If you’re looking for the cheapest options to stay onsite at Disneyland Paris, then you’ll probably be looking at Hotel Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne. As the two cheapest resorts on site both are popular! But which is the better option? In this post we’re comparing the two resorts in different categories to weigh up which is the better option, to help you make the decision for your next Disneyland Paris holiday.

Theme

If you’re just looking for somewhere to lay your head in Disneyland Paris, you may not care much for the theme of your hotel. But the theming is what makes Disney Hotels stand out from the crowd in many respects!

Hotel Santa Fe was originally created to have an American South West theme – think roadside attractions, desert-like theming and Latin American style designs around the rooms. When it had its last major refurbishment this theme was adapted to be themed around Pixar Cars. The rooms are grouped into four sections themed to different Cars characters, road-like and Route 66 theming links the buildings, and rooms have details like a traffic cone lamp and chequered flag themed shower curtain.

Hotel Cheyenne on the other hand was themed as a Wild West resort – if you ever fancied sleeping in Frontierland inside Disneyland Park, this is definitely the resort for you! At Cheyenne’s most recent refurbishment it also had Disney characters added, in this case Woody, Jesse and Bullseye from the Toy Story films to fit the Wild West vibe. At Hotel Cheyenne buildings are named after famous Western figures, the grounds feature a recreation fort and Western Camp details, and in the rooms there’s a lamp shaped like Woody’s boot and a lot of horseshoes and cow print motifs.

Both resorts do their theming very well. It may not be the most luxurious theming but hey, these are Value Resorts so it was never going to be! I do think that Hotel Cheyenne pulls off the combination of its former theming and current look a little better than Hotel Santa Fe but that’s more to do with the suitability of the characters than anything. Ultimately which is best is down to your preference – do you prefer Cars or Toy Story?

Verdict: It’s a tie – this one is down to what you simply prefer!

In room amenities

As the cheapest hotels at Disneyland Paris, as you’d expect the rooms at both Santa Fe and Cheyenne are pretty basic and small. But they’re not exactly the same!

At Hotel Santa Fe, the rooms come with two double beds as standard, a shower over the bath in the en suite bathroom, and some drawer and hanging storage. There’s also a themed chair to sit in, and a ceiling fan in the light fitting to help cool the room down in the summer. What there isn’t here is any tea or coffee making amenities in the room, however guests can use their MagicPass (room key) to get two free hot drinks a day from the vending machines scattered around the hotel. As well as a range of coffee and tea this also includes hot chocolate and tomato soup!

Over at Hotel Cheyenne, rooms come with either two double beds or one double bed and a fold up sleeper which can fold open to sleep two, or stay folded to serve as a sofa. This does give a little more flexibility to the rooms, and makes the rooms here feel bigger if you have the sofa folded up. The room size is very similar though. Storage and bathroom wise you’re pretty much the same as Santa Fe in Cheyenne. Hotel Cheyenne does have in the rooms two things that Santa Fe doesn’t though. The first thing is in room air conditioning – something very nice to have in the summer! (If you’re coming in winter you probably won’t be fussed though). The other is a kettle and Lavazza Coffee Machine. This is great if you want a morning pick me up in your room, unfortunately though there’s only coffee or tea offered so hot chocolate drinkers are a bit out of luck.

Verdict: We’re giving this one to Hotel Cheyenne simply because of the air conditioning and more flexibility with the fold out bed option. Coffee drinkers will probably prefer Cheyenne too!

Hotel Amenities

If you plan to spend a little time in your resort, the wider amenities outside the hotel room are also going to be important. Actually, Hotel Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne have a lot of amenities in common!

Both resorts offer a central building that offers reception and concierge desks, a Starbucks Coffee shop, gift shop, buffet restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner, and character meet and greets. Around both resorts also are some nice scenery details to enjoy that tie in to their respective themes (go find the fort at Cheyenne, or the ‘world’s smallest volcano’ at Hotel Santa Fe). Both also offer a shuttle bus or walking path to the theme parks and Disney Village, and the Magic Shuttle for guests coming from the airport. And both have luggage rooms where you can store items on your first and last day while you’re in the parks.

At Hotel Santa Fe the buffet option is Tex Mex for dinner. The breakfast buffet is a mixture of continental and hot food, all pretty standard stuff really. Character wise in the lobby, you tend to meet one of the Fab Five characters, sometimes dressed in racing gear, sometimes in something seasonal (around Halloween or Christmas), and sometimes in their normal outfits. It seems a bit hit and miss who you get but it’s still a good opportunity to meet a character with less of a wait than you do in the parks! Hotel Santa Fe does also have a large groups reception – probably because as the cheaper resort on site larger groups are more likely to stay here, and it prevents them blocking up the main reception while checking in! Also while it’s technically not a Disney provided amenity, Santa Fe is next door to a petrol station that can be used from grabbing some supplies with a very short walk.

Over at Hotel Cheyenne the buffet is more American / barbecue themed for dinner, although there are several buffet items that appear at both resorts. The breakfast buffet is the same as at Santa Fe, but has an additional pancake machine! Character wise here you meet Woody or Jesse, which is a rarer character meet and greet – otherwise your only chance of meeting these characters is in World of Pixar in the current Studios / future Disney Adventure World – and that’s not guaranteed every day. Cheyenne does have Fort Apache on site which is technically a playground, although it’s been locked up for a while. Hotel Cheyenne does have more space for littles to run around though outside, and also outside space for the adults to enjoy with its nature walk including orchard, rose garden and vegetable garden. Cheyenne also offers pony rides seasonally, for an extra cost. Finally, Cheyenne also has an onsite self-serve laundry, which Santa Fe does not have.

One thing to note about Cheyenne vs Santa Fe – some of the Santa Fe buildings have lifts (elevators), none of the ones in Cheyenne do! So if your mobility is limited make sure you book a ground floor room in Cheyenne. (Both hotels offer accessible rooms for wheelchair users as needed).

Verdict: We think Cheyenne edges out Santa Fe here with its extra outside amenities and activities, and laundry facilities. Both have a lot to offer though. And the lack of lifts at Cheyenne is a bit annoying!

Proximity to the parks

Most people staying in Disneyland Paris are naturally wanting to spend a lot of time in the theme parks! So which is the better option between Hotel Cheyenne and Hotel Santa Fe?

This one isn’t that hard to judge – it’s Hotel Cheyenne. It’s marginally closer to the parks and on the right side of the waterway running off of Lake Disney to the resorts to bring you out closest to Hotel New York and the Disney Village security point. Technically according to Disney, Hotel Cheyenne is a 10-15 minute walk to the parks and Santa Fe a 15-20 minute walk to the parks.

Having said that, your location in your hotel is everything here. Someone staying in Hotel Santa Fe in the Luigi section (the part nearest the theme parks) is going to be closer to the parks than someone staying in the Calamity Jane building in the North Corral of Hotel Cheyenne (the furthest building from the parks). When choosing your room you’ll have the option of choosing whether to be closer to the path to the parks – if you’re planning to walk to the parks then we’d strongly suggest you choose this! If you don’t fancy the walk to the parks both offer shuttle buses that run frequently and are about the same in time taken to reach the train station outside Disneyland Park.

Verdict: Cheyenne is the winner here, just – but remember that your location in the hotels makes all the difference!

Hotel benefits

Staying at any Disneyland Paris hotel isn’t a cheap affair, but it does bring a certain number of benefits too!

Most of the benefits apply equally to both Hotel Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne. They include:

• Cheaper park tickets if bought with a hotel package
• Magic Hour – an opportunity to ride select rides in both parks for an hour in the morning before the parks open to regular guests
• Ability to book dinner and activity reservations as soon as the break is booked up to a year in advance – much earlier than offsite guests (typically 60 days)
• A Magicpass card that acts as your room key, park ticket and keeps track of any meal credits you have, that you get to keep afterwards as a souvenir.
• Ability to buy a range of meal plans, allowing you to pay for some or all your meals when you book your holiday, and potentially save money.
• Disney Express service – if you’re travelling by train you can pay a little extra to drop your bags at a special desk in the train station and pick up your Magicpass there, so you can head straight to the parks and your luggage gets transported to your hotel luggage room to be picked up later. On the way home you can drop your luggage at the hotel luggage room and then pick it up at the train station later in the day.
• Magic Shuttle – able to book a shuttle bus from the airports to the hotels
• Disney theming and customer service
• Free shuttle bus between the hotel and the theme parks / Disney Village
• Character meet and greets in the hotel

Actually looking at it the only real difference we can see amenities is that staying at Hotel Cheyenne allows you to book a higher tier of meal plan, so you have slightly more restaurants included. But it does cost more, so it’s swings and roundabouts whether that’s of real benefit depending on if you were planning to use a meal plan and where you’re planning to eat!

Verdict: It’s a tie – there’s great benefits of both!

Cost

If you just want to stay on site at the cheapest possible cost and don’t care more than having somewhere to sleep then this is the category for you.

And it’s got an easy answer – across the board, Hotel Santa Fe is generally the cheaper hotel of the two. You may get the odd time when comparing prices that Santa Fe comes up as more expensive as Cheyenne, this happens when there’s been more demand at Santa Fe than Cheyenne and it’s pushed the price up! But it’s extremely rare. The price difference between the two can be anything from just £10 or more cheaper at Santa Fe to being over £100 cheaper for the same length of break and same group – it all comes down to demand and dates (you can get an idea in the price comparisons in our blog on the cheapest time to go to Disneyland Paris in 2026). If you have flexibility with your dates we’d recommend having a play around with Disneyland Paris’ price comparison tool to see your options, but if the lowest cost is the be all and end all for you, 95% of the time Santa Fe is where you’ll want to look.

Verdict: Santa Fe the vast majority of the time!

Overall

So overall, which resort is the better – Hotel Santa Fe or Hotel Cheyenne?

Looking at our notes above, then Hotel Cheyenne seems to take the crown here for the slightly better amenities and park proximity. But of course you’re paying a bit extra for these amenities! I would say that personal preference wise I like Cheyenne more than Santa Fe – I just prefer the theming, and like the slightly shorter walk to the parks and air conditioning. So if you’re torn between the two my vote would probably be Cheyenne. Having said that, Hotel Santa Fe is by no means a bad hotel! For its price it’s got a lot to offer, and for Cars fans I think they’ll prefer Santa Fe no question. My ultimate conclusion here I think is that neither is a bad option – just go in expecting them to be more budget in feel and amenities, and you’ll probably love both!

What do you think – have you stayed in both and have a preference? If so let us know in the comments, and while you’re there please subscribe to this blog! You’ll receive a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris Attraction accessibility (typically £3). We have tours of the rooms and hotels up on our Youtube channel, so please come and visit us there too! And if you like our content and would like to support our work, you can do so by leaving us a tip. Thank you!