Disney Sequoia Lodge will receive a major resort reimagining in the coming years, as part of the ongoing $2 billion euro investment into expanding, modernizing and improving Disneyland Paris. This post shares dates & details, concept art for the redone rooms & new-look common areas, plus commentary about the changes coming to one of our favorite Disney hotels in the world.
The modernization of the hotels at Disneyland Paris has been a work in progress for over a decade, as several of the resorts had been stuck in their 1992 states until recently. This initiative began several years ago with Sequoia Lodge, which was where we stayed during our first trip to Disneyland Paris back in 2012. Our room was “new” at that point, with the project just having wrapped up.
This project continued with an even more ambitious top to bottom overhaul of Newport Bay Club Hotel, which we stayed at and reviewed after that was completed. Additionally, Cars characters were added to Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe during its refurbishment, with a similar approach taken to add Toy Story in the new guest rooms and public spaces at Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne. However, these projects were minor as compared to the next two projects.
The first ambitious example of this transformation plan came with Disney’s Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel, which reopened in 2021 after closing for its reimagining. This is the first Disney hotel in the world celebrating the Art of Marvel, where guests can discover more than 350 Marvel art pieces from 110 artists around the world, meet with one of their favorite Super Heroes and even dine in an atmosphere inspired by Marvel comics and movies.
Following that, the flagship 5-star Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris underwent an extensive top-to-bottom overhaul for 3 years, and finally emerged from the reimagining early last year. Every centimeter of the interior was reimagined, from the spectacular grand lobby to the rooms and suites to the restaurants, to offer guests a new luxury concept interwoven with beloved regal Disney characters and princesses. The result is that Disneyland Hotel is now Victorian and modern at once, in ways that both do and don’t work. (On the plus side, it no longer feels dated in any way.)
On its 33rd Anniversary (April 12, 2025), Disneyland Paris revealed that things are coming full circle, and the next ambitious transformation is once again Disney Sequoia Lodge, and its 1,010 rooms.
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.
Starting in 2026, major refurbishment work will be carried out to enhance and elevate the experience offered at Disney Sequoia Lodge. 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.
This transformation will also be marked by the hotel’s theming of landscape and forest animals: the nods to the classic Disney Animation film Bambi that can be currently found in rooms will evolve towards a broader theme that will celebrate many of Disney characters from classic and recent movies from the forest.
These animals will be subtly incorporated into the different experiences offered at the hotel in a thoughtfully creative approach. Respect for nature and sustainability will also be reflected in the construction materials, which have been carefully selected to minimize the environmental impact of the Disney Sequoia Lodge refurbishment work.
Disney Sequoia Lodge will remain open during the refurbishment work, which will start in 2026 and will be carried out in phases.
In the meantime, the transformation of the hotels at Disneyland Paris continues at Disney Davy Crockett Ranch, where bungalows are gradually being replaced with a new theme to provide a modern and comfortable experience for guests.
Disney Davy Crockett Ranch will continue to be a haven of peace in the heart of a natural setting ideally located a few minutes drive away from Disney Parks. Interior decorations will be inspired by the adventures of beloved Disney characters, such as Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, together with the Junior Woodchucks.
The first set of new bungalows at Disney Davy Crockett Ranch will be available for booking starting June 12, for stays beginning after Summer 2025.
In terms of commentary, we’ve never stayed at Disney Davy Crockett Ranch or even visited, so I have no opinion on that. We considered it once (over a decade ago), but after hearing horror stories from friends and reading reports online, opted against it. I can’t comment on their veracity, or assess whether this is a good or bad update.
Turning to Sequoia Lodge, I’m cautiously optimistic. This is an absolutely stunning property, with beautiful architecture that borrows from (as noted) American National Park Lodges. What Disneyland Paris 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. So more modernity could work here–as Sequoia Lodge was always intended to be more modern than its counterparts!
Sequoia Lodge is really distinct from and underrated as compared to the other Disney lodges as a result. 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, having National Park Lodge scale but more 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 that puts it a league above its counterparts. However (you knew that was coming, right?), also as with all things Disneyland Paris, maintenance and updates have been a nagging issue over the years. Within a couple years of our first stay there, it felt like time had already passed by the refurbished resort. And that was a decade ago! Today, it feels woefully dated, especially as contrasted with the more recently-redone properties.
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–and the real world hotels and houses that inspired it.
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.
There is room for improvement with Sequoia Lodge, and I’m heartened that Disneyland Paris recognizes the important 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. If guests are too stupid to realize what a hotel with “lodge” in the name will offer thematically, that’s on them.
Beyond that, I’m optimistic about the new rooms. While the single piece of concept art is admittedly a bit vague, the old rooms were nothing special. They definitely felt like National Park Lodges at which I’ve stayed, but only in the sense that those are usually also pretty dated. Here’s where I’m fine with a bit more luxuriousness.
Guests pay a lot of money to stay at Disney Sequoia Lodge, and the guest rooms should reflect as much. Threading the needle between U.S. National Park Lodge and modernity is a tough one, and the end result will undoubtedly skew too far in the latter direction for some fans. That’s simply the nature of the beast. To me at least, it’s perfectly fine to make these more luxurious, add animal intellectual property, and more thematically-appropriate design.
Honestly, these rooms have nowhere to go but up. These rooms have always been a disappointment as compared to the other lodges at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and that’s doubly true after recent redesigns at the domestic resorts. (I’d add that Imagineering has done a fantastic job on the DVC side when it comes to refreshing the lodge rooms.)
We’ve been impressed with the other room redesigns at Disneyland Paris, with Newport Bay in particular being a nice upgrade that offers more comfort, modern amenities, and Disney design flourishes. The only quibble we had there, which we’ve noticed with other rooms at Disneyland Paris, is they already had a lot of wear and tear. Hopefully, Imagineering chooses more robust materials for this project, and the end result is that Sequoia Lodge continues to be a thematic exemplar while also having nicer and more contemporary guest rooms.
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 the announcement that Disneyland Paris will reimagine Sequoia Lodge next? Concerned about cartoon animals being infused into the U.S. National Parks Lodge inspired resort? Think Imagineers will do a good job of balancing modernity with the original architecture and spirit of Sequoia Lodge? Do you agree with our assessment that the rooms were really tired? 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!
