Midcentury Marvel in Disneyland Paris

Almost a year ago, Disneyland Paris reopened their Hotel New York after a long period of refurbishment. You might won’t why this is even worth mentioning, so let’s just dive right into it. Out of all their on-site resort hotels, the New York was the only one with a dieselpunk theme.

I didn’t take a tour of the hotel on previous visits to Disney, nor did I stay there prior to refurbishment. I did previously visit the main entrance hall and often walked past the hotel to admire its midcentury architecture.

The exterior of the building is largely unchanged. A few statues of Marvel superheroes have been added; remnants from events that took place at the Walt Disney Studios Park a few consecutive summers, years ago. The big pond that was turned into an iceskating rink during the Christmas season has been done away with.

Having only stayed in a standard room, I can’t speak to the décor of the more upscale ones, which look fancier in the pictures. Standard rooms are still Marvel-themed, but other than that they are just modern hotel rooms (with the worst shower/bath combo).

The rest of the hotel, however, is a really well-executed combination of midcentury design and Marvel art through the ages. Hence the new name, Disney’s Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel. The architecture is top atom era, varying slightly without breaking coherence throughout.

From the Doctor Strange-themed Bleecker Street Lounge, which brings the best of industrial-style dieselpunk, to the sleek midcentury atom era Skyline Bar with its bright neon, they really brought the aesthetics of the 1950s and 60s alive. All while making them work with more contemporary pieces of Marvel art.

So if you find yourself on property, I heartily recommend stopping by for a visit. You don’t need to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy the art in the halls or a drink in one of its bars. Disney only limits access to hotel guests on super-busy days.

Now, some public service to our readers with two handy things to know about the hotel:

1. It is expensive. Sometimes you can get a last-minute booking via a site like Booking.com that doesn’t range into insanity prices, but those are few and far between.
2. If you book via secondary agents (a travel agency, Booking.com, etc., you will not be able to make any reservations through the Disneyland Paris app, because it only recognizes bookings made directly with Disneyland Paris. This is an issue, because the easiest way to make any kind of reservation is through the app. If you are there during off-season, this is only an issue to book spots in the restaurants, especially for the buffet, but during peak season you might yourself unable to access the pool, gym, superhero station or anything else. So if you do book via an external agent, be prepared to spend a lot of time on the phone trying to convince operators to book you into spots before you go!