I feel as though I have stayed in enough Disney hotels (4 in the last 5 years) to be able to rate them in order (4 in the last 5 years) of my personal preference. The only ones I am yet to stay in are the Disneyland Hotel, you know the massive one that overlooks the park, it's shown in every single advert with children looking happy; and the New York one, the one that's re-opening as a  Marvel hotel & to be honest I probably won't be staying in either of these anytime soon because they're just so blimmin' expensive!
Before beginning, I just want to put a disclaimer out there, I love every single one of these hotels, but who doesn't have their favourites? I'd never ever book a Disney trip for the hotel, because I don't spend nearly enough time there, my trips usually last 3-4 days so I have to make sure I squidge in as much time at the parks as I can!

5. Explorers Hotle (Partner Hotel): This hotel is a partner hotel, a short shuttle ride away from the park, I've stayed in it twice, once in 2004 and again in 2014. I remember the first time I stayed in this hotel my family weren't overly impressed. The lobby and the play area and everything was lovely and Disney, but the rooms were a basic travelodge-style room. However I went back to this hotel in 2014 and the rooms have more of a sailor/explorer style theme. It's such a good hotel if you're looking for a bargain, if you want to stay somewhere a bit out of the way and not as crazy as an Official Disney Hotel is, the only down side is, the shuttle bus can get insanely busy once the park has closed, like, uncomfortably busy, but they're regular, so there's that.


4. Hotel Cheyenne: I stayed in this hotel in 2016 on my first Disney Christmas trip and it's more of an apartment type hotel where the reception, resturant and bars are situated in a different block. We stayed in the Jesse James apartment and loved the cowboy theming. Me and my friend actually used the bunkbed instead of the double bed just because it was there. It's situated close to the park so its easy to walk down by the canal for a scenic route rather than get the shuttle bus. The breakfast was standard, but it's changed now since you have to pay. We never visited the park because we were just too busy getting rest in for the day after. I only placed it last on my (very short) list because I just prefer the others. It was clean the staff were friendly, it's a really nice apartment. It has been refurbished since I went so I'll 100% go and check it out again!

3. Santa Fe: I've stayed in this hotel twice, firstly in 2015 with my friends and again in 2019 for the Disney Run. I love the theme of this hotel, it's spot on. Every room makes you feel like you're in the Cars film with the cone lamps and the Route 66 signs.  It's so what you would imagine a Disney hotel to be about. Everything's bright, the theming (is that a word?) is on point, the cast members who work there are amazing, the breakfast potatoes are to die for. This hotel is also one of the apartment type things like the Cheyenne, which I love, you can walk to the park and you pass all the other hotels on the way past so you can have a little nose around them all. I just love this hotel.

2. Sequoia Lodge: I first stayed in this hotel in 2018 over Christmas, and it's so beautifully dressed for the season and such like an old lodge. This hotel is perfect for the Christmas season, it's so cosy with an open fire in the bar. It's the cosiest Disney hotel I have ever been in, I never went in the pool but it looked divine. It was the first time I'd ever eaten dinner in a hotel, and it didn't disappoint, it had a huge collection of food in it's buffet, fair to say I ate my body weight every night. It tasted good and was enough to make me fall asleep and get a good sleep before the early mornings. The shop has an amazing window display, something which you don't get in the Cheyenne or the Santa Fe. This hotel is so close to the park, just to the left side of the lake meaning you can have a stroll through the village on the way to the park, also handy if you want to come in and out of the park regularly. I love this hotel and I think I'm staying here in November, so I'll keep you posted.

1. Newport Bay Club: Well, well, well, where on earth do I even start with this hotel? Me and my friend stayed here for a couple of nights in 2017, we managed to get it on a cheap deal, no idea how, but I'd been having a pretty tough time and it was a bit of a silver lining moment. We walked in and were honestly blown away, it's a bit plush for us, if I'm being completely honest. But it's nice to play fancy on occasions. Everything about this hotel is just perfect, the characters are there in the morning, everything just screams Disney. It's a dream castle, and it really reminds me of the beach house in Little Mermaid. There's two pools and a gym - which we didn't use, we were only there for 2 nights but definitely would if we were staying longer. It's just soooo beautiful. You're situated right slap bang in the middle of the lake, the shortest of all the walks to the parks, next door to the village, and McDonalds, if you don't have a breakfast package. This hotel actually makes you feel like you're on a Disney Cruise Line (something that's too expensive for me at the moment, but one day), with the interior, it's designed to look like a cruise ship. The bar and cast members are lovely. It's very plush but the most magical.

Beth x

In September I took part in the 31k running Challenge in Disneyland Paris, this is made up of a 10k run round both parks on a Saturday and a half marathon on the Sunday morning. There is a 5k run on the Friday evening aswell, but c'mon now, let's not hurt ourselves.

10k Run.

I loved the 10k run, so much more than I thought I would, I'd never taken part in anything as fun as this and had no idea what to expect. Wow. My wave set off at 7:10am, but there's so much round the backstagey bit that you'll keep yourself entertained, I was by myself but managed to make myself a few friends before we set off. When your section gets to the starting line they have little flares which go off which makes you feel just as important as the proper runners. You start off by running through the Disney Village where there are loads of spectators cheering you on. You run all the way up to the Disney Hotel, I'll be honest, I can't actually remember how we managed to get into the park, but we did. For me, this was the best bit, all the characters are out taking photographs with runners. All the cast members have given up their own time to cheer everyone on. It really is what Disney is all about. The water display was all going off round Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the music was playing. We went through all the different lands before eventually running backstage, making our way to the Walt Disney Studios. The bit I loved the most about the Studios was running through the Tram Tour - it's one of my favourite attractions and I'm absolutely raging that they're referbing it - but we'll save that for another blog post. We eventually ran through and round the back of the Tower of Terror onto the finish line. 1:20 - not bad for lazy training. After you cross the line they put your medal over your head - like the bloody professionals!

Disney Half Marathon.
The process for the Half Marathon was similar to the set up of the 10k, I had to leave at the same time, admittedly a bit sore from the run the day before and walking round the parks all day. There was definitely more of a serious feel when waiting at the starting line this time around, though I'm not sure if that was due to pure exhaustion of the previous races and being tired from the early mornings and late nights! The first 6 miles of the run was the route of the 10k and everyone was buzzing about it! The worst bit of this is probably the bit where you exit the parks and go round a random village - it's probably not a village but that's all I can describe it as... it was just so so so long, but we powered through, they did have entertainment along the way which really helps! We came up back into the park (after what felt like 3 years in the wilderness) via the Santa Fe hotel - which we were staying at, the temptation to climb back into bed was real. It was so close to the end and the last power through around the lake is just incredible, the energy from spectators is absolutely electric. I'll be honest I was much more interested in drinking ALL the free Powerade the give out on the way round than working on my pace! Yummy! Back into the studios for the last leg, honestly the most challenging but I finished, I picked up my medals and was ready to eat the biggest breakfast there ever was!!

This weekend was one of my favourite Disney trips of all time, I loved the way that the cast members give up their own time to come into the parks and cheer you on, I loved the way every single runner was supportive of each other. Just the energy through out the run, the entertainment. Disney really thought this one through didn't they!! The only flaw was that there were millions and millions of people, the busiest I have ever seen it, getting on the rides were nearly impossible, unless you had 3 hours to queue. But I'd definitely do it again. Maybe all three next time?

Beth x