Disney's Hotel Cheyenne

If your kid yells "There's a snake in my boot!" right along with Woody, Disney's Hotel Cheyenne is the stay that will thrill them while keeping parents smiling at the price. It's a 2-star hotel Disney designed as an entire Wild West cowboy town — not a regular hotel block but a dirt street lined with timber buildings out of a Western, with Saloon and General Store signs and warm yellow lamps. Best of all for the kids, it ties in fully with Toy Story. Guest reviews give it around 8.4/10 — strikingly high for a budget hotel.

Rooms and decor

The real charm here is that it "doesn't feel like a hotel" — rooms are spread across two-storey timber buildings named after Western towns (Cochise, Santa Fe and so on), lined up along dirt streets like a movie set. The standout rooms are the Woody's Roundup theme, where the bedspreads, carpets and decor carry Woody, Jessie and Bullseye — even the hallways are carpeted with bucking horses and horseshoes to match. Rooms do run small: a standard two beds plus a bunk for kids, sleeping about 4, with a plain design and none of the in-room touches you get at the flagship hotels.

Food and amenities

On the food side there's the Chuck Wagon Café, a barn-style cowboy buffet with plenty of corners for kids to pick from, and the Red Garter Saloon, a Western-themed bar that runs activities and music at certain times. The lobby keeps the theme going with a stone fireplace and a handsome bronze horse statue. One thing to be straight about before you book: there's no swimming pool on site, so families set on swimming need to look elsewhere.

Location and getting there

Getting to the parks means a free shuttle, about 8 minutes — you can walk along the river instead, but it's 15-20 minutes and there's no boat. At peak morning times or after the fireworks the shuttle can get crowded, so leave extra time. The trade for all that is a price nearly half what the lakeside hotels charge.

Things to know before booking

Two honest caveats. First, no pool — if a long trip means the kids will want to swim, you can't just borrow another hotel's pool (those are for that hotel's guests only), so plan around it. Second, you're committed to the 8-minute shuttle or the longer riverside walk. Otherwise the buildings, the Woody's Roundup rooms and the meet-and-greet do most of the work, and the price stays gentle.

Our take

After reading through plenty of real guest reviews, Hotel Cheyenne is best for families whose kids love Toy Story or the cowboy adventure theme and who want a genuine Disney hotel for the lowest budget that's still fun — you get a cowboy town for kids to run around, Woody's Roundup rooms and the chance to meet Woody and Jessie in person. The trade-offs to accept are no pool, small rooms and the shuttle. If you want a pool for a similar budget, look at Sequoia above; if your kid is more into Cars than cowboys, scroll down to Santa Fe, the next one and a touch cheaper.