Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

Livvipivvi

balletshoes wrote: »

here are the blackout dates as published so far by the DLP site for Fantasy passes -

Your Fantasy Annual Pass is valid in Disneyland ® Park and Walt Disney Studios ® all year except days following restriction:
2014
January 1, 14, 21
March: 29 and 30
April: 5 and 20
May 3, 10, 13, 20 and 31
June: 8, 17, 28 and 29
July: 5
August: 30
September: 2, 9, 16, 23, 27 and 28
October: 7, 14, 25, 26 and 31
November 1, 8, 15 and 18
December: 6, 13, 14 and 27,
2015
January 1, 6, 13, 20 and 27
MARCH: 28 and 29

blackout dates dont apply at all if you are staying at a Disney onsite hotel - but unfortunately you won't get a great room only rate at all for a May stay (the best dates for room only with APs onsite are from November through to late March each year). You can call Disney and ask for a room only rate, but don't be surprised if its as much, or even more than, a package including park tickets (Disney heavily discounts its packages, by much more than it ever does for its room only prices).

If you're going to get APs for you all, you'd be better staying offsite but nearby with free shuttle buses to and from the parks. Have a look on ebookers, expedia, traverepublic, alpharooms etc and see what takes your fancy .

I'm not sure promoparcs/cemultiavantages can sell the cheaper APs to non-French residents anymore - but its certainly worth emailing both companies and asking the question, because its a fair bit cheaper than paying for them at the gates of DLP.

Okies fab, thank you very much for your help. No blackout dates for when we want to go which is good news. Just my luck that the french sites would stop selling APs to non residents now :doh:

I've looked on the disney site and 4 nights staying in the new york 25th-29th may is £1139. Does that sound like a good price please? If I know it's a good price I can use that when looking at offsite hotels to compare savings etc

Happy new year fellow money savers _party__party_:beer:

Livvipivvi

balletshoes wrote: »

The onward journey from gare du nord to DLP by metro and RER train takes just under one hour and involves a change from metro to RER. it costs around 7 euros per adult each way.

in your shoes i,d wait for the indirect eurostar fare to DLP to come out and if thats still too expensive then i,d look at booking the paris fare.

Okies thank you balletshoes, I will hang on for the non direct fares. Sounds like a lot more messing about to travel into paris

balletshoes

Livvipivvi wrote: »

Okies fab, thank you very much for your help. No blackout dates for when we want to go which is good news. Just my luck that the french sites would stop selling APs to non residents now :doh:

I've looked on the disney site and 4 nights staying in the new york 25th-29th may is £1139. Does that sound like a good price please? If I know it's a good price I can use that when looking at offsite hotels to compare savings etc

Happy new year fellow money savers _party__party_:beer:

If your hotel new york price includes 2 nights free, then its not going to get any cheaper for your dates for 4 nights. However, have you had a look to see how much one adult and your 6-year old would be for the same room for the same dates? It might work out cheaper to book that then get annual passes for the other 2 members of your party (you don't pay any extra to add names to the room as you've already paid for it in full with the package).

balletshoes

bevally wrote: »

Thinking of going first week of Sept, 2 adults 2 children (7&4)
Like poster above I'm very confused as to when to book, as with all things MSE would like to get best poss deal!!
Plan to travel via Eurostar, been looking at Santa Fe & either 3 or 4 night stay????
Advice welcomed!

if its 4 nights you want, i believe you can book that now on the official DLP site, with an early booker 2 nights free discount.

If you'd rather have 3 nights, you'll need to wait until the next lot of offers come out, to see if there are any decent discounts for your dates in september for 3 nights (40% off is a decent price off the full brochure price for DLP).

Only your 4-year old would be free staying onsite, your 7-year old you'd have to pay for, so again it might be worthwhile looking offsite but nearby for your hotel, then looking at annual passes for park tickets.

Definitely book Eurostar direct with Eurostar themselves, I believe September dates are already on sale so if you know your dates, book it as soon as you can (it will only get more expensive the longer you leave it).

Livvipivvi

balletshoes wrote: »

If your hotel new york price includes 2 nights free, then its not going to get any cheaper for your dates for 4 nights. However, have you had a look to see how much one adult and your 6-year old would be for the same room for the same dates? It might work out cheaper to book that then get annual passes for the other 2 members of your party (you don't pay any extra to add names to the room as you've already paid for it in full with the package).

What a fab idea, thank you. I've looked and it works out just under £300 cheaper for the room for 1 adult and one child. The fantasy APs for the other 2 should come in at just under that so not a huge saving, but thought that the in park discounts available with the APs would make up more of a saving.

Do you know if we would still get the AP discount for buffalo bills show tickets for all 4 of us even though only 2 people will be AP holders?

Greenbeanie

Thank you Balletshoes, that's really helpful. I think we shall have to look at doing it in half term 2015 either february or October. Do you have any idea as to which time would be better?

Also do the Davy crockett chalets cater for families of 5? I'm really surprised that the Disney accommodation only caters for families of 4 as I would have thought that families would have been their biggest market.

When I have looked at options on the DLP website it still seems to come up with offers based on the number of children and adults I'm putting in does this mean they are not correct as they only cater for 4 or is it that it is basing costs on 2 rooms?

Final question now (I am sorry) if we were to go in 2015 I think we would be looking at 3 days at the parks and a 3/4 night stay. Do offers for that length of stay appear closer to the time as all the offers at the moment are for 4/5 nights stays. I realise that 2015 is still a long way off.

balletshoes

Livvipivvi wrote: »

What a fab idea, thank you. I've looked and it works out just under £300 cheaper for the room for 1 adult and one child. The fantasy APs for the other 2 should come in at just under that so not a huge saving, but thought that the in park discounts available with the APs would make up more of a saving.

Do you know if we would still get the AP discount for buffalo bills show tickets for all 4 of us even though only 2 people will be AP holders?

you might find Buffalo Bills tickets online to purchase in advance cheaper than AP discount will give you (look for Billet Malin). With the prior purchase tickets, its not unusual to be able to buy them for under 40 euros each.
As an AP holder, you can buy up to 5 tickets at one time with your AP discount for Buffalo Bills.

remember to check the room type as well on the DLP site when you're looking at your price - DLP tend to default to their more expensive rooms, by clicking on "more rooms" or something like that you might find you can get it cheaper.

balletshoes

Greenbeanie wrote: »

Thank you Balletshoes, that's really helpful. I think we shall have to look at doing it in half term 2015 either february or October. Do you have any idea as to which time would be better?

Avoid half term every October if your half term includes 31st October - that week is usually school holidays for all of France and most other European countries, which makes DLP very busy all that week every year.


Also do the Davy crockett chalets cater for families of 5? I'm really surprised that the Disney accommodation only caters for families of 4 as I would have thought that families would have been their biggest market.

yes, Davy Crocketts takes up to 6 per cabin.


When I have looked at options on the DLP website it still seems to come up with offers based on the number of children and adults I'm putting in does this mean they are not correct as they only cater for 4 or is it that it is basing costs on 2 rooms?

If you are putting in 5 guests and they are all at least 3 years or older, when I run a dummy booking I'm only getting the Davy Crockett ranch coming up with a price, as the family rooms at the Santa Fe, Newport Bay Club, and Disneyland Hotel don't seem to be coming up with a price at all. If you want to stay onsite but not at Davy Crocketts, try getting a price on the website for 2 rooms, one with one adult and one free child (aged under 12) in, and the other with the other adult and the other 2 children in.


Final question now (I am sorry) if we were to go in 2015 I think we would be looking at 3 days at the parks and a 3/4 night stay. Do offers for that length of stay appear closer to the time as all the offers at the moment are for 4/5 nights stays. I realise that 2015 is still a long way off.

yes, there will be offers for a 3-night stay, but it will be much closer to your check-in date (ie if you decide on Feb 2015 you may find a decent offer for 3 nights maybe 3 or 4 months beforehand).

Lemoncurd

Greenbeanie wrote: »

I wonder if I could have some advice as a newbie on here. I would love to take our family to DLP either for Christmas 2014 or in 2015. My husband is a teacher so it has to be in the school holidays in order for him to be able to go. Our children will be 12, 9 and 4 for Christmas 2014.

What is the best thing to do? Is it better to look and book now or wait until nearer the time, there are good offers for Feb 1/2 term 2015 at the moment. It all seems like a minefield in terms of getting everything organised with tickets to get into the parks, accommodation and travel to sort out.

We would probably prefer to go by eurostar than fly but will consider anything. I've never been to disneyland and it will be a real once in a lifetime for the children although it will have to be done on as tight a budget as possible.

I know Christmas is likely to be much more but I think it's the only way that we could get to see the Christmas things at Disney due to my husbands holiday restrictions.

Is it best to buy everything separately or as a package?

Any advice would be great as I don't know where to even begin!

ETA; is it possible to pay just a deposit on the DLP official website for a package or do you have to pay for the whole lot upfront?

Our family of five went just before Christmas, from 21st to the 24th. We booked only about 2 weeks before and did everything separately, searching around for best prices. Three nights in a room for 6 at the Explorers Hotel came to £350 (after quidco cash back from Expedia), a few days after booking I noticed that the same stay at the Magic Circus hotel came up even cheaper! There was still quite a selection of hotels available for 5 on these dates some many times more expensive but also some much less.

We drove and traveled by Eurostar (£134 return) + fuel + insurance & breakdown if not covered by your current policy. We have driven 5 times now and it is a straightforward 3 hour drive in France.

We bought annual passes at the end of 2012 through Promoparcs or similar - they had an offer where Fantasy Passes were 125 euros with a free one for each child under 5. I believe they are doing a similar offer where you buy an adults pass but can then get child's passes for 25 euros which would work better for families with older children.

It was pretty busy just before Christmas but not unbearable. The Sunday seemed much quieter than Monday 23rd. Have also been in May and Oct half terms and both had their very busy days.

balletshoes

Lemoncurd wrote: »

Our family of five went just before Christmas, from 21st to the 24th. We booked only about 2 weeks before and did everything separately, searching around for best prices. Three nights in a room for 6 at the Explorers Hotel came to £350 (after quidco cash back from Expedia), a few days after booking I noticed that the same stay at the Magic Circus hotel came up even cheaper! There was still quite a selection of hotels available for 5 on these dates some many times more expensive but also some much less.

We drove and traveled by Eurostar (£134 return) + fuel + insurance & breakdown if not covered by your current policy. We have driven 5 times now and it is a straightforward 3 hour drive in France.

We bought annual passes at the end of 2012 through Promoparcs or similar - they had an offer where Fantasy Passes were 125 euros with a free one for each child under 5. I believe they are doing a similar offer where you buy an adults pass but can then get child's passes for 25 euros which would work better for families with older children.

It was pretty busy just before Christmas but not unbearable. The Sunday seemed much quieter than Monday 23rd. Have also been in May and Oct half terms and both had their very busy days.

unfortunately the 35 euro annual passes for children offer has been withdrawn from both promoparcs and cemultiavantages now, unless you are resident in France.