Review of the Davy Crochett Ranch - Disneyland Paris

We spent 4 days (5 nights) at the Davy Crochett Ranch in Disneyland Paris.  We went in February with the colder weather, rain and darker nights.

You need your own car if you are staying here but it is an easy 10 - 15 minute drive (maximum) to the parks. When you stay at the Davy Crochett Ranch you get a pass to the Disneyland Paris car park.  If you need fuel, there is a petrol station as you leave the park to top up.

Accommodation

The Ranches are really static caravans custom made to look like a wooden ranch.  The theme continues inside with wooden floors and walls and forest theme curtains, seat covers etc.  The ranches can sleep up to 6 which is ideal for the larger family.

We stayed in a premium ranch which had two bedrooms, one with 3 beds for the children and an adjacent shower room and toilet and a double bedroom at the other end of the cabin with an ensuite shower/toilet. The children's room is able to take 4 beds but there wouldn't be much room to move - having said that you don't go to Disney to sit in your room do you?!  The standard cabins only have one bedroom and shower room with a sofa bed in the living area.

In the premium cabins there is a hob (but no oven) and a dishwasher, a kettle and a coffee maker.  There is also a fridge and an outdoor barbecue which we didn't use at it was February!  Would be lovely in the summer.

There is a safe but ours was locked when we got there and we didn't get around to sorting it out.

Sheets and towels were provided as were some small mickey mouse toiletries - a nice touch I thought!

Given it was February, I was concerned if we would be warm enough - no worries there.  It was toastie warm - thankfully!  It was also clean although I did notice dust under the beds when I was checking for escaped socks before we left.  This doesn't bother me but may be an issue for others.

As we had driven we were able to take a few grocery items; small packs of cereal, tea bags, washing up liquid, a couple of tins of tuna, some mayo, fruit and biscuits. I also took some clingfilm and a tea towel.  This saved us wasting time on shopping as well as saving money on lunches and snacks.

Meals

We had the free half board option and so had vouchers to get breakfast and a main meal.  There is a restaurant on site but it doesn't serve breakfast.  This is provided from small wooden huts near each cluster of ranches.  You get the choice of cereal or a croissant per person (we already had cereal so took advantage of the croissants as in France....!), butter, jam and nutella, milk, orange juice in tins, apple puree, tea and coffee and a small baguette per person.

We kept the baguettes to make up for lunch (tuna for the adults, nutella for the children) and took the cans of orange juice as well.  All allowed through the bag search into the parks so don't worry.

There were a selection of places to eat with the vouchers.  We ate at Annette's diner on one occasion and at the restaurant at the ranch on the other evenings.  Pre-booking wasn't necessary when we stayed but is generally recommended by the resort and would probably be important in the busier season (you can do this up to 3 months in advance).

The Davy Crochett ranch tavern was a self-serve hot and cold buffet and we found that there was a good selection of food with choices to suit everyone in our family (including chicken nuggets and chips).  There was also a variety of desserts and fresh fruit as well as a salad bar.  It will be slightly different to food at home as you are in France but we were happy with the choice provided.  You were also able to choose a drink to have with your meal with the half board vouchers.

Other facilities

There is an indoor pool next to the restaurant which looked nice.  It is open until 10pm but we didn't use it as we'd been so busy in the day.  Children must be accompanied.  The 'complex' also includes a small shop selling necessities (pricey I believe but this is no different to any on site shop) and Disney merchandise and a small tavern.

This area was a bit of a trek from the furthest ranches if you are tired after a long park day but there is a car park if you feel you need to drive!

There is a small petting barn with a few farm animals for the younger children - again we didn't visit this as we were out all day.  I think they also do pony rides.

There are also teepees dotted around the site for children to play in in line with the wild west theme.

Disney characters

I'm not sure if there is a set time for Disney characters to visit the restaurant or if it is advertised anywhere. We bumped into the lesser known Disney Robin Hood (a fox) as we left the restaurant which the children enjoyed but that was completely by chance and we didn't see any others on other evenings but we were outside of peak season when Character visits are reduced I believe.  If it is important to you then it would be worth checking it out in advance.

I haven't stayed in any other Disney accommodation and reviews suggest that this is less Disney than the others but to be honest after a day at the parks we were ready to rest our senses for a little while.  For us living accommodation as well as bedrooms was a great asset, the facility to have breakfast without queuing and the ability to make packed lunches was ideal.  As mentioned above the option of a barbecue would also be a great end to the day.

When we visited in February the parks were only open 10am -  7pm so we headed over as soon as they opened and spent the days there.  If we had visited when the park was opened until later we may have taken advantage of the pool and the farm area more.  However, we came for the Disney experience not pools and farm parks so I wasn't too concerned!

I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have about the Davy Crochett Ranches if you want to know more  - submit a comment in the box and I'll reply as soon as I can.