Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

Carmina_Piranha_3

we went to the rainforest cafe, loved it we hadn't been to london etc. so had never been in a rainforest cafe before.

i tried to strike a balance between doing DLP on the cheap and splurging on special things. it was our wedding anniversary so we went out to eat. we also ate in the american diner because my parents thought that was really special and had been looking forward to it since reading about it.

if you do splurge and eat out you may get a plastic cup with the kids meal. it's nothing special but it saved us buying souvenirs. i sound like such a cheapskate but the kids in our party were thrilled with their rainforest cafe beaker and the one from the american diner, and still use them now even though the pictures are almost worn away from being dishwashed.

i found it well worth spending £7.99 on a DLP travel guide too, so we read all the inside info weeks before we left and got a feel for the parks, layout etc. it had a coupon for 10% off in one of the restaurants but we didn't use that. planet hollywood i think it was.

blue_monkey_2

Carmina, you are right and it is NOT being a cheapskate at all. A free gift is a free gift and souvineer of your holiday - I do the same thing (and have a cupbaord full of tat I have accumulated over the last few years!! The cups with the animal in the bottom are great from the Rainforest Cafe as the kids have a drink and a gift so do not pester you for stuff from the shop in the way out. Result!!

We always go the once because I just love going and it is not something we can do all the time, this is why i suggested to get lunch and a wrap and a side of fries as it is 1/3 of the price of a meal and just as filling. mind you, the mojo bones are vvvvv scrummy!!

Discodee

sounds like you got a great deal then LIH Well done! I thought we'd done ours really cheaply!! You did even better. We did get an extra night and a full day round paris for ours, but even so.

I suppose it all depends on where we are travelling from too. We stayed at holiday inn on the recommendation of friends. We did have a lovely last day chilling round the pool and swimming, as well as getting the train to val De Europe and looking round there..

btw Carmen, great idea with the cups. It just reminded me of a souvenier my DD got. I thought I MUST share this with you MSEers lmao

Anyway I had bought both kids a souvenier already, I think they spent 7.50 euros each, but early in the day DD DS and DH had gone on one of those flying rides. I think it was dumbos flying elephants. I stayed off to video them
During the ride which was over a moat DD's baseball cap came off. It was one of those free duracell prizes from last year, an England world cup 2006 cap. It WAS brand new and she liked it and was upset, but nonetheless it was a free one.


Anyway, DH came back and said he spoke to the man on the ride who said to come back at 9pm and he would have the hat for her, so we thought ok and I gave her my cap and we spent the rest of the day doing other stuff. We had fast pass tickets for big thunder mountain for around 9.30.

9 15 pm we go back, and the man there who is foreign doesnt understand us, sends another man. THis happens about 4 times. Two of the men appeared to be going off to get it, but came back empty handed. Noone knows where her hat is. I laid it on thick and said it was her favourite hat and she's very upset and we were told to come back and we havedone specially.

In the end this English bloke who must be customer care or something comes over. I explained whats happened, I say we've been here 20 mins now, we're supposed to be on big thunder mountain and will miss our fast pass, we were told to come back, daughter is upset blah de blah. Anyway he gives us a VIP pass to big thunder mountian and says just go right to the front via a diff exit and you'll get straight on, then he says to make up for it your daughter can choose anything from the shop within reason.

So she chose herself a plush Minnie Mouse in a princess outfit ( 28 euros!!) which still sits on her bed. She was well happy

Plus when we got home, 2 more duracell prizes were waiting for us, and they were...... you guessed it! 2 more baseball caps :rotfl:

Oh and of course we got straight on big thunder mountain with no waiting!!

What fun!!:beer: :rotfl:

rev229

For proof of diasability we had a letter from the child developement centre that we had had for a while. We now have cards that say our kids are on the special needs register that have their photos on. I expect if you get DLA you could use this as prove of disability??

We went to disneylamd paris during the Feb half term in 2005 it was -7 and snowing and very very very cold, in fact I had never been so cold, We were very prepared as our friends had gone in the January it it was cold when they were there. We wore 2 pairs of trousers vests and lots of layers, but where still cold. We hired a car because of our DD having special needs and ate at val de europe pizza and then Mcdonalds every day, cheep and cheerful. We also made our lunch from the breakfast buffet everybody does!! Ham and cheese rolls, our friends gave us that tip so we took our sandwich bags with us.
Despite being very cold it was fantastic.

batley1

I'm taking the kids in March, just avoiding the hols i think. I'm staying at sequiona lodge, going direct by eurostar, for 5 nights and 6 days, booked it hrough an agency, and got it for £556 for hotel and tickets, and £203 eurostar tickets, at £69 per adult, and £65 for one seated child, the other on our knee. We paid slightly more for eurostar through the agent, but the hotel was straight through disney direct, via the agent,and was charged at the same rate, the advantage been, that my place is reserved where i want it, but i can pay the balance in instalments!:T :beer:

Should add i used iglu.com

Rachie_B

Discodee wrote: »

So she chose herself a plush Minnie Mouse in a princess outfit ( 28 euros!!) which still sits on her bed. She was well happy

Plus when we got home, 2 more duracell prizes were waiting for us, and they were...... you guessed it! 2 more baseball caps :rotfl:

Oh and of course we got straight on big thunder mountain with no waiting!!

What fun!!:beer: :rotfl:

:rotfl: result !

we loved the Rainforest Cafe and Cafe Mickey ,which was fab for us,as we were only there one day,so having not to fight the masses for autographs during the day was a godsend !

it meant we didnt worry too much about seeing the characters as we knew we'd get to see them in the evening

my son loved the fact they came to you ,at the table

def worth it just for the look of joy on his face food was yummy too

blue_monkey_2

I wanted to add this here so it did not get lost in the other thread about DLP but I finally booked mine and I think we got a great deal by going DIY.

I have booked 3 nights/4 days for November in Sequioa Lodge £354 on the disneyland.com website. We chose No Insurance as we already have an annual policy - make sure you see this and choose the 'No' for Insurance it is very expensive for a Europe trip - its adds it on automatically so watch this but it is quite clearly marked. If you book through the website you can also choose 3 extra options such as a non-smoking, low, high, or quiet room, foam pillow, cot, etc... If I added the train via their site it bumped my price up to £1100 for the same direct train and this was the same if booking with the other agents around.

So, I have booked the direct train via the Eurostar website for £242 for 4 seats return and could choose a family section so we have this little section to ourselves rather than just being stuck anywhere. Just make sure that the accomodation is available before you confirm the train and book them on the same day at the same time to be sure you get what you want.

If you then call the Disney helpline after you have booked the hotel online (you can do this by telephone also) you can book the Disney Express for £14 per adult.

If you are not sure what this is, Disney staff are on board the train and will 'check you in' and give you your park passes. At Marne-la-Vallee you can leave your cases at the Disney Express hatch and get some tickets, they then take your cases to your hotel so you can go off and go into the parks right away. When the parks close you can then go to your hotel and check in and your cases are waiting for you. When you check out, you leave your cases at the hotel and Disney take them to the station, you then collect them about an hour before the Train leaves for Londond so you get another full day in the park without having to worry about your cases for the day and going back to the hotel to get them. It really does make the most of you break as there is no hassle with dragging cases around when you get there.

Eurostar told me that you could only have the Disney Express if you had booked a package with an agent. This is not true. As long as you have booked the DIRECT service into Disneyland Paris and are either staying in a Disney or partner hotel you can call Disney and book the Disney Express. The number is 08706 066800 (yeah, I know, there is no alternative), but this is not advertised from what I have seen and you are not given the option for the Disney Express when you book the hotel either.

So, if I had booked with an agent this holiday (is part of the Xmas celebrations) would have cost around £1100 but DIY has cost me £624.

It can be done cheaper if you stay in a partner hotel and take advantage of the free seats for kids but we choose to book a seat for my son so we could have the family section to ourselves.

Whoo hoo!!

blue_monkey_2

If you want to go and celebrate Xmas with Disney I have found the cheapest week to be 5 days from 19th November. it is only this week in the 5 days from 19th. Don't get put off by it being November - is is Xmas at Disney and everything is ready for Xmas - the resorts and the characters are all Xmassy. It is fab and snow machines pump fake snow out too. It is not too cold either.

The week before is the weekend of the French Bank Holiday - avoid this like the plague as it will be rammed and you won't get to go on any rides because of the queues.

I was sorely tempted but didn't but if you want something luxurious then the Disneyland Hotel is £636 for 3 nights/4 days for 4 people. The other prices I have found for this hotel were double this or more at any other time - even in the week after. We got Sequoia lodge for £354 - the week after it goes up by 50%. I am not sure why this week is so cheap but maybe a great indication is that it will mean that it is quiet - as the quiet times are the cheapest times! The French would have just had their long weekend so that will rule them out on having another holiday and avoid weekends. Just think Legoland at weekends and you'll know what I mean.

Go to www.disneylandparis.com and choose the hotels option at the top of the page. Choose the hotel you are interested in and then on the next page a box comes up where you can enter the date - click on the calendar and it'll show a box with various colours. Yellow is the cheapest time but I found this particular week very cheap for some reason. They also have 3 nights for the price of 2 and 4 nights for the price of 4. This week is also the only week I found with direct journeys on the 19th and 20th returning 22nd or 23rd with cheap seats available both ways. It does seem that people do not want to travel this week at all - I think maybe it is because it is not December so people do not think of it as being Xmas and also the bank holidays, fireworks and halloween has just ended so people take their holiday then and that leaves it empty for the rest of the time. Last time we went in November we was staying on the rides because they were empty. If you hate crowds this is the best time to go it seems.

I explained on my other thread it is cheaper to DIY so take a look at that and book the Eurostar train Direct from Ashford or London and then you can pay for the Disney Express. I saves £500 doing it this way.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=540490

Hope this helps someone.

Discodee

rev229 wrote: »

For proof of diasability we had a letter from the child developement centre that we had had for a while. We now have cards that say our kids are on the special needs register that have their photos on. I expect if you get DLA you could use this as prove of disability??

We went to disneylamd paris during the Feb half term in 2005 it was -7 and snowing and very very very cold, in fact I had never been so cold, We were very prepared as our friends had gone in the January it it was cold when they were there. We wore 2 pairs of trousers vests and lots of layers, but where still cold. We hired a car because of our DD having special needs and ate at val de europe pizza and then Mcdonalds every day, cheep and cheerful. We also made our lunch from the breakfast buffet everybody does!! Ham and cheese rolls, our friends gave us that tip so we took our sandwich bags with us.

lmao we always make lunch from breakfast. When we went to prague there was a note on the wall saying "Please only eat the food in the breakfast room", but that didn't stop us! :rotfl: We go to Portaventura next month and will be doing the same there:D
Re the cold, we go away every winter to a snowy clime and love it! We never get snow here so the kids adore it!

Secret1234

Well, my first attempt at hunting a bargain:-

4 adults, 2 children, 4 days and 3 nights
9th Feb - 12th Feb 2008

Formule1 = £120
Tickets = £ approx 450 (if i get good deals such as 4 days for 3)
Easyjet flights = £506.16

Grand Total £1076.16

This equates to £538.08 per couple (not including travel from hotel to the park)

I've not booked anything yet but thanks everyone for your advice cos it looks like i'm gonna be able to get a bargain!! yay xx