Where to stay, where to eat!

If you’re considering visiting Disneyland in Paris, I highly recommend staying at least one night at one of the many hotels. Although there is a train that stops at many locations within Paris and ends up at Disneyland, the are some benefits to staying at the park.

You can arrive at the park early in the morning and watch the fireworks at night, not to mention if you need to take a nap or just rest midday.

The hotels also have swimming pools and some other spa services, so if you have someone in your group who has had enough rides, they can still find something fun to do.

Although we only stayed at the Sequoia Lodge, we ate at two other hotels and learned a little about their accommodations.

Sequoia Lodge

We stayed at the Seguoia Lodge for two nights and were very happy. There is definitely a rustic, woodland theme to this hotel which we loved.

Although the room, hallways and hotel in general was a little dated, it was very clean. Most importantly the beds were so comfortable. As I get older, I have become very sensitive to shabby bedding and bad mattresses. Thankfully, I slept very well!

There was plenty of hot water but the water has a color indicator wheel to let you know how much water you’re consuming. To be honest, it didn’t shorten my shower but it was interesting to see how much water I used.

Our entire package for two nights, with a two-meal-a-day plan (breakfast and dinner) was over 1500 euros for three people – one of them only five years old.

The closest hotels, Newport Bay and Marvel are much more expensive at times double the price but the Hotel Cheyenne is about the same price as the Sequoia Lodge.

I would gladly stay at the Hotel Cheyenne next time we visit as the buildings are modeled after an old timey western town. As well, the buffet layout was by far the best- spacious with many stations along the walls and in the middle of the room for ease of movement.

There were never any line ups for buffet counters and if there were, it wouldn’t have interfered with other partrons walking by.

You might wonder why I mention this in such detail, well, the breakfast buffets at the Sequoia Lodge- Hunter’s Grill restaurant and the dinner buffet in the Cape Cod room at the Newport Bay Hotel were at times busy and crowded.

I still had a great meal and the dining rooms are nice but at times I found myself lining up for ages, slowly passing dish after dish that I didn’t want to finally get to the dish I wanted. Or squeezing by people at tiny two seater tables to get to the buffet.

There was one man eating his breakfast at a small table and I swear everyone who walked by stepped on this coat hanging on the back of his chair touching the floor – it was just that squeezy!

Hotel Cheyenne

I really liked this hotel. It was so charming and looked like it’s either quite new or has been recently restored. I love the old timey western theme and most importantly it has a Starbucks!

This means a lot to me on so many levels not the least of which is the fact that Starbucks is one of the few places on the Disney property where you can get coffee with milk alternatives!

In Spain, only the most crusty, smokey, beer stenchy cafe or bar won’t have a milk alternative and even then you would be suprised. I have found soy, oat or almond milk in some of the strangest establishments in Spain.

Anyway, back to the Hotel Cheyenne. The buildings looked clean and well maintained as did the hotel reception, lobby and restaurant areas. As mentioned above, the hotel restaurant, Chuck Wagon Café was truly excellent. Spacious, great food, and friendly staff.

The hotel is only a 5-10 minute walk to the hotel guest park entrance. It’s a nice smooth path(perfect for bikes, scooters or rollerblades) along a winding river that leads into the lake and onwards to the guest park entrance.

Some of the larger parties dined in covered wagons, others sat in saddles at the bar. We had a nice booth by a window.

Sit in a western saddle at the bar – so funny! The lounge near reception was spacious with many couches and overstuffed chairs for thinking about your next Disney move.

We celebrated my son’s fifth birthday with a cake that was chocolate ice cream, chocolate and orange cake. Although vegetarian not vegan, this cake was delicious!

And of course the absolute highlight of the Hotel Cheyenne is the new Starbucks right next door from the reception area. So charming, we stopped in for some delicious coffees and a Spiderman mug and a 30 years of Disney Paris mug.

Newport Bay Hotel

Another beautiful hotel on the lake – the Newport Bay Hotel is quite grand with a nice dining area. We dined at the Cape Cod dining room on our second night.

There were great vegan and vegetarian options for the main dishes but I don’t think there were any vegan dessert options. As mentioned above, the buffet area was really crowded with the line weaving around in tight spaces past endless dishes one may or may not want.

Santa Fe Hotel

I really don’t know much about this hotel except that it’s right across from the Hotel Cheyenne on the other side of the small river with it’s own nice path towards the lake. So the location is great and the buildings looked very clean and fresh so it’s worth looking into.

Marvel Hotel

I don’t know much about this hotel except that it’s very expensive and new. The dining room offers an upscale dining experience and you need to make a reservation weeks in advance. The buffet can be booked on your meal plan, but the a la carte menu was way more expensive than the other hotels. If you’re celebrating something big then this is the hotel for you!

Aside from the meals we had at the hotel restaurants most of the restaurants in the park offer some kind of vegan or vegetarian options. However, with the hefty prices of the buffets and the amount of food at the buffets, we opted for a falafal salad and some veggie and cheese sandwiches at Pret a Manger.

This cafe chain is located near the park gates and the metro station. Perfect for a family meal around 20 euros with thankfully another Starbucks nearby. Incidentally, the Starbucks also had some nice vegan and vegetarian sandwiches.

There are some other restaurants throughout the park that offer menus or buffets with vegan or vegetarian options but some of the prices were really high -45 euros per adult, 25 euros for kids. Aside from the price, it would have been too much food for us.

Check out this link to see some of the Restaurants with Vegan and/or Vegetarian options

A final note. Culture. I have to be honest, I did observe or experience some behaviour in the dining areas that was suprising. Although the staff were mostly friendly there was the odd moment with a rather rude hostess and some behaviour or comments from other patrons.

I don’t know if it was stress or over stimulation as some parents tried to navigate the dining room with multiple children, but I was amazed.

However, I have lived in Spain for almost six years so I have learned to ignore or write off anything that I might see as rude as a cultural difference.

But, if you are coming from polite cultures where it is considered rude or frowned upon to be aggressive or make insulting comments to strangers for no reason, please ignore the negative behaviour and don’t let anyone’s comments or actions ruin your expensive vacation!