Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

Thriftyknickers

We booked a stay at the Disneyland Hotel in August at the weekend :j and I thought my research my be of use to others trying to max their cashback or get the best price.

We were taking advantage of the current 40% offer and have 2 children (age 4) and we normally simply book online through Quidco, currently paying 4.5% cashback.

The online price (no travel) was £1,442.40. As we wanted to book our Eurostar tickets through Airmiles, they also gave us a quote for the hotel, breakfast & park tickets and this came to £1,336. The lady said they give 5% discount, but unless my maths is askew, this is even more generous. I believe you can book through Airmiles, even if you have no airmailes to use. (The lady later explained to me that the more business they put Disney's way, the better the rate they then give them on all of their Disney holidays so they seemed very keen on coming to a deal later)

I then decided I would have a quick look around. Expedia were quoting £1451.04 with 7.25% cashback on Quidco + 200 nectar points (£1,342.21).

Thomas Cook were quoting the same £1,451.04 but with 8% cashback on Quidco (£1,334.95). If you have the time, you might be able to get an even better deal in a branch?

I then phoned a company called Benchmark Travel who supposedly offer better deals to our staff union members. However, I wasn't asked for any details so I suspect they would give the same offer to anyone. They were interested in beating our lowest offer, which at that point was the Thomas Cook one and said they would take a further £25 off taking it to £1,309. They also just wanted a 10% deposit of the 'full price' and the rest to be paid 10 weeks before departure.

I then went back to Airmiles and said I would just get the Eurostar tickets through them as I had a better offer on the hotel. She then said they would beat this, taking the hotel down to £1,300 which I was very happy with.

However, they wanted the cost in full and charge 3.5% for the use of a credit card. I didn't have enough money in my current account to pay by debit card and switching money from my internet savings account would take a couple of days to transfer. She then said she would ask her supervisor if she could knock off a further 3.5% so I could pay there and then on my credit card and not be out of pocket. The supervisor apparently agreed and we ended up paying £1,299.38 for the hotel including their 3.5% credit card surcharge and we'll get 1.5% cashback on our Amex card taking it to £1279.89.

I guess its a small saving (£162.51) on the quoted Disney price compared to my mega spend but its a 11% saving in all. And this was the holiday that we really wanted. Having stayed at the Pink Palace once, its hard to go back to a 'lesser' hotel and I suspect this will be out last trip to DLRP. Just wish I'd looked a bit harder on my previous visits and not just gone down the Quidco route. Think it goes to show that a lot of companies out there are keen to get your business - which should be good news for us!

Hope this is of use!

sam1970

thank you for your message. you gave me the idea of booking through Thomas cook rather than through DLP to earn more quidco cashback but I have a question which may sound stupid...if booking through thomas cook it says the price include stay and free parking...I am assuming it means free park tickets ,not free car parking!!Am I right?..i dont want to have a nasty surprise

emweaver

If you book through https://www.thomascook-barclaycard.co.uk you get 7% discount off hotel and travel but ask them to book it seperately as it knocks about £300 off the price! also pay with your credit card and tell them its barclaycard and they dont charge the credit card fee (didnt check with my sis her card was barclaycard)

then buy thomas cook vouchers on ebay which have 5-10% knocked off the price to the value of the vouchers saving you even more

with survey sites that pay in thomas cook vouchers, take these as payment

Saver_Louise

Hi

I feel like i've totally messed up on the booking of our much awaited holiday to Disneyland Paris so if anyone can give me any advice it would be much appreciated.

We've not been before and unfortunately maybe wont be able to do again so really wanted it to be right.

I have booked the hotel (explorer hotel thomas cook) for August this year direct with the hotel and I have booked Eurostar, again direct.

Now I'm having problems booking anything else - how do I go about with the meal vouchers and shows, breakfasts, etc

We are going end of August - 2 adults and 3 children (aged 7, 5 and 3).

Helllllppppppppp

Thanks

ukfan

Unless things have changed (I rarely book packages) you can only take advantage of the meal vouchers if staying at a Disney hotel.

You should still be fine to book meals and Buffalo Bill's on the following number
+33 (0) 1 60 30 40 50. As an affiliated hotel The Explorer's is one of the hotels that Disney has on their computer system, though to the best of my knowledge it doesn't matter either way. You may be too early to book for the summer, but it's worth calling to check. If it's anything like the US system though not guaranteed you do tend to get better tables the earlier you book.

I think the new Buzz Lightyear Buffet will be open then so it might be worth thinking about that.

ukfan

Sorry - forgot to say, apart from character meals even in the summer you should be able to get a table at most restaurants if your flexible.

Annette's in Disney Village is good fun and easy to get seated at for lunch. In fact Disney Village can be a nice lunch option with kids as it's less hectic than most of the park restaurant's and the food options are generally good. Annette's and King Ludwig's are good and the Rainforest Cafe is fun for kids.

fletty

Hi I'mso excited we've just booked to go to DlP in October for the Halloween special staying at the Sequoia hotel. I've read through most of this thread but could someone please tell me if it worth paying extra for breakfast with Mickey? Can we swap one of our hotel breakfasts for a park breakfast - and if so what's the difference? What are fast passes and do we need to get them before we go? and any other helpfull tips would be great ........I'm just sooo excited can't wait to tell the kids. Thankyou

emweaver

fletty wrote: »

Hi I'mso excited we've just booked to go to DlP in October for the Halloween special staying at the Sequoia hotel. I've read through most of this thread but could someone please tell me if it worth paying extra for breakfast with Mickey? Can we swap one of our hotel breakfasts for a park breakfast - and if so what's the difference? What are fast passes and do we need to get them before we go? and any other helpfull tips would be great ........I'm just sooo excited can't wait to tell the kids. Thankyou

yes it is worth it, the hotels have characters outside not in the breakfast room. the food at cafe mickey is nicer too including hot food like sausage, egg etc and smoked salmon. hotel breakfasts is contiental like ham cheese, cereal and tinned fruit only

good morning fantasylnd breakfast is in the park, only on certain days tho and can be booked when you check in

Violetta_2

anta wrote: »

Hi, I live in Paris, Bussy St Georges, 5 minutes away form disneyland. I wanted to buy an annual pass for me and my little angels, but find out a nice deal: if you have 1-day full price ticket, you can upgrade it to an annual pass (with 65 days blackout period, but anyway it's still a good deal for us). Unfortunately, I always used to buy these tickets with a discount. I wonder if anyone is going to travel there and already book their tickets? I could come at the end of the day to collect your used tickets and can drive you to hotel or station or do any other favour you need - just ask Pm me pls

Hi Anta , if you don't have any joy here might be worth trying on the dis boards theres a whole thread re sponsorship here looks like your sponsor has to be present now.:(
I was thinking of getting an annual pass too, I have just booked a Gite & flights for June:j:j:j I'm sure we could manage a few trips to make it worthwhile when we are over there.
I haven't told dd about Disneyland yet going to try not to, not sure how we'd cope with 3 months of excitement.

ukfan

fletty wrote: »

Hi I'mso excited we've just booked to go to DlP in October for the Halloween special staying at the Sequoia hotel. I've read through most of this thread but could someone please tell me if it worth paying extra for breakfast with Mickey? Can we swap one of our hotel breakfasts for a park breakfast - and if so what's the difference? What are fast passes and do we need to get them before we go? and any other helpfull tips would be great ........I'm just sooo excited can't wait to tell the kids. Thankyou

Fast passes are a virtual queueing system. Most of the attractions that suffer from having long lines will give you the option to get a fast pass. There'll be a booth near the attraction where you can get one. You have to put your entrance ticket into a machine and it will print out a voucher with a time to return. When you come back you'll go to a separate entrance and bypass most of the queue. It's very helpful when the park's busy. As a general rule you can only hold one at a time, but ocassionally it's possible to get more if an attraction is not attached to the system that keeps track of who has what. To be cynical about it for a second, Disney knows that you can't be spending money while your in a 90 minute queue so they want you to go for a coffee or pop into a nearby shop while you wait, but on a busy day they can be the best way to guarantee you'll ride an attraction.

The last time I stayed in a Disney hotel and went to a character breakfast (which admittedly was a while ago now) we got a discount off the price as we had technically already paid for breakfast once.