Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

bellrooster

ProcrastinatingPenny wrote: »

We have looked on the French site and it's so much cheaper! Has anyone booked through the French site before? I'm worried that I might make a mistake as my French is very basic, my husband is saying he feels cheeky booking it cheaper on the French site (he's not very MSE!) just pricing travel now which is working out stupidly expensive! If we decide to leave it a year and go next May half term, generally are similar deals on every year? Thanks for any advice.

We booked the French offer last may as our daughter was 10 so the free under 12 offer made it much cheaper for us! If you're worried about booking to wrong, open 2 tabs, one with the English and the other in French then you can refer back to the English one if you get stuck as the pages are laid out exactly the same.

balletshoes

ProcrastinatingPenny wrote: »

We have looked on the French site and it's so much cheaper! Has anyone booked through the French site before? I'm worried that I might make a mistake as my French is very basic, my husband is saying he feels cheeky booking it cheaper on the French site (he's not very MSE!) just pricing travel now which is working out stupidly expensive! If we decide to leave it a year and go next May half term, generally are similar deals on every year? Thanks for any advice.

yes based on the last couple of years you do find similar offers out for the same time of year (not necessarily on the same country, you might have to look on another one).

I've used the French, Belgian and Dutch sites to book DLP, with no problems at all - in fact over the last few years its usually been another country's offer, and not the UK one. You can run everything through google translate for the blurb of the offer you're thinking of booking, and for the actual booking itself every field is the same regardless of whether its the UK, French, German, Dutch etc site you're booking on. If you're at all unsure about booking it online, you can also do what you've done and check your price online, and then phone DLP and say you want to use the current (in your case) French offer to book.

ProcrastinatingPenny

balletshoes wrote: »

yes based on the last couple of years you do find similar offers out for the same time of year (not necessarily on the same country, you might have to look on another one).

I've used the French, Belgian and Dutch sites to book DLP, with no problems at all - in fact over the last few years its usually been another country's offer, and not the UK one. You can run everything through google translate for the blurb of the offer you're thinking of booking, and for the actual booking itself every field is the same regardless of whether its the UK, French, German, Dutch etc site you're booking on. If you're at all unsure about booking it online, you can also do what you've done and check your price online, and then phone DLP and say you want to use the current (in your case) French offer to book.

That's great. Thanks for all your help. I don't suppose you know if I booked using the French offer and had a booking number if I could then add transport afterwards over the phone?

balletshoes

ProcrastinatingPenny wrote: »

That's great. Thanks for all your help. I don't suppose you know if I booked using the French offer and had a booking number if I could then add transport afterwards over the phone?

you don't need to add transport to your disney booking, and I've never found Disney to be cheap with their transport options, as they only use certain flight operators and Eurostar/Eurotunnel. If its May this year you are looking at, the indirect Eurostar fare will be available to book 90 days prior to your return travel date, so for example if thats 1st June you'd be able to book it around the beginning of March. If you book it as soon as it becomes available you should get the fares for under £100 each return, maybe under £80 each (mine, booked just about as soon as they became available, were around £75 each return). You can source your own flights and transfers into CDG or Orly, or book the Eurotunnel yourself (if you save Tesco clubcard points you can use those in part payment towards Eurotunnel).

Its very rare that I book hotel and travel at the same time for DLP, often its months apart (ie this year I'm going in early July, I've had the Eurostar booked since October last year, and I'm waiting for the next offer to come out in a couple of weeks to look at prices onsite for my hotel and park tickets).

redmel1621

Balletshoes

Sorry to be a pain..

In our conversation you said this: "buying Classic AP's for all the kids (if you buy them by post from Disney themselves they have no blackout dates if you stay onsite with them)."

Is this right? If we buy Classic AP's and then book an onsite hotel we can use our AP's even during blackout days... how do they know we are staying onsite when we go to enter the parks? Is it only in Disney park hotels, not the 'area' hotels?

balletshoes

redmel1621 wrote: »

Balletshoes

Sorry to be a pain..

In our conversation you said this: "buying Classic AP's for all the kids (if you buy them by post from Disney themselves they have no blackout dates if you stay onsite with them)."

Is this right? If we buy Classic AP's and then book an onsite hotel we can use our AP's even during blackout days... how do they know we are staying onsite when we go to enter the parks? Is it only in Disney park hotels, not the 'area' hotels?

they know you are staying onsite because you get a hotel ID easypass when you check in, so you show that with your Classic APs at the turnstiles, to allow you access to the parks on Classic AP blackout dates. This is only applicable if you are staying onsite (not at the area or partner hotels) and only if you already have a fully activated Classic AP when you check in (which is why you have to order your Classic APs in advance of your trip, by post, from Disney themselves).

ProcrastinatingPenny

balletshoes wrote: »

you don't need to add transport to your disney booking, and I've never found Disney to be cheap with their transport options, as they only use certain flight operators and Eurostar/Eurotunnel. If its May this year you are looking at, the indirect Eurostar fare will be available to book 90 days prior to your return travel date, so for example if thats 1st June you'd be able to book it around the beginning of March. If you book it as soon as it becomes available you should get the fares for under £100 each return, maybe under £80 each (mine, booked just about as soon as they became available, were around £75 each return). You can source your own flights and transfers into CDG or Orly, or book the Eurotunnel yourself (if you save Tesco clubcard points you can use those in part payment towards Eurotunnel).

Its very rare that I book hotel and travel at the same time for DLP, often its months apart (ie this year I'm going in early July, I've had the Eurostar booked since October last year, and I'm waiting for the next offer to come out in a couple of weeks to look at prices onsite for my hotel and park tickets).

I feel like I've spent so long looking at all the options!if someone won't just mind sharing a few last pieces of advice before we decide if it's this year or next to go...
I queried the Disney travel as they have an under 7's fly free offer on from an airport which is relatively local to us, so this would be the best option. I think once we price up travel to London and staying over the night before/after the Eurostar will become too expensive for us. I just wondered if it's best to go while the 25year anniversary is on or if it will make little difference if we wait a year and also my youngest will be 3 almost 4 for this years trip, will there be too much walking for him? And finally we would be arriving first day around lunch then 2 full days and flying home first thing on the last day if we fly. Will his be enough time or should I add an extra night to get 3 full days and a half day in the parks? Sorry so many questions, it's such an important trip to get right!

balletshoes

ProcrastinatingPenny wrote: »

I feel like I've spent so long looking at all the options!if someone won't just mind sharing a few last pieces of advice before we decide if it's this year or next to go...
I queried the Disney travel as they have an under 7's fly free offer on from an airport which is relatively local to us, so this would be the best option. I think once we price up travel to London and staying over the night before/after the Eurostar will become too expensive for us. I just wondered if it's best to go while the 25year anniversary is on or if it will make little difference if we wait a year and also my youngest will be 3 almost 4 for this years trip, will there be too much walking for him? And finally we would be arriving first day around lunch then 2 full days and flying home first thing on the last day if we fly. Will his be enough time or should I add an extra night to get 3 full days and a half day in the parks? Sorry so many questions, it's such an important trip to get right!

there may be conditions with the "fly free" deals in that you have to book it all at the same time - does the French version of the site have that offer on too? I would certainly be phoning Disney to check the conditions of that offer and how much its going to cost you to add those flights to a Disney package.
Whether your child is nearly 4 or nearly 5, its still a lot of walking for little legs, you may want to consider (if you no longer have one) buying a cheap umbrella stroller to take with you for him. With a little one, I would say 3 full days is better than 2. Which then changes your options for which is the best offer as you'd be staying onsite for 4 nights instead of 3?

ProcrastinatingPenny

Thanks. From what I've read the offer is uk only and has to be booked through Disney presumably at same time as booking hotel and tickets. I think we will be leaving it for a year kids will be 9 and nearly 5 then so can keep an eye on deals throughout the year to get an idea on what will work best for us. Feel quite overwhelmed with it all and feel we will get more from it with an extra year to save up. Thanks for your advice, it's been invaluable!

RunningMan_2

balletshoes wrote: »

they know you are staying onsite because you get a hotel ID easypass when you check in, so you show that with your Classic APs at the turnstiles, to allow you access to the parks on Classic AP blackout dates. This is only applicable if you are staying onsite (not at the area or partner hotels) and only if you already have a fully activated Classic AP when you check in (which is why you have to order your Classic APs in advance of your trip, by post, from Disney themselves).

Hi Balletshoes - if you order annual passes from Disney like this is it possible to get them fully validated (so that you don't have to go to the passport office on arrival) before you go? Just thinking it would save us time and also give us the Extra Magic Hours for the first morning. Thanks