Disney’s Sequoia Lodge | Disneyland Paris Hotel Review

Quick Overview

Pro’s	Con’s
Short 10 Minute Walk to the Parks	Very Dated Rooms With Few Power Sockets
Charming Hotel Bar with Fireplace	No Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Highly Themed Hotel Restaurant Hunters Grill

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Disney’s Sequoia Lodge Overview

Disney’s Sequoia Lodge hotel is a lake front Disneyland Paris hotel. The three star hotel is just a 10–15 minute walk away from both Disneyland Paris parks. The entire hotel and it’s surrounding areas are themed to a massive nature based retreat. Similar to a resort you would find in Montana’s National Parks, like “Glacier” or “Yellowstone”. 

Architekt Antoine Grumbach designed Disney’s Sequoia Lodge himself. Almost every space is filled with interesting art, cool objects and unique interior design. 

We booked over the Annual Pass-holder hotline. Check out our Newport Bayclub report to learn all about what that experience is like. We were debating on wether to book a standard or lake side room. The cast member informed us that lake side is just 30 Euro more per night for our selected dates. So we decided to go with a lake side room.

Fun Fact: The hotel is named after the massive north American sequoia trees. In addition to pine and cedar trees, Disneyland Paris imported 500 sequoias from the USA and Canada.

Checking in

Check in was great. One thing to note is that it can be quite a trek to get from your car to the hotel reception. In most cases it makes sense to pull directly up to the front of the hotel and unload all of one’s luggage first.

When facing the Disney’s Sequoia Lodge from the parking lot there are two entrances. Make sure to take the left entrance, which takes you directly to the reception. As soon as one enters  the hotel theres an airport style security check. We had to walk through a metal detector and our luggage was x-rayed, the whole process was quick and efficient. 

The entire lobby features excellent ambience. Soft piano music plays in the background while birds can be heard chirping over the speakers. One of our favourite pastimes while staying at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge was trying to determine which bird chirps wear “real” and which came over the speakers. 

There was no line at the front desk when we arrived in the evening. The receptionist was friendly and got us our keycards as well as a hotel map in no time. Take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous half ceiling wall mural. Painted in a panoramic format, the mural  stretches above the entire reception area. You might even spot a hidden Mickey.

Two cute bronze statues featuring bears are also placed near the windows. There’s an abundance of cool things to look at and spaces to explore.

“Lake Side” Room Without the Lake

We booked a “standard room – near hotel facilities, lake side”. Now let’s talk a bit about expectation management here. Because my expectation going into this was that I was going to have a gorgeous view of lake Disney, Disney Village, Disney’s Newport Bayclub, Disney’s Hotel New York: The Art of Marvel and maybe a bit of Walt Disney Studios Park. 

We open the door to to room 4179 and the first thing I do is run to the curtains to pull them back in child like joy… only to discover some uninspiring greenery and another wing of the Sequoia Lodge staring back at me. #sad 

At first I thought there had a been a mistake so I called the reception and asked if we had, perhaps, accidentally been placed in a non lake side room. Turns out lake side means you are not necessarily looking or even facing the lake directly. Only that the side of the building you have been placed on is more or less on the side of the lake. 

So theoretically, if you wanted to see the lake. You would have to stick your head out of the window and look right. Now in my humble opinion Disneyland Paris is selling water as wine here by calling these “lake side” rooms. Ok they’re not called lake view rooms but still… it implies that a lake plays a relevant role in your rooms ambience. 

So I’m on the phone with a helpful cast member and kindly request if we couldn’t switch to a room were you can actually see Lake Disney. Thankfully she was able to help me out after a bit of back and forth. So I skipped back down to the reception, enjoying the gorgoeus woodsy theeming on the way down. Quickly got our room cards re-programmed to room 4235 and moved everything over to the new room. 

Happy to report that our new room had a fabulous view of Lake Disney, part of Disney Village, Tower of Terror and even a bit of the Iron Man Roller Coaster (name pending) show building. No dice when it comes to the other two lake front hotels due to the gorgeous (and very tall) evergreen trees growing all around the hotel. 

By the way we made a 30 minute relaxing virtual window of the view from room 4235. Check it out here:

The standard rooms are serving Bambi in the forest realness and they’re pretty cute. Similiar to Disney’s Newport Bayclub there is a graphic strip running along the top of the room. The graphic strip features Bambi, Flower and Thumper. 

One detail that I loved was that the indirect cieling light bar featured little cut outs below, that formed miniture spot lights on the characters. 

Beds were on the firmer side which came as no surprise. The carpet is rocking a neat leaf and brown swirl pattern that is supposed to resemble a forrest floor. 

Now one major gripe is that the room is lacking outlets. Unlike the Newport (which also lacks them but at least had one next to one of the beds) Disney’s Sequoia Lodge only had one outlet by the TV, and one next to the door (presumibly for the cleaning crews vacuum). Not a great place to charge your phone though. 

Bring multi socket outlets, extention cords, whatever you can if you plan on staying here. The outlet situation is not the tea girl. 

On a positive note, in addition to the graphic strip there is also a lovely piece of art featuring Bambi, Thumper and Flower on the wall. Its a panoramic style print that fills the space nicely. All the characters are enjoying each others company in a happy forest setting. 

The sink and mirror space is open concept. So there’s no door to close if you don’t want to disturb your loved ones. There is a door to the toilet/shower space, which is great for multitasking.

The bathroom features a shower/bathtub combo and unlike the Newport which has a glass divider. Disney’s Sequoia Lodge utilizes a regular shower curtain, which I personally find a bit unhygienic in a hotel. The curtain’s design is cute though, with a brown and green leaf pattern.

Shower fittings are much newer in the Sequoia Lodge than in the Newport. Happy to report that the water temperature was easy to regulate. Water pressure on the other hand was only so so. 

One odd thing was that the shower head didn’t fit properly into the holder. So my husband and I vicariously balanced it as best as we could. 

On a positive note Mickey Ear Shampoo mini bottled were still included. As well as a larger wall mounted shower gel-shampoo combo.

Overall I liked the rooms at the Sequoia Lodge with a few caveats. The electrical outlet situation is my biggest criticism and I hope the rooms next refurbishment will address that situation. Really appreciate the fun details and art throughout the room. 

One of my favorite details were the lighting fixtures next to the beds. They feature a deer running through the grass metal silhouette design.

The Redwood Bar

We stopped by the Redwood Bar and Lounge to grab a drink in the evening. The odds were in our favor because we managed to grab a table by the massive and absolutely gorgeous fire place. 

A cosy fire was sizzling inside. It’s a real wood fire by the way. The entire bar area is serving national park resort realness with a lot of stone and wood textures. 

In addition, large paintings and photographs of national parks adorn the walls. Each table also rocked a small led light, they are set to a warm yellowy glow on regular day. However, we passed by the bar on valentines day and they had set them to magenta. Just to add to the lovers vibe of it all. 

The evening we visited they were playing non stop Alanis Morissette. Someone was really feeling her music that evening. Several TV’s as well as a projection screen are also scattered throughout the bar. A soccer game was playing in the background that a few folks were really invested in. 

Both my husband and I ordered a pair of mocktails (cocktails without alcohol). We got very excited when we saw they had the Virgin Lada on the menu. Which is our favourite cocktail from Captain Jacks). 

At the Redwood Bar the Virgin Lada is composed of pineapple juice and coconut cream. However, the version served at the Redwood Bar is missing one crucial ingredient, it doesn’t have the alcohol free rum syrup. Which adds another complex flavour layer to the drink at Captain Jacks and makes it really worth while. 

While the Virgin Lada was good, I don’t think I would rush to order it again in that form. Next time I’m going to try the so called Woody mocktail, which consists of: apple juice, strawberry nectar, candy floss syrup and fizzy sugar.

The bar offers a wide selection of wines, beers cocktails, hot drinks, teas, and a few snacks. The snacks includes sandwiches, cold cut platters as well as a few deserts like ice cream and brownies. It’s a great Disneyland Paris hotel bar with it’s large open concept design, gorgeous fireplace and cozy seating nooks. 

The Pool

We really wanted to try the pool, however it was closed due to a regularly scheduled refurbishment. It should re-open this summer (2022).

Characters

Characters are available daily at the Sequoia Lodge. You can usually find them standing in front of a forrest themed photo wall near the hotel shop. 

Goofy, Donald and Pluto were meeting and greeting hotel guests during our visit. Since we were at the resort during the french school holidays it was a bit busier than usual. There was always a small line, nothing crazy, but if you’re been listening to our previous hotel deep dives. You’ll know hotel character meet and greets are mostly walk ons. 

The Great Outdoors

The hotel also features several lush walking trails, which make for a great a leisurely stroll. Running water, colourful flowers, and even a small beaver dam complete with a wooden carved beaver family are just a few of the fun details to look out for. The walking trails make for a great past time if you are enjoying a quiet non-park day, or just need to get away from it all.

Hotel Hallway Ambience

I did challenge myself to visit every single floor of the hotel building. Which I did… like a crazy person I took the elevator up to the 7th floor. 

Each of the 2 wings of Disney’s Sequoia Lodge has an elevator. So I got out of the 7th floor east wing elevator and walked to the west wing elevator. Which I then took to the 6th floor. 

This process was repeated all the way down to the ground floor, to see if there were any unique little nooks or areas to explore. 

Floors 1–4 were, for the most part, alike. Each floor featured similar if not the exact same art, wallpaper and bare bones lounge areas. 

The lounge areas are a thoughtful addition, however I hope they will re-design these in the future to make them a bit more inviting. The lounges feature odd, cold lighting at the moment and a few more details (like statures or other decorative elements) here and they’re wouldn’t hurt. It’s great that they exist though. 

Now where it gets interesting is on floors 5–7. These house the Golden Forrest Club rooms and suites. 

The hallways feature a dark copper textured wallpaper, which reminded me of the one I saw in Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel hallways in silver. 

The suite/Golden Forrest Club spaces also feature unique art on the walls, which differs from the standard room hallways. 

Overall they are much darker, which give them a more exclusive feel. Level 7 features the largest suites and noticeably fewer doos than the other floors. 

Club Level Rooms

If you would like to learn about what it’s like staying in a Club Level Room at Disneyland Paris, check out our VIP Disneyland Hotel experience.

The club level rooms a.k.a. Golden Forrest Club grant you access to a club lounge. At Disney’s Sequoia Lodge the club is open from noon until 10 p.m. and offers snacks as well as drinks all day (for free). 

A private reception desk is also available for check in and out. As well as an American breakfast buffet from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m.. In addition a tea time featuring savory snacks is available from 4 p.m. until 5:45 p.m.. 

Depending on when one visits the rates can be a little bit higher or much higher compared to the standard rooms. It’s worth requesting a quote to decide if the added cost are worth the benefits.

We like spending most of our time in the parks, so it wasn’t worth it for us. When the Disneyland Hotel reopens I may reconsider since you are so close to the park. It’s just a short walk to get to the lounge. 

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day Disney’s Sequoia Lodge is a wonderful hotel. The type of unique theming and experience only Disneyland Paris can offer. Very much an escapist hotel, one definitely no longer feel like they are in Europe. 

The aesthetics scream American national park and there are so many gorgeous areas to explore, especially around the lobby and bar. Plus convenient character meet and greets are always a big plus. The rooms are comfortable with a few gripes and the hotel is only a 10 minute walk away from both parks. We would consider staying at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge again in the future. 

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