Explorers Hotel Marne-la-Vallée

"We stayed for 4 nights over Easter to visit Disneyland Paris with 4 boys aged 6-12. Positive - the room was big enough to accommodate 6 people (which is rare). The (unsupervised!) pool has a few slides and a pirate splash area. Our kids also enjoyed the soft play. Breakfast was fine but incredibly busy and short of plates & bowls etc. There is another seating area where you can eat your own food beside the soft play which is handy to avoid paying extra for restaurant food. Negative - first impression awful, the hotel smells very bad, my son described it as the inside of a used bandage. Service at check in is glacially slow. The BIGGEST ISSUE by far is the bus service to Disneyland - the bus serves 5 big hotels and is always packed! We had a very bad experience getting back to the hotel on the night we stayed for the fireworks show, there were literally hundreds of people crowding on to the bus and it was quite scary especially for the kids. I would actually forgive the rest of the hotels faults if it weren’t for this but we would definitely not return as a result of the bus situation. Ok on to the rest: The hotel is about 20 years old and looks every day of it. The rooms are fine for space but the walls are paper thin and so noise is a big problem for sleep. The bathroom is cramped and the shower head didn’t stay up properly. We had a variable number of towels given to us daily by cleaning staff! Towels for the pool cost €2 each per use which is an added expense. The pool cannot be used after 11am on day of leaving unless you pay €40! And then it’s only from 1pm onwards- this was extremely disappointing. We had a continental breakfast included but if you want eggs etc you have to pay €11 per person per day! There were very few people paying this so they must waste tons of food every day on the paid buffet. The captains library restaurant smells like the captains latrine. We didn’t eat there but our friends did and reported the food was awful and expensive."

"This hotel is a great hotel for the children. Negatives: ●The room wasn't the cleanest and strange smell entering the hotel. The carpet in the room wasn't hoovered daily but beds were made (sheets not changed). ●Sleep quality was poor. The walls are thin and you can hear everything outside the room. ●You need to bring additional money for everything there except for breakfast as it's an additional cost including parking at €17 per day. There really isn't any point in upgrading to a hot breakfast in the morning either as it's not really any better. The continental breakfast was good. Pros: The place was fantastic for the kids with plenty of them to do. ●The pool had slides for the kids and the big tipping bucket was turned off which was good for our autistic child as he dislikes the splash. To borrow towels are priced at €2 per towel. ●It has a softplay, pirate play and a great outdoor play area so plenty for the kids to do. ●The hotel is close to Disneyland Paris too with a shuttle, which I believe was free (we didn't use this service as stayed elsewhere for our days at Disneyland). ●Close to Val de Europe which had great shops and restaurants."

"We spent a few nights at Explorers last week, but don’t think we would return. There’s nothing bad to comment on, just a bit basic and as a base for Disneyland, I would prefer to stay somewhere closer. We arrived late on our first night, but there was no hassle with check in etc. There is a shop in the hotel but this was closed when we arrived, so we ordered a few bits from CarreFoure supermarket via UberEars after arrival - water, milk, snacks. Courier met us in reception and delivery was less than 30 minutes. The room itself was ok. Clean enough, comfortable and roomy, however a few issues with room furniture - wonky wardrobe door, loose handle on the bathroom door, draughty window. Otherwise clean and comfortable enough for us all to sleep really well! We travelled as three adults and two teenagers and the rooms was plenty spacious for us all. Breakfast was decent, not a great variety of choice, but enough to keep everyone happy. Choice of a few cereals, a few types of bread, mixed fruit salad, but only one choice of cold meat and cheese which was a bit disappointing to be labelled a ‘continental’ breakfast. We all had plenty to fill up on though and everyone left satisfied. I wouldn’t recommend upgrading to a cooked breakfast, it didn’t look all that appealing and really there was enough to keep most people happy with the basic breakfast. The shuttle into Disney runs from the hotel every 10 - 15 minutes and takes about 10 minutes. Explorers is one of the first stops so we were able to get on no problem. Although, we didn’t get the earliest buses as we weren’t fussed about being there for the park opening, so maybe we missed a bit of a crowd. My biggest tip: I would NOT recommend using the shuttle bus to get back to the hotel from Disney if you’re staying for the fireworks/light show. Especially if you’re travelling with kids. It was carnage when we tried - adults pushing kids out the way to shove onto the bus and actual grown adults fighting to get on. Unfortunately we were too late to try to get an uber/bolt so had to just wait it out a bit til the aggressive crowds dispersed. We planned in advance the next few nights got an earlier bus or booked an Uber - around €16 from Disney. All in all, we didn’t have any reason to complain about the hotel, it was good as a base and we didn’t spend a lot of time there being at Disney from dawn til bedtime. Yes, it was a bit basic, and breakfast could’ve been better, but it was decent, clean, comfortable. We didn’t have any interaction with staff other than checking in, but all staff seemed friendly and helpful. I don’t think we would return, but not because of any fault with the hotel, just personal preference - mainly because we’d prefer to stay closer to the Disney parks. The hotel is designed for families with young children, there are many facilities and activities for children, but mine were just too old to appreciate it. All that said, if my kids were younger we would absolutely come here again, and probably spend more time to appreciate the facilities."