I knew that a trip to Disneyland Paris would not be cheap, and having looked at the prices of each of the Disney hotels we opted to search for cheaper accomodation on the outskirts of Disneyland. But as much as we wanted to save money, we also did not want to end up in a run-down 2 star hotel. Thankfully, I discovered Residhome in Val d'Europe almost right next to Disneyland. I booked it direct from their website, which was extremely easy to do. I contacted them via e-mail several times afterwards & got a rapid reply every time.
We travelled to the Residhome from London Uk, travelling by car & the channel tunnel. I chose this method of transportation because I thought it was the cheapest option, but beware - extras such as petrol
& toll charges in France bump the overall travel costs up considerably. If you do decided to use the Channel tunnel then make sure to book as early as possible, as prices go up nearer the day, which means it's only cheap if booked well in advance.
The Channel/Euro tunnel train takes only 35 mins between Folkestone & Calais. However, the overall journey from London to Disneyland Paris can take anything between 5-7 hours! It took us roughly 1 & 1/2 hours to drive from London to Folkestone and then 4 hours to drive from Calais to the appartment in Val d'Europe.
We arrived at the Residhome at 5:30am! I had warned them prior to arrival that we might be arriving very early in the morning (although I had expected to arrive around 2-3am, and they said it would be fine as there is someone at reception 24 hrs a day).
Residhome has a private underground car park which costs an extra 10 euros, it would seem, for the whole duration of your stay, but don't hold me to it coz we only stayed 2 nights yet paid the 10 euro car park fee once, which was added on to the price of our accomodation when we paid. There are, however, free car park spaces outside the hotel (plus, there is a hotel Ibis right next door with ample free parking). We just paid the 10 euros for the peace of mind of storing our car in a secure location.
When we checked-in, we were greeted by two members of staff who both spoke English fluently and as we were the only people checking in at that time of the morning it was done fairly quickly. The reception area looked very clean & modern, so we were anxious to see what our appartment would look like.
All guests are given a security code for use of the lifts, which is great as it's added security for us! Our appartment was located on the 4th floor right at the end of one of the corridors. We were really
impressed with our appartment. I had booked a 2 bedroom appartment for 4 adults & 1 infant, and there was plenty of room for us all. The
only negative was that I had requested that both the bedrooms have double beds & we only had I bedroom with a double bed, with the other bedroom being extremely small with bunk beds. Not a problem though, as
there was a double sofa bed in the living area, which suited us just fine, as it was very easy to pull out & put away, and we still got the
privacy that w needed. The bathroom was lovely, there were 2 showers, one attached to the bath and the other in a seperate cubical at the end of the bath. The toilet was in a seperate room (tiny), which comes
in very handy when there's a group of you staying in the same appartment. The bedroom had a 21" TV with a built-in DVD player (multiregion), and the same TV could be found in the living room. The kitchen was fully equiped with cutlery, glass, plates, pans, etc. There was a mini electric hob, a microwave & even a little dishwasher!
I believe Residhome was opened only 6 months ago, which means that eveyrthing is still relatively new & unused. Having said that, one of the floor lamps was wobbly & looked like it was about to topple over at any given moment. I also noticed a rip in our bedsheets, but these are all minor things that didn't affect our stay. We wanted to make use of the electric safe in our apartment, but found that there no batteries in it! This was resolved by a quick trip to reception who then sent some batteries directly to our room(as we couldn't work out how to use the telephone in the living room!).
As this is an apartment, and not a hotel, there is no free maid service. They do provide you with a dustpan and brush in the kitchen & if your bin gets full you're supposed to empty it yourself (although
I'm not sure where you take it, as we only stayed 2 nights & had no need to empty it). But if you want your room cleaned properly then you have to pay extra. I don't see this as a problem considering how little the accomodation cost (which for us worked out at just over £15 per person per night - fantastic!). Also costing extra is breakfast, though I cannot comment on this as we never ate at Residhome. Though I highly recommend booking breakfast at Cafe Mickey in the Disney Village. It costs 25 euros per person, which does sound like a lot, but it's all you can eat american breakfast buffet and a whole load of Disney characters come round to the tables while you eat! It's worth every penny & both kids and adults will thoroughly enjoy it! When we went we saw Mickey Mouse, Chip & Dale, Pluto, Goofy,
Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Gepeto (Pinocchio's father) & Baloo (Jungle Book bear). We had a 2 year old girl with us & the look on her face was priceless!
Back to the apartment, the location was perfect for Disney, pretty much a straight drive all the way, just follow the signs & about a 5-10 min drive. By the way, be warned, parking at Disney will cost you 8 euros for the day. There's also a huge shopping center, a discount outlet village & a train station all within walking distance of Residhome.
Overall, it was a good stay, the service was fine, the room was lovely, the price even lovlier & the location was perfect for Disney (and shopping!).