Am so excited about my Christmas stay am already planning a little January trip with friends who are working all through the Christmas period and thought I would surprise them with a stay at a Disney Hotel instead of an off site one they are budgeting for. The Santa Fe is the only Resort Hotel I have not stayed at so wanted to know if anyone one of you lovely people out there on the forum have and if you know if the upgraded Elderado or Rio Grande Rooms are worth the extra? Thank you kindly all in advance for your replies and input on this. =) ºoº
no, not worth paying for an upgrade to any of the rooms at the santa fe - they all have exactly the same furnishings and facilities, and even from the furthest block of rooms, you're no more than a couple of minutes walk from either the riverside walkway to the parks, or the main reception/restaurant block.
Thanks Elaine that is exactly both what I wanted to hear and not at the same time. Shame there is no real difference if they are charging more but good to know wont be missing out on anything or wasting the money for a slightly better view/location. Any other thoughts poeple, either about the upgrade or the Santa Fe in general? =) ºoº
i love the santa fe, its been refurbed in all the rooms now so you have clean, cosy, colourful rooms.
See I'm rather Yorkshire when it comes to hotels, unless I'm going to spend a lot of time in the room I'm one of those who as long as the room has its own bathroom and is clean I don't mind.
Having said that apparently the BF wants to stay at DLPH
Another thing to bare in mind for a winter stay - if you go for a Rio Grande room along the river then you're further from breakfast. Depending on your morning cold/wet tolerance you might want to factor that in.
I have a theory that they probably fill up standard rooms closer to the central area first so that there's less outdoor distance for housekeeping to have to cover in the possibly hideous weather.
We have stayed in the Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Sequoia Lodge and love the Santa Fe. We have stayed there in winter and summer and have not been bothered by the walk to the dining room for breakfast. I once stayed there by myself whilst my family stayed in another hotel (I joined them last so not much money) and as a lone female I felt safe walking to and from the reception building both late at night and early morning.
Hope you're right there Smudge, closer to breakfast sounds good. I think I will be going with the standard room, kinda feel like its more authentic in a way for a first stay if you know what I mean. Also seeing as I am getting the rooms for less than an off site premier classe I can't really see there being anything to complain about. Was curiosity more than anything because I had the option and besides, it's a Disney hotel so unless its literally falling apart or a construction site I am sure my friends and I will love it.
Feel free to keep adding your thoughts and comments though, good or bad its nice to hear from you all and get more excited about going with each new bit of info! [size=78%]=) ºoº[/size]
The Santa Fe in my opinion is a fab hotel, I haven't been since they have refurbished them but when i did go i found it a great hotel. In my opinion you only really spend your time in the hotel to sleep, shower and change and breakfast was great a massive selection of different things although i am not a breakfast person so me and my hubby only really had a drink whilst my oldest dd had plenty to eat and my youngest dd kinda picked at stuff (she is not a big eater). We always booked an earlier slot for breakfast to make the most of the EMH but very rarely got to breakfast on time ::) We then spent all day in the park so when we did go back to the hotel we bathed and were straight into bed ready for the next day. As for the walk we never walked longer than 10 minutes to the park and that was with a 2 year old also walking it so to me for the price you can stay at Santa Fe for its great. As for the hotel me and my dd's walked round the whole hotel grounds on our last stay and we had done it and stopped for loads of photos in half hour.
This time we have opted for the Cheyenne but that was only because the two parks were the same price for the dates we had chosen and we thought just for the change to look at another hotel, otherwise we would have booked the Santa Fe again. ;D ;D
We have just booked our 2nd visit to the Santa Fe today. I'm not sure if we had a Rio Grande room last time... But in the options this time I changed it to just a "room with 2 double beds" instead of being Rio Grande or close to reception. We saved enough to pay for a breakfast at Mickeys Cafe, so that was a bonus as we were booking that anyway!
I really don't see the point - as others have said, we are out at the parks all day anyway, and will be doing plenty of walking, so I don't mind where the room is - close to reception or Rio Grande, it doesn't matter. ;)