Should You Avoid One of Our Favorite Disney Hotels Until 2028?

One of our favorite Disney hotels in the world is currently in the midst of a year-long, top to bottom refurbishment that will reimagine the guest rooms and common areas between now and late 2027 or 2028. We recently stayed in a club level suite and wanted to share whether you should avoid Sequoia Lodge based on our firsthand experience, along with a sneak peek at the redone rooms.

Let’s start with the latest official details shared by Disney on the 34th Anniversary of Disneyland Paris. At the beginning of 2026, a new chapter in the Disney Hotels transformation plan began at Disneyland Paris, with the launch of the major renovation of Disney Sequoia Lodge.

Nestled on the shore of Lake Disney, in a natural setting filled with pine trees and sequoias, this iconic hotel inspired by lodges in American National Parks. Once transformed, Disney Sequoia Lodge will become a unique getaway celebrating nature alongside forest animals from the Disney animated films.

The construction will be conducted carefully to preserve the hotel’s wooden décor along with its authentic and warm atmosphere that guests have cherished since 1992. The structure of interior spaces will be reimagined from floor to ceiling, paving the way for a fresh look of characterized by greater brightness and a touch of modernity.

The design will pay homage to the beauty of nature to the next level while taking inspiration from the forests following the tradition started by Walt Disney and his team of animators. Every space, from the rooms to the lobby, as well as the shopping and dining locations, will be reinvented as an ode to wildlife, offering the perfect environment to unwind and let one’s mind wander.

These new rooms will reflect the new artistic direction of Disney Sequoia Lodge, paying tribute to the beauty of nature while celebrating many of the Disney characters who live in the forest. The rooms will have 3 different themes, showcasing design inspired by Disney Animation’s Bambi (1942), a celebration of Pocahontas (1995), and one dedicated to the Pixar Studios film Brave (2012).

The first phase of the renovation concerns all the rooms in the 5 outdoor lodges, located in the heart of a forest of sequoias. Guests will be able to enjoy those renovated rooms starting in the first quarter of 2027. (The year-long turnaround time is because, at least as of March, Imagineers were still working on the model rooms. There’s also presumably a lot of exterior work to be done to the outlying buildings themselves.)

After the outlying buildings are finished, the rest of the rooms and all the areas of Disney Sequoia Lodge, such as the lobby and the restaurant, shopping and recreation areas, will be renovated and redesigned progressively. The hotel will continue welcoming guests while the renovation work continues. No timeline for the renovation’s completion has been announced, but it’s likely to take into 2028.

Here are photos & concept art of the new rooms released by Disneyland Paris:

As noted, we stayed at Sequoia Lodge a couple of weeks ago (photos of common areas follow throughout, even when discussing other hotels), at which point this work was well underway. For those who aren’t familiar with the layout of Sequoia Lodge, it has a massive main building with a north and south wing, along with 5 outlying buildings named after regions in California (plus Yellowstone, for some reason).

The 5 outlying buildings are behind the north wing, and basically span between Sequoia Lodge and Hotel Santa Fe. Because these buildings are closed, so too is the pathway leading to Hotel Santa Fe. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal, because there are bridges connecting Santa Fe and Hotel Cheyenne, which is across the water from it.

However, there’s also a walkway closure there, meaning you have to backtrack a bit as a result of portions of the two paths being closed. I have no clue how long the second walkway closure will last (it could be over already!), but this made for a tedious and time-consuming trek back to Hotel Santa Fe and Cheyenne during our stay, so I thought this might be worth mentioning.

We actually stayed at three different hotels during our recent trip to Disneyland Paris, and visited all of the others. Part of the reason for this was simply that we love (and highly recommend) the on-site experience at DLP, and appreciate how the walkable resort complex is laid out.

The other part is that, since we highly recommend the on-site experience at DLP, we want to keep apprised of on-the-ground conditions so that we’re not steering you wrong with our advice. One of the big issues over the years at Disneyland Paris has been maintenance, and the modernization of the hotels at Disneyland Paris has been a work in progress for 15+ years, as several of the resorts had been stuck in their 1992 states until recently.

If you’re a Disneyland Paris first-timer (or it’s been a while since you’ve visited), we would strongly recommend working with Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. Their agents have firsthand experience with DLP and can offer personalized and up-to-date advice, book your vacation, find the best DLP deals, and help take the stress out of planning.

With that said, I want to quickly run through what we observed with our visits to the hotels at Disneyland Paris, since it might take a while to get around to standalone reviews. As noted above, we made visits to Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe while staying at Sequoia Lodge. These were uneventful. If I were to book one of these two resorts, as always, it’d be Cheyenne.

Another visit was made to Newport Bay Club Hotel, which we stayed at and reviewed shortly its last top to bottom overhaul was completed. I was surprised to see Newport Bay Club’s common areas looking a bit rough; they could use another refresh. Then I remembered its “recent” refurbishment was in 2016, which, if my math is correct, is like a full decade ago. I’d probably pass on Newport Bay Club right now.

We also stayed at Disney’s Hotel New York for the first time since it became “Art of Marvel.” (We had stayed there previously when it was a quirky nod to the Big Apple, in typical Michael Graves style.) Hotel New York is looking nice and fresh, with the modernized rooms. I’m not a big Marvel fan so that element did nothing for me, but the stylization isn’t overdone and the redone hotel feels a lot more contemporary than the circa 1992 property used to be. It felt like stepping on the set of Seinfeld or Friends before. I do miss some of the charm and personality, though. I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again, and we recommend it.

Finally, we stayed at the the 5-star Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris, which underwent an extensive top-to-bottom overhaul for 3 years, and finally emerged from the reimagining early last year. Every inch of the interior was reimagined, from the grand lobby to the rooms to the restaurants, offering guests a new luxury property interwoven with beloved regal Disney characters and princesses.

The result is that Disneyland Hotel is now Victorian and modern at once, and that balance really works. Shockingly so. We actually stayed at Disneyland Hotel to start our trip, which set an impossibly high bar that none of the subsequent hotels could even come close to matching.

If DLP is a bucket list entry and you’re able to splurge, Disneyland Hotel is the clear flagship property. It offers incredible attention to detail and a true luxury-caliber experience that’s only steps away from the park entrance. Only one little problem: it is absurdly expensive! (If you can swing it, it’s worth it.)

The final hotel in our trip was Sequoia Lodge in the Golden Forest Club Suite.

Being bloggers, we’re not normally ones to book old rooms that will soon be obsolete. But we nevertheless did this because the price was right; the Golden Forest Club Suite was about the same price as extending in our standard room at Hotel New York, and far cheaper than Disneyland Hotel.

I’m glad we opted for Sequoia Lodge. I know, I know–the title of this post suggests “avoiding” Sequoia Lodge during this project. And I largely stand by that for many guests. But this was the end of nearly 3 weeks in France, and the extra breathing room the suite offered alone made the old room worth it to us. Not only that, but we would’ve encountered zero construction impact whatsoever had it not been for that walk back to Cheyenne and Santa Fe.

This is nevertheless a “do as I say, not as I do” kinda post for a couple of reasons.

First, the construction impact will presumably get worse once crews move from the outlying buildings to the main lodge. The implication is that won’t happen until after the outlying buildings are done in the first quarter of 2027, though, so there might be a ‘sweet spot’ during which you can score bargains on Sequoia Lodge and have minimal (if any) construction impact.

Second, because the rooms at Sequoia Lodge are undeniably dated. This is the hotel we stayed at when visiting Disneyland Paris for the first time ~15 years ago…and the rooms look almost exactly like they did then. Here’s a look around our room so you can see for yourself:

The rooms are showing their age in a stylistic sense, with elements that new Disney hotel rooms haven’t featured in a while. There’s also wear and tear to the furniture, but it wasn’t as bad as expected for a room that was 15 years old.

My potentially unpopular opinion is that our room at Sequoia Lodge was lovely. Sure, it was a bit tired, and lacking the usability improvements of their newer counterparts, but it had thematic integrity. I loved the attention to detail, texture and theme.

There are obvious updates and upgrades that could be made to modernize the space, both from an aesthetic and usability perspective, but this room is better than many resorts–especially at Disneyland Paris. It’s an old school Disney room, for both better and worse.

This isn’t just my admitted bias towards the ‘lodge’ style of Disney resorts. Sarah was surprised at how much she liked the charm and personality of the room, and felt the old school design had a certain warmth and calming quality.

Others might be totally turned off by the rustic look, though, and find this room dark and drab. These are all very common criticisms of this ‘era’ of lodge style rooms, to the point that I’m reluctant to recommend Sequoia Lodge to casual visitors or first-timers until the new rooms open. But you should be able to judge whether this ‘works’ for you based on the photos.

My biggest complaints about this room would be a lack of outlets and storage, which were common qualms with this era of Disney rooms. You realize how much you appreciate the ‘quality of life’ modernizations (and sometimes take them for granted) when going back to the older accommodations. Not huge issues thanks to the sprawling size of the room, though. The mattress was also firmer than I’d like, and than its counterparts at newer DLP hotels.

On balance, we’re very happy that we booked Sequoia Lodge. The value proposition was off the charts for the size of this suite and its included Golden Forest Club Level access.

Disneyland Paris uses dynamic pricing for resorts, and rates are all over the place, so don’t count on a repeat of this. I’m not sure whether Sequoia Lodge is purposefully being discounted during the resort reimagining, or if we just got lucky.

The layout of the room also worked well for us. We usually prefer family suites with doors separating the living from the sleeping areas, but that preference seems to be less important with jam-packed theme park days. Our daughter fell asleep in her stroller on the walk back and was out when we got back to the room. No amount of noise we made woke her up. YMMV.

I found myself impressed at just how well Sequoia Lodge holds up as a whole in the common areas.

There are definitely spaces that could use a refresh and feel stuck in the past. But at the same time, the underlying lodge is timeless and iconic. The architecture is striking, and there’s a lot to love about Sequoia Lodge. Redwood Bar will never go out of style. It exemplifies cozy, and is my favorite place in any of the DLP hotels to relax and unwind.

This might be my bias towards this style of hotel talking, but I don’t think so. Cheyenne, Santa Fe, and Newport Bay Club all looked more tired than Sequoia Lodge. And although Hotel New York is more modern and newer, I would still personally pick the Sequoia Lodge of today over that. Again, YMMV.

Whether you should stay at Sequoia Lodge now or avoid it until the overhaul is done in 2028 really comes down to a combination of cost, timing, and personal preference. The old rooms might make it a non-starter or you might love them. Price also pretty much speaks for itself, but if this is closer to Cheyenne and Santa Fe in cost, staying at Sequoia would be my preference.

Timing might be outcome determinative. If you’re visiting between now and Spring 2027, it sounds like you won’t have any construction impact to the main building amenities, which is key. Again, we wouldn’t have noticed any construction whatsoever had we not wandered back to Cheyenne and Santa Fe.

Anytime after Spring 2027, I’d be more reluctant to book Sequoia Lodge. While work on the main building will be done in phases to minimize guest impact, there will still presumably be amenities that are out of commission, along with visible and audible work on the facilities. (On the plus side, you’d get a new room in the outlying buildings!)

Speaking of which, let’s turn to the updates and talk about those a bit. Even though I still appreciate the Sequoia Lodge of today, I’m cautiously optimistic about the end product that emerges from the resort reimagining in late 2027 or 2028. This is an absolutely stunning property, with beautiful architecture that borrows from (as noted by Disney) American National Park Lodges.

What Disney neglects to mention is that its original designer, French architect Antoine Grumbach, also drew from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style for a more modern style than Disney’s other lodges around the world. Meaning that more modernity should work here; Sequoia Lodge was always intended to be more modern than Wilderness Lodge or the Grand Californian.

Sequoia Lodge is underrated as compared to the other Disney lodges as a result. I’m the world’s #1 Wilderness Lodge fan, but it nevertheless bugs me when Walt Disney World regulars deride Sequoia Lodge as a Wilderness Lodge knockoff. It’s not as grandiose of a hotel as that, sure, but all of these lodges are distinct from one another, drawing from different real world inspirations.

There’s more subtlety in Sequoia’s style. What it lacks in the grandiose lobby and striking scale, it makes up for with cozy spaces and inviting atmosphere. Upon closer inspection, it nails the Disney details with a really nuanced design–like the other lodges, where Sequoia truly excels is in creating spaces where you want to nestle up and stay for a while.

Truly, they’re all very different to astute observers. Wilderness Lodge draws heavily from the Pacific Northwest, and is the most National Parks Lodge inspired and “rustic” of the bunch. The Grand Californian is more upscale, directly drawing from exemplars of California Craftsman architecture from nearby Pasadena. Explorers Lodge at Hong Kong Disneyland is more whimsical, drawing inspiration from the other lodges while also adding distinctly Disney stylization.

Like so much of Disneyland Paris, Sequoia Lodge was designed with meticulous attention to detail. Also as with all things Disneyland Paris, maintenance and updates have been a nagging issue over the years. Beyond the rooms, the exterior could really use a thorough refurbishment.

There’s the potential for greatness with the Sequoia Lodge transformation. Leaning into the modernity of the architecture and inviting more of the outdoors inside would be smart decisions. Sequoia Lodge is surrounded by a thick forest of pine, cedar and sequoia trees that were imported from the West Coast of the United States and Canada. Achieving the “greater brightness” by giving guests more views of those gorgeous trees would be very much in the spirit of the resort.

On the other hand, stripping away the thematic elements and repainting large expanses of the interior white would not. That’s my fear. That the “touch of modernity” here won’t be letting the original architecture and design shine through, or enhancing that. But rather, that it’ll be generifying the inside, chasing current trends, and trying to transform Sequoia Lodge into something it isn’t.

I’m heartened that Disneyland Paris recognizes the importance of preserving what guests love about this hotel. I’m nevertheless concerned those are hollow words, and they’ll attempt to make it trendy and luxurious in an attempt to cater to guests who don’t appreciate the architecture and want something “less rustic.” As with guests who complain about the same at Wilderness Lodge, they should simply stay somewhere else.

Beyond that, I’m optimistic about the new rooms. While we ended up being pleasantly surprised by our room, a big part of that was the size, which guests booking a standard room won’t benefit from. Style-wise, it definitely felt like National Park Lodges at which I’ve stayed, in the sense that those are usually charming despite being dated.

I’m fine with a bit more luxuriousness and modernizations. I’m also willing to give Disney the benefit of the doubt here, as Imagineering has generally done a great job with new rooms over the last ~5 years, and what they’ve released thus far of Sequoia Lodge’s model rooms looks promising!

For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Find the best place to stay in Disneyland Paris Hotel Reviews. Check out 101 Disneyland Paris Tips for some (101, to be exact) of our best random tips for doing DLP like a pro. See Disney Park Tickets Tips & Tricks for ways to save on tickets. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. Finally, for advice beyond Disney, check out our Ultimate Travel Guide to Paris, France.

YOUR THOUGHTS

What’s your take on reimagining of Sequoia Lodge? Would you stay here during the major renovations? Or does that depend on timing and price? Thoughts on the current rooms versus the new ones? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any other thoughts about this news? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!