Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

rocklobster_2

Hi all,

Any one got experience of disney not having the direct eurostar seats available?

We booked (2 bookings) back in Sept 2010 for 3nt/4day stay from Feb 20th. They rang on saturday to say due to overbooking, they don't have seats for us.

We did phone in Sept to link the bookings as one is for my parents - my dad is disabled suffering from Parkinsons. It appears this linking didn't actually work - parents have the direct train, we have been given a train to Paris Gare du Nord and then have to find our own way to the parks! Thankfully, it's not the other way around.

Disney say they can't give us any money back, but will refund us the extra train or taxi costs if we fax them after the holiday...

I don't really care about the train (it's annoying, but I know they over book like airlines do). What is annoying is that instead of a 19:30 eurostar from disney, we no have to return on a 18:30ish eurostar from paris. This basically means we will lose the afternoon to travel to Paris to avoid being stuck in rush hour traffic/commuter trains. We will also arrive later - basically they have changed our holiday from 3.5 days in the park, to less than 3 *and* given us a whole lot more stress and hassle.

Has this happened to anyone else on here? What did you manage to get in compensation? They say they'll get back to me by Thursday but I'm not holding out much hope tbh :-(

After over 2 hours on the phone (their premium rate 0844 number!) they did agree to upgrade our room (no idea what to) but they couldn't do my parents - despite us saying we needed connecting rooms to help with my dad...

Anyway, warning to anyone else, when disney say your bookings are linked it appears to mean nothing

grrrrrr. Already wasted the weekend trying to sort things :mad:

johnnyroper

rocklobster wrote: »

Hi all,

Any one got experience of disney not having the direct eurostar seats available?

We booked (2 bookings) back in Sept 2010 for 3nt/4day stay from Feb 20th. They rang on saturday to say due to overbooking, they don't have seats for us.

We did phone in Sept to link the bookings as one is for my parents - my dad is disabled suffering from Parkinsons. It appears this linking didn't actually work - parents have the direct train, we have been given a train to Paris Gare du Nord and then have to find our own way to the parks! Thankfully, it's not the other way around.

Disney say they can't give us any money back, but will refund us the extra train or taxi costs if we fax them after the holiday...

I don't really care about the train (it's annoying, but I know they over book like airlines do). What is annoying is that instead of a 19:30 eurostar from disney, we no have to return on a 18:30ish eurostar from paris. This basically means we will lose the afternoon to travel to Paris to avoid being stuck in rush hour traffic/commuter trains. We will also arrive later - basically they have changed our holiday from 3.5 days in the park, to less than 3 *and* given us a whole lot more stress and hassle.

Has this happened to anyone else on here? What did you manage to get in compensation? They say they'll get back to me by Thursday but I'm not holding out much hope tbh :-(

After over 2 hours on the phone (their premium rate 0844 number!) they did agree to upgrade our room (no idea what to) but they couldn't do my parents - despite us saying we needed connecting rooms to help with my dad...

Anyway, warning to anyone else, when disney say your bookings are linked it appears to mean nothing

grrrrrr. Already wasted the weekend trying to sort things :mad:

the problem as i see it is disney sell packages to include eurostar and also eurostar sell tickets directly,at a guess eurostar are probably more expensive directly so bump the disney packaged bookings??

you could also look at getting eurostar to Lille and catching a TGV to disney and same on return,not sure if it makes any difference from paris du nord but another option to look at.

Try writing to the Head office explaining the situation about your father and the reason for booking on direct train etc and see what they offer you,i doubt anything will be done before going but hopefully you should get something out of them for the !!!! up.

blue_monkey_2

rocklobster wrote: »

Hi all,

Any one got experience of disney not having the direct eurostar seats available?

We booked (2 bookings) back in Sept 2010 for 3nt/4day stay from Feb 20th. They rang on saturday to say due to overbooking, they don't have seats for us.

We did phone in Sept to link the bookings as one is for my parents - my dad is disabled suffering from Parkinsons. It appears this linking didn't actually work - parents have the direct train, we have been given a train to Paris Gare du Nord and then have to find our own way to the parks! Thankfully, it's not the other way around.

Disney say they can't give us any money back, but will refund us the extra train or taxi costs if we fax them after the holiday...

I don't really care about the train (it's annoying, but I know they over book like airlines do). What is annoying is that instead of a 19:30 eurostar from disney, we no have to return on a 18:30ish eurostar from paris. This basically means we will lose the afternoon to travel to Paris to avoid being stuck in rush hour traffic/commuter trains. We will also arrive later - basically they have changed our holiday from 3.5 days in the park, to less than 3 *and* given us a whole lot more stress and hassle.

Has this happened to anyone else on here? What did you manage to get in compensation? They say they'll get back to me by Thursday but I'm not holding out much hope tbh :-(

After over 2 hours on the phone (their premium rate 0844 number!) they did agree to upgrade our room (no idea what to) but they couldn't do my parents - despite us saying we needed connecting rooms to help with my dad...

Anyway, warning to anyone else, when disney say your bookings are linked it appears to mean nothing

grrrrrr. Already wasted the weekend trying to sort things :mad:

I find this disgraceful to be honest.

Call ABTA and tell them you need to travel as a party because your dad needs the assistace, together and see what they say. How did you pay? Maybe you can cancel the booking and start again, booking seperately. This is what I would look to be doing.

I've no experience personal as Disney ramp up the price for Eurostar so I book my own.

However, is your dad in a wheelchair, as there is seating for people in wheelchairs and he will not get this seating unless her speaks to them.

In all honesty, if he has parkinsons he wants to be in a quiet part of the train - and on the direct train, in standard class, he will not get this as people are packed on there like sheep going to slaughter. it is horrendous. Eurostar will not be of much help unless he is in a wheelchair though, there is no other help for disabilities unless they are in a chair.

Personally, I think it shocking I have to pay extra so I can get my disabled child a seat in a quiet part of the train and they do not make allowances for any other disabilites than 'visual' ones. They are THE worst company for helping disabled people, I have ever come across!!

I'd speak to ABTA though and see if they can help more as they have amended the package you have bought. See if they can help.

rocklobster_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

Call ABTA and tell them you need to travel as a party because your dad needs the assistace, together and see what they say. How did you pay? Maybe you can cancel the booking and start again, booking seperately. This is what I would look to be doing.
I've no experience personal as Disney ramp up the price for Eurostar so I book my own.

They have no offered a complete refund. That doesn't help when it's one of the few times we can make it. My wife is a teacher so that limits us, and my dad has been in hospital etc so this time has been carefully picked!

However, is your dad in a wheelchair, as there is seating for people in wheelchairs and he will not get this seating unless her speaks to them.

Nope, since his op last year (dual deep brain stimulation!) he is soooo much better, which is why we booked disney! Parents are happy (well, they have accepted) that they will have to travel alone. It's not ideal, but we really don't want to have to cancel and the trains are full.

In all honesty, if he has parkinsons he wants to be in a quiet part of the train - and on the direct train, in standard class, he will not get this as people are packed on there like sheep going to slaughter. it is horrendous. Eurostar will not be of much help unless he is in a wheelchair though, there is no other help for disabilities unless they are in a chair.

This will be ok. We have done days to london with him, he copes on the tube and he'll be with my mother. It's a pain that we won't be with them but at least they are on the direct service. Had they have been punted via Paris then I suspect we would have had to cancel.

We've accepted there isn't much that can be done about the transport. We don't want a full refund, that doesn't help. We were rather surprised that there was no offer of anything to compensate for us losing a fairly large chunk of our holiday - particularly as there appears to be nothing linking the bookings (despite us requesting this!). Still, part of me is glad they didn't - that sounds like we would all have ended up via paris.

The thing I really don't like is the leaving Disney early to head into the city in the rush hour. Hardly a nice relaxing end to the holiday :-( If they had phoned, apologised and offered us some fastpasses or an hotel upgrade or something we'd be less fuming. Mistakes happen, but they don't appear to be in the slightest bit interested in trying to make up for it!

Hence my request for info from anyone else who has suffered this in the past - be handy to know if anyone else got any compensation in any way.

rocklobster_2

johnnyroper wrote: »

you could also look at getting eurostar to Lille and catching a TGV to disney and same on return,not sure if it makes any difference from paris du nord but another option to look at.

Yep, looked at that. There is one option that would get us there late on the Sunday - but that's even worse.

No availability on the eurostar for the entire week (at sane times anyway) :-(

blue_monkey_2

Rock lobster, consused, it says they have 'no offered a full' is that now or not?

If they have offered the refund, snatch it off them with both hands.

First off: DO NOT BOOK THE PACKAGE WITH DISNEY.

Book the hotel with either Expedia (who give 12% Quidco Cashback), choose the 'more rooms' option for the prices with tickets to come in, they often have specials of their own, or book rooms and tickets ONLY on www.disneylandparis.co.uk DO NOT CHOOSE TO ADD TRANSPORT as they charge an extortionat amount for adding the train.

Then book the Eurostar on the Eurostar website and you can also get Quidco Cashback on that.

The train will NOT be full, I promise you, seats have not even yet been released for general sale and on the Disney site you are buying 'pre-booked' seats, of which they do not really have many. When you book on the Eurostar you can also choose your seats. Choose one with a table between you, you'll have more space. Sales open 4 months before you travel so get online as soon as you can book for September and get a seat near the front/back of the train as it is quieter and not so many people walking through the carriage but often it is just a few ££ more to go by Leisure Select which is fantastic and you get breakfast on the train and LOADS of space!! As well as a power socket under the table to watch a DVD player (different sides have different plug types - Eurpoe/3 pin). there will be plenty of accomodation to choose from in DLP at that time of year as well.

Have you been before? The train is just next to DLP gates and you should just go to the hotel and check in off the train as it is quiet then. We did that last time and will do it next time too. buses to the hotels will be quiet as everyone is in the parks.

I am pleased your dad is now well though.

girlxx

Hi, i booked my holiday to disneyland paris directly from the website yesterday and would like to know if anyone knows when my confirmation email will come. I accidently deleted the confirmation page at the end of booking before printing it out and have not even got a booking number. thanks x

rocklobster_2

blue_monkey wrote: »

Rock lobster, consused, it says they have 'no offered a full' is that now or not?

Sorry, was meant to be now. They have now offered a full refund (that we don't want).

If they have offered the refund, snatch it off them with both hands.

First off: DO NOT BOOK THE PACKAGE WITH DISNEY.

We don't want the refund - we want the holiday that is in 3 weeks time...

Book the hotel with either Expedia (who give 12% Quidco Cashback), choose the 'more rooms' option for the prices with tickets to come in, they often have specials of their own, or book rooms and tickets ONLY on www.disneylandparis.co.uk DO NOT CHOOSE TO ADD TRANSPORT as they charge an extortionat amount for adding the train.

Then book the Eurostar on the Eurostar website and you can also get Quidco Cashback on that.

We booked via disney as my mum was fretting and it seemed the "easiest". I'm all for paying more for the convenience and reassurance for some stuff, and this was one of those times. She was worried about taking my dad anyway - this was one nice simple booking that was almost door-to-door with one company. We know people who got stuck during the eurostar cancellations with a hotel they couldn't get to... a package just seemed safer. At the time it was a fairly good price anyway compared to what we've paid before doing it seperately (about 80 quid more IIRC after quidco - worth it we thought to reassure my parents).

Won't bother next time :-(

The train will NOT be full, I promise you, seats have not even yet been released for general sale and on the Disney site you are buying 'pre-booked' seats, of which they do not really have many. When you book on the Eurostar you can also choose your seats. Choose one with a table between you, you'll have more space. Sales open 4 months before you travel so get online as soon as you can book for September and get a seat near the front/back of the train as it is quieter and not so many people walking through the carriage but often it is just a few ££ more to go by Leisure Select which is fantastic and you get breakfast on the train and LOADS of space!! As well as a power socket under the table to watch a DVD player (different sides have different plug types - Eurpoe/3 pin). there will be plenty of accomodation to choose from in DLP at that time of year as well.

Sorry, you are confused (probably my fault!). We booked this in Sept 2010. We are going Feb 20th *2011*. Ie, in three weeks. The trains are full according to Disney, and Eurostar. There is also no viable option via Lille+TGV. Had disney have told us earlier we may have been able to find something, as it is, we are accepting we need to go via paris but would like some compensation for this - after all, we did link the bookings so something seems to have gone astray!

If there really are more seats to be released I'd be very interested - but Eurostar seemed to think not...

Have you been before? The train is just next to DLP gates and you should just go to the hotel and check in off the train as it is quiet then. We did that last time and will do it next time too. buses to the hotels will be quiet as everyone is in the parks.

I am pleased your dad is now well though.

Yep, been before, eurostar straight to park, disney express to dump bags - worked really well up until now :-( Go for the more expensive less hassle option and it all goes wrong :-(

They have said they will get back to me by Thurs - I suspect with some form of offer (they offered an upgrade to our room, but not my parents yesterday). Hence my interest in what other people may have been offered in similar situations. Can't believe we are the first people this has happened to...are we?!

balletshoes

girlxx wrote: »

Hi, i booked my holiday to disneyland paris directly from the website yesterday and would like to know if anyone knows when my confirmation email will come. I accidently deleted the confirmation page at the end of booking before printing it out and have not even got a booking number. thanks x

you usually get your confirmation email within about 48 hours from Disney.

girlxx

balletshoes wrote: »

you usually get your confirmation email within about 48 hours from Disney.

Thank you. just recieved email, was worrying for nothing lol:rotfl: