My Mortgage Free Dream - Boogie-ing through the 70's

pavlovs_dog

yukkibear wrote: »

I'm a bit sad but I think it's the right decision not to go. I think I'm going to cost out a Disney Trip and start saving for 2013 / 2014

If by Disney you mean Paris rather than Florida I would do your research carefully before booking. If you've ever been to any of the American Disney parks Paris will leave you disappointed. If you've never been to a Disney park and Paris is your first taste, it may well put you off visiting the more magical offerings available across the pond.

I don't want to put a damp squib on things but I personally don't think DLP is all it's cracked up to be, and as much as I love Disney I don't think I would ever take my kids (when I have them) to DLP.

yukkibear

Never been to any disney PD, but not sure I could stand the flight to florida to be honest, so Paris will prob be my only shot.

pavlovs_dog

just to warn you then...

the French can be incredibly rude. There is no concept of queueing, there is a huge scrum whenever characters appear, no DLP staff even attempt to police this scrum, adults seem to think nothing of pushing in front of children to get photos/autographs. Parades are not much better, if you want a good spot, turn up early and fight your ground!

the hopper bus system is a shambles, especially at peak times (ie as parks open and kick out). again, the concept of queueing is non existent, it's every man for himself. If you are thinking of staying near disney itself, choose a hotel where you could comfortably walk the children back/forth if necessary. People will push and shove ANYONE, including small children and people in wheelchairs (can you tell I didn't see the best of humanity whilst there?!)

staff within the park are not as helpful as you would expect (especially if you've been to WDW). Where special events are happening within the park (e.g. I run a school trip for the st davids festival there) staff have NO idea what is happening within the park itself and think nothing of telling you blatant porky pies in an attempt to get rid of you.

whilst staff do have perfectly adequate English, you will get much better service if you can speak French (even if it's obvious you are not French). This seems to be true of France in general, not just DLP

Walt disney studios is not worth the money unless your kids are old enough for big coasters. Even then, it's such a small park you can do it justice in just over half a day, assuming no horrific queues.

it's not a place for disney based retail therapy. IMHO you find a better range of merchandise within the 2 parks than you will the disney village. prices didn't seem any worse than UK theme park prices (eg 12 euros would buy you a basic burger/fries/drink meal).

if you go, take a bagful of patience!!!

not sure if you know but there are 2 big disney forums for info on planning trips. One is the Disboard, can't remember what the other is called - it will be in the current disney thread on the travel board. Both full of useful information, there isn't a question about the parks that hasn't been answered.

I think my dislike of DLP ultimately comes down to the fact that I have been to WDW 3 times and have experienced first hand Disney at it's most magical. To be fair to Paris, those are huge shoes to fill so maybe I was expecting too much. (and to reassure you it isn't totally awful I am running the st davids trip again this year )

yukkibear

thanks for all your tips PD, certainly a lot to think on.

pink_poppy

We've been to Disneyland Paris twice ~ my kids were 6 & 8 ish years old the first time & we went again the following year. Both times my kids loved it - they were the perfect age I think. Tbh I think they'd bite my hand off if I suggested going again now even though they're both moody teenagers, they're still big kids really (both sat watching Scooby Doo atm)!! :rotfl:

Good luck with the planning & saving up for it

yukkibear

£35 landed today from a bingo win so have OP £20 and put £15 into savings. Came home to a small amazon sale, an ebay sale and an enquiry about an ad I placed online for sale, so hopefully some cash trickling in.

CathT

Not a bad day then, hope you have more like that. I've never been to DLP but have heard about the pushing and shoving. A colleague of mine got a fantastic deal for WDW in the Summer so it might pay to shop around for there.

newgirly

Hi Yukkibear, I love centerparcs but it is so expensive, is there any way you could just do a weekend there off peak?

yukkibear

Not really as we have school etc to deal with. I'm thinking the holiday is on hold anyway just until savings are built up. We can do some fab day trips this year perhaps instead and we had a lovely holiday last year so it's not as if anyone is deprived.

yukkibear

Decluttered dd2's old pushchair this morning and received £10. Counted up my 20p's and have £10 to put in the bank, so will share that between mortgage and savings on Monday.