Disney Davy Crockett Ranch
Davy Crockett Ranch is the odd one out among the Disneyland Paris hotels, a village of log cabins spread through 140 acres of forest about 15 minutes' drive from the parks. Each cabin has two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a private terrace with a barbecue, and the ranch has what many families rate as the best pool of any Disney hotel here. For UK families driving over it's the natural fit, a woodland base with a full kitchen, a short drive from the parks.
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Is it worth it?
The only Disney hotel here where you self-cater and drive to the parks, set in its own stretch of forest.
Davy Crockett Ranch is the Disneyland Paris hotel that feels least like the parks and most like a woodland break that happens to be a Disney hotel. Instead of a tower of rooms by the castle, it's a village of self-catering log cabins scattered through the forest, with its own pool, restaurant and activities. It opened with the resort in 1992 and has always been the outlier. It's the only Disney hotel here you self-cater, and the only one you have to drive to.
If you're driving, especially coming over from the UK by ferry or LeShuttle, you get the space, a kitchen of your own, a private terrace and the pool. If you're not, you lose most of the appeal. It's a self-service cabin rather than a hotel, so there's more you manage yourself, and it sits a short drive from the parks rather than a walk.
Book it for
The space of a two-bedroom cabin with a kitchen of your own, the forest setting and the big indoor-outdoor pool.
Best for driving families
UK families crossing by ferry or LeShuttle, who get the ranch's advantages at no extra travel cost.
You'll need a car
No park shuttle runs, so a car is essential, for the 15-minute drive, the supermarket run and midday returns.
Not a full-service hotel
No daily housekeeping in the standard cabins and no character meets, so you manage more of the stay yourselves than at a hotel.
The pool
Indoor and outdoor, with a slide, a lazy river, hot tubs and a separate toddler pool. Free with your MagicPass.
Instead, consider
An on-site hotel like Sequoia Lodge if you'd rather walk to the parks and skip the car.
Quick facts for UK families
Log cabins in a real forest
A 140-acre woodland of cabins with its own pool, restaurant and activities, closer to a Center Parcs than a hotel.
Instead of a hotel building, the ranch is around 580 log cabins scattered along eight wooded trails across 140 acres of the Marne forest, with a central hub holding the reception, a restaurant, a bar, the pool and the shop. Each cabin sits among mature trees with its own driveway and terrace, screened from its neighbours, and the paths between the trails run through real woodland rather than across a car park.
Families who've stayed often compare it to Center Parcs with Disney attached. There are frogs in the stream, birds in the trees and room for children to run, which the park-facing hotels don't have. Waking up in the trees, eating breakfast on the terrace and barbecuing in the evening is a different kind of holiday from a room by the castle, and for a lot of families that's exactly the appeal. Several reviewers say it's why they came back after staying on-site the first time.
The ranch sits east of the parks at Bailly-Romainvilliers, next door to Villages Nature Paris. It's rated a three-star residential leisure park, below the on-site hotels.
The cabins, and the self-catering they're built for
Every cabin is the same size and sleeps six, with two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a barbecue terrace.
Every cabin is the same 40 m² and sleeps up to six, so the tier you book changes where it sits and a few extras rather than the space inside. The layout is two bedrooms, a master with a double bed and an ensuite shower, a second bedroom of single beds, plus a sofa or sofa bed in the open-plan living room. For a family of four or five that's roomy; at a full six it's snug. The two bedrooms are what most families come for, since children can be asleep in their own room while the adults sit out on the terrace, and it's the thing guests rate most highly about a cabin over a hotel room.
The kitchen is set up for cooking properly: a hob, microwave, dishwasher, fridge with a small freezer, kettle, coffee machine, toaster and a full set of pots, pans, crockery and cutlery. The one thing to know is that no cabin has an oven, so cooking is by hob, microwave or the charcoal barbecue on your terrace. Roasting and baking are out; pasta, a fry-up, a stir-fry or a barbecue are all easy. Every cabin has that private decked terrace with a barbecue and picnic table, and evening barbecues come up again and again in UK family reviews as a highlight.
Which cabin, and whereWhich cabin to book, and where it sits
The cabins fan out from the central hub across the trails, and how far you are from the pool, restaurant and shop is the real difference between the tiers. The furthest cabins are a 10 to 15-minute walk, or a short drive, from the hub, which matters most with young children who'll want the pool more than once a day. If being near the pool matters, book Pioneer or Premium rather than assuming, since guests who wanted a short walk and were given a far cabin found it a slog. Every tier has a small number of adapted cabins for guests with reduced mobility, and the new stock added a few more. They're laid out with a double room, a bunk room and a sofa bed, sleeping a wheelchair user and up to four others, with wider doorways, an adapted shower with a bathing seat and grab rail, a lowered washbasin and a raised toilet with a grab rail. Because the ranch is drive-only, a guest who can't drive would need a taxi to reach it in the first place.
| Cabin | Where it sits | What's different |
|---|---|---|
| Trapper | Furthest out, on the outer trails | The most secluded, deep-in-the-woods feel and the longest walk back to the hub. |
| Pioneer | The middle tier, closer to the hub | The same cabin, with a shorter walk to the pool and the restaurant. |
| Premium | Closest to the hub | Adds daily housekeeping, a Nespresso machine, bathrobes, slippers and a hairdryer in the room. |
| New Standard Cabin | Newly rebuilt, across the trails | The renovated Duckburg Forest cabins, with USB points and Disney+. A Near Facilities version sits closer to the hub. |
The Duckburg Forest cabin renewal
Disney is replacing all the ranch's original cabins with new ones on a rolling programme that began in 2025 and continues through 2026 and beyond, so during your stay you might get a brand-new cabin or older original stock. The new cabins are rebuilt from scratch on almost the same floor plan, rethemed around Donald Duck and the Junior Woodchucks scouting club as "Duckburg Forest", with the woodland feel kept. They add USB charging points, a larger TV with Disney+, a coffee-pod machine, a Mickey waffle maker and a walk-in wardrobe off the master bedroom, and they use a phone app as the door key.
The new layout loses a toilet, the originals had two and the new cabins have one, in the second shower room, which is worth knowing for a family of six sharing a morning. The older cabins had long been the ranch's weak point, criticised as dated, so if you get a new one it's the better of the two. If you specifically want a new cabin, the booking system lists them as "New Standard Cabins", with a "Near Facilities" version positioned closer to the hub for a small premium.
Housekeeping, and what you manage yourself
A cabin is self-service, so a few things work differently from a hotel room.
Standard Trapper and Pioneer cabins have no daily housekeeping. Your beds are made and towels set out on arrival, and you get a cleaning kit of dishwasher tablets, sponge and washing-up liquid, but after that the cabin is yours to keep tidy. Bins aren't emptied during your stay, so with a baby or toddler it's worth packing a few extra bin bags for nappies. For fresh towels you ask at reception, and daily housekeeping can be added to a standard cabin for a charge if you'd rather not do it. Premium cabins include it.
In the older cabins the hairdryer is kept at reception on a deposit rather than in the room, so pick it up at check-in if you'll want it. The new cabins and the Premium tier have one in the bathroom. There's no iron in any cabin, though there's a laundry on the ranch if you need to wash mid-stay, and reception will point you to it. Air conditioning and free Wi-Fi run in every cabin, old stock and new.
Travelling with a babyCots, baby kit and feeding in the cabin
For babies and toddlers, the self-catering is a quiet advantage. You can cook familiar food at familiar times, warm a bottle and sterilise in your own kitchen instead of working around a restaurant. The ranch lends baby kit free on request, subject to availability, including a travel cot with linen, bed rails, a baby bath, a potty, a training seat, a bottle warmer and a steriliser. High chairs are in the restaurant and there are changing tables in the public toilets. In the new cabins the second bedroom has three single beds rather than four, so if you need floor space for the travel cot it's worth checking when you book.
The shop stocks baby food but not much beyond it. For nappies, formula and a fuller baby range, the Auchan hypermarket at Val d'Europe is about 8 to 10 minutes' drive and carries everything.
DogsThe only Disney hotel here that takes dogs
Davy Crockett Ranch is the only Disneyland Paris hotel that allows dogs, in certain cabins for a nightly charge. Your dog needs to be microchipped or tattooed and up to date on its rabies vaccination, and reception can provide a welcome kit. If you're driving over from the UK with the dog this is the only Disney hotel that makes it possible, though the usual pet-travel paperwork for France applies.
The Blue Springs Pool
Indoor and out, with a slide, a lazy river, warm hot tubs and a separate toddler pool.
The Blue Springs Pool is the facility families rate most highly at the ranch, and many rate it the best of all the Disney hotel pools here. Where most hotel pools are a single rectangle, this one is a themed complex of linked pools under a big indoor hall, with a summer terrace that opens in warmer weather. There's a main pool crossed by a wooden bridge and fed by a waterfall, a lazy river with a gentle current to float along, a water slide, three warm hot tubs set into cave-like rockwork and a cold plunge basin. For younger children the important part is the separate shallow pool, so a toddler has somewhere of their own rather than sharing the main water.
The pool runs from 9am to 10pm and is free to guests with the MagicPass, though on arrival you book a session at the pool desk rather than just walking in, and it gets busiest in the evenings when families come back from the parks. Lifeguards are on duty and lend out float boards and pool noodles, and there's a machine by the entrance selling swimsuits and goggles for anything you've forgotten. Towels aren't provided at the pool, so bring your own from the cabin or hire one from the shop for a small charge. The water can also run cooler than the 28°C advertised, cool enough that some families with young children noticed, though the hot tubs are reliably the warmest spot. The pool closes for maintenance for about two weeks each November, on dates that shift year to year, so check the official page if you're travelling then.
Things to do at the ranch
An estate of woodland trails, a farm, mini-golf, bikes and sports, the kind of space no park hotel has.
The activities are the ranch's other point of difference. The estate has room for outdoor things a park hotel can't fit in, and on a non-park day there's enough here to fill the time. Davy's Farm is a small petting zoo with pony rides, both weather-dependent and seasonal, so check at reception on arrival. There's a nine-hole mini-golf course, bike, quad-cycle and scooter hire from Bowie's Bike Barn, archery, indoor tennis, badminton, basketball, table tennis and a giant outdoor chess board. Bowie's, the farm, mini-golf and the sports courts each carry a small extra charge, booked at reception or the barn.
For younger children there's a renovated adventure playground with slides and climbing frames, themed play teepees, a jogging and fitness trail through the trees, woodland nature trails to follow and animal wood-carvings dotted around the grounds to spot on a walk. Indoors, the Lucky Raccoon arcade has air hockey and arcade machines, pay per game. The ranch doesn't run character meets. There's no character breakfast or hotel meet-and-greet, so if seeing the characters matters to your children you'll do that in the parks. There's an amphitheatre in the grounds, but nothing is regularly staged there, so don't count on evening entertainment.
In the treetopsThe treetop adventure course
Set among the ranch's own trees is a treetop rope-and-zip-line course, run by an independent company rather than by Disney, so its prices, ages and opening season are its own. It has several trails at different heights, from a harness-free initiation route for the youngest up to higher courses for older children and adults, with a height minimum of about 1.1 metres for the main trails and adult supervision for under-12s. It's open roughly from mid-February to October and costs extra. For current prices, ages and dates, check the operator's site, aventure-aventure.com.
The water park next doorAqualagon and Villages Nature next door
The ranch backs onto Villages Nature Paris, a separate resort about five minutes' walk from the gate, and its Aqualagon indoor water park is the draw for ranch guests. It's a big heated water park kept at 30°C year-round, with a wave pool, giant slides and a current river, a proper water-park day rather than a hotel pool. It's a separate paid ticket, not part of a ranch stay, but an easy water-park day to add without driving.
Crockett's Tavern and eating in
One buffet restaurant and a bar, around the kitchen you'll do most of your cooking in.
Because you've got a kitchen, most families cook for themselves a fair bit, but there's a restaurant for the nights you don't want to. Crockett's Tavern is the ranch's one sit-down place, an all-you-can-eat buffet in a big timber-and-stone hall with some tables looking over the pool. The food is American and Tex-Mex comfort cooking, with roast chicken, barbecue ribs, chilli, pasta, fish and a carvery, plus a children's menu of nuggets, fish fingers, pasta and mini burgers for fussier eaters, non-alcoholic kids' cocktails to order and a pudding table. There's a decent spread for vegetarians, and sealed halal and kosher options and allergen-free dishes if you flag it when you book.
On some summer evenings, weather permitting, the chefs barbecue outside, which reviewers pick out as the best night to be there. Dinner is priced like a Disney hotel buffet, less than the on-site hotels but not cheap, with a lower price for children aged three to eleven and soft drinks included. It's worth booking ahead in school holidays, and non-residents can eat here too.
Breakfast works three ways. In summer the Tavern lays on a breakfast buffet for a set window each year, open to non-guests as well. Year-round you can pre-order a continental basket the evening before and collect it from a hut near the trails, though most families find it poor value next to making breakfast in the cabin. Cheapest and easiest is breakfast in the cabin from a supermarket shop.
Once the children are asleepCrockett's Saloon in the evening
Crockett's Saloon is the ranch's bar, a Western-themed room in the hub with a pool table, sports screens and table tennis outside, open in the evenings for cocktails, beer, wine and light snacks rather than full meals. The ranch has a security gate and the saloon is a short walk from the cabins, so couples whose children are asleep in the cabin use it as an evening out without leaving the resort. UK reviewers regularly call it better than they expected. Reaching the real Disney Village of an evening, on the other hand, means the car.
The shop and the supermarket runThe Alamo Trading Post, and stocking the kitchen
The Alamo Trading Post is the on-site shop, part grocery and part Disney souvenir store, and bigger than the shops at the other hotels. It carries fresh bread, fruit and veg, meat for the barbecue, milk, cheese, wine, beer, snacks, barbecue charcoal and baby food alongside the pins and soft toys, and it opens early and closes late for exactly that reason. Prices are resort-level, noticeably more than a supermarket, so it's handy for top-ups but dear for a full week's food.
The near-universal advice from families is to do one proper supermarket shop on the way in and use the Trading Post for bits after that. The nearest supermarket is a Carrefour Market at Bailly-Romainvilliers, about seven minutes' drive, and the biggest is the Auchan hypermarket at Val d'Europe, about 8 to 10 minutes, which has a full range including a bakery, butcher and baby supplies. There's a Lidl and an Aldi nearby too for cheaper bulk items. All of them need the car, since nothing is within walking distance.
Getting to the parks means a car
A drive of about 15 minutes each way, set against free parking at the cabin and the park car park.
Be sure about this one before you book. There's no shuttle bus between the ranch and the parks, Disney Village or the train station, and there never has been. Getting to the parks means driving, about 10 to 15 minutes each way depending on which trail your cabin is on and the traffic, on a straightforward, well-signed route. Without a car most of what the ranch is good at falls away for you, so it suits driving families and doesn't suit those arriving another way. Coming from the UK it's about two and a half hours' drive from Calais on the A26 and A4, so the car you cross with is the car you use all week.
The offset is parking. Your cabin has its own space, and parking at the main Disney car park is free for your whole stay on the MagicPass, which day visitors pay a daily rate for. Over several days that's a real saving set against the cost of driving. The car park opens early, so ranch families arriving for early park entry tend to get in ahead of the crowds and park near the front. The same car makes midday breaks easy, driving back for a nap, a swim and lunch, then returning in the afternoon, which is one of the things families with toddlers value most about the ranch and something the on-site hotels can't match on price.
If you'd rather not drive every trip, Uber and Bolt are allowed on-site and will collect from your cabin, for a taxi-style fare each way, which is fine for the odd journey but gets expensive if you're going in and out daily. Electric-car drivers should know the ranch has only a few chargers at the central hub and none at the cabins, so it's the least convenient Disney hotel for charging; the free chargers at the park car park are the better bet, and it's worth bringing a Type 2 cable.
Checking in and the perksCheck-in, the MagicPass and early park entry
Check-in is from mid-to-late afternoon and check-out by 11am, and you can do the paperwork on the Disneyland Paris app before you arrive; if the cabin isn't ready you can use the pool while you wait. Everything runs off the MagicPass, a single card that's your cabin key, park ticket, pool pass, parking pass and a way to charge things around the resort. The new cabins add a phone app as the door key.
As an official Disney hotel, the ranch gets Extra Magic Time, early entry to the parks for about an hour before general opening, currently around 8.30am ahead of a typical 9.30am opening, though both times move with the season, so check the app for your dates. Being off-site and self-drive, you miss a couple of the on-site conveniences, such as having luggage forwarded from the station, and the self-catering cabins don't come with the hotel-style service you'd get on the main campus. What you do get is the full MagicPass benefit set at the lowest hotel price on the resort.
Loves and gripes
The praise and the gripes are both consistent, and both follow from the same self-catering, drive-to setup.
What families love is consistent. The two-bedroom layout means younger children go down at their normal bedtime while the adults have the evening on the terrace. Cooking for yourselves saves a good deal, especially for a family of five or six. The Blue Springs Pool and the forest quiet after a loud day in the parks come up in almost every review, along with summer barbecues on the terrace. A fair few families came to the ranch having done the on-site hotels first, wanting a different kind of holiday, and got it.
The grumbles are just as consistent. The car dependence catches out anyone who booked without taking it in; with a car it's a non-issue, without one it's a real problem. Before the new cabins, the older stock drew complaints for being tired, which the renewal is slowly putting right. Families expecting hotel service, with daily housekeeping, pool towels and a concierge, found the self-service model a let-down at Disney hotel prices. The distance can feel isolating too if you'd rather be in the middle of the resort, since every evening trip to Disney Village means the car. None of these are really faults; they come with the self-service, drive-to model, so weigh them before you book.
Most UK families book it direct with Disney or through a specialist like MagicBreaks or Attraction Tickets, on an ATOL or ABTA-protected package that pairs the cabins with park tickets and, if you want it, the ferry or LeShuttle crossing. Our tickets and passes guide covers how UK booking, Extra Magic Time and the MagicPass work across the resort.
Before you bookQuestions parents ask
Can we stay here without a car?
You can, but it works against everything the ranch is good at. There's no shuttle, so you'd rely on Uber or Bolt for every trip to the parks and a taxi from the station to arrive, which mounts up and takes away the flexibility that makes the ranch worth it. If you're not driving, an on-site hotel or Villages Nature next door will suit you far better.
Which cabin should we book with young children?
With young children the shorter walk back from the pool matters most, so ask for a New Standard Cabin in its Near Facilities position. That's a renovated cabin kept close to the hub, which puts the newer interior and the short walk together rather than making you choose between them.
Can we get shopping delivered to the cabin?
Supermarket delivery is awkward because of the security gate, so a driver has to arrange access, and most families just do one shop on the way in instead. Purchases from the Disney park shops work differently, since you can spend over a set amount before mid-afternoon and have them sent to the ranch shop to collect.
Is it like Center Parcs?
In feel, yes. Woodland cabins with their own driveways, a big pool, activities and a kitchen of your own. The difference is that it's a Disney hotel, so a stay comes with park tickets, early entry and the MagicPass, and you drive about 15 minutes to the parks rather than staying on top of them.
Is there a kids' club or childcare?
No, the ranch has no kids' club or childcare, so it's set up for families doing things together rather than dropping children off. The playground, the farm, the pool and the activities keep children busy, with a parent along.
Will the new-cabin building work disturb our stay?
Probably not. The work is kept to daytime hours, and you'll either be in a new cabin or an older one away from where the building is happening. If a brand-new cabin matters to you, book a New Standard Cabin rather than leaving it to chance.
Davy Crockett Ranch photos
The cabins in the trees, their terraces, what they're like inside and the new Duckburg Forest cabins, all in one place.
Open the Davy Crockett Ranch photo gallery →Useful links
- Disney Davy Crockett Ranch: the official hotel page for cabins, activities and live prices.
- Disney Sequoia Lodge: our guide to the woodland hotel on-site, if you'd rather walk to the parks.
- Tickets and passes: how Extra Magic Time, the MagicPass and UK booking work.
- Getting to Disneyland Paris: reaching the resort by car, ferry, LeShuttle, rail and air.
- Disneyland Paris with little ones: our guide to the resort, its parks and getting there.
Last updated 8 July 2026.
