Chapter Twenty-Six: Internet Bargain Hotel

Before we moved back from Germany I wanted to take the kids on one last trip. We were already in Europe and I knew, as a family of six, that we would not make it back there anytime soon. So, we began looking around at nearby places to visit and ended up finding some pre-summer sale prices at Euro Disney. We were able to book several nights stay at Disney’s Davy Crocket Ranch but we couldn’t find another affordable hotel for the very last night that we wanted to be there. Since we were purchasing multiday, park-hopper passes, we thought we would just get there and surely something else would open up in the meantime.

After the movers came and packed up our household belongings, we drove over to Euro Disney just outside of Paris. We got all checked in and settled but by the time we did, Disney had no vacancies for any hotel for the last night we wanted to stay. Luckily we had brought my husband’s laptop computer with us but found the only internet access at Disneyland was at their Hotel New York. Thus, we located the hotel, went into the lobby, opened the laptop and began searching for a nearby affordable hotel outside of Paris for a family of six for one night. We actually found several but all of them would require us to rent 2 or 3 rooms to sleep us all. So, sight unseen, we made an online reservation for the cheapest one.

The next morning we packed up and checked out of the Davey Crockett Ranch and headed into Disneyland for the day. That evening we drove off to find our hotel for the night. Our trusty GPS finally got us there. We were the last to check in at about 9pm that night and the manager working the front desk had stayed open waiting for us. We parked our van in the gated, secure parking lot provided after unloading and checking into the rooms. We had to split into three rooms of two each for the night. So, my husband took a room with the six-year-old, I slept in a room with the two-year-old, and our other son (age 14) and daughter (age 11) shared a room with twin beds.

The hotel wasn’t fancy or nice; it was just a place to sleep for the night. The bathroom was tiled floor to ceiling since it doubled as the shower as well. We stayed on the bottom floor so even though it was a bit stuffy, I didn’t open the window, as the window was large enough and low enough for someone to walk through into the room. We sank deeply into our foam mattresses as we drifted off to sleep. I would compare this hotel to a Super 8 or a Motel 6 back here in the states but those, while simple but adequate, are usually at least clean. And the crowning moment came when I tried to key into my room for the first time and the door handle fell off into my hand. I stood there holding the door handle, thinking, “Well, that certainly makes me feel safe!” The door handle was to fall off into my hand again after saying goodnight to my other kids and trying to key back into my room. Every time it happened again, I would stand there with the door knob in my hand, shaking my head, thinking, “What a bargain hotel Cory discovered!”