that we timed our meals to eat there before heading back to DLP.

The train - Super convenient! It is literally right between DL and DS. A 5 minute walk from both parks.

If you are set on staying in DLP, I would save my points and stay at either the NY Hotel or the Newport Bay one. If I ever return and need to use points, that's what I'll do. They're newer and we walked through all the hotels and none of them smelled old or like they were covering up old smoke.

Have a wonderful time! Paris is absolutely beautiful. Make sure you see the Eiffel Tower at night when it twinkles. It was the highlight of my trip