Disney Locks Out Theme Park Guests From Flagship Hotel

Disney has begun limiting access to one of its most famous theme park hotels to guests who have a reservation preventing all other theme park-goers from experiencing its spellbinding surroundings.

Anyone who has visited a Disney resort will know that its hotels are as elaborately themed as the parks and guests can freely roam around them to get fanciful photos even if they aren’t staying there.

Disneyland Paris has some of the most enchanting properties in Disney’s portfolio. Its sprawling site is home to a woodland lodge complex and six on-site hotels, five of which are inspired by destinations in the Americas.

The Santa Fe and the Cheyenne are themed to New Mexico and the Wild West respectively whilst the Sequoia Lodge looks like a huge woodland retreat and the Newport Bay Club is in the style of a New England mansion with white clapboard walls and colorful canopies hanging above the balconies.

Walking into the lobby of the hotel is like stepping onto a luxury liner from a bygone era with glossy wooden decking, brass lamps hanging from above, colorful flags lining the walls and nautical objets d’art sitting on shelves.

Four years ago it was joined by Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel. The hotel originally opened with the rest of the resort in 1992 and was initially themed to the Big Apple. Its decor hardly changed in more than 25 years until Disney closed its doors in 2018 to give it a multi-year makeover which made it seem like it is set in a world of super heroes.

The lobby of the hotel has the air of the atrium of an Art Deco American railway station. There are brushed steel floors, stone walls and mahogany display cabinets containing replicas of Captain America’s shield as well as Iron Man’s armor. More than 350 pieces of artwork showing Marvel comics characters have been designed bespoke for the property and are scattered around it so that guests can go on treasure hunts to find their favorite heroes. Different areas of the hotel showcase the heroes in unexpected design styles from street art to giant murals made from the squares in Rubik’s Cubes.

The collection of on-site hotels is crowned by the Disneyland Hotel, a palatial pink property which sits on top of the entrance to the flagship fantasy-themed Disneyland Park. It looks like it has come from the pages of a Victorian story book as its balconies have intricate white balustrades whilst upper floors are dotted with dormer windows and spires soar from the sloping rosy shingle roofs.

The hotel’s Victorian theme is no coincidence as it gives onto the park’s turn-of-the-century themed Main Street with a bandstand, wrought-iron lamp posts and horse-drawn carriages which take guests to the centerpiece Sleeping Beauty castle. The hotel makes a natural backdrop for this and it doesn’t stop with its exterior.

Its lobby looks like it has come straight from the pages of Hans Christian Andersen with its sweeping staircase, marble fireplace, deep silvery leather chairs and shimmering crystal chandelier hanging from the soaring ceiling which forms the shape of the castle. You can imagine Cinderella going to the ball here.

No stone has been left unturned as old-fashioned bookcases line the wall behind the check-desks and elaborate carriage clocks sit inside glass cabinets as you would expect to find in a cartoon castle. Continuing that theme, around one corner is a wooden throne which looks like it has come straight out of Disney’s hit animated film Frozen and is placed between parted velvet curtains with golden tassles.

It’s designed to make children believe they are actually in a palace and they can even visit the hotel’s My Royal Dream makeover station to emerge looking like little princes and princesses. Completing the picture, Disney princesses even regularly parade through the lobby in a performance called La Troupe Royale.

The 487 rooms and suites add to the atmosphere with stylish silvery furnishings including sofas set into alcoves and ottomans at the end of the beds. Detailed paintings of Disney characters hang in gilded frames above the beds surrounded by headboards embossed with intricate fleur-de-lis shapes. These patterns are even stitched into the carpet and also form the shapes of iconic Disney objects such as the apple from Snow White and Aladdin’s magic lamp.

It’s a far-cry from the psychedelically-colored décor found in the rooms of some theme park hotels and it doesn’t come cheap. Prices between now and the end of the year start at a staggering $1,317 per night for two adults including two days of theme park tickets for both guests. There is good reason for its high price tag.

When the hotel’s revolving doors spun open with the rest of Disneyland Paris in 1992 it was classified as four star which wasn’t the highest rating at the time as a handful of properties were four star deluxe. That all changed 18 years later when public tourism body Atout France introduced the five star rating for the first time. It gave the Disneyland Hotel a second shot at a happy ending and it got what it wanted.

In 2012 it became the largest five star property in France and the only one on-site at Disneyland Paris. It wasn’t a flash in the pan as the hotel pulled it off again when it was re-assessed five years later and repeated the trick in early 2024 on reopening from a root-and-branch renovation which gave the property its current appearance.

It was so successful that Disneyland Paris had to restrict access to the hotel when it re-opened in order to control crowds and preserve the exclusive atmosphere for its well-heeled guests. However, those restrictions were lifted soon afterwards and theme park guests began packing the hotel’s lobby. Until now.

On Saturday the theme park experts at PixieDustDLP reported “that the Disneyland Hotel has started turning away non-hotel guests as of November 1” meaning that regular theme park guests can’t take photos in the lobby, watch La Troupe Royale, shop at the hotel’s Royal Collection Boutique store or drink at its Fleur de Lys Bar. There are only a few exceptions.

A statement on the Disneyland Paris website explains that “for safety reasons and to preserve the quality of the experience for hotel guests, access to the Disneyland Hotel is strictly reserved to: Guests staying at the hotel; Individuals with a confirmed reservation for a specific service (restaurants, Spa, ‘My Royal Dream,’ seminar room, etc.).”

Although there is an admirable reason behind the decision it is likely to spark concerns about the cost of visiting the resort with even the cheapest two star on-site hotel costing $476.83 per night for two people with two days of park tickets. Ironically, the cost of visiting Disneyland Paris is anything but Mickey Mouse.