Need your opinions pls re Hotel booking

[Booknut]

Good morning everyone!

OK, am THISCLOSE to booking our trip in November, have ordered my Eurotunnel vouchers from Tesco and am all set for booking hotel today.

My dilemna now is which hotel (our previous trip was booked at Dream Castle which is now too expensive for us).

On expedia I can get the following:

3 nights Santa Fe (room only): £182.91 - this would be ok as we have 4 free park hoppers a kind friend of ours who is a CM at WDW sent us and I would just buy an annual pass so we could get discounts etc.

OR

3 nights Montana Room, Sequoia Lodge with tickets: £386

I don't think we'd be swimming so the pool isn't a huge thing for us.

My main problem is on Trip Advisor the Sequoia has had some pretty poor reviews, lots of people complaining their room cards don't work (which would be a huge pain for us with a baby!), the bathrooms are old and have mold on tiles (there are photos!) etc. The Santa Fe however has brilliant reviews so i'm kinda leaning that way.

Would love to hear your thoughts, especially if you have stayed at either recently, thanks

 

[cap'njack.]

Personally, I'd go for the SL. The Montana rooms are the better rooms in the hotel, and it has recently been refurbished. It is also a good 5 mins closer to the parks which could be all important with a baby in tow too.

SF is an ok hotel however when I went in 04 it was looking very dated and has not (as far as I know) had any refurbishment. Also the SL is meant to be nicer during the Christmas Celebrations (which you will be there for) as it feels a lot more Christmassy

 

[ukstitch]

The sequoia is generally a very nice hotel - we've never had a problem there.

However:

If you're not interested in the pool and you don't mind being further from the parks, then at that price difference I'd personally opt for the Santa Fe. There's not a lot of difference between the various hotels in terms of their rooms as far as I know and you can use all the Sequoia lodge facilities such as restaurants, shop, bar etc without actually having to stay there.

 

[cap'njack.]

Just a quick question, how do you get a room only booking from Expedia? When I do a search it comes up with tickets included in the price.

 

[Rachie B]

Just a quick question, how do you get a room only booking from Expedia? When I do a search it comes up with tickets included in the price.

i was wondering this too!

 

[hildasmuriel]

I've stayed at both and would pay extra for the SL. The hotel itself is very warm and welcoming, whereas I found the Santa Fe a bit noisy. I didn't go to the bar at night but my husband did once and said it was very lively with karaoke going on. So it depends if that is your sort of thing.

The extra ten minute walk from Santa Fe didn't matter so much in the morning - but at the end of the day......! I was so glad to be at SL. It is near enough to go back for a rest in the middle of the day as well.

The rooms are a bit bigger (Brits Guide gives the actual square metreage of each room) and has the advantage that the wash basin is separate from the loo/bathroom, so one of your party can be cleaning their teeth or having a wash whilst another is.....um...using the facilities.

I found the bathrooms at Santa Fe a bit mouldy around the tiling, but that doesn't matter much to me. I never noticed this at SL though.

When the Park closed a little early in February we would go back to SL for a half hour rest in the evening and then pop back into Disney Village for some shopping once the crowds had died down - I don't think we would have bothered from Santa Fe.

 

[hildasmuriel]

Ooooh - meant to add - Expedia are now selling room only again.
After months of only selling with park tickets, now they are showing some room only prices.

 

[Rachie B]

ive never really price up disney hotel before.....

as we dont mind staying offsite and saving money ! more to spend in the parks / on food then

only one i could get availability for ( for our nov trip) without park tickets is lake facing room @ Newport bay ........... £577 for the 2 nights !

we are going for the Holiday Inn @ £115

not had great reviews lately but we will be literally laying our heads there lol,and having a shower thats it

will spend all day sat and half of sunday in the parks / village so cant justify spending more

plus this is supposed to be a budget trip !

 

[Bolanette87]

Another vote for the Sequoia Lodge here! We really loved the hotel and the theming!! We found it clean and an all round enjoyable place to stay!

Bob xoxoxox

 

[Booknut]

OK, managed to get some sense out of drugged up DH (poor thing, he really is poorly!), showed him the photos on trip advisor and read out the comments. Amazingly he says he isn't keen on the Sequoia Lodge (to be fair he's a huge fan of the Wilderness Lodge and in his drugged up state may have been making unfair comparisons ) and preferred the bedrooms at the Santa Fe so that is where we are staying.

He can use the park hoppers we have and i'll buy my AP. With a voucher code I found on hotukdeals.com and quidco I got the Santa Fe for £162 for 3 nights, not bad I think!

I'm now able to boogie again, thanks for you help!

 

[Rachie B]

£54 a night ,bargain !

 

[Bolanette87]

Sounds a bargain!!

Bob xoxox

 

[Rachie B]

thanks for the reminder of a code and quidco too!

just booked the HI
was supposed to be £115 but got £5.50 off by using code HOTELSAVE

and will get a further 7.25% with quidco

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I stayed at the Santa Fe and i really enjoyed it. Yes its further away from the park etc but the rooms were comfy enough.

The money you save on your room the more money you have to shop lol.

 

[DLPdaft]

You have got a bargain there - and I love the Santa Fe .