Staying in one of the on site hotels at Disneyland Paris is a big financial commitment. It can be the perfect way to bring Disney magic throughout your stay – but it’s not without its pitfalls. Here I’m sharing some top do’s and don’ts of staying in the onsite hotels to help you get them most out of your trip.

Do… make sure you’re getting the best price with the online calendar

The Disneyland Paris onsite hotels don’t have one static cost per night, that’s charged year round. Instead the cost of a hotel can vary widely from month to month, week to week or even night to night. That’s because Disney, like the vast majority of hotel owners, use dynamic pricing – essentially the busier the hotel is predicted to be, the higher the cost.

Of course if your dates are absolutely set in stone then you should just grab your chosen hotel and that’s that, but of you have any flexibility in your dates we recommend using Disney’s online price comparison calculator. You may discover that a slight tweak of your dates could help you save a lot of money.

To access this if you go to the Disneyland Paris website there’ll be a box inviting you to put in your dates, number of guests etc to start pricing up your trip. Just under this (in pretty small print!) is text and a link to the online price calendar – we’ve circled it in the image below.

The calendar you bring up will have boxes on the left for you to select your length of stay, hotel, number of rooms and guests, and the option whether you’ll want to display the cost per person per night, or the total price. In the example below for September / October this year, we’ve chosen Newport Bay (a moderate hotel), for 4 days and 3 nights, for 2 adults. We’ve also selected the total stay cost for the stay.

If you look at the above calendar you can see that arriving on Monday 20th October would mean your trip would cost £1688. But arriving on Tuesday 21st (so just one day later) costs £1543 – a saving of over £100! So you can see how some flexibility could save you some serious cash. If you want to see at a glance which arrival dates are cheaper, essentially the paler the background colour the cheaper the arrival date!

Once all the dates for 2026 are released we’re planning a whole blog post on what the cheapest dates are and how to find them. But we’re actually really impressed that Disney offer this tool on their website – and we really recommend you use it too if you have any flexibility on your dates!

Also side note, all the prices online are for the resort and park tickets for your entire stay. To just book the hotel you need to either ring Disney directly, or book the hotel through a third party like Hotels.com. But note that the park tickets tend to be heavily discounted as part of the packages so you might not save much!

Don’t… leave it to late to book!

Can you book and have a great last minute trip to Disneyland Paris? Absolutely! It happens all the time. However, there’s a couple of reasons why we don’t recommend this (aside from my general planning anxiety which would be driven mad by it…)

The first point is that the prices you see for Disney hotels don’t just vary by arrival day, they can also change through time. Essentially the more a hotel gets booked up, the more the cost for the remaining rooms will go up! So booking your holiday closer to arrival can mean it costs more. Of course we realise some folks have to book nearer to their arrival date due to concerns over leave, budget etc and that’s fair enough, but if you can we recommend booking as early as you can to get a cheaper price.

The second factor in this is that hotels can and do book up! Here’s a look ahead at September and October of this year on the price comparison calendar for Hotel Santa Fe:

All those white squares with a little magnifying glass in them? Those are days this hotel is fully booked – so you can see Hotel Santa Fe is already mostly booked up for September and the beginning of October this year! Sadly, if you leave it too late to book, you might miss out.

You can visit the Disneyland Paris website to book directly with them by clicking here.

(This is an affiliate link, by using it we’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you).

Do… make sure your pick the hotel with the amenities you need

People have a lot of different expectations when it comes to their Disney hotel. For some it’s just a convenient base to wash and sleep between long park days. For others, experiencing all the hotel has to offer is a key part of the trip. So it’s important to pick a hotel that’s right for you.

If you’re looking for a place with cool Disney theming that’s convenient and cheap, the two Disney value hotels (Hotel Cheyenne and Hotel Santa Fe) might be perfect. But if you have keen swimmers in your group it’s worth noting that neither of these hotels have pools – for swimming you’ll need to pick either the moderates or the deluxes. Likewise if you want a wider variety of dining at your hotel you’ll be looking at the more expensive hotels – and the same if you want larger rooms. Even between the two value hotels their are differences – Hotel Santa Fe doesn’t have air conditioning for example!

Another thing to consider is the theme – some might not be bothered, but others might resonate more with one theme than the other. To pick on the two value resorts again, Cheyenne is a Wild West theme with a strong Woody’s Roundup vibe, whereas Santa Fe is themed to the American south west with a Route 66 and Cars inspiration. Naturally, Toy Story and Western fans will prefer the former, but Americana and Cars fans the latter!

We did a whole blog post going in depth of all the onsite hotels, allow you to compare amenities, theme and more – so we recommend giving that a read next!

Don’t… miss out on your Disney resort hotel perks!

There’s no doubt that staying onsite with Disney can be an expensive option. Part of this of course is the convenience of being near the parks in walking distance, and getting that Disney service and theming. But along with the high price tag comes some perks unique to Disney hotel guests. So if you’re staying onsite at Disneyland Paris, make sure you’re getting the most out of them!

Probably the most significant perk is Magic Hour. This is when the two Disney parks open to Disney hotel guests for one hour before the parks open to everyone else. While not all the attractions are open during this time a lot of the most popular ones will be! So it’s a great way to knock out some of the most popular rides with far lower queue times.

But while that’s the most well known perk, it’s not the only one! Other perks of being onsite guests include:

• Priority booking for restaurants and meals – Disneyland Paris hotel guests can start booking their restaurants and meals as soon as their booking is confirmed, up to a year before their arrival date. Yup, a whole year! This is a significant amount ahead of other guests who get a 60 day window. As part of this advanced booking, Disneyland Paris hotel guests can also add on character meals as part of their booking.
• Earlier booking for fireworks and parade slots – the onsite hotel guests can also add the paid for viewing for the parade and night time show (currently Tales of Magic) as part of their booking, which is a lot earlier than the 7 days it’s available otherwise. This is especially beneficial for the Tales of Magic viewing spot as that often books up well in advance. This is technically also true for the theatre shows, but generally speaking you can buy the preferred access to these much closer to your arrival date (or even on the day!) if you need to.
• Ability to add package add-ons to your trip – Disney offer a lot of potential package add ons, from meal plans that allow you to pre-pay to your meals, to transfers for luggage from the train or to and from the airport, to PhotoPass+ and birthday cakes! It’s a lot to absorb, so we’ve written a blog weighing up all your options for you to check out next.
• Sending purchases back to your resort – If you spend over €50 in the parks you can have your purchase sent back to your hotel, for you to pick up at the gift shop. As it’s not there until later that evening, this isn’t an option for your check-out day.
• Charging purchases to your room – you have the option to add a credit card to your account so you can charge any resort purchase to your room. This may or may not be a good thing depending on how closely you want to watch your spending!
• Character meet and greets – All of the Disney hotels offer meet and greets that are specific for that resort’s guests. In the Disneyland hotel it’s a Princess or two, in New York it’s a Marvel superhero. At Newport Bay expect one of the fab five classic characters in nautical garb, and for Sequoia Lodge expect ‘woodsy’ characters like Chip n Dale. Then at Hotel Cheyenne it’s Woody or Jessie from Toy Story, and at Sante Fe it seems to be a bit of a hodge podge but it’s typically one of the fab five classic characters, sometimes in either seasonal outfits or dressed for racing! For all the hotels apart from Disneyland and New York, it used to be that anyone could queue up for the meet and greets. However we’ve heard that they’re starting to crack down on this and asking to see room keys so guests can prove they’re staying there. Your mileage may vary.
• Free shuttles and walking distance to the park – All the hotels (apart from Disneyland Hotel which doesn’t need it!) offer a free and frequent bus shuttle service between the hotel and the parks. But even better (in our opinion) is that all the hotels are walking distance from the parks – the furthest away are the value resorts with probably about a 20 minute walk from the far side of the resort. The walk is pretty flat, and quite pretty in places! Of course use the shuttle buses if you need to (or prefer to), but bear in mind they get very swamped around park opening and especially at park close!

Do… make sure the hotel knows about your accessibility needs

One for our differently-abled friends here, if you have any accessibility needs make sure you let your Disney resort know in advance of your trip.

If you need a bathroom to be accessible for wheelchairs etc you do need to ring and book your room seperately, and we suggest you do as soon as you can! But you might have other accessibility needs you want the hotel to know. For example you might not need a fully accessible room but don’t want your room to be accessed by stairs only because of mobility differences. If that’s the case let the hotel know as some rooms are only accessible by stairs – we came across this on our last trip to Hotel Cheyenne when we were in a first floor room (second floor to our American friends) in a building with no lifts! Thankfully we were very near the stairs and could just about manage, but my joints weren’t thanking me by the end of the trip. So make sure any requests like this are on your hotel booking.

Other things you may want to let your resort know in advance is if a guest has visual or hearing differences, as they can supply items to help you manage your resort room. And absolutely let them know if you’re bringing a service animal, as you might find some special goodies in your room for your trusted companion!

For a full break down of everything Disney can offer differently-abled guests going to Disneyland Paris, see our previous blog.

Don’t… forget travel safety precautions while at the Disney hotels

Now it’s worth saying that the vast majority of people at Disneyland Paris are lovely folk just trying to have a nice trip, like you are. However, sometimes we see people running into problems in the hotels, partly we think because as it’s Disney it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. But sadly, there are some horrible people everywhere and Disneyland Paris isn’t immune to this.

One part of this is having cast members walk into the rooms while they’re in there. This isn’t Disney just trying to snoop, it’s become standard that all rooms are checked once a day regardless of if the ‘do not disturb’ sign is on or not for safety reasons (after the Las Vegas shootings a few years ago). So whenever you’re in your room make sure you use the extra safety dead bolt to make sure no one can walk in on you unawares! The cast members should always knock, but if you miss that for some reason then they might just walk in on you.

Another thing we have heard happening is valuables going missing from the hotel rooms. Again we can’t emphasise enough how super rare it is, but it sadly does sometimes happen. We always recommend making sure all valuables are secured away and out of sight whenever you’re out of your room. There’s the in room safe you can use, or you may prefer to lock items inside luggage or the like. But don’t leave them out and visible at all. Of course you’ll have housekeeping entering your room during the day, and we’ve noticed that often when they’re cleaning a room the staff will have the room door propped open – and of course that could be an opportunity for someone to grab something. Again, the chances are slim, but it’s probably not worth risking it. And this probably goes without saying but if you’re leaving your room unattended, even for a minute or so to get ice or something, make sure you lock the door behind you.

And if you do have any problems, don’t hesitate to report it to Disney as soon as you can. If someone is knocking on the door or trying to enter the room and you’re not sure if they should be there, don’t answer and ring through to reception. They should be able to confirm if they should be there or not. And if anything goes missing from your room absolutely report that too. Disney may ask you to make a police report if it does which can be an intimidating prospect for sure, but it may also be necessary for your travel insurance and gives Disney extra ammunition to investigate. So it might be worth it. And if the cast member you’re talking to isn’t being to helpful ask (politely and nicely mind you!) to speak to the manager to escalate your concerns.

Do… report any maintenance issues with your room right away!

We’ve seen a lot of people turning to social media to vent their displeasure if something in their room isn’t working properly or meeting their expectations. While this can be handy to vent frustration, you know who isn’t going to see your post? The Disneyland Paris staff! So it’s important you let them know any issues as soon as you can.

In an ideal world Disney will fix the problem as quickly as possible, or they may offer to relocate you if it’s something more fundamental in the room that’ll be a more tricky fix. Again, if you aren’t getting the issue sorted you can always escalate it to a manager. But in a repeat of the point above, when dealing with any of the cast members always be polite and kind when talking to them. Yelling or getting aggressive isn’t going to get you anywhere, and that cast member probably gets a lot of abuse from guests. A little kindness and patience can go a long way! And weirdly enough, the cast members feel more inclined to help people who are nice to them than those who are horrible. Funny that!

Also bear in mind that for many cast members English is their second language, so it might take some extra explaining to get across your point and the issue. And it’s worth noting the majority of the housekeeping staff may not speak anything other than French, as they’re not considered to be in customer facing roles. So it’s better to speak to someone at reception where there’ll be an English speaker able to help you.

Don’t… leave anything on or in the hotel beds!

I see this happening so often online, and it always break my heart… A little one’s beloved stuffie has gone AWOL because it was left on or in the bed in a Disneyland Paris resort, and has been inadvertantly been taken away with the bedding.

The Disney housekeeping staff are cleaning dozens of rooms, so when it comes to cleaning the beds they don’t tend to check them carefully, they just bundle the bedding up with the rest of the dirty bedding and then it goes offsite to be cleaned. So it’s far too easy for them to scoop up items on or in the bed without noticing they’ve done it!

While soft toys seem to be the main victim of this I’ve seen people saying it’s happened with other things as well, like phone chargers or nightclothes. So our advice is to never leave anything on or in the hotel beds when you’re away from the room, to prevent anything getting lost with the sheets!

Do… bring enough charging equipment for your devices

The Disneyland Paris hotels tend to take it in turns for refurbishment works, and that means for some of the resorts that haven’t had a renovation in a little while. This has a few different impacts, but one of the ones we’ve noticed is that a lot of the hotel rooms (particularly the ones that haven’t been updated recently) can be very short on the plugs and outlets front, which could make it a struggle to charge all the devices you need to each evening.

As such we recommend coming prepared for charging, and for that we really recommend a charging hub, something like this one on Amazon: https://amzn.to/41ks1b8 (please note that this is an affiliate link so if you make a purchase we’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you). There are bigger and fancier hubs out there that you may want but this one should be enough to cover things like phones, smart watches and power banks, and can charge a Macbook too which is handy!

You could also get something like a charging plug compatible with European power, although for Amazon you may need to order from one the Amazon Europe stores to get one.

And speaking about power, it’s worth noting that the power in Europe is different to both the UK and the USA, so make sure you have appropriate plugs and adapters at hand!

Don’t… presume you can get a quick meal at your resort

Those who have visited the hotels at Walt Disney World might be used to expecting there to be at least a cafeteria style or quick service restaurant on site to grab a quick bite when you need to. But that isn’t the case at Paris. In fact none of the resorts have a quick service restaurant!

Well, sort of. A few of the resorts do have a Starbucks on site that might have a few grab and go sandwiches, pastries and the like. But what all the resorts do have instead in Paris is at least one buffet! This is great if you’re hungry and want to fill up, but the downside is of course you might need a reservation, and that the meal will cost more than a quick-service meal might.

Don’t rely on your resort shop either for more substantial snacks – you’ll be able to grab a few light snacks like crisps and chocolate in the shop, and bottled soft drinks but nothing much else. And the resorts do have vending machines, but again drinks and snacks are about your lot!

So if you’re going back to your resort in the evening and just want a quick meal, you do need to plan ahead. You could grab something to go from one of the quick service restaurants in Disney Village (we like Earl of Sandwich!), or you could pop into the train station to grab something from there. Another option is you can order food delivery to your resort, bear in mind though you might need to walk to the resort’s main car entrance to pick it up, as it’s hit and miss whether security will allow the drivers to pull into the resort. A third option is to make sure you eat before leaving the parks at the end of the day.

Also a side note on this, unless you’re in a club level room you probably won’t have a fridge in your hotel room, so the ability to store things like leftovers is a bit more limited. Of course though you’re welcome to have your own snacks and drinks!

Do… enjoy the Disney details!

Ending on a positive! What you’re paying (partly) for with the Disney hotels is Disney’s legendary theming and attention to detail – so it’s worth taking time to appreciate it!

A stroll around Hotel Santa Fe will reveal some tourist highlights like (allegedly) the world’s smallest volcano, as well as paths themed with road details to fit the Cars theme. Around Hotel Cheyenne you can find Wild West details like campfires and even an old fort, and a lovely nature walk. At Sequoia Lodge you can stroll through peaceful woodlands between the resort buildings, and at Newport Bay you have stunning views across Lake Disney to enjoy. There’s also sheep nearby! Hotel New York boasts over 300 pieces of Marvel artwork spread around the resort, while the Disneyland Hotel oozes with Princess luxury and glamour, from the castle chandelier in reception to a well-placed throne for a photo-op.

So make sure you take a little bit of time to appreciate your resort details, and the level of theming that Disney put into everything they do. It really helps bring the magic alive!

So we help those do’s and don’t help you get the most out of your Disneyland Paris hotel stay! Anything you’d add? If you like our content please do subscribe to our blog below – you’ll also get a free copy of our attraction accessibility guide. And please consider checking out our YouTube channel too!