Disneyland Paris

mummywantstosave

I would appreciate some help if possible.
I have searched and tried to gather information from the q&a thread but i just wanted to find out about booking direct.
I would like to take my family (2 adults 2 children under 7) during the easter holidays 2014 (if poss) i have had qoutes from co-op and other online groups, however i have heard that some people get it much cheaper by booking it individually by themselves? I have looked and cant seem to find how as the park passes alone seem high. I wondered am i missing something or a particular website to look at?
We are travelling from Manchester, ideally i would prefer to fly but i think with trying to save money we will go down the car route (definately not coach my husband would never agree!)
After weighing up to hotels i thought the Sequoia Lodge would suit us best with it having a pool. Kids would love to stay in one othe the bigger ones but i cant justify the prices.
Thanks in advance for any help

JodieG2011

Hey

Disneyland Paris website has opened their dates for next year. At the moment, I just priced up for you for around 1st April for 2 adults and 2 children aged 7. It would cost £584 for the Sequoia Lodge for 4 nights/5 days, as they have a 2 nights 2 days free deal and free hotel and park for kids under 12. So that's a really good price! That would include your park tickets for 5 days as well then and you would just need to sort out your transport. Hope that's helpful for you!

mummywantstosave

Thank you thats really helpfull i am going to have a look now, the only problem i have is that i am (apparently) not allowed to take my 6 year old daughter out of school at all in year 2 because of SATS? I need to find out how definite this is or wether its just advisory as the prices are so much better in term time.
Would you have any advice on booking transpory ourselves? I know about flights but the tunnel and ferry are completely new to me - is there one booking main bookinf site for these types of travel or various?

balletshoes

mummywantstosave wrote: »

I would appreciate some help if possible.
I have searched and tried to gather information from the q&a thread but i just wanted to find out about booking direct.
I would like to take my family (2 adults 2 children under 7) during the easter holidays 2014 (if poss) i have had qoutes from co-op and other online groups, however i have heard that some people get it much cheaper by booking it individually by themselves? I have looked and cant seem to find how as the park passes alone seem high. I wondered am i missing something or a particular website to look at?
We are travelling from Manchester, ideally i would prefer to fly but i think with trying to save money we will go down the car route (definately not coach my husband would never agree!)
After weighing up to hotels i thought the Sequoia Lodge would suit us best with it having a pool. Kids would love to stay in one othe the bigger ones but i cant justify the prices.
Thanks in advance for any help

first things first - do you have to stay onsite, or would nearby in a partner hotel (with Disney gift shop, pool etc) do you? If offsite would do, you can get annual passes for DLP for a family of 2 adults and 2 children from cemultiavantages for around 350 euros total, including all postage and admin fees. But its too early to buy them, you need to be looking around 6 months before travel.

Always book the transport yourself separately, you have lots of options but for 4 of you driving will be cheapest and most convenient. If you have tesco clubcard vouchers you can use those to pay for the Eurotunnel crossing from Folkestone, or you could source the ferry from Hull etc.

If you're set on staying in an onsite hotel in April, you probably won't get much cheaper than Disney themselves, when they come out with their discounted offers (so for the Sequoia Lodge I'd be looking for a 30 or 40% off plus kids under 7 free, those are not unusual discount offers).

Just for information, January to March is the cheapest time to go to DLP (thats when you get the 2 nights and 2 days free on the cheapest tariff for the onsite hotels), April there are a lot of European school holidays so it won't be that cheap or that quiet.

mummywantstosave

thank you balletshoes.
we dont have to stay onsite, but ideally i would like it to be quick and easy to get to the parks preferably with a free shuttle or walk. We are taking our girls as a joint birthday present instead of a party, their birthday is in may so i was looking at april as being cheaper, I suppose i can look at march too if i was able to take the during term time.
I didnt know you could get the ferry from hull, that would be ideal - i will definately have to look in into this option.
Thanks so much its such a big help to recieve this information and advice.

JodieG2011

mummywantstosave wrote: »

Thank you thats really helpfull i am going to have a look now, the only problem i have is that i am (apparently) not allowed to take my 6 year old daughter out of school at all in year 2 because of SATS? I need to find out how definite this is or wether its just advisory as the prices are so much better in term time.
Would you have any advice on booking transpory ourselves? I know about flights but the tunnel and ferry are completely new to me - is there one booking main bookinf site for these types of travel or various?

I realised after searching the dates I entered were not actually the Easter holidays. It may be worth finding out from the school when they are likely to take place, I know that year 2 here have just had their testing. So if it wont be until May, there may not be a huge problem with taking her out of school for a few days but definitely check with the school. I'm pretty much the same, the transport is all new to me too. Easyjet have fairly priced flights but depends where you would want to fly from.

mummywantstosave

I could fly from liverpool or manchester - liverpool prices dont seem to be out yet and manchester are approx £100 each return which will be £400 on top of package price, im assuming driving will be cheaper than this - although maybe not with fuel prices!

balletshoes

mummywantstosave wrote: »

I could fly from liverpool or manchester - liverpool prices dont seem to be out yet and manchester are approx £100 each return which will be £400 on top of package price, im assuming driving will be cheaper than this - although maybe not with fuel prices!

yes it will be much cheaper driving - I looked into this for a planned trip from Nottingham to DLP. Door to door, including European breakdown cover and insurance through Eurotunnel, tolls, fuel etc (petrol, diesel will be cheaper) would cost me around £300 total.
Its around £90 cheaper if you have tesco clubcard vouchers for the Eurotunnel. The only extras you'd have is overnight stays before and after your Eurotunnel if you chose to break up your journey that way, and Folkestone has Premier Inns and travelodges galore, so you should be able to get family rooms at either of these for around £20-£30 per room.

remember if you're flying, you'll have transfers from the airport to your Disney hotel and back, so you'd need to factor in at least 120 euros for that.

icklejulez

As a family with 3 kids we have driven from Blackpool/Nottingham 3 times and love the driving, it adds an extra night's holiday to your break and the anticipation of staying in Dover and waiting for your ferry the next morning and heading to Disney is great. The kids love it. Folkestone is also lovely to stay at and has lovely pebble beach and play area our kids love to play on for hours.

The drive isn't too bad as its usually only 3 hours from Calais, the motorways are usually always clear and my OH who initially was scared found it actually easier to stay in France.

We found with flights you have car parking and transport to/from the airport to add on at each end. Plus with a car you can take so much more - we filled the car with surprise Disney dressing up outfits from Asda and we got comments from everyone who wanted to know where we had bought them from. PS if your child dresses up they can walk straight on a ride it matches with. We bought Pirates of the Caribbean for example and this was one of the kids favourites, we could walk straight on and the cast gave the kids loads of attention. Buzz is also a good one as the queue is always huge.

PS Sequioa Lodge is lovely (stayed there the last time) but Cheyenne only adds around 5 minute walk to your journey and my kids preferred the theming of Cheyenne. Its a lot cheaper too.

We don't use Eurotunnel we usually hold out for P&O saver tickets for around £60 return. If you sign up to email adverts, they email you offers a few months before.

Also if you stay off site and get Annual Passes remember you can get discount at restaurants and gifts so work out how much spends you are going to take with you (you will spend every penny you take) and work out how much discount that is.

I spent £50 getting a shareholders card in 2011 (disboards.co.uk for info) and I got around 20% off everything and a free coffee and snack each morning in Caf! Mickey (like a VIP caf! and avoid queuing to get in the park). I am not sure how this works at the moment as I know they made some changes.

Other tips are doing a mini shop at Val de Europe for packed lunch stuff, the supermarket it fab. If you buy Annual Passes look out for Blackout days where you cant use them (DLRP.com - dates and other info).

With a few days searching you will be a Disney booking pro (and addict)!

icklejulez

Oh one more tip - if booking Direct with Disney you can change the language to other countries and prices vary and they have different offers on at other times, always worth a check! I use google translator to take me through the process...

mummywantstosave

Thanks for the tip, i will try the different languages, definatley worth a try.
I have just looked into the ferry from hull and my best option from there would be ferry to zeebrugge and drive to DLP.
I wondered if anyone had tried this option or has any thoughts or opinions on is in comparison to other options when travelling from manchester area?