I bagged a cheap deal on Thursday afternoon and booked on a whim. Giving ourselves just 24 hours to get ready I told the astonished kids we were off to Disneyland Paris the next day!
I decided driving was the cheapest option and at 4.30 Friday afternoon, the earliest everyone could finish work/get home from school, we set off.
Nine hours later we arrived at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch where, rather helpfully, reception is manned 24 hours a day and a rather too awake Frenchman patiently explained everything to a very tired me!
We drove back from reception to find our cabin. We were, due to the price we paid, staying in a pioneer lodge.
It was dark when we arrived at the cabin and absolutely freezing! In order to work the electricity you had to use the door key and turn a lock. This meant the heating had not been on for what felt like some time so the cabin was very cold. We all jumped into our freezing beds with our clothes on and tried to get some sleep while the heaters started to warm the place up.
By morning the cabin was warm and even with going out all day the next day, it retained the heat so we came to the conclusion it must of been empty for some time before we arrived.
In order to stay at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch you need a car. There are no shuttle busses to Disneyland and the site is that spread out you may need to drive to the main reception area from your cabin.
It is set out with a main pedestrianised area where you will find the reception, a shop, restaurant, bar, childrens play area, swimming pool and barn at the center. Then there is a long road to the exit with lots of smaller roads off of it. The cabins are set out along the smaller roads, each with a space to park your car. The whole site is in a forest.
The cabins (caravans dressed up) are self catering although you can buy breakfast and pick it up from a small hut near where you are staying or opt for one of Disney’s meal packages.
The cabins do not have wifi but there is a TV with English childrens channels.
One room had a double bed with en suite shower and toilet room. The other had three single beds for the children. There was an additional pull out bed under one of these beds which, if used may not give you much space in the second room!
There are additional toilet and shower rooms, a living area with bench sofa, dining table and a kitchenette. The kitchenette has everything you need for a short stay and includes electric hobs, microwave, kettle, coffee machine, full sized fridge/freezer and a dishwasher. The only thing we missed was a toaster or grill as crumpets are not quite the same fried!
Outside is a decked area with table and chairs and a BBQ which we didn’t use as it was freezing, but in the summer this would be a welcome addition.
The cabin has everything you need except a toaster and the warm welcome from the staff made up for the freezing middle of the night arrival!
The site restaurant, Crocketts Tavern, is in our opinion a better restaurant than any you will find in the disney village. It is better value, as although the price is similar, the buffet is amazing and we had more than enough to eat. The food is fresh and in the most part, healthy. The childrens area contained chicken nuggets and fish nuggets but these were freshly cooked with real meat. There is soup, an extensive salad bar and hot options including fish and vegetarian options. The home cooked desserts were also amazing and there were too many to choose from. There was also fruit and delicious cheese, aswell as sweets and chocolates and even cornetto icecreams in the freezer. We are a family of fussy eaters and everyone was happy.
The swimming pool is more of a small water park. You can hire towels at €2 each from the site shop so dont need to take your own. There is a water slide, pool area, small rapids and hot tub. It is open until 10pm. It looked amazing and we were really looking forward to a swim after a day in the parks but unfortunately someone had an accident in the pool and it needed cleaning so had been closed for the night, as cleaning takes two hours. At least we know they take pool cleanliness seriously. We would love to return and try out the pool!
Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch is about 10 minutes drive to the parks and worth staying at if you want the option of self catering accomodation and your own space. You can read about our adventures in the parks here: https://autismkidsontour.com/2017/01/25/disneyland-paris-and-walt-disney-studios/
Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch with an autistic child?
Out of all the Disney hotels I would say yes to this one! You have your own cabin, so wont disturb others or have lots of people around you and you can cook your own meals if your child is fussy.
If you did want to use the restaurant then I would go early when people are still at the parks for the fireworks as it can get very crowded after that.
There is an outdoor playarea for letting off steam and the pool if your child likes water. There is a fire in the shop area but it is fenced off and this area also has no cars.
The whole site is fairly peaceful and a calm refuge away from the busy park area if needed.
We drove down to France and took the Eurotunnel across. Disney is around three hours drive from Calais. You can use tesco club card vouchers for the Eurotunnel crossing or the ferry can be cheaper option.
I found a deal on the Disneyland website and paid £415 for 2 nights self catering accomodation at Disney’s Davy Crockett Ranch and three days tickets for both parks, including free parking and extra magic hours aswell as use of the swimming pool. This price was for up to 6 people so could work out at £69 each for a three day holiday at Eurodisney!
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